{ THE HIEROGLYPHICS a novel(la) by Michael Stewart

an excerpt :

1. Eternity

God is like a beast; He does not know time. To know time is man’s alone, it is a weight only the seed of Adam may feel.

3. The Year

The first of their strange children that is born in a year is named and the year is given this same name. It is believed that the child and the year are one,

4. A Month

so each month there is a celebration and a new honor is given to her. Even the old women come to her on their knees and whisper requests. But when the last month comes, and winter begins to set on them, they stone the child, ending the year. Then prepare for the next.

5. A Season

The seasons are another of the Egyptian’s tricks. Their tax collectors with their knotted ropes sectioned off the movements of the great bodies. Like you might separate horses or an enemy’s spears. Still, the wind drags its teeth over the five nations and the Nile satisfies its hunger when it pleases.

7. The Soul

It is from heat that life comes. A lifeless body sealed from predators, but still exposed to the sun, will produce life, flawed and deformed maggots, but life. Our lips grow cold when we are close to death.

In the South there are a species of birds without mouths, which live only on the heat of the sun. At night these birds are so still that they are often thought to be dead, but the heat from even a small fire is enough to make them stir and to blink their eyes, although it is not enough to allow them to fly.