5,201 years ago, this 3rd book of the Raising Up Pharaoh epic begins as four guards on the perimeter of the king's oasis camp are eaten by lions, demoralizing the thousands of refugees preparing for their move far to the west. Having just departed, three scout expeditions record conditions along three alternative routes west, encounter suspicion in cities roiled by seditious intrigues, murdered kings, and far worse. Each patrol finds itself protected from harm in inexplicable ways, where those wishing to harm them are struck down, and this impresses the various kings that the scouts are portents. Violence increases the further they advance, but they must not be diverted or delayed. If they fail to find a viable route, many more will die. Thus continues the six-novel Raising Up Pharaoh epic, set among the emerging city-states and nations in the Fertile Crescent at the dawn of written history-as they plant the cultural seeds of today's world. The series is written for readers of all ages. The tone is intense, yet controlled by zooming back the lens to avoid needless close-ups of violence and sexuality. The tale unfolds through the differing viewpoints of the orphans, the couple, others drawn to them, and their foes. The setting of this third book expands westward along the three patrols' headings from the oasis through Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Syria, and Lebanon. In later books, the setting expands throughout the Middle East, the Steppes, West and South Asia, and Northwest Africa. Each book has its own maps. The diverse cast speaks a pidgin of proto-Indo-European, proto-Afro-Semitic, and various lost languages such as Harappan. The pidgin is presented in modern U.S. English. The Raising Up Pharaoh novels were edited by Dr. Dennis E. Hensley PhD.
About the Author: R. E. J. Burke is a former U. S. Marine, graduate of the University of Maryland and Yale Graduate School, aeronautical engineer, shipbuilder, banker, entrepreneur, author, pilot, and Christian speaker. His passion is the archaeology of the Chalcolithic and early Bronze Age in South and West Asia, the Steppes, Eastern Europe, and Northeastern Africa, which led to his writing the six-novel Raising Up Pharaoh epic. Having lived in Asia, South America, the U.S. Midwest and on both coasts, he and his wife, Nancy, now live on the bluffs by the Potomac River in Shepherdstown, West Virginia. They have four adult children and six grandchildren, for whom they are very thankful. His favorite authors are Patrick O'Brian, J. R. R. Tolkien, Charles Dickens, Bernard Cornwell, C. S. Lewis, and Stephen R. Donaldson.