In Temple in the Sand, you give readers an in-depth look at the life of a lesser-known historical figure of Pharaoh Seti I. What inspired you to write this book?

It wasn’t until the pandemic, when like the rest of the world, I was at home with time to view videos, that I came across Seti’s magnificent temple in Abydos, Egypt. Like his burial chamber, which is sometimes referred to as the “Sistine Chapel of Ancient Egypt,” the raised relief artwork inside its walls is considered to be some of the best, if not the best that ancient Egypt ever produced. Looking at the artwork captured by photographers on Flickr, allowed me to enlarge their photos on my computer screen to see the fine details of those high-relief carvings. I got a quirky idea of writing a type of ghost story in which a woman gets inadvertently locked in the temple overnight and is visited by the spirit of the pharaoh, who talks to her about art, aesthetics, and politics.

That idea lasted until I heard a discussion with Egyptologist, Dr. Kara Cooney, about a woman called Omm Sety, who seems to have had past life memories of a life lived at that temple and an affair with the pharaoh. My “ghost story” was nothing compared to her story. However, I got a book by Jonathan Cott on Omm Sety and in it, I found a wonderful idea. It is written in the temple that Pharaoh Seti left a personal diary hidden somewhere in the temple. It has never been found, but if it ever is, it would be the only such document written by a pharaoh himself. Then the real initiating spark lit things up: I would write the pharaoh’s diary.​

I imagine this book required quite a bit of research. Can you share with us one of the things you found most surprising about Pharaoh Seti I’s life?

As I researched, I began to discover a person from a non-royal background, whose life as a soldier, commander, and even vizier was fantastic enough, without the added accolade of being pharaoh. As improbable as it might seem, Seti’s family was handed the throne when Pharaoh Horemheb realized he would have no heirs. He chose the family of his trusted comrade-in-arms, Paramessu, (Ramesses I) who had a capable mature son (Seti) and a healthy young grandson (Ramesses). Ramesses I held the throne for only about 18 months before dying around the age of 70. His son, Seti, did the heavy lifting to restore
Egypt to its former glory which had fallen away during the reign of Akhenaten.

The idea that Seti, this supreme soldier and superb administrator, was also someone with an extremely refined aesthetic sense and a taste for art was something that I wanted to present to the world. I wanted to show how someone of fairly “common” origins was indeed a stellar entity who always brought his A game to the table, whether in war, politics, or artistic creations. I wanted the reader to see that behind all that power and royal regalia, there was a real person, not so different from us, but one who was able to grasp the reins of destiny and move a whole nation in a different direction. Yet, he was also someone who suffered sorrowful defeats in his personal life. As we all know, no one gets to have it all.​

What is one thing you hope readers take away from Temple in the Sand?

I’d like the readers of Temple in the Sand, the Memoirs of a Pharaoh to be able to sit with the humanity of this person as he writes in the wee hours of the morning, revealing his life in relation to the chapels in his temple. Each chapel deals with a different god who rules a different aspect of life which the pharaoh contemplates in terms of his own lived experience. I’d like for the reader to enter the world of one of the earth’s oldest civilizations and enjoy their time on the Nile in the company of the king.​

What is the next book you are working on, and when will it be available?

In terms of other books that I may write, I am updating a novella, Beautiful Imperfections, which deals also with art and two cities that I love, San Francisco and Toronto. It will reappear with a new cover this spring on Amazon.com. I have a partial outline for another novella set in Avignon, France where I lived for eight years. I would like to finish that one, a fun, whimsical piece with a bite (it deals with a local folklore creature known as the Tarasque) before I go to Egypt (depending on world conflict conditions). Once there, my focus will be on that wonderful raised relief art found in the Seti Temple and in his tomb, as I’d like to create a novel about the artisans who created the work that the pharaoh commissioned. ​

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