Friday, November 14, 2014

Goddesses and cobras and mummies, oh my!

Egypt has fascinated me since I was a kid. I've wanted to see the Sphinx, ride a camel across the desert and most of all, visit the pyramids to see hieroglyphics in person. Cleopatra fascinated me even more - a strong female leader who had incredible charisma as well as power. I didn't learn about Hatshepsut until much later.

I came across a couple of articles a few years ago detailing the unearthing of important artifacts from that time, and saved them. Experts believed they'd discovered the queen pharaoh's real burial site, as her tomb contained someone else's remains. During her reign, Hatshepsut did much to advance Egypt but after her death, her legacy was destroyed, and she was all but erased from history.

So when I found another article about the discovery of one of her vizier's false tomb doors, I saved that too. The third article was fairly short, but no less important - the mummy of a warrior who served under Hatshepsut had also been found about the same time.

I love it when the universe sends me little gifts like that. It played in perfectly with my (then) new idea for the Goddess Connection series. All I needed was an Egyptian goddess...  

Bastet seemed a perfect choice. There are tons of Egyptian gods and goddesses, but many of them have some connection to death. Bastet is most famously known as the goddess of cats. She's a warrior, but also a gentle protector of home and children, a healer and dancer, moon goddess, a goddess of pleasure. She goes by many names: Lady of Flame, Eye of Ra, Lady of the East, Goddess of the Rising Sun, The Sacred and All-Seeing Eye.

As a daughter of the sun god Ra, she would also be a target for her father's enemies - especially the serpent Apep. Which made it all the more fun when writing, and one of my characters surprised me by becoming a cobra shifter!

 And so, I'm thrilled that nearly two years after starting to write Goddess, Spellbound, it's finally available.

Here's the blurb: 

Ancient pyramid tomb doors. Mummified warriors. Artifacts appearing from nowhere.  And that’s just Sandy Whitaker’s work as museum curator. When spells become curses, and the dead return for vengeance, her dream job turns into a living nightmare.

The warrior Iker’s triumphed over difficult pharaohs and returned from battles victorious, but dealing with Sandy Whitaker is his hardest task yet. A descendant of Egyptian goddess Bastet, she’s headstrong, naïve and completely alluring. Can he convince her to perform the ritual spells to save the Queen Pharaoh Hatshepsut’s eternal soul? More importantly, can he help her realize she doesn’t need to be descended from a goddess to be one herself?

Sandy reluctantly embraces her heritage as Sanura, demi-goddess of cats. But even with her new powers, can she fulfill her destiny? If she can survive being kidnapped by a cobra shifter, she’ll do her best to perform the Pyramid Texts ritual spells so Hatshepsut can sail into the Afterlife at long last. But once the queen pharaoh is gone forever, will Iker leave her too?

Goddess, Spellbound
The Goddess Connection, Book 3
Fantasy/paranormal romance novel
Heat level: Sensual
About 68,400 words




You can read the first chapter on WattPad. I hope it leaves you spellbound!