Egypt-related fiction

[Jayhawk]

Well, look at it this way.

The poor slob of a peasant is going to be asking for the beer and the garlic, and cringe everytime someone raises a voice. The aristocrat is going to be used to things going his way and will thus be a much more active person in a script.

[GillB]

There was also an episode of Highlander the Series where one of Cleopatra's handmaids was immortal but had been buried until the mummy arrived in the US for an exhibition. She had great trouble adjusting to 20th century US as you can imagine ...

[Keith]

Originally Posted by Miut

Ah, pooh! Where's the romance for a film in that, eh?
Apart from that, I quite agree.

It might be even more interesting than you think. Anyway I had good chuckle way back then, when someone posted a message that he was a direct decendant of the Pharaohs and had the research to prove it. His mother looked it up.

Keith Heitmann

dheitm8612@aol.com
Pharaoh Music Jukebox

[Rachelc258]

<<Or for a slightly more modern view of Ancient Egypt, there are the Amelia Peabody stories by Elizabeth Peters. Peabody and her husband Emerson are archeologists working in Egypt in the late 19th - early 20th century. Peters trained as an Egyptologist, so the books contain a great deal of detail, not only regarding the era in which the Emersons lived, but also about the sites they're excavating.


Cass
>>

Ooh, I love Elizabeth Peters. You can pick up a few random egyptology things while reading those.
There was some book about Hapsheut (can't spell), but I can't remember the title.

Gillian bradshaw wrote a book set in alexandria (way later then what we are talking about, but still, egypt) that was good.

[Miut]

[quote=Keith]It might be even more interesting than you think. Anyway I had good chuckle way back then, when someone posted a message that he was a direct decendant of the Pharaohs and had the research to prove it. His mother looked it up.

Yeah? I'd love to see that research! And where did you get the cool laughing smilie?

[Keith]

[quote=Miut]

Originally Posted by Keith

It might be even more interesting than you think. Anyway I had good chuckle way back then, when someone posted a message that he was a direct decendant of the Pharaohs and had the research to prove it. His mother looked it up.

Yeah? I'd love to see that research! And where did you get the cool laughing smilie?

Yep, that research would have proved interesting. The smilie comes from the Sierra forums. I keep a list of smilies icon URLs I've found that I like so I can use them when I don't find one I need someplace else.

Keith Heitmann

dheitm8612@aol.com
Pharaoh Music Jukebox

[Miut]

Any chance of getting an Url or two, pretty please? I get so bored of the same-old same-old smilies.

[Keith]

Originally Posted by Miut

Any chance of getting an Url or two, pretty please? I get so bored of the same-old same-old smilies.

This one is well known and has a good selection:

http://www.plauder-smilies.com/

Some I borrow from the VU/Sierra forums:

http://community.vugames.com/Images/emoticons/wavey.gif
http://community.vugames.com/Images/emoticons/idea.gif

You can see more there.

Some I keep on my website:

http://members.aol.com/dheitm8612/bigeyes.gif
http://members.aol.com/dheitm8612/thumbsup.gif

Just a Google search for smilies should give you a unlimited list of sites.


Keith Heitmann

dheitm8612@aol.com
Pharaoh Music Jukebox

[Uatch-Khepheru]

Not to resurrect an old thread or anything, but anyway...The "Lords of the Two Lands" trilogy listed above were excellent books. "The Oasis", the second in the series, was the best book ever written that was set in Egypt IMHO, the characters were some of the best I have read in any piece of literature, and the descriptions were awesome!. But I found many of the "mystery" books set in that setting were at best average.

[Miut]

Thanks, Keith.

[Tary]

I also strongly recomend the the Amelia Peabody series.

[Elvenwarrior2001]

AS they say in my country: "Never heard of it." But that doesn't mean I won't check it out...

Elven

[ramuhotep]

Originally Posted by Ineti

AB, thanks for the tip to the Lauren Haney books. I picked up the first one at Borders today, and am about 1/3 of the way through it. It's a good read. Lots of very nice details that I can see used in an RPG.

The Haney books are wonderful mysteries, and well researched. "Lauren Haney" is a pseudonym of Betty J. Winkelman, who writes scholarly artices on Egypt under her real name.

For some reason, the first book published in English, The Right Hand of Amon, is actually the second book in the series. It took some 7 years, but the first novel, Flesh of the God, is finally available in English. If at all possible, read Flesh first, or some of the mystery of that book will be lost. In general terms, you know that X and Y are not in danger because you've seen them in later books, while A has B's position in later books, which bodes ill for B.

