Category: Ancient Sites

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Interview with Jerry Dubs, author of Imhotep

Jerry Dubs writes about Egypt. Need I say more? His novel Imhotep tells the story of three people who walk through a time portal and find themselves in ancient Egypt. Now he’s working on a sequel.

Would you please tell us a little about yourself?

I’m a retired journalist. I covered state government, crime, local government, education, wrote feature stories and did a few years as an investigative journalist. I started with The Hanover Evening Sun and then spent 25 years with The Patriot-News in Harrisburg, Pa.

My wife, Deb, and I have been married for 32 years. We have two sons, a daughter and one granddaughter. Deb and I have recently embarked on an experiment. While we were raising our kids we had a four-bedroom home, two-car garage, patio furniture, grill, and the works. Over the past four years we’ve been downsizing by squeezing ourselves into progressively smaller apartments. Now we’ve taken the next step. We’ve sold everything except our laptop computers, clothing and tennis gear. Everything we own fits into a Honda Civic.

Our idea is to travel the world (focusing on warm climates), living in furnished condos, apartments, homes, whatever we can find. Our first stop is Myrtle Beach, S.C., so we’re still in driving range of two of our kids. If we like the experience, we’ll start moving farther afield … Florida, St. Maarten, Ecuador, the Canary Islands, Malta, places like that.

Would you please tell us about your latest book?

The Earth Is My Witness is the last novel I published. Its protagonist is an accidental Existential-Buddhist detective.

It’s set in Hanover, Pa., where I spent the first half of my life and I had a lot of fun using my experiences there as fodder for the story. The story begins with the protagonist waking up in an extremely difficult situation and having no memory of how he got there. Things just careen out of control from there as he struggles to find out who killed his best friend. 

What inspired you to write this novel?

Two things … I wanted to try my hand at a detective story with an unusual protagonist, one who would give me an opportunity to inject some weight into the mystery. And, I kept having a recurring nightmare about a body being buried in the basement of the home I grew up in.  At least I hope it was a nightmare.

What does a typical writing day look like?

I’m a morning writer. (And a coffee geek, perhaps they go hand-in-hand?) After breakfast I settle in with music – jazz, world or classical when I’m writing, Diana Krall, Paul Simon, Dylan when I’m rewriting or editing. I write for two or three hours. If I’m unhappy with the plot or need to sort out some outlining, I usually do that with paper and pen. Using pen and paper rather than easily edited computer keystrokes makes me think more before I put words on paper.
Afternoons I usually play tennis or take a long walk.

Can you describe your writing process?

Usually I’ll kick an idea around in my head for a couple weeks, make some notes, do some research. For my next novel, The Buried Pyramid, I did a fair amount of reading about the era just after King Djoser, looking for historical events to serve as a skeleton for the novel.

I’m an outliner, so I spend a lot of time plotting, making notes about the kind of secondary characters I’ll need, jotting down ideas for scenes.

I usually write a chapter in one or two days. The next day I rewrite it. The third day, I read it, hopefully making very few changes, and then I move ahead to expand my outline and notes for the next chapter. The next day I give the chapter a final read. If I’m happy with it, I start writing the following chapter.

It isn’t unusual for me to wake up during the night with a plot idea, a snatch of conversation or a specific scene, and race out to write it down.

When I’ve finished the novel, I let it sit for a week or two and then read it, making notes. Then I begin the rewrite. When that is finished I send it off to a friend, who is a copy editor. When he’s finished, I make those corrections, and hopefully, I’m done.

How did you prepare to write about the book’s specific area or field of study?

Deb and I visited Egypt on our honeymoon, so I visited most of the scenes in Imhotep and The Buried Pyramid. I also do a lot of research, both hardback books and visiting web sites.
How did you come up with your title?

For Imhotep I just used the main character’s name. It said EGYPT and it felt right because of the central plot twist. The Earth Is My Witness is a quote from Buddha. My detective is Buddhist and there is a body buried in a secret place.  For my next book, there is a pyramid called the Buried Pyramid. It is in the right location and time frame for the novel and there are some mysteries about it that dovetail with plot ideas I had. And it sounds mysterious, right?

