RL here again. I will be doing some upcoming appearances and events in the Dallas and Austin areas and wanted to let people know in case there were any blog readers who felt like stopping by and saying hello!

Friday, March 20 2009  8:15 PM
Arts and Letters Live “Fresh Ink” Series
Horchow Auditorium
Dallas Museum of Art
Dallas, TX 75201

Saturday, March 21, 2009  11 AM
Legacy Books, Plano TX
7300 N Dallas Pky
Plano, TX

Sunday, March 22, 2009  3 PM
BookPeople Austin, TX
603 N. Lamar
Austin, TX 78703

If any of you out there live nearby I would love to see you!

Hello, RL here. I’ve had some great reader questions lately, so I thought I’d answer them here. (And also because the email address you gave me was wrong, Claire, so my answer to your email keeps bouncing back to me! Oops.)

What was your childhood like? Was it as exciting as Edwardian England?

Well, it was very different from Edwardian England, but exciting in its own way. To learn more of the gory details, you can go here: http://www.rllafevers.com/about.html

Do you and Theo share any traits? If so, what?

Well, I was a bit precocious, but cowardly about it, so a lot of what Theo thinks are the kinds of things I thought but didn’t have the courage to voice to anyone when I was a kid. I’m very sensitive to my surroundings, which is where Theo’s special powers came from; I love libraries and research books, and digging into the past, and am fascinated by Ancient Egypt. And I had to take care of my parents sometimes, help them with the things they forgot.

Do you think that if Henry had not gotten sick with flu, would Theo have treated him the same?

I think so. Even if Henry hadn’t had his brush with death, Theo had, and she learned a lot from that. Also, finally having her parents acknowledge her and show her how much they cared about her helped her feel freer in demonstrating her affection for Henry.

Why-oh-why did Egyptians have to record so much of their history on stone tablets! Honestly. They are heavy, for one thing and beastly difficult to sneak around. (You try slipping one in your pocket so Clive Fagenbush doesn’t see you with it! Not as easy as it sounds. Especially since they can be the size of a book or up to 13 feet long!)

Second of all, they are rough. If you handle them very much they can wear the tips of your fingers to nubs. (Which is just one more reason to wear gloves at all times if you work in a museum!)

The thing is though, these stone tablets their official name is stele or stelae plural) have been an enormously helpful tool for researchers and Egyptologists trying to unravel life in ancient Egypt.

Sometimes they recorded a prayer for the deceased, or offered up an account of his life or his good deeds. Sometimes they listed a legal decree, or chronicled the great deeds of nobles and pharaohs. Many of them had a lot to do with smiting one’s enemies, and another large number of them were dedicated to glorifying the gods in an attempt to win their favor. Through them, we’ve learned an awful lot about Egyptian government and religion, and their thoughts on the deceased.

The most famous stele of all was the Rosetta stone which featured a decree by the pharaoh written in three different scripts, hieroglyphs, Greek, and demotic script, and provided the key needed to unlock the mystery of hieroglyphics.

Even so, hadn’t these people ever heard of papyrus?!?? Much easier to lug around. . .

Canopic jars were an important part of the Egyptian burial ritual. They were where the internal organs of the deceased were stored. (I know, ew!) But the Egyptians believed they would need access to those organs in order to become whole again in the afterlife.

There were four canopic jars per person, and each of those were decorated with the head of one of the fours sons of Horus. Mesthi had a human head and guarded the liver. Hapy, with the head of a dog (although sometimes he was shown with an ape head) guarded the lungs. Tuamutef was the jackal-headed son who guarded the stomach, and Qebhsennuf used his fierce hawk head to guard the intestines.

In addition to that, the four jars were protected by four goddesses as well; Isis, Nepthys, Neith, and Serket.

Honestly. It’s hard to imagine they’d go to so much trouble over viscera!

First of all, my deepest apologies for taking so long to get these contest results posted, but the computer crashed and I lost all sorts of emails and passwords and whatnot until RL could get it backed up.

So now it is backed up and running properly again, so I can announce the Word Search Contest Winners!

We have TWO winners! Kaitlyn AND Kyra! Both came up with twenty six words!

