Also posted on Vintage/Anchor Books. Click here to check out their site.
In their respective novels The Gargoyle and Stealing Athena, Andrew Davidson and Karen Essex both tell parallel stories that take place in two different time periods, intertwining the lives of people separated by centuries. The books also explore common themes of the mystical, the mythic, karmic debt, the creation of art, and romantic love. In a candid and uncensored phone conversation, the authors compare their writing processes and talk about the sometimes numinous, sometimes laborious procedure by which they create stories and bring their characters to life.... Read more.
After years of announcements and embarrassing delays, the New Acropolis Museum — a $190 million spectacular building designed by Bernard Tschumi — will finally have its official opening on June 20. Yet the dramatic glass gallery on the top floor overlooking the Acropolis and facing the Parthenon will remain empty.
Built specifically as a catalyst for the return of the Elgin Marbles or Parthenon Sculptures, those controversial treasures that were — depending upon your point of view — either rescued or stolen by Lord Elgin during the Napoleonic Wars, the gallery is a physical embodiment of the passionate argument that the Greek government and its many allies in the archeological, artistic, and legal circles have waged for two hundred years.... Read more.
I want to apologize profusely to anyone who came to Davis Kidd Bookstore in Memphis last month to see me. I’d spent the day doing local media to promote the event, and apparently, a nice group had arrived at 6pm. Too bad that I had been asked to arrive at 7pm! I was six minutes away in a hotel, yet no one called me. I could have been dead! Anyway, stuff happens, but a big mea culpa.
Still, Memphis is a great town! I walked along the Mississippi River and toured ever-gentrifying downtown with my good friend Andrea Woods who treated me to one of my favorite Southern delicacies, Shrimp and Grits. I stayed at the historic Peabody Hotel, where every day at 5pm, a red carpet unrolls, and the resident ducks promenade from the lobby fountain, where they live by day, to the Duck Penthouse, where they reside at night. It’s really something to see!... Read more.
We all know that the war against women is often waged by women, and even more often, takes place within the family itself. I have explored this theme in a Mother’s Day essay, which is featured today in MOTHERLODE, the popular NEW YORK TIMES blog that intelligently explores all aspects of parenting and family issues.
I’m pleased to announce that the paperback edition of Stealing Athena,(with a saucy new cover) will be available wherever books are sold on April 28th. I will be returning to the States from London to tour in May and June, so please check in with the website for the dates and locations, and please do come out and see me. If we’ve never met, please introduce yourself!
I’m also booking phone chats (and dinners, if the locale is right) with book clubs so if your group is reading Stealing Athena (or one of my other novels, for that matter), please go to the website and sign up for a possible chat.
Also, with the passing of Bettie Page in December, I received many inquiries as to where to find my original L. A. Weekly article, In Search of Bettie Page, that led to Bettie’s subsequent resurfacing and revival. To commemorate Bettie’s birthday, which just passed on April 22nd, I’ve posted the article in its original form on the website, so please read and enjoy, and send your loving thoughts to our late dark angel.
Thanks to everyone who’s been following and commenting on the blog. I’ll continue to blog during the tour, and after, I’ll be back in London (and back inside my Gothic fantasy) and chronicling the process again.
Hope to see you soon on the road, or hear from you on the site.
I’m pleased to announce that the paperback edition of Stealing Athena,(with a saucy new cover) will be available wherever books are sold on April 28th. I will be returning to the States from London to tour in May and June, so please check in with the website for the dates and locations, and please do come out and see me. If we’ve never met, please introduce yourself!
