SIROCCO, Storm over Land and Sea

An archaeological thriller 

SIROCCO, Storm over Land and Sea

Book 2 - Legends of the Winged Scarab

Haven't read Book 1 yet?
No problem (although you are missing a terrific saga about Ancient Egypt), Sirocco starts with the Arab Spring in 2012, building on the Golden Tablets hammered out in 3080 BC (in Khamsin).

So, for all practical purposes, Sirocco is the first of Khamsin's four sequels playing out its adventures in modern times.

In Book 3 (After the Cataclysm) the world turns post-apocalyptic following the long-foretold Yellowstone Supervolcano eruption.

Book 4 (The Crystal Curse) takes you deep into the Lost Labyrinth of Egypt (the existence of which is denied by the Egyptian Government).

Book 5 (The Nile Conspiracy) has our main protagonists involved in the very real threat to Egypt's water supply anticipated from the construction of an Ethiopian monster-dam along the Blue Nile.

(You can read Excerpts from all five books on my "Excerpts" page).

* * *

Amazon-US
Amazon-UK
or:
Buy from an Amazon near you:  http://authl.it/B008Y6GXZ8
Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/217175
B&N: SIROCCO-Barnes&Noble
Kobo: http://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/sirocco-storm-over-land-and-sea
iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/sirocco-storm-over-land-sea/
Inktera: http://www.inktera.com/store/SIROCCO

Is it a Dream or Madness?

Inter-Galactica, 

The brief deliciously delirious dream of a spinster - or is it?

She waits, hopes he will come for her -
as he does for all of us - eventually.

Amazon-US

Amazon-UK

Christoph Fischer Releases New Murder Mystery

Award winning historical and crime fiction novelist

Christoph Fischer 

has written a light-hearted, cozy murder mystery.

Order your Copy of 

The Body in the Snow here:

https://www.amazon.com/The Body in the Snow

  

Fading celebrity Bebe Bollinger is on the wrong side of fifty and dreaming of a return to the limelight. When a TV show offers the chance of a comeback, Bebe grabs it with both hands – not even a lazy agent, her embarrassing daughter, irritating neighbors or a catastrophic snowfall will derail her moment of glory. But when a body is found in her sleepy Welsh hamlet, scandal threatens. 

Detective Sergeant Beth Cooper has a string of unsolved cases to her name. Her girlfriend left her and she’s a fish out of water in rural West Wales. Things couldn’t get much worse – until the case of the Body in The Snow lands in her lap. 
Can Beth solve the case and save her career and can Bebe make her comeback?

Read the fascinating back story of

The Body In The Snow, 

a new Bebe Bollinger Murder Mystery, 

which is set in Wales, on Christoph Fischer’s Website:

https://writerchristophfischer.wordpress.com/

Found: King Nectanebo Shrine

Shrine Dedicated to King Nectanebo I 
Unearthed in Egypt 

An Egyptian and German archaeological team sifting through the ruins of a temple dedicated to the ancient King Nectanebo I has found building blocks and parts of the ceiling, which was decorated with stars. Authorities hope to rebuild and restore the shrine.

(Egyptian Ministry of Antquities photo)

The 30^th Dynasty king, whose name is also spelled Nakhtanebu, lived in the fourth century BC. His house was the last native Egyptian royal line before Persians reconquered Egypt in 343 BC and overthrew Nectanebo’s grandson.

Shared by Mark Miller in Ancient-Origins 

Read the entire article here: http://www.ancient-origins.net/shrine

Herodotus on Burial in Egypt

Herodotus Wrote:
 * II:85. Their fashions of mourning and of burial are these: Whenever any household has lost a man who is of any regard amongst them, the whole number of women of that house forthwith plaster over their heads or even their faces with mud.

Then leaving the corpse within the house they go themselves to and fro about the city and beat themselves, with their garments bound up by a girdle and their breasts exposed, and with them go all the women who are related to the dead man, and on the other side the men beat themselves, they too having their garments bound up by a girdle; and when they have done this, they then convey the body to the embalming.

Book of the Dead

Read the entire article at Ancient Origins - and perhaps be glad you live in our times. Although women are known to still plaster their faces with mud; but for very different reasons - and usually at considerable cost.

http://www.ancient.eu/article/89/

*Herodotus, The Landmark Herodotus (Quercus Publishing Plc, 2008)

Published under Creative Commons: Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike

Mummification

Woven within the story of KHAMSIN, my readers seem to appreciate learning something new or refreshing their knowledge of fascinating ancient rites, such as mummification.

                       

The questions is not just what drove the Ancient Egyptians to such lengths of wanting to preserve their dead? Rather, how did such a complex culture rise from the harsh sands of the desert? Most of what we know is still spotty, conjecture and theory.

I surely would love to know a lot more. Wouldn’t you?

Herodotus On Cats in Egypt

Many quotes and translations attributed to this Greek historian (484 - 425 BC) have been preserved for us to contemplate (or smile over).

Here is one appropriate for this blog, I think: 

"In houses a cat has died by a natural death, all those who dwell in this house shave their eyebrows only, but those in whose houses a dog has died shave their whole body and also their head."

Creative Commons: Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike

Read this interesting article here: http://www.ancient.eu/article/88/

Move Over Nefertiti

Australian researchers have reconstructed the head of an 18 to 25-year-old Egyptian mummy. The woman lived in ancient Egypt at least 2,000 years ago.

Going by the name Meritamun, meaning the beloved of the god Amun, the mummified Egyptian head lives in the basement of the medical building at the University of Melbourne.

Read a fascinating article about this striking ancient beauty here:

http://stepfeed.com/tech/this-egyptian-mummy-was-reconstructed-with-3d-printing/#.V8oSIPkrLX4

How did they do this: Check out this 4-minute YouTube video from the University on CT-Scanning:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSwLbLuAuxw

I can already sense the wheels of Historical Fiction authors starting to spin. What strange and wonderful tales will we be able to read about her?

In the meantime, it will be interesting to find out what science is going to tell us about the beautiful Meritamun.

Wait a minute! I write HF; I write about Egypt. Hm....

Egyptian Law for Building Churches Angers Christians

Coptic Christians seek solace in their faith, 
while facing turmoil in Egypt.

(AP Photo/Nariman El-Mofty)

A general view of the Cave Cathedral or St. Sama'ans Church on the Mokattam Hills overlooking Cairo, Egypt.

After long hoping for an end to restrictions on the building of churches, many of Egypt's Christians are infuriated and feeling betrayed after lawmakers passed a law August 30, 2016, giving authorities broad powers to veto construction for vague reasons including worries over 'national security.'

http://accesswdun.com/print/2016/8/439763

                       (Photo: Reuters)

-
The Pope of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria is the leader of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria, a faith with ancient Christian roots in Egypt. This current holder of this position is Theodoros II or Tawadros II, who was selected as the 118th pope on November 4, 2012.

He is also Patriarch of the See of St. Mark Cathedral, and in the photo above leads the Coptic Christmas Eve Mass in Cairo January 6, 2014.

Photo: 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_of_the_Coptic_Orthodox_Church_of_Alexandria

Why Reader Reviews are Important

Did you know August 2016 is Write-An-Amazon-Review Month? No? I didn't either until I read Helen Hollick’s latest blog post on the subject.

This staunch supporter of Indie Writers and successful author in her own right puts it very succinctly why reviews are so important to us authors; so I won’t repeat what she said.

Rather, I urge you to read her excellent post here:

https://ofhistoryandkings.blogspot.co.uk/2016/08/are-reviews-important-yes.html

And now, I better go and read another great Indie book out there so I can put my “review where my mouth is.”

Especially, since I "bragged" about my summer reading list on the B.R.A.G. blog. 

https://www.bragmedallion.com/blog/category/summer-reads/

Most of the books on my reading-wish list have either been chosen to be on the Historical Novel Society's winner list (an association where Helen is a founding member), or were selected as B.R.A.G. Medallion Honorees for excellence in writing. 

So, whenever you see this medallion on a cover, you can be assured that it has passed the most rigorous selection.

Thus, while enjoying a great read, I thought I might as well glean some pointers from the best.

And now, don't forget to write that review. Time (and August) is running out. And know, the diplomatically critical ones are often the most helpful to an author...just don't go overboard if you find some negatives to report; writers are people too.

But we all appreciate your time and effort in Writing that Review on Amazon (or any of the other retailers from where you may be purchasing your reading).