Friday, October 7, 2016

Out of Egypt – Something Horrifying

Lexa Cain (writing as L X Cain) first came to my attention through the beautiful masthead of her Egypt-inspired blog (do go and visit it here). We blogged back and forth, and subsequently it was an honor to receive her endorsement of my descriptions of the modern Egyptian (in Sirocco). She should know: Although born in the US, Lexa has been living in Egypt for many years now.
Today, it is my great pleasure to feature her latest novel released on October 4th:
BLOODWALKER
The story actually has nothing to do with Ancient or present-day Egypt. This book falls truly into the Thriller/Mystery/Horror genres. Already, it ranks high on Amazon with numerous four- and five-star reviews with comments like, “Exceptional from beginning to end.” “I cringed, I gasped, I pondered, I theorized, I begged and pleaded, then finally the ride was over, and I wanted more.”

Lightning flashes. Another child disappears…

When Zorka Circus performs, its big top roars with laughter and cheers, but when it moves on, there are fewer children in the European towns it leaves behind.
Circus Security Chief Rurik suspects a killer hides among the international performers, but they close ranks—they’ve always viewed lightning-scarred Rurik as the monster. Nevertheless, he's determined to find the culprit and stop them before anyone else dies and the only place he can call home is ripped apart by the murders.
Into Zorka Circus comes the Skomori clan, despised as gravediggers and ghoulish bloodwalkers. A one-day truce allows bloodwalker Sylvie to marry. Instead, she finds a body. Alerting others will defy her clan’s strict rules, break the truce, and leave her an outcast.
When more bodies turn up, the killer's trail becomes impossible to ignore. Rurik and Sylvie must follow the clues—even if they lead to something unimaginable...

A perfect story for Halloween.
But be sure to lock your doors before you settle down to read.

BUY LINKS:
  


L.X. Cain was born in the U.S. but now lives in Egypt on the Red Sea and busily taps away at a laptop, coming up with stories to thrill and entertain readers

Contact L.X. Cain at:
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/LX_Cain

Friday, September 30, 2016

This Bad Boy Shows Up Everywhere

Edward, our charming conman,
plays an ever more intricate and dangerous role
in Books 2 through 5 of the
Legends of the Winged Scarab

In this quick read, however, he is still the charming con artist, albeit just as ruthless when it comes to squeezing money out of his besotted victims.
                                                 

Edward plays an ever more intricate and dangerous role in Books 2 through 5 of the Legends of the Winged Scarab, while here he is still just a charming con artist.


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




Thursday, September 22, 2016

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.

Wednesday, September 14, 2016

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:
  

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:

Saturday, September 10, 2016

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 30th 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

Friday, September 9, 2016

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.

*Herodotus, The Landmark Herodotus (Quercus Publishing Plc, 2008)
Published under Creative Commons: Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike

Thursday, September 8, 2016

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?

Tuesday, September 6, 2016

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."


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

Friday, September 2, 2016

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:

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

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....