Friday, October 9, 2009

Michelle Moran Guest Post & Contest


Why Cleopatra’s daughter?
 
It all began with a dive. Not the kind of dive you take into a swimming pool, but the kind where you squeeze yourself into a wetsuit and wonder just how tasty your rump must appear to passing sharks now that it looks like an elephant seal. My husband and I had taken a trip to Egypt, and at the suggestion of a friend, we decided to go to Alexandria to see the remains of Cleopatra’s underwater city. Let it be known that I had never gone scuba diving before, but after four days with an instructor (and countless questions like, “Will there be sharks? How about jellyfish? If there is an earthquake, what happens underwater?”) we were ready for the real thing.

We drove one morning to the Eastern Harbor in Alexandria. Dozens of other divers were already there, waiting to see what sort of magic lay beneath the waves. I wondered if the real thing could possibly live up to all of the guides and brochures selling this underwater city, lost for thousands of years until now.. Then we did the dive, and it was every bit as magical as everyone had promised. We saw the blocks that once formed Marc Antony’s summer palace, came face to face with Cleopatra’s enigmatic sphinx, and floated above ten thousand ancient artifacts, including obelisks, statues, and countless amphorae. By the time we surfaced, I was Cleopatra-obsessed. I wanted to know what had happened to her city once she and Marc Antony had committed suicide. Where did all of its people go? Were they allowed to remain or were they killed by the Romans? And what about her four children?

It was this last question that surprised me the most. I had always assumed that Cleopatra’s children had all been murdered. But the Roman conqueror, Octavian, actually spared the three she bore to Marc Antony:  her six-year-old son, Ptolemy, and her ten-year-old twins, Alexander and Selene. As soon as I learned that Octavian had taken the three of them to Rome for his Triumph, I knew at once I had my next book. And when I discovered what Cleopatra’s daughter lived through while in exile – rebellion, loss, triumph, love -  I absolutely couldn’t wait to start writing. I can only hope that the novel is as exciting and intriguing as the research proved to be. It may be two thousand years in the past, but a great love story, as they say, is timeless.


CLEOPATRA'S DAUGHTER: a novel
The death of Cleopatra was only the beginning...

Visit CleopatrasDaughter.com
Check out Michelle's blog at michellemoran.blogspot.com
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Now for the contest:

Prize: A hardback copy of Cleopatra's Daughter by Michelle Moran & an ancient Roman coin complete with certificate of authenticity

To enter: Leave a comment with a valid email address

Extra entries:
+2 if you're already a follower
+1 if you become a follower
+3 make a POST about this
+2 link to this somewhere (must leave link in comment)

Open to: International! Anyone, anywhere can enter!

Ends: October 23, 2009 at midnight

20 comments:

  1. Awesome guest post! I'd love to see Cleopatra's underwater city. :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. I would absoultely love to be entered!!

    +2 follower

    :) Erica
    thebookcellar@wi.rr.com

    ReplyDelete
  3. Great contest!

    +2 follower

    -Staysi
    staysil7 [at] yahoo [dot] com.
    http://lostininkreviews.blogspot.com/

    ReplyDelete
  4. Shawna Lewis
    weloveourdogs@juno.com

    Thanks for this amazing chance to win this wonderful book & coin!!! WOW!!!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Shawna Lewis
    weloveourdogs@juno.com

    +2 I am already a follower of your blog!!!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Shawna Lewis
    weloveourdogs@juno.com

    +3 I Posted this on my blog W pictures!!! http://booksaremoviesinthemind.blogspot.com/2009/10/httpkatiesbookshelf11blogspotcom200910m.html

    ReplyDelete
  7. Shawna Lewis
    weloveourdogs@juno.com

    +2 I posted this link on my Facebook
    http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/posted.php?id=1259591812&share_id=149698687996&comments=1#s149698687996

    ReplyDelete
  8. Count me in please!

    +1 if you become a follower
    +2 tweeted
    http://twitter.com/Sheeredry/status/4898976475

    sheere.dry@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  9. +1 became a follower

    eliza.lefebvre[at]gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  10. What a great post! Please count me in, I have been wanting to read Cleopatra's Daughter! Thanks.
    JHolden955(at)gmail(dot)com

    ReplyDelete
  11. Would love to enter.

    +1 new follower
    +2 linked in my sidebar here.

    Zia
    ziaria(at)gmail(dot)com

    ReplyDelete
  12. Would like to enter. Please count me in.


    mystica123athotmaildotcom

    ReplyDelete
  13. Enter me please!

    +2 link on sidebar: http://crystalreviews.blogspot.com/

    crystalreviews[at]gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  14. Please enter me in this giveaway!

    +1 I just became a follower.

    saemmerson at yahoo dot com

    Sarah Emmerson

    ReplyDelete
  15. Cool contest, please count me in!
    +1 milkavainamo@lyseo.edu.ouka.fi
    milkavainamo(at)lyseo(dot)edu(dot)ouka(dot)fi
    +1 new follower

    ReplyDelete
  16. Great contest, this book sounds great.

    +1 new follower

    zenfoxflowerATyahooDOTcom
    Elie (Ellz Readz)

    ReplyDelete
  17. I'd love to win this book. Thanks for the chance!
    +2 Already a Follower

    gevin13{at}gmail{dot}com

    ReplyDelete
  18. tweet

    http://twitter.com/saemmerson/status/5077983223

    saemmerson at yahoo dot com

    Sarah Emmerson

    ReplyDelete
  19. I'd love to be entered!
    +2 already a follower
    +2 sidebar:
    http://hookedonyabooks.blogspot.com/

    lovinfitch(at)aol(dot)com

    ReplyDelete
  20. I would LOVE to win this!!
    Thankyou!! :D:D:D

    +1 I am a new follower

    -Lindsay


    lindsay15photo@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete