One Breath, One Bullet (The Borders War) by S.A. McAuley

Very strange novel, with an original approach that I’m still thinking about; I didn’t want to write a review soon after I finished the book cause I wanted to think about it, I wanted to find a way to convey the feeling. The author doesn’t introduce her characters, they are actually presented to you with a bag of events you don’t know; the author will jump back and forward in their life until you will have all the elements to put together the pieces of the puzzle, but again, you will have to do that by yourself. The second thing I notice is that, in this post-apocalypse future, time is inconsistent and they are distances; in the course of few pages, the characters spend together almost 20 years, starting as barely legal soldiers to end as pushing 40 revolutionaries. The strangest thing of all is that for all those 20 years they are at the same time lovers and worst enemies, always at the opposite fronts. When it was war, they were fighting against each other, when it was (barely) peace time, they were competing against each other at the Olympics. But do not imagine Olympic Games as you know them, the Olympics in this story are dark and horrific, more like the Roman arenas where gladiators were fighting to death.

Anyway expect the unexpected from this story, do not expect linearity, wait for the turn of the tables; the only constant is that Merq and Armise love each other… to death.

Warning: this one was quick and the introduction to a series, The Borders War, so there is an hanging ending.

Amazon Kindle: One Breath, One Bullet (The Borders War)
Publisher: Total-E-Bound Publishing (May 30, 2013)

Reading List: http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bottom.php?tag=reading list&view=elisa.rolle

2013 Rainbow Awards Submission: Trin Denise - Red Hot Stone Cold, Backcountry, A Christmas Day...

Red Hot Stone Cold by Trin Denise
Publisher: Ragz Books USA; First edition (March 11, 2013)
Amazon Kindle: Red Hot Stone Cold

Danica James is a world-renowned oil painter and she is happy to stay in the background when it comes to gallery showings of her work. She loves her anonymity and the only peace she finds in life is high up in the mountains at her cabin in West Virginia, with her dog Sammie.

However, Danica’s utopian life comes to a screeching halt when she rescues Heather Ransen, a car accident victim. To complicate matters, Heather who was caught in a terrible snowstorm has retrograde amnesia because of the accident and has no recollection of the cheating lover she was on her way to confront.

Will Danica put her fears aside to pursue a love that has always eluded her? Will Heather’s worst nightmare result in the ultimate love she has always longed for?

Only time has the answers to all of these unanswered questions.

Backcountry (The Campground Murder Mysteries) by Trin Denise
Publisher: Ragz Books USA; 1 edition (August 8, 2013)
Amazon Kindle: Backcountry (The Campground Murder Mysteries)

Thirty-eight year old, workaholic, power defense attorney Lyndsey Carlisle is stressed to the max and … hopelessly single.

After years of defending some of the most notorious scum of the earth, she reaches her breaking point, and decides to take some time off. She gets her old backpacking gear out of the attic, fills her gas tank, and along with her mixed mutt Sadie, heads to Natural Bridge, Kentucky, leaving all ties to society behind her. With no laptop or cell phone, she picks up a backcountry permit and hits the trails.

Brae Colson has lived in Natural Bridge all her life. She knows the area better than the back of her hand. After coming home to an empty house and a “Dear Jane” letter from her lover of five years, she packs up her gear, and heads for the woods.

A little down time is all Lyndsey is looking for, some time alone where she can re-evaluate her life, her career, and lack of a relationship but after only one day on the trail, she makes a novice mistake and ends up at the bottom of a twenty-foot cliff. With a severely sprained ankle and no way to call for help, she’s on the verge of panicking and suddenly finds herself looking up into the eyes of an angel standing next to Sadie.

When Brae sees Lyndsey at the bottom of the cliff, she inwardly groans and comes within a hair’s inch of turning and leaving. She came to get away from women, all women and the last thing she wants is to be burdened down by one, an injured one at that.

Will sparks fly between these two stubborn women who are polar opposites or will they go their separate ways because neither believes they are worthy of the “Happily Ever After”? Only time will tell!

A Christmas Day To Remember by Trin Denise
Publisher: Ragz Books USA (December 22, 2012)
Amazon Kindle: A Christmas Day To Remember

Thirty-two year old Kristen Mitchell has a decade long tradition. Two to three days before Christmas, she goes on a shopping excursion. This year, her trip will be on a passenger train full of beautiful Lesbians. Some single, some, not so much.

