The Bounds of Set

Set in an ancient Egypt where the discoveries of the Renaissance have been pushed earlier a thousand years, this is the story of a pivotal moment in the way technology changes culture, told through the eyes of Tawaret, a woman who thinks outside the boundaries of her traditions.

Fallen from grace as a Master of the Order of Nefertiti, Tawaret is now forbidden to practice her art and create automata because she dared question the rigid traditions of the Order and the foundations of the beliefs of Kemet. She has found a place making elaborate locks for Pansj, a feckless entrepreneur, while her Treatise sits on a shelf in the back room of her tiny house gathering dust.

Until she receives a very unusual commission. A mysterious man from the Kingdom of Kerma, farther up the Nile, Madu wants her to create a lock that will hide secret information for him. Is this the beginning of a new life? Or the deadly temptation that will get her caught and tried by the Order?