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Two profound books to read (besides my own)

Two profound books to read (besides my own)

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I received this email from my father and thought it was so profound, that I just had to post it and share it with everyone. The following words are my father’s, not mine, however I do agree with what he’s saying. My own words are the brief snippets in bold, encased in brackets “[ ]”. I wanted to share this with you for the same reason I am writing both “Mystical Force” and “Liberator: the People’s Guard” to help encourage you to think for yourself. As the “Complete Conversations with God” says, most people don’t want to think for themselves. That’s why they follow religion, people on social media and elect certain politicians because it requires no independent thought. We’ve seen it with these Trump supporters/Capitol rioters whose only defence seems to be “I was only following Trump’s orders.” When people choose not to think for themselves, it removes all responsibility from them (at least in their minds). Then they sit and wonder why their lives haven’t turned out the way they wanted. They’re left wondering “where, when, why, how did it all go so wrong?!” Again, as the “Complete Conversations with God” says, It all went wrong when you abandoned your mind, the greatest creative tool you were ever given. Now with my foreword completed, I give you the email I received, courtesy of my father:

“A Journey of Souls” A must read book for those interested in what happens when you pass over to the other side. Why am I recommending this book? Because it verifies, clarifies and explains the things my father-in-law [my maternal grandfather] told me after his visit to the other side [the afterlife/spirit world, call it whatever you like] after his heart attack. Doctors and scientists call it a “near death experience” because they can’t accept the fact that someone can die for a few minutes or 40 minutes or more and then be revived or come back because it’s not yet their time to leave the earth plain. Someone can be clinically dead for a few minutes but have spent hours, days, weeks, or even months in the spirit plain. Time has no relevance between the two realms.

After his heart attack, my wife [my mother] and I went up to visit him. My mother-in-law [my maternal grandmother] came to me and said “Dad wants to talk to you alone in the bedroom and lock the door” He was recuperating from his recent heart attack and so spent most of his time in bed. We had a nice long talk about his experience. He told me “I love my girls (he had five daughters [my mother and four aunts]) but they don’t mean anything to me. They’re not my family on the other side.” That statement intrigued me and this book explains it. There was a women in the book who when she passed over was expecting to be met by her father from this incarnation whom she loved and was very close to. Instead someone else met her and later she saw her father in the background. He eventually came up to her and greeted her, but explained that he could only stay briefly and she couldn’t follow him because she was not part of his family. Once she met her own family (soul group) and her memory of her previous lives returned to her, she understood and was happy to see all her friends and family in the spirit plain.

We had a nice long talk about how the church is all wrong and actually keeps people away from God. The Christian Bible has been rewritten so many time by various ecumenical councils to say what the Church leaders wanted in order to maintain control that it no longer has any relation to what Jesus taught 2000 years ago. For example, the Book of Joshua which is referenced in the Bible and was once part of the Bible has been removed because it told the truth and that was something the church leaders couldn’t allow. In it Joshua tells how Moses and his council (the leaders of the various tribes) decided that they needed a set of rules or laws to govern their people. They went up into the mountains and created a set of rules and decided that in order to give them some authority, they would say these were commandments from God. In “The Complete Conversations With God” (another book I recommend) God tells the author “There is no such thing as the Ten Commandments”.

AMORC (The Ancient Mystical Order Rosae Crucis) traces its origin to Mystery Schools established in Egypt during the reign of Pharaoh Thutmose III 1479 – 1425 BC. According to the Rosicrucian records after the incident at Calvary, Jesus went to the arcane school that the Essenes had at Mount Carmel and taught his wisdom to the students there. He lived a long life and when he passed, the buried him in a secret spot. Jesus did not die on the cross until some centuries after his death when Constantine had the Bible rewritten to say that Jesus died on the cross because the church needed a martyr. The current Christian Bible only has 12 disciples and they are all male. Whereas Jesus had over 120 disciples and almost half were women. The most prominent was Mary Magdalene his partner and wife. I don’t know what Constantine had against Mary or women, but he had the Bible rewritten to say that Mary was a prostitute and so the Roman Catholic churches campaign to subjugate women and relegate them to second class status and servants of man began. How is it that I’m familiar with Rosicrucian literature? I’ve been a member since 1975. [my father is a member, I am not. Also I wasn’t born until 1982].

In the “Complete Conversations with God” there are several discussions about the current bible. The author questions God about the bible, he quotes “Vengeance is Mine, sayeth the Lord” and God replies “I never said that. One of you made that up, and you believed it”. God also discusses about how he is portrayed in the bible. He says “These behaviors are the behaviors historically demanded of their subjects by monarchs – usually ego-maniacal, insecure, tyrannical monarchs at that.” He explains that the God in the bible does not represent Him at all. He tells the author to “Return to spirituality. Forget about religion”. When the author asks why, He replies “Because it is not good for you”. And that is obvious. One only has to look at countries where religion is dominant such as Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the Taliban in Afghanistan with their control over women. And then you have the Taliban’s Christian cousins the Roman Catholic church and the Evangelicals with their extreme conservative views on controlling women’s bodies. But everything discussed in the book matches what my father-in-law and I talked about.

