The Smiting Texts in the company of US Homeland Security etc
My archaeological thriller, The Smiting Texts, was first launched in the UK and generated a fair bit of internet activity.
It features an alternative British Egyptologist who is called on by US Homeland Security when a mysterious threat arises from Egypt's ancient past.
It seems Anson Hunter, alternative Egyptologist, theorist, phenomenologist and expert on dangers from the ancient past, just can't help finding himself in the company of the intelligence community.
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| Amazon Kindle edition (2014 update) |
In the Smiting Texts, Anson Hunter is intercepted at a US Airport by Intelligence people and hired to consult with them about an esoteric danger to the US and its allies from the ancient past, relying on his arcane expertise.
And this link continues throughout the 10 book series.
In The Ibis Apocalypse Anson is teamed up with a glamorous Mossad agent.
(UPDATE 2022) It is a link that intrigues me. There is now a series of Anson Hunter novels cementing the alternative Egyptologist's links with the Intellgence community.
And I have continued it in my Daniel Cane series (Egypt murder mysteries about an archaeologist turned detective).
(Excerpt.)
“There is something I have not shared with you, Daniel,” the Egyptian Antiquities man said, “something told to me in strictest confidence by Egyptian national security. Besides those on the team, other nationals are interested in our discovery. Intelligence agencies have long watched discoveries in Egypt with interest, perhaps for signs of inexplicable sciences or maybe devices from the ancient past. We don’t know why in this case. Is the world crazy enough to believe in Stargate technology and the military advantages such an advanced science might offer them? Both Harry’s filmmaking investigations and Clive Banyon’s private research institute are said to have received injections of funding support from the CIA. They have long been interested in paranormal investigations such as remote viewing and channeling. Maybe they just like to use these shadowy explorations as cover. But the Russians are curious too, as is a Chinese archaeological mission in Egypt. Everyone is watching.”
A spy using the cover of archaeology?
Could that include a member of their archaeological mission?
Why?
Chasing ‘stargate technology’ in search of superior military knowledge? It would provide a strong motive for trying to safeguard the continuation of the mission, since the prospect of a complete shutdown of the site by the Egyptian authorities would be disastrous for further investigation.
But hard to believe.
And yet, archaeology and espionage had a symbiotic relationship.
The practice appeared in fiction such as The English Patient and in the history of espionage. No less a hero than TE Lawrence of Lawrence of Arabia fame used the ‘colour of archaeology as a red herring’ to hide surveillance activity. Archaeological missions could legitimately take agents to sensitive geo-political areas such as the Middle East, where digging the dirt literally allowed them to unearth military and political information in an unobtrusive way. Archaeologists also happened to be good at geography and mapping and were experts at deciphering cryptic codes.
Egyptian hieroglyphics proved that.
A media story had even dubbed the practice ‘The spies who came in from the dig’.
The next question.
Which one of the team could be a hidden spy?
ROY LESTER POND - EGYPT ARCHAEOLOGY THRILLER FICTION ON AMAZON
The Smiting Texts in the company of US Homeland Security etc
