Storytime again! This time we’re getting a tidbit from Chapter 2 of Angel’s Gate. Angel’s Gate is the first book in my ShadowGate Series. Available now for purchase. Today I wanted to give you a little preview, the beginning of Chapter 2. We are introduced to our MC, AG’s, childhood home. Read on for a teaser of Angel’s Gate or click the video above to have me read to you!
Chapter 2 – Angel’s Gate:
It still looked the same.
With the gray of dawn spreading through the streets, it looked to AG as if no time had passed since she had left Shelter Cove. As if the last decade had simply been erased. The mountains cupped it on three sides, their shoulders heavy with the deep green of pine and hemlock. The slinking mists of early dawn rolled in off the lake, disguising the signs of progress, the scars left by time. It was easy not to notice the scattering of new houses set back in the trees or the new marina, swallowed by the morning fog as it stretched out into the still, dark waters. There were other signs time hadn’t stood still, yet not enough to remove the strange and sinking sensation that she had never really escaped.
She was not the same kid who had left, in that decade she had found her freedom, her strength and one quick trip back couldn’t strip all of it away. Could it? She wasn’t a child anymore and this wasn’t her world. Still the feeling of being sucked back in time remained with her, darkening her heart and thoughts.
The SUV wove its way through the familiar roads and she found herself remembering her childhood at every turn. There was the corner she had crashed her new ten speed on Christmas twenty years before. There was the high school where she had kissed her first boy and done a lot more than that a night or two in senior year. Those were memories she looked back fondly on. She had loved Luke Olson as only a teenage girl could and he had been a sweet boy.
Somewhere she had heard he was married, the father of two. Still a sweet boy.
There was the Midtown Market, where she had worked her first job the summer she turned sixteen…
Shelter Cove was filled with memories, both good and bad, but it would never again be her home. She could not see herself growing old in that place. She couldn’t see herself ever giving up her career and life in San Francisco to live in that postage stamp town. Couldn’t imagine herself marrying and raising a passel of kids, with two cars in the drive and a dog in the yard. She couldn’t imagine that as her life, even though a small voice whispered it would have been easy to if she tried. She didn’t want to try. That domestic vision was what her mother had wanted and had never achieved. She wasn’t going to want the same thing and spend her life regretting when it never happened. She was smarter than that. She would make the life she wanted and her life was in California, three thousand miles away.
When they turned onto the street leading to her childhood home the pain inside of AG seemed to shift, expand. Unconsciously she raised a hand to press it against her heart. Home…
The house still stood as it always had, two stories, rich brown siding with a wide porch and peaked ceiling. Two large windows looked out onto the carefully kept lawn, one from the living room, the other from the breakfast nook. In the dim morning light the house looked tired, sad. Or that was how AG felt inside as she looked at it, knowing it was empty.
It’s been two months since I finished my last book. Two months in which I went through the usual ups and downs, the weird paranoid panic that I may never write again. That maybe this time the magic won’t come back and I’ll never finish another book.
You would think after writing forty six novels I’d be over that paranoia, but I’m not. I mean, it’s a little less vibrant of a worry inside of me, but the worry is still there. It still sneaks in a few weeks into the lull between books. The sly little whisper that says, “That was the last one. It was all fluke, a onetime deal and now that magic is gone.” Of course now that I’m a mature woman I can tell that little voice to fuck off, that of course I’ll write the next story, but it just laughs, a little knowingly, a lot mean. Like it knows something I don’t, that it knows I’ve only been lucky this far.
This time the Imposter Syndrome has more ammo, new and shiny ammo that it can lob at me like a wet blanket grenade, effectively smothering the joy I feel when I finish a new story. It’s very happy with this new weapon, and turns it on me quite effectively mere days after I write “The End”. This time it says, “Yeah, you might write again, but will you be able to write the next book in the series? Will you be able to finish THIS story? This series that you somehow know is going to be your life’s work? That this is the story you were meant to tell from the very first moment you put ink to paper at seven?”
It’s an evil bastard, this Imposter Syndrome, and it takes up residence in the heart of everyone at some point in their life. It is especially fond of kicking you right at the height of your triumph, snatching away those golden moments. It revels and grows within our own self-doubt. And I’ve learned it never goes away, no matter how confident you may become, no matter how successful and skilled you might be.
But it can be caged. It can be silenced and pushed aside to sulk in the corner of your mind.
How you ask?
By pushing through, by starting that next book, that next project, by reminding yourself that it thrives on lies. That it doesn’t know you and that you’re not going to fail, because you’re not done yet. You’re just getting better from here.
How do I know this?
Because I just started DownCast Angel, Book 5 of my ShadowGate Series. The one it said I would never start.
It lies.
I don’t.
Keep writing, keep dreaming, and cage that little bastard.
Writing a series is hard. And not just in the planning and maintaining continuity. Not just in the developing of characters and story arcs over multiple books. It’s hard in the day to day. But what I find very hard is not spilling my guts about each new story I’m working on.
I mean right now I’m working on book 4 of my ShadowGate series, yet I’m marketing book 1. So I can’t just go hey everyone guess what? And throw out all these details about the book I’m working on without giving away plot points for the three preceding books. Can you even imagine how frustrating that is? I want to tell the world all about this story I’m writing but I can’t because they have three books to go before I can say a damned thing!
Series are HARD!!!
I want to tell everyone about this story, I want to write articles about it and post in my blog but I can’t say a single word. Ok, yeah, sure I could be really vague and be like, “I’m writing a story about two persons and it’s in the ShadowGate world”, but that’s basically it. So frustrating! I’m just sitting at home screaming into a pillow because I want to give away ALL the spoilers.
And you know what’s even worse????? Knowing the whole f@$king history of my series and universe and not able to say a freaking word because I have to wait for it to be revealed in proper order!!! OMG I’m dying with all these spoilers!!!
At least once book 1, Angel’s Gate, is officially released I can start talking about book 2, Guardian Angel. True I can’t give away too many details, because again, have to wait for people to read it and it’s release date isn’t until end of 2021, but at least I’ll be able to release some of the Character Profiles and talk about the process.
But that means I won’t be able to give ANY details about book 3, Angel Child, until AFTER Guardian Angel is released and that means I’ll have to wait until 2023 to tell you ANYTHING about Cerviel and Micah!!!
UGH!!!!!
I just want to tell you everything! I want to tell you all about Shamshiel and Shatter and Talis and Cerviel and Micah and Nomad and Becca and Faith and Gideon and and and and….See there’s just so much I want to tell you!!!
But I’ll be good and wait. I’ll talk about Angel’s Gate, promote and wait for you to read it before we can talk about everyone else.
But….I can maybe say a little something right now, like just a tease right? Angel’s Gate is available for pre-sale RIGHT now, so you can read it and get all the details. Guardian Angel…want a little hint? You’ll meet Lucifer in this one.
And Angel Child? Take one angel love child, one Angelic Assassin, add lots of demons and you’ll get an interesting cross country road trip. What? Did you expect me to give away everything? Ok, I’ll give you one more taste:
“Now he was driving a stolen truck, praying his Grace would come back before something REALLY bad happened. Like maybe Armageddon or a plague of frogs or Starbucks ran out of Pumpkin Spice and the basic bitches of the world united in their outrage for the weirdest zombie apocalypse he could think of.
SPICE, PUMPKIN SPICE…he could just picture them in their sweaters and Uggs and yoga pants…
“Pumpkin spice?” Becca asked him abruptly, the confusion in her voice seeming to trump even her copious amounts of fear. “What the hell is a pumpkin spice zombie?”
Nomad nearly drove them off the road when he realized she’d just read his mind.” – Angel Child coming 2022
And now for the one I’m dying to tell you about….Sanctuary. All I’m going to say is it’s a love story. Sorry, I’m not saying anything else…
In the beginning before the Universe, before Light, before Dark, before Life and before Death was the Source. In the great void of infinity the Source became restless and from itself, from all that was Darkness it created Ahiloban, goddess, darkness, divine. To serve her and to serve the Source the Elohim were created, twelve to govern the houses of the Universe yet unborn, to serve and to watch. For time beyond time all was as it should be. Ahiloban was beloved, child of the Source and she was content.
