Do you love events where you can walk away with a truckload of free books and a chance at winning e-readers, all while munching on tasty treats? If so, come out to see me and my fellow authors today in Crofton, MD. There will be door prizes, raffles, and plenty of other surprises. You can get your shopping done for the holidays while the kids play at the fair!

Do you think free wine, strawberries and chocolate are compatible with serious but fun discussions on feminism in history? If so, do I have a totally free event for you to enjoy this coming weekend! On Friday, September 23rd, I’ll be appearing at the Baltimore Book Festival to give my BAD GIRLS OF THE ANCIENT WORLD talk at 5pm. It’s Ladies’ Night Out on that first day of the festival, and if you’re looking for a carnival for smart people, you found it. Authors will be giving away free books galore, not to mention other prizes. I’ll also be appearing on Sunday afternoon at 3pm on a panel entitled “How Historical Fiction Changed The World” and again at 4pm to give a reading from my latest work and give away an Egyptian themed basket that will include a copy of Lily of the Nile. I hope to see you there and hope you spread the word!

I’ll be making a presentation in time for Valentine’s Day entitled Love, Monsters & Mythology. The handout for it is here. It’s worth looking at for the pretty pictures.

When I schedule events in bookstores, I try not to limit myself to sitting behind a table waiting to pounce on passersby and ask them to buy my book. That always seems like a recipe for social awkwardness, so I like to give a talk. It helps to entertain the crowds and gives me something to do other than point out where the bathroom is or help a customer find Stacy Schiff’s latest biography.

Given that my limited expertise is related to completely trivial information about people who have been dead for thousands of years, coming up with an interesting talk was a challenge. However, one of my favorites is called Bad Girls of the Ancient World. It’s a great lecture to give in promoting Lily of the Nile, because my heroine, Cleopatra Selene, happens to be related to a startling number of history’s Girls Gone Wild.

However, as a recent bookstore manager reminded me, Barnes & Noble is a family establishment. To that end, I began to worry about my handouts which include the obligatory half-naked painting of Cleopatra VII of Egypt and a somewhat racier depiction of the seduction of Olympias.

Now, some of my friends have tried to convince me that what I’m looking at in this painting is actually a foot, but having counted up the various limbs involved in this sexual tryst, I’m not sure that I agree. So, I submit the matter to my mature readers to decide. Does that look like a foot on her knee or is he happy to see her?

Hence, my dilemma.

Option #1 involved cropping off the offending foot, which rather diminishes the intensity of the artistic rendition. Or…option #2…

The not so proverbial fig leaf.

And since this talk is as much about feminism and equal opportunity as it is about ancient history, perhaps I should go with this…

It starts to get a bit silly, doesn’t it? And I admit to being obnoxed by the idea that famous paintings might not be considered family friendly or safe for young women to view. I’m sure Augustus would have agreed and that, in itself, makes me feel rebellious.

What do you think?