In the novel I'm working on now, the generation of characters that was young in the first novel now has children. And …
The Three Warriors of Slavic Mythology: Who Were They?
Sometimes, when I get stuck in my writing, it helps to take some time to study the visual arts. The amazing flourishing of serious …
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Villains from Slavic Mythology: Baba Yaga
The Hut on Chicken Feet Slavic mythology would not be the same without the old hag with an odd taste in food and …
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Things You May Not Know about “Kievan Rus”
These days, Tolkien isn’t particularly popular among certain readers and publishers of fantasy. To be called “Tolkien-esque” can …
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Ushkuiniki: the Last Pirates of Old Rus
Recently, I've been having trouble with a main character's journey in my second novel. He literally wasn't going anywhere fast. It …
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How Alexander the Great Became Popular in Russia
Recently, my wife and I finished reading aloud the amazing new Russian novel Laurus by Evgenii Vodolazkin. I loved it. First of …
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Russian Village Windows: the Eyes of the Russian Soul
Those of you who’ve been following me, especially on Pinterest, know that I love traditional Russian village windows, which …
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Slavic “fake-lore”: was Slavic mythology made up?
In the 18th century, Russia entered the grand stage of European history. It threw aside its "primitive Easternness", and did …
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The Suffering Innocents
It is easy to become jaded, seeing all the horrors of war on our Facebook wall. It is easy to lose empathy with the suffering …
Bright Week
The Bright Seven Days The first week of Easter is like an extended single day of feasting. Joyful and bright. …
How Iconographers Draw the Soul
In my second novel (tentatively titled The Garden in the Heart of the World), one of the characters is given a …
Seven Ways Russians Used to Celebrate the Coming of Spring
As I’ve begun to delve deeply into my second novel, I’m considering using the time of the year as a contrast to the characters’ …
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Things you never knew about the Russian cradle
A criticism of an early version of my first novel was that it was not grounded enough, too “out there,” too interested in the …
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Heroes from Slavic Mythology: Ilya Muromets
Although it might seem a bit strange at first, I take inspiration for my novels equally from Slavic mythology, sacred literature …
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Everything You Need to Know about the Russian Kaftan
Something a little lighter this week. I generally like to have a vivid mental picture of events and places and people before I …
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The Honor Code of a Russian Officer
Too often in modern fantasy fiction, the invented societies and characters are reflections of the failings of our world. There are …
How the Legend of Prester John Influenced Slavic Mythology
Did you know that Columbus was looking for a mysterious Christian king of India when he stumbled upon the New World? Most people …
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Cossack Family Values
As I was doing research for my first series of novels, I came across a Russian article about the Cossacks and how much they …