What advice do you have for writers who have not yet been published?

Amazon has been wonderful for me. If you can’t find an agent, follow the publishing guidelines and put your book up as an eBook. Don’t charge too much. I might believe that my book is worth $20 a copy. But if no one buys it at that price, I must be wrong. I priced Imhotep at $2.99 and it was selling a few copies, a dozen or so a month. I dropped the price to 99 cents and it started moving. My best month I sold about 3,000 copies.

Excluding family, name three people who either inspired you or influenced your creativity.

Mark Twain. Perhaps the American best writer, both his writing and observations are incredible. Gore Vidal. His historic novels are witty, intelligent and fun. The Dalai Lama. His writing is clear and uncluttered, as are his ideas.

If your book were chocolate, what kind would it be and why?

Dark chocolate. (It’s the only kind I eat.) It has more flavor and yet it’s smooth.

Tell us about your main character’s psyche or personality. What led her (or him) to be the person s/he is today?

Tim Hope, the main character of both Imhotep and The Buried Pyramid, is an artist who begins the stories as an injured innocent, becomes a powerful, confident leader (in the first novel) and then is hammered by fate in The Buried Pyramid.  I am still writing it, but so far he has absorbed the blows, and, though nearly broken, has begun to recover.

When I wrote about him I wanted to explore how a person who is sensitive, moral and intelligent would react to extreme situations, how they could reconcile reality with their idea of fairness. 
Describe your protagonist as a mash-up of three famous people or characters.
David Lamb, the protagonist in The Earth Is My Witness, has the savour faire of the Dude, the imposing physicality of Woody Allen and the social skills of Shrek. Yet he still figures things out.

If you could host a magical dinner party, who are the six people (living or otherwise) you’d include?

Bob Dylan, circa 1964; the Dalai Lama, now; Thomas Jefferson, at the time of the writing of the Declaration of Independence; Isaac Newton, at the height of his mathematical powers; Carl Sagan, anytime; and Jane Fonda, when she made Barbarella.

What’s next for you?

I am nearly finished with the first draft of The Buried Pyramid. It is a sequel to Imhotep, my first and most successful novel.

Continuing the story of the main characters of Imhotep, it begins with the death of King Djoser and introduces some new characters, both in ancient Egypt and in the modern day. Like Imhotep there is a bit of time travel. I used time travel as a way to make the story of Imhotep possible. In The Buried Pyramid I’m using it a bit more, both as a plot technique and as a way to write about free will, randomness and fate.

It’s been a blast to write. I hope readers will have fun with it.

 

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The Next Big Thing

In the “Next Big Thing” blogging meme, an author answers ten set interview questions and then tags five more people to do the same. Here’s my contribution.

    1. What is the working title of your next book?

  The Star Family 

2. Where did the idea come from for the book?

I was at the International New Age Book Faire and saw a book called William Blake’s Sexual Path to Spiritual Vision. In in introduction I learned that Blake’s mother was a Moravian, the church I was raised in. Then I read that in the eighteenth century the Moravians taught sacred sexuality. My mouth fell open. Had anyone told my grandparents? Why had I never heard of this before? I had to research it, then write about it. So I did.

3. What genre does your book fall under?

Paranormal mystery or urban fantasy—you decide.

4. What actors would you choose to play the part of your characters in a movie rendition?

For my leading lady:  Angelina Jolie or Cate Blanchette. Her partner:  Harrison Ford.

5. What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?

Jane Frey leads the secret power elite in a hunt for the Founding Father’s occult weapon.

6. Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?

We’ll see. I’m shopping it around right now.

7. How long did it take you to write the first draft of the manuscript?

Write? About 9 months. Research? Longer.

8. What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?

  • Dan Brown’s The Lost Symbol, which deals with Washington, D.C. sacred geometry, as does mine, but I have a connection to colonial group and towns, plus bring in Prague and its sacred geometry.
  • Steve Berry’s The Jefferson Key deals with the colonial pirates settled in North Carolina now affecting D.C. politics. My novel is set in the colonial town of Winston-Salem where the founders hid a powerful key to D.C.’s sacred geometry.
  • Katherine Neville’s The Eight, The Magic Circle, and The Fire. Neville’s novels deal with family secrets and secret artifacts that can affect world power. The Star Family also has a secret family legacy that the character must discover for herself, plus a prophecy that suggests she holds a secret artifact.
  • H.D.’s The Mystery and The Gift. Modernist and Moravian H.D. wrote two novels briefly touching on what is called “The Shifting Times,” a time in Moravian church history when the mystical connections were openly taught. Goethe even went searching the church archives for this information while writing Faust.

9. Who or what inspired you to write this book?

When I found the Blake book, but the more I read about this period in Moravian history, the more intrigued I became. I found connections to metaphysics, the Rosicrucians and the Freemasons. I took a flying leap from there and really had a blast.

10. What else about the book might pique the reader’s interest?

Here’s my blurb:  Jane Frey handles the disposition of her former music teacher’s estate after her job in oil and gas finance is given to a younger, more corruptible woman. The Gothic mansion is full of unexpected treasures:  original paintings by 18th century visionary William Blake, a secret room used for tantric rituals, and an ancient underground cavern. When a prophecy suggests she now possesses the key to an energy grid laid down by the Founding Fathers themselves, Jane becomes a target of competing world powers who want the artifact for themselves. Except Jane doesn’t have what they’re looking for, but she must discover it before more people die. Could the key be hidden in her family’s increasingly mysterious past? She follows a trail of clues to Prague, revealing a secret mystical organization in her childhood church and a three hundred year old ritual that only she can complete.

Here are the excellent writers who you’ll hear from next. Hope you enjoy their writing as much as I do. Click on their links to read their Next Big Thing.

Stefan Vucak is an award-winning author of seven techno sci-fi novels, including With Shadow and Thunder which was a 2002 EPPIE finalist. His Shadow Gods Saga books have been highly acclaimed by critics. His recent release, Cry of Eagles, won the coveted 2011 Readers Favorite silver medal award. Stefan leveraged a successful career in the Information Technology industry and applied that discipline to create realistic, highly believable storylines for his books. Born in Croatia, he now lives in Melbourne, Australia. To learn more about Stefan, visit his: Website: www.stefanvucak.com Twitter: @stefanvucak

Christina St. Clair, award-winning author, former shop-girl, chemist, and pastor, is currently a spiritual director, Reiki Master (don’t read too much into the title master!), wife, animal lover, and writer.
She says, “Boring life? Let’s not do duty. Let’s do awe! Take a look at your own complexity? You might be amazed. Life leads us into so many interesting and sometimes difficult crossroads where we get to choose what now, what next? As a student of mysticism and spirituality in all its incarnations both religious, secular, and new age, I want to understand what life is about, what is truth? I am still seeking, but I am offering to those who are interested my insights weaved throughout my essays and stories. I hope my writings might add to your already surprising lives.”
www.christinastclair.com/blog

Carole McDonnell is a writer of ethnic fiction, speculative fiction, and Christian fiction. Her works have appeared in many anthologies and at various online sites. Her novel, Wind Follower, was published by Wildeside Books. Her forthcoming novel is called The Constant Tower. http://carolemcdonnell.blogspot.com/

Gina Bednarz:  I’ve worked hard most of my life, but until a few years ago, I never really knew who I was supposed to be. When I realized that I had the courage required to follow my dreams, I enrolled in college after a 17 year absence and finally earned my Bachelor’s degree in English and Creative Writing. Now pursuing my MFA in Creative Writing (Non-Fiction) at Lesley University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, I’m hitting my stride, reveling in a passion uncovered, and writing my heart out. Thanks for joining me! http://www.writingwithmyhaironfire.blogspot.com/

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Interview with S.P. Hendrick, author of The Glastonbury Chronicles

When I saw that S. P. Hendrick had written a series called “The Glastonbury Chronicles,” I was so happy to have more to read about one of my favorite sacred sites in the world, so I invited her to drop by and tell us about the series, the latest book in it and her other work. Please welcome S.P. Hendrick.

