Smorgasbord Bookshelf 2022- Share an Extract from your latest book – #Action #Adventure SHE Who Returns by Audrey Driscoll.

In this series you are invited to share an extract of 500 words from your most recent book published within the last 12 months. Details at the end of the post.

The aim of the series

1. To showcase your latest book and sell some more copies.
2. Gain more reviews for the book.
3. Promote a selection of your other books that are available.

Today an extract from the adventure SHE who returns by Audrey Driscoll, on pre-order until May 1st. The book is the sequel to SHE who comes forth and both books are on offer during the pre-order period.

About the book

Every decision has consequences, and logic gets you every time.

France Leighton is studying Egyptology at Miskatonic University, hoping to return to Egypt via a field school offered by that institution. But France has a talent for rash decisions, and things are complicated by the arrival of her twin half-brothers from England. Edward and Peter are contrasts—one a rational scientist, the other a dabbler in the occult—but they are equally capable of persuading France to help them with dubious schemes.

France does return to Egypt, if not quite the way she intended. She encounters old friends and new enemies, and challenges rooted in her previous adventures and her family’s complicated history. Accusations of antiquities theft drive France and her companions into hiding in the Theban Hills west of Luxor. An attack from the unknown turns an adventure into a desperate predicament. On the brink of yet another failure, France must make hard choices that may demand the ultimate sacrifice.

An extract from SHE who returns

The fly buzzed again, a sound both drowsy and irritating. Either way, it wasn’t helping me understand the difference between dependent and independent pronouns. There it was, nuzzling the window next to my study carrel. Stupid thing—it had no clue it couldn’t get anywhere that way. With less than an hour before work, I had to concentrate. And the fly had to die.

I stood, rolled my notes into a club, and took a whack at the bug. Like all flies, its primitive survival reflex made it whizz away. Okay, at least it wasn’t driving me crazy any more. I slipped back into my chair and focussed on the tiny black images whose meanings I was trying to learn. X means a and y means b, but you can’t interpret them in any logical way because the logic of ancient Egypt was different from that of 20th century America, and anyway—

Bzzzzz.

Shit! The fly was back, sizzling a foot away from my head, exploring the place where window glass met metal frame as though it could find a door to freedom.

I stood and rerolled my weapon. This time I would be methodical. I sneaked the paper club to a couple of inches from the insect and struck. Die, fly!

It buzzed away, circled, and landed on the window by the unoccupied carrel in front of mine. I glided over there and waited until it settled into a minute examination of a new patch of glass. Except now it was behind a bunch of books that projected above the carrel’s top. Several volumes of Acta Archaeologica and a hefty tome called Physics and Archaeology. Between them lurked White Horses and Other Hill Figures, and a thin book from the American literature section titled The Shadow Over Innsmouth. I shifted Physics and Archaeology to clear a space for my next attack.

The fly darted away.

Now what? I knew if I sat and tackled the pronouns again, the darn fly would come back and bug me. Maybe I should just give up and get a coffee before my work shift started.
A movement on the far side of the book stacks caught my eye. Not the fly—a person, a rare visitor to my lonely outpost in the “auxiliary sciences of history” section of the Miskatonic University Library. I had chosen this spot when I applied for a study carrel because it was quiet as a cemetery. But someone besides the fly was down here now, flitting past the gaps between the ranks of bookshelves. No—two someones.

Time to go. I turned back to my carrel, intending to put away my stuff and leave, just as the fly landed on the open pages of Gardiner’s Egyptian Grammar. Here was my chance. One step, two, three, whack! The fly twitched in its death throes on a page explaining suffixes and enclitics.

Applause broke out behind me. Two young men stood between the shelving units, clapping and grinning. I felt stupid, but what could I do but bow and brandish my improvised weapon?

“Good show,” said one of them. The other stared at me, and I realized they looked like copies of one another—same height, same light brown hair, same chins, same long noses. Twins?

“Excuse us, please,” said the one who had spoken already. “Might you be able to help us find—”

Pairs of identical guys still made me nervous. “Sorry, no. Ask at the Reference Desk.”

