Byrne Fone

Traces the history of religious, legal, and social persecution of homosexuals, exploring the references as found in the Bible, punishment of homosexuals in ancient Greece, and attitudes reflected in modern literature, media, and hate crimes.

A History

Homophobia

ACHILLES: A LOVE STORYA Gay Novel of the Trojan War The heroic tale of the passion of Achilles, unrivalled hero and the most beautiful man in the world, for the handsome and heroic Patroclus, as it unfolds in Homer's Iliad, is the one of the greatest and earliest gay love stories ever told. But Homer also hints at another love story that complicates the tale: that of the handsome Prince Antilochus who comes to the battlefield of Troy to find Achilles, the man he has always loved. When the tragic death of Patroclus leaves Achilles shattered and alone, it is Antilochus who is at his side, as friend, companion in battle, and lover. "Achilles: A Love Story," written in the tradition of Mary Renault's, "The Persian Boy" and "Fire From Heaven," Yourcenar's "Memoirs of Hadrian," and Vidal's "Julian," is the first modern novel (published: 2010) to re-imagine the "Iliad" as what ancient readers knew it to be: not only a tale of battles and exemplary heroism, but a passionate story of love between men. "Achilles: A Love Story" creates the passionate tale of Antilochus and Achilles as it plays out against the legendary battles of the Trojan war in an exciting and moving story told by no other writer. (Revised Edition: February 2012) COMMENTS Much More Than I Expected (H. Michael Starr Amazon Verified Purchase.) The title of this book...suggested a quickie gay romance novel....What I got instead was a beautifully written retelling of a beautiful story, the Iliad, from a homoerotic perspective. Unexpected, (By Anna - Amazon Verified Purchase) I totally did not expected this....it was beautiful! ...and it grips the reader. I could not stop reading. Highly recommended (Gerry A. Burnie "Gerry B's Book Reviews" Amazon Verified Purchase. "Achilles: A love story" is an unapologetic celebration of male love and valour.

A Novel of the Trojan War

Achilles: a Love Story

Ilios is a re-imagining of the oldest and the greatest story in Western literature, indeed what many have called the foundation text, the epic clash of cultures we call the Trojan War as first told by Homer in The Iliad--a title that Homer did not give to his poem. But all later readers, in Greek, called it the Poem of Ilios, the epic title derived from the city of Ilios--the city later called Troia, that we know as Troy. In a thousand ships, it is said, the Greeks came from all the corners of Hellas commanded by Agamemnon, King and lord of all the Achaean peoples. They came with the manifest intention of despoiling Troy of its uncountable treasures, razing its high walls to dust, and taking back the woman abducted by Prince Paris and now held there, she who was Queen of Sparta, wife of Menelaus, but whom all the world called Helen of Troy. This book is a revised and rewritten version of the original novel, War Stories.

The Fall of Troy: a Novel

Ilios

War Stories: The Trojan Trilogy Set in the last days of the war at Troy shortly before the great city fell to the attacking Greeks, "War Stories" re-imagines this violent clash of cultures through the eyes of the Greek Prince Antilochus, who comes to Troy to find glory and love and his father, wise King Nestor, who sees the terrible folly of the Greek invasion. The story is also told by characters who, in Homer's "Iliad," are seen but rarely heard: the Trojans themselves. Among these are Chryses, the priest of Apollo, whose curse nearly destroys the Greek army as he tries to save his daughter Chryseis. Chryseis herself, whose story frames the entire novel. Briseis, captured by the Greeks and held for ransom as a slave and sexual plaything. And the women of Troy who were the most tragic victims of the war: Queen Hecabe who sees her royal husband slain before her eyes; Andromache, who loses her parents, her husband, and her child to the carnage; and the mad Cassandra whose prophecies no one believes until it is too late. Finally there is Helen, whose beauty began the war that finally destroyed Troy, the richest and greatest city in the world. Written in the tradition of Mary Renault's "Bull from the Sea," Yourcenar's "Memoirs of Hadrian," and Vidal's "Julian," "War Stories" is a memorable, moving, and romantic modern retelling of the greatest epic of the western world.AUTHOR'S NOTE Of the three books in WAR STORIS: THE TROJAN TRILOGY, WAR STORIES is panoramic, with many characters and in its entirety tells a longer story and includes within its covers three books: WAR STORIES, and the other two books in the series: ACHILLES: A LOVE STORY, a gay re-imagining of the Trojan war (and the first modern novel to do so) and TROJAN WOMEN, the story of Chryses, Helen, Cassandra, and the other Trojan women whose lives are so tragically affected by a war fought by men. For those unwilling to tackle the length of WAR STORIES and who want a more focussed and personal narrative of the Trojan War, I have excerpted from it the other two books as separate publications, though they are much changed from their narrative role in WAR STORIES.Eagle-eyed textual comparatists who have had the patience to read all three books might find language in one book that recalls another. This is by design, for it seemed to me to be an interesting experiment to retell the same story, each from a different viewpoint, but connected by echoes of one another. And indeed, all three books tell the same story, the one that Homer gave me. Yet all have been so often re-written, revised, and changed,that ACHILLES: A LOVE STORY and TROJAN WOMEN have ended up being quite different as individual books than what they were when they began as part of another.

War Stories

In the "Iliad" Homer tells the story of the last days of the War at Troy, and of the men who fought in it. "Trojan Women" creates previously unheard voices of the brave women of Troy, for whose possession the war began and tells their intimate, passionate, and tragic story. Helen, for whom the war was fought, Cassandra, the mad daughter of Priam King of Troy whose prophecies were dangerously ignored until the all came true, Hecabe, Queen of Troy who saw her world destroyed and her husband, King Priam, slain, and Andromache, perhaps the most tragic figure of all who lost parents, husband, and child. Through the eyes of the principle characters, Chryseis and Briseis, captured by Achilles as spoils of war and held for ransom, for slavery, or as playthings for men's pleasure, we see the last terrible days of battle and the capture and final destruction of Troy, the richest city in the world. Written in the tradition of Mary Renault's "Bull from the Sea," Yourcenar's "Memoirs of Hadrian," and Vidal's "Julian," reader/ reviewers have said of "Trojan Women," "I read it non-stop; I could not put it aside until I had finished it."

Byrne Fone

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