Cartouche chronicles Series Overview
Check out these sub-pages for more information:
The Books: Books
About the crazy Author: About the Author
Welcome to the Cartouche Chronicles
Check out a crazy new young adult magical adventure series which is best described as a mix of Harry Potter*, Indiana Jones*, Stranger Things*, and The Goonies*. If you enjoy any of these and don't mind learning a little bit about history / archaeology and can handle a little awkward romance (mostly of the "why can't they just tell each other how they feel" variety), you will surely enjoy this series.
The books are written from the perspective of the teen twins, so it deals (in a fun way) with all the normal challenges that kids face (e.g. school, tests, homework, bullies, and first loves), as well as their always interesting perspectives on their totally un-cool parents and other goofy adults in the stories. The series is a wild rollicking adventure set in Charlottesville, Cairo, Pompeii, Knossos, and other exotic locations with lots of crazy magic, great friendships, strong family ties, and no bad language or inappropriate situations.
Written by Eric Cutright, a UVA graduate, proud father of four teenage+ boys, and Scoutmaster of Scouts BSA Troop 1029 (girls) based in Charlottesville, VA. For news and awesome CC bling, check out his official series website at www.cartouchechronicles.com. CC1 and CC2 available now on www.amazon.com in both paperback and Kindle versions (get the free reader for any platform)
*all popular culture references are copyright of their respective owners
The books are written from the perspective of the teen twins, so it deals (in a fun way) with all the normal challenges that kids face (e.g. school, tests, homework, bullies, and first loves), as well as their always interesting perspectives on their totally un-cool parents and other goofy adults in the stories. The series is a wild rollicking adventure set in Charlottesville, Cairo, Pompeii, Knossos, and other exotic locations with lots of crazy magic, great friendships, strong family ties, and no bad language or inappropriate situations.
Written by Eric Cutright, a UVA graduate, proud father of four teenage+ boys, and Scoutmaster of Scouts BSA Troop 1029 (girls) based in Charlottesville, VA. For news and awesome CC bling, check out his official series website at www.cartouchechronicles.com. CC1 and CC2 available now on www.amazon.com in both paperback and Kindle versions (get the free reader for any platform)
*all popular culture references are copyright of their respective owners
What is a Cartouche?
A cartouche (pronounced car-toosh) is a way of signifying a formal name in ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics. It is traditionally drawn as an oval border enclosing the hieroglyphic characters of the name with three knots attached to a bottom bar, as shown on the right. To the ancient Egyptians, names were extremely important and the cartouche symbolizes ‘all that the sun encircles’ as a way of giving them special prominence and power. A modern equivalent in the English language is our use of “Mr.” or “Mrs.” or “King” or “Queen” – when we see those characters we know the word following them is someone’s name.
Cartouches were extremely important in ancient Egyptian religion and Pharaohs would carve their cartouche name into monuments that they constructed as a way of making their memory immortal so that they would not be forgotten by future generations. By doing so, they sought to ensure themselves a long and happy afterlife.
Cartouches were extremely important in ancient Egyptian religion and Pharaohs would carve their cartouche name into monuments that they constructed as a way of making their memory immortal so that they would not be forgotten by future generations. By doing so, they sought to ensure themselves a long and happy afterlife.
How the crazy all got started
This series all started out of our big frustration at the constant battle over “screen time” in our house with our four teenage sons. Just like my wife Marsha and I who have ALWAYS loved reading, my boys all used to enjoy reading for fun until they hit the age of 11-12 or so. It seems like ever since then, they want to do nothing but screens and all of them having cell phones has made it even worse. Despite having enough great books in our house to rival any library in town, I swear I haven’t seen them reading any books for fun in years, which is just bitterly frustrating for us.
My 14 year old Marc was having a rough year in school when I started this, so I thought if I wrote a book with him as the main character along with his twin sister Sydney (obviously a well-kept secret) that it might cheer him up and actually get him to ditch the screens for a bit to read a real book. Just to play it safe, I included all his crazy brothers plus friends, family, Scouts, and favorite teachers, plus some new (and old !) friends from Egypt to share a wild rollicking adventure with lots of crazy magic, great friendships, strong family ties, and no bad language or inappropriate situations.
