How My Morgaine Series Grew

I thought maybe some of you might be interested in how my Morgaine Series of novels became a series. It started with a song, Dancing in the Moonlight. When I heard that song, I pictured Wiccans or some other new age group in a meadow in the forest having some sort of ritual. I thought, Suppose an ordinary person became somehow involved with such a group by fate, not by choice. So I created Melody Trent, a young widow, who falls in love with a psychic, Michael Ellul. But, who is this Michael? I decided to make him a thousand year old sorcerer who had been granted this extended life by a demon. I figured that Melody should have a rival for Michael's affection, so I created Morgaine Fabiano, a witch. I threw in some other complications such as Isaac the robot and soon I had a novel, which I titled Dancing in the Moonlight.

When I found a publisher for it, it was an E-book publisher, Renaissance E-Books. The publisher thought it was too long for an E-book. She wanted me to split it into two novels, which I did. They became the first two novels in the series, Morgaine and Michael, and Morgaine and Melody.

I was not quite satisfied with the ending. I thought to myself, What is going to happen when Melody ages and Michael remains youthful? It seems like he would disappear from her life after a while. Perhaps he would seek a means to restore her youth so that she would remain his lover and companion through the long centuries. And what would Melody do when he disappears? Hunt for him, of course. Well, she couldn't do this herself, so she hires Raven Lenore, a tough PI and Wiccan (a witch to catch a wizard). And of course, Morgaine has to fit into the story somehow. She returns as demon in order to somehow regain the love of Michael. Mix in a meglomaniac out to steal Michael's robot, and viola, you have Morgaine and Raven, a suspense thriller.

In the next novel, I told the story of how Morgaine became a witch in the first place, and how she met Michael for the first and second times, and from her point of view, why she did the things she did. Alas, this also turned out to be too long and had to be split into two books, Morgaine and Gretchen, and Morgaine and Asmodeus.

As a writer of science-fiction and fantasy, one of the things that's great fun to write about is the end of the world. I used the Book of Revelations of the Bible as a sort of outline plus some stuff from the internet about Armageddon, included the possibility of earth being struck by a gigantic meteorite, threw in Frankenstein, Dracula and various demons, bad guys, aliens and other strange characters. And of course the schemes of Morgaine played a big part. This weird mix became Morgaine and Armageddon.

At that point, I thought I was done with Morgaine and company. But then I thought, With all the strange things that had happened at Moonwood (Michael's mansion in the country), it would make a great background for a haunted house story. So I invented two new characters, a young engaged couple, Tom and Bridget, who were hired as contractors to repair the mansion. Of course, Morgaine and various demons and ghosts make life at Moonwood hell for the couple. I called this book Morgaine and Moonwood. My sequal to this is what happens after Bridget has the baby that she conceived when she was raped by the demon Asmodeus. This was to be the final book of the series and was called Morgaine and Nicholas. Nonetheless, I followed it up with Morgaine and the Necromancer.

Armageddon in Science Fiction

One of the most reoccurring themes in science fiction is the end of the world, or at least the end of civilization. It is not surprising since there are many ways that this could actually come about. Also, prophets have been predicting catastrophic disasters from the time men learned to speak to each other. Two popular ones lately are global warming and an asteroid strike. So we have a choice of drowning when the ice caps melt or being smashed to atoms by a big rock.

For a while, when a few people caught bird flu in Asia, pandemics were all the rage. In the latter half of the twentieth century, everyone was betting on an all-out atomic war, but that fizzled when the cold war ended. Recently, I read article about a scientist who said we could all die from a burst of gamma ray radiation from a nearby supernova explosion. As the clock struck midnight ushering in the year 2000, all the computers were supposed go mad because they only had the last two digits of the year and could not distinguish between the twentieth and twenty-first century (which to some people did not start until 2001 anyway.)

Anyway, science fiction authors love to write about Armageddon of one sort or other. Here are some of my personal favorites. There are two by John Brunner. The first is Stand on Zanzibar where civilization is brought to an end because of overpopulation. Overpopulation as threat seems to be no longer in vogue. I guess because there are so many ways of dealing with overpopulation. For example, nuke the excess or give everybody a gun and give them leave to hunt and kill everybody they hate.

The second book by Brunner is The Sheep Look Up which is about pollution. We are pretty certain that is the most likely end that we face.