Would you please tell us a little about yourself?

I grew up in the San Fernando Valley area of Los Angeles, California, and earned a Bachelor’s Degree in English from San Fernando Valley State College which is now California State University at Northridge.  I also studied at UCLA Extension, taking classes in Television writing.  My first TV script, which was for The Man From U.N.C.L.E., was on the story editor’s desk when the show was cancelled.   Under the nom de plume Jennifer Starkey I did publicity for such rock groups as Buffalo Springfield (you can find my photo with Neil Young, Stephen Stills and the rest of the group in their boxed CD set) and others.  During that period and under that name I was a columnist for Teen Life, a national magazine, and my first novel, Sunset Offramp was published. 

In 1991 my husband Jay Mayer and I went to a gathering in Millom, England and met my future publisher, Peter Paddon (Pendraig Publishing).  I returned to Britain in 1994 to research the first volume of “The Glastonbury Chronicles”, Uneasy Lies The Head, and visited him in Luton while I was there, sending him a draft of the book when it was finished.  He replied that if he ever got around to publishing fiction, he would love to publish it.

A few years later he came over for a visit, fell in love with our housemate, Linda, and moved over here to marry her.  By 2010 he had decided to begin publishing fiction and took on not only that book, but my other series “Tales of the Dearg-Sidhe” and its first Volume, Son of Air and Darkness. The two series dovetail, though one takes place in the future and the other begins in the distant past, for the heroes of one series keep reincarnating together , while the hero of the other series is an immortal, and their lives are constantly crossing.

Would you please tell us about your latest book?

Volume VI of The Glastonbury Chronicles, The Barley And The Rose, finds the protagonists as Arthur and Gavin, son of the King of Britannia and Lord Tyrell, Prime Minister.  After the first five volumes in which they and the King’s Companions, Knights of the Order of the Sword and the Rose (an ancient Pagan Order which preserves the arcane history of the lineage of the Sacred Kings whose blood and bloodline preserve the Land and its people) this volume finds them far in the future on the last outpost of the British Empire, a distant planet called Britannia.  This time they are born remembering all that has gone before them instead of the way it has been in the past, when something triggers their Awakening.  The two are telepathic with each other, their bond stronger than that of brothers, for they have lived and died together throughout history, throughout legend. 

An ancient evil, one they recall from the far past on long-lost Earth, one they had believed to have died with their home world, has begun to make its presence known on a planet once more peaceful following years of revolution.   Can they, aided by Dubhghall, the immortal foster-son of the ancient Goddess Morrigan, stave off this new threat, or will their foe put an end to everything they have known and sink the Universe into eternal darkness?

What inspired you to write this novel?

I had no choice.  These characters announced they were back, they had a new adventure, and it was time for me to start writing it down as they dictated it to me.

What does a typical writing day look like?

There is no typical writing day.  Each day is different.  It is not unusual for me to be awakened in the middle of the night with “The Lads” as I have learned to call them, chattering away in my head and chiding me for sleeping when I should be at the keyboard writing.   Sometimes it is in the daylight, sometimes the TV is on in the background, sometimes it is dead silence.  The first book was written with black pen on lined yellow paper.   Somewhere along the line I learned to compose on the computer and it now flows more easily that way.

Can you describe your writing process?

There is an initial “What if” and an examination of history for odd facts and people my characters might have been in prior incarnations.  Then there’s the connecting of the dots in the same manner an ancient astronomer might have looked at the night sky to form pictures associated with mythology.  And then I listen to the characters, most of whom I have been living with since about 1994 in some form or another.

How did you prepare to write about the book’s specific area or field of study?

I read history and mythology, then try to visit as many of the places which actually exist as I can.  For the future history I try not to step on the toes of the past, but to echo it, as cycles keep repeating themselves over and over throughout time.  And I look for quirks in mythology…folks who are mentioned perhaps once and then never heard about again, and try to give them lives.

How did you come up with your title?

