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GRAPHIC NOVELS
For the College Classroom


PRIMITIVE ARCHER MAGAZINE
Hunting Through
Medieval Literature

 
INTERDISCIPLINARY HUMANITIES
Peter Pan

CONTRIBUTOR
Graphic Novel Reporter

HORSE & RIDER MAGAZINE
A Whisper and a Prayer

CONFERENCE PAPER
The Masculine Mind
of Shakespeare's Women

COURSE CURRICULUM ARTICLE
Christine de Pizan

GODDESSES IN world CULTURE
The Maiden with a
Thousand Slippers

CONFERENCE PAPER
Hostages in the Rose Garden

SEMINAR TOPIC
Murder Will Out

Links for READERS and STUDENTS

AbeBooks - When looking for books (new, used, rare, self-published, and out-of-print), this website searches among hundreds of vendor sites to find what you're looking for.

English Council of Califoria Two Year Colleges - The purpose of ECCTYC is to advance English teaching and learning in the two-year college by providing opportunities for the exchange of discipline information, promoting professional interaction and growth among its members, and articulating concerns of the discipline to professional and policy-making groups.

Good Reads - Goodreads is a free website for book lovers. Imagine it as a large library that you can wander through and see everyone's bookshelves, their reviews, and their ratings. You can also post your own reviews and catalog what you have read, are currently reading, and plan to read in the future.

Humanities Education and Research Association - HERA is a nonprofit organization devoted to maintaining humanities education in grades K-12. Links to colleges that offer humanities degrees and conferences.

Internet Public Library - The first public library of and for the Internet community with annotated collections of high quality Internet resources, selected by IPL staff for their usefulness in providing accurate, factual information on a particular topic or topics, a reference section, and links to books magazines, and periodicals.

The Library of Congress "American Memory" - This archive of American manuscripts, recordings, maps, films and images was launched in the mid-1990s and now contains about 15 million items.

Librophiles - Everyone has some kind of place that makes them feel transported to a magical realm. For the people at Curious Expeditions, its library induced euphoria. Curious Expeditions has attempted to gather together the world’s most beautiful libraries on a single web page.

Project Gutenberg - You will find classic books from the start of the 20th century and previous, from authors like Shakespeare, Poe, and Dante. Many best-loved favorites include, the Sherlock Holmes stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the Tarzan and Mars books of Edgar Rice Burroughs, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland as told by Lewis Carroll, and thousands of others.

The Teaching Company - college level courses on everything including Shakespeare, history, physics, and philosophy. Get a tape (or CD) and start learning on your way to and from work.

Links for WRITERS

Creative Writing Contests - information about creative writing contests, literary magazines theme issues, writing residencies, etc. Now accepting writing contest news and announcements!

Links to HISTORICAL FICTION
Whether you're reading or writing . . .

Alt Hist: The new magainze of Historical Fiction and Alternative History - Lovers of historical fiction for too long have been denied outlets for short pieces of fiction. Alt Hist’s mission is to provide readers with entertaining and well-written short stories with a historical setting, whether portraying actual events or events that could have happened.

Copperfield Review - a journal of history and fiction. We love everything about books, writers, and writing.

Lacuna: A Journal of Historical Fiction - Lacuna's mission is to bring you well-researched, well-written, character-driven fiction and poetry that demonstrates an understanding of both history and human nature.

Solander: The Magzine of the Historical Novel Society - It features interviews, articles, short fiction and comment - the only such magazine in the world for enthusiasts of historical fiction.

Links to BYGONE ERAS

Caledonian Club of San Francisco - Considered by many as the largest Scottish celebration in the world, the Scottish Highland Gathering & Games, held in the San Francisco Bay Area hosts dancing and piping competitions, heavy events championships, and loads of entertainment and vendors of everything Scottish.

Historical Novel Society - Provides support and opportunities for new writers, information for students, booksellers, and librarians, and a community for authors, readers, agents, and publishers. Great reading lists.

Historical Fiction Network - Links to books, DVDs, groups, newsletters, and web resources. Ancient history to World War II. Lots to read here.

History Buff - a nonprofit organization devoted to providing FREE primary source material for students, teachers, and history buffs This site focuses primarily on HOW news of major, and not so major, events in American history were reported in newspapers of the time.

How to History - Ever wish you could learn to weave cloth, forge a knife, sew a corset, or build a Tudor mansion? We’re a community of living history and reenacting enthusiasts who love learning about how things were made in the past. You’ll find lots of video tutorials at how to history, plus forum discussions, book reviews and suppliers for difficult to find materials.

Society of Creative Anachronism (SCA) - What's happening in the current Middle Ages. Tournaments and activities.

Rennactors.net - This website features links to reenactment groups broken out by period from Roman, Greek, and Celt to World War II. Most groups are based in the United States. One caveat, they focus primarily on American history groups and no Renaissance.

Wench Christina's - Links to SCA and Renaissance groups organized by area. There are also how to links and newbie guides. This one gets my vote.

Who's Who of Renaissance Groups - Even though this website is UK based they have links to virtually all organized Renaissance groups in the United States.

Links to SHAKESPEARE

The Shakespeare Center located in the Bard's hometown of Stratford-Upon-Avon, England.

PLAYHOUSES

The Blackfriars Playhouse- A reproduction of an Elizabethan indoor playhouse in Staunton, Virginia.

The Globe - A reproduction of Shakespeare's outdoor playhouse, London, England.

The Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland, features a replica Elizabethan outdoor playhouse.

LIBRARIES and other collections

Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C. is home to the world’s largest and finest collection of Shakespeare materials. It also hosts major collections of other rare Renaissance books, manuscripts, and works of art.

Shakespeare Internet Editions - Fully annotated texts of Shakespeare's plays, multimedia explorations of the context of Shakespeare's life and works, and records of his plays in performance can be found on this award-winning website. There are links to facsimile copies of first folio editions, a full listing of where early works are available, and a search engine to find a line, word, or phrase from Shakespeare's pen.

The Shakespeare Post - Shakespeare news from around the globe. Very entertaining!

MODERN Shakespeare

Shakespeare in Modern Fiction - Some of my favorites including Young Adult.

Shakespeare Revisited - Shakespeare's fictional characters appearing in modern works.

Links to ELIZABETHAN ENGLAND

Background: 16th Century Renaissance England - Part of Lumiarium.org, this page includes information on 16th Century history and politics, royalty, economy, trade and exploration, religion and philosophy, medicine, magic, women, music, theater, dance, art, architecture, printing, food, and clothing.

Elizabethan and Tudor portraits - from London's National Portrait gallery. The site contains a search function to help you find your favorite Renaissance personality.

Elizabethan Authors - Features works by Shakespeare's contemporaries, including Thomas Kyd, John Lyly, and Thomas Nashe. Many original facsimile reproductions.

Elizabethan Costuming - by Costumer's Manifesto. The site includes women's, men's, and children's dress in various social classes.

Elizabethan Costume Guide at Costume Discounters - This page has links to everything a well-heeled Elizabethan would need from dress and starching a ruff, to make-up and chopines (yes, eveybody loves shoes!).

Elizabethan Era - Information on sports, music, clothing, theater and, of course, Queen Elizabeth I.

English Crime & Culture - A rogue's gallery from medieval to 18th century England.

Life in Elizabethan England - A Compendium of Common Knowledge 1558-1603 - This is a great website, featuring Elizabethan games, food, money, religion, language, weddings, masters & servants, occupations, fashion, household management, education, heraldry and much, much more.

Old London Maps - From the 16th to 19th century.

Links to the CLASSIC WORLD

Archimedes Palimpsest - Researchers at the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore uncovered a 10th-century copy of two treatises by the Greek mathematician Archimedes, concealed underneath the text of a 13th-century prayer book

Ancient History Sourcebook - Links to source texts about Rome, Greece, Egypt, Mesopotamia, and the Hellenistic world.

Classic Texts of the Classic World - A database of Greco-Roman authors with links to their works from Aristotle, Homer, Ovid, Strabo, Herodotus, Pliny, and Virgil to name a few.

Maps of the Ancient World - Project of the Ancient World Mapping Center, maps for students page. Various maps in various formats, often including blank maps for quizzes and tests.

Oldest Bible, Codex Sinaiticus - Portions of the 4th-century manuscript, thought to be the oldest complete Bible in the world, are now scattered in several collections around the world, but the complete text is being reassembled, in digital form, on the Web.

Oxyrhynchus Papyri - One of the largest collections of ancient papyri, some 500,000 pieces excavated around 1900 in Egypt.

Links to the MEDIEVAL and RENAISSANCE

Bodlein Library, University of Oxford - This page features images of manuscripts from the 11th to 18th centuries.

Columbus' Original Diary - In this manuscript, Christopher Columbus describes the new lands he has discovered, which he calls the East Indies. Enscribed Cadiz, Spain, November 20, 1493.

How to History Video Tutorials in the Historic Arts - Whether you're a member of SCA, or not, here's a site for creating things Medieval. From forging a broad axe to embroidering a double running stitch, there's a video tutorial here for you.

Leonardo DaVinci's Original Notebook - A collection of short treatises, notes and drawings. The manuscript, in Italian, is written in Leonardo's characteristic 'mirror writing', left-handed and moving from right to left.

Les Très Riches Heurs du Duc de Berry - The famous book of hours, usually referred to as the "king of the illuminated manuscripts."

Manuscript Gallery - Links to illuminated manuscripts and antique maps all over the Web.

Renascence Editions - This online repository of works printed in English between the years 1477 and 1799 features many early modern titles from authors such as Aemilia Lanyer and John Donne.

Virtual Tour of Dante's Inferno - Pretty cool flash movie with explanations of the text.

Links to the EIGHTEENTH CENTURY

Jane Austen's Original History of England - An early work of the famed English writer. She completed the composition in November 1791 when she was just 15 years old.

Mozart's Original Catalogue - This original manuscript is Mozart's record of his compositions in the last seven years of his life.

Links to the WILD WEST

Barbary Coast Vigilance Committee - One Hundred & Three of the World's Finest Old West Shooters, bar none. Site includes a links page. Their motto: "No evil deed goes unpunished."

Old West Cowboy and Western Reenactment, Outlaws and Gunfighters, Stage and Production Groups, and Associations from all over the World. Buffalo Bill Cody sure got around.

Foothill Vigilantes - Foothill Vigilante's team enacts living history interpretations of old west happenings based on either first-person or approximations of frontier people and events spanning the post Civil War period up to the turn of the century.

Links to BLOGS

Barbarian Hotness - Dawna Rand's blog (The Writer's Saga) contains all things Viking featuring some especially hunky men. Has lots of links for Viking research and recommended reads. Can't wait for Dawna's book.

Early Modern Blogroll - Part of Renascence Edition, this page features comprehensive web-links to all things Elizabethan.

Historical Boys Blogspot - Blog maintained by CW Gortner. Great insights into the Historical Fiction market by a "historical fiction writer who happens to be a man"--a minority in the female dominated historical fiction industry.

History Buff Author Interview- is a site for history lovers everywhere and brought to you by Michelle Moran (Nefertiti). The site is particularly interested in women of the past and every month, History Buff brings readers a brand new author interview with an historical fiction writer.

History Hoydens - Historical romance writers dishing the dirt on research on everything from petticoats to marriages made in hell and the democratization of fashion.

Reading the Past - News, views, and reviews on historical fiction, both new and old by Sarah Johnson.

Links to WRITERS

Writers, Reviewers and Historical Fiction enthusiasts - great collection of websites from the Historical Novel Society.

Clive Cussler - A favorite airport or beach read. While his history may not be entirely accurate, his books are action packed, fun, and expose the reader to some delicious historic details.

Diana Gabaldon - Author of the Outlander series (time traveling with a historical twist). My personal favorites are the Lord John series set in 18th century England and can involve some contemporary (and often racy) matters set inside a historical mystery. Good picture of the underside of society.

Christopher Gortner - Official website of historical novelist CW Gortner, author of The Last Queen and the Secret Lion. The Last Queen is an excellent read portraying the life of the last truly Spanish Queen, Queen Juana, in a compelling and human way. When I finished the book , I understood why Queen Juana needed to drag her husband's coffin around Spain--a true feat of credibility.

Stephen Greenblatt - a Harvard Shakespeare scholar that can actually keep the reader turning the pages far into the night. He prefaces Will in the World: How Shakespeare Became Shakespeare by saying, "The surviving traces of Shakespeare's life are abundant but thin" and then proceeds to comment on those "traces" for 390 pages. A great resource that is never tedious. Unofficial site.

Tony Hillerman - When I took a riding tour through France, I was met at the train station by a duster wearing, Marlboro man t-shirt sporting Frenchman, eventually nicknamed Jean Wayne who loved all of Tony Hillerman's Jim Chee mysteries. He sold me. Hillerman writes about Navajo reservation life as seen through the eyes of a tribal police officer investigating murder with some archeological twist. Quick, fun reads. Unofficial website.

Charles Nicholl - Author of The Reckoning (the murder of Christopher Marlowe) and The Lodger (Shakespeare's life at the end of his London years) presents Renaissance English history in an accessible way evocative of the best mysteries. He chases down his hero's every lead and connection; historical sleuthing at its best. Unofficial site.

And now for something completely different . . .
Links JUST FOR FUN

Claymation Romeo and Juliet Act I - and Act III - a sci-fi themed love story from Canadian Adaptations of Shakespeare.

The Institute of Official Cheer - Including "Dubious Moments in Comic History" (seriously funny), "Sears 1973" (Hey, I have that outfit), and "Interior Desecretions: Horrible Homes from the Brass Age of American Designs" (OmG! black-and-white Gingham, Houndstooth, and a poster-sized Chiquita Banana all set atop a harvest gold shag carpet).

Peepeo and Juliet - as only an amorous pair of Peeps could play them. They even have their own Peep fan club.

Shakespeare tries out for Shakespeare - Even the Bard can't catch a break. The complete works of Shakespeare in five minutes. Excellent animation.

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