Happy day of the birth of Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh in the womb of the Immaculate Virgin Mary!

In other words, MERRY CHRISTMAS!

It is the day of Christ's Mass. (Yes, originating with the Catholic church... one more reason, among many, to be grateful for the 2,000 year old rock upon which western civilization was founded.)

For those who don't believe in God, He still loves you. (Also, God exists, whether you believe or not.)

“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life." - John 3:16

God is in everything, and yet nothing can contain him fully, except for one who contained the Word of God...

And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth. - John 1:14

The Word of God, the Only-Begotten Son

God could have come into this world in flesh without any use of man, His creation. He made Adam and Eve and could as well have formed his own body with a thought. However, He is the God of perfect virtue and chose the most humble of forms through the most perfect of His creations by making Mary and preparing her throughout her life to be the perfect ark of the new covenant. 

The Word of God was given flesh in the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary when the Holy Spirit came upon her and sparked that conception into being. God chose to join with His creation in the most humble and meek way He could... as a baby. That is the first lesson of being holy. The other is that He created and molded the perfect parents so that He could demonstrate perfect obedience, even as they showed deference to Him as God made flesh. Imagine the honor and the light in His presence that would inspire perfect virtue. Mary and Joseph are far beyond in virtue and meekness what any other people could be. They were in the presence of God and knew it. They weren't ordinary people.

I can hardly conceive of what they must have felt but come close every time I accept the Eucharist worthily (in reverence and contrition and without grave sin) in Holy Communion.

God created all the heavens and the earth and everything in them by speaking it (His Word) into being. He can do whatever He wants.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it. - John 1:1-5

ID 143887715 © Wideonet | Dreamstime.com

The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us...

Mary and Joseph went to Bethlehem for Joseph to complete the census ordered by the Roman emperor of that time. God chose Joseph and guided his life for this, not only because of his line to David and the promise of an eternal throne (there could have been many others) but for many other reasons we may never know. (And Joseph was not the father of Jesus but the stepfather by our definition, yet the male line was the recognized line in the culture of the time, and his lineage is recorded in the Bible in Matthew 1:1-17.)

One thing we do know is that God does nothing without meaning. Take the name of the city of Bethlehem. The old Hebrew name bêth lehem, meaning "house of bread", has survived till the present day. In its Arabic form, however, bêt lahm, it means "house of meat". (Catholic Encyclopedia) Jesus is the Bread of Life, made available to us in the Holy Eucharist since his implementing this sacrament in the Passover meal before his passion and death, his last supper.

"I am the bread of life. Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.” - John 6:48-51

His flesh is the bread of life (eternal life, not life on this world). The bread at the mass is made into the body, blood, soul, and divinity of Christ upon the priest saying the words of consecration.

Jesus also came for the purpose of being the final sacrifice to redeem the sins of man, which started in the Garden of Eden. That's a whole other explanation, which you can find online (and which many Protestants, without the guidance of the authority of the 2,000 years of Catholic doctrine and tradition from the apostles carried down through the ages, lack in full understanding, so I invite you to research Catholic sources).

Jesus came to complete the sacrifice, which is why He instituted Communion through the simple form of bread and wine before his passion and death. God gave us Him in this so we could continue to be close to Him to have everlasting life and mold our sinful hearts into his Sacred Heart. It purifies us and prepares us for eternal life... and we go deeper into that in Lent and Easter.

In the Beginning

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. - John 1:1

Then God said [...]  - Genesis 1:3

The Word of God was made flesh and given a unique human identity while still remaining wholly God, and every word Jesus spoke and His every deed are for our benefit--God is speaking directly to us on our level. 

However, not everything was recorded. It couldn't be. Every moment of thirty-three years of life and the events even before could not have been humanly possible to record. This is even noted at the end of the gospel of John, the beloved apostle who cared for Mary after the death of Jesus (because there were no other sons or daughters to care for her, and under Jewish tradition, a blood relative would have been duty-bound to care for their widowed mother):

Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name. - John 20:30-31

 

Why Islam is Collapsing w/ David Wood (video title)

Brian Holdsworth is a Canadian Catholic apologetics podcaster. David Wood's channel, as he explains in this interview, talks about the faults with Islam.

This is a long interview and the first half is an interesting explanation of what an antisocial personality is and what his life was like with such a defect, if one might call it that. It's given him an interesting perspective on the world. The second half focuses on the issues of Islam. I've watched his channel on occasion and learned a lot.

From Mohammad to Jesus: The Nikki Kingsley Story (video title)

the quiet strength of meekness

This is a great definition of what meekness actually is... strength with self-control.

"Blessed are the meek" is not a command to be harmless. It actually means you're capable of great strength.

Modern people equate "meekness" with weakness, timidity, and lack of backbone. This couldn't be further from the truth.

Standard lexicons on the other hand (e.g.,… pic.twitter.com/HYvBldnGQp

— Trad West (@trad_west_) December 21, 2025

In Starfire Angels: Forgotten Worlds, the characters often refer to L'Ni as having Feri pride, and he does, sort of. He really isn't prideful but meek by this definition. He has nearly perfect control over his emotions and doesn't show things outwardly getting to him, but only nearly perfect. He has his moments, but it takes a lot to get to him. He's also even tempered and modest of speech, never lies or denies the truth; he has most of the virtues that make him a worthy hero. 

He's not brash or a womanizer like many adventure heroes. He's a gentlemen in every sense, and he's been one of my favorite characters. He represents what a real man ought to be in temperament and principles, even recognizing a duty to protect those weaker than him, no matter the cost to himself. Part of that is his natural temperament and part is his training to not think about himself as much as the completion of a mission. He's been a center-point for me as a character in this series. The qualities that made him a good soldier of the enemy make him an even better heroic character fighting for the light. His superiors turned one of their greatest assets into their worst nightmare, and you'll see why in a big way in Book 21.

