Paranormal Romance Blog

Author Susan Krinard rounds out our posts from the authors of the Heart of Darkness anthology, talking about her story “Lady of the Nile”. Read on to learn how Susan wrote this story to bring a little bit of ancient Egypt to life…

by Susan Krinard, author of “Lady of the Nile” in the Heart of Darkness anthology (HQN Books, January 2010)

I’ve always been fascinated by Egyptian mythology and culture. It’s both exotic and familiar; the people of Egypt believed in a seemingly endless number of gods, and yet the Egyptians wrote beautiful poetry, had a sophisticated legal and bureaucratic system, and ruled their world for thousands of years.

When Heart of Darkness gave me a chance to continue with characters I’d introduced in my HQN novel Lord of Sin—Lady Tameri, Dowager Duchess of Vardon, and mild-mannered scholar Leo Erskine–I saw a great opportunity to mingle my interest in the Egyptians with reincarnation and 19^th century adventure. The mix was perfect for “Lady of the Nile”, since Lady Tameri, member of the Widows’ Club (also introduced in Lord of Sin) believes herself to be a reincarnated Egyptian princess and priestess of the goddess Isis, or Aset … a claim that proves to be true, in spite of Leo’s skepticism and attempts to prove that she is delusional.

There is a tradition in books and movies involving some combination of Egyptian mysticism and the Victorian milieu, which often involves malignant cults conducting sacrifices of beautiful virgins. In my story, I chose as my villain not an evil cult but an adventurer, Alastair Boyd, lost in the desert after the war in the Sudan. Given a choice between death and becoming a vessel for a deity, Boyd was possessed by the Egyptian God of Evil, Sutekh. He, Tameri and Leo are thrown headlong into a millennia-old war between the gods of fertility, renewal, and life—Aset and Asar—and the God of Storms.

In traditional Egyptian mythology, Asar, or Osiris, was one of the first great gods and rulers of Egypt. He was the husband of Aset and the brother of Sutekh. Aset discovered grain and barley, which the primitive Egyptians knew nothing about, and Asar taught them how to plant and harvest and turn it into bread. He taught the Egyptians how to make wine, introduced poetry, and created laws to govern the people in peace.

Sutekh, however, was jealous of his brother, and conspired to kill him. He tricked Asar into climbing into a beautiful chest, where Asar died and was cast adrift on the Nile. Aset frantically looked for him, and when she found his body, she hid it in the rushes.

But Sutekh wasn’t done with Asar yet; he found his brother’s body and tore it into fourteen pieces. (Gruesome, isn’t it?). Aset gathered up the pieces, “reassembled” Asar, and gave him the funeral rites. He went on to rule the Dead until the time of the last battle between Good and Evil, when his son Heru and his brother Sutekh would fight for the rule of the world.

I chose to alter the legend for “Lady of the Nile”, bringing Aset and Asar together again in the perpetual battle with Evil. Once upon a time, in Egypt, they had chosen two mortals to serve as their vessels, but the peasant soldier and priestess who willingly gave their lives for this purpose were killed by Sutekh before the ceremony was completed.

For thousands of years Sutekh has been conspiring to rise again from his long exile and cast the world into darkness. When he finds a perfect host in Alastair Boyd, Aset and Asar know they must return to the world to fight him. Once again Maahes and Tameri are called to make the ultimate sacrifice for the sake of mankind.

I had great fun writing about Tameri and Leo/Maahes, bringing a little part of ancient Egypt to life. Egypt is such fertile ground for fascinating storytelling that I hope it eventually becomes more popular as setting for romance.

Learn more about the novellas in Heart of Darkness by checking out Maggie Shayne’s post about her novella “Love Me to Death” here and Gena Showalter’s post about “The Darkest Angel” here. Plus, use the widget below to read excerpts from all three novellas in the anthology:

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