These two books I recommend for your reading. Why? To make you think, to open your mind, to free your soul so that in can evolve, grow. You have free will. You can ignore this or you can read the books and make up your own mind. Either way makes no difference to me. God says to “Love everyone”, and I love everyone and wish the best for them. And some people I know who mistakenly sincerely believe that they are faithful Christians [“Conversations with God” even states that most so called Christians wouldn’t know Jesus if they bumped into him on the street, even those who wrote the Bible never met Jesus. The Bible was written hundreds of years after Jesus died], I wish the best for them. And the best thing that could happen to them is that they have the same beautiful life changing enlightening experience that my father-in-law had. What their reaction will be when they discover that their church has been misleading and lying to them I can’t say. But it will do them good to learn the truth.

(UPDATE) THE WORLD OF MYSTICAL FORCE: TAMAN KNIGHTS

(UPDATE) THE WORLD OF MYSTICAL FORCE: TAMAN KNIGHTS

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The Taman Knights are a monastic religious order originating from the Planet Thalia. The character of Shi-ria is a member of this organization.

BELIEFS AND PHILOSOPHIES:

The Taman is the energy and will of the universe and all things that exist within the universe.

– Quote from the book of Taman

The word “Taman” roughly translates as universe, energy, balance or whole. The universe is energy, specifically positive and negative energies called “the Kolri and the Koldar”. The word “Kolri” roughly translates as inner good or inner light, while “Koldar” means inner evil or inner darkness. These two forces are the only constants in the universe. They exist in all living creatures and shall always exist in perfect balance. Their belief is that good and evil exist in all people and in order to maintain balance in life one must use the Kolri (inner light) to control the Koldar (inner darkness) to maintain balance, peace and harmony in themselves and thus the universe. Without this balance the universe, according to their philosophy, will be thrown into chaos.

The Koldar gives the Taman strength, but thou cannot control this alone; for without the Kolri, the balance of goodness and light, one cannot hope to use the Koldar for good but it shall use thee for death and destruction.

– Quote from the book of Taman

According to their beliefs, a Taman knight draws their strength from the Koldar (their negative emotions: anger, aggression, hatred, selfishness) but it also states that such power is inevitably corrupting and will destroy you so one must first learn to use the Kolri (positive emotions: joy, love, compassion, selflessness) to control this inner darkness so its power can be used for constructive purposes rather than destructive ones. According to their teachings, the Koldar is too powerful and only a Taman Knight with the power of the Kolri to help them, can control the Koldar and use it’s dark powers for good instead of evil. When one uses the Koldar, they grow more powerful but due to their emotions it makes it more difficult to control their powers. When one uses the Kolri their powers may not be as strong but they have clarity so they know how to use patience and strategy to defeat an opponent instead of simply overpowering them by brute force alone. Those who succumb to the dark powers of the Koldar are known as Koldar Warriors (Dark Taman knights).

According to their philosophy, matter and energy are related. The Taman Knights teach that all matter is composed of protons, neutrons and electrons, which are composed of quarks, which are energy. Thus the entire universe is a giant ocean of energy. That energy is the Taman, an energy that they use to help protect the innocent and defend justice.

The Taman knights use the Taman for the pursuit knowledge and wisdom. For peace, harmony and also defend the innocent. The Taman is never to be used for aggression and attack, nor to gain power simply for the sake of gaining power.

– Quote from the book of Taman

Since all people have this inner darkness Taman knights are encouraged to control this with their inner light. This involves meditating to attain a calming state and focusing on positive reinforcement in both thought and action. Taman philosophy teaches to respect all living creatures and to resolve conflicts through peaceful means. It encourages listening, thinking and waiting rather than acting rash.

POWERS AND ABILITIES:

The powers and abilities of a Taman knight vary depending on the individual. Their level of training, experience and personal strength are all factors in determining how strong their abilities are. Like any skill, anyone can learn these powers, depending on how much time one spends developing it determines the extent of their powers, but it’s not the only factor. Just as one person may be more gifted in the arts than in mathematics for example, some people are more in tune with the Taman than others. The following is a general list of powers used by Taman knights.

Taman Alchemy:

Since they’re taught that matter and energy are interchangeable, Taman knights have the ability to transform energy directly into matter manifesting into a physical object. Usually this is used to create weapons for self defence, but it can be used to create other things such as tools or to repair a damaged object. Likewise it can also be used to turn matter back into energy (for example: disintegrating the bullets in a gun, thus rendering the weapon useless).

Taman or Kolri Heal:

The ability of a Taman Knight to quickly heal from injuries that would otherwise take much longer to recover from. The amount of time it takes one to heal from an injury depends on the severity of said injury. Thus if the wound is severe enough, they could die before healing themselves enough for their injury to be non life threatening. A Taman knight also cannot grow back a limb or body part that has been cut off or lost due to battle, injury or disease, though they can create cybernetic limbs via Taman Alchemy. This power also strengthens their immune systems but does not ensure they will never get sick.

