❝It is terrible how much has been forgotten, which is why, I suppose, remembering seems a holy thing.❞

--Anita Diamant, The Red Tent

-------------|-------------

❝Is this what I have bred in the shah's harem? A girl that disregards every precept of his law and presumes to bring him to his knees with nothing but a smile?❞

In which a girl and a crown and a gilded throne bring a nation to their knees and a God to the forefront.

-------------|-------------

❝They think he is a god. I know better than that.❞

THE EMPIRE OF PERSIA is a strange thing. In itself it is a chessboard, with fragile men as its pieces.

The shah of Persia, Xerxes, son of Darius, is one such fragile man. After a drunken feast in which he deposes his queen when she refuses to come before him, the shah leaves for war with the Greeks, only to return empty handed.

Without a queen and without a victory, he calls for the gathering of virgins from every corner of the kingdom. They are to be brought to the palace and placed in his harem—he will take a new girl every night, and in the morning send her away, never to be called for again.

Unless, of course, he sees something in her that is different from the others.

Hadassah bat Avihail is one such girl. Taken from her home and her cousin in the dead of night, she must navigate the deadly games of the harem and work her way up to being the favorite of Hegai, master of eunuchs, while avoiding the jealousy of many. 

She cannot reveal her heritage, however, for fear of endangering herself and those she holds dear. So she takes a new name—Istar—and takes a crown along with it, when the shah finds her worthy of the attentions of the entire empire.

But power comes with a price, and fragile men are easily bribed by other fragile men.

Haman, son of Hammedatha the Agagite, is one such fragile man who bribes others more fragile than he. Appointed vizier to the shah, he uses his new-found power to humble those that oppose him. When Mordechai ben Ya'ir, one of the Yehudim that sit at the shah's gate, refuses to bow to him as dictated by law, Haman determines to get revenge, obtaining the shah's signet ring and signing a law that would kill all of Mordechai's people.

It would also kill the queen.

Faced with a decision that could secure her death, Istar must make a decision—embrace her heritage, or let it die with the rest of her people; be burned by the sun of her shah, or emerge unscathed while bringing her enemies down as she rises.

Whichever one she chooses, her fingers will scald either way.

The empire of Persia is a strange thing, yes. Yet many forget that there is only one piece that holds the power on a chessboard between iron fists, and that is the queen.

and all fragile men will fall where she stands.

-------------|-------------

A retelling of the Book of Esther

-------------|-------------

-------------|-------------

AHDTS came to me in the dead of night, after hearing about the Poway synagogue shooting on April 27, 2019. my heart ached as i saw the photos of grieving members clutches each other outside where it all happened. and i cried—i cried for those i did not even know, for those i would likely never meet, but i cried.

and i wrote.

a little over two months later, this is what came out of it.

AHDTS is a leap into the unknown for me—though i started writing stories in 1st person, i quickly moved towards 3rd as it felt more comfortable. time hasn't changed that, however, but lately i've been challenging myself to go out of my comfort zone in terms of the way i work.

the reason?

to prepare for finishing my first draft since elementary and moving on to subsequent revisions before querying.

every time i felt like i had grown in terms of my writing style, i would take whatever i was working on and do a total overhaul, revising as i went and never really making it to the end of my first draft. the "first draft" that i was supposed to have turned into draft "1.3," or "1.6," or even "1.9." i didn't allow myself to go through with what i'd started because it wasn't as "good" as i thought it was supposed to be.

it didn't compare to books on the shelves of Barnes and Noble, and what i didn't realize at that point was the fact that that was okay. nobody expected me to be able to grab an agent the very first time i put pen to paper, but they did expect me to grow and learn.

this year, after some soul-searching and reading up on the publishing process, i eventually assured myself that they were right.

and so AHDTS is a type of growing pain, almost, but it's been worth it. i've fallen back in love with character driven, slow-paced fiction (fantasy or historical) with words of wisdom to offer to the reader, and i've tried to embody that in my work. like WITA, i'll be updating when it works best for me, taking it one step at a time as i write.

AHDTS is different. the genre, the focus, the characters, they're all different. but in some ways, they're me.

i want you all to know that.

welcome to And He Drank The Sun.

always stay ruinated, darlings,

--ella <3

Signature by @ontheupsidedown

IMPORTANT

|

(also, i know i've said this many, many times, but it would mean the world to me if you would refrain from swearing or using the Lord's name in vain. i'm a Christian, and as such i feel responsible for my comments section on all my books. IF you have sworn on my books before and didn't know that's forgiven. but please try not to in the future, or i'm afraid i will have to flag your comment for personal reasons.)

|

a PSA:

i am of Afro-Caribbean (more specifically, the West Indies) descent–what that means is that my ancestors were sold into slavery, but, instead of being shipped off to the American colonies/states (after the American Revolution), they were instead redirected to the Caribbean to work on sugarcane plantations. back in the day, this was how you got your refined sugar to ship up to the States. they also planted and harvested coffee, indigo, and rice to export. most likely, my ancestors hailed from the West African region–defined today as being made up of 16 countries on the western African coast. geographically, it is defined as not only the 16 countries on the coast, but the northwest portion of the Maghreb. this is where there was the highest slave trade, hence being the most likely place that my ancestors would hail from.

as far as i know, the only thing i can say for certain is that my ancestors were from the politically defined West African region. the geographically region of West Africa that overlaps with the Maghreb (also part of the MENA), i'm not sure about. until i discover more, i can tell you that i do not come from the Middle East, nor am i a Muslim, Jew or Zoroastrian (as mentioned above in the first notice). therefore, i am not an authoritative source on the Middle East or its people. the authentic setting of my work is bolstered by research and by the helpful advice of Middle Eastern/Farsi speaking/Hebrew speaking friends who may or may not be Muslim, Jewish or Zoroastrian–i encourage you to find people like these to help you with your own research.

P.S

|

(don't steal my stuff.)

©2019 by E.S Johnson

Cover by Ellis (@rubyruins)

1st draft

Start date: 7/1/19

End date: TBA

(--dedication: for those who hold

heaven and hell

between their teeth, because

they are a

woman, and hell

hath no fury

than a woman

scorned)