Thursday Travels

I know a lot of these Thursday articles end up being about uncovered graves of the ancients, and today is no different. (I really need to find something a little more uplifting for Thursdays. I mean, it is almost the weekend).

The article, 2,000-Year-Old Roman Artifacts Unearthed in Ethiopia, contains an interesting mummy, one I would like to know the story of.

The woman in the grave has been dubbed "Sleeping Beauty," and maybe because of my lack of knowledge of mummies, but the way she was laid was interesting.

They said she was on her side, her hand under her chin, facing a bronze mirror.

This could mean so many different things, though I guess the root of all of it is that she was considered very beautiful in life.

The poses people are buried in usually signify what the culture believed of death (I guess the case is still true), but why was she posed in a leisurely pose, looking into a mirror?

Anyway, happy Thursday!

Thursday Travels

Goodness I'm behind today!

I mentioned I would talk about my trip.

Let me just say, I can see where people get inspiration from.

We were supposed to land in our destination around 2 in the afternoon, plus a 2 hour drive, we would be at our inn at 4 PM.

First, our flights got delayed.

That wouldn't be such a big deal if our connecting flight wasn't leaving before the first flight landed. We spoke to the airline and they insisted it was ok. So, we left for the airport several hours early because clearly everything wasn't ok.

Then, while driving to the airport, we got a notification our flight had been delayed again. We shook our heads and kept on until we got to the check-in desk. The woman was already not too thrilled to be working, so our frustration mixed with hers wasn't a good combination.

Eventually, we got a new route to our destination. We'd arrive at the inn two hours later than planned, but that's life.

The plane we were taking to Chicago was late. The airline, being a business, was determined to make up the time, they threw the people off the plane and shoved us on the plane. That's fine, we all want to make up lost time.

We made our way to Chicago, and had to circle the area due to "weather." It was sprinkling on the ground in Chicago, though someone said because of a funnel cloud we weren't allowed to land. Well, because we were in such a hurry to leave for Chicago, the plane wasn't re-fueled and we had no fuel to circle, so we landed in another state.

Sitting on the plane for about an hour, we finally made our trip to Chicago, of course missing our connecting flight.

The next flight, in which was over booked by one person, wasn't for a while, so I finally had lunch at about 5 in the afternoon.

We finally made it to our destination, and were ready to face a two hour drive to the inn. Unfortunately, someone had other plans for us, and we encountered an accident on the highway. It took two hours to go two miles, and it wasn't until midnight that we were speeding away, hungry, thirsty and done with the trip.

Because of the late hour drive, a location people normally call beautiful will always be plastered in my mind as something straight out of a horror movie. There was fog everywhere, and there was this marsh that was illuminated by the moon. The marsh had dead trees poking out and I was just waiting to hear the moaning of the dead.

Needless to say, the three or four hours of sleep we got that night were not enough, and we failed to enjoy our time.

I'm just thankful the return trip wasn't a repeat of the trip out and we made it home safely.

Thursday Travels

Dementor wasps sound like fun, don't they?

They are part of the 139 new species that were discovered in the Greater Mekong Region in 2014. That's a lot of new species, especially when a mammal is among them.

Another species is a Crocodile newt, which sounds adorable.

Here's an article about the new species:

'Dementor' wasp, giant stick insect among new Mekong finds.

The bat picture they use as the main image is cute as well. It smiles with it's pointy teeth and says "I'm ready for my close up."

I love hearing about new animals being discovered. Some are extremely cute, others are so poisonous you get sick reading about it.

What's even better is that these aren't from someone's imagination, they're real, and they're here.

I've been trying to create some creatures for my fantasy adventure novels, and there are some, in the heat of a scene, that come out as the most ridiculous things I've ever thought of. I need to plan better sometimes. Or maybe I should take a trip to Mekong and discover a new species for myself. (Only joking. Though it would be fun to discover a new species).

Thursday Travel

Genetic Study Identifies Young Paternal Lineages in Europe.

It says that 2 out of 3 modern European men came from 1 of 3 paternal lineages.

Let's see if I can recall high school genetics: It's hard to trace female DNA like this because the X chromosomes split and connect with another half, mixing together the parent's DNA. However, the Y chromosome is just passed from father to son.

There is mitochondrial DNA in hair that can determine maternal lineage, but we never got into too much detail about that. Besides, hair from centuries old skeletons is probably hard to find.

Anyway, I just thought this sounded inspiring for a story or a plot.

I'm still posting tomorrow, but wanted to say: Have a good weekend! And if you are celebrating a holiday, have a safe and fun holiday weekend!

Here's a map from the article:



Map from archaeology.org

Thursday Travels

To continue with last Thursday's post about  China, here's another article that will hopefully spark some inspiration for a character or scene: Epitaphs From Ming Dynasty Translated.

The title of the article is a little on the misleading side, as they only discussed an epitaph of a woman called Lady Mei.

She lived more recently compared to the late doctor from last Thursday's post, but what bits of the epitaph they quoted made Lady Mei out to be an impressive person, or at least beloved.

