A Ghost and His Human Lover

Highlighting Historical Romance with Veronica Scott

Thanks for having me as your guest today!

In Ghost of the Nile which scene was the hardest for you to write?

For me the love scenes are always the most challenging because I want to ‘do right’ by my characters and show the emotions, and the desire and passion they feel for each other, but tastefully. There’s been a lot of buildup and angst in the novels typically to this point and I don’t want to rush the culmination, or be less than true to who these people are.

The first time Periseneb, the Ghost of the title, and Neithamun, the human woman he loves, come together, he’s still keeping secrets from her. He tells her he can only remain with her for seventeen more days but he allows her to believe he’s leaving at Pharaoh’s command, rather than the truth of his being a ghost sent back to life by the gods. He’s afraid if she knew his nature as an akh or ghost, she’d be afraid of him and of course he loves her and would never do her any harm.

What is your favorite scene in this book?

Always hard to pick just one! May I cheat and have three? Two are short! Periseneb goes to speak with the oldest servant on the Heron Marsh estate, seeking to learn something about events after his death two hundred years before. Of course she’s not that old, but she remembers some things that her mother and grandmother told her about the estate’s history. The encounter was fun to write. There’s another scene where Periseneb unconsciously uses his inherent magic as a ghost to briefly bring a beautiful marsh back to life for a moment and plucks a magic lotus for Neithamun. But the scene where Periseneb does reveal the entire truth about himself and his past to Neithamun was challenging to write, full of emotion and pivotal to the plot. I enjoyed the challenge of getting the moment right.

What, aside from writing, do you like to do best? Read great books by my favorite authors! I also enjoy taking long walks and building Lego kits with my grandson. Sitting curled up with my two cats and binge watching a good TV series is fun too.

Why do you write historical paranormal romance?

My mother loved ancient history and had all the Time-Life books on Egypt, Greece and Rome, so even as a little girl I was fascinated by the mysteries of long ago civilizations. Then, around the 6^th grade, I read the YA novel Mara, Daughter of the Nile by Eloise Jarvis McGraw and I was awestruck at the idea of writing my own stories set in ancient Egypt. As an adult author, however, I want lots of romance in everything as well as mythology brought to life. I want to tell stories which include the gods of Egypt taking an active role in daily life along the Nile, the way the people of that time believed they did. I indulge in some deliberate anachronisms to make my novels more accessible to my readers, although I do a great deal of research and have a huge library of books on Egyptology and ancient Egypt. I address the historical accuracy issue in a separate post on my web page and that seems to help. I’m not trying to write a pure historical novel, nor do I want to be seen as using ancient Egypt for mere ‘wallpaper’ either! I have Egyptologists and archaeologists among my readers and they’ve been very nice in their comments to me, even considering my anachronisms. I primarily write science fiction romance set in the far future, but I enjoy taking a trip to 1550 BCE periodically.

About the Book:  Ghost of the Nile

The book is a RONE finalist.

Betrayed, murdered, and buried without proper ceremony, Egyptian warrior Periseneb is doomed to roam the gray deserts of the dead as a ghost for all eternity.

But then the goddess of truth offers him a bargain: return to the world of the living as her champion for 30 days. If he completes his mission, he’ll be guaranteed entry into Paradise. Periseneb agrees to the bargain but, when he returns to the living world, two hundred years have passed and nothing is quite as he expected.

Neithamun is a woman fighting to hang onto her family’s estate against an unscrupulous nobleman who desires the land as well as the lady. All seems lost until a mysterious yet appealing ex-soldier, Periseneb, appears out of nowhere to help her fight off the noble’s repeated attacks.

Meanwhile, Periseneb’s thirty days are rushing by, and he’s powerless against the growing attraction between himself and Neithamun. But their love can never be. For his Fate is to return to the Afterlife, and Death cannot wed with Life…

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About the Author

You can find Veronica Scott at:

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