It’s the end of the world and we know it. It’s the end of the
world and we know it. It’s the end of the world and we know it and I feel fine.
2000 party over, out of time. So tonight we’re going to party
like it’s 1999.
Okay. I just dated myself. One of my guilty pleasures is a show
called Jack Van Impe Presents. He totally cracks me up. He weaves quotes from
the Bible with current events to show the world is going to end any minute now.
It’s been just about to end as long as I’ve watched, back when Y2K was going to
destroy the world. His ministry goes all the way back to the 50s. There are
other apocalyptic preachers I’ll listen to for grins, but Van Impe is my
favorite, mostly because he really knows his stuff. The Book of Revelations and
other pertinent Biblical verses are about as concrete as Nostradamous‘
quatrains, and interpreting them is a real art form.
I love prophecies, real and fictional. Joss Whedon is a master at
writing them so they are vague enough that their misinterpretation is what causes
them to be fulfilled. That is pure genius. That’s the kind of story I wanted to
write. One prophecy I’d love to know the exact wording to is George Lucas’
where Anakin is prophesied to bring balance to the force. Exact wording is key
to interpreting prophecies.
Every time someone predicts the end of the world, other people
panic. Nothing about what people like Van Impe predict is what causes the
problems. It’s the panic that does. Maybe ultimately that is what will destroy
the world tomorrow. Not a meteor, the poles reversing, or the earth exploding,
but panic. The prophecy itself is the vehicle for it’s fulfillment.
So don’t panic. Instead, tomorrow is the longest night of the
year. Curl up with a good book. Curl up with several.
Blurb: Lucifer is fed up with humanity. He created hell to deter
evil, but man’s inhumanity is only escalating. He just wants to return home to
heaven, but ever since that little problem in the Garden of Eden, the Pearly
Gates remain firmly shut to him. It doesn’t help that he’s the first vampire,
an abomination in God’s sight.
Fortunately, two thousand years ago Lucifer’s
estranged brother, Jesus, gave him a prophecy. To fulfill it, all Lucifer has
to do is find the right artist, study her artwork and the path back to heaven
will be revealed. The artist even bears a symbol so he knows who she is.
Too bad she is murdered every time he finds her.
Janie’s a frustrated
artist and college art teacher who wants two things—a guy she can show her
paintings to and a night without nightmares. Each nightmare plagues her until
she paints it. She doesn’t realize these paintings are key to unlocking her
destiny, one that could redeem the original fallen angel.
Excerpt:
“Where’s Eve?” Lucifer shouted. The columns
shook, but remained standing. He balled his fists until talons pierced his
palms and blood ran down his hands.
“With
Adam in Sumeria.” God warmed his hands by the fire.
“What will happen to Eve?” Quiet
resignation filled his words, though his thoughts were spinning a mile a minute.
“You
don’t care what happens to Adam. They both ate the fruit.” God shook his
head and turned around. “They suffer for
their disobedience.”
Eve’s scream squeezed around
Lucifer’s heart, making it stop. He covered his ears and shut his eyes. In the
dark, she collapsed. He leaped up.
“Punish me.” He could better
withstand God’s wrath than Eve. He promised her he wouldn’t let anyone hurt
her, including God. Maybe especially God.
“They
expect to be punished. If they are not, they will not learn anything.” With
a wave, the pedestals righted.
“You lied.” Lucifer stood in God’s
face. “The fruit did not kill them.”
“That
isn’t what I told them. I said if they ate the fruit, they would die. I did not
say when.” God placed his hand on Lucifer’s shoulder. “I told them what they were ready for, just like heaven is being made
in an image they can understand.”
“Adam gets that big palace.” It was
an accusation more than a statement. “I named the angels. Heaven should be
mine. I am a far more benevolent master.”
God’s laughter made Lucifer’s talons
grow longer. The edges of the world turned red.
“The
palace is for me. They expect their creator to be exalted.”
“What will happen to Eve?” Lucifer
could still help her, somehow circumvent God’s punishment or at least mitigate
it. He would find a way to take it for her.
“They
have been expelled from Eden. By the sweat of Adam’s brow shall he get bread to
eat. In pain shall Eve bring forth children.”
Eve in pain? He didn’t know what was
worse. Eve in pain, or having Adam’s children.
“So because they expect it, Eve must
suffer. That is wrong.” The words were directed at himself as much as they were
to God. If only he had left Eve alone.
“Wrong.” Another power word, one
that tasted similar to justice.
“That
is not for you to determine.” God’s eyes swirled gold, and a pulsing white
aura surrounded him.
Lucifer recoiled and shielded his
eyes.
Not for him to determine? That’s
exactly what he’d done. He turned his back on God and scratched his head.
Wrong. Justice. These were words that made no sense yesterday. Now they were
power words.
Justice. Friend. Wrong. Strong words
demanding strong action, even if that action was against God.
He froze. Against God. Abba. His
heavenly father. A voice inside him cried. A louder voice spurred him on. He
was the only one who could protect Eve. His heart beat strong and steady. At
his feet the Sword of Justice glinted in the firelight.
Justice.
Keeping Eve in Eden was definitely
an act of justice.
In one smooth motion, he kicked up
the sword, grabbed it, raised it above his head, and plunged it through God’s
back into his heart. He twisted the sword, and God slid down into a crumpled
heap at Lucifer’s feet.
“Now it is.” Lucifer held the sword
above his head. It didn’t ignite. Who cared? Justice had been served. Little
did God know the sword he’d created would be his death.
Eve appeared next to Lucifer. He
couldn’t contain his joy. Now they would fashion the universe how they wanted.
She touched the sword with one
delicate finger. Blue flame consumed the hilt, and he dropped it. Before it hit
the ground, it disappeared.
“You
are not ready for this.” Eve/God’s thoughts held a tinge of disappointment.
Lucifer appeared outside of heaven.
A high wall of the same gleaming material as the palace formed around heaven.
Eve appeared behind an open gate. Its gleaming bars stretched up and down into
infinity until up became down and down became up. It swung shut.
He raced for it, but was too late.
The clang echoed in his soul, and he collapsed to his knees.
“You
are no longer an angel. You don’t belong in heaven. You must find your way
home.” God turned away.
“What am I?” Lucifer rose and sent a
burst of energy at the gate. It remained shut.
“Am I human?” His soul bled at the
question and darkness surrounded him. As a human he had nothing to offer Eve.
He couldn’t protect her. He couldn’t create another Eden for her. She would
beget Adam’s children in pain. Lucifer cringed.
Eve/God appeared next to him and
traced three triangles above his heart, each attached to the other two at the
corners of its base to form a fourth triangle in the center. They burned, and
he screamed until his voice was raw. He collapsed and gulped fire.
Standing above him, God laid her
hand on his shoulders. Pain shot down his back. He reached around, and his
hands passed through wings of fire. God ran her hand along his arms. His skin
itched, and then burned, as it morphed into swirling red, orange and yellow.
With sweat pouring down his face, he allowed God to help him up.
“Your
re-creation occurred in fire. This is now your true form. To maintain your
angelic powers, you must feed on the intense energy of fire.” A ball of
fire appeared on God’s outstretched hand. She shoved this into his heart.
A sharp pain stole his breath, but
Lucifer refused to collapse again. He grit his teeth, and his entire body
shook.
“What am I?” He stared at his arms.
“To
maintain free will, you must drink the blood of humanity every three
generations.”
God vanished.
“What am I?” he shouted toward the
center of heaven.
“A
vampire.”
The Mark of Abel
available for pre-order at 20% off
Releases Dec 21, 2012
Video Trailer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UayqdSPMFMQ&feature=youtu.be
Bio: A very good friend of Viola Ryan in high school said, “You
don’t think outside the box. You blow the thing up.” Sometimes boxes need
exploding. That’s why she’s here. She has a whole bag of C4 and isn’t afraid to
use it. She’s blessed with people who treasure her eccentricities or at least
put up with them.
Sometimes the box can be a cozy place. Without some
sort of stability, her two daughters’ and her life would be unmanageable. That
stability comes from her husband. He’s the rock holding her family together.
On the flip side, his career is anything but stable.
He’s a Chief Marine Safety Technician in the US Coast Guard. They’ve lived from
Kittery, Maine to Yorktown, Virginia. Fortunately, the moves have all been on
the east coast. Then again, the Coast Guard tends to guard the coast.
Her oldest daughter (15) was born on Cape Cod, not far
from Plymouth. Massachusetts. Her youngest (12) was born in Yorktown, Virginia,
down the road from Williamsburg. Viola jokes they’re doing the colonial America
tour.
3 comments:
Really-really cool premise for the book!! loved the excerpt. I'll be looking for it's release!
Teresa R.
Same here. We have some commonalities in our books, which I find both intriguing and disturbing. Which is kinda fun.
Thank you. It was a lot of fun to write. I'm working on the sequel now, The Chalice of Creation
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