Shannon Nichola Stoner ’04M recently published her first novel, The Rise of Sekhmet (Fideli Publishing), which is now being sold in paperback. It is also available in e-book format for the Amazon Kindle and Barnes & Noble Nook. She graduated from Arcadia in 2004 with a master’s degree in English.

From an early age, Stoner was fascinated with ancient cultures, particularly Egyptian. The knowledge she accrued on the era set the stage for her novel which follows a pharaoh in Ancient Egypt (New Kingdom) and follows his search for relics that will grant him supreme power. The plot pivots around two boys who stand in the way of the pharaoh’s goal, an orphan destined to become the King of Thieves and the son of a Noble family who struggles with his father’s heavy expectations. Together they fight against a maniacal pharaoh whose goal is worldwide domination.

The characters featured in the novel are as real to her as her own friends, notes Stoner. She employs their depth and complex relationships to examine fundamental concepts such as friendship, honor, and free will.

“The greatest reward of writing is seeing your characters develop into living, breathing human beings,” says Stoner. “You begin with basic description, but through experiences, feelings, their interaction with the world in which you place them, they develop all the quirks, strengths and weaknesses that every one of us experiences in daily life.

“Writing is more than putting words on paper or on the computer screen. It’s about giving your heart and soul, and giving birth to these creations of yours. These characters become your children, part of you because you can’t completely separate an artist from their creation.”