Clare Mulley is the award-winning author of three books re-examining the history of the First and Second World War through the lives of remarkable women. The Woman Who Saved the Children, about child rights pioneer Eglantyne Jebb, won the Daily Mail Biographers' Club Prize and is now under option. Polish-born Second World War special agent Krystyna Skarbek, aka Christine Granville, is the subject of the Spy Who Loved, a book that led to Clare being decorated with Poland’s national honour, the Bene Merito. Clare's third book, The Women Who Flew for Hitler, long-listed for the Historical Writers Association prize, tells the extraordinary story of Nazi Germany’s only two female test pilots, whose choices and actions put them on opposite sides of history. Clare reviews for the Telegraph, Spectator, and History Today. A popular public speaker, she has given a TEDx talk at Stormont, and recent TV includes news appearances for the BBC, Sky, and Channel 5 as well as various Second World War history series.
This is a left-of-field choice, but when thinking about female fliers it is worth remembering the cultural baggage they inevitably carry with them. Historically, female flight whether by broom, wing, mental transcendence or in the cockpit of a Spitfire, has threatened the patriarchy while liberating women. Even today, ‘flighty’ women are still considered in negative terms. This book explores the power and prejudice around aerial females.
From the asparas of Hindu myth to the swan maidens of European fairy tales, tales of flying women-some with wings, others with clouds, rainbows, floating scarves, or flying horses-reveal both fascination with and ambivalence about female power and sexuality. In Women Who Fly, Serinity Young examines the motif of flying women as it appears in a wide variety of cultures and historical periods, expressed in legends, myths, rituals, sacred narratives, and artistic productions. She covers a wide range of themes, including supernatural women, like the Valkyries, who transport men to immortality; winged goddesses like Iris and the Greek goddess Nike;…
I’m a paranormal romance and fantasy author who fell in love with fantasy as a young girl. My journey as a reader started when I was four, but what changed me entirely was Russian Tales woven with magic. I’m passionate about Lycans, Werewolves, Witches, Vampires, and everything that’s magical. I like to write sizzling tales of love and betrayal.
This entire series has my heart and soul. Paranormal world fused with Greek mythology? Hell, yes! I’d read this any day and every day. My top pick in this series is The Darkest Kiss because I love the female lead Anya. She’s just amazing. Anya is introduced as a fun loving, trouble maker but as the novel evolves we learn Anya has more layers to her character and with each layer coming off, you can’t help but fall deeply in love with her just like Death. I mean, I totally understand him. This book is such an entertaining read.
She has tempted many men…but never found her equal. Until now.
Though she has lived for centuries, Anya, goddess of anarchy, has never known pleasure. Until Lucien, the incarnation of death—a warrior eternally doomed to take souls to the hereafter. He draws her like no other. And Anya will risk anything to have him. But when the merciless Lord of the Underworld is ordered by the gods to claim Anya herself, their uncontrollable attraction becomes an anguished pursuit. Now they must defeat the unconquerable forces that control them, before their thirst for one another demands a sacrifice of love beyond…
I have loved escaping into different worlds for most of my life and all of these authors have inspired me to delve into worlds that don’t exist. They have taught me how to craft and expand my own made-up fantasy worlds. Not only inspiring my writing, but also giving me moments where I can escape from the world for a time and let my imagination run riot. I wanted to give readers the same chance to do just that in my latest book Realm of Dragons, Fight for the Crown, and I have these tales to thank for that. Truly great fantasy writers give us the chance to escape.
A simple explanation of this book is Althalas is a thief and lives his life looking for the next heist he can pull off, until the Goddess Dweia hires him to save the world from the desolations of her evil brother Daeva and his henchman Ghend. The telling of this tale is anything but simple. The authors have drawn on past civilisations that can be easily recognised to the reader, such as the Roman and Viking, adding their own lore and history to it. It is richly described and draws the reader to become invested in Althalas’s troubles and successes, along with all of his personable and flawed companions. It is an enjoyable read, and I dare you not to fall in love with Emmy.
A fabulous brand new Eddings standalone fantasy, set in an entirely new magical world.
Burglar, armed robber and sometime murderer, our hero Althalus is commissioned to steal a book from the House at the End of the World by a mysterious cloaked stranger named Ghend. At the House at the End of the World, he finds a talking cat... in the same room as the book Ghend described. What he can't find once he's in the house is the door by which he entered. Only 2467 years and an ice age later does Althalus re-emerge with the cat, Emmy. He's…
I've been interested in feminine figures since I was a small, Catholic child presented with the Virgin Mary! Further down the road in graduate school and in my teaching career as an English Professor at a small Liberal Arts college, I began to research comparative mythology and the study of archetypes with a particular emphasis on the female divine. Now, after publishing three books and several articles on the goddesses, I'm happy to help others in their journey of discovery. I believe a good way to approach that study today is to focus on how our contemporary women writers portray goddesses in their works of fiction and non-fiction.
Marija Gimbutas’ The Living Goddessesis a great place to start your study of goddesses.
Gimbutas is a major researcher in the field of goddess studies, and her book is quoted more than often. Instead of reading other scholars’ work that quotes Gimbutas, why not read the original study of Paleolithic and Neolithice archetypes and their descendents in several Bronze and Iron Age cultures.
Additionally, Gimbutas postulates how those archetypes have evolved in contemporary culture. Matrilineal social structure as mirrored in religion and myth is the basis of Gimbutas’ gift to women today.
The Living Goddesses crowns a lifetime of innovative, influential work by one of the twentieth-century's most remarkable scholars. Marija Gimbutas wrote and taught with rare clarity in her original--and originally shocking--interpretation of prehistoric European civilization. Gimbutas flew in the face of contemporary archaeology when she reconstructed goddess-centered cultures that predated historic patriarchal cultures by many thousands of years. This volume, which was close to completion at the time of her death, contains the distillation of her studies, combined with new discoveries, insights, and analysis. Editor Miriam Robbins Dexter has added introductory and concluding remarks, summaries, and annotations. The first part…
This is McMinn’s debut novel, and wow. What a debut.
The Ruptured Sky is a book that’s filled with action from the off. Nothing in this book is obvious – nothing goes smoothly for the characters, and they all face obstacles at every turn. It’s not what I would call a laugh-a-minute book, but it’s one that’s definitely engaging and compelling.
I couldn’t put this book down and certainly didn’t want it to end; to the point where I was loath to read the final chapter.
Abandoning her homeland, she travels across the ruins of Whyt’hallen to take up the hunt against the mutated remnants of a magical war that killed the gods and tore the sky asunder.
But these vicious beasts are not the darkest shadow hanging over Amika's life—it's the forbidden magic she’s hidden since childhood … and what would happen if it were discovered.
On the trail of a dangerous mark, Amika uncovers a madman who is more than what he seems. He claims her unnatural gifts are prophesied to restore the goddess to her throne, protecting Whyt’hallen…
I grew up in the ‘60s, when women were not in charge of anything much. I’ve always been fascinated by strong women. Amelia Earhart was a particular favorite, as were the suffragettes, Michelle Obama, and others. The strongest thing I’ve done in my life is to seize opportunities when they arise. I forged a second career that way, taking more than one leap of faith to do what I’ve always known I could do, be a writer. During and after my first career as a dental hygienist I took opportunities to be a newspaper wire editor, then a columnist, a magazine writer, an indexer, a nonfiction writer, and a novelist.
The Fishers’ nonfiction book is a starting point for understanding why and how matriarchies have evolved, succeeded, failed, endured.
It’s a scholarly work, meticulously researched, and can be heavy reading at times. But it’s also engaging and fascinating. I used it while researching my book to give me a better understanding of how matriarchies work and why they still work – or don’t work - today.
What happened when women ruled the world? There are many questions about the Old Culture - a culture even before history was written. Whatever happened to the Great Goddess? When did patriarchy start? How did women become objectified? This book is about the Journey of ancient women with their many glories and challenges. It talks about the gender partitioning which still survived in some cultures today, women as warriors, advisers, goddesses and properties. Chapters included are: •The Goddess Paradigm •Women Warrior •Dethroning the Queen of Heaven •The Queen in Exile Written with a Mathematician’s precision and a Historian’s curiosity, Time…
I have been a spiritual seeker my entire life, drawn to the mysteries of life, the nature of the soul, the afterlife, intuitive knowing, higher consciousness, and psycho-spiritual transformation. Besides the numerous personal teachers who have enriched my path, personal/ spiritual growth books have been a powerful guide and inspiration. In my coaching practice “Touch The Soul”, I continually draw on my own 70 plus years of acquired elder wisdom as well as the wisdom of so many who have come before me, writers and wayshowers of expansive spirituality.I am grateful to share a few books which may enlighten and deepen your own spiritual journey.
What does it mean to become “a juicy crone”? Expanded mystical, intellectual, intuitive, and meditative wisdom as well as healing laughter, outrage, and compassion are all available to the elder woman in the goddess archetypes present in her psyche. I love the comprehensive and empowering recognition of the beautiful, priceless inner gifts possible in a woman's rebirthing after the age of 50.
