A Common Theme

For those of you who have followed my blog or writing you know I’m rather prolific. I’ve written fifteen books all averaging 350 pages or more. Of these books, thirteen of them (both my Jeremiah Stone series and my Chaos series) have some sort of religious aspect to them. This is not to say they are centered on God, but rather on some sort of religious fervor. Just why this is I don’t know, but the funniest thing about it is my uncle has recently published a book called The Puzzle Keeper with is wholly based on confirming the Bible (Genesis) through science. At one time both of us remarked on how each of our books tackles religion is some way, shape, or form. Granted they are from different angles, but the oddity of it was surprising to us both.

Now I’ve just started a sixteenth book which I’ve titled Burden and once again note it deals with religion. And up until now I haven’t wondered why. I guess it’s because it’s a mystery to me and I’m intrigued by what a supreme being would be like. Along those lines let me say there is no way I can or should try to imagine it. Nor could I even comprehend it even if I tried to wrap my senses around it. Still I view it as the unexplainable and want to classify it in my writing. I also want to open up people’s thoughts into new realms of possibilities in my own feeble way.

I guess the reason is because I like to think, to imagine the unreal, and want to bring others along for the ride. And if anyone gains any insight into reality through my writing then I hope they share it with me because I’d love to hear it.

Besides, another book may come out of it. For now, however, l plan to deal with the dilemma of Burden and get back to writing.

Preparing Limbus

So this may be a bit premature since my first book Jeremiah Stone still hasn’t hit the shelves yet, but I’m already working on getting the second book of the series ready.

Having taken a careful look at the recommendations which were suggested to me during the editing process of Jeremiah Stone, I am now doing a thorough edit of Limbus taking all of it into account. I’m finding that I’ve made a lot of the same mistakes. The good thing is the mistakes are not nearly as bad even though I’m only a third of the way through the book at present. In all, I’ve only had to correct a few paragraphs while only completely deleting one. Overall, I do think it’s a better book already and I haven’t even gotten to the true action scenes.

What I find amazing is that during both the read-thru of Jeremiah Stone and this initial edit of Limbus, I have forgotten so much about what happens. Just as when I went through Jeremiah Stone, when editing Limbus I’m often caught-up in the story and forget I’m supposed to be making corrections.

The second thing I’ve discovered is that Jeremiah Stone starts with pure action and rarely slows down whereas Limbus starts slower and gradually builds while having a much darker tone as the story evolves. And seeing as Limbus is only the first of two novels for this part of the story, I have the time to steadily grow the characters and story until the end of Limbus and throughout Azazel, which is pure adrenaline.

Currently I have one person who has read Jeremiah Stone and Limbus and is nearly finished with Azazel. His comments have all been very positive, especially concerning one fight scene within Azazel. I hope he says that action sequence is nothing compared to the final battle. Not to mention the twist at the very end which I hope will raise a few eyebrows. Of course, Jeremiah Stone doesn’t end there as the book Beginnings takes a look at how Jeremiah Stone became the person he is.

And I guess we’ll have to see if there is another book possible if I can find a way to carry on the story. All that depends on the readers and if there is a demand for more. Hopefully there is and I’ll have to start thinking of something along those lines soon.

Jeremiah Stone - The Reason

So my novel ‘Jeremiah Stone’ is based on ‘The Book of Job’ from the Bible within the setting similar to the movie ‘Constantine’, though there are a few differences. I hope the following explain this, which is the Prelude within my book.

“Did Job not satisfy your curiosity?” God asked.

“The world is a different place now, with different motivations, thereby I propose a different test,” the Devil responded.

“And what shall it be this time?”

“Instead of taking away a man’s livelihood to affect his faith, I propose we affect a newborn soul. Each of us may give or take one thing from the soul and see which gift affects the soul the most.”

“And if the burdens we provide does not sway the soul’s intent?”

“Then we burden the soul with knowledge.”

Of course, as I’ve explained early in other blog entries, God gives the soul the power of belief so anything the soul believes it can do, it can do. The Devil takes away the souls morals, so it knows right from wrong but is not compelled to follow either. And of course the soul affected is Jeremiah Stone. As far as the knowledge they impart is the reality of the real world in which both demons and angels exist with human hosts, which happens both times Jeremiah dies and is debated upon in purgatory.

Hope this provides a bit of insight into the book.

Jeremiah Stone - Edits

Let me begin by saying I finally got the first round of edits back on Jeremiah Stone from the publisher. As I indicated in my early blog entries I have been nervously anticipating them with a mixture of fear and excitement. I am pleased to announce it wasn’t half as bad as I thought it was going to be. In fact, here are the editor’s opening words:

“Let me start by saying, job well done! Your story line and plot are riveting and kept me engaged, not something easily done as I’ve read so much in my twenty-some odd years of editing off and on in some capacity or other.”

Reading these first few words seemed to settle my mind a bit before the editor went into a few areas I needed for improvement. For most of the areas in which I do need improvement, I’ve already realized them of late and have corrected them with my last and current project (Dream Savior and Burden). As for the 3 other Jeremiah Stone novels I’ve written, I will have to spend a good amount of time correcting them before I continue writing Burden. I say this because of another thing the editor relayed in her notes to me, which was:

“I do hope there are more books coming as I’d like to see what happens to Jeremiah. I believe your readers will as well.”

This bodes well for getting my other books published, so I’m excited. It’s still hard for me to believe that I’ve been writing for over 25 years and only now getting published. It’s a great feeling as I count the days until my book is available on the shelf…tick, tick, tick… SMILE!!!

I also must add one last comment the editor made:

“Again, job well, done. One of the easiest edits I’ve had in a while.”

If those were the only words she said then I’d be happy. Those words also encourage me to do more while bringing meaning to all the time and effort I’ve put into this hobby. Hopefully, at some point in time this will be more than just something I do to escape the stress of the real-world when away from home. I also hope you, the reader, enjoy the story I’ve written.