Once again, this second novel is narrated by the incomparable Adam Hanin, whose rich and melodic voice is only matched by his acting abilities, as he switches from character to character, lending each a unique voice. More than that, Adam is uncannily able to age his voice as the characters age through the sweeping historical novel.

If you’d like to know more about how Adam’s and my collaboration works, check out this previous blog.

Ancient Egypt is a rich source of material for we historical novelists. I chose to focus on the very first Dynasty because I was always curious as to how the Dynastic tradition started. Who was it that had the vision to create a unified Egypt, a civilization rich with ritual and tradition, that was to last more than 3,000 years? I found those answers and I wove two tales (the third and final one I am now writing) in The First Pharaoh and The Dagger of Isis. Both are available on Audible and Amazon.

I hope you enjoy them both. The First Pharaoh is enjoying terrific reviews, both in written form and on audio. Please remember to review the books on Amazon, Goodreads and elsewhere after you have read or listened to them.

As always, a big thank you to my loyal readers for your continued support, critiques and suggestions.

Our hope is to have the book ready for you by early May. Judging from reactions to the prequel, The First Pharaoh, you folks are in for a treat. I love Adam’s various voices, his acting ability, and his passion for the story itself. It shows in the way he approaches the work.

If you’d like to know more about how our collaboration works, check out this previous blog.

It turns out that Narrative Science has developed a series of computer programs that allow it to mine data from The Web and translate it into very good prose. So good are their algorithms that financial companies are paying them to interpret complex graphs and data sets into readable paragraphs that even lay people can understand. To quote my granddaughter: “OMG!”

So far these bots specialize in sports and financial reporting, in part because they lend themselves to formulaic narrative. But the folks at Narrative Science are developing ever more complex algorithms that they foresee will tackle ever more narrative forms of journalism.

Has it come to this, now? Are we at the dawn of the Age of Our Scariness? Writing venues are disappearing all around us. Pay rates are plummeting at the surviving pubs. Web writing sucks big time. And now, we are on the verge of being replaced by writerbots.

Stay tuned, fellow writers. It could be a bumpy ride.

I know, I know. There is this whole exclusivity argument regarding Amazon. They are too big, too bold, too this and too that. But the facts speak for themselves, at least in my case. Over the past few months since my four novels went on sale, 95% of my sales have been through Amazon.

By using KDP, I get some perks that I wouldn’t have in any other publishing platform. For example, every time an Amazon Prime member borrows a book, I get paid. I can also put my book up for “free” days every so often, which stimulates interest, garners reviews and improves word-of-mouth sales. Besides, the beauty of electronic publishing is that as the other publishing platforms up their game I can simply increase my distribution platforms to bring them into my marketing. Anyway, that’s my story and I’m sticking to it… for now.

The kickoff novel in the series, The First Pharaoh, has been available in audio format for about two months now. It is being sold on Audible.com and on Amazon.com. Reviews have been quite good, in large part due to the captivating narration by Adam Hanin. You can hear a sample of his narration before you order.

The Book

The Dagger of Isis, already available in softcover and e-book, describes the life of Meryt-Neith, the first King of a united Egypt. In those early Dynasties, the word Pharaoh had not yet come into use. Pharaoh means the “big house,” a reference to the huge palaces that later Dynasties built.

Meryt-Neith served as Regent for her son until he came of age. That 17-year rule was one of the most incredible periods in Egyptian history. She was so revered, her tomb was built on one of the holiest spots in ancient Egypt. However, as I bring to life in the novel, her rule was not without its challenges. She suffered self-doubt that made her stronger. She experienced tragic loss, and enduring love. She felt the stinging wounds of betrayal, yet she was strong enough to save her country from invaders. I’m looking forward to Adam bringing the story to life.

The Process

For those of you who are interested in the process, we start with my sending notes to Adam with how I feel the names of the characters and towns should be pronounced, along with my thoughts on the personalities of the characters. If there are questions, Adam will ask me to clarify.

With my book before him, Adam secludes himself in his home professional recording studio and begins narrating. The rules of Audible require that he sends me the first 15 minutes for approval. Once that is done, Adam proceeds to narrate the entire first chapter. Our arrangement calls for Adam to send me each chapter as it is completed so we can catch mishaps before they are repeated.

Once I listen to the chapter, I send Adam a note with comments. If corrections are needed, he makes them and sends me the revised chapter for final approval. We continue until the entire book is done.

Marketing

Once the book is posted on Audible and Amazon, the process of marketing begins. I see it as an opportunity to let my readers know about its availability. But it’s also a good time to remind my readers of how important it is for them to post their review of the book or audio just as soon as they are done.

Some bloggers who know and enjoy my writing get in touch and soon I may be interviewed or be asked to write a guest blog. In any case these marketing efforts are fun and a chance to connect with my very passionate readers.

