Stealing Fire

by Jo Graham

  Of the ancient sources written after Alexander's lifetime, I have leaned most heavily on Arrian's Campaigns of Alexander. Though Arrian was a Roman writing several centuries after Alexander's death, he used the memoirs of Ptolemy as his primary source, who is of course one of my main characters and whose attitudes about Alexander and his Companions would be closest to those of Lydias. I have also leaned on the ancient biographies of Alexander supplied by Plutarch, Diodorus, and Quintus Curtius Rufus. They, like Arrian, are available in several excellent modern translations.

  The modern biographies of Alexander are myriad. Unfortunately, most of them end with Alexander's death and do little to illuminate the period immediately after, which is the subject of Stealing Fire. Therefore I found the following books most useful.

  Ptolemy of Egypt by Walter Ellis (London; Routledge, 1994) is the only English-language biography of Ptolemy, and as such was invaluable. The Successors of Alexander the Great: Ptolemy I, Pyrrhus of Epirus, Hiero of Syracuse and Antiochus by C. A. Kincaid (Chicago: Ares Publishers, 1985) was also extremely helpful. For the tale of the theft of Alexander's body and its subsequent adventures, I am indebted to Nicholas J. Saunders’ Alexander's Tomb (New York: Basic Books, 2006).

  Egypt as Ptolemy found it is a fascinating subject, and again there are many excellent resources. I would especially point out Karol Mysliwiec's The Twilight of Ancient Egypt (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2000). For the tombs of the Apis bulls, including an excellent map of the catacombs, I recommend Divine Creatures: Animal Mummies in Ancient Egypt, edited by Salima Ikram (Cairo: American University in Cairo Press, 2005).

  I am also indebted to the inspiration of some online resources, most notably “Hephaistion Philalexandros,” which can be found at http://myweb.unomaha.edu/~mreames/Hephaistion/hephaistion.html, and www.neosalexandria.org.

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  There are a number of people without whom this book would not have been written. Foremost on that list must be Anne-Elisabeth Moutet, who decided it had to be a book when I wrote my first short story with Lydias, and who has unfailingly encouraged me at every step of the way. She is very much the godmother of this book!

  I am also deeply appreciative to Suzanne Griswold, who helped me with Lydias’ horsemanship. All errors, of course, are mine.

  There are many others whose help I am deeply grateful for in the writing of Stealing Fire: Lesley Arnold, Gretchen Brinkerhoff, Katy Catlin, Mary Day, Danielle D'Onofrio, Phoebe Duncan, Lynn Foster, Imogen Hardy, Nathan Jensen, Tanja Kinkel, Anna Kiwiel, Wanda Lybarger, Kathryn McCulley, Anjali Salvador, Melissa Scott, Erin Simonich, Lena Strid, Jeff Tan, Casimira Walker-Smith, and Robert Waters.

  I am also grateful to my editor, Devi Pillai, who once again decided to take a chance on a strange journey with me, and my agent, Robin Rue.

  Most of all, I must thank my wonderful partner, Amy, who has spent a great deal of time with Lydias recently!

  extras

  meet the author

  JO GRAHAM lives in North Carolina with her family and worked in politics for many years. To learn more about the author, visit her website at http://jo-graham.livejournal.com/.

  interview

  Why did you decide to write a book about the death of Alexander the Great and its aftermath?

  I've been interested in the story of Alexander for a long time, at least since I read Mary Renault's Fire from Heaven when I was in high school. But the story of Alexander has been done and done, and it's been tackled by some of my favorite authors both living and dead, so I hesitated to cover the same ground. It's a fabulous subject, and of course the recent Oliver Stone movie sparked a lot of interest from people who had never been familiar with Alexander before.

  I thought it would be interesting to do something different —instead of talking about Alexander and speculating on his character and feelings, to talk instead about the world he created. In many ways, our modern world is the product of his life, of the ideas and the cross-cultural pollination that began with Alexander and his Successors. I wanted to write about the beginnings of that world, of our world.

  Your two previous books have women narrators. What was different about writing with a man as the narrator?

  The biggest thing is that there could be a lot more action! I've had a challenge in the last two books writing around the battle scenes for the most part, because there was no good reason for Gull or Charmian to be in the thick of the action. Lydias not only could be, but could lead it. He's a warrior.

  Also this time there are no childbirth scenes! Lydias can see more of one side of life, and less of another, because he has no good reason to be part of that aspect of things. If I had chosen Thais as the narrator it would have been very different.

  You've said that you greatly admire the work of Mary Renault. How did you feel about writing some of her most iconic historical characters, Alexander, Hephaistion, and Bagoas?

  That was my biggest hesitation in starting Stealing Fire, but fortunately I had my partner, Amy, and my friends Anne-Elisabeth and Tanja to urge me forward. To write the same historical figures that Mary Renault did is a huge challenge. I had to try very hard to find my own vision of them, to find a different interpretation of some things. For example, what is Bagoas like after Alexander's death? What is he going to do with the rest of his life? He's not but about twenty-five at the time. And so the story of Bagoas searching for a way to reinvent himself outside of being Alexander's favorite became an important part of the story.

