“Siwa remains one of the most isolated districts in Egypt, surrounded by the golden sands of the Sahara.”
~ Excerpt From KV 66: League of the Sacred Ankh

The ancient Egyptian name for the Siwa Oasis was sḫt jꜣmw, which literally translates to “Field of Trees.”

Although the Oasis was known to have settlements as far back 10,000 years BCE, the only archaeological sites of any significance date from Ancient Egypt’s 26th Dynasty around 525 BCE and particularly around the time of Alexander the Great. In fact, legend has it that Alexander initially reached the Oasis by following birds across the desert.

Here at the Oracle of Amun, he was confirmed as divine and the legitimate Pharaoh of Egypt. Not surprisingly, later on, during his period of Empire building, he wished to be buried upon his death in Siwa. However, where his body was ultimately buried, still to this very day remains a mystery!

Siwa is now an urban oasis with over 30,000 people, most of whom are Berbers, an ethnic group found right across the North African Sahara Desert region. Siwa is located between the Qattara Depression and the Great Sand Sea of Egypt’s Western Desert, close to the Libyan Border, some 350 km from Cairo.

The Oasis is one of Egypt’s most remote settlements. Because of this, over the millennia, the people living there developed a unique desert culture and even their own language dialect called Siwi.

In addition to the oracle temple, other interesting historical sites include the Gebel al Mawta (the Mountain of the Dead), a Roman-era necropolis featuring dozens of rock-cut tombs, and “Cleopatra’s Bath,” an antique natural spring where it said that Cleopatra swam.

This natural spring is one of nearly 200 from which over 190,000 square meters of water flows daily. Sulphur-rich hot springs are also present and often used by visitors to help heal rheumatic diseases.

The biodiversity of Siwa is immense complete with sand dunes, highlands, and wetlands. With agriculture being one of the primary sources of income for the area, Siwa boasts hundreds of thousands of trees providing dates, olives, apricots, lemons, pomegranates, and figs. Other aromatic and medicinal plants are also harvested for products, including mint, poppy, castor oil, licorice, millet, and basil, to name a few.

Siwa remains a hidden gem amongst Egypt’s more famous tourist destinations and an absolute must-see on one’s bucket list!

The final chapter in the KV-66 / George Drake trilogy is coming!

Before KV-66: The Lazarus Project is released later this year, don’t forget to make sure you have copies of the first two volumes: Siptah’s Legacy, followed by League of the Sacred Ankh, and not forgetting the free prequel novella, Zolanda’s Destiny, which you can get when you become a member of my e-mail newsletter community.

“To mitigate unwelcome guests, he had the secured garden area patrolled by his pharaoh hound, which, apart from being an excellent guard dog, had a peaceful nature and probably explained the lack of forewarning.” — K. G. Maw, KV 66: League of the Sacred Ankh

By its name, the Pharaoh Hound originated in Egypt and is one of the oldest breeds of domesticated dogs recorded in history. With this in mind, it was very fitting to include an opening in my book series for casting such a beautiful animal within its original native environment.

One can readily see why it has been called a Pharaoh Hound, as a dog closely resembling it was often portrayed on ancient Egyptian artifacts. In particular, one dating to almost 4000 BC displayed two such dogs hunting gazelles in the desert, and further art reliefs often showed them as companions to pharaohs and other nobles.

The Pharaoh Hound, eventually with the aid of the Phoenicians, traveled across the Mediterranean and today is now more associated as the traditional breed of Malta where they were used as rabbit hunters! Not surprisingly, rabbit is also Malta’s national dish.

These dogs are highly intelligent and can quickly memorize commands after only 15-25 repetitions. They are slender and graceful, with glossy short coats, and have bright, amber-colored eyes. Unlike most dogs, the Pharaoh hound can blush with excitement and has a characteristic high-pitched shrill bark.

Irrespective of this, they are not the best guard dogs and have a kind and loving demeanor.

It is not surprising that the ancient Egyptian god Annubis also resembles the pharaoh hound. Closely associated with mummification, Annubis would often be labeled as “he who is in the place of embalming.”

Annubis also became known as the protector of tombs and, towards the end of the pharaonic era, the guide of souls and weigher of hearts, as depicted in the book of the dead. In this role, Annubis would physically weigh the deceased’s heart to determine whether or not that person was worthy to enter the realm of the dead.

In League of the Sacred Ankh and, more recently, in my latest book The Lazarus Project, the Pharaoh Hound takes on a role as a guard dog… but in this instance, a worthy adversary!

“The rifle is an old 7.62-caliber Lee Enfield L42A1 bolt action, equipped with straight-sighting, standard-issue telescopic L1A1 sights and is a proven piece of hardware” — Excerpt from KV 66: League of the Sacred Ankh

My assassin’s choice of weapon in League of the Sacred Ankh was an old Lee Enfield L42A1 bolt action sniper rifle.

This particular rifle came into service within the British Army from 1970 through to 1990 and saw action in several campaigns, including the Dhofar uprising in Oman, in which our fictional character had also been an active participant.

Later campaigns included the Falklands war and, more latterly, the Gulf War, after which it was eventually phased out and replaced.