When she meets the seductively gorgeous Aeden Stamos at the on-board Christmas party, it’s not long before Kristen realizes she is in big trouble. In spite of warning bells, Kristen is unable to resist the attraction and the next twenty-four hours on the train, along with a romantic horse-drawn carriage ride in Chicago, will be the best of her life.

Elver A. Barker (1920 - August 19, 2004)

Elver Barker aka Carl B. Harding was and artist, teacher, gay and human rights activist who was one of the early officers of the Mattachine Society and an editor of the Mattachine Review.

Elver Amos Barker was born in Newcastle, WY in 1920. Being a specialist in organizing, he had been a social-change activist since 1942 in the non-violence movements for a warless world of brotherhood and justice for all. He was also active in the Rocky Mountain Skeptics for a rational alternative to the pseudo-sciences.

His AB in Education was from the University of Denver. His major art training in representational oils and pastels was under the late Arthur W. Palmer and Thomas Leighton in San Francisco. He had also attended workshops taught by Daniel E. Greene, Ben Konis, Mel Fillerup, and the late Merlin Enabnit and George Cherepov.

While he painted a wide variety of subjects, one of his specialties was still lifes... the beauty in simple things. Through extensive experimentation he developed finger painting in transparent oils, in which, as many effects are achieved by the removal of colors as by their application, leaving the color of the support showing through. His book Finger painting in oils was published by D. Van Nostrand in 1968. The artist's specialty in this unique technique was gnarled trees, especially Bristlecone Pines at timberline which he photographed and used as models. Natural woodgrain patterns were produced by the whorls on the thumb. After 30 years of further experimenting, he was working on a revised edition, Finger Painting in Transparent Non-toxic Oils.

The artist had also developed feather painting in transparent oils... abstract expressionism symbolizing the sounds of music. Some of these were rhythm paintings... done after and while listening to music. After publication of his book, Elver was interviewed on channel 9 (in Denver). The photographer focused on several of his oil finger and feather paintings while he described them. That weekend May-D&F had a large display of his finger works in the window for two days. During that time he demonstrated the technique in the book department and autographed sold copies of his book. He was also interviewed by the late Bill Barker and Mrs. Barker on KOA radio (in Denver).



( Read more... )

Source: http://www.tyleralpern.com/ElverBarker.html

( Elver Barker, 2001, by Robert Giard  )

( Further Readings )

More Particular Voices at my website: http://www.elisarolle.com/, My Ramblings/Particular Voices

More Artists at my website: http://www.elisarolle.com/, My Ramblings/Art

Harlan Lane (born August 19, 1936)

Harlan Lane is Distinguished University professor of psychology at Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts, in the United States, and founder of the Center for Research in Hearing, Speech, and Language. His research is focused on speech, Deaf culture, and sign language. Lane was born in Brooklyn on August 19, 1936. Remaining in New York City for college, he obtained both a B.S. and an M.S. in Psychology from Columbia University in 1958. He subsequently received a Ph.D. in Psychology from Harvard and a second Ph.D. in Linguistics from the Sorbonne. In 1991, Lane received a MacArthur Foundation "genius award".

Lane - a hearing man - has become an often controversial spokesman for the Deaf community and critic of cochlear implants. He has written extensively on the social construction of disability and states that "Unless Deaf people challenge the culturally determined meanings of deaf and disability with at least as much vigor as the technologies of normalization seek to institutionalize those meanings, the day will continue to recede in which Deaf children and adults live the fullest lives and make the fullest contribution to our diverse society." In recognition of his research and advocacy regarding these issues, Lane has received the Distinguished Service Award from the National Association of the Deaf (United States), the International Social Merit Award from the World Federation of the Deaf, and numerous other awards.

He is Commandeur de l'Ordre des Palmes Académiques, the highest level of the academic honor given out by the French government.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harlan_Lane

( Bertha Harris, Franklin Philip and Harlan Lane, 1993, by Robert Giard  )

( Further Readings )

More Particular Voices at my website: http://www.elisarolle.com/, My Ramblings/Particular Voices

Ladislav Fuks (September 24, 1923 - August 19, 1994)

Ladislav Fuks (September 24, 1923, Prague – August 19, 1994, Prague) was a Czech novelist. He focused mainly on psychological novels, portraying the despair and suffering of people under German occupation of Czechoslovakia.

He was born in Prague as the son of a police officer. He studied the Gymnasium in Truhlářšká ulice, where he also first witnessed Nazi persecution of his Jewish friends. In 1942 he was forced to be a caretaker in Hodonín, as a part of the Arbeitseinsatz.

Later he studied philosophy, psychology and art history at the Philosophical faculty of Charles University in Prague, where, in 1949, he received a doctorate. After his studies, he was a member of the National heritage administration and after 1959 he worked in the national gallery. He became a professional writer in the 1960s. He attracted much attention with his debut work, Pan Theodor Mundstock (Mr. Theodore Mundstock), published in 1963, and a year later with his short story collection Mí černovlasí bratři (My dark-haired brothers).

In the socialist period, he, according to his own words "preferred to choose conciliatoriness and toleration, against headless resistance and courage to fall in the resistance" ("raději volil smířlivost a toleranci před bezhlavým vzdorem a odvahou padnout v odporu"). Some of his work from the 70s is strongly linked to the era in which they were created (for example, Návrat z žitného pole (The return from the rye field) is a novel targeted against emigration after the 1948 communist coup). He was also a member of the socialistic Svaz českých spisovatelů (Union of Czech Writers). Although he had obtained some international recognition, in the last years of his life he was left alone and friendless. He died in 1994 in his Prague apartment in Dejvice, in the street Národní obrany no. 15.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ladislav_Fuks

( Further Readings )

Frank Mullaney & Neil Greenberg

NEIL GREENBERG, recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship and a “Bessie” Award, has been creating dances since 1979. He has created over twenty-five works for his company, as well as commissions for Mikhail Baryshnikov’s White Oak Dance Project and Ricochet Dance Company of London.

Greenberg came to New York from Minnesota in 1976 and danced with the Merce Cunningham Dance Company from 1979-1986. He formed Dance By Neil Greenberg in 1986, and his choreography has since been presented in nineteen New York City productions and on tour. He is known especially for his Not-About-AIDS-Dance, for which he received his “Bessie,” which employs his signature use of projected text as a layering strategy that complicates the performance moment while also opening doors into potential meanings in the dance. His choreography reflects the influence of his study of innovative somatic approaches to movement-such as Body/Mind Centering, Klein Technique, and Alexander Technique-and his appreciation of favorite experimental theater artists such as the Wooster Group and John Jesurun. Greenberg's works have twice been heralded as among the Ten High Points of the in The New York Times: his dance/video work Two in 2003 and Not-About-AIDS-Dance in 1994.

He is the recipient of fellowships from the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation (1992), the National Endowment for the Arts (1988,1990,1991-92,1995-96), the New York Foundation for the Arts (1990, 1996) and the Foundation for Contemporary Arts (1997), as well as repeated support from the New York State Council on the Arts and the Harkness Foundation for Dance. He received a National Dance Project Production Grant from the New England Foundation for the Arts and a Multi-Arts Project (MAP) Fund Grant for the creation of Partial View, a multimedia collaboration with John Jesurun (video designer) and longtime collaborators Zeena Parkins (composer) and Michael Stiller (lighting designer). Partial View received the 2005 Time Out New York Audience Award. He was awarded a second MAP Fund grant and a second AMC Live Music for Dance commission, both for the creation of Really Queer Dance With Harps.

His two commissioned works for Mikhail Baryshnikov’s White Oak Dance Project include Tchaikovsky Dance (1998) and a solo for Baryshnikov, MacGuffin or How Meanings Get Lost (Revisited) (1999). His works for Ricochet Dance Company (London) include Verbatim (1999) and P.O.V. [point of view] (2002), his first work including video as an integral element in the choreography.