I’m also VERY tired of the reaction I get lately when I tell folks I live in Charlottesville, so I worked Monticello and many other great attractions in and around our fantastic city into the book so that hopefully folks will think of us first for good things instead of the insanity of August 2017. I added a message of thanks on the last page of the book.
The writing level is similar to Harry Potter* (and the length for CC1 is 100,000 words which is about 300 pages, so not quite as long as Harry Potter and The Prisoner of Azkaban*), so my suggested age is 8 and up. If you know any kids (or adults!) who could use a healthy and entertaining distraction from their screens, please share the book info and help me spread the word.
And last but not least, I’d like to give a BIG shout of thanks out to all my reviewers, editors, models (none of my own kids wanted to be on the covers - LOL), family, and friends who either helped me directly or served as inspirations for one of the many crazy characters in the book. Pretty much everything in the book that isn’t magical has really happened in our family (hmmm, anyone else out there like extracting bashed bloody lips out of braces?) so it’s been a wild and exciting ride to say the least. I hope others out there enjoy reading the book as much as I enjoyed writing it!!
*all popular culture references are copyright of their respective owners
My 14 year old Marc was having a rough year in school when I started this, so I thought if I wrote a book with him as the main character along with his twin sister Sydney (obviously a well-kept secret) that it might cheer him up and actually get him to ditch the screens for a bit to read a real book. Just to play it safe, I included all his crazy brothers plus friends, family, Scouts, and favorite teachers, plus some new (and old !) friends from Egypt to share a wild rollicking adventure with lots of crazy magic, great friendships, strong family ties, and no bad language or inappropriate situations.
I’m also VERY tired of the reaction I get lately when I tell folks I live in Charlottesville, so I worked Monticello and many other great attractions in and around our fantastic city into the book so that hopefully folks will think of us first for good things instead of the insanity of August 2017. I added a message of thanks on the last page of the book.
The writing level is similar to Harry Potter* (and the length for CC1 is 100,000 words which is about 300 pages, so not quite as long as Harry Potter and The Prisoner of Azkaban*), so my suggested age is 8 and up. If you know any kids (or adults!) who could use a healthy and entertaining distraction from their screens, please share the book info and help me spread the word.
And last but not least, I’d like to give a BIG shout of thanks out to all my reviewers, editors, models (none of my own kids wanted to be on the covers - LOL), family, and friends who either helped me directly or served as inspirations for one of the many crazy characters in the book. Pretty much everything in the book that isn’t magical has really happened in our family (hmmm, anyone else out there like extracting bashed bloody lips out of braces?) so it’s been a wild and exciting ride to say the least. I hope others out there enjoy reading the book as much as I enjoyed writing it!!
*all popular culture references are copyright of their respective owners
Dedication - CC1
This book is gratefully dedicated to my lovely wife (and high school sweetheart since she was 14) Marsha for indulging me in this crazy adventure, and to our four boys Kyle, Marc, Luke, and Alec for providing so much daily insanity and seemingly infinite wild hijinks, many of which made their way into this crazy book. A special thanks is also due to the many friends and family members who were models, reviewers, editors, guest artists, or simply the inspiration for one of the odd cast of characters in the book (and sorry for the horrible nickname for my beloved niece Becky!).
I would also like to recognize the amazing work of all the archaeologists, restoration experts, architects, engineers, and staff at the wonderful new Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM) in Cairo, Egypt. I have thoroughly enjoyed watching your exciting progress through TV specials and the GEM Facebook posts and awesome pictures. Needless to say, I look forward to visiting the GEM someday very soon!
I would also like to recognize the amazing work of all the archaeologists, restoration experts, architects, engineers, and staff at the wonderful new Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM) in Cairo, Egypt. I have thoroughly enjoyed watching your exciting progress through TV specials and the GEM Facebook posts and awesome pictures. Needless to say, I look forward to visiting the GEM someday very soon!
Dedication - CC2
Elle 5/4/2017 – 2/3/2019
Yoda 5/25/2009 – 8/8/2019
2019 was a very rough year in the Cutright house as we said tearful farewells to our two beloved cats Elle and Yoda. Elle was struck down by a random blood clot, likely due to the heart damage from the horrible infection she had as a kitten before we rescued her. Wise old Yoda finally lost a long battle with kidney failure which we had been stemming off for the last two years with weekly fluid injections. In March we welcomed two lovely grey tabby rescue kittens – Calvin and Hobbes (a.k.a. Chunk and Sloth in CC2) who have been a wonderful addition and were good friends for a time for our wise old Yoda. Our latest addition is rescue kitty and troublemaker supreme Pixie (meet her as Leeloo in CC3!).
Elle and Yoda were the talking kitty stars of Cartouche Chronicles 1: The Curse of the Mummy and they both truly brought a bountiful blessing of REAL magic to all our lives. We named Elle after Eleven on Stranger Things, and to quote Dustin – “she’s our friend and she’s crazy!” which fit her just perfectly. Yoda was of course named after my favorite Jedi Master, and our four boys grew up with him for almost eleven years and we all thoroughly enjoyed his crazy antics. They were both with us for far too short a time, but we will cherish the craziness and love they gave to all of us forever, and they will live on happily in the Cartouche Chronicles series. RIP our amazing Elle and Yoda, this book is dedicated to you both with love.
A special thanks is also due to the many friends, Scouts, and family members who were models, reviewers, fans, or simply the (possibly unknown/unwilling) inspiration for one of the odd and quirky cast of characters in the book. Last but not least, I want to give a huge shout out to the archaeologists and caretakers of Pompeii – visiting (far too long ago) was a huge archaeological and personal inspiration for me and I look forward to returning soon with Marsha and all the boys. Thank you!
P.S. I finished this book in the “year of the crazy” that was 2020, and I dearly hope that things can get back to at least a “new normal” soon and that everyone can stay safe out there! One of my awesome Troop 1029 Scouts Sophia drew this quick Sharpie sketch of her Scout friend Emily wearing her mask at one of my son Marc’s Eagle Scout Service Project workdays, and I really love it, despite the fact that it is a haunting reminder of the very scary 2020.
Yoda 5/25/2009 – 8/8/2019
2019 was a very rough year in the Cutright house as we said tearful farewells to our two beloved cats Elle and Yoda. Elle was struck down by a random blood clot, likely due to the heart damage from the horrible infection she had as a kitten before we rescued her. Wise old Yoda finally lost a long battle with kidney failure which we had been stemming off for the last two years with weekly fluid injections. In March we welcomed two lovely grey tabby rescue kittens – Calvin and Hobbes (a.k.a. Chunk and Sloth in CC2) who have been a wonderful addition and were good friends for a time for our wise old Yoda. Our latest addition is rescue kitty and troublemaker supreme Pixie (meet her as Leeloo in CC3!).
Elle and Yoda were the talking kitty stars of Cartouche Chronicles 1: The Curse of the Mummy and they both truly brought a bountiful blessing of REAL magic to all our lives. We named Elle after Eleven on Stranger Things, and to quote Dustin – “she’s our friend and she’s crazy!” which fit her just perfectly. Yoda was of course named after my favorite Jedi Master, and our four boys grew up with him for almost eleven years and we all thoroughly enjoyed his crazy antics. They were both with us for far too short a time, but we will cherish the craziness and love they gave to all of us forever, and they will live on happily in the Cartouche Chronicles series. RIP our amazing Elle and Yoda, this book is dedicated to you both with love.
A special thanks is also due to the many friends, Scouts, and family members who were models, reviewers, fans, or simply the (possibly unknown/unwilling) inspiration for one of the odd and quirky cast of characters in the book. Last but not least, I want to give a huge shout out to the archaeologists and caretakers of Pompeii – visiting (far too long ago) was a huge archaeological and personal inspiration for me and I look forward to returning soon with Marsha and all the boys. Thank you!
P.S. I finished this book in the “year of the crazy” that was 2020, and I dearly hope that things can get back to at least a “new normal” soon and that everyone can stay safe out there! One of my awesome Troop 1029 Scouts Sophia drew this quick Sharpie sketch of her Scout friend Emily wearing her mask at one of my son Marc’s Eagle Scout Service Project workdays, and I really love it, despite the fact that it is a haunting reminder of the very scary 2020.
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