  What other authors who have written Alexander do you admire?

  Many authors have done a wonderful job with Alexander, but there are a few that really stand out to me besides Mary Renault. I am a huge fan of Judith Tarr, and her Lord of the Two Lands is one of my very favorite Alexanders. I also love Melissa Scott's Alexander in A Choice of Destinies. I'm also very fond of the not-quite-Alexander, Demetrios Asterius, in Jacqueline Carey's Kushiel's Chosen.

  You've talked before about being inspired by various songs, that you have a “playlist” that goes with each of your books. What's your Lydias playlist?

  I have quite a few songs on my Lydias playlist! Elton John's “The One” is the first, because it so sums up Lydias at the end of the book, but his “Original Sin” is pretty much the ultimate Lydias song, though I think you'd have to twist it around to Hephaistion's point of view! Other things on the list include the Rolling Stones’ “Continental Drift,” Grateful Dead's “Touch of Grey,” and Sting's “A Thousand Years.” The last one may be the most important, as I think it encapsulates Lydias perfectly!

  Lydias has several important relationships in his life—with Sati, Hephaistion, and now Bagoas. Do you see any conflicts in his having relationships with both men and women?

  Not a bit! We tend to see sexual orientation as an on/off switch—you're straight or you're gay. But these are new concepts and a way of looking at things that are by no means universal. This idea is peculiar to our culture and would have been utterly meaningless to Lydias, as it would be to most people in the history of the world! In Lydias’ culture, male bisexuality is the norm. Men are supposed to like sex, and the gender of the partner is really beside the point. The point is the social role that one is playing.

  In Stealing Fire there's a lot of horsemanship, training, and cavalry tactics. Did you make that up? Where did it come from?

  Fortunately, we have a manual of horsemanship, which, while not quite contemporary with Lydias, is in the same culture and within the same time frame! Xenophon, an Athenian soldier and general, wrote a fascinating book called On Horsemanship about a hundred years earlier, when the warhorse was just becoming an important part of Greek culture. He talks about buying and training a horse, about the maneuvers, about tack and conformation—everything Lydias would need to know! It's a wonderful resource.

  Also, I was fortunate to have Suzanne Griswold, a professional equestrian, look over the book for me and correct various bits of horsemanship. All the errors, of course, are
mine.

  How long did it take you to write Stealing Fire? What are some of your writing habits?

  Six months, from July 2008 to December 2008, but I had done much of the research beforehand, while I was working on Hand of Isis and before. I work every day, though how much I get done varies. When I'm really rolling I can do five-thousand words a day. I've done twenty-five thousand words a week at my best, when I know what the story is and I'm almost possessed by it. But then I don't really eat or sleep or do anything else! I have to be patient, though, because for every week like that there are three when I stumble through a couple of thousand words and just can't seem to catch the flow of it. When that happens I have to try to chill out and realize that it will break loose again when I'm ready.

  In your last book, Hand of Isis, Charmian remembers her past life as Lydias. Did you plan this book before you wrote Hand of Isis? How did all that work?

  Yes, to a certain extent. I already knew who Lydias was and what the bones of his adventures were before I started Hand of Isis. I already knew before I started Black Ships, for that matter. I have twenty or more stories in my head, all the places this soul has been and all the things Lydias/Charmian/Gull has done, and I've only begun to explore them. There are a couple of additional books written that have not been bought yet, and more where I've played with it and done some scenes and short stories. I hope I have the opportunity to do them all!

  It's really necessary for internal consistency that I know all the stories. The things that happen to these people in each life have lasting impact on everything down the line, so I have to know what already happened even if the reader doesn't yet. For example, in Hand of Isis the relationship between Charmian and Agrippa is seriously influenced by what passed between Lydias and Hephaistion, even if neither Charmian nor Agrippa is really aware of it. There's a scene in that book, a dream sequence with Charmian and Agrippa in dream Ecbatana where she says, “I was nothing but a pretty face to you,” and he says, “Never only that.” Yes, they're talking about what happened in Egypt between Charmian and Agrippa, but also what happened between Lydias and Hephaistion.

  And of course when Charmian calls Caesar “by his bones in Alexandria” this is lent power because Lydias stole those bones, stole Alexander's body, and is partially responsible for the fact that Alexander lies in Alexandria!

  So I have to know how all the pieces fit. I think it's safe to say that there are a lot of “dangling strings” right now that attach to things! I hope you'll come along with me in the rest of my travels through the Numinous World.

  reading group guide

  What is your first impression of Lydias and how does that change or not change in the course of the book?

  Fatherhood is very important to several of the characters in the book. How do Ptolemy, Artashir, and Lydias exemplify fatherhood? What are the characteristics of good fathers, and how are they the same or different from one another?

  In Persia, Bagoas is considered to be a third gender, neither male nor female. In Egypt, there is no third gender. How does Bagoas cope with this change? How do we look at gender today? Is our view simpler or more complicated than Lydias’ world?

