Ramses the Damned: The Passion of Cleopatra is a historical horror novel by American writers Anne Rice and her son Christopher Rice, published by Anchor Books on November 21, 2017. It a sequel to Anne Rice's 1989 novel The Mummy, or Ramses the Damned. A third jointly-authored novel in this series, Ramses the Damned: The Reign of Osiris, was released on February 1, 2022, two months after Anne Rice's death.
Plot introduction
The sequel and the original novel combine elements of the adventure, horror, supernatural thriller, historical romance, and erotica. Former lovers Ramses and Cleopatra have been resurrected by the same ancient elixir. While at odds over the use of their powers, they are both hunted by an immortal queen even older and more dangerous than themselves. Ramses the Damned (like The Mummy) is set in 1914, in Africa and Britain. American novelist Sybil Parker, known for her novels of ancient Egypt, ventures on a tour of England. The material for Sybil's historical romances comes to her in vivid dreams about the lives of the Egyptian rulers. This inspiration is added to through research—including, in her mother's opinion, "too much Plutarch!" On arrival in the UK, Sybil visits the stately home of Alex, who is hosting an engagement party for Julie and Ramsey.
Also on the move, this time from Africa to England, Cleopatra has decided to frequent the event to rekindle her relationship with Alex and to confront Ramses and Julie. One of the realizations brought about by this collision of characters is that Cleopatra's soul has been repatriated in Sybil's body; the "dreams" that have inspired Sybil's novels are actually memories. Additionally, they are sometimes intense forebodings or current experiences of Cleopatra's. Cleopatra's memories, her "true spirit", are housed in the "vessel" or "tabernacle" of Sybil. As a result, Sybil discovers in herself at the novel's outset, having developed a "new authoritative voice" and assertiveness.
To a limited extent, Sybil and Cleopatra are able to converse virtually. Cleopatra, on first learning of the psychic connection, suspects Sybil of trying to usurp her identity and stealing her memories. Though her body is now totally healed, the restoration of her mind remains imperfect. She particularly grieves the loss of her memories of her son Caesarion, and recalls relentlessly the death of Antony and her desire to avenge it. To pacify and befriend Cleopatra, Sybil presents her with copies of all her Egyptian novels. The hope is that Cleopatra will be able to fill the gaps in her mind and find peace through reading about her past experiences and emotions as recorded by Sybil.
Development
Anne Rice's 1989 novel The Mummy, or Ramses the Damned ended with the promise that "The Adventures of Ramses the Damned Shall Continue", but for decades this did not come to fruition. During a 2014 interview, Rice stated that she had delved back into the fictional universe established in The Mummy and that there was a strong possibility she could pen a sequel.
In February 2017, Anne Rice and her son Christopher Rice announced their collaboration on Ramses the Damned: The Passion of Cleopatra, a sequel to The Mummy. The novel is Anne's first writing collaboration with another author, and her first with her son. She later said, "Fans had been asking me for a sequel to The Mummy for years, and I got this idea that I thought it would be wonderful if Chris and I could collaborate." Explaining why they chose this project for their first collaboration, Christopher said, "The reason it's The Mummy is that everyone wanted a sequel to that book, and there wasn't one. I was present, for year after year at my mother’s book signings, and saw people come up and ask, 'When is the next Mummy book?' And her attitude was, 'I don’t have the time to do it on my own.'" Of their collaborative process, Anne said:
Christopher added: