You notice there are historical inconsistencies and deviations from the real timeline. Indeed, the opera Aida comes on the scene much later, debuting in Cairo in 1871. And when Lady Bertram attends her first archeological museum lecture in London, somewhere on the continent, Georg Ebers (1837-1898), the famed Egyptologist and author, is probably but a randy twinkle in his father’s eye. But—we must attribute all of this to literary mayhem. Or, better yet, to the Mummy’s own supernatural influence: the glorious ancient Pharaoh’s ability to control and indeed move through space and time itself.

For, indeed, has he, the East Wind, not blown in, floating in stately beauty and tragic comedy through the great mists of meta-existence, to grace us with his own immortal presence in these otherwise classic pages?

Meanwhile, I humbly beg a thousand pardons of Miss Austen’s noble shade, and trust you have enjoyed the warm breezes throughout Mansfield Park.

Yours, in All Amiability,

The Harridan.

Vera Nazarian

November, 2009

About the Harridan

Vera Nazarian immigrated to the USA from the former USSR as a kid, sold her first story at the age of 17, and since then has published numerous works in anthologies and magazines, and has seen her fiction translated into eight languages.

She made her novelist debut with the critically acclaimed arabesque “collage” novel Dreams of the Compass Rose, followed by epic fantasy about a world without color, Lords of Rainbow. Her novella The Clock King and the Queen of the Hourglass from PS Publishing (UK) with an introduction by Charles de Lint made the Locus Recommended Reading List for 2005. Her debut short fiction collection Salt of the Air, with an introduction by Gene Wolfe, contains the 2007 Nebula Award-nominated “The Story of Love.” Recent work includes the 2008 Nebula Award-nominated, self-illustrated baroque fantasy novella The Duke in His Castle, and this literary monstrosity that you now hold in your hands. . . .

After many years in Los Angeles, Vera lives in a small town in Vermont, and uses her Armenian sense of humor and her Russian sense of suffering to bake conflicted pirozhki and make art.

In addition to being a writer and award-winning artist, she is also the publisher of Norilana Books.

The Collected Supernatural Jane Austen

by Vera Nazarian

(Series includes the following titles)

Mansfield Park and Mummies:

Monster Mayhem, Matrimony, Ancient Curses,

True Love, and Other Dire Delights

Northanger Abbey and Angels and Dragons

Forthcoming:

Pride and Platypus: Mr. Darcy’s Dreadful Secret

Pagan Persuasion: All Olympus Descends on Regency

Emma Enchanted

Sense and Sanguine Sensibility

Lady Susan, Succubus

OTHER BOOKS BY VERA NAZARIAN

Dreams of the Compass Rose

Lords of Rainbow

The Clock King and the Queen of the Hourglass

Mayhem at Grant-Williams High (YA)

The Duke in His Castle

Salt of the Air

After the Sundial

* * *

Thank you for your support!

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Scholarly Footnotes

Footnote 1. Ahem!