This post on X is what I've been seeing and hearing about what meekness really is, and it defines L'Ni pretty well.

God bless!

about the notes added in the first book of the Starfire Angels: Forgotten Worlds series

The nice thing about indie/self-publishing is being able to make updates to books and not having to live with errors forever.

Readers of this blog know already that I've been reading through my series for my own personal enjoyment and also for a refresher before writing the last few books. I've also mentioned that I've been fixing little errors... and then made HUGE fixes to Book 1, A NEW BEGINNING, to the point that it added 4,000 words and cleaned up a lot of issues that made me cringe when I really looked deeply into them. As a perfectionist, I couldn't let that remain, so I fixed the book, and a new version has replaced the old.

I've recently been thinking again about something left in a couple of reviews on Goodreads, about a reader having some difficulty getting into the book and another being confused. That was part of the impetus to take a deeper look at it. It was also the reason for adding the update notes in the beginning of the book in 2024 regarding the odd dialogue formats indicating alien languages being written for the audience to understand and what to expect of the series. (Yes, authors do pay attention to reader comments, and I appreciate those, especially if someone wants to send them to me directly, which is why I have my public email address in every book.)

Now, I've added another note to that area as a "2025 update" note, regarding the naming order. To me, being a scifi geek, I've seen plenty of alien names and adapt. However, with more "laypeople" (metaphorically speaking), including kids (since Starfire Angels: Forgotten Worlds is written so that there's nothing inappropriate for tweens), picking up scifi for perhaps the first time or not being as tuned into some of the weirdness of truly immersive fictional alien cultures, I've decided to offer a bit of an explanation on this.

The opening now includes the following notes:

2024 updates

A note about dialogue format:

Because multiple "alien" languages are referenced throughout the series, dialogue needed some sort of indicators. Where the translation is revealed but is meant to be in another language, either [ ] or { } or even | | is used to encapsulate that dialogue. If any of these brackets are used in a book, they indicate different alien languages. In some of the books, all three are used. Where those brackets are, the character is speaking in a language other than Standard.

A note about the series:

This series has been planned as 24-25 books, each being its own complete adventure (beginning-middle-end). However, each book is a chapter of a larger "book" (the series) with growth and changes of characters and cultural/political situations over the course of the series, which will end in a series climax. For best enjoyment of the series arc, it is recommended to read every book in the numbered order.

* * * * *

2025 update

A note about naming formats:

I realized that some of the naming conveniences may be a little confusing to those who think personal-name familial-name (aka first-name last-name) format (such as John Smith) is the only order for names. However, when I created the Inari in the first Starfire Angels book, I was entrenched in anime and decided to use the Asian order of familial-name personal-name for them. Some of the fictional cultures influenced by the Inari culture in this series also use that naming order. However, since this is science fiction and touches on a variety of different fictional cultures, the series has names in a few different structures when referencing full names.

Another Book 23 update

Book 23 is very different from all the other books in the course of writing it, but it wasn't unexpected.

I anguish over every lag in a story... and then I pray and... the inspiration comes. It's similar to what happened with writing Book 19.

Often, the books that are hardest to write end up being among my best. My agonizing over turning them into stories that keep the readers' attention from beginning to end pushes me to find the right elements to do that. There's a certain sense of immediacy and question of how each story could be resolved that I work to create, along with answering questions important to the conclusion of the series.

If I'm getting bored, the readers will definitely be bored. That's how I know a certain tension is missing. The problem is figuring out how to increase it.

The ideas on this book have only trickled in a little at a time after a lot of trial and error. It's been one of my most difficult so far, which means I have been scrutinizing every detail to determine what's missing and what works or doesn't work for the story. It's been coming together in a way that's inconvenient, but each piece adds a new satisfaction in its increasing tension for the plot.

Tonight, that piece created an imminent threat of a suspected sleeper agent on a Starfire world, which gave me a whole bunch of ways to increase the dangers to the characters. 😈 The plan is now set up pretty well. This is going to be a lot of fun to write from this point on!

Thanks for reading!

--------------

update 12/21/25: I wrote 1600 word scene today for the end of the book and will write more this evening. That scene will need a little change by the time I write to that point, but it was a scene I couldn't wait to write, especially now that I have the rest of the story planned.

AI Found Something Impossible in the Shroud of Turin — Scientists Are Terrified to Explain (video title)

God is amazing. He created this negative of the transformation of the body of Christ at the resurrection with an intent on the technology we would develop to examine it and confirm it's validity. Only God could foresee that mankind would develop the technology for such examinations, just as He embedded impossible-to-humans symbols and micro-images in the Lady of Guadalupe image on tilma of Juan Diego and simple miracle of the (unpainted) image on the rock of Our Lady of Las Lajas.

God is great!

What You may Not Know About Christmas! (video title)

progress on Book 23

Progress on Book 23 is not the speed of progress I'd like, but I've been juggling a lot of things lately. With a new small business and my regular part-time day job (which pays the bills to start a new small business), along with my daily walking, church, and prayer time, there isn't much left. (And then I took a week off to rewrite/edit Book 1 when I finally saw it through a different lens.)

Book 23 will be a bit of a space western. I had to do it. After a high fantasy in Book 19 and a sort-of ancient Greco-Roman style in a couple of books, I settled on a western-ish setting for this, although with the usual elements of this series making it only somewhat of a western in style. I said early on that this series would have a lot of different story possibilities all rolled into one universe. I wasn't expecting this, but it works.

I'm making my time count for writing. Some days I can write 1,000 words, like today. Some days, I barely eek out a few dozen. Sometimes, I can't even think to write, but this has been the writing cycle for decades. I do what I can when I can, and I had a lot of trouble settling on the opening of this book, which set me back more than anything else. Now that I have the plot figured out, even the difficult days produce something.

