Title: The Matriarch Matrix
Author: Maxime Trencavel
Genre: Science Fiction, Adventure
The Matriarch Matrix – A speculative fiction
novel of origins, faith, passion, and the pursuit of peace.
It was always his destiny to save her. It was
always her destiny to die. The fate of the world hangs on their choices…
The past foretells her future…
What does it take to change a loving child of
peace into an assassin for a dangerous and powerful oligarch? Zara Khatum
knows. Once a fighter for her Kurdish people, the memory of the atrocities
inflicted by her captors has Zara seeking one thing: vengeance. But the voices
of the ancients call to Zara. In the past, in another life, she knew the
secrets of the artifact…
Twelve thousand years ago…
She is Nanshe, revered matriarch of the
family she led away from the monsters of the north. In the land that would one
day mark the treacherous border between Turkey and Syria, she created the
temples at Gobleki Tepe and founded a dynasty, heirs to a powerful object. For
millennia, Nanshe’s descendants have passed down the legend of the artifact:
“The object can save. But only a man and woman together can guide the salvation
of others.”
Heirs to destiny…
By fate or destiny, Zara is thrown in with
Peter Gollinger, a quirky Californian from the other side of the world and the
other side of everything she believes. But he, too, is heeding the voices of
his ancestors. Joined by Jean-Paul, a former Jesuit priest, these three
people—from wildly different religions and cultures—must find a way to work
together to solve a twelve thousand-year-old mystery of the powerful object
that spawned a faith. The world teeters on the precipice of war. The outcome
depends on them. And one of them is living a lie.
The Matriarch Matrix is a rich and
deeply layered epic story – a spiritual odyssey with a heartbeat of an action
adventure. It may make you think, ponder, reflect upon where we came from and
where we are going. It blends our past with a speculative future of things that
are not so far-fetched. It blends the drama, the comedy, the romance, the
tragedy of three protagonists with different cultures, traditions, and beliefs
– a Sufi woman, a Jesuit priest, and an alien origin believing atheist. Their
journeys separately and together will be a test of their respective faiths and
their inner search for personal and family redemption.
Author Bio
Maxime has been scribbling stories since grade
school from adventure epics to morality plays. Blessed with living in
multicultural pluralistic settings and having earned degrees in science and
marketing, Maxime has worked in business and sports, traveling to countries
across five continents and learning about cultures, traditions, and the
importance of tolerance and understanding. Maxime’s debut novel was written and
edited in different locations in
Belgium, including the Turkish and Kurdish neighborhoods of Brussels, in South
America, and on the two coasts of the United States.
Links
tailofthebird.com
https://www.facebook.com/MaximeTrencavel/
https://www.instagram.com/maximetrencavel/
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/17168784.Maxime_Trencavel
https://www.amazon.com/Maxime-Trencavel/
https://www.facebook.com/MaximeTrencavel/
https://www.instagram.com/maximetrencavel/
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/17168784.Maxime_Trencavel
https://www.amazon.com/Maxime-Trencavel/
Get “The Matriarch Matrix” on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Matriarch-Matrix-Maxime-Trencavel-ebook/dp/B075R2DD4Y/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1506588760&sr=8-1&keywords=maxime+trencavel
The tall Frenchman puts down the syringe and turns to address
her. “I am like you. I do not follow Alexander blindly. I do so because what he
asks of me is consistent with what I believe is my mission on this Earth,” he
says before a pause.
“I understand you have been
brought here against your will,” he adds. “I offer my condolences for your
situation. In your anger, you have acted out against a few poor souls who only
wanted to help. Something deeply agitates you. More than your flight. So I
offer this question. What is it that you seek? The desire, the want, the need
that keeps you here in this building. I sense you are more than capable of
walking out of here by your own will and force.”
She breathes in slowly as this
Jesuit, as his Order usually does, has pinned her on the core issue. Exhales
slowly, and she says, “Because he said he would help my people achieve their
millennia-old goal of independence.”
A glow emanates from the
eyes of this former priest as he peers into hers.
“Good. And is that the
same desire you would tell God?”
She shifts and rocks on
that exam table, wanting to hop off up and run.
Anywhere but
here, where she feels he is compelling her to answer this question. One that
makes her deeply uncomfortable. Maybe as unsettling as her greatgrandmother’s
discussion with her about Rabi’a al-Adawiyaa. Is it God’s will that everyone
around her should nudge her in the same direction?
“Please, I do not mean to cause
you any more discomfort than you have already suffered. From your trying flight
here with Alexander. From your arduous life journey that has led you here, to
this moment. As to what is in that syringe, I ask that you trust in God. I can
only offer that I believe it will help you in your journey towards what you
desire.”
Not sure whether to smile, put on
her challenging face, or cry, she simply asks, “Which one? My commitment to my
people? Or to God?”
And this man, who says he is no longer a Jesuit priest, gives the
frustrating answer only a Jesuit could give. “Which one would you want this
vaccine to give you?”
As she reflects, now more still
and calm on that table’s edge, she realizes that is the type of question her
mother’s grandfather, the Sufi imam, would have asked her. Or maybe he did, but
so long ago she no longer remembers.
She nods, for this priest has
held his ground, allowing both of them to maintain dignity and respect. Not
what she would have expected from a Jesuit lackey of Alexander. Perhaps there’s
more under that turtleneck than just muscles and blind obedience. She rolls up
her left sleeve and jests, “Priest, you may touch my arm. I trust you will not
find my limb sexually enticing.”
Sides of his mouth uplifted, he
says, “Madame Khatum, you are a very beautiful, deep woman. Outside and inside.
I would be only so fortunate if I were to be that man whom you selected to
share your most inner desires. But alas, I am but a humble man, who would
simply welcome sharing prayer time with you.”
She smiles, a much more genuine
one, as she holds out her bare upper left arm for his puncture. He swabs with
alcohol an area near what looks like a bullet wound, which he gently touches
and avoids injecting near there.
As he puts a Band-Aid on her arm,
she says, “C’est mademoiselle, Prêtre.
And I would be honored if you would pray with me.”
No comments:
Post a Comment