There are books one reads, and books one lives. The ten gathered here belong to the second category. I have returned to each of them more than once—some many times—not always for study, not always with a writer’s analytical eye, but often simply for the comfort of returning to a world that once held me […]
Ten Novels That Made Me a Writer Read More »
AS THE EPICENTER OF RADICAL HUMANISM AND ARTISTIC ENLIGHTENMENT, FLORENCE BECAME THE PARAMOUNT CRUCIBLE OF THE ITALIAN RENAISSANCE. Independent thinkers broke free from the constraints of the preceding millennium. Against this backdrop, the following tale gives voice to the long-suppressed desires and identities of those who suffered the dominant assumption that heterosexuality is the default and
Author’s Note of Meeting Donatello Read More »
Edmond Thornfield’s novel, Asterios and the Labyrinth (Mythos of Knossos), is a reimagined, action-packed mythological and historical story, set in ancient Krete (Crete) during the period of the Bronze Age Minoan civilization. When King Minos dies, his son Asterios succeeds him as the ruler of the Kingdom of Labrys. Prince Phaistos of Archanes is commander-in-chief
Asterios and the Labyrinth | Reviewed by Saifunnissa Hassam for Readers’ Favorite Read More »
There are journeys one spends a lifetime preparing for without knowing it. Mine to Archaia Neméa began, as so many things do, in childhood—with a book. I was perhaps seven years of age when my beloved Madrinha Ionyr placed in my hands a children’s volume of the Twelve Labours of Hēraklēs on my birthday. I
Following in the Footsteps of Hēraklēs to Archaia Neméa Read More »
(Posted by Literary Titan on January 23, 2026. To read this and other reviews there, click here.) Asterios and the Labyrinth follows a grieving prince of Knossos as he battles political treachery, invading powers, and ancient prophecy, risking his crown and life to fight for the man he loves and the legacy he must protect. What
Telling the Prince’s Tale in Asterios and the Labyrinth Read More »
An exploration of Donatello’s revolutionary contribution to Renaissance sculpture, psychological realism, and the rediscovery of the human form in fifteenth-century Florence. IN THE LONG HISTORY OF WESTERN ART, THERE ARE PERHAPS A DOZEN MOMENTS WHEN A SINGLE ARTIST SO FUNDAMENTALLY altered the way human beings see that the world before and after their work are,
Donatello: The Sculptor Who Awakened the Modern Eye Read More »
THUS BEGINS THIS TALE FROM THE MINOAN BRONZE AGE, an era as dim in record as it is radiant in myth, its soul arisen from the bedrock of ancient Krete, where palatial walls once gleamed with the splendor of Labrys-bearing kings and queens, and where legend has woven the names of Europa, Minos, the enchantress-sisters
Author’s Note of Asterios and the Labyrinth Read More »
A Tale of Paris and Paris: Echoes of Troy by Edmond Thornfield is set in fifteenth-century Cortona, where Lorenzo di Ranieri returns from Florence to a city under ecclesiastical scrutiny. Quiet warnings reach him that the Inquisition is preparing accusations meant to divide households and strip the town of power. Lorenzo uses his position in
A Tale of Paris & Paris: Echoes of Troy | Reviewed by Asher Syed for Readers’ Favorite Read More »
In the vast pantheon of Greek mythology, sorcery is rarely a solitary gift. It runs in bloodlines, transmitted from divine parent to mortal child like the color of eyes or the timbre of a voice. No mythological family demonstrates this more powerfully than the daughters of Hēlios, the Sun God, and the Oceanid Perseis, for
Pasiphaë & Kírkē: Mighty Sorceresses of the Bronze Age Read More »
In the deepest places of the Greek mythological imagination—below Olympus, below the world of heroes and city-states and clever men with clever plans—there is a darkness that was never conquered. Zeus defeated the Titans and imprisoned them in Tartaros. He defeated the Giants and buried them beneath volcanoes. He defeated even Typhon, the last and
Echidna: Mother of All Monsters, Bride of the Mightiest Foe Read More »