There are many atomic war novels. These were especially popular during the cold war years. The funniest was the movie Doctor Strangelove, where a deranged general starts world war three because of his erectile dysfunction. I also like the novel On the Beach by Nevil Schute, which was also made into a good movie. In this novel, the last people on earth after an atomic war are living in Australia waiting to die from the radioactivity produced by all those hydrogen bombs going off. Probably my all time favorite about a post apocalyptic world is Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter Miller where a monk finds an artifact from our civilization after civilization has gone back to the dark ages.

One of the more interesting ways that the human race comes to an end is a little known book called The Black Corridor by Michael Moorcock. In this short novel, bigotry runs wild so that everyone kills everyone else that is different from himself or herself. It's a real chiller. I got goose bumps reading it.

Invasions by aliens is another possibility that could end the human race. My favorite is Footfall by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle, where the invaders look like elephants.

An old movie that's fun is When Worlds Collide where a group of scientists and a chosen few race to build a spaceship to escape from a collusion between earth and another planet. The one thing I never quite understood was where the planet they were headed for was located

I liked the TV miniseries The Stand by Stephen King as the survivors of a pandemic meet up at the cabin of an old woman and go fight the devil in Las Vegas.

Of course there are many more great science fiction novels and stories about the Apocalypse, but those were some of my personal favorites, because they each have a slightly odd slant to the end of the world.

I have written one novel about Armageddon myself. It is called Morgaine and Armageddon and has a lot of stuff in it based loosely on The Book of Revelations of the Christian Bible. If you are interested, it is in E-book format and can be obtained from most online E-book sellers such as Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

Armageddon

Is it just me, but doesn't it seem that horrendous disasters have been more frequent in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries? The twentieth century saw a world wide flu epidemic, two world wars, the holocaust, mad dictators who murdered millions, the invention of the atom and hydrogen bombs, the brink of a full scale nuclear war, famines in Africa, pollution, global warming and much more, not to mention natural disasters such as earthquakes and hurricanes. The first six years of the twenty-first century are not starting out much better.

Could it be that the End of Days is at hand? Prophets have been predicting it for a long time. How can we know when it near? Here is my interpretation of Christian Bible prophetic sources related to current events.

The Bible contains many prophecies about the future. The New Testament in particular talks extensively about the return of Jesus Christ to this earth. This is usually called his "second coming." The Gospel of Matthew, Chapter 24, is devoted to this topic, as is much of the book of Revelation, and Thessalonians 4:16-18.

One day the disciples came to Jesus and were given a private briefing regarding the signs before his return and of the end of the age, Jesus replied: "Watch out that no one deceives you. For many will come in my name, claiming, 'I am the Christ, ' and will deceive many. You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of birth pains. Matthew 24:3-8

Did this predict the two world wars, the famines in Africa and the many disastrous earthquakes in the past hundred years?

There will be signs in the sun, moon and stars. On the earth, nations will be in anguish and perplexity at the roaring and tossing of the sea.

Is this about the recent spate of hurricanes?

Then they will deliver you to tribulation, and will kill you, and you will be hated by all nations on account of my name. At that time many will fall away and will deliver up one another and hate one another. Many false prophets will arise and will mislead many.

I don't know about the first part, but doesn't it seem that there are a lot false prophets around. Preachers who pretend to be Christian but preach hate. Recently a famous televangelist told his listeners to pray for someone's death and later stated that a certain dictator should be assassinated. I haven't heard of any exceptions or clauses to the commandment "Thou shalt not kill."

Mark 13:14-28: But when you see the abomination of desolation standing where it should not be then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. And let him who is on the housetop not go down, or enter in, to get anything out of his house; and let him who is in the field not turn back to get his cloak. But woe to those who are with child and to those who nurse babes in those days! But pray that it may not happen in the winter. For those days will be a time of tribulation such as has not occurred since the beginning of creation which God created, until now, and never shall. And unless the Lord had shortened those days, no life would have been saved; but for the sake of the elect whom He chose, He shortened the days. And then if any man shall say to you, Lo, here [is] Christ; or, lo, [he is] there; believe [him] not: For false Christs and false prophets shall rise, and shall shew signs and wonders, to seduce, if [it were] possible, even the elect. But take ye heed: behold, I have foretold you all things. But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, And the stars of heaven shall fall, and the powers that are in heaven shall be shaken. And then shall they see the Son of man coming in the clouds with great power and glory. And then shall he send his angels, and shall gather togetherhis elect from the four winds, from the uttermost part of the earth to the uttermost part of heaven.

