Song of Songs
A Novel of the Queen of Sheba
By Marc Graham
Lift the veil of legend for the untold story of Makeda,
the Queen of Sheba, and Bathsheba, wife and mother of Israel’s first kings.
When Makeda, the slave-born daughter of the chieftain of
Saba, comes of age, she wins her freedom and inherits her father’s titles along
with a crumbling earthwork dam that threatens her people’s survival. When she
learns of a great stone temple being built in a land far to the north, Makeda
leads a caravan to the capital of Yisrael to learn how to build a permanent dam
and secure her people’s prosperity.
On her arrival, Makeda discovers that her half-sister
Bilkis (also known as Bathsheba) who was thought to have died in a long-ago
flash flood, not only survived, but has become Queen of Yisrael. Not content
with her own wealth, Bilkis intends to claim the riches of Saba for herself by
forcing Makeda to marry her son. But Bilkis’s designs are threatened by the
growing attraction between Makeda and Yetzer abi-Huram, master builder of
Urusalim’s famed temple. Will Bilkis’s plan succeed or will Makeda and Yetzer
outsmart her and find happiness far from her plots and intrigue.
A Conversation with Marc Graham
Hi Marc, welcome back to Myths, Legends, Books & Coffee Pots…
Why did you want to become an author, and when you are not writing, what do you
like doing?
I've been a storyteller most of my life, which got me into no small
trouble when I was young. I've since shifted my focus from who may or may not
have made a fuel-air explosive from the chicken feed to writing novels. I'm
also a mechanical engineer, Vedic astrologer, Norse Rune master, and student of
shamanic practices.
What inspired you to write Song of Songs?
I've known the Queen of Sheba story most of my life, and have long had a
fascination with mythology and secret or lost history. In the late 1990s I
joined the Freemasons, whose founding myth is centred on the building of King
Solomon's temple in Jerusalem. Now, the Biblical account of the Queen of Sheba
story consists of only about thirteen verses, and has a definite
patriarchal/monotheist propaganda feel to it. But while exploring various
legends of the Craft, I came upon a version of the Queen of Sheba story I'd
never seen before. In this account, the famous queen comes to Jerusalem not
because she's heard of Solomon's wisdom, but because of the temple he is
building. Solomon is continually trying to get into her knickers, but she wants
first to meet builder of the magnificent temple. The king finally relents, and
the queen is immediately struck by the temple-builder's skill, leadership, and
other manly endowments. Jealousy and mayhem ensure. While I've reworked a
number of details to suit my own story, discovering this unique legend really
brought the tale to life for me.
What were the challenges you faced in researching this period of
history?
The earliest, most authoritative version we have of the Queen of Sheba
story was written nearly 500 years after the alleged events (assuming they ever
happened at all). As with all the Biblical legends, the underlying oral
traditions were reworked during the Babylonian captivity of the Judean priestly
and upper classes in order to create a new national myth, raising a provincial
storm god from patron deity status to the sole god of the universe. Later
versions of the myth from Arabic and Ethiopian sources are equally
propagandist.
We have very few scripts remaining from the period around 1000 BCE,
roughly corresponding to the time of Kings David and Solomon. And modern
archaeology around the old city of Jerusalem is politically challenging at
best. However, archaeological research in other areas of ancient Canaan
(including the areas traditionally held to be under Israelite/Judean rule) have
open a window into the daily lives of the common folk of the region. More
exciting, the recovery and translation of the El Amarna tablets, along with
David Rohl's new chronology of the Egyptian dynasties, provide a new way of understanding
the international realpolitik around the turn of the first millennium BCE.
There are many books about the Old Testament stories. Can you tell us
three things that set your novel apart?
First and foremost, this is not a mere retelling of the familiar
Biblical tale, simply filling in gaps and adding some detail and drama. This is
a new interpretation of the myth, looking backward through the lens of politics
and religion that shaped the official story, supported by the latest in
archaeological and epigraphic research.
Second, rather than choosing just one version of the story to
illuminate, I've gathered fragments of the myth from disparate sources (Jewish,
Christian, Muslim, Ethiopian, and Masonic), then distilled and condensed them
into a cohesive whole that, I hope, honors ancient traditions while shaking off
the trappings of orthodoxy.
Finally, King Solomon takes something of a backseat in this version of
the story. Most retellings of the tale revolve around the royal pairing between
Israel and Sheba. While my Solomon-character certainly has a role to play, he
serves more as a catalyst than a prime mover of the story.
Your book sounds wonderful. Can you tell us what are you currently
working on?
Too much! I'm finishing edits on my next novel (Son of the Sea,
Daughter of the Son, Blank Slate Press, Fall 2019). I've developed a
creativity tool, Runes for Writers, for which I'm working on the
companion book for release in the next few months. I'm also working on a
non-fiction book focused on healing and restoring true masculinity, reclaiming
it from the man-children ruling the world. And, once I get these squared away,
I'll be researching and developing a sequel to Song of Songs.
Thank you for taking the time out of you day to chat with us!
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Pick up your copy of
Song of Songs:
A Novel of the Queen of Sheba
Marc Graham
Marc Graham studied mechanical engineering at
Rice University in Texas, but has been writing since his first attempt at
science fiction penned when he was ten. From there, he graduated to knock-off
political thrillers, all safely locked away to protect the public, before
settling on historical fiction. His first novel, Of Ashes and Dust, was
published in March 2017.
He has won numerous writing contests
including, the National Writers Assocation Manuscript Contest (Of Ashes and
Dust), the Paul Gillette Memorial Writing Contest – Historical (Of Ashes and
Dust, Song of Songs), and the Colorado Gold Writing Contest – Mainstream
(Prince of the West, coming from Blank Slate Press in Fall 2019).
He lives in Colorado
on the front range of the Rocky Mountains, and in addition to writing, he is an
actor, narrator, speaker, story coach, shamanic practitioner, and whisky
afficianado (Macallan 18, one ice cube). When not on stage or studio, in a pub,
or bound to his computer, he can be found hiking with his wife and their
Greater Swiss Mountain Dog.
Connect with Marc:
WEBSITE • FACEBOOK • TWITTER • GOODREADS