Photo by Frank Mullaney. Frank Mullaney, who took this photograph, and his partner Neil Greenberg comprise one of the artist couples represented in the exhibit “Partners in Art,” on display at the LOFT Gallery on Main Street in Narrowsburg (http://www.riverreporter.com/issues/08-07-17/arts3-partners.html)
Neil Greenberg, recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship and a “Bessie” Award, has been creating dances since 1979. He has created over twenty-five works for his company, as well as commissions for Mikhail Baryshnikov’s White Oak Dance Project and Ricochet Dance Company of London. His partner is photographer Frank Mullaney. Frank Mullaney and his partner Neil Greenberg exhibited together in “Partners in Art.” Neil Greenberg is known especially for his Not-About-AIDS-Dance.

( Read more... )

Source: http://www.neilgreenberg.org/biography/

More LGBT Couples at my website: http://www.elisarolle.com/, My Ramblings/Real Life Romance

Mark Barr & Scott McCoy

Scott Daniel McCoy (born August 19, 1970) is an American politician and attorney from Utah. A Democrat, he is a former member of the Utah State Senate, where he represented the state's 2nd senate district which comprises portions of Salt Lake City. He resigned from the senate in December 2009 to dedicate himself more fully to his legal career. McCoy, who lives with his husband Mark Barr, was Utah's first-ever openly gay state senator. He and Barr, who earned a master’s degree in social work from the University of Utah, moved to New York City in June 2011, where they got married on July 24, 2011, the first day that same-sex marriages were legal in New York. It was their third commitment ceremony but their first legal marriage. In 2000, the couple wed in a religious ceremony on Bill Maher’s "Politically Incorrect" late-night show. In 2001, they obtained a civil union in Vermont. "This will be different because it’s the real deal. It’s the full thing. It’s not a half measure," Scott said. "Up to this point, when I talk about Mark, I talk about him as my partner. After Sunday, I will refer to him as my husband because that’s what he’ll be." They met in 1998 when they were both twenty-somethings living in Manhattan. McCoy was a law student and Barr worked for Showtime.

McCoy is an attorney specializing in commercial, antitrust and federal securities litigation. From January 2002 to March 2003, he served as law clerk to Justice Leonard H. Russon of the Utah Supreme Court. He had previously practiced law for a Wall Street firm. He was educated at William Jewell College in Liberty, Missouri (B.A., 1992), George Washington University in Washington, D.C. (M.A., 1994) and the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law in New York City (J.D., 2001).

McCoy was appointed to the seat by Utah Democratic Party delegates in February 2005, following the resignation of Senator Paula Julander on health grounds. He beat Julander's husband – longtime party leader Rod Julander – by 44 votes to 41 in the final selection vote. His appointment was then formalized by Governor Jon Huntsman, Jr.. He ran for re-election in 2006 and faced little opposition in this reliably Democratic district, defeating his Republican opponent by more than two-to-one.


Scott McCoy is an American politician and attorney from Utah. A Democrat, he is a former member of the Utah State Senate. McCoy, who lives with his husband Mark Barr, was Utah's first-ever openly gay state senator. He and Barr, who earned a master’s degree in social work from the University of Utah, moved to New York City in June 2011, where they got married on July 24, 2011, the first day that same-sex marriages were legal in New York. They met in 1998 when they were both twenty-somethings.

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Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scott_McCoy

More LGBT Couples at my website: http://www.elisarolle.com/, My Ramblings/Real Life Romance

GayRomLit Ebook Giveaway: Deanna Wadsworth - Accidentally Beautiful

I asked to all the authors joining the GayRomLit convention in Atlanta in October (http://gayromlit.com/grl-authors) a personal favor, a special Ebook Giveaway: everyday I will post 1 book from each author, and among those who will leave a comment, I will draw a winner. Very easy and very fast ;-) I will send a PM to the winner, so remember to not leave anonymous comments!

and the ebook giveaway goes to: zeoanne

Today author is Deanna Wadsworth: Bestselling erotica author Deanna Wadsworth leads a pretty vanilla life in Ohio with her hubby of 16 years and three demanding little dogs. Her love of love in all its stages and incarnations inspire her to write Romance with Spice and Love without Boundaries.
Website: http://deannawadsworth.blogspot.com
Most recent title : A Gift for Santa
Publishers: Decadent Publishing, Dreamspinner Press

Accidentally Beautiful (1 Night Stand Series) by Deanna Wadsworth
Publisher: Decadent Publishing Company, LLC (March 4, 2012)
Amazon Kindle: Accidentally Beautiful (1 Night Stand Series)

Martin Baird is perfectly content in his safe, predictable job as head concierge for Castillo Resorts, but when a handsome stranger whisks him away for a night of tropical escapades—first visiting an isolated gay bar then to a secluded beach where erotic delights await—Martin’s world is thrown upside down. He’s never met a man like Garret Fisher, but it seems he has been waiting for a night like this all his life.

