Qa’a, the final book of The First Dynasty trilogy was a no-brainer as far as I was concerned. If I had started the series with the first King of the First Dynasty, I felt I had to end it with the last King.
Yet, the more I researched the history of that period, the more engaged I became and wanted to weave a yarn that incorporated what we actually know along with the drama and intrigue that could have easily been part of Qa’a’s life story.
The name Qa’a is translated as “his arm is raised.” Wow!, I thought, that’s pretty powerful. So, without giving away any of the story, I felt the name alone could be descriptive of the man, his strengths and weaknesses.
Although I have been to Egypt many times and have visited all the principal sites where the action over all three novels takes place, I was constrained from traveling to Egypt while researching Qa’a by political events there. So I had to rely on notes from previous visits, my own extensive library on Ancient Egypt, my interviews with Egyptologists and reasonably accurate web-based sources.
There were also tantalizing clues along the way that allowed me to create plot elements. For example, there was obviously a major transition from First to Second Dynasties, so something significant must have occurred related to Qa’a’s offspring, assuming he had any. Also, while little is known about Qa’a- after all we are speaking of the period around 3,000 B.C.E.- we do know more about the first King of the Second Dynasty, Hotepsekhemwy (now THAT’S a mouthful!). All in all it was a pleasure pulling the threads together into one coherent yarn. I do hope you enjoy Qa’a. I look forward to your comments.