by Stephanie Dray | Feb 2, 2012 | FAQ, Historical Fiction Genre, Miscellany, My Works, Song of the Nile
The life of Cleopatra Selene is a story so unlikely that magic sometimes seems like the only explanation. But that isn’t why I chose to include magical realism in my book. I included my heroine’s ability to commune with her goddess through bloody hieroglyphs and some...
by Stephanie Dray | Feb 1, 2012 | Miscellany
I’m an American. My country is only a few hundred years old. My countrymen can be insular; even with jet planes the rest of the world seems very far away. And so, when we hear that a tank was captured by rebel forces in Homs it may not register as part of our...
by Stephanie Dray | Jan 31, 2012 | Articles, Daughters of the Nile, Lily of the Nile, Song of the Nile
The star of my new novel, SONG OF THE NILE, is Cleopatra Selene. However, another young woman plays a very prominent role, and that is Julia, the daughter of Rome’s first emperor. Though their parents were mortal enemies, in my novel, the two teenaged girls form a...
by Stephanie Dray | Jan 24, 2012 | Daughters of the Nile, Lily of the Nile, Research, Song of the Nile
In ancient history powerful women got a bad rap. This was especially the case for Rome’s first empress, Livia Drusilla, the wife of Augustus Caesar. She comes down to us as a sort of wicked step-monster of the Julio-Claudian family–one who murders, manipulates...
by Stephanie Dray | Jan 19, 2012 | Cleopatra Selene, FAQ for SONG OF THE NILE
I’ve spent the past few years writing about Cleopatra’s daughter–a fascinating young woman that most people don’t even know existed. Today I want to talk about the next generation, the children that the infamous Queen of the Nile may have bounced on her...
