Origins (Song of the King’s Heart Book 1) by Nicole Sallak Anderson and Meet the Author

For the fans of Taita (Wilbur Smith’s River God).

Origins (Song of the King’s Heart Book 1) by Nicole Sallak Anderson released in October 2019 in the Historical Fantasy genre.

This is the lost story of Lord Ankhwenefer, known to the Greeks as Chaonnophris the Rebel, the last native Egyptian Pharaoh. The brilliance and heartache of his rebellion weave a tale that history has forgotten.

Until now.

In the year 205 B.C., after centuries of Persian and Macedonian occupation, a rebel king rises from the south to take ancient Egypt back unto native hands. He will battle the Ptolemy line for twenty years, and rule almost eighty percent of Egypt, yet in the end, history will never mention his name.

Born Prince Ankhmakis, the last in a line of native Egyptian kings, he is raised with one purpose—to help his father reclaim Egypt from the Macedonian occupiers and return their country to dynastic greatness. Fate, however, has its own plans. For lies and deceit live in the hearts of all involved, from his family to the priesthood, and the Greeks aren’t the only ones who seek to destroy him.

Natasa is in training to become the High Priestess of the temple of Isis. Her task is to strengthen the royal family with the magic of the goddess through love and pleasure. She never thought the connection between her and Ankhmakis could be so strong, or carry a power coveted by those lurking in the shadows. Nor did she know that the child they would create would have her own great destiny to fulfill.

Together, Ankhmakis and Natasa must defend the potential of their love from those who would seek to use it for their own gain. Theirs is a world of magic, power, riches, and lust, and there are those within the court who would do anything to keep Ankhmakis and Natasa apart. Between mystical forces, murder, and illicit schemes–only the gods know if they’ll survive.

The books will be on sale for $0.99

Before sunrise on the final morning of their journey, Natasa woke to the sound of gentle music. She slipped away from her snoring father, who was, of course, sleeping beside her and made her way up to the deck. There she found Iu-Amon standing in the shadows. He was watching Ankhmakis, who stood at the bow playing his pandura, unaware he had an audience. Natasa smiled at how beautiful and noble the prince looked, singing to the rising Sun God, Ra.

“What’s he doing?” she asked Iu-Amon.

“He’s played this song every morning since Alexandria,” Iu-Amon whispered.

“It’s beautiful,” she sighed.

The sky turned purple, and streaks of pink and gold paled the horizon.

“Why does he do it?”

“Well,” Iu-Amon said, smiling as bright as Ra himself, “it’s been my experience that only one thing compels a young man to sing to the sunrise.”

“What?” she asked.

“I think the prince is in love.”

AUTHOR Bio and Links:

Nicole Sallak Anderson is Computer Science graduate from Purdue University, and former CTO for a small Silicon Valley startup, turned novelist, speaker, and blogger, focusing on the intersection of technology and consciousness. Her essays range from AI and Zen to direct democracy to the loneliness of modern parenting (https://medium.com/@NSallakAnderson/pretty-birds-in-pretty-cages-could-the-nuclear-family-be-the-reason-were-all-miserable-46126d573263) — featured as a top twenty story on Medium. In addition, her work on Universal Basic Income has been included on 2020 presidential candidate, Andrew Yang’s, website: https://www.yang2020.com/policies/the-freedom-dividend/.

Her latest project, The Song of the King’s Heart Trilogy, is a series about the last native Pharaoh of Ancient Egypt and his quest to take back his ancestral kingdom from the Ptolemaic Empire. The first two installments, Origins and Blood and Chaos, are available on Amazon. The last novel in the series, Civilization’s End, will be released October 2021. You can keep up with all her latest writing on her website nicolesallakanderson.com or by following @NSallakAnderson on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/NSallakAnderson/) , Twitter (https://twitter.com/NSallakAnderson), Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/nsallakanderson/) and Medium (https://nsallakanderson.medium.com/). Feel free to contact her, she almost always answers to any query or comment!

Ideal Writing Space

Virginia Woolfe famously said, “A woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction.” While most authors today might suggest that the money part is hard to come by, after over a decade of writing, I can attest that a room of one’s own is crucial, at least it is for me. Yes, I’ve written in coffee shops, at the dining table, in the car while waiting for my sons to get out of school, and even in the bathroom. Yet all I’ve ever wanted was a place to call my own, where I could put out my research, notes, drawings, and my computer, and call the mess a work in progress.
My dream came to be when my eldest son went to college and I was able to turn his empty bedroom into my office. A few items were crucial—a desk, a comfy place to sit, and a bookshelf. I also had a nature table where I kept things I collected on my walks; one of my favorite ways to open myself to the muse. Feathers, rocks, dried herbs, shells, and pinecones, as well as symbols for the novel I was working on. In the case of The Song of the King’s Heart trilogy, I even had a khopesh sword to remind me of the real work facing my characters. I hired a local carpenter to make my desk and my husband built the bookshelf, using redwood he’d repurposed from the yard. It was the most beautiful place I’ve ever written.
If you’re paying attention, I’m using the past tense to describe my ideal writing space. I created my office in the fall of 2018 and enjoyed editing all three books in the trilogy; Origins, Blood and Chaos, and Civilization’s End, as well as a reincarnation cougar romance I’d been working on. I also began my first attempt at a horror novel, inspired by a haunted house I stumbled upon in France. However, in August of 2020 I lost that office, along with my home and everything I owned, to the lightning fires that struck California. I’m now in a rental, working in my closet, while my husband works from home due to covid. While it isn’t ideal, I’m able to have three of the key elements in this little space—a desk, rented by insurance, some shelves for my books, and a small nature table that contains various charred remnants from the home I lost. There’s a view of a few heritage oaks and the cute old house across the street. While I don’t have a comfy place to sit, it works. I’m not making lemonade from lemons, I actually like lemons just the way they are—sour but functional in their own, unique way.

~*~

This post is part of a tour. The tour dates can be found here: https://goddessfishpromotions.blogspot.com/2021/06/nbtm-song-of-kings-heart-trilogy-by.html