Ushabti, by Jonathan Moeller

I am very pleased to report that you can read my short story “Ushabti” in the current issue of Silver Blade. Of the many short stories I’ve written, this is by far one of my favorite, since I’ve been fascinated with ancient Egypt since the age of seven or so. An excerpt:

“It is well that you agree,” said Ptahmin. He walked to the windows, gazing at the vast maze of Manhattan. “Your nation of America is rotten, my child, filled with people who worship only pleasure, who lack a strong hand to unify and guide them. Never have I seen so strong a nation in such need of a strong master.” He crossed the room and laid a hand upon the ancient wood of the mummy case. “Your people are yearning for conquest. Once they are brought to the worship of the divine Pharaoh, once the great name of Khufu is poised upon every tongue and written upon every heart, then they shall know true greatness.”

“Of course,” said Annika. “The great name of Khufu.” According to the historians, Khufu’s mummy had been stolen from his Great Pyramid long ago, his infamous mortuary cult exterminated during the Persian conquest. They would never have believed that the cult’s high priest had endured for four thousand years, moving his master’s mummy from place to place, sustaining his life from the spells laid upon the old tyrant’s corpse.

Yet another thing the Egyptologists had gotten wrong.

The illustrations, I have to say, are hardcore awesome. Especially this one:

That, if you don’t recognize it, is perhaps the only surviving likeness of the Pharaoh Khufu, the one who built the Great Pyramid of Giza. A three-inch tall ivory statuette.

Ironic, really – Khufu’s tomb has outlived every civilization to conquer the Nile valley since his day, but of Khufu himself, all that remains is a tiny ivory statuette, little larger than an action figure.

That, and he appears as a character in “Ushabti”. If only in undead form.

-JM