From Priestess of the Nile, available for preorder now, out January 23rd from Carina Press.

Drawn to his abandoned temple on the banks of the Nile by an enchanting song, Sobek the Crocodile God is even more captivated by the sight of the singer herself. Appearing to her as a man, he learns she is Merys, a descendant of his last priestess.

Merys is attracted to the handsome stranger, who arouses passions in her that no man ever has. But with no dowry and no hope of ever leaving her village, she dares not dream of the future—or love.

Sobek takes every opportunity to visit Merys, taxing his resolve to leave her pure. When he saves her life, their mutual desire must be sated. But can a love between a human and an immortal survive the ultimate test of the gods?

Here’s the beginning of the scene where Sobek saves her life and she learns who he really is:

The rush of contentment that came over Bek at the mere sight of Merys amazed him and he paused on the trail, his jangled nerves soothed.

The sweet high note Merys held came to an end as she put a hand to her throat, then bent over the tiny waves, searching along the riverbed, no longer focused on her song.

A movement to the right caught his eye. What in the name of Set’s horns is that crocodile in the shallows doing? Is it actually swimming to attack her? Enraged, Bek threw himself down the trail at a breakneck speed.

Go to http://sixsunday.com/ to find all the other great excerpts!

Over the years we’ve arrived at one unbreakable holiday tradition. Well, we have others, but I’m only  going to talk about one today! To signal the mental switch between Thanksgiving and Christmas, my daughters and I gather in the living room and watch the old Bing Crosby-Fred Astaire original version of “Holiday Inn.”  Not sure why we started doing this but now it’s one of those “must do” activities after the big turkey dinner.

Before I say anything else, let me acknowledge that this is very much a film of its era (1942) and there are some parts which are objectionable and unacceptable to a modern day audience. We “watch around” those segments.

Some lovely Irving Berlin tunes in the movie, including “White Christmas”, “Be Careful It’s My Heart” and “You’re So Easy to Dance With.”  Always a joy to watch Fred Astaire dance (and make his partners look as if they can dance, no Ginger Rogers here sadly!) and Bing Crosby is at his most genial, whistling self.

Being a family with a snarky sense of humor, we do ponder how an inn that was only open fifteen days a year could make money…how did they afford the full orchestra and all the staff…if Bing and Linda have to be serving the food in the kitchen how do they find time to sing and dance…we’ve seen it enough times to know when they used a stunt double for Bing…

I’m afraid we’re always unkind to the actress playing the second female lead. If you watch her dance numbers with Fred closely, it’s amazing how little she actually moves. Our household has a bet on that she was the director’s girl friend. Probably a very nice lady, she was Miss California 1937 and all, but NOT  a twinkletoes.

The movie starts and ends with Christmas and leaves us humming the songs and in a happy mood, ready to move on to the next holiday. Best Wishes to you and yours!

Over the years we’ve collected interesting little knickknacks for every holiday – here’s our Thanksgiving table decorative element! Thankful for all our blessings, for the men and women in military service everywhere and their families, for all the Readers of Books in the world…Happy Thursday if you don’t happen to celebrate Thanksgiving! Best Wishes!

I am just so excited, couldn’t wait to share – Priestess of the Nile is now available for preorder on Amazon! (It actually comes out on January 23rd.) They didn’t have the beautiful cover art posted yet but you can see that here on this webpage. LOL.  Makes it all so much more real! Very fun for yours truly…

(By the way there is another Veronica Scott the author but she is not me and I am not her. I do Ancient Egypt and she wrote a novel about Indonesia back  in 2010. Best wishes to her too of course.)

Forever on Thanksgiving Day

The heart will find the pathway home.

Wilbur D. Nesbit

Give thanks for unknown blessings already on their way.

