Tag Archives: ancient egypt

The House of the Morning Sun

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I loved adventure stories when I was young. Still do. Also I find old legends and mysteries absolutely captivating. So it probably isn’t a surprise to anyone who knows me that I wrote a book in the genre. It is now available for preorders on Amazon.


Kaylee and Luke have to follow their parents to a distant mountain village. The lord of the local castle has invited them to work on his Egyptological collection.

So it is goodbye to friends and summer fun, hello to boring summer.

Upon arrival, they learn the castle lord isn’t interested in their parents at all.

It is Kaylee and Luke he wants – to search for seven ancient shabtis, little servant statuettes from ancient Egypt. According to legend, they were brought to the valley by a pharaoh’s daughter fleeing from ancient Egypt. The shabtis hold an unbelievable power – something people have been searching for thousands of years. Something they are willing to do anything for to find – even kill…

The castle lord makes it clear that if Luke and Kaylee don’t find the shabtis, their families will suffer. And the first one to go will be Kaylee’s little sister Ellie. The castle is surrounded by a lake – and Ellie cannot swim. 

Luke and Kaylee begin their desperate search with only an ancient Egyptian hieroglyph as a clue. The clock is ticking and their families have no idea they are in danger. Will they find the first shabti in time? Is the legend of the pharaoh’s daughter true? Who is the ghost haunting the castle?

The House of the Morning Sun is the first book in the YA series ‘The Seven Shabtis’. If you like mystery, history and ghost stories, buy this book.

Tutankhamon-book I wrote will travel the world with the Tutankhamon exhibition

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And the secret is out  The Tutankhamon book I wrote and illustrated for children gets to travel the world with Tutankhamon’s artifacts on their world tour of ten cities around the world. Had to pinch myself when I heard this. (Ok, maybe I’ll pinch myself a few more times…)

I quote Nigel Fletcher-Jones’s post on Facebook (director of the American University in Cairo Press)

“I’m delighted to say that both Dominique Navarro and Leena Pekkalainen will have AUC Press books for sale at the exhibition stores as the exhibit travels around the world on its ten city tour. More soon!”

http://www.scpr.org/news/2017/11/29/78274/artifacts-from-king-tut-s-tomb-set-for-internation/

 

What inspired the series Nephilim Quest?

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So how exactly did the idea for the series Nephilim Quest come about? What have the Watchers, the Nephilim, angels and ancient Egypt to do with each other? Where did the idea of time travel come from?

Read more here.

 

Writer’s Helpers

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I came across these photos from the time I was working on my essays as part of my studies for the Certificate in Egyptology at the University of Manchester. (I continued the studies and now hold the Diploma in Egyptology, which took five years of studies that basically dominated my free time so I did not even have time to read novels). Our own apartment was being renovated and we lived for two months in a small one bedroom apartment, which was crammed by some of our furniture, hubby and me, and the three felines who are very much aware of the fact cats were worshipped in ancient Egypt.

I suppose if there is any writer out there with cats, this is a rather familiar experience to them. Kitties seem to be a like little children – if Mommy tries to concentrate on anything else but them, they make it known what the priorities are. Despite the intervention I did manage to finish the essay (it was about the rules of ancient Egyptian two-dimensional tomb art during the Old Kingdom).

writing with rolli

Obviously the rhythmic tapping of my fingers was rather relaxing, as you can see from the second photo…

writing with rolli 2

This still continues if I take a book or my iPad to my hands with the intention of reading or doing research. It seems a book is an invitation to the cat to hop on your lap…

When Characters Become Alive

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Mr Mummific watching the Picture Box

Mr Mummific’s favorite pastime is the Picture Box.

Long before I actually got my Diploma in Egyptology, I doodled on my sketch pad and a little mummy figure appeared. A  cheeky little character for sure. And so Mr Mummific was born.

I had been playing with the idea of making an Egyptology website, but not overly academic. I wanted it to be meant for the normal people (well, not saying academic people are not normal, LOL :D). Easy articles about ancient Egyptian things.

I decided to write a few pages to see if I could manage it. But how to give the site a voice that was uniquely mine?

Well, to make the long story short – Mr Mummific took over. Very quickly I found myself writing down discussions with him, trying to figure out when he was pulling my leg, and when he was telling actual facts. He seems to have his tongue firmly in cheek. Which is why I ended up writing those fact pages too.

We are going through the Early Dynastic Pharaohs at the moment. While I am doing other things Mr Mummific explores our modern world. And has opinions about that as well…  http://www.ancientegypt101.com/

But in case you are interested in reading about the adventures of Mr Mummific (in ancient Egypt, in today’s world and in the Afterlife, which seems to be a much livelier place than I ever expected), check out http://www.ancientegypt101.com/