Hello, Friends!
For the third year in a row, on November 10, my BIRTHDAY (amazing
coincidence) I received the wonderful news of an award for one of my
novels, this time, KORINNA ? DAUGHTERS OF THE FIRE, I.
KORINNA is a novel of Ancient Greece, Rome, and Anatolia, during the
Mithriadic Wars. Rome dominates the world, but Rome is torn by civil
war. The Italian states are in rebellion against Roman arrogance and
within Rome itself, the aristocrats vie for power as the Roman
Republic enters its last days. In Anatolia (located in what is now
Turkey), King Mithridates sees the Roman civil wars as an opportunity
to overthrow Roman rule and have his own nation of Pontus, aided by
Greeks, become the dominant power on the Mediterranean (and by
extension the entire world).
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/193057455XThe timing of this award is truly incredible! Perhaps this is one way
my beloved late parents are sending me a birthday card from heaven.....
Of course I'd like to grasp this wondrous occasion and tell you more
about KORINNA
but first, I want to tell you what the POW! Award is
all about.
Caryn Day-Suarez, an author and Owner/President of POW! describes her
organization thusly: "Yes, POW! is Promoting Outstanding Writers, but
we do so much more. POW! is all about promoting, writers, performers,
artists, photographers, anything and anyone to do with the arts. We're
what's happening now! We pack the punch that sells and gets YOU known.
It's all about building a rep, making money, having fun, mingling,
canoodling, friendship.. .."
Caryn's written three award-winning books, and an award winning
screenplay (for Living Crazy Like Fly ).
A very important aspect of the POW! Award is that while POW! is the
sponsor, the judging is done by a panel of anonymous judges from the
FCCJ (Florida Community College, Jacksonville) , led by Dr Dana Thomas,
Dean of Liberal Arts and Sciences. By the way Dr. Dana Thomas is an
author as well.
But now, based on comments I received when I posted this news at my
website, I'd like to delve into what Women's Fiction entails.
Yes, KORINNA - DAUGHTERS OF THE FIRE, I, is Historical Fiction. But I
entered it in the Women's Fiction category. This category is not
ROMANCE, per se, although it may very well contain a love story.
By the way, I understand that while publishers do have a category
called Women's Fiction, bookstores do not, and place these novels in
General Fiction area. In addition, due to being placed in this section
(a practice I agree with, for this way we can appeal to readers of
both genders), publishers and book sellers cannot quite analyze its
sales.According to Wikipedia, Women's fiction is an umbrella term for
a wide-ranging collection of literary sub-genres that are marketed to
female readers, including many mainstream novels, romantic fiction,
"chick-lit" and other sub genres.
Well, as I've said before, I do not see Women's Fiction as of interest
to only female readers. Women's Fiction is more about the empowerment,
or lack thereof, of women, delved upon in a thought-provoking story
that might be placed in the past or the present. This genre reflects
the female trial and tribulations throughout the ages, her rise and
fall in the social strata of humanity in general, from the distant,
misty past, to the Bronze Age and forward, but also, how the female's
standing affects the lives of men.
Yes, truth is, while men might be from Mars and women from Venus )),
we are closely interrelated, and the overall female empowerment or
lack thereof deeply influences the fortunes of the men in any given
society.
Let me make a simplified statement: Dumbed down women, give birth to
and raise, dumbed down sons.
All right, yes, this is a simplified statement. Better said, women
who, generation after generation, have been robbed of their personal
and intellectual freedom, raised in a society as chattels and servants
of their men, forbidden -- be it through lack of money or tolerance --
from having an education, or a skill with which they can earn the
means of financial independence, who are forbidden to be in charge of
their own lives/destiny, are forced to breed children who grow up to
be cheap slaves and soldiers, used in service of their
mass-manipulator overlords. Hmmm. Doesn't it all boil down to The User
and the Usee?
KORINNA's tale is an intense tour-de-force into the history of Ancient
Greece, Rome, Anatolia, but also, mirrors the plight of women in those
times. Women who had no say in the running of their lives, existing
only for their men until they were killed in battle. Proud of and
motivated by for being named after Korinna, a 5th B.C. Greek poetess,
our heroine is driven to defy a woman's traditional, unquestioningly
subservient role in order to be independent, and battles to chart her
own course in life.
To be continued :-)
Kristina O'Donnelly - Author, Publisher
>
http://www.ladyliterature.comFrom Keltia to Anatolia, Do Not Let the Light Go Out!
"I am fighting the good fight. I shall finish the race. I shall keep the faith."
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