I'm between a third and halfway on the first draft of Book 23; and, on the way to church yesterday (early evening mass), I had an idea for how to bring to a head a subplot of this series, a subplot I've been developing with the introduction of Alric. Most of it, you haven't seen yet--Books 21 & 22 get more into that. Having it come to fruition in Book 23 will work out well. When I get to the final battles of the series in Books 24 & 25, that subplot will kick up the emotions more fully.

I also just started reading Book 20 again. I've been reading around a chapter each time I walk on the treadmill, and the timing is always about what I need in relation to what I'm writing or plotting. Once I get through that, I'll start formatting Collection 4 (Books 16-20) for print and ebook editions.

In a perfect world, I'd be finishing up the first draft by now, but that's not happening. That's a good thing, though. When I slow down, I discover new aspects of the overall series, like realizing what needs to be brought out with Alric and the setting in Book 23.

I knew the final books of the series would be difficult. It will delay publishing the next book until February or March, and then writing the series climax begins.

Thanks for reading!

Catholic exorcist explains: "If the demons are never attacking you, that's a bad sign." (video title)

Our Lady of the Gulf Advent Mission Night 1, 2, & 3 with Fr. Dan Reehil (videos)

VMPR: 12 Dec 25 - Spellbooks, Demonology, Witchcraft, Magic... (video title)

Reflecting on the Feast of St. Juan Diego & Our Lady of Guadalupe (videos)

I have a special devotion to Our Lady of Guadalupe. Yesterday was the Feast of Saint Juan Diego and Friday (two days from now) is the Feast day of Our Lady of Guadalupe.

This IS a miracle with pieces for the Aztecs of that time and for our modern age. The color is NOT manmade paint or ink of any kind, as stated. Anyone who claims otherwise is lying. In fact, people will lie about any number of factors of the tilma and other miraculous images because they do not want to believe in God or the holiness of the Blessed Virgin Mary. I pity and pray for conversion and repentance from such coldness and blasphemy in the obstinacy of disobedience to the creator. God serves us in pure humility because he loves us deeply; we owe Him our obedience not only for that but also for giving us life and the opportunity to know Him and his pure love.

Fr. Reehil gives a brief breakdown of the story in the video above. However, I recommend the videos below for more detailed information:

The Immaculate Conception explained... kecharitomene

Hail, Mary, full of grace!

"Ave, Maria, Kecharitomene!"  =  "Hail, Mary, she who has been made full of grace!"

For a former protestant's explanation, please see this post on X by Joshua Charles:

THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION: HOW GOD SAVED MARY

The doctrine of the Immaculate Conception was a doctrine that, like most protestants, I deeply misunderstood.

I used to think it was a doctrine focused entirely on elevating Mary at the expense of Christ, as if She was somehow… pic.twitter.com/7vCkX0slm2

— Joshua Charles (@JoshuaTCharles) December 8, 2025

To put it as simply as I can,

1. God is outside time and space. (He created time and space, all things in existence; to try to limit him to our--the creation's--understanding is an act of pride and denial of His majesty.)
2. Because of 1, God can apply any grace at any time He wants. (To deny this is to deny His omnipotence and omniscience and supernatural nature.)
3. Following on the second point, God can apply the grace of Christ's (Mary's savior, her son) salvation prior to her conception.
4. Therefore, Mary could be, and was, made sinless, that is, immaculately (purely) conceived. This is why she is the Immaculate Conception. Only a pure vessel would be worthy of the divinity of the Word of God (see prior points). He didn't randomly select her; He created her for that purpose, and she accepted because she was perfectly obedient, faithful, and perfect in every virtue so that she never considered sinning.

But, if you want more detail, others have already done the work:

She is named Kecharitomene, by the angel Gabriel. Name change means something;

Kecharitomene

05 Dec 25 - Interesting Facts About Angels and Demons (video title)

I've always had a fascination with angels and demons, and it's influenced my writing. That should be obvious with my primary series, the only one I keep published--Starfire Angels. It's worthwhile understanding the preternatural truth.

Book 1... rewrites finished

It took a whole week, but I really buckled down on this. The new version of A NEW BEGINNING is uploaded. 😌 I added a net of 4,000 words, pushing it over the minimum word count to qualify as a novel by SFWA standards. Now, all the books in the series so far are novels. In those new words are more detailed descriptions, cleaned up narrative, some changes to dialogue, filled holes, and a much better foundation for the rest of the series and what it has become.

With this update, you don't have to buy a new version. I overwrote the old version.

You can download the update from Amazon by going into your digital orders and following the steps to replace the old version with the new version. I could not find an "update available" but I did discover that if I cleared the furthest page read, in a few minutes, the new version appeared for me on my Kindle.

With other retailers, I don't know how that happens. I assume that the book just updates.

The book is MUCH better now! It's the same story but cleaned up and more meaty.

Now, back to writing Book 23 with those fixes that came to me this past week!

Thanks for reading!

Book 23... back on track

This short break from Book 23 to fix Book 1 is proving to be exactly what I needed, along with the meditation and contemplation of a good Holy Hour in front of the Blessed Sacrament.

On the drive home from my regular adoration time at my local parish, the answer I needed for Book 23 came to me. I want this book to explain a key (and final) missing piece of the history of the Feri not yet revealed. Although the characters do speculate on it, the truth has some gaps that I want to fill in, and I was waiting to reach this point before providing that final piece of the puzzle.

The Lord provides when we seek Him with all our heart and are willing to surrender to His will over ours. It could only have been Him piercing the brain fog with the explanation that came to me on the drive home (and keeping it in today's otherwise fleeting memory so that I could remember to write it down) to make the story work the way I hoped. My idea wasn't working. His always works best. I gave it up to the Lord and waited for His time, ready to listen. He provided what I need to give you a great story.

Once I wrap up this rewrite of Book 1 (and register a new copyright for it), I'll jump back into Book 23. I expect to finish the rewrites by Saturday and upload the updated version. This new version is longer (now a short novel--yay!) with more depth and more consistency and less freneticism. The narrative doesn't bounce around and the characters, especially Nya, will have more depth to them.

It'll be the same story but be much smoother and easier to follow. Some of the dialogue has changed and internal narrative is more thoroughly explained. Details have been added and some pieces removed that didn't add anything but confusion. This will replace the current version.

The new version isn't a completely new story but a more developed story, and it'll be better matched to the rest of the series. When I wrote Book 1, I had a slightly different vision of the series. If you've followed me through this, you may recall some posts where I expressed surprise at new characters and unexpected situations or details (like the Book 23 situation above) that altered the original vision.

Now, while working on the homestretch of the series, I have a fully developed vision and can go back and give the first book the treatment it needs without taking away from the rest of the series. It happened in God's time, not my time. I built the series on that first book, so I can't change it completely, but I can make it a better reading experience.

Thanks for sticking this out with me one book at a time! (20 published, five more to go! This is actually 22 written and three to finish.)

God bless!

Rapture isn’t what you think it is

 

Book 1... update

Three thousand words. That's the net difference added to Book 1. It is officially a novel (40K words or more by SFWA standards). And it is much MUCH better than it was. The story is the same, but the details are much more fleshed out and consistent with the later books.

I honestly don't know what happened. I can only guess that I had such a vision for the series that I got ahead of myself with Book 1, which feel like an introduction and is probably what was going on at the time I wrote and edited this. These updates will make a huge difference in the flow of the story. It feels more meaty now and not so thin.

It also doesn't feel agitated and clunky like I had ADD in the original writing and editing. The story is still fast and there, but the details and dialogue are much smoother in transitions and characters more consistent with what they settle into in books two and three.

I will be uploading the new version this weekend, along with updating a new print omnibus of Collection 1 of these books. I'm just getting into a final pass tonight, so it'll take a couple of days to finish.

Book 1... revisited

I knew book 1 of Starfire Angels: Forgotten Worlds was rough, but I never could get my mind into how to fix it. On a whim, I reread it this weekend, all in one day, and suddenly, I knew. The binge read made it clearer than a slow read. The answer came to me--it was thin and a bit clunky/rough in the narrative.

*sigh*

Almost seven years since I published this one and I finally see more clearly. It's not the story so much as the details. That first book was the foundation, and the excitement and rush of the first of a new series carried me away. I didn't know yet quite how the series would develop. I had my plan with the series arc and plot ideas for each episode, but the details and style had to develop, along with the characters.

Now, I'm cleaning it up in a way that I see more clearly after getting stuck on Book 23... again. It isn't really cleaning so much as completing what's there. Book 1, as I mentioned, feels to me clunky and rough, but this will smooth out those rough edges and help it flow more naturally. It'll also bring it more into the style of the rest of the series.

It shouldn't take long, but it will push the word count over the 40K novel minimum length. I'll be able to say that all the books are short novels. 😁 It's getting close already, and I'm not quit halfway through the second pass (if you count that binge read as the first pass) with lots of clarifying details added and removing odd thoughts that break the flow.

Edits on the nineteen other books published in the series has helped me see things more clearly. In fact, reading book nineteen has shown me just how much better the writing and editing became throughout the series. I thought the first was good--and it wasn't terrible, imo (I'm biased, though)--but it will be much better when I finish this little side project.

Now, the challenge is not to add something that's not there until later in the series.

Stay tuned!

The origins of the Christmas Tree

God bless!

Some people are mad at the exorcists for saying Reiki is a big no-no. (video title)

Final three... Forgotten Worlds

Last time I posted about the status of the series, I quoted Ivanova from Babylon 5. If you know the show, you know what that meant.

Today, I feel more confident in sharing news.

This third to the last book (Book 23) of Starfire Angels: Forgotten Worlds has been a special kind of challenge. I've rewritten the first three chapters three or four times before figuring out what the setup for the latest world is.

Then, in chapter four, I got stuck again on the plot. I finally prayed for help. 

The Lord provided.

The answer came to me of what the main plot would be. I realized it's a twist I hadn't used yet in the series, and I still get to keep the initial expectation of introducing a different effect of the Starfire on making Keepers. I wanted to keep the basic idea of Nya and the others finding the final shards, and this does.

It's been a special challenge writing this book because it's the final adventure before the closing. Yes, it will be two books to close the series. The finale is going to be more than one battle. There's much more than one book can contain. And even then, I suspect the final book may be a long one.

So, to summarize, Book 23 is taking longer than expected, but it's been a bigger challenge than expected. It's at 11K words, only a quarter complete, but that's after writing a full book worth of words in all the rewrites.

I'm also rereading the previous books in the series and am up to Book 19, which has become my personal favorite so far. Once I finish rereading Book 20, I'll set up the print book for books 16-20.

That's the status of the series. It should go better now on Book 23, but we'll see. I'm at the stage of preparing to wrap up a HUGE story. I knew it would be difficult, but I am determined to finish this.

Thanks for reading.

Book sale! Limited time - Now through Tuesday

https://basedbooksale.substack.com/p/the-2025-black-fridaycyber-monday

Happy Thanksgiving - the true story... a day late

Heaven's Message About the End Times (video title)

Music's Incredible Control Over Us: How can St. Cecilia Help? (video)

An explanation of the song "Cecilia" by Simon and Garfunkel, can be found here: https://americansongwriter.com/behind-the-possible-catholic-meaning-of-cecilia-by-simon-and-garfunkel/

When God Becomes Real: Deeper Prayer & Divine Intimacy with Father Wayne Sattler (video title)

Fr. Sattler is from my neck of the woods, at least from my diocese. He was just a guest priest and gave some talks this past weekend based on his books for the 40-hours Eucharistic devotion hosted at my parish. This video is from four weeks ago.