… And You

In today’s fast-pace world, readers want to hear how others liked the work, so they can judge whether it might work for them. That’s where you come in and for each of you who has taken the time to post a review I am so very grateful. Thank you!

Publishing today is really more of a true partnership between authors and readers. Feedback is important, and also instantaneous. The more detailed the review, the better readers can judge whether that work is really for them.

I will keep you posted on how the audio progresses. In the meantime I am hard at work writing the final volume in The First Dynasty Series, and man, is it fast-paced and full of drama, conflict, and other good stuff. Stay tuned!

Whoa! Wait a minute. Not so simple, is it? She wants to know the “real” reason, not some spewing of platitudes. The truth is that I had to take a good deal of time out of my evening to sit and think this through.

In the end I discarded spoons full of pablum responses and instead dug deep into my “real” motivations for writing. If you are a writer, an aspiring writer, or an avid reader, I hope you will find my answer to that penetrating question interesting. I’d love to hear your comments.

You’ll find my essay here

At it’s launch, I was asked by Momma herself if I would agree to be interviewed for her site. I agreed, not knowing just how thorough and delving she would be. In the interview we cover topics such as where I get the ideas for my novels, who inspired me, how writing effects my life, research, even my experiences living with a Bedouin tribe in Egypt. If you are interested in writing or a writer’s life, I think you’ll enjoy this penetrating interview.

Of course there are the standard answers that we all give, each of them true to one degree or another. First and foremost we read… a lot. One of the joys of writing a historical novel is understanding that a different point of view, new findings, or a unique approach to the storytelling can make even a well-known historical event seem fresh and inviting.

Then today there is the Internet, a literal treasure trove of information, some of it even accurate. We spend countless hours trolling for basic information, then drilling deeper and deeper to answer our own questions and to uncover details that will add depth for our readers.

Our reading and Internet research eventually surfaces a bevy of experts in our fields to whom we can write, email and interview. I love this part especially, because suddenly there is a human face, or at least a voice or electronic message, who we can call on for help. These unsung heroes, who get a scant mention in our Acknowledgements, are often our greatest assets.

But there is one other aspect of research for our historical novels that I think is too little mentioned and definitely too little used by historical fiction authors. That is actually visiting the lands, buildings and places where the history we describe takes place. Yes, things will have changed since the period about which we have chosen to write. But in my mind at least, there is no substitute for helping the reader actually feel a sense of place.

To transport our readers to that time and place we need to smell the forests ourselves, touch the soil, feel the desert heat on our skin, see the immensity of the cathedral and hear our own footsteps echo as we walk the labyrinthine hallways of the castle.

In my novels about the rise to power of Egypt’s first pharaoh (Narmer), his great-granddaughter (Meryt-Neith) who was the first woman king, and the last king of the First Dynasty (Qa’a), I felt I needed to experience Egypt personally. I was fortunate that I was able to visit Egypt several times. But I needed to get out of Cairo, beyond the tourist spots, and into the Egypt of the past.

One thing I did was visit archaeological dig sites to get a sense from the archaeologists themselves of the grandeur of ancient times. I found those visits tremendously helpful and made the acquaintance of Egyptologists who provided me with juiy details for my writing. But there was something far more basic that I was still missing.

Egypt is 96% desert, with a narrow ribbon of green flowing south to north, a water course we know as the mighty Nile River. If there is anything that defines Egyptian civilization, it is the contrast between the nourishing Mother Nile and the unforgiving Eastern and Western deserts.

So I contacted a sociology professor who had written a book about the Bedouins of Egypt and within months I was back in Egypt, living with a Bedouin tribe. That experience more than any other, taught me about what it meant to survive in Egypt circa 3,100 B.C.

I also spent countless hours on the banks of the Nile watching fisherman cast their nets at dawn or drop their baited lines from their boats. It was not a big stretch from there to imagine an ancient fisherman doing the same from his reed boat and pulling in one of the Nile’s famous giant catfish.

So there you have it. I’m a great believer in on-site research. Without it I think a novel suffers from platitudes, flat descriptions and factual errors. With it, a novelist adds descriptive elements that allow a reader to experience the sensory delights of time and place.

Thanks to the Internet I recently met fellow author Jack Durish, a veteran who has penned a historical novel that I would have never chosen to read, but that I am so happy I did. In Rebels on the Mountain, Jack weaves a tale of the Cuban Revolution, a topic I sadly knew little about. He introduces us to the real life Fidel Castro and his rag-tag Fidelista fighters, to Batista, Che Guevara and even to Ernest Hemingway! When I was done I needed to know more about Jack and his book.

1. What is the one book of yours you want us to read?

Rebels on the Mountain available in all ebook formats on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and iTunes.

2. Give us a one sentence synopsis.

Nick Andrews, a U.S. Army spy assigned to unwrap the mystery of diplomatic failures in Cuba, avoids being entrapped in Castro’s Revolution until he is forced to bury his friends and fight.

3. Pick a few characters from your book and tell us who you would like to see portray them in a movie?

Fictional Characters:

Nick Andrews: A U.S. Army Ranger and Korean War Veteran who has made a career of reconnaissance patrols behind the Iron Curtain – possibly portrayed by Stephen Amell

Lucia Comas: An American-educated, island-born mulata, daughter of the second wife of don Carlos Comas, a Cuba sugar plantation owner, and love interest of Nick Andrews – possibly portrayed by Christina Milian

Emma Regan: An American socialite whose husband, a retired pediatrician operates a free clinic on the sugar plantation she inherited, and sister to the don Carlos Comas’ second wife Sigourney Weaver

Real Characters

Fidel Castro: The charismatic leader of the revolution that overthrew the Cuban dictator, Fulgencio Batista – possibly portrayed by Jsu Garcia

Che Guevara: The Argentinian doctor who became one of Castro’s most notorious lieutenants and his executioner following Fidel’s rise to power – possibly portrayed by Guillermo Diaz

Ernest Hemingway: Nobel Prize winning author and Havana resident who mingled freely in the halls of power in Havana and purportedly supported Castro’s revolution – possibly portrayed by William Hurt

4. Tell us about the story, but please don’t reveal too much.

Nick Andrews uses the cover of a pleasure trip with friends, the Regans – a retired doctor and his socialite wife who own an estate in Cuba – to infiltrate the island from its halls of power in Havana to the rebel camp in the mountains at the eastern end of the island. Unexpectedly, he rekindles a childhood crush with the island-born niece of the Regans, and makes friends with a loyal Fidelista rebel. Romance, rum, rumba, and revolution layer themselves into a tale of intrigue, action, and suspense.

5. What inspired you to write this book and how long did it take?

I was slated to pilot a vessel from Galveston Bay to the Chesapeake, with a stop in Havana, when I was a young sailor, but the trip was canceled due to several factors including the fall of the Batista government in Cuba. I suppose that I never let go of the disappointment of missing that adventure. Thus, I followed events in Cuba closely and studied the history of the island and its people during the intervening fifty years. I spent another two years cataloging and studying my research, and another year and a half to write and edit the manuscript.

6. What other books have you written?

Dream Pirates – Fiction for young readers with impaired reading skills and new English speakers WordPerfect: Creative Applications – Technical manual Infantry School: A Soldier’s Journal – Personal memoir Vietnam: A Soldier’s Journal – Personal memoir Trifles: Literary Dessert – A collection of short stories to be published soon

7. Which authors inspired you, your style?

Many including… Ernest Hemingway: Voice Mark Twain: Irony Charles Dickens: Memorable characters

8. Where can we learn more about you and your books (and how to follow you on social media)?

Http://www.jackdurish.com

9. Is there anything else you would like us to know?

I am currently working on my second novel featuring Nick Andrews as a young soldier in the Korean War. Also, I have been posting to my blog a series of articles built from my research into Cuba with special emphasis on the love-hate relationship between the island and the United States. Most expect a change in US-Cuban relations when Fidel Castro dies, and Americans will begin looking forward to visiting this Caribbean paradise, which has been off limits for so many years.

The audiobook is a close collaboration with my narrator, the incredible Adam Hanin. Superlatives do not do justice to Adam’s interpretation of my writing. To hear my story come alive through his amazing voice and acting abilities is an emotional experience for me. As Adam sent each chapter to me for comment, my wife and I sat mesmerized, sometimes laughing, at other times at the edge of our seats or even crying. It was a real blessing to have Adam understand the story, bond with it, and narrate it so soulfully. Adam, I can’t thank you enough!

There were also lessons that were reinforced in listening to Adam’s narration. I am a firm believer in story-telling, which should be obvious since I am a writer, author and novelist. I have had the privilege of working with Native Americans in my past. Today I count some First Nation people in Canada as my close friends. I have been honored to sit around a fire circle and listen to stories told by tribal elders. There is something primal, bonding, and totally wonderful to be part of that experience, watching babies nursing at their mother’s breasts, children falling asleep to the soothing words of a comforting story told for the umpteenth time, adults absorbing the story lines with new insights.

I do hope you will get a copy of The First Pharaoh on CD, MP3, or whatever is your medium of choice. Curl up on your couch this winter with a cup of tea or java and let yourself be transported to a world 5,000 years ago, to they very beginnings of Egypt’s First Dynasty. Or tune in as you drive to and from work. Either way, Adam and I hope you thoroughly enjoy the experience.

To order your copy from Amazon, click here.

To order your copy from Audible, click here.