Those of us who participated in the Combined Cadet Force (CCF), including myself, will have memories of all the square bashing and weapons training conducted one afternoon per week using cast-off WW2 Lee Enfield .303 bolt action rifles. These were ultimately the pre-cursor to the L42A1. Unlike older models, the newer versions were re-chambered to accommodate the next generation 7.62x51mm NATO cartridge adopted by the West during the Cold War era.

Approximately 1000 sniper versions of the L42A1 were reworked by the Royal Small Arms Factory of Enfield between 1970 and 1971, enhancing overall precision in improved rifling and also, the development of new optics.

Will our fictional assassin be able to keep a steady aim and complete his job? Check out League of the Sacred Ankh and find out what actually happens!

Siptah’s Legacy would be almost incomplete without our protagonist’s side trip to Aswan.

Having located the next piece of their puzzle within the underground tunnel of the temple of Sobek in Kom Ombo, our dynamic duo desperately needed a clean-up and some well-deserved R&R.

Almost within “spitting distance” of Komombo, the city of Aswan made a fitting respite for them, and there, overlooking the splendors of the River Nile tucked above one of its famed Cataracts, was none other than the splendid Old Cataract Hotel.

Built in 1899 by none other than Thomas Cook to cater to his increasing flow of wealthy European travelers, this majestic rose-colored building complimented the pink granite cliffs overlooking the world’s longest river. It had also been a popular haunt for a host of famous personalities. Guests included the likes of Tsar Nicholas II, Howard Carter, Winston Churchill, and Princess Diana, to name just a few. Also, entertained as a guest of HH King Fouad, Agatha Christie stayed at the hotel and even had a suite named after her, for it was here that she must have penned one of her most famous Hercule Poirot novels, Death on the Nile.

Had Drake more time to spare, he would have no doubt made time to see Egypt’s most significant and only unfinished obelisk, located at one of the stone quarries just outside of Aswan. Ironically, this gigantic monument had been ordered by Queen Hatshepsut around 1500 BC. It would have been almost 30% larger than any other obelisk ever erected and, had it been completed, would have weighed in at a staggering 1,200 tons. Unfortunately, however, as it was being carved out of the granite, cracks appeared, forcing work to be abandoned, leaving us to marvel at just how these massive monuments were crafted out by bare hand almost 3500 years ago.

Like so many adventures, the catalyst for a reaction is usually stimulated by an event. In our main protagonist’s case, the event was simply finding an old leather-bound Cook’s Tourists’ Handbook that had been tucked away in a storage box under the stairs in the Drake family home in Shrewsbury.

Among other part-time jobs, Thomas Cook started working as a Baptist Preacher and saw the ill effects of drunkenness at a very early age. Associating alcohol abuse as one of the root causes of many of the social problems in the Victorian era, Cook, with his preaching, actively supported the temperance movement. This activity, along with his beliefs, led him to become a travel organizer, arranging for large groups to travel to meetings across the country by train and providing additional food and entertainment.

Over time these excursions moved further afield and attracted a broader clientele, first to Scotland in 1845 and later to Europe and America. However, Egypt and the Middle East were the most sacred of his destinations, as it had always been his desire to spend time in the biblical lands, starting such lavish tours in the 1880s.

Thomas Cook’s handbook was by no means the simple sort of guide that one might pick up today, but almost an encyclopedia. The comprehensive publication provided a detailed history and description of all the sites, temples, and other wonders one would see during the tour, complete with photographs, plans, and sketches, almost enticing those that could afford it to come and explore these exotic locations for themselves.

In Siptah’s Legacy, Drake’s Great Aunt had been one of the fortunate few to make such a trip, by ship in 1902. During what would have been an excursion lasting two or three months, she must have purchased the old papyrus scroll off some street vendor and, for safety’s sake, tucked it away in the smooth red leather binding of her trusty Cook’s travel guide. That mystical parchment ultimately remained secreted away for almost a further eight decades before its unexpected discovery.

What followed next would be even more fantastical, as you’ll read in KV-66: Siptah’s Legacy!

Since its opening in December 1983, Dubai Duty Free has grown into one of the biggest travel retail operators in the world. Therefore, it was a great privilege for me to have my books included on the shelves of their bookshops located within the various Dubai Airport Terminals.

Dubai Duty Free recently celebrated its 37th anniversary and recorded annual sales of over Dhs 2.5 billion ($697 million USD).

As part of the ongoing development of its retail offer in Dubai International Airport and Al Maktoum International Airport — with a total retail area of over 40,000 square meters — Dubai Duty Free opened a new Arrivals Shop in Terminal 3 of Dubai International Airport. The new Dubai Duty Free Arrivals Shop features a total retail space of 1,100 square meters, a significant increase over its previous retail area of 660 square meters.

Now employing over 2,600 people, the operation has consistently raised the benchmark for airport retailing, and it continues to grow.

The KV66 series of books is a very light read and ideal for slipping into one’s bag while traveling abroad. With Emirates home base being Dubai International Airport, having the book displayed on the bookshelf in Dubai Duty Free will – all being well – lead to it finding potential takers from all corners of the globe.

Thank you, Dubai Duty Free!