Blood, Boobs and Carnage : At the BBC with Bess, Libby, Olympias and Roxane

Who could resist a blogfest titled like that? The BBC Blogfest; jointly hosted by Ninja Captain Alex J Cavanaugh and Heather M Gardener, both of whom need no introduction.  The idea is to post about a book, TV show, or film, or all three that can be described by Blood, Boobs and Carnage, or any combo thereof.

Here's my selection :


First off...

For starters some poetry, of course. "The Highwayman" by Alfred Noyes. Published in 1907 in Forty Singing Seamen and Other Poems, and a runaway success.  It has been variously interpreted - in music, animation, part of a TV series, and also a full length Hollywood feature. A simple and charming narrative format; love, treachery and sacrifice set in the 1800s:

The wind was a torrent of darkness among the gusty trees. 

The moon was a ghostly galleon tossed upon cloudy seas. 

The road was a ribbon of moonlight over the purple moor,  

And the highwayman came riding—

Riding—riding—

The highwayman came riding, up to the old inn-door.

Read the full poem, or watch a slightly truncated version here :

... and a bunch of books...

A trilogy to be precise - Fire from Heaven, The Persian Boy, and Funeral Games, by Mary Renault.  

The child was wakened by the knotting of the snake's coils about his waist. For a moment he was frightened; it had squeezed his breathing. and given him a bad dream. But as soon as he was awake, he knew what it was, and pushed his two hands inside the coil. It shifted; the strong band under his back bunched tightly, then grew thin. The head slid up his shoulder along his neck, and he felt close to his ear the flickering tongue.

That child is Alexander the Great, who then slips into his mother's bed and from there witnesses a fairly X-rated parental row.

No dearth of blood and carnage here, considering the preferred lifestyle of Alex G! Female characters comparatively thin on the ground, his mother Olympias, his wives Roxane and Stateira II, and his sister Kleopatra make sporadic but intense appearances.  But still, there's no shortage of boobs, there are his father's extra-marital affairs (with women and young men, ancient Greeks/Macedonians were flexible like that) and his marriage with a much younger Eurydike.  

And plenty of fun for the women as well at the Dionysia, the worship fest of the god Dionysus, where the maenads held orgies of dancing and drinking, the rest of the action I leave to the reader's imagination.  A reference made to Alexander being conceived during one of these rituals, fathered by a snake-daemon, by a demi-god! Alexander's relationships with Hephaestion, his general, long time companion and lover, which is based on historical evidence; and with his other lover, the Persian courtesan, eunuch Bagoas, which is not. His sudden marriage to the Bactrian Roxane for love, and a later political one to the Persian princess Stateira II.

Palace intrigues, ancient politics, ritual sacrifice, sexual and sexy combos in every possible permutation, rape, murder, war campaigns, an action-packed narrative and a scorching pace, wow! A fascinating read that brings Alexander to vivid life. Renault's portrayal of the conqueror is rosier than most historians'. But she does it with such blazing conviction and such depth of detail that it reads more like history rather than historical fiction. Stunning.

...and a film

Lastly, the film Double Jeopardy.   Begins with lots of blood and a pretty lady; hinged on a legal twist; some action with knife, guns, cross-country chases; love, betrayal, and a wronged mother's search for her son.  

Mixed reviews, some criticisms on the points of law, apparently the film misrepresented the clause of double jeopardy, but overall enjoyable if the viewer is not nitpicky like that. 

Read more about the blogfest and visit the other participants:

On May 18, 2015, post about a movie, television show, book, or all three that falls into the category of Blood, Boobs, and Carnage. (Or just Blood and Carnage or other mixture.) It can be any genre that fits the bill – fantasy, science fiction, action, adventure, western, thriller, etc. Post the badge and visit other participants. 

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1. Ninja Captain Alex J. Cavanaugh	2. Heather Gardner
3. Howlin Wolf's "The Wolf"	4. Michael Abayomi
5. melanie schulz	6. Make a Life Not a Living
7. Spunk on a Stick - Diane	8. Curious as a Cathy
9. An Unconventional Librarian	10. Fannie Frankfurter
11. Tamara Narayan	12. Confessions of a Watery Tart
13. Queendsheena	14. My Creatively Random Life
15. Pushing the Pen	16. Huntress aka CDCoffelt
17. Susan Says	18. Horror Author J. H. Moncrieff
19. WRITING IN THE CROSSHAIRS	20. Lisa Buie-Collard
21. Bish Denham	22. A Daft Scots Lass
23. Writing Off the Edge	24. Robyn Campbell
25. Precious Monsters	26. Say it, "Rah-shay"
27. Liesel @ Musings on Fantasia	28. Word Wacker
29. Birgit	30. Constantine
31. Sabina @ Victim To Charm	32. lilicasplace
33. Pensuasion	34. All Things Kevyn
35. The Opinionated Woman's Musings (BO)	36. Sydney Aaliyah Michelle
37. Novels From The Shadows - In The Sydney Underworld	38. Serins Sphere
39. DataTater	40. Stephen Tremp
41. The Beveled Edge (WR)	42. Mina Burrows
43. Debbie @ THE DOGLADY'S DEN	44. Tossing It Out
45. kaykuala	46. Christine Rains
47. The Faux Fountain Pen	48. Melissa Barker-Simpson
49. Paranormal Author Catherine Green	50. The Other Side
51. Tangent Shell	52. Official Site of Alex Laybourne, Author
53. Multicolored Diary	54. Madly-in-Verse
55. dolorah of Book Lover	56. Writer's Block
57. Elizabeth Seckman	58. Pat Hatt
59. God, Entertainement, and Annoying Things	60. Into A Barrel
61. CritLiterature	62. Star Trek Sci Fi Blog
63. My Hogwarts Sabbatical	64. Author J Lenni Dorner
65. Michael Pierce	66. Angels Bark
67. MopDog - Blood, Carnage and Children's Rhymes	68. nashvillecats (2)poetry by Yvonne
69. Carrie-Anne's Magick Theatre	70. The Sound of One Hand Typing (AM and FM)