HEIRS OF THE GODS PREQUEL NOVELLA
THE GOLDSMITH OF BASTET
The Goldsmith of Bastet is a story of faith, sacrifice, and the choices we make when the divine calls—and the world forbids it. Set during one of Ancient Egypt’s most turbulent periods, this literary historical novella explores the cost of devotion in an age when belief itself was treason.
Blurb
Every legend begins with a sacrifice.
Every talisman demands one.
For fifteen years, Tjanefer has lived in the shadows. He has worked raw metal like a blacksmith, though his hands once crafted sacred jewels.
In the Egypt of Akhenaten, the Heretic Pharaoh, the old gods have been erased by decree. Their temples closed, their priests scattered, their names chiseled from stone. For a man who served the goddess, there are only two choices: hide or die. Tjanefer chose the former to protect his daughter and to honor the memory of the woman he loved and lost.
But the past has roots deeper than the well where memories are thrown.
When a hunter of heretics discovers what he is, Tjanefer flees to the Great River’s delta, where a desecrated temple, a dying goddess, and an ancient rite could save what remains of Kemet’s ancient religion.
But the talisman requires fire. It requires gold. It requires blood.
And a price that Tjanefer, looking into his daughter’s eyes, never imagined he would have to pay.
Tropes
- Secret Legacy
- Reluctant Hero
- Heroic Sacrifice
- Religious Fanatic Villain
- Cinnamon Roll / Safe Haven
Content Warnings
- Violence
- Ritualistic Self-Harm
- Death
The ancient Egyptians did not “believe in” their gods the way we might believe in an abstract concept. For them, the gods were as real as the Nile, as present as the sun. They walked in dreams, spoke through oracles, and demanded devotion as their right.
When Akhenaten banned the old gods and closed their temples, he was not merely changing religious policy, he was erasing reality itself as his people understood it.
This story is told through the eyes of those who lived in that reality. Tjanefer does not question whether Bastet is real. He knows she is. The question for him is not “do I believe?” but “will I obey?”
Whether you, as a modern reader, interpret his visions as divine truth, psychological manifestation, or something in between, I leave to you.
The historical details of Akhenaten’s reign, the persecution of the old cults, and the systematic erasure of divine names are documented fact.
What happened in the hearts and minds of those who resisted, that is where history becomes story.
Also in this series
Heirs of the gods book 1
Coming on September 2026
Heirs of the gods book 2
Coming on March 2027