But in all things there must be balance and with an explosion of energy and Life and Light the Universe was born and with it, Shamshiel, child of the Source, the personification of all that was Light. He was the other half of Ahiloban but she did not embrace her brother. She envied him the Light, never understanding that without Darkness there could be no Light and without Light she could not exist. In her jealousy she stripped him of his powers because he was young, an innocent, an infant, and bound him. She hid him from the Source, diminishing him until all believed him nothing more than another Elohim, made to serve her, to serve the Source. The Source wept at his loss, but believed the lie of the first of it’s children. Safe in her lie Ahiloban wrapped the night, like a blanket of Darkness over the newborn Light and took him to her lover, the Elohim Ezrael to raise and control, never telling her what he was though she suspected for she was wise. But like her she feared this new being of immense powers and agreed to keep him hidden from the Source and from his true nature. Rid of him she was once more the only beloved of the Source. She was content to rule now over the entirety of Light and Dark.
Shamshiel was taken to the Court of the Watchers and there his powers were bound as he was placed in submission to Ezrael. But his powers were beyond all imaginings and in a moment of pure creation he created an entire world on which the elements of life were gifted. Frightened at the power this singular being could wield, Ezrael took him deep into the farthest reaches of the Universe, leaving the Earth, the world of his creation unguarded, uncared for. Ahiloban, curious if she too could create life took the elements of the Universe, the gifts within herself of the Source and created God, Yahweh, a creature of Life and Light. But in the moment of his creation, to the horror of Ahiloban another being came into existence, this one the embodiment of Darkness, of Death. It was Azazel, the Reaper, at whose hand even God would be mortal. Again Ahiloban did not understand that where there is Light there is Darkness, where there is Life there is Death, for these are the two sides, the Balance of Creation, the Balance that only the Source can fully understand.
Ahiloban was pleased with Yahweh, and took him to be her lover, gifting him the world that had been Shamshiel’s creation. Over this God would rule and together they spent millennia tending, watching and shaping the evolution of the life Shamshiel had birthed. The first lives were insignificant, boring and so God and Ahiloban came together and from their union they created Talis, a being of immense light and power and with him, his twin, Lucifer. Talis they called the Evening Star and Lucifer, the younger, the brightest, they called the MorningStar. These were the first of the angels, the first of all they would create. They were created to serve and worship. Again Darkness came with the Light and Ahiloban pushed forth not only the twins of Light, but one of Darkness, Errant, the first of the Daemos, into whom all sin and blame should dwell. He was given wings and bright fangs and in her disgust at the Darkness she could not escape, Ahiloban placed upon him the curse of evil and sin. And as Errant was birthed, a part of the Shadow dripped the heavens and fell to earth. There it formed the Serpent, a creature made from the vileness that Ahiloban had meant to place into Errant’s heart. From the earth the Serpent looked up and he coveted what his brothers had been given. And that envy grew into hate for those who had created him. He vowed with all the Darkness inside of him to one day kill his creators and take into himself all the power of Life and Creation.
The sons of God, of Ahiloban were given unto the Earth. Not to rule, but to serve. The twin stars were placed above the world, to serve and guide. Look up to these stars my children and see now shines only one. Too long has the brightest fallen, the night empty now with his loss. Alone his brother stands, steadfast against the Dark.
For another millions lifetimes Ahiloban and her consort amused themselves watching life begin on earth and by pitting their sons against one another. But as was His nature God became bored and from Ahiloban he pulled the essence of her powers and created beings of his own, those who would serve only him. They were rough in form and would take millennia to become what he wanted. But in those moments he seeded dissent and anger, he violated his creator and sowed the first seeds of her endless rage. On earth life flourished, growing, evolving at His will until a new creature began to walk the earth and caught His interest. With rapt attention He watched as hominids grew into humans and they pleased Him on their growth. But soon He became impatient with the pace of their evolution and He sent them down intelligence, gave them creative and clever minds.
Angry that God would take from her, create something without her Ahiloban created more creatures of her own, Behemoth and Leviathan, those creatures that were fated to bring the end of all things. She spun life with her anger, using shadow and shunning the light from which she was not formed and created other creatures, the demoness Lilith for her son Errant to love and to create life with, (name of Werewolf) the first werebeast, (name of dragon) the first of the Drakes and (name of faery) the first of the fey. From these creatures new races would grow, races that fed on God’s precious humans, the creatures she so dispised.
Fearing for the lives of his newest creation God took strength and life from Talis and from his drew out the very first of the Choirs of Angels, the Powers. These power and ruthless warriors he sent to earth to protect his creations from those Ahiloban had sent against them.
Furious that God would send these dark hunters after her children she sent a plague of ice to the world, believing it would kill off the life God had created against her will. Much of the planet died, but the earth that Shamshiel had created was magnificent and continued to evolve and on it life survived, the demonkind, the hominids, the children of Ahiloban and the animals that had evolved from the life given by Shamshiel. Life continued and growing bored once more God sent a new thread into his hominids and from them came the ancestors of modern man. Disgusted by his attentions to these humans, Ahiloban left her consort, going into the court of the watchers and there taking lovers among them. Alone in Heaven God studied the beings he had created with Ahiloban at his side and found he feared them, for they were powerful and could one day take from him the power he now coveted, the power he wanted to take from his creator. Fearing her, fearing the children they had made he stole from her sons the memory of who she was, taking from them the memories of their celestial mother and making them believe only HE was their creation. Lucifer and Errant easily forgot, but in Talis, as the first born, there was too much strength for him to forget, and more, God feared that one day his son would seek to take from him as he now sought to take from Ahiloban. Following his fear he pulled from Talis the rest of the Choirs, seeking to diminish him, to lessen his powers so that he would always remain loyal, always remain subservient to him.
Ahiloban returned to find that none of her sons remembered her, returned to find God had created an army of angels to serve him. In her anger she granted his humans freewill so he would learn what it was like to have a creation that did not obey, that did not serve. Looking down on all of thise the Source granted these creatures, these humans, the most precious of gifts, something that God could not control, that not even Ahiloban could claim, souls. They were given this great gift and placed on the Path to Enlightenment. And for them the Source created the Void and the Pit to help guide them on their place, to help teach them the lessons they would need to evolve past the flaws of their creators.
Over these creatures, now flawed, but now the more precious for their souls, God placed his angels. It was they who watched as life was born from the seeds God had planted long ago. It was they who watched as man took his first steps and spread across the globe. They watched and they served and God was pleased by all he had wrought. Beside him in heaven Ahiloban seethed, wanting her revenge. She began to have her fears that God sought more than just power of his creations and she created the TrueGuard, Daemos born of pure Illumination to help protect her from the Choirs of his Angels. The TrueGuard stood beside her throne and would protect her from any angelica assassin he might send to attack her.
Upon the earth the Serpent grew restless and urged on by Ahiloban found a young Daemos, Chaos the first born of Errant and Lilith, playing down among the humans. He quickly possessed him in a cloud of Shadow and Darkness and rode him up to heaven where Daemos played and lived among the Choirs. There he set about on his endeavor to destroy the one who gave him birth aided by the whispers of the goddess Ahiloban. The Serpent sought out the one known as Lucifer, curling up around him like a dank fog, possessing him, and whispered in his ear, “Why should the humans be so blessed? Why should their will be their own? Why should you, the first of God’s creations prostrate yourself before them?” With his words the Serpent planted the seeds of discontent and rebellion in the heart the brightest angel. Lucifer approached his God and begged for the same love given so easily, so freely to the humans who were born of nothing more than mud, while he and his kind were born from the stars and the breath of Ahiloban and God. Furious that Lucifer should question the laws he had branded into the Spirits of each of his angels God refused and in rage, fueled by the whipsers of the Serpent that possessed him, Lucifer rebelled against his God and many angels joined him.
Enraged God ordered Talis to destroy his brother and thus the First War began. Many angels died and in the middle of the conflict, though innocent of any deceit, the Daemos were murdered. Blood flowed through all of heaven as brother killed brother and sister murdered sister. At long last Talis defeated his brother, but as Lucifer lay at his feet, he could not make himself slay his twin. He would not do this, even though his God, his father had demanded it. He refused and God was sorely displeased with his disobedience and he struck down his very first creation and threw him into the Pit where he would be tortured and suffer for all eternity. God turned upon Lucifer and cast him and all of his followers out of heaven where they fell to earth in the shower fire.
The Morning Star fell because of a single lie. For a single whisper he was damned. It was but a single seed of rebellion that took root in the heart of him. It bloomed into war and blood flowed like water raining down upon the earth. The heavens wept while stars died. Angels turned from the will of God and were cast down, sent far from his glory to live no more in His Light.
