The Miracle of Vistula, Poland... Our Lady of Victory

The Mother of God comes to the aid of the church of Her Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ. She even intercedes in battle to save us from the temporal military forces of those who oppose God (in this case, communists). I just learned about the Miracle of the Vistula. See more here: https://catholicinsight.com/the-miracle-on-the-vistula-an-untold-story/ and https://www.catholiccompany.com/getfed/what-was-the-miracle-on-the-vistula/. Contemporary history never reports the full truth but distorts the good of the original church, the Catholic Church, discounting the power of God (because it's usually secular history by atheists, who are wrong about God--just because they don't want to believe He exists doesn't mean He doesn't exist). I wouldn't even know where to start with all the lies.

Oh, wait... Brian Holdsworth took those on pretty well:

Anyone blaspheming the Blessed Virgin Mary is deceived by Satan. She comes to our aid to defend her spiritual children, the followers of her son, the Son of God, just as She did at the Battle of Lepanto in 1571 and who knows how many other battlefields not reported. The rosary is a sword against the temptations and attacks of the devil. Pray to keep communism at bay in this age when it seems to have taken over the world.

Pray the Rosary every day and you will receive graces you never knew were possible. It is the ultimate weapon against temptation and helps us grow in virtue and resist sin so that we grow closer to Christ by conforming our wills to His, just as Mary's will is perfectly conformed to God's will (see the Magnificat from Luke 1:46-55).

Other saints come to our aid also, as is reported of St. Padre Pio during World War II, while he was alive on this world (before his body died and his spirit took on new life in heaven, where he can intercede even more for our prayers). He was devoted to Our Lady, the Blessed Virgin Mary.

If you are interested in learning more about devotion to the Blessed Virgin and how She brings us closer to Jesus Christ, I recommend reading Devotion to Mary by St. Louis de Montfort.

ps--The Bible actually does suggest praying to saints in several places. They are living in heaven closest to God, especially the most honored among them, the Mother of God. By dispensation from God, they hear our prayers and intercede for us to offer them to God. They are the purest souls and are closer to God than we are. After all, souls are alive in heaven, right? (They aren't "dead".) And the church and tradition existed before the new testament of the Bible was compiled by the early Catholic Church.

It's been a wet week

If you're only reading this post because of innuendo, you have a dirty mind. Now that I have your attention...

This morning just killed all my momentum. I'm more numb than mad at this point. I was leaving for work and saw the upright freezer door open in the garage.

Imagine the horror--all the hard work of two years of patient garden growing and processing the fruits of that garden (and veggies), only to find it all thawed.

I had just been in that freezer the night before, but so had someone else, after me. One of the kids took ice cream out and put it back (both garden goodies and ice cream have been kept in the same freezer... but no longer). Unfortunately, that kid wasn't careful. I made this mistake once but caught it after a few hours, so there wasn't anything to worry about. I learned to push the door shut after it was shut--it became a habit for me. My kids apparently didn't learn from that.

All we could salvage was whatever I can eat over the next week of the 18 cups of sweet peas I had stored up from this summer, not counting what I ate already (all that work picking and shelling to store up and enjoy until next summer's growing season, gone in a week instead of a year 😭); and whatever of the cut bell peppers that hubby could fit in his dehydrator. Once food thaws, it's not supposed to be refrozen because of the increased risk of bacterial growth.

All the ice cream I had bought on sale just a couple of weeks ago... gone. 

The freezer was a sopping mess.

I guess our freezer wanted to imitate the heavy rains we had the last couple of days that made our yard a sopping mess. (We needed the rain, but it came hard and fast, creating rivers through the valleys, refilling ponds, and flooding roads and some homes and businesses in town.)

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On writing...

On a good note, I had been making good progress on the writing. Book 20 is over 13K words (1/4-1/3 expected first draft final word count), plus when I haven't been writing, I've been working on the remainder of the series planning. Book 21 has consumed me. I think I'll stick to my original working title of ARMOR for that. It seems to fit the story outline that has filled out with ideas over this past week. I know the book 25 title too -- FOR SUCH A TIME AS THIS -- but books 22, 23, and 24 are basic ideas yet and their titles uncertain. Those will require some intensive planning since they will be the homestretch to the series climax I have planned in book 25.

Thanks for reading!

Book project status

I have a couple of items as updates: 1) I'm getting closer to having a print book omnibus ready for Starfire Angels: Forgotten Worlds Collection 3 (Books 11-15); and 2) Writing on the latest WIP, Book 20 of Starfire Angels: Forgotten Worlds, is well underway.

Book 20 will keep its working title that I had planned -- DARKEST DEPTHS. I even have the cover figured out, just not the cover blurb, or I'd be ready to reveal that already. That's going to take some time to write. I need to get further into the story. Right now, it only has about 6000 words, so just getting going into trouble for the characters.

Also, while I had the idea for this generally summarized, I started without knowing exactly how it would work. That came to me in an evening inspiration earlier this past week so that I have a more detailed synopsis. So, it's pretty well fleshed out. I just need to write the rest of the story. 

This episode will detail how Zaer and Shen met and reveal Shen's past. The poor guy hardly gets any attention... except when he's spicing up racing ships for Zaer's "business associates". He's such a tolerant, quiet little guy that he never steals the show. It's time he got some highlighting, although he doesn't have disasters in his past. He's... Shen (short for his full name of Shenu'oa'h'malani). He's just in the background a lot of times minding his own business or keeping Zaer grounded. Yes, Oolans are water creatures, as was made note of in Book 3. I'm hoping to work in a reason that Zaer hates deep water, besides that she can't swim. With her background, I have a lot of ideas I can use.

As you might have guessed now, this one will feature some water settings.

I'll post updates as this progresses.

Thanks for reading!

Guadalupe The Miracle and the Message (2015) Documentary Exclusive TV

Our Lady's apparition in 1531 converted 9 MILLION South American natives from human sacrificing (demon) worship to baptism and faith in Her son, our Lord Jesus Christ in seven years!! We do not worship Mary but venerate her as the Immaculate Conception and ever virgin mother of God the Son, Jesus Christ. She leads us to Him aka "To Jesus through Mary" just as He came to us through her womb.

That is NOT the work of Satan but exactly what he hates. What's more, this occurred shortly after the protestant reformation of Martin Luther (1517), whose pride (from Satan) got the best of him and whose disobedience and heresy led many souls away from the true church of Christ and into hell.

For more on Our Lady of Guadalupe:

For more of an explanation of Mary's veneration as the Mother of God (the Son), daughter of God (the Father), and spouse of God (the Holy Spirit), go to my Faith Resources tab under the Marian Devotion section.

Writing time!

I'm back at it... writing on the next book of the Starfire Angels: Forgotten Worlds series--Book 20. So far, I have 2300 words. It's been a slow start, but I've had a busy week.

Book 17 was released just over two weeks ago, and I took time to read through books 18 and19 and make some notes for when I officially start editing each of those. Now, I'm starting the writing on Book 20. I have 25 books planned (actually more but am limiting the series to 25 books), so the homestretch is in sight.

Here we go again!

Naming characters

Naming characters is always a bit of a challenge. I try to derive from real nationalities that fit the culture of the characters. However, I do make some changes and set up rules.

In the Starfire Angels universe, there are some rules I established when it came to cultures. For instance, Inari names do kind of have a mash between Japanese and biblical names. There's also a general ending of male names of -is, although that's not a rule, just a general style. Their names are also backwards ordered from western names, which the Ethalians copy--familial name then individual name, or what we would consider last-name first-name order. They also are a matriarchal culture, so the mother's familial name is assigned to children.

For other fictional cultures, I used different styles. Since Feri don't use hard consonants (c/k, q, t) their language is softer in some ways, but I wanted it to be a language of beauty, an irony for their warrior and cultish religious discipline. Their name order is another that's unique, a first-name middle-name [of] father-name [and from] mother-name at their fullest. You'll see this in Book 13, SOUL SHADOW, when L'Ni is identified by his full name in his memories.

And sometimes, I name things after real life. The name Zaer was inspired by a real last name I saw and I thought that had just the right sound for the character. 

And in an upcoming book - ALL THE KING'S MEN - I have a horse named after a real horse I knew.

Red (aka Blood) bay horse - red body
with black mane & tail, ear tips, &
lower legs, often the muzzle too. 
(ID 28896658 © Virgonira
- Dreamstime.com)

In this case, the character is an animal and I didn't hesitate to make him identical to the real life namesake. In the case of the horse in the story, Quint was the real name of a Quarter Horse ridden by the men in my stepfamily when I was a kid. Quint was the meanest gelding I ever knew and I kept my distance from him. He would only respect men, until he was a senior and slowed down. He was cowy through and through, though, which means he could turn any cow and went after them like the devil he was.

In the story, the fictional Quint has very little page time but has a big presence like his namesake. I made him a red (blood) bay like his namesake too and just as mean, but a stallion instead of a gelding (the real Quint was a gelding and still as mean as any stallion might be). The fictional horse, however, has a touch of intelligence such as I've seen on some horses who can seem nuts but turn docile when a particular situation requires it. I once had a half-Arabian that did this--completely forward and ready to go for me but absolutely deadhead on a loose rein when a child rode him.

As a horseperson, it was fun for me to feature an equine minor character, and it kind of made up for being chased by that mean gelding I grew up fearing.

