Who Can Resist the Ancient Egyptian Gods?

Welcome to my second post as a member of Paranormal Romantics. I’m really excited to be a regular contributor now, sole owner of the 13^th of every month LOL! I kind of jumped right in last month without introducing myself, since my debut landed on Mother’s Day and I wanted to share a paranormal experience my mother and I had.

So this month I’ll step back and do a bit of introduction.  I write paranormal romances set in a fictionalized version of 1500 BC Egypt and I also write science fiction adventure/romance. I’ve had one of each published so far – my debut novella PRIESTESS OF THE NILE by Carina Press came out in January, then I self published WRECK OF THE NEBULA DREAM in late March.  On this blog I plan to focus more on my Tales of the Nile (which is what I call my paranormal connected series) vs. the SFR. So I’ll talk about topics relating to that, and writing in general. You can always stop by my own blog http://veronicascott.wordpress.com/ for other subjects! Or find me on twitter daily at @vscotttheauthor. 

I’ve always been deeply fascinated by Ancient Egypt – the pharaohs, the mythology, the tombs, the jewelry. One of my alltime favorite YA books was MARA, DAUGHTER OF THE NILE by Eloise Jarvis McGraw.

One day as an adult I stood by the side of King Tutankhamen’s sarcophagus, gazing down into the eyes of the boy king, as depicted in the amazing golden mask…my employer at the time was a major sponsor of the King Tutankhamen traveling exhibit and I got to spend an hour virtually alone in the museum.  Things were much less formal then and although obviously I wasn’t allowed to touch anything, not with burly guards glaring at every turn, I could literally stand right next to the items and look my fill, unimpeded by plexiglass.

The golden funerary objects were stunning but I was equally fascinated by the everyday possessions and furniture in the exhibit, all created with fanciful and amusing details. Everything I saw spoke to me eloquently of the ancient Egyptian people who believed so fiercely in their gods and the promised Afterlife. I had the feeling of stepping back in time for a moment.

I love writing about my characters against the backdrop of life in Ancient Egypt, with the gods and goddesses taking an active role in events. PRIESTESS OF THE NILE featured Sobek the Crocodile God and Isis, Queen of the Gods. I currently have a manuscript out on submission entitled WARRIOR OF THE NILE, where we see the goddess Nephthys and her sister Isis becoming involved in the fate of my hero and heroine.  I’m editing my next novel, DANCER OF THE NILE, and there’s a lot of involvement from Horus the Falcon god and Renenutet the Snake goddess. You can’t ever go wrong with all the rich mythology of Egypt to rely upon! Sometimes the challenge is deciding which of the many conflicting myths to adopt.

But at the core of every story I write is a woman and the man and their adventures and challenges along the way, while falling in love. I’ll leave you this month with a short excerpt from an Egyptian love poem written in the general time frame where I set my stories:

For heaven makes your love
Like the advance of flames in straw,
And its longing like the downward swoop of a hawk.

And later the poet has this to say:

Your hand in my hand,
My soul inspired
My heart in bliss,
Because we go together.

See you next month!