Barley and Roses have been symbolic throughout the series.  Barley is the symbol of the Sacred King and is used in several rituals in the books.  It comes from the old notion of John Barleycorn Must Die, which is in itself a reference not only to the making of beer and whiskey, but to the sacrifice of the King.  The Rose is the symbol of secrecy, and has also been used in the books to symbolize the women in the book.

What advice do you have for writers who have not yet been published?

Never give up.  It was about 30 years between the publication of my first book and my second.  If the ideas are good, you will eventually find yourself in the right place at the right time with the right publisher.  Just keep writing.

Excluding family, name three people who either inspired you or influenced your creativity.

Robert Heinlein, Robin Williamson and William Shakespeare

If your book were chocolate, what kind would it be and why?

Dark chocolate, about 85% cacao.  Rich, sweet, but somewhat bitter, complex and for an adult palate, because that’s the way my characters and their relationships are.

Tell us about your main character’s psyche or personality. What led her (or him) to be the person s/he is today?

There are really two protagonists, the King, in this case Arthur, and his Knight, Gavin, who is so close to him that in one life they were born conjoined twins, both the firstborn son of the King of England.  One cannot exist without the other.  They are the two sides of the same coin.  The King must die and the Knight must slay him, usually taking his own life soon after.   They are Hamlet and Horatio in the scene in which Horatio tries to drink the poisoned cup.  They are who they are and what they are because they have been through that scenario countless times over millennia, each time trying to stay alive until the proper time and place, no matter what the Gods or their fellow man have thrown up against them, and when the time is proper and the place is right, they complete the cycle and are at peace for a time, until the Need arises once more.   They have died unknown and unseen, behind their own lines at Ypres to bring about the end of The Great War, in the Tower of London to precipitate the end of the Wars of the Roses, in a sealed cave as the Revolution surrounded them to bring the blood of the Sidhe to a blue world to make it green and fertile.  They have not always been seen as King and Knight, but their Order knows who they are and so do they, and so will they always.

Describe your protagonist as a mash-up of three famous people or characters.

Hamlet, Valentine Michael Smith, and King Arthur

If you could host a magical dinner party, who are the six people (living or otherwise) you’d include?

Robert Heinlein, J. R. R. Tolkien, Robin Williamson, Peter Jackson, J. K. Rowling and Joseph Campbell.

What are you working on right now?

A deck of Tarot cards which are based upon the characters in my novels, Celtic Mythology, and British folklore.  I am hoping to get to Britain next fall to work on the physical research of the next couple of books in the “Tales of the Dearg-Sidhe” series, and working on a third companion series “The Glastonbury Archives” which will have a lot of back story on other characters and the Order of the Sword and the Rose, and there’s a detective novel I have written the first three chapters on, which I would really like to finish.  Also a novelization of a modern mythological rock and roll screenplay I wrote some years back called The Midas Chord.

 

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New Egyptian Novel! Interview with Merrie P. Wycoff

Every once in a while someone writes a book that I know my readers will be especially interested in. Merrie P. Wycoff’s Shadow of the Sun is one of them. Merrie tells the story of the Pharaoh Akhenaten from the perspective of his daughter, Merit-Aten. Here’s what she has to say about the book.

Would you please tell us a little about yourself?  I was born in San Jose, CA and when I was 10 years old we took a class trip to the Rosicrucian Museum where I discovered a colossal statue of Pharaoh Akhenaten and was mesmerized. I vowed to discover the truth about this unusual looking man who history had deemed ‘a heretic.’  After college I moved to Los Angeles and worked as a lead Segment Producer for Entertainment Tonight for six years.  Then moved to Colorado where I reside today.

Would you please tell us about your latest book?  Shadow of the Sun is a paranormal historical novel set in Ancient Egypt. The story is told through the eyes of Pharaoh Akhenaten’s and Queen Nefertiti’s first daughter who is born to save her family and bring peace to her country after her parents introduce a revolutionary form of peaceful worship during a dark reign of terror. The problem is that her parents’ have dramatically different views on how she should do it.