Cast far from Heaven, Lucifer fell to Earth where he lay for nine days, suffering from the wounds his brother had given him and mourning the loss of his God and his home. Mourning the loss of his brother, knowing that his brother would be punished for his sins. When he could rise up once more he begged God for the freedom of his brother, but God would not heed his call. God looked upon His creations, angry that his Firsts had so fallen. Like a shadow they spread across the land and in his rage he cast all Darkness from the Heavens. Like a thorn he plucked out the Daemos and scattered them across the Earth. Cast down was Errant, first born from the Darkness, and all of his children. Into him all sin shall flow, in him all sin shall be found. His progeny shall overflow the earth and shall mingle with the children of men. Pity him all ye peoples, pity him for his birth. Pity him for redemption shall not be his, nor shall it be offered to those from him that were born.
In his rage God murdered the TrueGuard that served around Ahiloban’s throne because they reminded him of the sons he had lost. The last TrueGuard, a female, pregnant and afraid escaped from the Citadel with the help of the Virtue Vision, she escaped into the Verge, into the Lost Forest and there all believed she would die, alone. Enraged at God’s destruction of her TrueGuard Ahiloban left God to wander the earth in earthly form, many of God’s humans turned to her, began to worship her and so the DeaServus were formed to serve only her.
Then Shamshiel the Elohim, the Watcher of the Sun, took mercy upon Lucifer, took mercy upon Talis who had not been able to kill the brother that he loved. He freed Talis and set him back into the heavens though it cost him, as his master Ezrael was sorely displeased. For his actions Shamshiel was bound for 5,000 years in the heart the sun. Alone, in silence and in darkness, driven mad by his solitude.
Talis, released from the Pit, returned to humbly serve his God, scared to ever displease him again.
Ezrael saw how much horror the battle in the heavens had caused and she created the Gate, to which there would be only one Key. A Key in which she placed inside of herself. Through the Gate only the Pure angels, the ones who had obeyed their God, and only the souls of the humans as they followed the cycle of birth, death, rebirth, were able to pass.
Beneath the sun the Serpent crept, always looking heavenward, desperate to return and take his place upon the throne.
On earth the Serpent found his way back into heaven, in the heart of an honorable and righteous man, one that pleased God in his purity. The serpent possessed this man, this servent of God, Enoch, and when God granted Enoch a place in heaven as Metatron, the highest of his house, the very voice of God, the Serpent was the one given that honor.
Upon the earth the DownCast angels walked among man, taking unto them wives of the daughters of man. And to them were born the Nephlim and they became the heroes of old. Peace lay among the heavens and for time ruled the earth. (God fears the Nephilim because they are angels with Souls. God orders them to be murdered and Ahiloban sets up a way to steal them for her own use. Dark Nephilim do NOT have souls, but Light Nephilim do.)
In heaven, with Metatron whispering his lies, set on taking God’s throne and creation from him, God began to fear Ahiloban more, began to desire and covet her world and creations. He no longer wanted to share the glory of creation with her. With the help of his angels, with the help of the Elohim who had also begun to fear Ahiloban and her powers, God bound her and locked her deep into the heart of the very earth she had ruled and protected for so long. Using the life and power of her own creation, Leviathan, God locked her away beneath the sixty six seals held inside the very soul of Leviathan and his twin, Behemoth. As the Elohim drug him deep beneath the waves, bound him in the deepest, darkest trenches of the earth, in silence and in cold, in darkness and despair, the thrashings of his immense body sent a tidal flood that washed over all the earth. Killing many of God’s and Ahiloban’s creations. Few remained alive to repopulate the world. It was Talis who drove the last of the chains into place, proving his loyalty once and for all to his God. (The key to Leviathan’s chains is bound to God’s life force.)
In heaven Metatron sought to gain control over the Gate between worlds, a way to free himself to travel to the other realms and to gain dominion over God. He attacked the Elohim Ezrael, killing her. As Ezrael died she fled to earth and there passed the precious Key into a mortal vessel, there to remain out of reach from Metatron who could not pass through the Gate to Earth. There the Key took on human form and through the centuries was passed, mother to child until a dark angel took the human Key and placed inside of her a child born of the Sangrael and of Darkness. She was born a ShadowGate, a creature wholly unique. In her was the power over the Gate that none, not even the Elohim Ezrael had possessed, for inside her was a human soul, inside her was the Shadow and the Light, and more she possessed the gift of freewill.
