I can’t quite remember when I first heard about the Emerald Tablet. It might have been when I was searching grimoires, or possibly when thumbing through one of the hundreds of research books I’ve looked at over the years, but it has fascinated me ever since I first heard about it.

The Emerald Tablet is a thick slab of green emerald or crystal (depending on which legend you are reading) on which is enscribed the secrets of all alchemical knowledge. It was reported to have been fashioned by Thoth/Hermes Trismegistus himself, who is a legendary synthesis of both the Egyptian god, Thoth and the Greek god, Hermes.

Thoth is the god of learning and scribes, the god who gave wisdom to man, so it makes sense that he would have carved this tablet. He was also the god who gave magic to mankind, so clearly it is in keeping with his reputation to share alchemical knowledge with humanity.

There is some disagreement, however, as to whether alchemical knowledge was ever truly supposed to turn lead into gold, or whether it was always intended more as a philosophy or a spiritual process to help us move our thoughts onto a higher, less physical plane of existence.

Personally? I vote for both, that the alchemical knowledge contained in the tablet is both practical and spiritual.

Some legends say that the tablet was one of the most widely copied texts in the Alexandrian Library, and that when it was destroyed in the 4th century, it was spirited away into the desert, where it remains hidden.

Or did, until it ended up in the Museum of Legends and Antiquities’ basement. ☺

Below is Sir Isaac Newton’s translation of the Emerald Tablet (via Wikipedia, but confirmed through a number of other sources as well.)

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Hello all!

I hope everyone is so quiet because they have their nose buried in a good book!

My travel plans are firming up, and the information on where I’ll be talking and signing in May is trickling in. Two firm dates are:

Tuesday, May 18,  10:30 a.m.   Politics and Prose, Washington DC

Thursday, May 20,  6:00 p.m. Wellesley Booksmith, Wellesley, Massachusetts

And lastly, for those of you who just can’t enough about Egyptian magic, I blogged over at The Enchanted Inkpot this week, talking about that very thing!

In THEODOSIA AND THE EYES OF HORUS, Theo once again visits the British Museum. I thought you guys might be interested in seeing some historical pictures of the British Museum circa 1906. Not only is it a place Theo visits, it was also my model for her parents’ Museum of Legendds and Antiquities.

This is the Reading Room. For a long time, this was the only place scholars could find the preeminent works on archaeology or ancient Egypt.

These next two pictures are pictures of the actual display rooms. I think it’s interesting to see how much they made use of natural light back then, when electric light had only just begun to come into widespread use.

And lastly, this is a picture of how I envision the family’s sitting room there in the museum.

I think I’ve talked here before (and if I haven’t, I should!) about how a lot of what we think of as magic today, was actually part of Ancient Egypt’s religion. There are a number of terms I use in the books, that I thought I’d explain a little more in depth here, especially those having to do with the magic and curses Theo deals with.

The Egyptians idea of a soul actually included three parts; ba, ka, and akh.

The ka was the divine life force that each person possessed. The ka didn’t have a personality, per se, but very much needed a physical body to inhabit. This is why mummification was so important to the ancient Egyptians—they needed a place for their ka to live once they had died. All the food and objects left in their tombs were for the ka to use.

The ba was the part of the soul that held the person’s personality. It was the ba that journeyed to the Egyptian Underworld and risked being overcome by Underworld demons and dying a second time. If the ba failed in its journey through the Underworld, it died for a second, final time.

However, if the ba survived the journey through the Underworld, it was transformed into an akh, a spirit who lived with the gods and might even have some small powers of its own.

The ba that did not survive the Egyptian Underworld became restless and unhappy. These were called mut, and are a large part of what Theodosia has to deal with in her work with curses.

Hm. Maybe I should do an entire glossary for the books. There are an awful lot of unfamiliar or unusual words having to do with ancient Egypt in the book.

I’ve decided to award TWO prizes for this contests, one for a song suggestion and one for a book on magic title. AND, since I got my box of author copies, they will be real live BOOKS, not simply an ARC. Unless you want the Advanced Reader Copy.

And the winner’s are . . .

DEBBY for her wonderfully titled Awakening Your Inner Oracle by Euphemia, Daughter of The Pythia and

MIKE for the Strange Magic song suggestion. (PERFECT for Theo Four!)

When you guys have a chance, email me with your snail mail addresses and I’ll get your prizes out to you. Also, let me know if you’d like them signed to you or just signed.

Thanks for playing, everyone!

Hello, hello! I’ve finally finished up Book Four, THEODOSIA AND THE LAST PHARAOH, and sent it off to my editor. Yippee! Which means I have more time to blog.