Pharaoh Akhenaten desires that Merit-Aten remain chaste and take the perilous path of an Egyptian Mystery School initiate while Queen Nefertiti demands that Merit-Aten choose a consort and produce more heirs to ensure the family’s survival.  Merit is forced to choose her own destiny, but can she do it without destroying everyone she loves?

What made you interested in writing this particular story?  I have always been fascinated with Egyptian history. I am currently earning my Egyptology degree at the University of Manchester. But, on my second trip to Egypt in 2007 with Stephen Mehler, we traveled with an ancient Egyptian wisdom keeper, Abd’El Hakim Awyan who dramatically changed my perspective and introduced me to an entirely different point of view. I yearned to show my readers something new about an ancient civilization.

What does a typical writing day look like?  I love to write. I write whenever I have a chance. Lunchtime, before dinner or late at night. I just need quiet so that my scenes can come alive…like watching a movie. I have to hear it, taste it, smell it and see it. The characters tell me their story. I just listen.

Can you describe your writing process?  Research. Research. Research. Readers want to know what kind of tea they were drinking. It took me seven years to write this.  Probably could have done it sooner if I had an outline.  My next book will take less time.

How did you come up with your title?  Akh means child or shadow of the mother in the Khemitian (Egyptian) language because children follow their mothers everywhere.  The sun refers to the Aten which is the form of monotheistic worship that Pharaoh Akhenaten introduced back after he wiped out the pantheon of gilded gods.  The ruling deity at that time was Amun, the Hidden One who lived in the shadows when the priests ruled Egypt with greed, superstition and fear.

What advice do you have for writers who have not yet been published? Summon up your will forces to sit down every day and write. Then find a great editor to polish your work. Make it excellent. The publishing world is being turned upside down by those of us who are self-publishing.  My story is unique but it isn’t a vampire or zombie novel so although agents loved it they didn’t want to take a chance.

Name three people who either inspired you or influenced your creativity. My sixth grade teacher, Mrs. Conant who believed in me.  Drunvalo Melchizidek who urged me to write this story. And my mother who kept a bust of Nefertiti on the mantle while I was growing up. Life plants clues we just have to be aware of them.

If your book were chocolate, what kind would it be and why?  Dark chocolate with a hint of chile because it is exotic, flavorful and a bit spicy.

Tell us about your main character’s psyche or personality. What led her (or him) to be the person s/he is today?  Prior to her birth, Princess Merit-Aten remembers that she made a contract with the heaven lords to save her family. She negotiated for superior knowledge. Unfortunately that gets her into a lot of trouble and doesn’t make her popular with her older classmates.  She discovers jealously, lies, betrayal, murder and magic within the warring court.  Merit-Aten’s ability to talk to animals, see colorful auras around everyone and her obsession with the forbidden use of magic in order to further her cause stirs up a lot of drama.

If you could host a magical dinner party, who are the six people (living or otherwise) you’d include?  Stevie Nicks, Marie Antoinette, Queen Guinevere, Mary Magdalene, Count St. Germain, and Thoth.

What are you working on right now?My second book in The Shadow Saga is called Stealing the Shadow of Death.

Find out more about Merrie and her novels at http://merriepwycoff.com/

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Short Story Just Released

I have a short story in a fun anthology from Tyche Books called Ride the Moon. This collection takes the moon back from the usual suspects, werewolves and vampires, and explores the lunar legends of different creatures and cultures. It’s up on Amazon now and you can buy it by clicking this link. For other eBook formats or print copies, check Tyche’s website.

My story “White Moon” is based on the legend of the Mayan goddess Ixchel. She is the mother of the four jaguar gods of Mayan legend, the elder goddess of midwifery and healing, of fertility and procreation. Her consort is the Sun God, Itzamna, the father of her children. Being a ball of fire, Itzamna has a fierce temper, and when Izchel tires of this, she goes to Cozumel to spend time with women.

I took this theme of the tides of relationships and showed it in three couples. This story was inspired by meeting the crystal skull named Ixchel at the 11.11.11 conference in L.A. Several real people inspired the characters, but the situations are purely fiction–meant to play with the theme of Ixchel’s myth. Below is a picture of Ixchel.

 

 

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Short Story Sale

I’m honored to have a story included in the anthology Ride the Moon from the new Canadian science fiction/fantasy press Tyche Books, Ltd. Just look at this list of great writers.

My story is “White Moon,” based on the story of the Mayan Goddess Ixchel. Ixchel is a moon goddess, the consort of the sun god, mother of the four jaguar priests. And it’s the name of the mystery crystal skull that was revealed at the 11.11.11 conference in L.A where my own consort, Stephen Mehler, was a guest speaker. The story includes Mayan mythology, magic, crystal skulls and sound healing.

In her myth cycle, Ixchel marries Itzamna, the sun, but grows tired of his hot temper. When she leaves him, she goes to her island, Cozumel, where she lives among women as a midwife and healer. I took this theme of the ebb and flow of relationships, and the ebb and flow of human consciousness.

A special note:  if you find that you resemble a character in this story, remember not to read too much into it. This is not really you, but a character in a story written for fun.

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Podcast–Reading from Beneath the Hallowed Hill

Listen to Megan’s trip to visit the fae in Beneath the Hallowed Hill with a couple of new paragraphs not in the current edition.

The latest Broad Pod, September 2011: Fairy Tales for Grown-Ups, is available for you to enjoy!

http://broadpod.posterous.com

Thank you, L.C. Hu, writer, artist, and all around geek, for hosting and assembling this episode.  Dragons and magical beasts, peasants and princesses, heroes and tricksters­—fairy tales are some of the first stories many of us hear as children; is it any surprise that they continue to inspire us into adulthood? This month brings us five new interpretations of the fairy story, as varied and wonderful as the tales that enchanted us as children.

Catherine Lundoff  tells us of Vadija the Merry, whose laugh inspires a talespinner to begin a life-changing journey.  Shauna Roberts gives us a
science fiction retelling of the old tale Maid on the Shore.  Theresa Crater leads us down beneath the Tor to meet the fae, as we follow a young woman’s initiation to become a priestess. Vonnie Winslow Crist spins us a tale about a young man who makes a deal involving death, deceit, and
devotion with a swan maiden. And Trisha Woolridge enchants us with the story of  a young woman wandering her uncle’s manor, who discovers a curious portrait in a dusty side room.

So sit back, and let yourself be swept away by these five fantastic fairy stories.

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Everyone Lived in Egypt

In Under the Stone Paw, one of the theories that I researched came from Ab’del Hakim Awyan, who was an Egyptologist and tour guide for many years. He lived a block from the Sphinx and woke up every morning to look at her face. When Stephen Mehler, his student and fellow tour guide, first met Hakim, Stephen had accepted the idea that the high civilization and technology had been imported from Atlantis. This is what most western metaphysical schools teach. Hakim rejected this idea, saying that it smacked of racial supremacy. It suggested the indigenous Africans of Egypt couldn’t have built the pyramids themselves.

Stephen then asked Hakim if he supported the Nile School of Egyptology, which claims all Egyptians were black and that black Africans were the first to develop a high civilization. Hakim said no to this theory, too. So, who were the Egyptians, Stephen asked him.

All races was his answer. Hakim taught that Ancient Khemit, predynastic Egypt, was much larger than the Egypt we know today. He claimed it was the Ib, the heart of the huge continent that then broke up into Africa, Europe and Asia. He even would take it back to when the Americas were attached. Of course, most scientists would say humans weren’t around then. Some anomalous evidence does suggest human civilization is older than western civilization is willing to admit, but this could also be attributed to mythology.

Hakim claimed that Egyptians were all colors. Stephen used to point to the people on the walls of the temples and their various facial types. He’d point out people in Egypt with red hair and blue eyes, whose families had lived there for centuries. Hakim claimed Akhenaten’s teacher, Amenhotep, son of Hopi, was Asian. But now there’s more evidence.

According to DNA testing, the Pharaoh Tutankhamen, King Tut’s genes are predominantly European. So that means Akhenaten and Amenhotep III, Tut’s father and grandfather, were also largely European. Read about the DNA tests here.