Answering Questions, Part III

Okay, okay. I get other questions too. Lucy asked, “Why did you feel you had to write a mystery about her?”

“You mean why did I have to write about her or why a mystery?”

“Both.”

“Well, this is getting complicated. So, let me start with the mystery part. I’ve been reading mysteries my entire life (See my blog of February 9, 2016, My Life of Crime). As a child, I needed to believe there was justice in this world, and as an adult, I needed to escape to a place where I could find it.”

“And why this Miriam or whatever her name is?”

“Her name is Miriam. I wanted to understand Maria Hebrea better, this woman, a fervent Jewess living in a Greek-style city along the coast of Egypt but ruled by Romans. And I wanted to understand alchemy better. Was it science or sorcery? Since very little had been written about her, I had to do more than read. I had to imagine myself inside her skin, living her life as she walked along the crowded streets of Alexandria. So, I found myself studying the setting and making up 'what-if' stories about her, something my twin sister says, I always did as a child."