Check out The Matriarch Messiah by Maxime Trencavel today and make sure to enter the tour wide giveaway as the author is awarding $20 Amazon/BN gift cards to two randomly drawn winners. The tour is sponsored by Goddess Fish Promotions and you can find all the tour stops HERE.
Getting to know Maxime Trencavel
Tell us about your latest book, who are the main character's and what can we expect when we pick it up?The Matriarch Messiah picks up six months after where The Matriarch Matrix stops. The main protagonist, Zara, a fierce Kurdish ex-soldier, wavers about her continued relationship with Peter, a man she never would have thought she could love but she keeps returning from Kurdistan to see him. In this book, she is torn between recognizing her love for him and a destiny handed to her from her matriarchal ancestors: one that says she will fight to death with another woman so humanity will be saved.
To add to her woes, the most evil, powerful man on Earth uses his massive business empire to promote her as the next prophetess—the next messiah. The one who will save us all.
Enter Rachel, an equally headstrong Israeli Torah historian archeologist, whose mission from her matriarchal lineage is to find Asherah and prove to the world she exists. Her calling crosses paths with Zara's when her sponsors instructor her to stop the Kurdish woman from her messianic callings at all costs.
But the cost she was not prepared for is a love triangle with Peter. Who will win over Peter and then win the fight at the cavern of the blue light? Who will die to save us all? Do you come up with the hook first, or do you create characters first and then dig through until you find a hook? Superficially, I am a plotter. I have a storyline around which everything else is built, including new characters or inner wounds. But at heart, it turns out that I am incurable pantser. Once I start typing and immerse my fingers into the emotional states of the character, something else happens that was never planned. This pantser disorder leads to the formation of the "hook" in the prologues and Chapter 1's. Not fully planned, but it just flows from the fingers.
Do you come up with the hook first, or do you create characters first and then dig through until you find a hook? Superficially, I am a plotter. I have a storyline around which everything else is built, including new characters or inner wounds. But at heart, it turns out that I am incurable pantser. Once I start typing and immerse my fingers into the emotional states of the character, something else happens that was never planned. This pantser disorder leads to the formation of the "hook" in the prologues and Chapter 1's. Not fully planned, but it just flows from the fingers.
Which of your own characters would you like to have lunch with? Lunch with Rachel could be amusing if only to listen to her go on and on incessantly about the injustices committed by Torah scribes writing Asherah out of the scriptures. But, hanging with the evil incarnate himself, Mr. Alexander Murometz, would be awe-inspiring. How the world's most powerful puppet master controls government heads worldwide. How he controls the world media. But of course, he would find a way to have me to pay the check.
Tell us about what you are reading at the moment or anticipate reading in the future? Any favorite authors you enjoy reading in your spare time? On my Kindle right now is a late 80s Nora Roberts sci-fi romance. Who knew she wrote sci-fi? It got some criticism in reviews, but I found those comment unjust. It's a funny piece, touching as a romance should be, but asks the philosophical paradoxical questions a good sci-fi novel should. I picked up a Gill Paul novel as she is my favorite historical fiction author. And I also clicked to buy a recent book by Ava Homa, who advised me on Kurdish customs and perspectives which helped shaped the world-building of Zara Khatum and family. Which of your own books would you like to live in? The Matriarch Messiah. The ingenious Mei Tang, the Head of MoxWorld Biogenetics and MoxWorld Fashion (what a dual career), has cures for humankind's worst ailments ready to unleash upon the world through the MoxWrap and MoxPad devices.
What do you do when you have free time? Taking hikes or going on bike rides. They help clear my head. Allow me to reflect upon where the next chapters need to go. On hikes, I can listen to recordings from major writing conferences. Hone the craft. Sometimes I come back to the keyboard and begin revising previous chapters based on the outdoor activity inspirations.
How do you approach character development in your stories? Do you have any specific techniques or methods that you find particularly effective? In my debut novel, The Matriarch Matrix, I tried to force type my characters into the dialogue and actions that I thought their position in life would dictate. Hence, some of them come off stiff. In The Matriarch Messiah, I let it rip off the keyboard. I let their in the moment emotional status dictate what happens. On the re-edits I adjust as needed where their past canon would say should've said differently. The dialogue and characterizations are resultingly stronger in the second book, as noted in early reviews.
What do you believe sets your writing apart from others in your genre, and why should readers choose to read your books? First point of clarity, my writing is not by genre for better or worse. I use whatever genre craft is best fit to tell the story at hand. Hence, the reviews of my books come back with many, sometimes divergent, interpretations of what genre reader think they are. The final edits of The Matriarch Messiah happened in the generative AI era where hundreds and hundreds of pages of prose can be analyzed in a few minutes. Gemini says:
So, while the core of the book is sci-fi, it's also a blend of fantasy, romance, and thriller.
What that means to a reader is both of my books will be unique reading experiences. They are not based on genre specific tropes, but on the process of imparting a story and its end meanings through different lenses. The oddest part of my writing style is when a poetic, lyrical prose comes out of the fingers. These passages shape the read similar to 1800s French classic novel according to one Belgian reviewer and from AI analytics. Again, something unique in today's rapid fire social media content world.
Can you discuss any upcoming projects or books that you're currently working on? What can readers expect from your future works? On temporary hold, while I write blog guest posts is the prequel, The Matriarch Mission. Set eighty years prior to the current two books, it takes place in post-civil war Russia. The story provides the background for Rachel's pursuit of the truth behind Asherah and how her family became intimate with the legend of the cavern of the blue light, as shown in The Matriarch Messiah prologue. The protagonist is Oksana, the mother of Rachel's great-grandmother, Ariella.
THE MATRIARCH MESSIAH
AUTHOR: Maxime Trencavel
GENRE: SciFi
Zara
Khatum, a woman haunted by ancient visions, finds herself drawn deeper into the
heart of a perilous quest. Guided by a mysterious voice, she seeks to fulfill
an ancient prophecy and find the cavern of blue light - a sanctuary rumored to
hold the key to saving humanity. But the path to salvation is fraught with
danger, and Zara is torn between her destiny and her heart.
A
shadowy organization, known as NiQihs, seeks to exploit the power of the
legendary black object, the source of Zara's visions, for their own sinister
ends. They are not alone. The world's superpowers, driven by greed and
ambition, race to control the artifact, threatening to unleash unimaginable
devastation.
Joining
Zara in this dangerous pursuit is Rachel Capsali, a brilliant Israeli
archaeologist driven by a personal quest to uncover evidence of Asherah, a
forgotten goddess who held a pivotal place in ancient Israelite faith.
Unbeknownst to them, both women are bound by a shared destiny - a prophecy
foretelling the cavern of blue light and a final, heartbreaking truth: two
women will fight to the death, and only one will save us all.
Adding
to the complexity, a passionate triangle forms as Rachel vies for Peter
Gollinger's affection, a man deeply entangled in the ancient mystery. Zara,
torn between fulfilling her destiny and her own feelings for Peter, finds
herself caught in a web of conflicting desires.
As
Zara and Rachel navigate a treacherous landscape of hidden agendas, betrayal,
and relentless pursuit, their rivalry for Peter's affections intensifies. Can
love survive the forces that threaten to tear them apart? Will the quest for
salvation lead to a heart-wrenching sacrifice?
Links to The Matriarch Messiah pre-sale at $0.99 intro pricing
(release date March 17, 2025):
https://amzn.to/4bubPb8
https://www.kobo.com/us/en/series/mystery-of-the-matriarchs
https://books.apple.com/us/book/the-matriarch-messiah/id6742783963
https://books.google.com/books/about/The_Matriarch_Messiah.html?id=I_9LEQAAQBAJ
Excerpt
Two:
"So, what's so special about some random legend?"
says Rachel. "My safta raba Ariella said, 'She said one day Nearat and her
daughter will return. Humanity will wane and wobble. And the woman who will
save humanity will bring peace from the blue light. But to return, one must
overcome one's fear of death. Two women will fight so that one will die. For
only in the death of life as one knows it can she be in the light. Until then,
Inanna awaits.'""
With a light chuckle, Mei combs through ground-penetrating
radiation scans as she says, "Be thankful you only had to memorize seven
sentences. That guy from California with the Kurdish woman had to memorize four
times that much. His grandfather made him say it backwards, even. As random as
your safta raba's saying may seem, it isn't to Murometz, and even Jean-Paul,
who's aggregating oral traditions like yours with thousands of others he's
collected, including those from the Vatican archives. They are far from random
now."
Slowly walking in concentric circles from the black box
MoxWorld loaned her, Rachel views the real-time scan images as she says,
"I wish I could have met Mr. Murometz when you and Jean-Paul screened me.
Not that I didn't relish our time together."
"Come on, Rach. You wouldn't wear that dress I made for
you, much less the vamp shoes and makeup we designed," says Mei.
"I didn't mean to meet him in 'that' way," says
Rachel as she runs her hand along her braids. "If I'm not worthy enough
minus my lady bits, then he isn't worthy enough for my time, I say."
"I never said you had to wear those simply ravishing
clothes for him," says Mei.
"Well, certainly it wasn't for Father Sobiros, I
assumed. And you said Murometz was fascinated that my safta raba's words
included a reference to a Sumerian goddess whose priestesses were known for
prostitution. I only assumed he was hinting he wanted the same out of me, as
all the rumors would suggest," jests Rachel. "Wait. Do you see what I
see?"
"Hold on, Rach. I have an incoming call from the
president of China."
AUTHOR Bio and Links:
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 second novel, The Matriarch Messiah, was
conceived, outlined, written, and edited in different locations in Belgium, including
the Turkish and Kurdish neighborhoods of Brussels, in various islands of the
Caribbean, in Colombia, in Madrid, Malaga, Mallorca, Spain, London, UK, and on
the two coasts of the United States.
Book and author website: https://tailofthebird.com/
Author Blog: https://tailofthebird.com/blog
https://www.facebook.com/MaximeTrencavel/
https://www.instagram.com/maximetrencavel/