Taman Enhancement:

The ability to use the energy of the Taman to run faster, jump higher and so on. This also allows them to function with less sleep than a normal person, go longer without eating and even survive in a thin atmosphere (thought they cannot survive without any atmosphere, such as in space). Despite this ability Taman knights cannot go without sleeping or eating for an indefinite period of time. This ability is to help them survive longer in a hostile environment and give them a better chance to escape it.

Gravity Manipulation:

The ability of a Taman Knight to slow ones decent when falling, thus allowing them to jump/fall from heights which would otherwise kill them. It also allows them to slow other falling objects giving them time to rescue others or prevent themselves from being crushed by falling debris. They cannot however make themselves or other persons/objects independent of gravity.

Taman Reading:

Equivalent to what we known as E.S.P. More specifically: clairvoyance, clairaudience, clairsentience, precognition, retro cognition and empathic abilities. In other words, it allows them to see events that have already happened or events that have not yet transpired. They also have the ability to sense the emotional state of others, as well as to tell if someone is lying. This power is generally used by placing themselves into a meditative trance and focusing on a specific person, object or event.

My first professional review, courtesy of Literary Titan

My first professional review, courtesy of Literary Titan

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Image courtesy of Literary Titan (thanks again for the review)https://literarytitan.com/2022/01/19/mystical-force-vol-1-stranger-in-a-strange-land/

The reviews are in! Well technically, ‘review’ since I’m focusing on one. That and “the review are in” isn’t grammatically correct, but I digress. I’ve gotten my first professional review of volume one of my series. Below is the review of my first book from Literary Titan, my thanks to them for such a glowing review by the way, you can read it here, or click on the link to read the review on Literary Titan’s page itself. If you prefer, you can click the video link below to listen to me read the review, or visit my Youtube page and listen to it there. Either way, you’ve got plenty of options to choose from. Anyway, on with the review:

“Mystical Force: Vol. 1 Stranger in a Strange Land is the first book of this new and exciting fantasy adventure series written by Craig Weidhuner. This gripping story begins with the prophecy that a “chosen one” would bring destruction to the land. Meanwhile, Zolida is convinced that if she summons someone “not from this world,” that person can help save Earth. So Zolida performs the summoning ritual, bringing Shi-ria, a Taman Knight, to Earth from another world.

Once on Earth, Zolida and Shi-ra form a team with friends of Zolida in order to fight off those that are causing harm. Unfortunately, another group of humans is determined to get rid of them for their “ungodly” powers. If that wasn’t enough, a sorceress named Scarlet Knightwalker believes that if the chosen one meets the one not from this world, the meeting will set off a disastrous chain of events. Shi-ria must learn why Zolida is so determined to have her meet the chosen one and what fate Scarlet Knightwalker fights so vehemently against.

This novel builds conflict quickly and with a lot of action. Readers will be catapulted into the adventure from the opening pages. The author provides detailed world-building at the beginning of the story that gives readers a good understanding of where the different characters come from. As this is the first book which sets up the Stranger in a Strange Land saga, this is to be expected. Even though we are given this abundance of details the author always delivers the information within the action of the story so that it flows organically and ensures readers stay engaged even though facts and activity are coming in equal measure. These opening chapters do a great job of building up the tension in the story around upcoming conflict. This high level of tension around the conflict is carried through the novel with a plot and action that is always moving.

Mystical Force: Vol. 1 Stranger in a Strange Land is a riveting fantasy adventure novel that consistently engages readers. This is a fantastic starting point for a genre blending series that takes modern earth and inserts some intriguing science fiction ideas to create a page-turning adventure.”

– Literary Titan, Mystical Force: Vol. 1 Stranger in a Strange Land

I am grateful to the people at Literary Titan for their review of my book, though regarding the part about setting up “the Stranger in a Strange Land saga”, I personally refer to the series, or saga by the name “Mystical Force”. “Stranger in a Strange Land” was simply the title of the first book. However given the wonderful review they gave my book I can’t say I’m upset by this, just pointing that out. Obviously I should have explained that better, I blame myself for those misunderstandings.

Anyway, my thanks once again to the good people at Literary Titan for such a glowing review! My thanks as well to my editor Tereza for helping me to ensure the story “flows organically and ensures readers stay engaged”. By don’t just take their word for it, if you haven’t already done so, check out my series for yourself. And remember volumes 2 and 3 are also out now. Plus volume 4: Many are 1, 1 is 0 will be coming within the next few months. If you like the books, make sure to give them good reviews on Amazon, Google and so on. And if you didn’t like them, lie and give them good reviews anyway (I promise I won’t tell anyone)!

My new vlog, or audio podcast with images (call it whatever you like)

My new vlog, or audio podcast with images (call it whatever you like)

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About a week ago I received an email from one of my followers who suggested adding an audio podcast version of my blogs to my website. Firstly, I’d like to thank them for the suggestion as it’s a great way to help reach a larger audience. I’ve spoken with the people at Tellwell (my publisher) who have a team that also manage my website. And we’ve decided the best course of action is to take my blogs and turn them into vlogs, which I can post on my YouTube channel then embed them in my website.

