The Mandatory First Post

I think it can most easily be blamed on Christopher Lee. When I was about ten, I first watched the Hammer version of ‘The Mummy’, and while most of the movie faded away, there is a crucial scene that inspired an interest that has carried me to this day. Over about ten minutes, with Peter Cushing’s character narrating, you watch the internment of Christopher Lee’s character and his lost love, the mummification, the funeral procession, everything. That scene fascinated me (I wish they’d just set the whole film in Ancient Egypt; reportedly the Producer had wanted to work on such a project…) and I still enjoy the movie to this day, largely as a result. (The less said about the more modern versions, the better.)

For the last five years, I’ve been working as a science-fiction author. (And it still remains a matter of mystery that it is possible to make a living out of writing books, even after all this time!) For a while now, I’ve been wanting to move into a new genre; I considered several, ranging from epic fantasy to post-apocalyptic, and even published a few bits and pieces to admittedly limited success over the years, but I never truly settled. For a time, I strongly considered Ancient Rome, following in the footsteps of some of the outstanding authors working in that field at the moment, but something held me back.

Finally, I realized that Ancient Rome simply wasn’t calling to me. Ancient Egypt was. Something about the wonder and grandeur of those long-forgotten times – and while there is some excellent fiction written about this long-lost era, there seems almost none written from the standpoint of the humble soldier, the warriors of the Pharaoh who waged wars from Kush to Canaan. Finally, I had something to get my teeth into, something I could work on, and for a few months now, I’ve been working on this project, though it is only now that I feel in a position to really talk about it. (Many, many ideas in the past have faded to nothing – I’m reluctant to really discuss any new projects until I am reasonably sure that they will actually happen.

Naturally, this is going to require a lot of research. (Which should mostly be fun, I’m looking forward to it.) Not only will I be hitting the books, I also intend to visit as many museums as I can, as while I probably can’t get to Egypt itself any time soon, there’s no substitute for actually seeing the artefacts for yourself. I’ll be chronicling those visits on this blog, as well as some of my key research texts. My intention – though I might move things around a little – is to focus on the early days of the Nineteenth Dynasty, in the closing days of Horemheb and the reigns of Ramesses I and Seti I. This is one of my favorite periods in the extensive history of Ancient Egypt, a time when the land was at its height, interacting with peoples all across the Near East. (Among other things, I get to bring in the Hittites, Nubians, Minoans, Mycenaeans, Canaanites…)

Something that I have noticed is that, primarily, fiction set in Ancient Egypt focuses on the highest levels of society – intrigue in the Royal Court, or the life of the Pharaoh himself. I’ve certainly enjoyed those books, but I think there is certainly room for something set lower in the social ladder. And during this period, certainly in the Army, there was a greater chance for social mobility than at many other periods. Witness the story of Ahmose, from earlier in the period, as an example of that – a man who fought for several Pharaohs, rising from the ranks to become a senior commander, acquiring wealth and status along the way. (I did at one point ponder writing the story of Ahmose itself, but using a wholly fictional character provides me with considerably more freedom to move him around the map.)

All of this will be chronicled on the blog. My primary writing blog is focused heavily on my science-fiction work, naturally enough, so I decided that I needed another one for my historical fiction – and so, this was born. I won’t commit to a regular schedule of posts, at least not for the moment, but I’ll be discussing my writing process, my research, and perhaps of most interest, reviewing some of the books I’ll be using, as well as some of the historical fiction I’ve read in the past.