My short story “Egyptian Holiday” a chic lit prequel to The Shapeshifters’ Library series, was recently published in Bibliotheca Fantastica, an anthology published by Dagan Books.
“…fabulous tales of bibliophilic wonder, enchantment, terror, romance, mystery, and adventure”
I'm honored to be included with nineteen much more famous (serious, silly, and scholarly) speculative fiction authors selected and edited by Claude Lalumière & Don Pizarro.
“It seems fitting that fiction, one of the most time-honored ways of examining the complexity of human nature, also be applied to the examination of something as equally complex. Fiction about books in general has certainly been done before. Indeed, one might be tempted to dismiss this book about books, this Bibliotheca Fantastica, as an anthology of stories about Necronomicon knock-offs housed in spooky libraries, or of post-apocalyptic mutant book-worshippers living under St. Patrick’s Cathedral, or riffs on Borges’s Ficciones.
Yes, there are stories about books of power, and of libraries. There is a cathedral, and the name of Borges is invoked not once, but twice. But each of the stories in Bibliotheca Fantastica has, I believe, something unique to say about the importance of the book-as-artifact to those who shape them and to those who are shaped by them. These are stories in which the idea of a book and what it represents reaches beyond issues of form and function. Indeed, sometimes a book’s form is its function, and in this anthology the possibilities for both are limitless.” Don Pizarro
############
Were Cleopatra
and her sister Alexandria,
the Librarian of the Library of Alexandria,
the Librarian of the Library of Alexandria,
really dog-shifters?
Excerpt from
"Egyptian Holiday" by Amber Polo
From the diaries of Cleopatra VII, Queen of the Nile, and Ptolemy Alexandria,
Royal Librarian. Translated and Enhanced by
Liberty Cutter Manchester. Library Director, New World Ovate, Druid Order
of Gutenberg Societies Library (D.O.G.S.)
Alexandria, Egypt, 48 BCE
Ptolemy Alexandria narrowed her eyes and peered up at the woman who controlled her Library’s budget.Alex seethed. She desperately needed more funds for her Alexandrian Library. “At least pretend you have reviewed my arguments. I've justified every drachma.”
Ptolemy Alexandria narrowed her eyes and peered up at the woman who controlled her Library’s budget.Alex seethed. She desperately needed more funds for her Alexandrian Library. “At least pretend you have reviewed my arguments. I've justified every drachma.”
Cleopatra VII, Queen of the Nile, raised her hand and
dismissed her guards, ladies-in-waiting, and scribes. She smoothed the golden
edge of her purple tunic and with canine grace stepped from the Throne of Isis
and stood between the statues of Anubis.
Alex, wearing the unadorned tunic of a scribe, faced her
twin sister. “Cleo, stop behaving like a damned Roman. The future of our people
depends on my Library.”
“Don’t get dramatic. All my departments want more. More
money. More materials. More slaves.” Cleo toyed with a pearl earring as large
as a crocodile eye. “Do you want my job? Your veins also carry the blood of the
Greek pharaohs. We could rule jointly, sister queens of Isis. We could visit
Rome. Attend an orgy.”
Alex lowered her voice. “The Romans have sworn to wipe out
our people and my books, ever tablet and scroll.”
"I pay attention to foreign affairs.”
“Swapping drool with werewolves?”
Bibliotheca Fantastica Published by Dagan Books - an independent publisher of weird, wicked, beautiful, and brilliant books, primarily speculative fiction.
“…fabulous tales of bibliophilic wonder, enchantment, terror, romance, mystery, and adventure”Buy the epub file here, mobi–which also works on your Kindle–here, or PDF here, for only $4.99 each–instant downloads! Always DRM-free. Or you can buy a bundle of Bibliotheca Fantastica in all three digital formats, for only $6.99 (here)
Print and Kindle from Amazon
No comments:
Post a Comment