Thus I’m here today to announce the launch of my new audio blogs, or technically vlogs I should say. They’re nothing overly elaborate just me reading what I post with some simple graphics being shown, thus you can listen to them from my website or if you prefer subscribe to my YouTube channel (don’t forget to click the notification button) and you can listen to them directly from there. The people managing my website told me this would be easier than uploading podcasts or videos directly onto my site as doing so would take up a lot of bandwidth. Thus over the next couple of months I’ll be re-uploading some of my previous blogs with the embedded video. Going forward I also intend to do the same for future blog entries. While I will try to maintain my schedule of posting once a month, this process will take some time, thus I apologize if I don’t have a new blog post per month like I usually do.

While I’ve looked into text-to-speech for my vlogs, I’ve decided to record myself reading my posting. Doing so, at least in my opinion, gives it a more natural sound and feel as opposed to the artificial recording of a computer algorithm. I did a test with one of my older posts and the voice sounded awkward, pausing at the wrong times or leaving too short a gap between sentences, making two sentences sound like one really long one. Also the problem is that since I write fiction and my posts mention various fictional characters and or locations, an algorithm doesn’t always get the pronunciation of the names accurate.

I should also note that this doesn’t mean I’ll no longer be writing blog posts anymore. I’ll still be writing them. Once I’ve finished I’ll then be making recordings of myself reading them. Since I currently write part time (a have a full time warehouse job) it will take some time to record and make simple video for my vlogs. As stated above, I will try to maintain my schedule of posting once a month but can’t guarantee that I will always have new posts each month or that they’ll be on a regular basis. I will do my best and again apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. I thank you all for your patience and for reading my postings. I hope you enjoy hearing me read my postings in the future.

An Amusing Little Anecdote

An Amusing Little Anecdote

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Here’s an interesting anecdote that happened to me on Wednesday Dec. 8th. I woke up having seen angel numbers, one of which told me to keep focused on positive affirmations and to be careful what I wish for. At the time I wasn’t sure what it meant, I soon found out later that day at work. First let me explain that while my career, my passion is that of an author, I currently work full time in a warehouse for a liquidation company. I always tell people, the warehouse position is my job, I do that because I get paid to. My writing is my passion, I do that because I love it. That morning someone delivered three boxes of 12 items called “Snowman kits”, along with the necessary invoice for the merchandise. While I’m not the receiver, I none the less accepted the delivery and signed for it. I left the three boxes by the shipping door and text the owner to let him know not only of the delivery, but that I left the envelope with the invoice in his inbox. Having spent most of my life catastrophizing, a bad habit I picked up from my mother, I immediately began imagining arguments ensuing between me and my employer. Him asking why I left them by the shipping door instead of putting them in a specific location, or why I didn’t give them to a specific employee, then I imagined myself giving my arguments to defend my actions: “it’s not my job/I’m not the receiver around here” and so on. What I got instead was a pleasant surprise.

When I sent the text to the owner rather than simply say “three boxes” I specifically said, “Snowman kit” (which was written on the box) and put those words in quotes. Similarly, in my text I put the word “in box” in quotes, without even thinking about it honestly. When the owner came in he told me he received my text and it gave him a laugh at my putting “Snowman kit” and “in box” in quotations. He told me he was tempted to text back “thank you” (the words in quotations as well). Had an incident like this happened to me five years ago, I probably would have been angry at him and took it as an insult, as if he were mocking me. However, thanks to my meditation and my reading, and subsequent re-reading of Conversations with God coupled with my spiritual growth, instead of getting angry I found myself laughing at the incident and thinking to myself that it actually was kind of funny.

It was after this that I realized what the message from my angels meant. It was a reminder of the law of attraction. Not only that “like attracts like” but how our thoughts radiate out into the universe, which responds in kind. Thus when we get angry, when we catastrophize and assume the worst, all we do is bring about the very things we fear are going to come true. I now see imagining the worst case scenario is just that, something we imagine, a horrible incident which plays out only in our minds. Usually what happens in reality is nothing by comparison. Fortunately I have learned enough that when I start thinking this way, I can now catch myself catastrophizing and stop that thought process.

It also showed me how much growth I’ve made as a spiritual being. As I stated above, had such an incident happened to me years ago, I probably would have taken offence to his remark, thinking it was meant as an insult, when it really wasn’t. I probably would have stewed in anger over it for several days, where as now, I can laugh it off and think nothing of it. I find now when encounter those things that still get under my skin, I might dwell on it for about half an hour or a few hours off and on before finally letting it go. As Conversations with God says, nothing in life happens by coincidence. All of our life experiences -whether we consider them ‘good’ or ‘bad’- happen in order for us to experience who we really are, who we choose to be, whom we decide to create ourselves as. This incident that happened on that morning was to show me, to remind me of how much I’ve grown as a spiritual being. To show me that events of our lives are neither ‘good’ nor ‘bad’ they’re simply events, it’s how we react to them, the labels we specifically apply to them which makes us define them as ‘good’ or ‘bad’.

