I promised everyone a smoking volcano cake at my launch party for Curses and Smoke: A Novel of Pompeii and I didn't lie. It smoked. I swear! For about ten seconds. Then we discovered that the water we were pouring into the container with the dry ice was dripping inside the cake. Of course, the only proper response to that sort of emergency was to shout, THAT MUST NOT BE ALLOWED … [Read more...] about A Volcanic Party for the Release of My Pompeii Novel
Ancient Rome
Ancient Echoes of the Isla Vista Killer
After the tragedy of the misogynist-driven killings in Isla Vista, I felt a little guilty about the lighthearted approach I took in a recent guest post about ancient curses. That’s because, when I reread one of the ancient spells, it suddenly sounded very much like the kind of “curse” the young mass-murdering misogynist might have made. First, some background. The ancient … [Read more...] about Ancient Echoes of the Isla Vista Killer
The Surprising Sexual Reason Pompeii’s Lead is a Slave
I was deep into writing my young adult novel set in Pompeii, Curses and Smoke (Scholastic, May 2014), when my editor sent me a message that would've made any writer's blood turn to ice. "Turns out there's a movie being made about Pompeii," she wrote. "And it too features a male slave as the love interest." After dropping several f-bombs that nearly made my dog's ears bleed, I … [Read more...] about The Surprising Sexual Reason Pompeii’s Lead is a Slave
My Review of Pompeii
Several weeks ago, thanks to VaniaStoyanova, I caught a sneak preview of Pompeii, which opens in theaters, February 21. Interestingly, the experience of attending the early screening was almost more entertaining than the film itself. In the lobby, we were directed to a table manned by several tough-guys dressed in black suits. It looked like a convention of mobsters. No … [Read more...] about My Review of Pompeii
