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Lure of the Mummy
Bert Carmody can't catch a break. As a hieroglyphs translator he's actually quite good. However, being pudgy, balding and awkward, he's always in the shadow of his young, charismatic coworkers.
Disillusioned and bitter, Bert spends his free time scouring the markets of Cairo hoping to find an unrecognized genuine artifact for the pittance a scholar can afford. His latest discovery is another piece of rubbish, just another animal mummy--one of literally millions of votive offerings from the ancients to one god or another.
Or is it?
Suddenly, things start looking up for Bert. But as he starts to get the recognition he deserves, there are deadly consequences for his coworkers. Will Bert finally be set for life, or will the lure of the mummy ruin him forever?
23,000 words
Disillusioned and bitter, Bert spends his free time scouring the markets of Cairo hoping to find an unrecognized genuine artifact for the pittance a scholar can afford. His latest discovery is another piece of rubbish, just another animal mummy--one of literally millions of votive offerings from the ancients to one god or another.
Or is it?
Suddenly, things start looking up for Bert. But as he starts to get the recognition he deserves, there are deadly consequences for his coworkers. Will Bert finally be set for life, or will the lure of the mummy ruin him forever?
23,000 words
- GenresHorror
Kindle Edition
First published August 29, 2011
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
November 17, 2011
Bert Carmody is a hieroglyphs translator, working with a team in Cairo amidst the heat and the stench of the poor city. Though he excels at his job, and thinks he’s the best in field, he is continually passed over for the plum projects which are given to his younger, better looking, and much more charming colleagues. Determined to make his name known, he follows a wizened old native through the twists and turns of the city on the promise of a relic that will make his career. Instead the man leads him to a shriveled up all too common fake animal mummy. He takes it back with him anyway. Big mistake there, Mr. Bert Carmody!
Bert soon realizes that his mummy may not be a fake after all. At the same time, he becomes irate that his nemesis (only in Bert’s mind, of course) Rick has been given yet another plumb assignment. He bitches, moans and whines about his lot in life and finally decides to steal a copy of the work Rick was given to translate in the hopes that he can steal Rick’s thunder by doing the translation properly. Mistake #2, Mr. Grumpy Pants. The translation appears to be a spell of sorts, so naturally Bert reads it aloud not once but three times. Hasn’t he ever watched an episode of Charmed, fergodsakes? Trouble ensues of the murderous kind and Bert quickly finds himself in a heap of trouble.
This is a short novella and I’m thankful for that because honestly I don’t think I could have stomached much more of Bert’s jealous, venomous thoughts. He was just a thoroughly unpleasant fellow to follow around. I was not surprised he was continually ignored because he was borderline rude to everyone he met, including the woman he was crushing on. He’s the sort of personality I dislike most, one who blames everyone else for his woes. Meh. Despite my dislike of the main protagonist this story was well written, the landscape and atmosphere extremely well done and the horror tame and twisty like an old episode of the Twilight Zone or Tales from the Darkside.
Here’s a little bit of vitriol from Bert the charmer.
Bert on cats (or himself?!)
Bert soon realizes that his mummy may not be a fake after all. At the same time, he becomes irate that his nemesis (only in Bert’s mind, of course) Rick has been given yet another plumb assignment. He bitches, moans and whines about his lot in life and finally decides to steal a copy of the work Rick was given to translate in the hopes that he can steal Rick’s thunder by doing the translation properly. Mistake #2, Mr. Grumpy Pants. The translation appears to be a spell of sorts, so naturally Bert reads it aloud not once but three times. Hasn’t he ever watched an episode of Charmed, fergodsakes? Trouble ensues of the murderous kind and Bert quickly finds himself in a heap of trouble.
This is a short novella and I’m thankful for that because honestly I don’t think I could have stomached much more of Bert’s jealous, venomous thoughts. He was just a thoroughly unpleasant fellow to follow around. I was not surprised he was continually ignored because he was borderline rude to everyone he met, including the woman he was crushing on. He’s the sort of personality I dislike most, one who blames everyone else for his woes. Meh. Despite my dislike of the main protagonist this story was well written, the landscape and atmosphere extremely well done and the horror tame and twisty like an old episode of the Twilight Zone or Tales from the Darkside.
Here’s a little bit of vitriol from Bert the charmer.
“Damn it all, Bert thought angrily. He was a better translator, he was going to be in People magazine, he was alive, and she still wouldn’t give him a tumble.”
Bert on cats (or himself?!)
“Bert didn’t like cats at all. Nasty, insinuating, selfish things.”
September 19, 2015
2.5 Stars
Looking at the cover, the title as well as the fact Carina Press classes "Lure of the Mummy" as a horror, I was expecting more. The writing is good but the horror is non existent, and with just 72 pages to play with I felt that the story was just too short. It felt as if it was from a much longer work, but to keep it at novella length the author removed huge chunks of the story. It read a little thin.
There wasn't a lot of depth to the characters, and the world was very narrowly focused, mainly on an apartment and an office. The fact the story was set in Egypt should have given the author a lot to play with but unfortunately the opportunity was lost.
"Lure of the Mummy" is set in Egypt and should have conveyed the colourful Egyptian atmosphere, lifestyle and people. It did for the first couple of pages and then disappeared inside an office building and apartment. I would have like much more descriptive detail of the Egyptian museum and wish that it was set there rather than alternating between a boring office and apartment. I think it would have added to the story of the mummified cat and the strange goings on.