For today, just some fun random things. And maybe—yes, I think so—a contest! I have one last, lonely Advanced Reader’s Copy of Book Three, THEODOSIA AND THE EYES OF HORUS to give away…

First of all, the Theodosia books are now available in an audio book! Very cool. I’ve been dying to know what voice they’d pick for Theo, and I think it’s a winner. I love it. If you are curious, you can listen to it here. (Click the green bar beneath the image of the book cover.)

And speaking of listening, I’ve gotten a few questions lately about what, if any, sort of music I listen to when writing the Theodosia books. I don’t actually listen to music while I write, but I will often listen to music before I write, to get me in the mood.

Below is my Theodosia playlist:

Manic Monday- The Bangles
Walk Like an Egyptian – The Bangles
Girls Just Want to Have Fun – Cyndi Lauper
Orange Crush – R.E.M. (I have no idea why, it just works)
Other Side of the World – KT Tunstall
She Bop – Cyndi Lauper
Rumble in Brighton – The Brian Setzer Orchestra
Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds – Elton John
It’s the End of the World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine) – R.E.M
Man On the Moon – R.E.M.
Suddenly I See – KT Tunstall

And here is where the contest comes in. To enter, simply post a comment and name a song that you think deserves a place on a Theodosia playlist. Be sure to post both the name of the song and the artist who performs it.

If you don’t have any songs you want to suggest, the other way to enter the contest is this: Invent the name of a magician and a book he wrote on ancient magic. There are lots of examples from the books: Mummies and Their Secrets by Sir Lynn N. Bandage, The Rites of the Dead by Sir Roger Mortis, A Dark Journey Through the Egyptian Underworld by Mordecai Black. (Note, yours don’t have to be on Egyptian magic, it can be any kind of magic!)

I’ll close the contest at midnight on Monday, March 29, then announce the winner on Wednesday, the 31st.

Have fun! And I can’t wait to see your answers!

Okay all you loyal fans! Here it is, the last serial chapter of  THEODOSIA AND THE EYES OF HORUS. The book itself should start showing up in bookstores within the next two or three weeks!

For those of you just tuning in, I am posting a chapter a month of Theodosia and the Eyes of Horus to help tide you over until the book comes out in April. I also need to post my standard spoiler alert:

WARNING, This chapter of Book Three, Theodosia and the Eyes of Horus, MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS FOR BOOK TWO, Theodosia and the Staff of Osiris. So if you haven’t read that yet, STOP RIGHT NOW. The rest of the chapter is up under the cut in order to protect those who haven’t read Book Two yet.

You’ll also notice that I’ve taken down Chapters Three and Four. Part of the agreement with my publisher is that I wouldn’t leave six chapters up at once.

CHAPTER SIX

THE EMERALDTABLET

“HENRY!”I YELLED. “What on earth are you doing? These aren’t toys, you know.”

Henry stared in horror at the tip of the lance blade, which was now slightly crumpled. “How was I to know you were going to bash it with a stone tablet?”

“What do you expect me to do when you come at me with a lance? Besides, I didn’t mean to. It was just instinct to get something between me and the point of the blade.”

I knelt down to examine the stele. Sure enough, a huge crack ran right through the middle. “Oh, Henry, you’ve destroyed it!”

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Gah! Once again I got so busy with Theo Four that I had to be reminded. Here is the next chapter of Theo Three, THEODOSIA AND THE EYES OF HORUS.

For those of you just tuning in, I am posting a chapter a month of Theodosia and the Eyes of Horus to help tide you over until the book comes out in April. I also need to post my standard spoiler alert:

WARNING, This chapter of Book Three, Theodosia and the Eyes of Horus, MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS FOR BOOK TWO, Theodosia and the Staff of Osiris. So if you haven’t read that yet, STOP RIGHT NOW. The rest of the chapter is up under the cut in order to protect those who haven’t read Book Two yet.

C H A P T E R  F I V E

HE N RY  MA K E S   A N   U N E X PE C T E D  D I S C OV E RY

STILTON HAD THE DRIVER DROP ME at the corner of the square then take him around to the back of the building so we wouldn’t be seen together and raise any suspicions.

I opened the front door of the museum and peered cautiously inside. The foyer was a jumbled mess, partially assembled display cases were scattered throughout and half-unpacked crates littered the floor. At first glance, it appeared empty. Then I spied Clive Fagenbush coming down the stairs, carrying an enormous crate.

Like a hound on a scent, he quickly found me.

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Sometimes when I want to work on a book but my writing brain is too tired, I’ll do a collage of the book to help stay involved in the story world. However, for the Theodosia books, I decided to try something else–an altered book, which is basically a bunch of collages inside the pages of an old book. This altered book is really more about helping me stay fully immersed in the world, while giving my mind something else to focus on besides the words on the page. Plus, I can’t even begin to tell you how much fun it is!

So first, I had to find the right book to alter. How thrilled was I to find the above book at the library’s used book store–it’s even a translation of an Arabic poem! How perfect.

This first image was my first experiment. It’s very simple,  just a mood piece for the first book, touching on picking up Mother from the train station.

This next picture was trying to evoke the sense of showdown I knew was coming in Book Two, involving the Dreadnought, the Serpents of Chaos, and a certain prophecy regarding a red sun…

And lastly, a scene in the catacombs, with all those mummies…

While I will confess to being all thumbs when it comes to art, I do love collaging. I love the whole “found” thing aspect of the art form, the junk turned to jewels element of taking used and discarded trash and scraps and using that to create something beautiful and evocative.

It reminds me very much of writing, actually.

As a writer, I collect mental junk, a face here, a look there. The snippet of conversation I overheard at the restaurant. The scolding I heard the mother give her son at the grocery store. The surprising sight of a teenage punk driving his 80 year old grandmother around in his hyped up jalopy. A sunset. A birdsong. A remembered feeling from when I was seven years old. This is the sort of stuff writers collect in their heads, where it rolls around for years, decades sometimes, until it becomes tumbled and smoothed and juxtaposed with other things and becomes something entirely new.

First of all, I have to apologize as I should have mentioned this last week, but I forgot with all the Thanksgiving mayhem.

Over at HipWriterMama we are having a contest and giving away an Advanced Reader’s Copy of the Theodosia and the Eyes of Horus! So if you’re interested in entering, hop on over there.

But do it quickly! The contest ends Monday, November 30 at 11:00 pm EST.  Good luck!

Recently I’ve gotten a number of emails asking me some very similar questions, so I thought I’d post the answers here on the blog. These questions are courtesy of Elise.

1. When is your birthday?

September 21

2.What is your favorite color?

It changes, depending on my mood, but usually green, blue, or purple.

3. What is your favorite food?

It’s a toss up between homemade bread, popcorn, or ice cream.

4. what inspired you to write?

I’ve always enjoyed writing, ever since I was eight years old. What inspired me to write Theodosia’s story was a combination of my love of ancient Egypt and a desire to write a book I would have loved when I was eleven years old.

5. Is there a reason you named her Theodosia?

Honestly, that name just kind of popped into my head sounding very British and old fashioned, so I grabbed it. Sometimes I have to search high and low for a name and sometimes it just comes to me, that one was a “just come to me” sort of name.

6. Will you write more Theo books after the Eyes of Horus?

Yes.

7. If yes, how many? At least two.

8. What will they be called?

Right now, the working titles are, Theodosia and the Eyes of Horus, and Theodosia and the Flame of Sekhmet.

9. Do you have any pets?

I used to have lots of pets, but now only one. (For more about my earlier pets, read here.)

10. If yes, what are they and what are their names?

One very old, cranky, demonic cat named Oreo.

11. if you met me would you treat me like a little kid or a grownup based on my writing to you?

I would treat you like an equal unless you did something that forced me to treat you like a little kid (like disrupted a school presentation I was giving.) One of the reasons I write for kids, and write a character like Theo specifically, is that I DO firmly believe that kids are much smarter, wiser, and generally on top of things than they tend to get credit for.

Ta da! Here is the cover art for the third Theodosia book, Theodosia and the Eyes of Horus!

How much do I adore these Theodosia covers?? Yoko Tanaka is a GENIUS!

I just wanted to let you know I will be having a booksigning at Barnes and Noble in The Woodlands, Texas on October 18 at 2:00. You can check out more details here.

If any of you are in the area, I’d LOVE a chance to meet you!

By virtue of Random.org, the winner is…Christine!

Congratulations Christine! Email me and I will get that out to you!

Thanks to everyone who entered. We’ll have another one soon….

I am hugely excited to be able to announce a very special treat, brought to us courtesy of my awesome publisher!

I know that for some of you the wait for the next Theodosia book seems interminable. And nineteen months between books is a long time, I’ll grant you that. But, especially for you blog readers, my publisher has agreed to let me put up excerpts of the third Theodosia book, Theodosia and the Eyes of Horus. And not just the first chapter, but a chapter a month right up until the book actually comes out! Those of you who are dying for your next Theodosia fix will be able to get it right here.

I know there are some readers who are new to Theodosia and haven’t had a chance to read Theodosia and the Staff of Osiris yet, so I’m giving you guys a week’s head’s up before I start posting excerpts from Theodosia and the Eyes of Horus. OSIRIS is out in paperback now, so getting a hold of it won’t stretch your budget too far. Ten to twelve hours of entertainment for only $6.99? Who can beat that?

But. That’s not the only way to get a hold of Book Two.

And, in honor of this, I am also going to have a contest to give away copies of OSIRIS, just in case there are any new readers who haven’t found Book Two yet. That way, they won’t risk spoilers or getting left behind! All you have to do is leave a comment in this thread between now and midnight on Sunday, October 4. Winners will be announced Monday morning, then the first excerpt will go up next week.