Anti-social media:

Anti-social media:

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One of the things I’ve been debating for a while now is whether or not to expand my presence on social media. Aside from my LinkedIn account, I have no other social media platforms that I currently use. I used to have a Facebook account years ago, long before I decided to start publishing my writings. I stopped using it because I kept getting irrelevant notifications, even after going into the settings and changing it to only show me notifications that involve me. Eventually I got rid of my Facebook account because it was becoming an annoying distraction. Ironically I considered reactivating it when I published my first book. When I went to do so, they asked for identification to prove I was who I claimed to be. When I submitted my driver’s license photo with necessary the info (blocking out the information that wasn’t necessary) I got a message back saying it wasn’t valid. So I simply replied “if you don’t want me on Facebook, then fine. I’ll go elsewhere.”

I bring this story up because of the issues the world has with social media. As an author I realize that such platforms (Facebook, Twitter and so on) are useful tools to help promote my work and build buzz around my writing, however as many articles have written social media has also brought many problems with it. As we’ve unfortunately seen, when people can hide behind the anonymity of a computer or a smart phone, it tends to bring out the worst aspects of people, causing them to say things that they probably wouldn’t in public. I remember hearing a story about how conservative social media platforms (like Parler and Frankspeech for example) haven’t been doing well because conservatives don’t want to share ideas with like minded people, but rather engage in flame wars with liberals on Twitter and other such sites.

Another problem with social media is that it’s all too easy to post misinformation without the need for fact checking. How many times (during the course of this pandemic) have we seen people spreading misinformation on the virus, vaccines and so on simply because someone else online said it and no one bothered to question it.

The reason for this is due to the fact that our society actively discourages people from thinking for themselves. And the reason for this is because most people don’t actually want to think for themselves. To quote Conversations with God, “most people don’t want to have to think. They elect leaders, they support governments, they adopt religions requiring no independent thought. ‘Make it easy for me. Tell me what to do.’… Classes in critical thinking, problem solving and logic are considered by many parents to be threatening. They want such classes out of the curriculum.” Look no further than the debates raging across America about Critical Race Theory. How many parents no nothing about it (or even what it is) yet don’t want it taught in school out of fear that it’s “bad” for children. Incidentally, how many of these people don’t even have children? Why? Because if we teach children to think for themselves, they might develop ideas and opinions that are different than ours. Even worse, they might point out the mistakes our society has made and find a new solution, one that would prove the way we’ve been doing things has been wrong. As someone, I forget who, once said, “Nothing compels a [person] to argue harder than being proven wrong.”

All of this stems from the fear-based religions that the world has had for several thousand years. These religions mistakenly teach us that God gave us free will so that we could blindly follow and obey God’s word, lest we face eternal damnation. Thus why we don’t want people to think for themselves because if we all thought critically, we’d realize that such a plan (God’s so called ‘plan’) is one where failure is the only option. How can God expect us to blindly follow his will when he gave us the ability to make our own choices? Such a plan is ultimately self defeating.

So the question then becomes, “How do I deal with social media platforms that foster division and spread misinformation?” The first step is to limit the amount of time spent on such platforms. Use them when necessary, but when your phone “pings” with a notification, don’t drop everything and rush to see what it is. Stop constantly checking to see what [Person X] posted or if they posted anything recent. If your life revolves around what others are doing/saying/thinking all the time, then arguably your not really living your own life, but trying to live someone else’s life.

Secondly, always remember to THINK FOR YOURSELF. Never blindly accept what you see online as the truth “So and so posted ‘X’ online, so it must be true!” Use your own instincts, your own judgments to decide that for yourself. Even this blog. If you agree with what I’m saying, then I thank you. If however you don’t agree with me, then I hope you find a better way, one that serves you better (and I mean that sincerely). Ultimately, the only real question we have to constantly ask ourselves in life is “Does this serve me?” If this (whatever “this” may be) serves you then believe it, use it, make it work for you. If it doesn’t then find a new “this”. One that does serve you. Remember, thinking should never be the enemy. Because again, if we weren’t meant to think critically, to question everything, why would we even have the ability to do so?

Happy Father’s Day

Happy Father’s Day

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Being Father’s Day it seems only appropriate that I dedicate today’s blog entry to my father Norbert Weidhuner, for if not for him the world of Mystical Force wouldn’t exist. My father wasn’t a professional writer. I remember he once told me that when he was in university he had to write an essay on “the sex life of two ping-pong balls” (which according to him, he got an F on). But while he may not have been great at writing he was an avid reader of science fiction and fantasy. My father has a huge array of sci-fi and fantasy novels from various authors: Issac Asimov, Theodore Sturgeon and many more whom I can’t remember at the moment. Growing up he also read a lot of comic books. Spider-man, Batman, The Phantom and many more. He was also a fan of various sci-fi movies/shows from Doctor Who to Star Trek to Star Wars and so on. Needless to say he passed on his love of sci-fi and fantasy to me when I was growing up.

It was this love of speculative fiction that would serve as my inspiration to become a writer. Like many children, I had many action figures that I used to play with as a child. Everything from DC and Marvel superheroes, to Star Trek, to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and even Godzilla. Growing up, I used to make up my own mini movies in my mind with those action figures and I guess I never really grew out of it. The only difference now is that I’ve replaced those action figure characters with my own characters, that and the stories and character motivations have matured over the years. Either way, had my father not shown any interest in speculative fiction, odds are I might not have shown interest in those genres myself, or at least probably wouldn’t have come up with any of my writing. One the most exciting moments in my life was when I saw my father read the first volume of Mystical Force for the first time.

