Isn’t that a great title? I totally want to nab it as the title of any follow-up novel I write to my forthcoming book, which we’re tentatively calling CARNAL CREATURES. It’s about a modern day sphinx and a modern day minotaur caught in a desperate struggle for survival, but enough about that…let’s talk about the sphinx in Egypt. Thanks to Michelle Moran’s tip, I found this article in the Smithsonian and it’s fascinating.

Amongst the many interesting tidbits contained in the article is this bit of evidence that the Egyptians may not have been using a slave labor force to construct their great wonders:

Near the cemetery, nine years later, Lehner discovered his Lost City. He and Hawass had been aware since the mid-1980s that there were buildings at that site. But it wasn’t until they excavated and mapped the area that they realized it was a settlement bigger than ten football fields and dating to Khafre’s reign. At its heart were four clusters of eight long mud-brick barracks. Each structure had the elements of an ordinary house—a pillared porch, sleeping platforms and a kitchen—that was enlarged to accommodate around 50 people sleeping side by side. The barracks, Lehner says, could have accommodated between 1,600 to 2,000 workers—or more, if the sleeping quarters were on two levels. The workers’ diet indicates they weren’t slaves. Lehner’s team found remains of mostly male cattle under 2 years old—in other words, prime beef. Lehner thinks ordinary Egyptians may have rotated in and out of the work crew under some sort of national service or feudal obligation to their superiors.

I found this tidbit, courtesy of Michelle Moran: Crete has seduced archaeologists for more than a century, luring them to its rocky shores with fantastic tales of legendary kings, cunning deities, and mythical creatures…like the Minotaur! Check out what they’ve found in the First Minoan Shipwreck.

I freely admit that I use my Wii mostly for exercise. I do Yoga on the balance board. I dance my fool head off with Dance Dance Revolution. But for a Greek Myth inspired game like NyxQuest, I might make an exception and actually dabble with something…dare I say it…fun?

It’s based on the story of Icarus, which is oh-so-entangled with the Minotaur Myth upon which I’m building my newest novel for Harlequin’s Silhouette Nocturne and it’s getting good reviews! Check out the trailer below: