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I am a part of this and trying to support other indie authors as much as I can.
You can also find more at the Based Book Sale at basedbooksale.substack.com. I joined Substack to be a part of this again, since I have books permanently free or 99c to qualify for participation in the sales. I think I'm repeating myself on this, since I did share the video I made for the Black Friday sale. The BBS isn't just for speculative fiction, however. ANY indie book that is based in content qualifies, so romance and other genres are also accepted. However, the majority of books in the sale tend to be science fiction and fantasy.
Anyway, I wanted to share this, because the latest video on Spotlight on Indie SFF is fun to watch.
Tell your friends and share the love of indie books!
My post from two weeks ago about a single new story idea just took a new turn.
The idea has been lurking in the back of my mind, even while Book 21 of Forgotten Worlds has reached 12K words. I haven't started any writing on the new idea but, after writing out a full synopsis for it when it exploded in my mind two weeks ago, I have put it aside.
However, while I focus on finishing the FW series (and much thinking and planning out the final books to culminate in that exciting series finale I'm promising), the new idea has been stewing in the back of my mind. It will seem to be urban fantasy but will have strongly religious undertones of truth. It will be be like nothing else, a Catholic urban fantasy. However, even something like the Exorcist is at the core Catholic UF, but dramatized and lacking the proper catechism. This won't be horror like exorcist movies, however, or full of sexual tension or faith lies like most UF. It won't be preachy but will come from what I've been gleaning from listening to exorcists and learning about the saints and mystics in a modern setting.
And while this has been stewing in the back of my mind, the new idea comes to the surface once in a while, as it did just a short time ago to spur me to share this... I have an idea for a book 2, turning the idea into a series!
And to think I expected to stop writing after the Forgotten Worlds series, God has other plans! 🤣 Never underestimate His plans! I've pledged my gift, His gift to me, to serve Him for the last two years and it's really changed the ideas that come to the forefront of my stories and character virtues.
I'll keep making notes of ideas and see what happens in details for the Book 2 concept (all I have so far) and possibly a Book 3 idea.
Something many readers either don't understand or choose to ignore is that John Ronald Ruel Tolkien was a devout Catholic. He incorporated that into Lord of the Rings. I once read that when the Novus Ordo mass became the main format (versus the Traditional Latin Mass), he continued to respond in the Latin responses (instead of English).
In this video is an interesting discussion about the ways that aspects of Tolkien's faith are incorporated into LOTR and some of the deeper symbolisms we don't necessarily think about when enjoying the story.
I write Starfire Angels, especially Forgotten Worlds, from the perspective of my own Catholic faith. I have a special affinity for angels and all that they do for us, especially our guardian angels. Like Padre Pio suggested, I thank my angel every day for taking care of me and helping me. In my deepening faith, I've developed an ability to hear him more clearly, and the outcome of obeying God's will as shared by one's guardian angel (whose job is to bring us to God) is far more rewarding than ignoring Him. (I'm not talking about earthly rewards but spiritual benefits, although often there are more tangible benefits in our lives too.)
The Starfire entities in my Starfire Angels are much like our real guardian angels, the reason they are alternatively known as Guardians. They only provide what is needed when it's needed. This helps the story but it is also based on the Keeper needing to have faith and obeying the Starfire. Keepers have to give up themselves in order to serve the will of the Starfire, like we are asked to give up our free will to love God by complete obedience through the virtues, especially faith, hope, and charity (divine virtues) and the many other virtues He expects from us (which counter sin).
We can choose not to obey, but that way lies damnation and slavery, as described in the discussion in the video above. There is freedom in virtues and absence of sin, which is obedience to God - "Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom." (2 Corinthians 3:17).
Like only those souls who perfect the virtues will be allowed in the presence of God (no stain of the least sin is allowed, the reason for spending time purging ourselves of the stain of sin before entering heaven), so too will only those Keepers who are virtuous be accepted to bear the power and responsibility of the Starfire shards. The Starfire entities (Guardians) have been known to destroy worlds where evil is too entrenched, just as God throughout the Bible and events since the last letter of the Bible and continuing throughout history has unleashed punishments when humanity has become so evil that a chastisement is necessary.
There are more subtle aspects to the Starfire Angels universe that are based on Catholic theology, but the Pints with Aquinas video started me thinking about this aspect of my world.
God uses each of us to help others; we just need to listen and obey. This song has always been one of my favorites about angels and even describes how we need to be loving to one another, to be angels to others.
You don't have to be Catholic to enjoy it (just as you don't have to be Catholic to enjoy Lord of the Rings or Starfire Angels).
ps--In the Catholic church, October 2nd is the feast day to celebrate our guardian angels.
It's September 22nd, the birthday of Bilbo and Frodo Baggins. I didn't realize it until after I put on Lord of the Rings this morning. I'm too sick to go to church and I'm tired of bingeing Stargate SG-1 and Atlantis, or sort of bingeing. I slept through most of those yesterday while dealing with a 104 F fever at its peak (no Tylenol). Needless to say, I didn't get any writing done, or maybe a sentence worth, yesterday.
Today, I'm feeling better--lots of Tylenol and liquids later. Yesterday I lost my sense of taste, so that kind of confirmed what this nasty crud is, at least this second go-round. I was just getting over whatever I had last weekend and Friday night flared up in misery that is letting up somewhat today. I still have a fever, but it's been coming down (102 between Tylenol doses this morning). My sense of taste is improved too.
I was going to put LOTR on yesterday but figured it was easier to put on Pluto TV and let Stargate just play through while I rested and wasn't paying much attention anyway. So, today, Lord of the Rings day, I ended up putting the first movie on without thinking about what day it was until after the opening text showed the date of the start, Bilbo's birthday party... today.
Since I'm feeling better today, I'll try to get back to writing, when I'm not resting. Book 20 of Forgotten Worlds is currently just under 36K words. It's very close to being done. I expect to finish by the end of this month. I also expect that it will be the shortest or second shortest of the books in the series.