A writing prompt idea with this story in mind: use your character's voice (or a voice you want to practice) to describe this woman, like they knew her. What was Lady Mei like? What hobbies did she enjoy? Or even, what were the days of mourning after her passing like?

Thursday Travels

Tomb Raiders is the topic of the day. More specifically, tomb raiders in China.

This isn't about the video game or the book series, though the latter was mentioned in one of the following articles.

700-Year-Old Doctor's Tomb Excavated in China - is short and interesting, led to a longer topic about tomb raiders, Tomb Raider Chronicles.

I tend to use Thursday's blog post as hopes to inspire writers and others with articles about real life things I find interesting. Today is no exception. There is so many different scenarios these articles spur: the life of a tomb raider (which has been done, but who says it can't be done again?), the ancients who put things in the tomb, this 700-Year-Old Doctor Wu Jing and his life, among others.

On another note, tomb raiders do break my heart. I've said this multiple times before, but I am fascinated by ancient cultures all around the world. So when I hear chances to learn more about the past have been foiled, I can't help but be upset. There are other sides to the issue that I don't want to get into, because that's not what this is about. This is about new ideas, learning new things, and hopefully a spark to create something amazing.

(Side note: I really need to put more pictures in these blog posts. Text is good, but if only broken up by images, videos, gifs, etc.)

Thursday Travels

I wandered beyond the river of death, forgetting the pain it was to be me and looking forward to the excitement it was to become "me" again.

Going back to Latin America (not physically, but article-wise), I found this short article: Liquid Mercury Discovered Beneath Teotihuacan Pyramid.

My first thought was "how many people got sick putting the mercury there?" That wasn't the point of the article, but knowing what we know about mercury now, I can't imagine how many people became sick interacting with the mercury.

Anyway, one of the cool theories behind why mercury may have been there is because "it may have symbolized the river of death." (That's an image/prompt for sure).

Also, my favorite take-away from this article is that they also found "metallic spheres dubbed "disco balls"." I guess they wanted to make sure the person had everything they needed to party in the afterlife. :)

Thursday Travels

Through my usual reads, Business Insider, Entrepreneur, Archaeology, I came across this: Iron Age Owl Clasp Unearthed in Denmark.

It's a short article (with a picture!), but in the writing  mindset I was in when reading about this iron owl, I thought it would make an interesting prompt.

A while ago I mentioned I was doing writersedit.com "weekly" prompts to get into the practice of writing in my MC's voice. The prompt I was working on (#3 I think) mentioned your protagonist finding something strange in their pocket. So, reading this I thought "what if my MC received this as a gift?"

So, here is a writing prompt for people looking for something to write based on the article:

What if your character (a MC, the protagonist of your latest work, even favorite characters from TV shows, movies, books or video games) received this owl (or even found it)? Why did they receive it? Is it a reward for a long journey? Or is it a gift before the hero goes into battle? Explore your character's reaction to the gift, physical and emotional. Does it stir painful memories or excite them to action?

I'll be working on this as well. Maybe Wednesday I'll post it (seeing if I can finish everything else before then).

Thursday Travels

It's been about a month since I started this blog and I haven't ever discussed any of the books I've read.

However, today I came across an article about an ancient civilization that was introduced to me in Amy Raby's Fire Seer. It was an interesting read, and if you like historical fictions that lean more toward the fiction, you should check it out. I believe the age group is Adult (for the people who want to know). (Edit: She notes that the evidence of the Harapans was a jumping off point for her book and not to regard it as historical. Still interesting though.)

I love learning about ancient civilizations, the older the better, so I was thrilled when I read the Fire Seer and learned of the Harapan. Now, I want to note here that I am in no way considered an expert on history or the Harapan, or any civilizations in the Indus Valley (or anywhere really), so some of what I'm about to say may be a little off the mark since I'm piecing together the little I've read about them (two articles and Raby's notes). I'm also not sure on the spelling since I've seen "Harapan", "Harrapan", and "Harappa", so I'm just going to pick one and stick with it.

The Harapan were contemporaries of the Ancient Egyptians, but less is known of them. The civilizations in the Indus Valley served as a trade route and gateway between the east and the west. They probably thrived from their resources of stones and metals, and from trade. Often civilizations that host traders tend to thrive becoming the most advanced and diverse of civilizations as they have the opportunity to be exposed to cultures and items from across the land.

At the end of the Fire Seer, Raby writes about the Harapan and what she knows of them. She notes that "The Harapans had the world's first flush toilets!", showing how advanced the civilization was in the second/third century B.C.

Because of the harsh climate of the desert, it's difficult for people to do excavations, but it sounds like progress is made every month or so. In addition, Raby notes that we haven't been able to translate the language the Harapan's used, so we are missing out on a lot about them. It's also unknown as to why many of the civilizations in the Indus Valley fell and were left uninhabited for almost 1,500 years.

Here's an Archaeology article about the Indus Valley Civilizations if you want to read more.

And here's a blog post about the fall of another ancienct civilization: Thursday Travels 3/19/15.

Thursday Travels

I scheduled yesterday's post for yesterday, and it didn't post. Strange.

It's there now, but I'll have to figure out why it didn't post. (Late thought: maybe I didn't hit publish).