Pre-Flood Civilization, the Occult, and Antichrist (video)

Every Scientifically Proven Eucharistic Miracle (video title)

ps--ONLY in the Catholic church, the original church founded by Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

What do you think? Was this criminal possessed by a demon? (video title)

I can't say anything

Every time I post an update on Book 23, the action crashes and I end up starting over. So, I'm not saying anything. I'm saying nothing or I'll jinx myself again.

Absolutely nothing happened in Sector 83 by 9 by 12 today. I repeat, nothing happened in Sector 83 by 9 by 12.

IFYKYK

Satan's media strategy: Anime has EVERYTHING the exorcists warn us about! (video title)

Follow up video 12/3/25

I harp enough on sex scenes being the product of demonic influence and try to include occult warnings too, but this makes a case for other forms of entertainment. Any "mysticism" beyond that of Christianity comes from demons blurring the lines. (Just a small note--not all anime, like most genres, is necessarily evil. There are actually Christian anime series, as there are Christian stories in SFF.)

Exorcists actually caution against anything that allows "good" magic, because ALL magic is from Satan. Obsession with anything other than the triune God (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit/Ghost) takes us away from God and distorts our sense of reality. It promotes trying to become god versus depending on the living God, the creator of all of time and space and everything in it. The former is disobedience. As any parent knows, it's aggravating when your children disobey; imagine what Our Father in Heaven feels when we disobey. The occult and any religion outside of Christianity is a rejection of the first commandment of God, which is the worst of mortal/deadly sins (why it's the first). And many of the other pieces in the stories we look to for entertainment are also mortal sins. Yes, there may be positive aspects, but more often than not, the sinful parts of the stories are never revealed as being the damage to one's soul that they are in reality, which is why they should be avoided altogether.

My personal change and why some books are no longer available

My faith journey is at a point that I now avoid just about all non-Christian entertainment, even the anime that I once enjoyed. I have no desire to be exposed to sex scenes (or even "fan service", which is bad enough), cursing, using the Lord's name in vain, magic/occult propaganda, and unnecessary violence. Demons can use those to blur the lines between pleasing God and sinning, in which they move the goalposts from lesser sins to progress into mortal/deadly sins. This is why I've unpublished my fantasy books--they don't reflect my faith in the one true God but use magic as good and have fornication as acceptable. The Starfire Angels series, however, is actually a Christian allegory, even more so than I had planned when I started it (before my faith deepened and I was still steeped in the lies of modernism and its entertainment and the mortal sins it promotes). I wrote it so that it would be fun for anyone, Christian or not, but safe for those with a proper morality.

Thoughts, words, and deeds

We sin in our thoughts, not just words and deeds, so be careful what you feed your mind. Exorcists warn that demons can't enter our thoughts but can prod our memories to make us think of things again and get us stewing on them, which can produce sinful thoughts. Jesus said that a man who looks at a women with lust in his heart has already sinned. This is true of any thoughts; he simply used this as an example. Purify your thoughts and purge them of any sin.

Making the transition

It takes a while to reform our ways of thinking. Like going on a special food diet, there's a period of withdrawal. However, once you've purged your mind/body of the offending material and feed it healthy materials, you'll begin to no longer desire the unhealthy materials. You'll lose the attraction for the unhealthy, although the temptations to cheat will still be there. That's where the will must be strong. Pray for the strength to resist. Demons will always tempt us until we die. They're miserable and want to take souls from God to torment them into eternity. And they'll even tempt people with fame and fortune (why romance books and magic books sell so well--they want people to be attracted to the promise of $$ to continue to promote their sin through scandal.)

We have intercessors to assist us

Our Lady, the Blessed Virgin Mary, never sinned and is the greatest saint in heaven, even confirmed by demons in exorcisms as the saint they hate most. She and all of the saints are ready to assist us through God's grace. We honor God by honoring those who have reached perfection to be in His presence for eternity. Each saint had their vice that they had to overcome to turn into the corresponding virtue and can help us in overcoming those vices that afflict us. We only need to reach out to them. Through God, they hear us, and they assist as part of their eternal service and honor to God because of their great love for Him.

Final thoughts

Whatever your feelings on the video above, changing what your take in for entertainment is a key to growing in faith -- no more sex scenes, no more occult propaganda/promotion, no more gore, no more horror (demons feed on fear, which is the opposite of faith in God), and MORE entertainment that promotes virtues, faith, and truth about God and the damage of vice.

And, always, more prayer. Talk to God and listen to him. Learn to discern His voice from the noise of the demons around you. Demons will always tell you to do what feels good. Vice is easy and focuses on making the most of this world, but the pleasure is fleeting. Virtue is difficult, but it's infinitely more beautiful and fulfilling eternally.

Once you begin to see the beauty of Christ, all this other entertainment will be ugly by comparison.

God bless!

ps - on my Faith Resources tab are books, websites, and videos to help you grow in your faith.

And for something more positive:

And for a discussion on entertainment and the values and vices portrayed:

Casting Out Mental Torments

Northern Lights - day 2

This time, I set up a tripod and let my iPhone take some time-lapse video, and the stills are beautiful too. It's done for now, but it often comes back later. I expect more later in the night, but I may be in bed by then, so... enjoy:

Northern Lights Show

These pictures were last night, 11/11/25. 

My brother, having once monitored the sky, looked at the numbers from NOAA of the solar activity causing this and said it doesn't happen often. The results were spectacular colors.

A friend said it looked like the Divine Mercy rays:

Do I Cause SCANDAL?

This is a homily based on today's gospel reading.

He said to his disciples, “Things that cause scandals (sin)* will inevitably occur, but woe to the person through whom they occur. It would be better for him if a millstone were put around his neck and he be thrown into the sea than for him to cause one of these little ones to sin. 

