Last Paragraphs of the Postscript:

A feature of living mummies which sets them apart from most other movie monsters is blasphemy. Dracula, The Wolf Man, and their fellow supernatural monsters are the works of Satan. Frankenstein’s Monster, The Invisible Man, and their kith & kin are products of mad science. The Mummy—whether Im-ho-tep, Kharis, Prem, Ra-Antef or Numar—are spawned by the ancient Gods of Egypt. In the opening sequence of 1932’s The Mummy, sagely Dr. Muller tells us:

The Gods of Egypt still live in these hills, in their ruined temples. The ancient spells are weaker, but some of them are still potent. I believe that you have in your hut the Scroll of Thoth itself, which contains the great spell by which Isis raised Osiris from the dead. 

Running through all mummy movies—and through The Passion of the Mummy, through my previous novels, and through so many horror films—is Man’s grasp at immortality. The living mummies are cursed by it; the priests of Karnak-Arkham break their sacred vows to obtain it. The women—Pamela Morris, Miriam Blaylock, Ayesha, Queen Tera—revel in it. And, as portrayed in this book, many women of ancient Egypt wait just beyond the veil to bring their eternal beings into our world.

THE PASSION OF THE MUMMY

TABLE OF CONTENTS

First the Worst

Second the Same

Immortality – Part I

Third is the Finest of All the Game

A Strange Inauguration

Queens of the Nile

A Gentlemen’s Club

Painful Death & Undeath

The Chase

Immortality – Part II

Sketches from Memory

Namesakes

A King, A Prince & A Brother

What Experts Ignore

A Long Sleep Among Kings

Portraits of Immortals

Sacred Spirits of the Tomb

Empty Coffins, Little Walks

Who Awakens?

Tana & Garlic

Magic

Immortality – Part III

Words of Power

First Kills

We’ll Always Have Kharis

Flight into Egypt

Tomb Raiders

Whispers & Tears

Interview with a Curator

Royal Horror

Interview with a Princess

The Last of the Bannings

Immortality – Part IV

Useful Fool

An Affinity of Souls

Love Among the Ruins

Paradise Lost

Paradise Tossed

The Dying of the Light

Is Kharis Burning?

Post Script

Cast of Characters