Angel Lore: part 5 by Toi Thomas #OurAuthorGang

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The Fairy - basic version by Bogdan-MRK

Today, in part 5, the finale, of my Angel Lore series, I’ll be sharing more angel knowledge with you from U – Z, as I complete my trek through the alphabet (see part ONE, part TWO, part THREE, and part FOUR). But first…

Do I believe in angels? Yes, I do.

I’ve come across many depictions of angelic encounters and find that they, or beings like them, have a place in almost every major religion and culture. Many even believe the existence of angels might be extraterrestrial. Who really knows? I simply enjoy the journey of finding out and learning about a concept that reaches across racial and religious lines. What can I say? I really like angels. That's why I write about them in my Eternal Curse Series.

On to the list…

Usiel (strength of God) is said to be a fallen angel who was among those that took human women as wives and brought about the Nephilim.

Valkyries (not for just blockbuster movies) are the horse-riding, sword-wielding angelic army of all female warriors presiding over the battlefield, deciding who lives or dies before carrying off the virtuous to Valhalla.

Angels weren’t always thought of or depicted with wings. It’s an idea that has gained and lost popularity many times in history but seems to be the standard now. Scholars attribute much of that to the association of the ‘soul’ with birds or winged entities.

I got nothing for ‘X’. If you know something, please share it with me. I’m always open to learning something new. The next is a two for one.

The Zoroastrian faith is a monotheistic religion derived from a previous Persian polytheism where the lesser gods became Yazatas (angels) in the new faith.

Well, that's all she wrote (as they say). I hope you enjoyed this exploration of angel lore and maybe even learned a few things. Please stick around this blog to see my next series all about music.

Be sure to check out my Eternal Curse Series.

Book 1:
Giovanni is a creature out of time. Mira is a doctor trying to classify him. Beauty and the Beast meet Jekyll and Hyde in this paranormal tale with romantic and biblical influences.

Book 2:

A tale for fathers, sons, and daughters, this epic saga touches the past and future. The story of Giovanni will bring you to tears as loss and duty blur the lines of hope for what is to come.

The Eternal Curse series was my first book and series I ever wrote and to know that someone liked it meant the world to me. It's currently unavailable pending a rewrite in order to align it with new developments in the 3rd installment. If you'd like to read the first two books and offer me your feedback, please consider joining my email list to receive a free digital copy. 

Find out more about me, my work, and my inspiration at the following links:

Amazon | Goodreads | The ToiBox of Words | YouTube | See a list of my other posts here.

#cursescanbebroken, #angels, #wings, #Pinterest

COMMENTS

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Nikki McDonagh

1 year ago  -  Shared publicly

 

Another informative p and entertaining post. Great.

 

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Ruth de Jauregui via Google+

1 year ago  -  Shared publicly

 

Toi Thomas presents the finale of her angel lore series of posts on A Small Gang of Authors!

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Ruth de Jauregui

1 year ago  -  Shared publicly

 

An amazing finale to your series on angels!!

 

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Erika M Szabo via Google+

1 year ago  -  Shared publicly

 

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Erika M Szabo

1 year ago  -  Shared publicly

 

Awesome series Toi, I must find the time to read your books. Hopefully next year I can slow down enough to read :)

 

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Toi Thomas

1 year ago  -  Shared publicly

 

It's been such fun sharing this series. I hope my next one goes over this well.

 

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Toi Thomas via Google+

1 year ago  -  Shared publicly

 

 

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Joe Bonadonna

1 year ago  -  Shared publicly

 

This is great, Toi! I'm sorry to see it come to a conclusion. Looking forward to your blog on music.

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Toi Thomas

1 year ago

 

 

Thank you, Joe. I;m looking forward to it myself.

Joe Bonadonna

1 year ago

 

 

+Toi Thomas -- you're welcome! :)

Joe Bonadonna via Google+

1 year ago  -  Shared publicly

 

Today on A Small Gang of Authors, Toinette Thomas concludes her excellent, 5-part blog on Angel Lore.

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Mary Anne Yarde

1 year ago  -  Shared publicly

 

Another wonderful post, Toi!

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Toi Thomas

1 year ago

 

 

Thank you.

Grace Au

1 year ago  -  Shared publicly

 

Sad to see your angel series end!

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Toi Thomas

1 year ago

 

 

Me too. It's really is one of my favorite things.

Rich Feitelberg via Google+

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Let there be light - part 1 #OurAuthorGang

Nature is amazing. We humans are, for the most part, in awe of it and have been ever since we crawled out of the primal ooze. Nothing stirs the soul quite so much as a beautiful sunset, a sunrise, a mass of twinkling stars, or the constant glow of the moon.

The sun gives us light and warmth, stars make us wonder about far off worlds, the moon illuminates our darkness with its wide-eyed face looking down on us like a distant mother watching her children. 