Bert is the main character and who most of the story centres around. He's a hieroglyphics expert, but he is bypassed for a more dynamic colleague when a new artefact needs translating. When he's out at a market he's offered a mummy to buy, which he does, but things are not as they seem with this mummified cat. When Bert thinks that a certain someone should just drop dead, they actually do...
When I finished the last page I was relieved. Bert is a very distasteful character and incredibly unlikable. He's selfish and bitter, filled with jealousy and anger, basically he's just a nasty little man. When he eventually gets his comeuppance I didn't feel any sympathy for him at all. In fact I was rather indifferent.
VERDICT:
"Lure of the Mummy" is an interesting character study but not an immensely enjoyable piece of fiction. There wasn't enough depth to the characters for me to connect with, and although Bert did get under my skin it was not in a good way. There's also not enough world building, and with Egypt being the setting this novella should have oozed atmosphere. Although this isn't an awful novella I personally wouldn't recommend it, but if you like short, quick reads then you may enjoy this one more than me.
Looking at the cover, the title as well as the fact Carina Press classes "Lure of the Mummy" as a horror, I was expecting more. The writing is good but the horror is non existent, and with just 72 pages to play with I felt that the story was just too short. It felt as if it was from a much longer work, but to keep it at novella length the author removed huge chunks of the story. It read a little thin.
There wasn't a lot of depth to the characters, and the world was very narrowly focused, mainly on an apartment and an office. The fact the story was set in Egypt should have given the author a lot to play with but unfortunately the opportunity was lost.
"Lure of the Mummy" is set in Egypt and should have conveyed the colourful Egyptian atmosphere, lifestyle and people. It did for the first couple of pages and then disappeared inside an office building and apartment. I would have like much more descriptive detail of the Egyptian museum and wish that it was set there rather than alternating between a boring office and apartment. I think it would have added to the story of the mummified cat and the strange goings on.
Bert is the main character and who most of the story centres around. He's a hieroglyphics expert, but he is bypassed for a more dynamic colleague when a new artefact needs translating. When he's out at a market he's offered a mummy to buy, which he does, but things are not as they seem with this mummified cat. When Bert thinks that a certain someone should just drop dead, they actually do...
When I finished the last page I was relieved. Bert is a very distasteful character and incredibly unlikable. He's selfish and bitter, filled with jealousy and anger, basically he's just a nasty little man. When he eventually gets his comeuppance I didn't feel any sympathy for him at all. In fact I was rather indifferent.
VERDICT:
"Lure of the Mummy" is an interesting character study but not an immensely enjoyable piece of fiction. There wasn't enough depth to the characters for me to connect with, and although Bert did get under my skin it was not in a good way. There's also not enough world building, and with Egypt being the setting this novella should have oozed atmosphere. Although this isn't an awful novella I personally wouldn't recommend it, but if you like short, quick reads then you may enjoy this one more than me.
September 23, 2017
Bert Carmody is a translator who specializes in ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs. He dreams of fame but seems destined to slog through boring grunt work for the rest of his career. Only handsome, young, and athletic guys like Rick Hamilton get the interesting assignments. Nothing in Bert’s life will ever go right as long as guys like Rick are around. Even gorgeous and sweet Melanie Kerry is more interested in Rick than in him.
Things begin to change when Bert acquires a mummified cat from one of the locals. Fame and Melanie might finally be within reach, if the consequences don’t catch up to him first.
Even from this horror wimp’s perspective, this wasn’t particularly scary. It managed to be slightly creepy at times (very slightly), but that was it.
Bert was a horrible guy. I felt a little sorry for him at first, because it did seem like he was in a depressing situation. And his boss did later admit that Rick got a better assignment because he had more star quality than Bert, even though Bert would have been better qualified for that assignment.
However, Bert lost sympathy points with me faster than he could earn them. He wallowed in his feelings of bitterness and resentment. Although there were opportunities for him to get to know the people around him better, he instead spent all of his time alone, thinking about how he deserved all these things that, from his point of view, kept falling into Rick’s lap. He lost any remaining sympathy I might have felt for him when he began to realize what was going on and decided that 1) it wasn’t really his fault since he wasn’t doing anything directly and 2) he was going to continue to try to reap the benefits.
The story was fairly predictable but not bad. The only thing I didn’t like was that
(Original review posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.)
Things begin to change when Bert acquires a mummified cat from one of the locals. Fame and Melanie might finally be within reach, if the consequences don’t catch up to him first.
Even from this horror wimp’s perspective, this wasn’t particularly scary. It managed to be slightly creepy at times (very slightly), but that was it.
Bert was a horrible guy. I felt a little sorry for him at first, because it did seem like he was in a depressing situation. And his boss did later admit that Rick got a better assignment because he had more star quality than Bert, even though Bert would have been better qualified for that assignment.
However, Bert lost sympathy points with me faster than he could earn them. He wallowed in his feelings of bitterness and resentment. Although there were opportunities for him to get to know the people around him better, he instead spent all of his time alone, thinking about how he deserved all these things that, from his point of view, kept falling into Rick’s lap. He lost any remaining sympathy I might have felt for him when he began to realize what was going on and decided that 1) it wasn’t really his fault since he wasn’t doing anything directly and 2) he was going to continue to try to reap the benefits.
The story was fairly predictable but not bad. The only thing I didn’t like was that
(Original review posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.)
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews