Judith Starkston has spent too much time reading about and exploring the remains of the ancient world. Early on she went so far as to get degrees in Classics from the University of California, Santa Cruz and Cornell. She writes historical fantasy set in the Bronze Age of the Greeks and Hittites. Her five novels bring women to the fore—whether the Trojan War captive Briseis or a remarkable Hittite queen whom history forgot, even though she ruled over one of the greatest empires of the ancient world.

Judith lives in Davis, California with her husband and a rambunctious garden.

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The Iliad, Homer

A Thousand Ships, Natalie Haynes

Song of Achilles, Madeline Miller

Medea, Elisha Quin, Play by Euripides

Beloved, Toni Morrison

Author N. K. Jamisin

Clytemnestra wife of Agamemnon, Aeschylus

Star Trek

Lilith, Nikki Marmery

The Chalice and the Blade, Riane Eisler

Unesco World Heritage sites in Turkey, Hattusha and more

Author Naomi Novak, The Termeraire series (9 books beginning with Her Majesty’s Dragon)

Author George R. R. Martin, A Game of Thrones series (5 books)

Tyler Schwanke is a writer and a filmmaker. He holds an MFA from Hamline University, and his short stories have been widely published. He is also a graduate of the New York Film Academy and Minnesota State University Moorhead, where he was awarded a Minnesota Film and TV Grant. Several of his award-winning short films have played at festivals across the country. Tyler lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota, with his wife and their dog. Breaking In is his debut novel.

Website, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, X (Twitter), YouTube

Goosebumps books

Author John Grisham

Jurassic Park Michael Crichton

The Shining Stephen King

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo Stieg Larsson

The Hunger Games Suzanne Collins

Breaking In Tyler Schwanke

Working Girl (1988)

Author Diana Gabaldon, The Outlander Series

Author Julia Quinn, The Bridgerton Series

Me Too Movement The phrase originally used on social media starting in 2006

Midsommar (2019)

The Marvels (2023)

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2023)

Alpha Bette is Jennifer’s first novel. She put much of her personal and professional life experience into writing it, having been a family therapist, divorce mediator, Broadway and Off-Broadway producer, musical book writer, screenwriter & producer and screenwriting teacher. She co-wrote and produced the films Family Blues and Boundary Waters (in production) as well as wrote the book of two musicals that are streaming online: Marry Harry, a full-length musical, and Cockroaches & Cologne, a short musical. She is a proud board member of New York Stage and Film, The Peace Studio, and 18by Vote. She is married with five children and many grandchildren—great source material!

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Alpha Bette Jennifer Manocherian

Suffs, Broadway Musical book, music and lyrics by Shaina Taub. Still running

Don’t Call Me Pig: A Javelina Story, Conrad J Storad, Illustrated by Beth Neely

The Peace Studio

18by Vote