If you would email me with your snail mail address (with your parent’s permission, of course!) we will get those copies of THEODOSIA AND THE STAFF OF OSIRIS  out to you! And good work, girls. That one was hard!

Oddly enough, the ancient Egyptians were quite big on spitting. Yes, you heard me correctly, spitting. Sending saliva shooting from your mouth. Disgusting, no?

They used it as a way to curse someone, and as a means of blessing them. Honestly? I could do without that kind of blessing.

The god Thoth even used spitting as a way to restore sight to the eye of Ra! Can you imagine spitting into the eye of a god?

I would think that would be a very high risk activity…

As promised, and long overdue, an excerpt from the upcoming THEODOSIA AND THE STAFF OF OSIRIS:

Chapter One: A Grand Fete

The lace on my party frock itched horribly. I don’t understand how they can make things as complex as motorcars or machines that fly but can’t invent itchless lace. Although Mother didn’t seem to be plagued with this problem, I would have to pay close attention to the other ladies at the reception this evening to see if they exhibit any symptoms.

“You’re surprisingly quiet, Theodosia,” Father said, interrupting my thoughts.

“Surprisingly”? Whatever did he mean by that, I wonder?

Read the rest of this entry »

For those of you who are entering the word search contest, here are the instructions on what to do next.

Email me at theodosia (at) theodosiathrockmorton.com (only use the @ symbol) with a list of words that you’ve found in the word search. Whoever has the highest number of correct words, wins! In case of a tie, there will be a drawing.

In retrospect, I realize I made this word search too hard and I apologize. I’ll do better next time! (See-we all make mistakes!)

…or, more accurately, the book, that is. THEODOSIA AND THE STAFF OF OSIRIS, to be exact. For some mysterious reason, it has shipped nearly four weeks early and is now available at online retailers and indie bookstores around the country! I thought I’d share that with those of you who simply cannot wait another moment.

Hello my dears! I am terribly sorry to have been so silent for so long! As Kaitlyn said, it is high time for a new contest. It will be hard, I’ll kid you not. It’s a word search. But because you all are such a clever lot, I’m not going to tell you the words! There are 27 if them, and they can all be found in THEODOSIA AND THE SERPENTS OF CHAOS.

Whoever finds the closest to 27 words will be the winner. Ah, and what will you win, you ask? A brand, spanking new, advance copy of THEODOSIA AND THE STAFF OF OSIRIS!

Edited to add: The contest will end Sunday, October 19, at midnight. On Monday, October 20, I’ll announce how we’ll determine the winner.

So without further ado, here you go!

Theodosia and the Serpents of Chaos Word Search

H A S A E R Y X C Q N H U G R W G V M K V B L P Y
U E B C A R B T J A A Y T G M K A O P H Z U A Z E
N B Q F V A L L E Y O F T H E K I N G S T S S Y A
W V I L S O P N V C F M T T S Q L B E N D Q E S O
U L H T Y D X S K V D A O W W E L R M G F W S S L
H W C F J T S S Y Q S Q G Z Y K P A C S I I K T Q
N R X U C S C U B X N X C E R E M G I W S P M I I
T L E F J V Y G A R E X P N N U V G T T I V T L E
C U G S O Y L A X I U E Q T E B M E A N S K F W N
R B U L E U P H Z I S S S S H F U N O E B V Q X T
W W W L Q A V P X T E O U J S D T S H C A G E P N
H R E W P Y R O I M F M D V K C L C H A S T Y L D
X T X Y H K Z C O C C T W O U D I H U O T G I M Q
S P R V Q N K R H Z S U A R E W Q N G E E I D P R
R U N O G Y O A O O L H A Z D H Y O U F T R I Z K
S G A W W A O S U Q S T R N U A T T O L Y G H B B
E Y Z I T S I G O L O E A H C R A T Z V E D C B B
Z I L D R R G P K R W S N N K T R K S O T G V S G
C L J W O D U N J Y M L L K S A R I P R L E Y Z M
E S S N R W O R I A C R P H E P O G H T S M T X T
X F U T A P T V J L K B A H M E N E M A R W P C D
N A W X Y O F F A K L B I E R E P E F Y R I K U W
K H C L I R P F N Z T O J Z I R M E P W V V L C G
I S Z P J O B X F I Y E B D G B M G R T Y V N O F
C Q P F D T T H P J A L L I Z C E O J S D V O X J

Bother. Clive Fagenbush is pestering Father to promote him to the First Assistant Curator position. That would be a true disaster. I hope Father sees that he’s not ready. Just think how insufferable he’d be! And how much damage he could do if he were in charge…

I think Luna had an absolutely brilliant idea. Let’s all list our top ten necessities in life! I’ll go first, well, second actually, since Luna started it in the last comment thread.

Theodosia’s Top Ten Necessities of Life

1. Gloves (think how horrid it would be if I had to touch all those cursed artifacts with my skin!)

2. Amulets (without them I would be utterly unprotected!)

3. The Wedjat Eye

4. Isis – my loyal friend and companion–except for when she’s cursed

5. Jam Sandwiches – or else I’d start to death

6. My trusty sarcophogus — where else could I sleep in this museum and be protected?

7. My Curse Removal Kit

8. Salt

9. Research books

10. wax bits

Whose next?

Kaitlyn! With her story about her brother who picked up the cigarette butt. Actually, I just saw one of Will’s brothers do this very same thing with a cigar stub, just the other day. It was disgusting!

Kaitlyn, please email me and I will see that you get your very own copy of Mary Hershey’s 10 LUCKY THINGS THAT HAPPENED TO ME SINCE I ALMOST GOT HIT BY LIGHTNING.

Congratulations! Thanks to everyone who participated.

Effaline’s comment yesterday made me realize that we should have a sibling week! In honor of the first ever Theodosia’s Sibling Week, Effie agreed to stop by and do an interview. Be sure and read all the way to the end to find out about this week’s contest!!

1. So just how bossy IS your big sister, Effie?

OMIDOG! (I’m not allowed to say OMIGOD, in case you’re wondering.) My big sister is SO bossy that I call her Bosszilla. She is an offishal bossaholic. She is SO bossy that she says you can’t read any of my books. And, when she finds out I’m talking to you here, her eyes will start spinning in oposite directions and smoke will come shooting right out her nose!! She could come after you, Theo, and all your readers too! Better look out!

2. Is it true you almost got hit by lightening? Can you tell us about that?

That is a very long story, so here is a text message version. My best friend, Phil, and me are practicing texting so we can snoop our sisters messages. Here goes–
I nEdD som monE fst & so DIS disgusting guy @ skul sed hed GIV me som monE f I wud shO my ded grandpa’s ashes 2 som grOs boiz bt thN my skul principal caught us & I had 2 run outside 2 git awA nd ther wz a terrible storm & I grabbed a flagpole & lightning hit it & my principal grabbed me & knocked me 2 d ground b4 I got killed!

3. Is your friend Donal as touchy/huffy as my friend Will?

No, he isn’t touchy. Does huffy mean does he have asma? I know a fifth grader that has that and he is very huffy. And he has a puffer he uses. Donal is just weird because he always wants to hang out with us girls. I wish he was more like Will! I could have used a sneaky pickpocket. My sister stole money from our Angel Scout treasury and I needed someone who could get it back!! Will would have been very handy to have-haha! Get it? :

Donal is from Ireland and I bet he and Will would NOT get along. Irish people are very mad at English people for stealing all their potatoes during the Potato Famine back in the olden days. You would definitly not want to bring that up with my dead grandpa.

But Will and Donal have something HUGE in common! You can hardly ever understand what they are saying when they talk!

You know how Will calls boys blokes? Donal calls them lads or sometimes boyos. And instead of saying Blimey! like Will, Donal says Janey Mack! I don’t know who Janey Mack is but Donal must not like her because he is using her like a swear word. (I wonder if she knows!) But its not the kind of swearing that gets him in trouble with our teacher, Mr. Giles. Like when he says bloody — that’s bad. Hey, I just thought of something, Theo. My teacher, Mrs. Giles is from England! Do you know him? He has a lot hair growing out of his ears, so if you ever meet him, talk L-O-U-D! And don’t even bring up anything about the Panama Canal. He starts talking about it and you’ll never get him to stop. Sticky Will should maybe steal his tongue. OMIDOG!