[wodinoneeye]

Originally Posted by Afterburner

The Lord Meren mystery series by Lynda S. Robinson is set in the reign of Tutankhamen. The main character is a spy/detective who survived being tortured by Ankhenaten by professing a swordpoint conversion, and then survived the rest of his reign to become an advisor to Tutankhamen. Aye and Horemheb also feature as prominent characters.

The Lieutenant Bak mystery series, by Lauren Haney, is set during the reign of Hatshepsut, and features a member of the Medjay police. The first few stories take place in the Sudan, but the rest take place in Egypt.

I've read all of the Meren books, and they're okay. I found the main character to be a little too angsty and melodramatic for my tastes, but the writing is good.

I haven't read any of the Lieutenant Bak stories, but they're popular enough to have eight books in the series now, so...

Ive read all the Meren books also and found them interesting for the cultural details etc...

An intersting view of Egypt was in one of the Roman Mystery series books by John Maddox Roberts (Temple of the Muses), which was doubly interesting because it was from a Roman's point of view of Egypt (Alexandria) in the Late Republic/Ptolemy era . (Funny scene where the main character while chasing a villian who shouts 'cat murderer' at him and then he has to run for his life from a mob...)

[wodinoneeye]

Originally Posted by Timhotep

Mika Valtari: "The Egyptian"

This is one of the greatest books I´ve ever read. It tells about a physician who lived during Akhenaten´s reign.

Movie was made of it in 1954 (won an academy award).

[Afterburner]

I just found another new Egyptian mystery series. The protagonist is Lord Amerotke, Chief Judge of Thebes. The author is P.H. Dohtery.

There are four books in the series. I've read the first so far. I need to get the 2nd and 3rd. I have the 4th, but don't want to read it out of order.

The first book was quite good and, of the three Egyptian mystery series I've read (Meren, Bak, and Amerotke), it does the best job of conveying the flavor of the time. It reads more like an historical novel that just happens to be about a murder mystery, whereas the others read like murder mysteries which just happen to be set in ancient Egypt.

The plot of the first book is heady stuff: the murder of Tuthmosis II. The political intrigues surrounding the rise to power of Hatshepsut form a backdrop to the mystery. My only gripe with the book was that the author used the classical names for the cities (e.g. "Thebes" vs. "Waset," "Memphis" vs. "Men-Nefer," and so on.)

[Felix VonHauson]

A friend of mine recently reccomended Lauren Haney to me. I picked up "Path of Shadows" and am really enjoying it. She has done a lot of research to ensure that the flavor of Egypt is maintained, and only the people and events are fiction.

[Ineti]

Originally Posted by Felix VonHauson

A friend of mine recently reccomended Lauren Haney to me. I picked up "Path of Shadows" and am really enjoying it. She has done a lot of research to ensure that the flavor of Egypt is maintained, and only the people and events are fiction.

I'm enjoying reading Haney's stuff. I also have a couple of Doherty's books, but haven't had a chance to get into them yet.

[Neferneferuaten TaSherit]

IMHO all of the Elizabeth Peters books read like a very bad movie script. I have read all of the Lauren Haney Lt. Bak mysteries and the flavor of ancient Egypt comes right through. As to the Lord Meren mysteries... well I have my own opinions about Akhenaten and his time period so I will not go into those. But let us say the I enjoyed the stories as (as my father-in-law would say) "chewing gum for the eyes." Wilbur Smith books are just Indiana Jones in book form but a good read.
If you are looking for interesting fiction try "Eye of Horus" (the authors name escapes me right now ) but it is set after the death of Akhenaten and the main characters are a physician and a girl that he raises who just happens to be the unwanted daughter of Nefertiti. There are actually two stories in the book. Current time and ancient time. Good read.
The Pauline Gedge books are marvelous as are the Judith Tar.
An obscure book that is good to read (if you can find a copy!) is "Lost Queen of Egypt" about Ankhesenpaaten, the daughter of Akhenaten and Nefertiti and the wife of Tutankhenaten/amen.
Good reading!

[Ineti]

In case anyone is interested, I picked up a hardcover copy of Pauline Gedge's Egyptian novel titled The Oasis (Lords of the Two Lands Volume II) this evening at my local Barnes and Noble. It was on the bargain table for $5.00. Can't attest to the quality yet since I haven't had a chance to read it, but any time I can get a hardcover for $5 is good in my eyes.