A Tale of Paris and Paris: Echoes of Troy, in the Chronicles of Cortona by Edmond Thornfield, follows Lorenzo di Ranieri, a militia sergeant in Cortona, when inquisitors from Perugia arrive to pursue charges of heresy. Lorenzo forms a backstairs circle with Matteo at the Ranieri stable and relies on Costanza Briani to care for […]
Do you miss stories that feel alive, where the world breathes, where every word has been chosen by a human hand that hesitated, reconsidered, and chose again? Have you grown weary of fiction that tells instead of shows, of worlds that feel thin and formulaic, assembled rather than imagined? In an era when AI-generated content
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Every few months I set aside the novelist’s desk and return to the reader’s chair. These are six books I return to, recommend without hesitation, or simply cannot stop thinking about. They span centuries, continents, and registers—Gothic Louisiana, medieval Cornwall, the towers of Notre-Dame, Revolutionary France, the streets of Salvador da Bahia—but they share the
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FEB 2026 Literary Titan Gold Book Award Winner Asterios and the Labyrinth follows Prince Asterios of Knossos as his father dies, political rivals rise against him, foreign powers threaten the island, and love pulls him in directions that the laws of his world barely allow. The story blends palace intrigue, war, prophecy, and a passionate
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Set on the island of Crete during the Minoan Bronze Age some 3,500 years ago, Asterios and the Labyrinth (Mythos of Knossos) by Edmond Thornfield is a tale of gods, kings, heroes, revolts, and magical powers. The Minoans, a wealthy people known for their farming and commerce, experienced some turbulence following the death of King
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There is a particular dishonesty that runs through a great deal of fiction written by and about men, a tendency to grant male characters the external architecture of complexity without the internal substance of it. Men in such novels have ambitions, rivalries, codes of honor, and moments of violence, but their inner lives remain largely
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I have spent a great deal of my writing life inside the minds of women. Atalanta, Elena, Pasiphaë, Costanza, Stella—the women of my novels are not secondary figures, not love interests arranged around a male protagonist. They are the story, or so much of it that the distinction barely holds. People sometimes ask me how
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Asterios and the Labyrinth (Mythos of Knossos) by Edmond Thornfield transports readers back to the time of ancient Greek power, of mythical beasts, sorcerers, and the battle for royal succession. Upon the death of King Minos, his son Asterios must succeed to the throne before the various warlords tear the kingdom apart in their quest
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If you have ever read a novel set in the ancient world and found yourself wondering how much of it is true—how the author knew what a Mycenaean palace smelled like, or how a Minoan priestess dressed, or what Linear B actually says—then you have already crossed the threshold from reader into something more. You
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A Tale of Paris & Paris: Echoes of Troy by Edmond Thornfield is an adult historical fantasy set primarily in fifteenth-century Cortona, Italy, a period defined by religious authority, political tension, and unspoken desire. The novel follows the intertwined lives caught between duty and longing, most notably Lorenzo di Ranieri, a Florentine soldier returning to
