stephaniedraven.com » spartacus

A New Roman Historical…from a friend!

Stephanie Draven — Sun, 04 Jul 2010 04:25:57 +0000

Yeah, yeah. I write dark modern paranormal romance for HQN Nocturne. But my alter-ego writes historical fiction and I’m a fan of all things Roman. I like the idea of a Vestal Virgin with a forbidden love. To that end, it’s my pleasure to welcome my Maryland Romance Writer chapter mate, Kate Poole as a [...]

The NYT on the new Spartacus series

Stephanie Draven — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 19:42:53 +0000

The New York times has an interesting story on the upcoming Starz Television Show, Spartacus. They seem to imply that it's going to be all sex and gore. Maybe that's not a bad thing. I'm sure there are other lessons that the writers could have taken from HBO's Rome, but this is what they zeroed in on:

The show’s creators were also fans of “Rome,” and they say they learned two important lessons from that series. One was not to spend a fortune on building sets. (“Spartacus” relies instead on green-screen technology and C.G.I.) And the other was that their story line needed, like that of “Rome” to be character driven.

Spartacus…the series?

Stephanie Draven — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 04:11:44 +0000

HBO's Rome was some fantastic television, and Showtime is doing great with the Tudors, so why not. As long as it doesn't try to remake Kubrick's film--because seriously, the original Spartacus does not need to be remade--it could be pretty great. Here's the trailer for it. As an author of myth-inspired and historical fiction, I cheer and say bring on more of the Sword & Sandal epics!

Review: Cleopatra’s Daughter by Michelle Moran

Stephanie Draven — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 15:47:16 +0000

After my interview with author Michelle Moran, I wanted to read her book about the very last Ptolemaic Queen a second time, and I'm glad I did. It's in the second reading of Cleopatra's Daughter that the atmospheric details and astute editorial choices not only surprise but delight. As far as ancient women go, Selene, isn't as famous as her mother, but she was arguably more successful, and this book is a captivating story of her youth as a virtual prisoner of war in Rome. Ms. Moran stays close to the true events of history, but like all the best writers of historical fiction she adds some flair of her own. She conjures up a mythical figure of...