Wednesday, February 10, 2016

Festival of Drunkenness

 In today’s newsletter from an interesting site called Ancient Origins  (- Check it out on the web -) one of the articles is titled, 
Provocative Yet Sacred: The Ancient Egyptian Festival of Drunkenness.”

Those Ancient Egyptians knew how to live.
Note the Scarab -
My "Legends of the Winged Scarab" fit right in with this story.

(Public Domain)


Monday, February 8, 2016

Rowing Across the Atlantic

 In today’s news, an intrepid group of men is setting out to row across the Atlantic from Portugal all the way down to Venezuela. Not in a comfy yacht or even sailboat. They are hoping to accomplish this audacious feat in an open rowboat!


 Team Essence practices off the coast of Portugal. Photo: Tobi Corney

Their projected route is of particular interest to me since I am describing almost the same route (in reverse) in my novel, After the Cataclysm, Book 3 of the Legends of the Winged Scarab series. 

Except, I am giving my protagonists a little more protection against the elements in their 34-foot Pilothouse Fisher, a sturdy sailboat (they make it, too).

The Route my "Esperanza" took in "After the Cataclysm," took her from Venezuela to the Canary Islands - and then into the Mediterranean.


Quite a difference, isn't it?

As a sailing enthusiast, my best wishes go with these men.
I will be following Team Essence on their progress to their hopefully successful completion all the way.



You too can follow them on Twitter: @teamessencerow 

Sunday, January 31, 2016

FREE Read & Review - Starts Feb 3rd

 Still Ongoing: 
The Nile Conspiracy 
will be available from 
February 3rd onward for FREE 
through the 
Read and Review Program 
from 
The Choosy Bookworm 


Sign up and look for The Nile Conspiracy in the Suspense Category.
The Mobi-File will be sent directly by the Author.




Monday, January 18, 2016

Christoph Fischer's LUDWIKA

This is a great opportunity either to continue to enjoy another of

Christoph Fischer's

sensitive treatment of difficult times in history,
or to acquaint yourself with this exceptional writer.

Until January 22



Friday, January 15, 2016

Looming Conflict over Water

     Potable water is becoming scarcer all around the world. Today, The Economist has an interesting article about Egypt’s growing concern over the scheduled 2017 completion of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (Map below from the Economist.com).
     Comments to the article reveal both sides of the border.


     This very dam is the basis of Book 4 of my Legends of the Winged Scarab, 
The Nile Conspiracy.

     While it is of course a fictional account of the looming conflict between the two countries, one can only wonder about the future of the Blue Nile; and with it, the future of Egypt.


Friday, January 8, 2016

The Crystal Curse - ON SALE

In Celebration of publishing The Nile Conspiracy, Book 5 of the "Legends of the Winged Scarab"




The Crystal Curse (Book 4)

is 
ON SALE 

for $0.99 (down from $3.99)

From January 8 through 12



While characters from the previous books continue their quests in search of the Golden Tablets, as a story, this latest Adventure/Thriller can stand alone.

Of course, it is always preferable to read the previous stories from at least the modern-day sequels:
Books 2 and 3.


* * *

Unscrupulous profiteers implement a New World Order. Millions are to be ‘neutralized.’
Pitted against them are Egyptologist Naunet Wilkins, her scientist husband Jonathan. They are kidnapped onto a ship carrying a ton of ancient golden tablets bartered away by former Cairo Museum director Jabari El-Masri.


At a conference on Malta, the power mongers hammer out their diabolical agenda. El-Masri lies about wondrous crystals on Crete. He finally admits they only grow deep within the Lost Labyrinth of Egypt. There, El-Hanash, the Crystal Snake, coils for those who dare defy the Crystal Curse. Who will live? Who will die?

Get your copy from my Amazon Author Pages:



Wednesday, January 6, 2016

Khamsin - A Sandstorm and A Novel

 KHAMSIN - On SALE
99c
JANUARY 7 - 12


Amazon-UK


The ferocious Saharan sandstorm forms the basis of my Historical Fiction Novel, Khamsin, The Devil Wind of The Nile.
Metaphorically speaking, this is a storm within an ancient ba.





"This reawakened soul, an essence that had lived through paradise and cataclysms, was destined yet to live through many other storms for it was a sinner's soul that had not yet found atonement on this earth."






The "khamsin" or "khamasin" or "khamseen," is a vicious sandstorm having devastated Egypt periodically for thousands of years.


The name actually means "Of Fifty Days."
Lucky for modern Man, it rarely lasts fifty days now - but its destruction is equally great in modern times as it was in Ancient Egypt.







THE NILE CONSPIRACY


THE NILE CONSPIRACY
Book 5

Imagine the mighty Nile running dry due to human interference.
Impossible?
Only too soon, this very threat may become a devastating reality.

Riveting adventure and international intrigue find Naunet and Jonathan Wilkins back in Egypt where the construction of The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam portends a catastrophe of biblical proportions.

Amidst their struggle to save an ancient site, the archaeologists are caught up in a dangerous conspiracy. Their explorations become a death trap when the desperate Egyptians decide to turn a huge secret underground labyrinth into an emergency reservoir.
Will the combined recklessness of two governments explode into the annihilation of its people?

In The Nile Conspiracy, several characters, good and evil, from the series’ preceding volumes are once again pitted against each other, the elements, and time. The novel captures the struggles of an economically depressed Egypt by combining the challenges of an post-apocalyptic world with the awe-inspiring legends of an ancient culture.




Sunday, December 27, 2015

Where is the Source of the Nile - Part 2

Interesting history about Control over the Nile:

The Exploration of what is today known as the White Nile and Lake Victoria,
and the Blue Nile flowing down from the Ethiopian Highlands.

Today, we know that 80% of the water flowing into Egypt comes from the Blue Nile out of Lake Tana in Ethiopia. At the end of this tape, the Egyptians still feel safe and proclaim that "there are no project at this time to dam the Blue Nile...."

They have been proven wrong. The construction of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (said to go online in 2017) in south-western Ethiopia, close to the Sudanese border, is a rude awakening for downstream countries as it will drastically decrease the flow of the Blue Nile for Sudan and Egypt.