Not surprising that mankind worshipped these celestial orbs. From Ancient Egyptians and Aztec
sun gods to modern day Druids worshiping Alban Hefin the sun king during the Summer Solstice sunrise over Stonehenge, our need for light is deep routed in our psysche.

Many writers have used light to express happiness, love, hope, expectation. Just listen to some songs, the word 'light' comes up quite often. In my short story Glimmer, the protagonist, a young man resisting the drugs he is given to keep him 'sane', retreats into his own world and listens for the voices that come from the stars.

The world will not end because I close my eyes. The sun will still shine, so too the stars.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00H89AN1M 

Many religions past and present have celebrated the joys of light. Festivals and special feast days such as Diwali, a Hindu tradition where families fill their homes and gardens with candles and lamps to celebrate the triumph of good over evil, to ignite wisdom in our hearts and bring hope to our darkest hours. The Jewish festival Hanukkah celebrating the victory of the Maccabees over the Hellenistic Syrians begins with the lighting of the shamash candle in the menorah. Christians light candles to honour the dead and pray for loved ones who need help. At Christmas, we decorate our houses with strings of cloloured lights

When there is no light, we miss it, don’t we? People in general, aren’t fond of the dark. Danger lurks in the shadows. What we can’t see we fear. Not so for cats or owls. They have a tapetum behind their retinas which acts like a mirror to reflect any source of limited light causing their pupils to expand and cover the entire front of their eyes. Enabling them to see in the almost dark.

Humans are adaptable though, and what we don’t possess naturally, we create. Our ancient ancestors recreated the sun by making fire. As we evolved so to did our methods of lighting our homes and streets. The ancient wood burning led to the use of wax candles, then gas lights, which were replaced by the magic of electricity, light bulbs. However, there is a cost to all of this. These wonderful illuminations have put a huge burden on our resources. Fossil fuels needed to generate our bright world are coming to an end. Even with wind turbines and solar panelling we are still in danger of not have enough power to generate all of the lights that are turned on across the planet each night. Will future generations be plunged into darkness?

Perhaps not, for there may be a simple solution to all of this.

Both fauna and flora have naturally occurring light sources. The Firefly, squid, jellyfish, insects, plankton and some strains of fungi, emit a bright glow that is generated from within. No outside source of energy is needed to produce their brightness.

Let me introduce you to Bioluminescence. Possibly the next step in our search for sustainable and renewable energy that will bring light to our darkness.

Check out these amazing creatures that glow in the dark: http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/21011428

Watch out for my next post – Foxfire - where new technical advances are using natures natural light to brighten our world.

All photographs are by the author.

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Seat of the pants plotting – Part II

By Ruth de Jauregui

While writing by the seat of your pants can lead to pleasant surprises, a little plotting never hurt a story.

Being a pantser, I start off with little or no planning. A scene comes into the movie that runs in my head, I start writing, and away we go. But, once I get going on the story, I start making notes on plot points that I want to return to before the story ends.

It's a pet peeve, as a reader, to not have any conclusion to some of the plot points. Sure, if it's a series, not every question will be answered, but don't leave me hanging on major points! For example, not to cap on Anne Hillerman's continuation of her father's stories, but I actually went back through her second book to find the "bad guy" scenes. I felt that there simply wasn't enough about that character to lead the reader to the story's conclusion. A few plot notes to remember to mention him a couple more times, one or three more scenes so the reader had a better sense of his "at any cost" determination, would have dramatically improved the story. Having said that, I'm still eagerly awaiting her next venture into the world of Manuelito, Leaphorn and Chee.

Thus, following my own strong opinions, I do end up with a little plotting while letting the story line and characters lead me through the story. Writing is like weaving, the threads should work together to make a coherent whole. In a series, there should be elements that flow from one story to the next to tie them together.

In my own WIP, Bitter's severe mushroom allergy, which was introduced in the short story "Bitter Blood," is an important plot point. The shadows that surround her are also important elements of her stories, even though she makes it very clear that she doesn't believe in ghosts. "Bitter Nights" twists and turns through the events until the final scene.

A little plotting helps me stay on track, even when Bitter wrests the keyboard away and a whole new scene appears on the screen...

#RuthDJ  #Bitter #ASmallGangOfAuthors

Our Guest today is Author Kathleen DuHamel #OurAuthorGang

We're pleased to have with us today, Author Kathleen Duhamel

Kathleen Duhamel is a contemporary fiction writer and author of THE DEEP BLUE TRILOGY (Deep Blue, Deeper, and Deep End), as well as the novella AT HOME WITH ANDRE. She wrote and illustrated her first short story at the age of eight. Her love of the written word continued throughout her varied career as a newspaper journalist and editor, public relations executive, free-lance travel writer, and owner/operator of two small businesses. A native of Texas, she's spent most of her adult life in Colorado. She lives in the Denver area with her husband, a geriatric standard poodle, and a spoiled cat. Kathleen is a lifelong devotee of rock and soul music, contemporary art, and pop culture.

http://www.kathleenduhamel.com

http://www.facebook.com/kathleen.duhamel

http://www.twitter.com/KathleenDuhamel

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0777VCF6D?tag=geolinker-20

When her close-to-perfect world falls apart, can love still prevail?

