Category Archives: The Faithful Son

Sumerian Kings and the Birth of Divine Privilege

Similar to the beliefs of the ancient Egyptians, funerary rituals for at least some Sumerian kings involved a journey from earth to heaven, with ceremonies that involved sailed “heavenly” boats, or ritualistically releasing a caged bird. Presumably, upon death, with the blessings of the gods, third-millennium kings had the opportunity to become astral bodies while simultaneously living out eternity as ghosts in the underworld.

The First Queen in Recorded Human History?

Meet Kubaba. She’s a Sumerian Queen. Although it’s been a while since I’ve been working on my Sumerian project, all the same interesting information about Sumerian culture keeps on trickling in to me. This one is about the first Sumerian (or maybe Akkadian?) queen, ergo first queen in recorded human history. Meet Ku-Bau.  She’s aContinue reading “The First Queen in Recorded Human History?”

Son of a Pitch Query Contest

I haven’t done this in years, but I thought I might test out the query and new opening of a novel I had at first given up on, and that I recently revised.   Wish me luck. 🙂 If you’re interested in participating in the contest, here is a link. I would really appreciate commentsContinue reading “Son of a Pitch Query Contest”

Gilgamesh in Akkadian

Reposting this amazing recording of the Gilgamesh Epic in its original Akkadian. I should point out that the earliest version of the Gilgamesh stories were poems written in Sumerian, not in Akkadian. The Akkadian version (written hundreds of years later) is the best known complete version.   Hear The Epic of Gilgamesh Read in theContinue reading “Gilgamesh in Akkadian”

Sumerian Music In The Modern World

Are you interested in listening to Sumerian music with its original instrumentation? Some time ago, I shared a post about The Gold Lyre of Ur project, which is an assembly of music put together from the most ancient written music ever, annotated by… you guessed it: Sumerian musicians. Today I have discovered that there isContinue reading “Sumerian Music In The Modern World”

Sumero Babylonians Invent Customer Service

Hey had to absolutely repost this from The Laughing Squid: a tablet dating back to circa 1750BC containing a written complaint — the precursor to the Amazon review!!   Thank you Laughing Squid for this wonderful tidbit. An Ancient Babylonian Customer Service Complaint Inscribed on a Clay Tablet Around 1750 BC by E.D.W. Lynch atContinue reading “Sumero Babylonians Invent Customer Service”

Composite Characters: Fantasy Meets Real Life, Real Life Alters Fantasy

In formal venues, I have presented and written about the necessity of research in fiction, the caveats, the immersion process, the repercussions of altering history or fact, the responsibility of writers to glean detail in the most absolute accuracy. But for this post, I want to talk about the fun part of interacting with facts (orContinue reading “Composite Characters: Fantasy Meets Real Life, Real Life Alters Fantasy”

More on Gilgamesh: Did Gilgamesh Kill Goddess Worship?

Even though I finished writing a complete and polished draft of my novel The Faithful Son, I’m still reading up a ton on Mesopotamian literature, especially Gilgamesh.  I find that so much began with those Sumerian poems about that ancient Urukian King that regardless what I turn my thoughts to, it comes back to meContinue reading “More on Gilgamesh: Did Gilgamesh Kill Goddess Worship?”

Why Do I Write?

This is a question I ask my students to pose themselves when they take my creative writing class.  I want them to be clear about why they do what they want to do right at the start of the semester because so many people have this idea that creative writing is so much fun andContinue reading “Why Do I Write?”