Could something truly beautiful come out of this accidental meeting? Or was it really not an accident at all?

Top Gay Books of the XXI century

It's that time of the year again, when I update the Top Gay Books List. Some books went up, some went down, and there are many new entries, especially for the second decade of the XXI century.

As usual some "boring" basic rules: the list considers only gay themed books released after January 1, 2000, so you can consider this a Top 100 List of the XXI century. To enter the list I browsed all the LGBTQ publishers I found, considered all the specific awards and all the recommendations from friends. I haven't read ALL the books, like you, I am trying to read as much as possible, but the list is impartial, meaning that if I didn't like a book, or I haven't read it yet, I nevertheless included it in the list.

To decide the ranking I chose to consider the owned copies on LibraryThing, a cataloguing website that seems to be "serious" and of common use. For every author I considered only a book, the one with more owned copies, so the list is more a Top Authors than a Top Books.

The actual list will remain frozen for 1 year, and in September 2014 I will reopened it and track the changes. In the meantime, I will continue to feature authors from this list in my In the Spotlight appointment.

First decade (2000-2009) (All books with links here: http://www.elisarolle.com/ramblings/top_100_gay_novels.html)

1) Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris
2) Running with Scissors by Augusten Burroughs
3) Three Junes by Julia Glass
4) The Line of Beauty by Alan Hollinghurst
5) Lord John and the Private Matter by Diana Gabaldon
6) Moab is my Washpot by Stephen Fry
7) The Master by Colm Toibin
8) Boy Meets Boy by David Levithan
9) Specimen Days by Michael Cunningham
10) At Swim, Two Boys by Jamie O'Neill

( Read more... )

Second decade (2010-2019) (All books with links here: http://www.elisarolle.com/ramblings/top_100_gay_novels.2.html)

1) Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green & David Levithan
2) The Hunger Angel by Herta Müller
3) In a Strange Room by Damon Galgut
4) The Absolutist by John Boyne
5) Almost Perfect by Brian Katcher
6) Secret Historian: The Life and Times of Samuel Steward, Professor, Tattoo Artist, and Sexual Renegade by Justin Spring
7) King of the Screwups by K. L. Going
8) Stonewall: The Riots That Sparked the Gay Revolution by David Carter
9) Faith & Fidelity by Tere Michaels
10) At Least in the City Someone Would Hear Me Scream: Misadventures in Search of the Simple Life by Wade Rouse

( Read more... )

2013 Rainbow Awards Submission: Linda Kay Silva - Man Eaters

Man Eaters by Linda Kay Silva
Paperback: 382 pages
Publisher: Sapphire Books Publishing (October 31, 2012)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0982860897
ISBN-13: 978-0982860892
Amazon: Man Eaters
Amazon Kindle: Man Eaters

They prey only on human flesh, and as the virus spreads and the horde of man eaters grows, firefighter, Dallas Barkley struggles hourly to keep her little band of survivors from the grasp of killers who never tire, never sleep, and never quit longing to make a meal out of them. As martial law sweeps through the country, Dallas's new family must fight off not only voracious man eaters and a deadly military containment procedure, but rogue survivors who obey no law of the land as they wantonly take from those they perceive as weaker. But Dallas and her people are far from weak. With a cowgirl named Roper and a medic called Butcher, these three women must brave the darkest hours of the bloodiest days as they work together to create a safe haven in a world destroyed by a man made plague ravaging the country and threatening their lives. Only by placing their faith, loyalty, and love in each other's hands can they hope to survive. Only by forging bonds stronger than death can they hope to beat back the hordes of undead.