I shoved my notes into my satchel and closed Egyptian Grammar with a whump, squashing the dead fly between pages 380 and 381. I waved at the witnesses to my fly-hunting triumph and darted along the row of carrels to the Staff Only stairway behind its iron door.

©Audrey Driscoll 2022

Head over to pre-order the book at 77p for May 1st: Amazon UK – And 99c: Amazon US

A selection of other books by Audrey Driscoll

One of the reviews for SHE who comes forth also on offer until May 1st for 77p Amazon UK – And 99c: Amazon US

TermiteWriter 5.0 out of 5 stars A uniquely compelling story, employing the mythology of ancient Egypt – Reviewed in the United States on December 11, 2019

This book grabs you at the beginning and keeps you reading, because it’s not a book with any clues – I found it impossible to guess what might happen in the end. Just like France Leighton and her talking cello, this book is something special. I particularly liked the conjunction of the Egyptian mystique and the minutiae of everyday modern life. France may accomplish wonders, but that doesn’t keep her from feeling pain, getting sick, and having doubts and second thoughts. She’s both human and hero.

If you’re fascinated with ancient Egypt and its grotesque and alien mythology, you’ll love this piece. I’ve never gotten hooked on Egyptian mythology, probably because I’m basically a rationalist with a scientific bent. Greek mythology has always appealed more to me, because its flawed gods are extrapolated from humanity, based on what we experience every day. That may be why western civilization developed from Greek culture, and the Egyptians faded into the fabric of history and became only a subject for esoteric study. I can understand how people can believe Egypt was influenced by extraterrestrials, because they had such strange concepts of the nature of the spiritual world and what was needed to ensure eternal life.

This book has feminist undercurrents – it’s the goddesses who have the real power – and there is also a subtext involving a condemnation of our scientific/technological civilization. Science becomes a tool of the gods to destroy more than it will ever create.

I must say a few words about what a fine writer this author is, especially in her descriptive talents. She really makes you feel and smell Egypt in the 1960s, even though she states in an afterword that she has never been there. I’ll close with a few examples:

“The sweet smell of cedar wood mingled with whiffs of turpentine, lamp oil, and ancient stone.”

“The shape of his lips as they formed words fascinated me, like watching a time-lapse film of a flower opening, or a butterfly emerging from its chrysalis.”

And, finally, something to make you chuckle: “Below us lay a field of temple ruins; the Colossi of Memnon looked small and ridiculous, like constipated stone trolls on matching stone toilets.”

I heartily recommend this book as a uniquely compelling story. I would also suggest reading the author’s Herbert West series first, since She Who Comes Forth refers often to prior events and characters.  

Read the reviews and buy the books :Amazon US – And: Amazon UK – follow Audrey: Goodreads – Website:Audrey Driscoll – LinkedIn: Audrey Driscoll

About Audrey Driscoll

Three quarters of the way through a career as a cataloguing librarian, Audrey Driscoll discovered she is actually a writer. Since the turn of the millennium, she has written and published several novels and a short story collection. She gardens, juggles words, and communes with fictitious characters in Victoria, British Columbia. Her opinions on gardening, writing, and things that bug or delight her, along with information about her books, may be found on her blog at AudreyDriscoll.com

 

Thank you for dropping in today and I hope you will be leaving with some books.. Sally

What will be in the post and how to get in touch

• • • I will top and tail in the usual way with your other books and links, bio, photo and social media.
    • I will also select a review from Amazon or Goodreads that I feel has the best selling pitch for the book.
    • If your book is very recent and as yet has not received a review then I will share one from a previous book.
      
    • This series is open to all authors both those on the Bookshelf or new to the blog
    • I suggest an extract of approximately 500 words or a poem that you feel best reflects the theme of your collection.
    • If you have an illustration or images you can attach to the email for me to include. No need to send the cover as I will have that or will access from Amazon.
    • If you have not featured on the blog before then I will need Amazon link, Goodreads, blog or website plus your social media links (main three you use)
    • Please send your extract and any accompanying images to sally.cronin@moyhill.com