Could the references to "the stars of heaven shall fall" be a reference to the collision by a giant meteor or comet that astronomers say is inevitable. In 2004, a small near-Earth asteroid (NEA), made the closest approach to Earth ever recorded. The object, designated 2004 FH, was roughly 30 meters (100 feet) in diameter and passed just 43,000 km (26,500 miles, or about 3.4 Earth diameters) above the Earth's surface on March 18th at 5:08 PM EST. On average, objects about the size of 2004 FH pass within this distance roughly once every two years. Most of these small objects pass by undetected. This particular close approach is unusual only in the sense that scientists knew about it.

A recently rediscovered 400-meter Near-Earth Asteroid (NEA) is predicted to pass near the Earth on 13 April 2029. The flyby distance is uncertain and an Earth impact cannot be ruled out. The odds of impact, presently around 1 in 300, are unusual enough to merit special monitoring by astronomers, but should not be of public concern. In all likelihood, the possibility of impact will be eliminated as astronomers track the asteroid.

If an asteroid between 30 - 400 meters actually strikes earth, how much damage would cause? It is estimated that the object that leveled forests in Tunguska, Siberia in 1908 was of this scale. Imagine if it hit a populated area.

If an asteroid of size 200 meters hit the ocean (which covers 70% of the Earth), the tsunami would inflict catastrophic destruction of coastal cities and substantial worldwide human casualties along coastlines. An asteroid of one kilometer size striking the Earth would cause a dust cloud which would block out sunlight for at least a year and lead to a deep worldwide winter, exhausting food supplies. The latter is what caused the dinosaur extinction, as well as other major extinctions in geologic time scales. Two hundred meter asteroid hits, far more common than the one kilometer or more strikes, do not show up much in geologic histories since over time their craters are obliterated by erosion.

On March 23, 1989, an asteroid with a kinetic energy of over 1000 one-megaton hydrogen bombs (i.e., about 50,000 times more powerful than the bomb dropped on Hiroshima) was passed very close to Earth. It was discovered by equipment that uses new technology. Named 1989FC, this asteroid was detected after its point of closest approach. Astronomers discovered it had passed as close as it did only after they calculated its orbital path backwards in time. This event brought near Earth asteroids into the political arena.

Luke 21:20-24: But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then recognize that her desolation is at hand. Then let those in Judea flee to the mountains, and let those who are in the midst of the city depart, and let not those who are in the country enter the city; because these are the days of vengeance, in order that all things which are written may be fulfilled. Woe to those who nurse babes in those days; for there will be great distress upon the land, and wrath to this people, and they will fall by the edge of the sword, and will be led captive into all the nations; and Jerusalem will be trampled underfoot by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.

Just think about what is happening in the Mideast these days, and the prophesy seems to refer to current and possible future events in that region. Also note the following prophesy:

Ezekiel 38: 5-7: Persia, Ethiopia, and Libya with them; all of them with shield and helmet: Gomer, and all his bands; the house of Togarmah of the north quarters, and all his bands: [and] many people with thee. Be thou prepared, and prepare for thyself, thou, and all thy company that are assembled unto thee, and be thou a guard unto them.

Ezekiel 39: 1-6: Therefore, thou son of man, prophesy against Gog, and say, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I [am] against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal: And I will turn thee back, and leave but the sixth part of thee, and will cause thee to come up from the north parts, and will bring thee upon the mountains of Israel: And I will smite thy bow out of thy left hand, and will cause thine arrows to fall out of thy right hand. Thou shalt fall upon the mountains of Israel, thou, and all thy bands, and the people that [is] with thee: I will give thee unto the ravenous birds of every sort, and [to] the beasts of the field to be devoured. Thou shalt fall upon the open field: for I have spoken [it], saith the Lord God. And I will send a fire on Magog, and among them that dwell carelessly in the isles: and they shall know that I [am] the Lord.

Although there is some disagreement among scholars exactly which modern nations this refers to, all the nations in the area where these ancient nations existed in Ezekial's time have mostly Muslim populations today, the extremists of which hate Israel and wish it destroyed.

Joel 3:14-15: The sun and the moon grow dark, and the stars lose their brightness

Matthew 24:29 The sun will be darkened, the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from the sky

Mark 13:24 But in those days, after that tribulation, The sun will be darkened, the moon will not give its light, and the stars will be falling from heaven

These verses seem to refer to nuclear winter, a condition caused by great clouds of dust to form that block out the sun for years, which in turn would cause plant life to fail. This condition could come about from either a full-scale nuclear war or a collision by a large asteroid.