After years of struggle and harsh criticism, happily married rock-star wife, Claire Martin, has finally achieved the career success of her dreams. As the featured artist in an international traveling exhibit, she looks forward to her best year ever, while her husband, singer Robert Silver of the legendary rock band Deep Blue, contemplates a return to touring.

Things are also looking up for Claire's best friend, Denise Hrivnak, who's planning her wedding to Robert's musical partner, Art Hoffman. However, what should have been the most joyful day of Denise's life, turns to tragedy when an unexpected event forces both women to contemplate the terrifying possibility of life without the men they love.

Besieged with the paparazzi and sick with worry, Claire waits for answers in a Las Vegas hotel room, thinking over her improbable relationship with Rob and praying that love alone is strong enough to bring her husband back from the brink.

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Guest Author Julia W. Rath at #OurAuthorGang

Our Guest Author today is Julia W. Rath

Julia was formally trained as a social scientist and public policy analyst.  She has a Ph.D. in sociology and a post-doctoral fellowship in the behavioral sciences.  As a project director for the State of New York's Research Foundation for Mental Hygiene, she worked on a nationwide study of Medicaid Managed Care as it relates to health and treatment outcomes for people overcoming alcohol and substance abuse. Her previous book Conquering Your Own Sleep Apnea the All-Natural Way tells the story of how she overcame her sleeplessness and breathlessness by making simple, common-sense changes to her diet and environment.  She was also the executive producer of the documentary film “About Face,” the story of German- and Austrian-Jewish G.I.’s who returned to Europe and North Africa to fight the Nazis in World War II.  Eclectic in her interests, she now writes fiction, popular songs, and classical music. Split Self/Torn Mind is her first novel.

https://www.amazon.com/Split-Self-Torn-Mind-Julia/dp/1947532065

Split Self/Torn Mind tells the story of the kidnapping of Dr. Theresa Hightower, a popular professor at The University of Chicago, and the need to rescue her before she is “killed, compromised, or worse.”  In the interim, she has undergone a cruel genetic experiment where she is of two minds in one body.   The story reveals startling truths behind this top-secret research project and touches upon the rationale for building powerful biomedical weapons of war in order to save the world as we know it.   As kindness and cruelty combine in unique ways, the book prompts the question: “Where is the split among the secret places within each one of us?”

Excerpt:
"My consciousness is shifting," I said....  "I don't feel like myself," she said. And now I said, "My mind has two parts.  But I is she, and she is me. Who am I?  What am I? And what have you done to me?!!!"...
"Two consciousnesses in one body!" said the evil Vellum.  "Who would have thunk it?"

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Limiting Magic #OurAuthorGang

Rich Feitelberg

feitelberg.net

With my world-building posts behind me now, I'm going to start a new series of posts, focusing on another topic I'm interested in: magic.

I'm not talking sleight of hand or tricks by Houdini. I'm talking about magic in fantasy stories. Magic of this type comes in all shapes and sizes and is one of the elements that sets fantasy stories apart from other genres.

In this series of posts, I’ll explore a few of the different types you might want to consider.

To start, consider how prevalent magic is in your story or your world. If everyone can do magic then it is not very special and it becomes more like using a cell phone or browsing the internet with a computer.

So I recommend keeping magic limited. Perhaps only one group of people can cast spells. Or perhaps only those who are taught can. Or perhaps magic is restricted to one part of the world by law or physical limitations.

The Harry Potter approach is that the use of magic is limited because the existence of wizards is secret. In a heroic fantasy story that’s not likely, but the use of magic could be outlawed because people of scared of wizards who can wield so much power. To balance that, you might set limits on how much magic any one people can do. Perhaps some spells are more costly than others. Or perhaps the trick is to break the spell caster’s concentration so he or she can’t cast spells.

Another aspect to think about is where does the power for magic come from? It is in the air or are wizards using a piece of themselves when they can spells. If the power is in the air, it can be like heat or light, something that exists in the environment that the wizard can draw upon. The limiting factor here is that casting spells is like physical exertion so eventually the wizard needs to rest. If the power from within the wizard, then each time the individual calls upon the power, the spell caster is eating away at him or herself, like a cancer. The effect of that is the wizard ages, grows gaunt, loses their hair, as if dying from cancer.

Regardless of the limiting factors you select, there are likely to be rules among the wizards about how and when to use spells. Likewise there probably rules for casting spells. We’ll look at these in the next post.

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