- Luke 17:1-2

* denotes translation difference. The original Douay-Rheims translation uses scandal, which is the original translation, while newer translations use the word "sin" here.

Encouraging sin or contributing to it willingly are the sin of scandal.

Scandal is the reason sex scenes are grave sins in writing or visual media--they invite lust, a mortal sin. The state of the characters' relationships doesn't matter--married or not--because it invites lustful feelings in the audience. The same goes for foul, lewd, and vulgar language and dressing immodestly, by women and men, promoting witchcraft as innocent and/or good or light. And on and on.

We must be prudent about our behavior and words. The word "prude" comes from prudent, which is basically to be wise and careful. There's a reason the word "prude" has become a slur--because demons don't want you to be wise and careful, which are gifts of the Holy Spirit. "Do whatever feels good" is what Satan uses to destroy souls.

This is why I pray for all writers, actors, and anyone else involved in producing entertainment including sex scenes or even the foreplay, and a list of other number of sins darkening modern entertainment. I don't engage in it anymore and my life is far more peaceful--because I've repented, confessed it, and avoid it and the demons it invites into one's life.

Romance books may sell well, but demons are pushing that. They love it when you lust, because it separates you from God, so they encourage it and make it desirable, even if it's so-called "Christian" romance including sex scenes. Demons love to twist things to make you think you can have your cake and eat it too, but they LIE. To love God is to follow His law and resist temptations of this world.

Obeying God is difficult; it takes an act of the will. However, it doesn't mean to avoid entertainment. It just means to avoid those things that scandalize, whether consuming or producing content. The more you give into sin, the easier it is; the more you seek to align your will with God's, the easier that becomes yet it's not as easy as it is to sin. Demons will always try to make it difficult to do what is right by God. They're like toddlers--always pestering--while God allows free will and never imposes Himself; you're free to love him by doing all you can for Him or not. It sometimes takes an immense act of will to resist temptation, and the battle will continue until death. This whole life is a struggle, a test to prove our true love for God and how deserving we are of eternity with Him.

Love is not a feeling, but lust is. Love is willing the good of another, no matter what you may have to sacrifice--Jesus, the word of God made flesh, loved us so much that he became human just to suffer and die as the final offering (the spotless Lamb of God) so that we could know salvation and reunite with God, our creator. He showed us how to love and love greatly, no matter the cost.

We should never cause scandal in our words or deeds--these only add to the suffering of Christ in His passion. Never take God's mercy for granted.

So decide who you serve while producing your content or consuming it and what you want for your soul and the souls of others.

Deus Ex Machina

God is definitely in the machine, but he is the author of life, the universe, and everything. If one were to make their life a story, God is there, always, and He can pull some pretty amazing miracles in your circumstances, a real life Deus ex machina, if 1) you recognize His omnipotence, 2) learn to see the graces He's granting you (whether they're what you want or not), and 3) accept His will over your own. He always has a better plan; although it may not be what you want in your earthly life, it will always be better for your soul for eternity. Don't wait to see no way; just accept His way. He knows everything. Trust Him. Quit trying to be your own god.

On a side note related to that truth a.k.a. faith, suffering purifies us and, when aligned with the suffering of Christ on the cross, is an act of of reparation for our sins to relieve Our Lord of His suffering. His passion and death was for all sins from the beginning to the end of time, even those we all commit or will possibly commit and the sins that those who come after us will commit. Consider now what He experienced during His passion and the incredible love of his forgiveness when we sin against him--the whips, the beatings, the nails, the thorns, etc. This is why we "give it up" to Him--to console Him.

That got a little sidetracked. Now, to get back on the point I wanted to make...

Twice in recent weeks during my adoration hour, my holy hour in front of the blessed sacrament (the Eucharist) exposed in the monstrance in the adoration chapel, I've sat with my mind on needing help with this story. Each time, I received a surge of ideas. However, it doesn't seem right that I'd be going into a creative mode while in the presence of God in this earthly state when there are so many more noble purposes for being there. That seems like it's taking me away from Him. That seems like it's putting earthly concerns before Our Lord. On the other hand, I've gone into adoration and received such unearthly insights that I learned to keep a journal and write them down. I refer back when I need to and am in awe of what was revealed to me. So, it's not like I haven't been given knowledge, but that can also happen during mass, which is super incredible to be given insights about the mass. It doesn't happen often, but when it does, I'm left so humbled and awed that when I go through a period of dryness and distractions, I don't worry.

During my weekly holy hour, in which I unintentionally asked for guidance on what the Lord wanted of me since the story was falling flat, I had an explosion of ideas for this book that came despite being in a bit of a brain fog (perimenopausal fun *sigh*). It came so clearly amid the fog. While the devil can put thoughts in our heads, this did not involve scenes with any sin (sex/lust, blasphemy, heresy, etc.) but another good action story for the series to achieve what I want with all the hooks and mystery needed to keep a reader turning pages. I couldn't help but wonder if the devil was trying to distract me from being in the presence of Christ in the Eucharist, but then I just made my notes and prayed that this was God's will, not mine. I don't want to offend Him by rejecting the grace of help with the story.

However, one has to discern carefully the source of anything. As long as it's not promoting lust, greed, pride, envy, murder, cheating, etc. or breaking any commandment, I'll accept it. As long as I can honor God by promoting virtues in an entertaining way, I will. God is with us and will always answer our prayers; those answers may not be what we want, but He always knows what's best for our souls. I'm grateful that I can continue with this series and finish it. I've had several "answers" to my prayers that seem to point to that, but I try to remain vigilant to the wrong influences. I didn't used to do that, but my intention in writing has developed with my increasing devotion to my faith.

Starfire Angels: Forgotten Worlds will remain an adventurous and clean space opera that anyone can enjoy... and I WILL finish it, by the grace of God!