  If Ptolemy and Alexander knew for years that they were really half brothers, how did this affect their relationship? Who else do you think knew, besides their parents? How do you think growing up in Alexander's shadow affected Ptolemy?

  Lydias in Stealing Fire was Gull in Black Ships in a previous life, and will be Charmian in Hand of Isis. How do you think the different incarnations are similar? How are they different?

  At the beginning of Stealing Fire, Lydias is grieving the death of his wife and son, and also the death of Hephaistion and his beloved horse. Over the course of the book, he comes to terms with his losses. Why do you think he decides to build a new life? What are the decisive moments in coming to terms with his grief?

  In Stealing Fire we see several different models of marriage—Lydias’ marriage to Sati, Ptolemy's arranged marriage to Eurydice, Artashir's polygamous marriage with Amina and Rania, and Alexander's marriage to Roxane, as well as a number of other commitments, including Alexander and Hephaistion, Ptolemy and Thais, and Lydias and Bagoas. Which relationships do you think work the best? Which ones were you most surprised by? Which ones do you think are the happiest and why?

  One of Lydias’ greatest strengths is his cultural flexibility, his ability to understand and work with people from different backgrounds. Do you think his own background, as the child of two cultures, Greek and Carian, is the cause of this? What insights do his experiences give him?

  In Hand of Isis we see the mature city of Alexandria, which is only just beginning in Stealing Fire. How does or does not that city live up to what its founders intended? How does it go beyond what its founders intended?

  Do you think Lydias’ decision to marry Chloe at the end of the book at Ptolemy's request is a good decision or a bad one? What do you think will happen?

  introducing

  If you enjoyed

  STEALING FIRE,

  look out for

  BLACK SHIPS

  by Jo Graham

  “Are you afraid of the dark?” she asked.

  “No,” I said.

  “Good,” she said, and smothered the fire with ashes until only a few coals glowed. It was very dark within the cave. I had never been somewhere there was not even starlight. I heard her moving in the dark, the rustling of cloth.

  “Sit here,” she said, and I felt her putting a cushion at my back. I sat up upon it. It raised me so that I sat, my legs crossed, leaning almost over the brazier. She put another cushion behind me so that I might lean back against the wall.

  There was more rustling, and I smelled the acrid scent of herbs crumbled over the coals. Rosemary. Laurel. And something richer, like resin, like pine carpets beneath my feet. Something heady, like smoke.

  “There,” Pythia said. “Look into the fire and tell me what you see.”

  My eyes itched. It was hard to keep them open. They watered. The smoke wavered. The tiny glowing lines of coals blurred. I didn't know what to say.

  She was still talking, but I wasn't really hearing her. I was looking at the darkness between the glowing lines. At the blackness in the heart of the fire.

  “Black ships,” I said, and I hardly knew my own voice.

  “Where?” Pythia said.

  “Black ships,” I said. I could see them in the darkness of the coals. “Black ships and a burning city. A great city on a headland. Some of the ships are small, not much more than one sail or a few rowers. But some of them are big. Painted black. They're coming out from land, from the burning city. But there are other ships in the way, between the black ships and the sea.”

  My voice caught with the emotion of what I saw. “There are so few of them! I can see them coming, rowing hard. The one in front has seven stars on her prow, Seven Sisters, like the constellation. That's her name. The soldiers on the other ships have archers. They're shooting at them.”

  One of the sailors was struck in the eye by an arrow. He screamed and plunged into the sea. One of the ships’ boys was hit in the leg and went down with a high, keening sound, his blood spurting across the deck.One of the small boats was rammed and capsized.

  “There are people in the water. They're not sailors, not on the little boats. Children. Women.” I could see them struggling. The archers were shooting them in the water.

  “One of the big ships is turning back. She's turning around.” I could see the dolphin on her prow, white and red on black.

  There was a girl in the water, her slim, naked body cutting through the waves like a dolphin herself. She was almost to the big ship. Now she was there. One of the rowers shipped his oar as she reached for it, stretching her arms up the shaft. She got one foot on the top of the paddle, pulled herself half out of the water. Hands reached down to haul her aboard.

  “Seven Sisters has come about,” I said. “She's bearing down on one of the ships of a
rchers, and they're hauling at the oars to get out of the way.”

  Seven Sisters swung past, close enough that I could see the young man at her tiller, his sandy hair pulled back from his face with a leather thong, lips set in concentration, the wind kissing him.

  “They have fire arrows,” I gasped. “The blockaders. They're lighting them.”

  One fell hissing into the sea. Another dropped on the foredeck of Dolphin and was quickly extinguished with a bucket of water. A young man with long black hair was hauling one of the children from the fishing boat aboard.

  The rest of the fishing boats were either sunk or out to sea, sails spread to catch the land breeze carrying them away.

  I heard shouted words, saw the captain of Seven Sisters waving.

  A fire arrow struck the captain of Dolphin full in the chest, his beard igniting. He fell away from the tiller, his face on fire and his chest exploding. The young man with black hair swung the child into the shelter of the rowers’ rail and leapt for the tiller. Seven Sisters swung away, her course between Dolphin and the nearest blockader.