From the bestselling author of Goddesses in Everywoman comes a celebration of life past fifty.
At some point after fifty, every woman crosses a threshold into the third phase of her life. As she enters this uncharted territory she can choose to mourn what has gone before, or she can embrace the juicy-crone years.
In this celebration of Act Three, Jean Shinoda Bolen, Jungian analyst and bestselling author of Goddesses in Everywoman, names the powerful new energies and goddess archetypes of compassion, outrage, healing laughter, and new layers of wisdom that come into the psyche at this momentous time. Bolen…
I grew up in Sweden surrounded by archaeology steeped in Viking history, which fueled my interest in Norse mythology. For example, Uppåkra, the largest and richest Iron Age settlement in Scandinavia, is only a few miles from my childhood home. When my seventh-grade history teacher noticed my fascination with the Viking myths, he started recommending me books. Ever since, I’ve read extensively about the Norse pantheon, and its stories inspire my own writing. I’ve also taken several research trips to historical Viking settlements in Sweden, Denmark, and Iceland.
Dr. Davidson has written extensively about Norse mythology, both books and articles. Her scholarship is terrific, and I have three of her books in my research library. What makes this book so unique, though, is that she concentrates on the goddesses of the Norse pantheon and women’s roles in the Viking world in general, of which not much is written. Reading this book is like taking a master class in Norse women’s studies, and I had to replace my print copy because I’d scribbled so many notes in it that it became impossible to read.
While much work has been done on goddesses of the ancient world and the male gods of pre-Christian Scandinavia, the northern goddesses have been largely neglected. Roles of the Northern Goddess presents a highly readable study of the worship of these goddesses by men and women. With its use of evidence from early literature, popular tradition, legend and archaeology, this book investigates the role of the early hunting goddess and the local goddesses who were involved in all aspects of the household and the farm. What emerges is that the goddess was both benevolent and destructive, a powerful figure closely…
World
myths have intrigued me since my teenage years and in various forms have
underscored much of my fiction. The exclusion of the goddess from modern
religion and culture and its many ramifications is something I have explored
in my novels, albeit set in an imagined world.
Returning to the topic recently, certainly one of the most comprehensive books
on the topic I’ve read is The Myth of the Goddess. It’s a painstakingly
researched, scholarly but highly accessible exploration and deep investigation
into the many (yet essentially one) goddess figures of ancient cultures. It
carries us from the Paleolithic age through the emerging cultures of Crete,
Sumeria, Egypt, Babylon, Greece and more, to the advent of Judaeo-Christian
monotheism, the assembling of the patriarchal superstructure, the Gnostic Sophia, the
Catholic cult of Mary and western civilization’s consequent disconnection from the
natural world.
A comprehensive, scholarly accessible study, in which the authors draw upon poetry and mythology, art and literature, archaeology and psychology to show how the myth of the goddess has been lost from our formal Judeo-Christian images of the divine. They explain what happened to the goddess, when, and how she was excluded from western culture, and the implications of this loss.
I have always been interested in cultural history. In my early 30s, I realized that Greek mythology was a late, patriarchal revision of the earlier Goddess-centric myths. After much research, I reconstructed several pre-Olympian myths in my book Lost Goddesses of Early Greece. This was one of the first books of the Women’s Spirituality movement, which began in the 1970s and is still going strong. A few years later, I edited an anthology of 50 voices, The Politics of Women’s Spirituality. Thus I am a foremother of that movement, which is a bountiful exploration of authentic spiritual experience in women’s lives.
With The Goddess Path the late Patricia Monaghan, author of The New Book of Goddesses and Heroines, bequeathed a well-designed and deeply wise pathway into spiritual engagement. She begins in “Basics of Goddess Spirituality” by answering commonly heard questions, then presents “Frameworks for Goddess Imagery” and “The Goddess Year” of rituals. The rest of the book is “The Goddess Revealed”: a chapter on each of twenty Goddesses, presenting her historical or traditional invocation, her myth and meaning, her symbols, and her feasts. At that point, Patricia Monaghan presents suggestions for invoking each Goddess through the reader’s personal ritual. Here she wisely speaks of the dynamics of women’s lives in modern culture and the power of this spiritual practice, flowing from extremely ancient roots into the presence of 21st-century women.
In this text, Patricia Monaghan, offers a creative approach to worship, one in which the reader can develop and ritualize their own connection to the goddess' manifestations around the world.