Thanks for reading!

Witchcraft & The Occult Dangers

All Hallow's Eve may be past, but the ongoing problem it promotes in a twisted non-Christian way doesn't disappear...

Print omnibus editions now available

The first three collections of STARFIRE ANGELS: FORGOTTEN WORLDS are now all live on Amazon.

I decided to not remake the hardcover books on BN. They take far too long and the setup is a headache. Time allowed me to forget those troubles, but getting back to it was enough to say "Nope!"

So, it will just be paperback omnibus editions on Amazon, along with the ebook omnibus editions. Collection 1 (Books 1-6) is live, Collection 2 (Books 6-10) should be live tomorrow, and I'll work on getting Collection 3 (Books 11-15) live in a couple of days. 

Collection 4 (Books 16-20) will likely be after the holidays. I just finished reading through HOMECOMING today and uploaded fixes to some errors I found. That leaves books 18-20 to read through yet. I want to fix anything lurking in those that were missed in the numerous editing rounds initially. I'll do the same for the final five in Collection 5 once they're done too--read through them all before formatting omnibus ebook and print book editions.

For now, you can find these on Amazon through my author page or the main page for the collections: 

ps--I fixed a couple issues with the text on the covers too, but that was so minor it's hardly noticeable.

Hallowtide Day 2 - All Saints' Day

A new start on Book 23

I was so stuck on 23 for a while, after it was getting worse since my last post about it. It was to the point of trying to swim in cured cement--not happening.

I started over. It took some stepping back, but that's what the story needed. Within two days, I had over 2,000 words on it. The last few days, I was a bit busy and writing slowed a little, but right now it's around 4,000 and a much better opening. It'll keep some elements but is much closer to what I had in mind in my original notes.

You can't force a story. It has be feel natural for the setting and characters, although it's not about feeling. The creativity is a bit of... exaggerated parts of oneself, sometimes grotesquely exaggerated as to be pretty much something else, but it all comes from within and what we've absorbed of other stories, other books, our culture, etc.

I feel much better about this opening, because the other was missing that hook or mystery and then I just couldn't give some of it enough of a reason for happening. It was forced and I could feel that too. That's why I got stuck at 10K words.

I would rather it take a bit longer to write the right book for the series than try to force myself to write words that didn't fit the pieces.

Anyway, it's moving along very well. It was a rough start the first time, but this time, it's flowing easily, like it should.

And here's the old man. He still has what I call his bracelet from the vet when he had his teeth cleaned a short while ago:

He's losing weight, but in his old age, he's sleeping a lot and not eating as much as he needs to. It's especially tough because he has to be on a super special diet or bad things happen. On the good side, he's not acting quite so odd like he has dementia. He's back to being more of himself. I'll take what I can get, because I would bet, from my experience, that he won't make it to sixteen. I'll enjoy what time we have left together.

God bless!

Halloween truth and origins

Halloween - Meet an exorcist (video)

 

Holiness Conference (5-part video series)

Happy birthday to an old friend...

She knows who she is. I won't divulge because it's personal information, but she knows it's her birthday. After all these years, I haven't forgotten. 🥳

(I'll always be your elder.)

I had this made by AI just for you (I know how much you like your western romances):

The Truth About Exorcism w/ Msgr. Stephen Rossetti | Catholic Conversations with Fr. Mark Baron, MIC (video title)

Is Halloween a Pagan Holiday? (And Should We Boycott It?) (video title)

Update on print collections of Forgotten Worlds!

After reading through the series again and fixing mistakes I've found--as a writer, I'll never NOT find things I want to fix--I've finally begun the process of reformatting the paperbacks to get those available again. I'm glad I waited. I learned a few things that improved the formatting.

Because these are omnibus editions, they're too long for hardcover on Amazon. I'll go back to making them available as paperback on Amazon.

The first of them, Collection 1 (Books 1-5), is in the proofing stage after a long day of formatting that. Once I have a chance to review those proofs and approve them, I'll make those available.

I hope to have the first three ready in time for the holidays and will work on Collection 4 (Books 16-20) once I've read through those books and fixed any mistakes.

Because this is such a tedious process, I did not get any writing done today. On the good side, I now have everything with the updating process down so that the next two should go a bit faster and I can get back to writing sooner.

This has been a nice little break from writing, where I was sort of stuck just under 10K words on Book 23. When that happens, it helps to work on something else for a day or two to refresh the creativity. This has been a good break from the writing side, although I loathe the formatting of print.

And I may just go ahead and release the collections as ebooks also. I expect to price them at $9.99 each (5 books per collection).

That's been my Saturday and will probably fill up Sunday as well.

Thanks for reading!

Praying with imagination and the interference of Satan and human ego. Fr. Joseph Iannuzzi explains. (video title)

The Lord Is Trying to Speak To You | 29th Sunday in Ordinary Time (video title)

My Mother in Purgatory obtained My Miraculous Conversion...Here's My Story (video title)

Book 23 update

I made some great progress on Book 23 of Forgotten Worlds lately. I changed the setting, and now the whole plot I thought I wanted is different but in a good way. I had some difficulty with the original idea.

Those reading through Starfire Angels: Forgotten Worlds know that the characters are an ensemble of misfits of a wide range of backgrounds. They form what I would call a sort of clean, Christian mash-up between Guardians of the Galaxy and Star Wars.

Back when I first announced this project, I had outlined more plot ideas than I would need and eventually settled on 25 books. As the story evolved, I decided on the storylines I wanted to write into the series arc. While each episodic book is a complete story, each is like a chapter of a larger book, planned out in the same way that Babylon 5 was.