2013 Rainbow Awards Submission: Linda Kay Silva - The Horde

The Horde by Linda Kay Silva
Paperback: 330 pages
Publisher: Sapphire Books Publishing (August 1, 2013)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1939062225
ISBN-13: 978-1939062222
Amazon: The Horde
Amazon Kindle: The Horde

They just keep coming.

Dragging their lifeless limbs and gnashing their broken teeth, the horde of man eaters presses forward. For every man eater Dallas and Roper put down, twelve more are created.

After spending nearly a year in the bayou, the survivors once again, set out in search of a safe haven where they might do more than survive, but thrive.
Thrive among the hordes bearing down on them. Thrive amid government attacks on the new compound they call home.

As Dallas and Roper build a new life, the ever present military launches surprise attacks, the bloody horde keeps on clawing at the walls, and the rest of mankind devolves into something barbaric and unrecognizable.

Can Dallas and Roper lead their people through the maze of thinking and brain dead killers? Can they find a place to once and for all go on the offensive?

Or it is, as some survivors believe, too late?

2013 Rainbow Awards Submission: Linda Kay Silva - Magical Echo

Magical Echo by Linda Kay Silva
Paperback: 326 pages
Publisher: Sapphire Books Publishing (May 1, 2013)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1939062039
ISBN-13: 978-1939062031
Amazon: Magical Echo
Amazon Kindle: Magical Echo

There are a lot of bodies buried in the Las Vegas desert, and Echo has to work doubly hard not to end up one of them. Between murderous antics of supernaturals who are off the grid, and becoming mired in a murder investigation with too many unanswered questions, Echo and company must navigate the treacherous waters of the Vegas strip. As Echo realizes there is an enemy within her ranks, she must call on the one person who wants nothing more to do with her, as well as accept help from some of the most unlikeliest allies. Can Echo solve the murder before becoming the killer's next victim? Does she, at last, have what it takes to lead her people through the darkness of Vegas and back into the light? And, perhaps most importantly, what magical secret lies dormant within Echo waiting patiently to come to life?

2013 Rainbow Awards Submission: Linda Kay Silva - In the Nick of Time

In the Nick of Time by Linda Kay Silva
Paperback: 346 pages
Publisher: Sapphire Books Publishing (February 1, 2013)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1939062012
ISBN-13: 978-1939062017
Amazon: In the Nick of Time
Amazon Kindle: In the Nick of Time

Jessie Ferguson has her hands full. Between sending her soul to the jungles of Viet Nam and visiting the oak groves of Merlin's backyard, Jessie races against the clock to save her little brother caught in a time and body she does not know. With danger lurking around every soggy corner for American troops slogging through the bug-infested rain forest, Jessie must find who Daniel was and get to him before he becomes a casualty. If that isn't enough, she must return to the Druids and face the wrath of Morgana. Jessie has slipped through time again and again, but never has so much been at stake. Can she reach Daniel before a bullet finds him first? And does she have the power to face a foe as deadly as Morgana? As sand falls through the hourglass, can Jessie get to both In the Nick of Time?

2013 Rainbow Awards Submission: Linda North - Wind and Dreams

Wind and Dreams by Linda North
Paperback: 342 pages
Publisher: Sapphire Books Publishing (June 15, 2013)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1939062160
ISBN-13: 978-1939062161
Amazon: Wind and Dreams
Amazon Kindle: Wind and Dreams

In 1901, Rose McLeod accompanies her father to Cairo, Egypt to acquire ancient Egyptian relics for their antiquities business back home in Baltimore. A notorious slaver, known for procuring concubines for harems, abducts Rose. She is rescued, only to find that she is now the captive of a beautiful woman claiming to be the pharaoh of a kingdom hidden deep in the Sahara. Merytneit, the Chosen of Neit, believes Rose is a gift from her Goddess. Rose is not accepting any of this. She's a "freeborn American woman." During the journey across the desert to the Valley of Wind and Dreams, Rose joins Meryt's three companions as a reluctant member of Meryt's household. Rose is shocked when she discovers the women are not just Meryt's companions. "Harem. This is a harem. Rose prayed Meryt didn't think of her as the latest acquisition." Cultures clash, danger intrudes, and passions flame. Nothing is chance as Meryt and Rose play out their destinies as decreed by the ancient Egyptian Gods.