The second choir of angels are the Cherubim. The word is from the Akkadian language and means ‘one who prays’ or ‘one who intercedes’. They were the first angels mentioned in the Bible, being placed at the gate of Eden to keep Adam and Eve from returning. They are known as the record keepers who express their love of knowledge and wisdom by helping to carry out the will of God.
The name Cherubim means “fullness of knowledge” or “effusion of wisdom”. This choir has the power to know and contemplate God, and the capacity to understand and communicate divine knowledge.
Cherubim are not the cuddly babies that we currently imagine. They are the second highest choir, fierce beings that were the guardian to the gate of Eden, depicted replete with flaming sword and fiercy countenance. The first of all Cherubim was Lucifer, leader of that Choir before his rebellion and fall from Grace. During that first and brutal war the rest of the Choir fell and no more remain living in heaven. Lucifer is the only Cherubim that still lives and he is downcast and fallen from Grace.
Angel’s Gate is only 8 months away. 8 months from now and I
get to share the first of the ShadowGate with the world. 8 months….feels like a
lifetime away. I know you’re anxious to finally have a chance to read Angel’s
Gate, so here’s the first 500 words to hold you over for a while.
“Life wasn’t supposed to move this fast. From birth to death
so quickly. It was all too fast, too…over. So many words had been left
unspoken, so many questions still unasked. So many things still unresolved
between them, but now…now there was no more time. One sentence…one sentence had
changed her life, shattered everything. Four words, one death and everything
she had worked so hard to achieve seemed worthless.
Your mother is dead.
For AG Morris those words had stolen everything.
Four words and here she stood waiting for a flight to take
her back to the one place she had never wanted to return. A flight that would
take her home. Home…no…no, it wasn’t home. Not now. Her mother was gone.
Around her was movement, life, sound. Laughter. There
shouldn’t have been laughter. Shouldn’t the world have stopped along with her
own grief? The weight inside of her seemed to expand, compressing her lungs
until she felt she couldn’t breathe. The grief was so huge it should have
compressed the entire world. But it didn’t. The pain was only inside of her.
The loss was only inside of her.
She wished those words could be erased from her mind, that
they could be taken back. That she could return to that morning when everything
was alright. When it mattered that the sun was shining, that she was breathing.
The words didn’t fade, they didn’t go away.
So much time had been lost, there were so many things she
had meant to say. So many apologies she had meant to make. Now she would never
be able to apologize for words once spoken in anger. She would never be able to
close the gap they had both pretended wasn’t there. She would never be able to
forgive her mother for the abnormal childhood she had lived. She would never be
able to ask why. Why an intelligent woman would carve spells into the window
sills to ward off demons and to bind angels. She would never know now why her
mother had hated her father so much that she had never even whispered his name.
Your mother is dead.
AG closed her eyes and leaned her head back against the
wall. The waiting area near the terminal gate was over crowded. There were no
open seats, but she didn’t care. She didn’t care that she was sitting on the
floor, shoved into a corner between a stroller with a cranky two year old and
an early twenty something that smelled like weed. All she wanted was to turn
back time. She would have done anything to be at home, in her own house, in her
own bed, and not there. Anything.
She opened her eyes slowly, hugging her knees. She watched a
pair of teenagers walk across the terminal, heads bowed over their smart
phones, but she wasn’t really seeing them. She wasn’t seeing anything. She was
just…waiting. Waiting for her flight and waiting to wake up from what she knew
wasn’t a dream. She was just…” – Angel’s Gate by L. Becker
The other day on Twitter I read a post about World Building.
The question posed was how much is too much? Sometimes it feels that the heart
of the story is overwhelmed by historical treatises and minutiae that doesn’t
push the narrative forward. Sometimes you want the adventure and not a lengthy
discussion of the various shades of green that make up the forest (Yes, I’m
referencing the lengthy forest descriptions Tolkien inserted into the Lord of
the Rings. One of my favorite stories, however there were pages I simply had to
skip because it was just TOO much world building). The most fascinating world
building are the hints that make the reader go, ‘ooo, I’d like to learn more’
or that make them feel there is depth and backstory, not necessarily and political
and financial history of the world in which they live. Sure, that’s great you
did a ton of research to your world and you have everything from legal system
to folklore and pre-history of your world detailed, but readers don’t need to
know the whole justice system and the history of how they were enacted unless
it pushes the narrative forward. I’ve taken Social Sciences and sat through
lectures on the structure of the US’s government and it WASN’T fascinating. It
was learning. Yes, knowledge is great, but you’re not writing non-fiction,
you’re writing fantasy, you’re offering escape.
