Apr 21, 2018 | Fun Historical Facts, Writing
E.L. Skip Knox recently published a great post on one of my favorite resources, Mythic Scribes, titled, History for Fantasy Writers: Money. Knox is the creator of the fantasy world called Altearth, a place where magic is real, monsters roam the land, and the Roman...
Apr 1, 2018 | Fun Historical Facts
Happy Easter, everyone! Orthodox Easter is next week, mind you, but I thought it made more sense for me to post this today. I know that, for most of you, Easter is about bunnies dropping chocolate eggs all over gardens (not to be confused with another, less sanitary...
Mar 21, 2018 | Fun Historical Facts, Writing
I recently discovered Sara’s blog, Rough Diplomacy. Sara is a veteran of Active Duty Air Force and Navy Reserves, plus a Bioinformatics graduate, and her blog reflects her diverse interests. More than anything, however, it highlights how passionate she is about...
Feb 9, 2018 | Fun Historical Facts
As those of you who have watched my interviews know, I have a strange accent. Definitely not Greek, it’s been mistaken for British (by my American friends) and Dutch (by my British ones). Even worse, I seem to unconsciously pick up the accent of the person...
Jan 23, 2018 | Fun Historical Facts, My friends' Guest Posts, Writing
This is a guest post by Allan Bishop, a mid-twenty-something writing hack, and yuppie professional somewhere in the Greater Boston area. He laments the passing of bacon, enjoys long walks on back roads, and provides irreverent but affectionate takes, guides, and...
Nov 21, 2017 | Fun Historical Facts
I have Anika Burgess and Vittoria Traverso of Atlas Obscura to thank for the beautiful images you can enjoy below and for the fascinating tale of the Luneborch manuscript; a long-lost 15-century prayer book that had been missing for some 40 years. The...
Nov 3, 2017 | Fun Historical Facts, My friends' Guest Posts
This is a guest post by Adela Belin, a private educator and a writer at Writers Per Hour. She shares her teaching experience with colleagues, students, and writers. Feel free to contact her on G+. I strongly believe that one of the things making the Expanse or Firefly...
Oct 31, 2017 | Fun Historical Facts
Halloween is all about scary fun, right? Well, it looks like the Japanese have been celebrating it for ages, judging by these outhouse-haunting spirits! Take your pick from the following creepy spirits, brought to you courtesy of Eric Grundhauser of Atlas Obscura....
Oct 27, 2017 | Entertainment, Fun Historical Facts
Seeing how much you all enjoy archaic insults, here are some more, courtesy of Dictionary.com. Gobermouch: an old Irish term for someone who meddles in other people’s business. That classic Friends scene would be quite something with goubermouch instead of...
Oct 9, 2017 | Fun Historical Facts, Publishing
Even though pamphlets and softcover books have been available in Europe since the 16th century, US readers looked down on them until well into the 20th century. As a recent Atlas Obscura post by Cara Giaimo explains, without a mass-market distribution model in place,...