The horse in the story has a small part, but he became a big personality within the story and gets to kick some Issan in armor. And the reason there are horses on a planet in another galaxy is explained in the series--transplanted from Earth like the humans, same as the Ethalians.

Now, I just need to write the description for ALL THE KING'S MEN. In the meantime, I thought it might be fun to share some of the background on it.

Thanks for reading!

PILOT EPISODE: The Promised Land Series

I came across this and am enjoying it more than I expected. Imagine the story of the Exodus from Egypt... The Office style. 🤣

(It helps to have read the Bible to have some background.)

I recognize some of the actors and actresses in this.

For Such a Time as This...

After what happened Saturday, I have debated on sharing this, but feel that now is an appropriate time, given my faith posts and my blog page with the hundreds of links of faith videos, articles, and YouTube Channels. There is a divine providence in the miraculous circumstances that saved the life of Pres. Donald Trump that was pre-ordained for such a time as this:

"And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?” 

- Esther 4:14

---

And for something else to help people realize why we need God more than ever, an excellent presentation about eliminating our sins so that we can grow closer to God:

It's here... HOMECOMING

The book is finished, uploaded, and already reaching some of the major bookstores.

I finished last night but had some reservations about publishing and waited until this morning, after letting myself sleep on it. I had to be absolutely certain that the book was really ready. Part of that was giving myself a chance to think of any more details like I had done already--things come to me when I'm not actively editing but in that mindset doing something else like household chores.

The other part was debating a couple of places in the book, whether I wanted to keep some sections of backstory (aka info-dump/flashback narrative) in the story about some of the side characters. However, these were characters from the earlier parts of the Starfire Angels series (Dark Angel Chronicles and Revelations). I decided that these characters and their past interactions were worth explaining, because it highlights something more about the Starfire, which readers will know is a key to defeating the Issan deity, and because it offers something about the past of the characters and touches on their links to one another. Those who read the other two series will appreciate the updates more than new readers, but it will help new readers too.

I finally decided that I could either edit it to death or just publish. It's the same old battle. As I get further along on this series, I get a bit more paranoid about missing things or messing up a detail, but I did go back to Remnants and reviewed bits of the Nepur'din information there.

In the end, I feel that HOMECOMING is as good as it could get and any more editing would probably detract from it. It's a fine line between editing enough and over-editing.

It's now available. I'll send out the email notice tomorrow. (I'm still waiting on a couple of retail links.) You can find all the links on the book page as I update them at https://www.melanienilles.com/books/homecoming/.

Happy Reading!

About forgiveness... helpful advice (don't let it drag you to hell!)

If you're wondering why I've been sharing more faith videos on this blog, it serves two purposes, one selfish and one in charity: 1) selfish--to keep this blog active in the long gaps between writing updates and 2) charity--to help others discover the fullness of the faith that has transformed my life and brought me closer to God.

Since my writing contains bits and pieces of the virtues and values of my faith, this isn't in opposition to my writing but, rather, a complement to it. My books are written so that all can enjoy them, whether you believe in God or not. They don't preach, or at least I don't think they preach; I try not to preach, but sometimes characters do exert their beliefs, whether I agree or not, just like real people, because it expresses a part of who they are. Preaching the faith is not the purpose in my fiction; the primary goal there is just to tell entertaining stories, but stories without glorifying sin. I simply include heroes/heroines that share my values in some form or another, often deficient in ways that allow for growth, just as we are in real life deficient and (should be) seeking growth. 

I'm sharing this because I found another excellent video in my feed. This is about forgiving others of their transgressions (even politicians, entertainers, and other public figures--pray for their conversions rather than holding grudges or hating them). I needed this and know that everyone can benefit from this. Fr. Reehil's advice is so beautiful in this video that I had to share it and add it to my growing collection of resources on my Faith Resources page. 

There's also some excellent advice at the end of the video about confession. I have to say that it's one of my favorite (although most difficult) sacraments, because I feel like I've had a bath afterwards--my soul is renewed in the cleansing from reconciliation that comes from the confessional. The effect isn't as dramatic as you grow in virtue, which leads to less serious sins and greater sensitivity to the smallest sins. True life is about conforming your will to God's (which can be very challenging--giving up what you want to conform to God's law). You can't rely on feelings for that; rather, it's a matter of reason over feelings, keeping God's commandments in all the minutiae of our lives, down to the least condemnation of our thoughts. It's not easy, but it's so worthwhile! And the confessional is one of the greatest ways to grow in loving God. (Here's a link to help with the examination of conscience.)

Aside from that, I'll be finishing HOMECOMING, Book 17 of Starfire Angels: Forgotten Worlds, in the next few days. 🥳

Watch for an announcement post on that.

God bless!