Native American saying

From Warrior of the Nile, currently out on submission

(Khenet, a warrior of  ancient Egypt, is assigned by Pharaoh to journey down the Nile as bodyguard to Tiya, a noblewoman who has been selected by the goddess Nepthys to help her put a stop to black magic threatening all Egypt.  Tiya is to die in the attempt and Khenet will also perish.)  During the voyage Khenet discovers that his growing feelings for Tiya are affecting him, changing how he views the world, want he wants.

I’ve been doing intense snippets – here’s a more light hearted moment between the two:

Khenet leaned against the bulkhead and watched as she quickly drew a sketch of the ship’s cat, capturing the animal’s essence, battle scarred ears and all, adding a border of whimsical fish.

“Do you like it?” she asked the cat, who merely yawned and strolled away.

Khenet examined the likeness more closely. “This is good.”

“You sound surprised.” Raising her eyebrows, Lady Tiya plucked another small blank papyrus from her box and smoothed it against her thigh.

Consider the pumpkin:   big, orange, makes good pies and great Halloween decorations (but we’re past that holiday so this blog is all about the pies).  90- 95% of all the pumpkins grown commercially are grown in Illinois and processed at the Libby’s plant in Morton. My former in-laws used to reside in Morton so I have been there in my not-too-wide travels. You haven’t  lived until you’ve seen the literal mountains of pumpkins waiting to be turned into cans full of orange pulp. When Illinois failed to get enough rain one year, the entire country teetered on the brink of a pumpkin pie shortage!

The early colonists somehow used pumpkin as an ingredient in the pie crust, not as pie filling. I’m glad we evolved beyond that. Messy, wouldn’t fit in my oven or my refrigerator… I learned to bake pumpkin pies at the age of 7 because my mother hated to bake and only made one lemon meringue pie per year, for my Dad, and one birthday cake each for my brother and me. My neighbor, who grew and canned her own pumpkins, made the best pumpkin pie so I hiked over there one day in the snowy cold (we had long driveways in rural New York).  She very patiently taught me the tricks in her cozy farmhouse kitchen.

Three words for the perfect crust – icy well water. No offense to Libby’s, but I think the best pies I ever ate were the ones made from Betty C’s homegrown, home canned pumpkins, with eggs from her own chickens (man, I HATED getting the eggs out of those nests – chickens are mean) and raw milk from their herd of dairy cows.

I still make pumpkin pies at Thanksgiving and Christmas. I give some away to friends who like pie baked from scratch and I eat way more pie than I really should. The taste and smell always takes me home again, back to that warm, friendly kitchen. I’m thankful for many things in November but especially for the good friends and neighbors, like Betty C!

Ok, we all know how much I love long dangly earrings, right? Usually vintage is my thing, but this week’s pair are the FABULOUS  Lunch at the Ritz  Cornucopia (for Fall and for Thanksgiving). Love their earrings, give myself a new pair every now and then as a big treat:

From Warrior of the Nile, currently out on submission

(Khenet, a warrior of  ancient Egypt, is assigned by Pharaoh to journey down the Nile as bodyguard to Tiya, a noblewoman who has been selected by the goddess Nepthys to help her put a stop to black magic threatening all Egypt.  Tiya is to die in the attempt and Khenet will also perish.)  During the voyage Khenet discovers that his growing feelings for Tiya are affecting him, changing how he views the world, want he wants.

Khenet sat, uncomfortably aware of Lady Tiya by his side. He didn’t dare look at her. It was obvious to him and every other man in the room that the dancer on the small stage felt she was performing for him, seducing him, the high ranking visitor.

The dancer was exactly the kind of woman he’d enjoyed back in Thebes, uninhibited, well formed, sensual. The Red Heron’s innkeeper had found the right entertainment for him.

         Or rather, for the man I was before meeting Tiya.

Go to http://sixsunday.com/ to find all the other great excerpts!

Leave a comment about why you appreciate the men and women in the armed forces and/or their families and be entered to win one copy of  the terrific anthology SEAL of My Dreams! Stayed up all night reading my copy – great stories by top authors! I will select the winner on a random basis on Monday and announce the winner.