This has been a monumental undertaking for me that required an outline with notes for each book, but I left room for changes on the fly and there have been many that helped the overall series arc tremendously. Book 23 is proving to be no different, and I like that it can still surprise me. They're fun surprises that keep me going. In this case, Zaer gave me something entertaining and is jumping into the foreground again. She can be quite a spitfire yet do a complete one-eighty to being motherly, or vice versa, on a moment's notice. Her personality has always been interesting and her background even more so.

With this cast of characters, I have a lot of options for how to make the stories interesting, or at least I think they do. I hope readers are enjoying them, because this one is developing into another interesting adventure in a way I hadn't expected, the last big one in advance of the final two books, which will be a combined two-punch climax of everything that has been building in the series. The first draft of book 23 has 8,600 words as of tonight.

I'm excited to see how the adjusted outline of the book plays out. The writing is as much of an adventure as reading is.

Thanks for reading!

Her husband confessed sins to a Protestant pastor. The pastor was uncomfortable with the whole thing (video title)

a new hope... for an old cat

Our old cat that had seemed to be having symptoms of dementia has been doing much better lately, starting about the third day after having his teeth cleaned.

My thinking is that he had mouth pain that was distracting him.

Now, I may have figured out something because of my own health issues that might apply to him also. Vitamins weren't helping me get my energy and focus back and writing was getting more difficult. However, I've been feeling great after starting a supplement with NADH and CoQ10. In fact, I feel amazing! I've tried NADH previously and it was too potent for me, but I had been feeling fatigued more and more often over the last year, especially since this summer's crash. Now, I seem to be tolerating it better, probably because I need it. My creativity spikes soon after taking it and I can go all day without a nap. It's in animal proteins, but I get painful digestive cramps from red meat, so it would make sense that I would be low (tested negative for alpha-gal syndrome).

I realized our oldest cat has been on a hydrolyzed protein diet because of his intolerance to proteins, which may have been causing similar problems. However, shortly before his teeth cleaning, he started not wanting to eat his prescription diet food, so we tried a non-prescription version, which has chicken protein in it. That could be helping him, although he has had stinky gas that seems to be decreasing in frequency slowly.

For myself, I went to order a straight CoQ10 in a capsule and saw a review of its usefulness for dogs. This got me wondering about our cat, since dogs and cats tend to be very similar in what they can and can't eat. What about supplements?

I did a quick search and found this: https://www.vetriscience.com/coenzyme-q10-10-mg-capsules.html. Since we have autoship set up with Chewy, I've ordered a bottle from them for our old cats and will how well they tolerate it and if that makes a difference, especially since they're all on their own specialized diets and get picky about eating so they may not be getting enough of what they need as they get older.

If any other old-cat owners out there are seeing similar issues, it may be worth checking out. I'm anxious to see if this helps, but it could be a few weeks before we know for sure.

In the meantime, I'll be praying that this is the solution for all of us.

When this former Satanist saw Mary and realized he did not really sell his soul to Satan... (video title)

A bit of the above is in this shorter video:

Sophistry Exposed: How Emotional Appeals Replace Truth (Plato, Aristotle & Today) ~ Fr. Ripperger (video title)

Fr. Chad Ripperger has a PhD in philosophy. He is not only an exorcist priest but is a "doctor".

Surviving the Dark Night of the Soul - Explaining the Faith (video title)

Writing update

It's already been around six weeks since I published Book 20. After that, I read through 21 and 22.

I'd estimate it's been about three to four weeks since I started writing Book 23, but it was a rough start. I thought I had the story I wanted, but then I had other ideas... ideas that came to a screeching halt in the face of a combined one-two punch of perimenopause and autoimmune flare up.

However, I've gotten over that stumbling block and am writing. So far, I have around 7,000 words on Book 23 written and it's along the lines of what I had in mind but a bit different setting. I also may be showing a different effect of the Starfire from its blending with a different species. That will really bring some things together from the beginning of the series, and I can't wait to see how it comes together.

While Nya and L'Ni and the new character seek out the Keepers and the Starfire, the Ethalian military coalition is preparing for the big attack on the Issan.

It's been a long road and this will be the most difficult to write, but I am determined to finish this. It'll be worth the wait.

Thanks for your patience!

ps--Dargo has improved, but the effects from having his teeth cleaned and a piece of tooth root taken out was frightening for a while there. He's an old boy showing signs of age, just not as bad as he was right after being under anesthesia. Thanks for any prayers offered for him. I always ask for the intercession of St. Francis of Assisi, who has been great about helping me with this boy's health issues through the years.

God bless!

Imploring God to rid the world of evil; God will reward you accordingly. Fr. Iannuzzi explains (video title)

On Bad Thoughts ~ St. Alphonsus

aging pets are heartbreaking

A lot of writers have pets. We have the typical cat clowder. I've occasionally posted about them here with pictures.

It's been just under six years since we put down our oldest and first family kitty when she was sixteen. Because she was showing all signs of being at the end but not letting go, we took her to the vet as a mercy. As soon as the needle was in, she was already gone. She still had her mental faculties.

Our current oldest, Dargo, is fifteen today, but is going downhill fast. For several months, I've been noticing signs of dementia (feline cognitive dysfunction syndrome or CDS), which has been heartbreaking. I fear his time is coming soon. I have a friend who has told me about her husband's dementia and taking care of him, and the signs I've seen in Dargo and researched are a lot of the same, but in a cat way. It's heartbreaking to watch him fade away from me, like watching him die mentally while still being alive in body.

To try to help with his decreasing eating, we had his teeth cleaned recently. However, that hasn't helped. I don't know how much time he has, but in celebration of the momma's boy who has been a part of our household since he was seven weeks old, here's some moments from our lives together:

Kitten Dargo and (now deceased) Padme

Dargo loved his foster mother Padme. He mourned her death
for a few months.

Dargo and Suki competing for space in the bay window
and deciding to share it.

Mom's snuggle buddy! Soon after his first teeth cleaning
a few years ago