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On The Table Read, “the best book magazine in the UK“, Victoria Schroeder’s Cleopatra’s Eternal Journal presents the reader with three captivating and unexpected short stories. Surprising and delightful, this trilogy shines a light on the ghostly antics of Cleopatra, Gaddafi, and Apple pioneer, Steve Jobs.
Cleopatra’s Eternal Journal
Sometimes you pick up a book that takes you by surprise and makes an indelible mark on you. Cleopatra’s Eternal Journal is one such book.
With each tale centring on a real-life person (dead or alive), the author then brings into play lesser-known facts about her protagonist to weave an intriguing tale based on truth to which she adds a delicious dose of fiction (particularly around her protagonists’ negative traits), all conjured up in her vivid and creative imagination.
A highly accomplished first work of fiction, Cleopatra’s Eternal Journal is as intellectually stimulating as it is entertaining. And, with short stories more popular than ever, this baby boomer has hit the ground running as she embarks on a new dimension to her life, which we can only hope gives her the same joy that she imparts to her readers.
Celebrity Ghosts
Cleopatra’s Eternal Journal is a collection of three short stories featuring three, very pushy, celebrity ghosts:
The first story stars Queen Cleopatra of Egypt, whose journal reveals a shocking 2,000-year-old secret she has taken with her to the tomb.
The second story is about Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, the former Libyan president,whose unrequited crush on a former US secretary of state culminates in revenge, greed, and a host of dubious fashion choices. And the third story involves Steve Jobs, the Apple co-founder who with the help of a hallucinogenic drug, plans to reconnect with his estranged father before moving on to his next billion-dollar project.
Victoria Schroeder
“Most of us enjoy a good ghost story and fortunately, the genre is as popular now as when spooky tales were first told around the glowing campfires of our ancestors. We now know that some of the earliest written records of ghosts—including basic instructions on how to get rid of the unwanted variety—are etched into the Cuneiform clay tablets of ancient Babylon, dating back three thousand years.
“But why does the same dead person whom we lovingly lay to rest one minute, come back to annoy and haunt us the next? What do ghosts want? I try to answer that question in Cleopatra’s Eternal Journal by observing the shenanigans of three celebrity ghosts:Cleopatra, Colonel Gaddafi and Steve Jobs, famously high-maintenance, bothersome personalities, who after death, carry their sense of self-importance with them into the world beyond and attempt to influence others with their spectral powers of persuasion.”
This is Victoria Schroeder’s first short story collection, although she has been writing for pleasure for many years. Recently, one of her poems ‘Worst Side Story’ was published in The Satirist.
In Beirut, Lebanon, where she lived for 23 years, Victoria founded The Med Poets’ Society and became well-known among the expat community for composing and performing upbeat rhymes for annual fundraising events. In between writing, she is an English language tutor, health coach and breast cancer thriver. She currently lives in Amsterdam where her poems are politely tolerated by her local poetry critique group.
Find Cleopatra’s Eternal Journal now:
Independently published, Cleopatra’s Eternal Journal is available in paperback ($9.58) and Kindle format ($2.99) on Amazon US at https://amzn.to/3SAtow9and https://amzn.to/3BSyTAI
It is also available on Amazon UK (paperback – £7.99) and Kindle format at https://amzn.to/3A4hfsa and https://amzn.to/3QeBXLF
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