In addition to my love of science fiction and fantasy, it’s thanks to my father that I’ve grown spiritually, which in turn has also influenced Mystical Force. I remember telling me how when he was a child he went to the Church of Religious Science (no relation to Scientology, just want to get that out of the way). He told me how the priest said the Bible was divided into three parts: The first part was the ‘begats’. “So and so begat so and so. Who begat so and so. Who begat so and so.” According to the priest that part was “95% accurate”. The second part was the ‘history’, the story of Moses leading the twelve tribes to wander the desert before entering the “land of milk and honey”. According to the priest, that part was “95% hogwash”. The third part is the ‘metaphysical’. According to the priest, “you are Moses. The 12 tribes represent 12 facets of your personality and before you can enter ‘the land of milk and honey’ the parts of you that think it’s a terrible place have to die off so you can be ‘reborn’.” (I apologize if what I’m saying doesn’t make sense, it’s speaking in metaphors).

In addition to this, I remember my father telling me how when he was in university, it was still a sin to eat fish on Friday, until shortly later when the church said it was no longer a sin. Finding it odd that something that was a sin was no longer a sin, caused him to read up on religion and spirituality. He told me how after reading up on various religions he came to the conclusion that Zen Buddhism was the closet thing to the actual truth. Dad always said that God was like the force from Star Wars; “an energy field created by all living beings. It surrounds us, penetrates us. It binds the [universe] together.” The only difference, according to my father was that in reality there is no “dark side”. Having read Conversations with God, I know this to be true as the book confirms that “good” and “evil”, “right” and “wrong” are human creations. Just look at the state of the world, we can’t even agree as a society what thoughts and actions are “right” and “wrong”. Not to mention the simple fact most religions ignore: Why would God give us free will if we’re supposed to blindly follow his teachings without question?

In conclusion I just wanted to take this Father’s day to thank my father for what he taught me about life and how he influenced my tastes in media and writing. Thank you dad! I love you!

How to Succeed When Others Want You to Fail

How to Succeed When Others Want You to Fail

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The other night something unusual happened. I was reviewing my manuscript for my latest book (Mystical Force Vol. 3) looking over the notes my editor gave me and making adjustments to the story. My brother approached me, commenting (with obvious disapproval) about two things:

1. that I seemed to be “racing” to get volume 3 out having just finished volume 2; as if I’m in a competition with someone to get the next book out faster.

2. I should take time to rest.

To address the first point, I don’t know who he thinks I’m racing with, I write because I enjoy it, because it’s my passion and I am grateful to the people at Tellwell publishing as they’ve given me the means for which to share my work with others. While many people ask me “How’s your book doing?”, in other words, “How many copies did you sell? How much money have you made off of it?” The answer is, it’s not about the money. I do this because I love it. If I can help inspire someone through my writing, that makes it all worth while. Whether I sell a million copies or only one is irrelevant. I’ve often heard people say “money is the root of all evil” but I disagree. Money is a tool. One that can be put to either beneficial or destructive means. The more money you have, the more you have to give.

To address the second point, when he says I should take some time to relax, what he really means is I should stop doing what I love, my life’s purpose/my soul mission if you will, because he doesn’t approve. He outright told me how it irritates him when I’m talking with the people at Tellwell about my books. A few years ago he wrote his own book which he self published by putting it on Amazon. He then did nothing to promote the book, he even told me how he secretly didn’t want anyone to buy it, and when his book didn’t sell, he angrily removed it complaining about how no one bought it. In other words, he was mad because he got exactly what he wanted. I think that’s the problem with my brother. It’s not the money, it’s the “inspiring others”, or perhaps I should say his problem is letting other people out there know I exist. He has Aspergers and is so anti-social that it seems it’s not enough for him that the world doesn’t even know he exists, but the world must also never know that I exist. Now part of this is due to our parents. My mother was always a pessimistic (arguably even a little paranoid) who was of the attitude that “You can’t win, it’s pointless to even try. Failure is the only option. The whole world is out to get you.” My father, while having a much more positive outlook on life, was a little too overprotective of him. Every time something or someone would upset my brother, my father would always respond with “He has Aspergers”; as in, “He can’t do/understand X.” In other words, my father spend his life making up excuses for my brother not to have to do anything. Unfortunately this resulted in my brother growing up to living at home on disability, making nothing of his life. Due to our mother, he became so fearful of life and other people, he chose to give up his talents and dreams because he’s too afraid to even draw attention to himself from anyone outside myself and our parents. He learned, that when faced with challenge to turn, runaway and hide. Due to our father, he learned that when he runs and hides from opportunity, he doesn’t have to even make up excuses to justify it, dad will do it for him.

This demonstrates the difference between my brother and myself. While I once felt the same way he did, I chose to face my fears and have been working to overcome them. My brother instead chose to completely surrender to them. I say all of this, not to insult or belittle my family (though knowing my brother, he’ so thin skinned that he’ll take this as a personal attack and my mother will simply dig in her heels and double down on her excuses to justify her pessimism) but instead to offer advice to others who’ve had similar family drama. My advice is: do what you love, even if your family doesn’t approve. I know this sounds so contradictory to what we’re often taught but I ask you this, “What is the use in pleasing others if doing so means denying yourself pleasure? What’s the use in making others happy if it only makes you miserable?”