Despite all of the above, the prophesies may not be referring to our modern era at all or may be referring to some future period. After all, Jesus told his disciples, "The lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of."

The sixth, seventh and eighth E-books in my Morgaine series are about a fictional Armageddon. They are Morgaine and Armageddon, Morgaine and Moonwood and Morgaine and Nicholas.

Angels

In art, angels are depicted as beautiful women, sometimes men, with wings. Is this what they really look like? Many people are under the impression that angels are the souls of humans, especially those who are saintly. Is this true? Or a fallacy? It is said that Medieval scholars argued about how many angels could fit on the head of a pin. What's the answer? Does everyone have a guardian angel? Does anyone? Are there evil angels? Are Satan and demons fallen angels? What the heck are angels, anyway? I hope to answer these questions with this article. My source is the Catholic Encyclopedia at New Advent.

The word "angel" stems from the Greek and Latin words for messenger. Literally, an angel is a "heavenly messenger." According to the article in the Catholic Encyclopedia, angels are spiritual beings intermediate between God and men. They are God's attendants and messengers. They function as His assistants. In the Bible they are usually sent to earth to bring messages to mankind.

In Jacob's vision, they are depicted as ascending and descending the ladder which stretches from earth to heaven. This would seem to indicate that they do not fly and hence have no use for wings.

According to the article's interpretation of the Bible, it implies that each individual has its "tutelary angel." This may mean the same as a "guardian angel," but it seems that there is some dispute of whether each individual has a guardian angel. An angel may also intercede with God for a person. The angels may also aid God in administering the material world.

Apparently there is a hierarchy in heaven. Cherubim are God's ministers. There are also beings called Seraphim. There is a mystic seven who stand before God. And there are Archangels. Exactly where each fit into the hierarchy is not clear. St. Gregory the Great wrote a treatise on the hierarchy which you can read in the Catholic Encyclopedia.

How many angels are there? The closest we get to a number is the word "prodigious."

Yes, there are bad angels, and Satan is their leader. Also mentioned in the Catholic Encyclopedia article are Behemoth and Leviathan.

In the Book of Revelation of the Bible, angels play a major role in this prophesy of the End of Days. In my fantasy series, the Morgaine Chronicles, these angels appear in Morgaine at Armageddon, whose plot is very loosely based on passages in The Book of Revelation.

Angels

Angels

In art, angels are depicted as beautiful women, sometimes men, with wings. Is this what they really look like? Many people are under the impression that angels are the souls of humans, especially those who are saintly. Is this true? Or a fallacy? It is said that Medieval scholars argued about how many angels could fit on the head of a pin. What's the answer? Does everyone have a guardian angel? Does anyone? Are there evil angels? Are Satan and demons fallen angels? What the heck are angels, anyway? I hope to answer these questions with this article. My source is the Catholic Encyclopedia at New Advent.

The word "angel" stems from the Greek and Latin words for messenger. Literally, an angel is a "heavenly messenger." According to the article in the Catholic Encyclopedia, angels are spiritual beings intermediate between God and men. They are God's attendants and messengers. They function as His assistants. In the Bible they are usually sent to earth to bring messages to mankind.

In Jacob's vision, they are depicted as ascending and descending the ladder which stretches from earth to heaven. This would seem to indicate that they do not fly and hence have no use for wings.

According to the article's interpretation of the Bible, it implies that each individual has its "tutelary angel." This may mean the same as a "guardian angel," but it seems that there is some dispute of whether each individual has a guardian angel. An angel may also intercede with God for a person. The angels may also aid God in administering the material world.

Apparently there is a hierarchy in heaven. Cherubim are God's ministers. There are also beings called Seraphim. There is a mystic seven who stand before God. And there are Archangels. Exactly where each fit into the hierarchy is not clear. St. Gregory the Great wrote a treatise on the hierarchy which you can read in the Catholic Encyclopedia.

How many angels are there? The closest we get to a number is the word "prodigious."

Yes, there are bad angels, and Satan is their leader. Also mentioned in the Catholic Encyclopedia article are Behemoth and Leviathan.

In the Book of Revelation of the Bible, angels play a major role in this prophesy of the End of Days. In my fantasy series, the Morgaine Chronicles, these angels appear in Morgaine at Armageddon, whose plot is very loosely based on passages in The Book of Revelation.