4. I’m very curious about schools, as I’ve never found one that I liked. Do you like going to school? What do you like about it?

The only thing good about school is that you get to see your best friends there. PERIOD. Oh, and I like my Principal. I get to go talk to her whenever I want and she has chocolates in her drawers (in her desk, not in her you-know-whats!) which she shares with me.

5. Do you find it easy to make friends there? (I think it would be lovely to have a friend, as I’ve never had what you could call a proper friend.)

It took me a long time after my best friend Lola Joe moved to Pensacola to find a new friend. My dad is in the joint so a lot of girls acted like I had serious criminal cooties. Especially Kayla Quintana who I wish you would put one of those scary spells on! Donal says Kayla has a tongue that would clip a hedge. That means she has a very smart alecky mouth!

Anyway, now I have two best friends! Theo, I know we don’t live by each other, but I think we could still be proper friends! What do you think?

6. What about sports? At the school I went to, if you weren’t good at
sports, they picked on you horribly. I’m not very good at sports. Are you?

I am horrible at sports, Theo. And my mom is a sorta famous coach in Texas. It’s embarasing. My number two best friend Aurora Triboni is a whiz at basketball. She’s always trying to teach me but I’m really bad. I like snooping better. That’s why I think we should be friends. You are VERY snoopy, I’ve noticed. NOI! (No offense intended!)

7. Have you ever been to a museum? Did you like it? Did you notice anything different that the adults around you didn’t seem to notice?

I want to the Lone Star Museum in San Antonio. Lone Star is the most famous beer in Texas. My dead grandpa took me and my mom found out and he nearly got grounded for it. We ate Jackalope burgers and armadillo fries which were delishus. (Help, Theo! I always forget how to spell that last word.)

I didn’t notice any evil spirits on any of the cool stuff they had there like you do-you are so lucky, Theo! There were a just a lot of dead animals hanging on the walls. I just felt sorry for them and wished I could take them down.

One thing I noticed that the adults didn’t seem to notice is that once they had too many free samples of Lone Star beer, they got really LOUD and forgot to use their indoor voices!

I really liked coming over to your blog, Theo! Thank you for inviting me!

Your new PFF (Proper Friend Forever!),
Effeline Maloney

P.S. I have a cat named Pretty Girl who is all white– and Isis is all black. Pretty Girl used to be mean and now she is nice. Freaky, huh?

P.P.S. Remind me to tell you about about Booger Boy someday. He’s like Clive Fagenbush, only he is a kid and he collects very disgusting things.

!!!! AND NOW FOR THIS WEEK’S CONTEST!!!

In honor of Sibling Week, the prize will be a signed copy of Effaline Maloney’s newest book, 10 LUCKY THINGS THAT HAPPENED TO ME SINCE I ALMOST GOT HIT BY LIGHTNING. written by Mary Hershey and starring Effaline Maloney.

In the comments*, post what the nicest, bossiest, silliest, funniest, goofiest, or craziest thing your sibling has ever done. Tell about a time when one of your siblings was SO bossy, or SO nice, or SO funny…You can only enter once, so be sure and spend a few days thinking about the one story you want to tell. If you don’t have any siblings, you can use a story about a cousin or a pet.

The contest will run for one week and ends Sunday, August 17 at 9:00 pm PST. The winner will be announced Monday morning so you all don’t have to stay up past your bedtime!

*Remember not to post any personally identifying information as those Serpents of Chaos are everywhere and we don’t want them to be able to track you down!

Dear Theo,

We have to right write a letter for an assignment. Since Mum and Dad hardly remember to read there their mail, I decided to write you.

How are you? I am fine. Even though it’s finally stopped raining, the grounds are still too muddy to do any sports. I swear in some spots the mud comes up to our knees.

Has that Bollingsworth fellow ever shown up?

What about Wigmere and those other blokes from Somerset House? Have you heard any more from them?

Sincerely,

Your Brother, Henry

p.s. I will be coming home for Eastertide, arriving at Victoria Station at 3:17 on March 23. Do not forget to have someone pick me up!

* * *

Honestly! It’s a good thing he’s at school so he can learn to spell! Surely there is nothing more annoying than younger brothers!