Ask yourself this, “Does this serve me? Is this in my best interest? Does it benefit me?” I can’t answer that on behalf of my brother as he’s not me. He has his own life to live and must deal with whatever consequences result of his actions, or inactions. I can only answer for myself, and my answer is this: Doing what my brother wants and throwing away my dreams and aspirations because it makes him uncomfortable, does not serve me. It is not in my best interest, nor does it benefit me. Forgive me if what I’m about to say sounds cruel or selfish, but if it comes down to a choice between my family and doing what I love, what I’m passionate about, then I’ll choose my passion over my family. We were put here on Earth and given free will so we can make what we want of our lives, not what others expect us to do. Thus I say to you, if others (even your own family) don’t have your best interests at heart, then perhaps it’s best to cut them out of your life. I say this, not out of spite or malice, but for your own mental health and well being. As stated above, “What’s the use in making others happy if it only makes you miserable?” As Jake Ducey said, “I intend to feel good!” I intend to feel great! I intend to keep following my dreams and writing (and I’ve got many more stories to tell) and if my brother cannot accept that, then maintaining a relationship with my brother does not serve me. If he chooses to sabotage my soul mission, then I shall chose to cut him out of my life. Because having him in my life no longer benefits me nor is it in my best interest.

This may cause him to be upset or angry but in the end the only one who can resolve that problem is him. It’s not my place to run his life for him. This is the problem most people have. We want others to run our lives for us. This is why many turn to religion, or vote for certain politicians in elections. Because we don’t want to think for ourselves, we want others to do it for us. We want others to solve our problems for us. Sadly our society enforces this. How many times in your life have you been offered a choice by someone, only for them to be upset when you made the choice they didn’t want you to make. In the end, the only one who knows what’s best for you is yourself. So I say to you, do what feels right! Do what you love! Inspire others by doing so! Namaste.

Time to Blog Again

Time to Blog Again

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I must confess, one of the more difficult aspects of being a professional writer, at least for me is writing a monthly blog. I was reading an article on “The Internet Writing Journal” called, “The Authors Dilemma: To Blog or Not to Blog”, by Claire E. White. In it she said, “No longer is it sufficient to write a brilliant manuscript and manage to get it published. Authors now need to be excellent promoters of their own work. And for the intrinsically shy, that can be problematic.” How true indeed.

As she points out, “An entire industry is founded on the fact that people love to read about celebrities’ lives.” Obviously I’m the exception instead of the rule, but then again I’ve always been the type of person to go against the grain. For example: I was in high school in the late 90’s and was listening to the music of my parent’s generation (60’s and 70’s) and had virtually no interest in what was popular at the time (ironically having heard a small sample of what’s popular today, I now find myself looking back on the popular music of the 90’s and thinking “You know this wasn’t so bad after all”). Similarly, I was the guy who grew my hair long at a time when all the other teenage boys were shaving their heads (Maybe they just couldn’t wait for male pattern baldness to set in?) Either way, the point I’m trying to make is that while others may love to read about celebrities’ lives, I often had little interest in such things. When others would ask me about this celebrity scandal, or say how so-and-so said this/did that, My thoughts were always, “Yeah, so what? I doesn’t affect me personally, so why should I care?” Maybe that’s why it’s not easy for me to discuss my personal, daily life. Since I have little interest in the private lives of others, I think “Who’d be interested in reading about what I made for dinner, or where I went driving the other day?”

Another factor that always made me wary of blog posting is the “Issue-Oriented Blog”. Let’s face it, in today’s world, we’ve become so politicized, that it seems you can’t say anything online without someone starting a flame war because you’ve offended them by committing the heinous crime of…having an opinion that’s different from theirs (duh duh duh!!!, cue dramatic musical sting). As Claire E. White pointed out in her above mentioned post, “You could always avoid personal entries and talk about issues or other people. Of course, that leads to another problem: exposing political views that your reader may not agree with. Some authors willingly talk about pet issues, some don’t give any clues as to whether they are liberal, conservative, or independent when it comes to politics. Consider your readership and how strongly you feel about your views, and choose accordingly.” How often do we see that in online comments sections. Ironically, how often do we see people, regardless of whether they’re liberal or conservative, attack the other side for something their political party has said or done, yet when their side says/does the exact same thing, they’ve got a million different excuses as to why it’s okay. Both side are in essence saying the exact same thing, “You have no right to express your opinion, but I have every right to express mine! Because mine are the correct ones!”

Of course, the true irony of all of this is that in my hesitation to face such tasks, I am actually doing just that. Blogging about my personal life and how no one is interested in hearing about my personal life. Blogging about starting flame wars over issues, while indirectly making an issue out of that (my apologies to those of you who wanted to point out my hypocrisy since I’ve beaten you to it).

That just leaves one final option for me. Talk about my fictional universe I’ve created. For it’s not just Mystical Force, but I’ve got several series in the works that will be coming out in the future. As much as I’d love to tell you everything, I’d be giving away spoilers. Not to mention running the risk of information overload. Imagine if you were back in early 1977, Star Wars is about to premiere in a few months. Knowing nothing about the series you ask George Lucas what it’s about and he goes into great detail about the entire franchise: the original trilogy, the prequel trilogy, the sequel trilogy, the ‘Old Republic’, the various TV series and so on. Again imagine this is early 1977; at this time, none of these things have come out yet. You’ve heard of Star Wars but no nothing about it other than it’s a new movie coming out. You’ve been overloaded with all this info on the fictional universe he created, yet most of what he’s told you doesn’t actually appear in that first film and won’t be revealed until many years later. Talk about giving away spoilers.

Either way, I’ve managed to fill my monthly blog quota and find something to talk about, so I hope you found it entertaining, or enlightening or at the very least helped you kill some time while your stuck at home due to the pandemic. So to conclude, I’d like to thank Claire E. White for her post giving me an idea to talk about, as well as “The Internet Writing Journal” for posting it. Who knows, maybe by doing this over and over again, I’ll get used to it and no longer feel uncomfortable talking about myself. After all, as the book Conversations with God said, “Life begins at the end of your comfort zone.”

Character Bio: Scarlet Knightwalker (contains spoilers)

Character Bio: Scarlet Knightwalker (contains spoilers)

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WARNING: The following contains spoilers, so if you DON’T want to know, STOP READING RIGHT NOW!!!

Scarlet Knightwalker is a mysterious woman who for reasons not yet know to our protagonists is adamant that Shi-ria be sent back home to her planet of Thalia and not get involved with people, or matters from Earth. While on the surface, one could assume she simply wishes for Shi-ria to be returned to her home, since she was brought to Earth against her will by a rival sorceress named Zolida, the truth is more complicated that that. In order to understand her motivations, one need to look back, or should I say ‘forward’ at the personal history of Scarlet Knightwalker.

In her youth, Scarlet Knightwalker was a bounty hunter with a strong sense of morals and honour. She made a living capturing dangerous criminals and bringing them to justice. She would never take a job for a shady employer, especially if said employer wanted her to kill her intended target. Whenever she arrested a criminal, she’d make sure they were safely handed over to the authorities to be punished for their crimes. She’d even risk her own life to protect said criminals until they were brought to justice. She was very brave and had a no nonsense attitude about her work. She would never hesitate to do the right thing or help those in danger.

What sets Scarlet Knightwalker apart from the others is that she’s not from this time, she’s actually from the future. [Before I go on, I should AGAIN specify the following contains spoilers, so if you don’t want to know what going to happen, then why did you ignore the warning at the top of the blog?] At some point in her past (or the future, from the perspective of the other characters) Shi-ria met (or should I say ‘will meet’) a teenage girl whom she would take as an apprentice. Eventually Shi-ria would die along with Noonien and Tokijin. The Order of the Cross, believing that all those, aside from members of their order, who have a ‘mystical force’ are servants of the devil, would be responsible for their deaths. This event will cause Shi-ria’s apprentice to turn evil and want revenge against the Order. This would also cause Mystic and Valerie Rose to turn against the Order and destroy them in retaliation. This would also cause Rose and Mystic to believe that all religion is evil and embark on a mission to destroy all religion and anyone who would try and stop them, even the various governments of the world. Eventually Mystic, Valerie Rose and Shi-ria’s apprentice would team up with others to take over the Earth and rule it like a totalitarian dictatorship. Like any dictatorship, they would round up, imprison and even execute those deemed ‘enemies of the people’. Some of those people would include friends and family of Scarlet Knightwalker.

Scarlet Knightwalker would end up going back in time in order to prevent all of this from happening. In the process of altering history, Knightwalker ended up being mortally wounded. This is why her outfit completely covers her from head to toe, save for a narrow slit around her eyes. It provides to dual benefit of hiding the various scars all over her body, as well as hide her face and to ensure no one accidentally recognizes her. Knightwalker’s injuries also left her crippled and near death. She was saved from this by a kind wizard and his student, a young mage named Zolida. They took Knightwalker into a pocket dimension and healed her. With time, Knightwalker was able to regain her mobility and ability to fight. This wizard then gave her magic staves which enabled her to use magic. Since Scarlet Knightwalker had no mystical force of her own. Thus her magic staves allowed her to use magic and give her an advantage both against other mages as well as overcome her crippling injuries. This caused some resentment from Zolida, who was already an apprentice to this wizard and became jealous of Knightwalker getting what Zolida perceived to be preferential treatment from their master. Zolida also grew jealous of the fact that she spend years learning magic only for her master to seemingly just give away magic powers to Knightwalker. Meanwhile, Scarlet Knightwalker vowed to ensure the future she came from would never come to pass. This is why Knightwalker has been covertly watching Shi-ria, and has been working behind the scenes to prevent Shi-ria from coming to Earth in the first place. Meanwhile Zolida, believing that Knightwalker can’t/shouldn’t fight fate, has been spending the years trying to undo all of Knightwalker’s efforts to alter history. Both for the above mentioned reason as well as simple jealousy.