A to Z Challenge - "S"

S = as in "SIROCCO"

Can't go sailing without wind.

Well, sometimes, it can be a little too much of a good thing... 

as it is in

SIROCCO, Storm over Land and Sea

This archaeological thriller is Book 2 of the "Legends of the Winged Scarab" series.
However, it also stands alone as a present-day novel that takes place from Boston to Cairo and Luxor, in the Red Sea (yes, sailing through a storm), to Cyprus and Crete; it is all impacted by the Arab Spring and Egypt's upcoming presidential elections (May 2012).

Prologue

Trexa! Sorokos!”

Barely, the fishermen pull their boats onto shore when the storm arrives all in a rush, malevolent and laden with Libyan Desert sand.

“Run! Sirocco!” Again, the men cry the warning against the feared wind that had spawned over the Sahara. After giving birth to its unbridled son Khamsin, the Devil Wind of the Nile, it froths the waters of the Mediterranean and mercilessly claws at the islands in its path, scything the coastal shrub into stubble.

The old women of Crete call it The Big Tongue. Innocent-looking at first, a lazy yellow haze comes drifting north. It grows larger, turning the air into choking ochre mist. Its hot breath churns the sea and drives salt spray deep into the island’s interior. As if on cue, tempers turn sour and people suddenly find fault with friend and neighbor. Fights erupt over nothing. Secretly harbored thoughts of suicide and murder attack the mind as voraciously as wild goats strip young plane trees bare. All things bad can now be blamed on the Sirocco.

It is only when the cool steady meltemia breezes blow again out of the northwest that the island breathes a sigh of relief, and much is forgiven.

* * *
Have you seen this painting?
Did you know that this Rembrandt painting I used on my cover
was stolen fin an audacious art heist?
(Another of my "premonitions"?)

The FBI is Looking for it (so is the Boston Isabella Stuart Gardner Museum)