This isn't too much adventure and exploring, but it's historical. Anyway, here is something I found for the book/history lovers: Technology Recovers Marginalia from Medieval Manuscript (link goes out to Archaeology).

I had never heard the term "marginalia" before, so for those who haven't either it's writing in the margins.

They said there were doodles and notes taken in the margins of the oldest surviving medieval manuscript. The writings a doodles were later erased by a later owner of the book.

It's great to hear that they can read them as, like the article mentions, we can get an insight into what our ancestors thought of the text - or if they, like so many students in class, wrote other notes in the margins.

Pawn Stars had a book come into their shop that was from the library of Isaac Newton (I believe). There were notes in those margins as well (though they were said to not be in his handwriting).

I can tell you I have books from English classes full of class notes, my thoughts, and notes from friends sitting next to me. I was also fortunate to buy a used book for a History class and find the pages full of notes from a previous owner. The notes were so great that I looked like a genius during in-class discussions, despite not actually reading the book.

Even J.K.Rowling had two paperback books, about Quidditch and Mythical Beasts, where Ron and Harry wrote notes to each other. Those were a great read, even if it was just for the notes.

Normally, I cringe at writing in books - that's what notebooks are for - but in the case of the Marginalia in the Medieval Manuscript (sounds like a title for a crime novel or TV crime show episode), I am thrilled.

Thursday Travels

The world seems to be filled with a lot of dark stories recently, but there has to be good out there, right?

I wish it was a requirement for news stations, and media in general, to post about inspirational topics or talk on acts of good will. Why do we need to restore our faith in humanity in small bursts? Why can't we be reminded on a daily basis that there are good people in the world?

I found 25 photos that will restore your faith in humanity (goes out to MSN).

I don't care about the place, time, age, gender, religion, political leaning, or anything. I just want to see people, or animals, doing good for others. It does the heart good to see something that doesn't make it feel bitter or cold.

(I had to stop halfway through the photos in fear a coworker would ask me why I was crying.)

These were great photos. There was one I had a hard time reading (or two actually). But, beneath the photo it explains the gist of the image.

I want to laugh at the first picture. The woman's reaction is fantastic, and expected, but the face of the lady behind her makes the picture a whole other kind of fun. I really hope she got the job.

Anyway, if a Scientist wants to beam the internet into space, then I hope more of the good (and funny) comes through.

Thursday Travels

A photo of an animal that is said to be closely related to rabbits and hares (lagomorphs) has been floating around.

The Ili pika:



It's adorable and looks like a cross between a rabbit and a mouse. One reporter even called it an Ewok.

Unfortunately, for us and them, they only seem to reside on a specific mountain in China. Plus, they are extremely endangered.

The reason the critter is so spectacular, besides being cute, its because it hasn't been seen for 20 years. The photograph is actually from early 2014, but only recently has become a big deal in the media.

Personally, I love it. I adore rabbits and I want to hug one of these. If my plot bunnies looked like this, I would welcome them with open arms.

Now, I'm going to return to my cave and get some work done. Enjoy the cuteness!

Thursday Travels

Maybe it should be called Thursday Inspiration or something. Of course, then it wouldn't be an alliteration.

I love reading Historical Fiction, especially about ancient or pristine civilizations. I've always loved learning about ancient civilizations from anywhere in the world, but never really had a chance to study them as much as I'd like.

One of my favorite Historical Fiction authors is Michelle Moran. I often find myself thinking about The Heretic Queen or Cleopatra's Daughter. She recently came out with a new book, The Rebel Queen, which I bought and put on the short list of "To Reads".

So, through my daily RSS feed reading of articles, mainly comprised of business articles, I came across this Archaeology Magazine article: Why did Teotihuacan Collapse? (Tay-oh-tea-wa-kahn. At least that's how my Latin American History professor said it).

It's a very short article, but it's enough to let your imagination go. It'd be awesome if someone would write a historical fiction novel about this. We know, generally, why the civilization collapsed, but what else drove it? What characters?

If you're inspired, feel free to write it. While I said I love historical fiction, I don't know if I'd be the best voice for it. I have about 9 novel ideas left to write before I would even consider writing this. Of course I'd love for you to let me know about it (and autograph my copy. I collect autographs of my favorite (living) authors).

Anyway, are there American (North or South American) historical fiction novels prior to 1492? Once colonization hit North America, I lose interest quickly. :)

Thursday Travels

My blog is travel themed in the sense of background, so in honor of that, and that my series I am working on is adventure, I thought it would be good to share some travel/archeology related things.

I am a huge fan of archaeology, especially ancient civilizations. And I don't travel too much, though I'll highlight some cool places I see on the internet (of actual places to visit). I hope something will be interesting or inspiring for someone.

One of the articles I read was New tomb discovered in Luxor, Egypt. The link goes out to Archaeology magazine's article.


If you don't read the article, I really recommend looking at the picture. A lot of the images I've seen of Ancient Egyptian tombs have been pretty damaged in one way or another. But the image of this new tomb shows pretty much what the paint was like when it was applied. Really vibrant!