I do a ton of world building for the ShadowGate series. Why?
Because it’s fun and more importantly it is crucial for the WRITER The more in
depth our knowledge of the world we are creating the more realism we can
translate to the page for the reader. I spend hours working out the details but
it’s for MY benefit more than it is for the readers. The reader will never know
all the details, they will never know the exact Guardian Angel to Charge ratio
that I spent four hours figuring out. They will however understand that a
Guardian has the ability to be in multiple locations at once. That is a fun
fact that will fascinate them, but they don’t need to know the whole process of
how I came to that conclusion. The reader will only ever know the very edges of
the research, history and backstory that I do. And that’s ok, why? Because
sometimes too much revealed to the reader destroys the flow of the story.
I know we’re proud of the detailed histories, pre-histories,
psychological profiles, etc. that we create. But don’t try to fit all of that
into the story in lieu of a STORY. If you’re proud of your world and the
detailed notes you’ve made on it, publish those later for the fans of your
world who want a deeper look.
Do the research, but dole it out sparingly. Don’t let the
world overshadow the story.
Angel’s Gate is only months away from being released launching the ShadowGate Series. And yes, I can say
series as I’ve already finished two of the consecutive books and as of Monday
started on Book 4 of the series, Sanctuary.
It’s really hard not to gush right now and tell you everything about ALL of the
stories I’ve written so far. But I can’t spoil all your fun. Unfortunately you’re going to have to wait
until October to read the first installment. It is my hope that when you reach “The
End” of Angel’s Gate you’ll be as
excited as I am for the next book.
Guardian Angel was written in 2017 during a very rough period in my
life and is really the birth of the series. True, I’ve told you the roots of
the series started many, MANY, years ago, but Guardian Angel was where I knew it was moving into something really
special. I wrote the first draft in a little over a month and for the longest
time thought it was lightning in a bottle, something I would never be able to
replicate ever again. That same year I
started working on what would lead to the final version of Angel’s Gate, almost 2 full years of edits and polishing until I
felt it was perfect and ready for all of you to read. Though I was pretty
confident in the content of Angel’s Gate
and Guardian Angel I was beginning to
fear I wouldn’t be able to continue the story with the next book. What if it
was a fluke and something that just wasn’t meant to happen? What if I wasn’t
good enough to bring into reality the idea I had? What if this was too big for
me?
Then in October 2019 I started Angel Child. It started with a down and
dirty hate (you fill in the blank) and just took off. There was no holding it
back. Within 3 months the first draft was done and I knew this was it, the ShadowGate Series was in fact, reality.
No longer did I doubt that I would be able to put this world, this HUGE story
down in print. Now it was just a matter of writing the next story and the next.
When I wrote “The End” on Angel Child I
expected I would need a few months to reconnect, to find the next story, to
find the next words that were dying to be written. It took less than a month
before I had fully plotted out Sanctuary
(a 12hr session behind the keyboard) and the first words hit the screen. Monday
I wrote the first chapter and it feels ‘write’. This is the next story I need
to tell, because this is the SAME story, it’s just the next chapter.
I’ve been dying to start this
one, since this summer I’ve been getting to know the characters, letting them
come to life so that I understand them and I can’t wait to bring them to life.
I can’t wait to share this world
with you and I hope you’re as excited about it as I am.
Powers
are Warrior Angels created by God to stand against evil, defending the cosmos
and humans. They were created to fight against those evil spirits who would
attempt to wreak chaos. The chief of the Powers is said to be either Sandalphon
or Paladin, both are angels of darkness. They are soldiers, dark angels, known
as Dark Guardians. They are classically represented in full armor, helmed and
shielded. They stand away from the throne of God, defending humanity from the
darkness that exists.
They are not DownCast but are unclean after millennia of bloodshed and war and are unable to enter the Citadel. They remain in the Verge fighting the Endless War. According to St. Paul they are evil and not of the Light. That they are no better than the Shade.
