Soldier of Sidon Questions

I finally got around to buying and reading SOS. Here are some things that perplexed me. 1. This is now the 3rd Wolfe novel in a row where the protagonist has a vampiric inhuman paramour who poses more or less successfully as a beautiful woman. I can think of no thematic requirement (literary, mythological, religious, or narrative) that compels Wolfe to continuously rework this particular scenario. On the same note, I was little relieved when they came to a fork in the river and the branches were called "Blue and WHITE" instead of Blue and GREEN. 2. The dog that joins Latro at the end of the book is Set or Set's servant, I suppose: Set's heiroglyph is a dog. But who is the "scarred child"? Any likely candidates in Egyptian mythology? 3. The titles of the Soldier series are as follows: Soldier of the Mist (denoting clouds and the mist of memory) Soldier of Arete (denoting mountains and soldierly virtues) Soldier of....Sidon? Is there a discernable double meaning to "sidon"? J.

I just got my answer to this while poking around in the glossary. The scarred child is Mtoto, from whom Latro cast out the demon.

This is obviously the influence of modern gangsta rap on Wolfe's writing. "Bitches ain't s*** but hos and tricks," Snoop Doggy Dog. Hmm. Interesting coincidence with the names, don't you think?

The "British Museum Dictionary of Ancient Egypt", which I am perusing to try and work out what the McGuffin-scroll could be, says (presumably straight-faced): "Many of the [Egyptian] goddesses, however, could also present the more negative, destructive aspects of womanhood, in the form of the EYE OF RA, the daughter of the sun-god sent to persecute the human race." I think Wolfe likes looking at traditional devils, starting with Lilith, and at vampires. From the Greeks onwards, there are female vampires (more vicious than the male :)). I have posted about the trinities that appear in several books, usually two males and a female. David Duffy.