Aliens on Earth, Phoenix, Random Amusements

Aliens on Earth?

aliens on earthIf you search on Google: “Aliens on Earth” or “Have Aliens Visited Earth?” you will get all sorts of wild stuff.

Aliens on Earth? Here are some excerpts from 10 Most Compelling Pieces Of Evidence That Prove Aliens Have Visited Earth. This will make you believe.

“The UFO phenomenon, whether for believers or survivors, tends to be relegated to small-town hicks, paranoid university stoners, and their dropout brethren. The simple truth is, critical thinking in the information age has refined our suspension of disbelief into a sharply honed skepticism and natural scoff.

‘The very notion that we’ve been visited by intelligent life forms from another world is, along with myths of Norse Gods and witchcraft, consigned to Hollywood films and teen fan fiction, and that’s okay, right? …”

Well do you think there are or have been aliens on Earth?

With humans having walked the earth for an estimated 200,000 years, some might call people who believe there is other life in the universe besides ourselves crazy or in the category of “tin-hats” (Urban Dictionary: “Tin hats are people who believe ridiculous stories, low-level paranoid people with no real understanding of science or research. The tin hat itself refers to the iconic foil hat worn by characters cowering from ‘cosmic ray’s, as portrayed in around a million hokey Hollywood films.”

Is that being a little short sighted? What do you think? Comment below. We would love to hear from you. In that vein, we have a work-in-progress, controversial as it may be, that has had us enthralled.

COMING SOON: Shakti and the Prince, Enslavement of a Planet.

Shakti and the Prince by Phoenix

News Headline:

“LIVING NEANDERTHAL GIRL DISCOVERED IN MODERN-DAY FRANCE.”

It is assumed from scant archaeologist evidence that the pre-human race of Neanderthal went extinct 30,000 years ago. However, what if that is not what happened?

ARE YOU READY TO HEAR THE TRUTH?

Shakti, a young Neanderthal girl, and what is left of her family, have managed to survive up until present day by staying hidden deep in the forests of southwestern France. For thousands of years, they had been hunted not only by humans, but a much more powerful enemy. She desperately wants to finally have freedom and no longer have to hide.

When what is left of Shakti’s family dies, she is all alone. She is discovered wandering, hungry, thirsty, and ill, and her existence becomes big news around the world. Everyone falls in love with the little “cave girl.”

However, all of the attention puts her in the spotlight, which puts her in danger of being hunted again by that deadly entity. She knows too much truth about Earth and the true origins of humankind.

Will Shakti go into hiding, as her people have for all of these millennia, or will she finally fight back after 30,000 years?

SHAKTI and THE PRINCE  The Da Vince Code meets the Clan of the Cave Bear meets the X Files.

Flash Fiction

Our Frozen World – Flash Fiction by Phoenix

Hello. Welcome to Flash Fiction by Phoenix. Here is another story to add to our collection.

Logo for our Flash Fiction

I KNEW ABOUT ICE, towering, giant glaciers of it moving slowly forward, destroying anything in their paths.

Yes, I knew about ice.

And I knew about snow because it covered our northern forest home, not leaving much alive except us. Not even wolves. Only the tops of trees showed as our group of one hundred carefully made our way east. I gazed at the frozen land, and the wind burned my eyes. The air burned my nose and throat as I tried to breathe. Frost hung on my eyelids.

Image for flash fiction story Our Frozen World

I had talked them into moving on, convinced them that life here was not going to go back to the way it was. Yes, we had rough winters before, but spring and summer had always returned with fresh grass, flowers and the trees filled with leaves. Bees fed on wild flowers, birds nested, and small animals scurried about, while we spent lazy, pleasant hours enjoying our life.

This time, there was no summer, and I told them we needed to move on, to search for a new home, a place that I was sure existed, even after this catastrophic weather had hit our land. The place was to the southeast. I had no idea how I knew that, except I thought I heard a voice on the wind. The voice told me there was a place where the sun warmed the earth, played sparkles on the water, and the grass and trees basked in its love. At night, its shy sister, Earth’s silvery moon, would come out and in a clear sky filled with stars, would sing us to sleep.

We were so cold and we were starving. That warm land had to be there. It just had to be. I simply had to believe I had heard a voice calling to me, telling me to go and find this place.

(more…)

Our Treasure Chest of Authors and Their Books, Random Amusements

Omega Force Series – Review

Omega Force SeriesI’m on book 6 of 8 (so far, anyway) of the Omega Force Series (so far, anyway). I know already that I will not be able to let go of the wonderful characters and their adventures.

Jason Burke is the reluctant first astronaut to set foot on another planet. Very engaging hero, with great other characters and super villains. I love the dialog, the clever plotting and the terrific pace. The following intriguing description on Amazon sold me on getting the book; the book sold me on reading the rest.

Five Stars for the Omega Force Series

Jason Burke was a man hiding from himself in a small cabin high in the American Rocky Mountains when his simple, quiet life was shattered one night by what he first assumed was an aviation mishap. But when he investigates the crash, what he finds will yank him out of his self-imposed exile and thrust him into a world he could have never imagined.

He suddenly finds himself trapped on a damaged alien spacecraft and plunged into a universe of interstellar crime lords and government conspiracies, along the way meeting strange new friends… and enemies. As he struggles to find his way back home he is inexorably drawn deeper into a world where one misstep could mean his death. Or worse. He desperately wants to get back to Earth, but it may be the end for him.

… or is it just the beginning?

Book One of the Omega Force Series

Flash Fiction

PROOF THAT FAIRIES EXIST – Flash Fiction by Phoenix

 magical forest for proof fairies exist
I am a scientist, a man immersed in analytical thought.
A man who supposedly only has regard for the physical universe, what is plainly real and, more importantly, what can be proven.

So it is supposedly out of character for me to believe in stuff like this. However, I did and I still do, more passionately now than ever.

On that day last May, when I first saw them, I had to rub my eyes and look again. I thought at first that they were my imagination and only part of the gloom and shadows of the forest, the reflection of bits of sun escaping the trees overhead.

They were dancing. And singing, ignoring me as if I were not there. Light flashed and glittered around them. Colors of brown, blue, and pink. Soft yellow. Pale green. Pastels only; nothing garish or vivid. Gossamer, diaphanous, tiny wings, fluttered like hummingbirds.

I had the strong desire to talk to them, to find out more about them. Where did they come from? I walk in these woods often. Why had I not seen them before?
I took a few tentative steps forward, hoping I looked inoffensive. There was no response. They just continued their little party on the forest floor, maybe fifty of them, women and men, all only about four inches tall.

A small breeze ruffled my hair, cooled my flushed face, and fanned the flame of my excitement as I thought, If only I had my iPhone, I could have taken a picture … Wait, I had my phone!

In slow motion, I reached into my pocket, carefully brought it up and clicked. My heart almost burst as I looked at the image. I could show the world that fairies did exist. Unlike the University lecturer John Hyatt in England who claimed to have photographed real-life Tinkerbells flying through the air in the British countryside, only to have experts debunk his find, giving explanations of merely reflections of the sun or that the tiny shapes were only fleas, or a flies, or small dragonflies.
image of fairies for flash fiction storyI remember reading the article and how surprised I was at my sharp disappointment. Had I truly wanted them to be real? I had to answer myself.

Yes. I did.

So did thousands of other like me.

I looked again at the image. No, this situation would be different than the case of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle noted for his fictional stories about the detective Sherlock Holmes. The two women, Elsie and Frances, who had convinced him with photographs that fairies existed, finally confessed in the early 1980s, fifty years after Conan Doyle’s involvement, that they had faked the photos with paper cutouts.

Ah, but now …

I took some more pictures. And stepped to more angles. These whould be good. In the viewfinder, the images were vivid and clear.

Not an insect or trick of sunshine.

No. There they were!

I switched over to the video feature and focused. God! There they were dancing and singing.

I could make all the millions of people who fervently want fairies to be real, happy. Ecstatic!

I would be like proving that unicorns were real, that their once was a place called Middle Earth, and that dinosaurs existed outside of movie animation.

I realized that I too had wanted to believe that the little people with wings existed outside of fantasy fiction. I felt a rush of need and passion. Yes. I wanted that.

And, I had proof. Oh, yes. Yes! Yes!

I felt all aglow. I backed up and watched for a while. The sun was starting to set, and finally the last ray glittered away. The fairies faded along with the daylight.

I rushed to my car and looked at the pictures. And then the video.

My heart stopped.

There was nothing there, just the forest and the rays of the sun filtering through the trees overhead. I felt my poor heart break. I sat for an hour with my head on my arms, resting on the steering well.

I finally lifted my head and looked through the windshield at the bright stars above.

Then the thought hit me. Wait. They are real. I saw them! I’ll find them again. Besides, who cares if I don’t have pictures or videos because they are not needed.

Thousands of people, like me, already believe in fairies. No proof is necessary.

*********

We hope you like our latest flash fiction story. Would you like to have our Flash Fiction and other Random Amusements by Phoenix arrive in your mailbox? Great! Look for Big Bad Hat on the side bar. (The kitty with the hat – he’s the most rowdy member of the Phoenix Fan Club.)

Love,

Lee and Gary Jordan

PHOENIX

Other fiction by Phoenix:
Leon’s Lair, Speculative Fiction that has it all – romance, betrayal, suspense, evil creatures, heroes, and lot’s of adventure. Amazon.com
A Whisper from Eden, Speculative Fiction based on a real Indian tribe and their ancient myths of people who came from the heavens. Amazon.com

Flash Fiction

MEETING – Flash Fiction by Phoenix

Flash Fiction Image - Crowed Subway Station

A blast of stale air blew into the station ahead of the train, almost on time for a change. As usual the same cast of characters edged closer to the still closed doors, anticipating the whoosh-thump of the portal opening. The crowds started packing tighter and tighter, not pushing and shoving but contracting their personal space to not be left behind when the doors closed.

I was not in a hurry for the first time in years. If I missed BART, well there would be another one along in about seven minutes. No speed needed this trip from San Francisco-Civic Center to Walnut Creek. There was nothing waiting for me but a cold lonely house without a stick of furniture but a queen-sized bed, a Formica table, two chrome leatherette dining chairs and a twenty-one inch flat-screen TV that was really my computer’s monitor. The frig was as empty as the house. It had seen happier days.

My heart was heavy as usual and my nerves felt frayed. This was the usual state of affairs. However, for some reason I looked around me. For the first time in years, I actually looked around the platform, not just looking at a surging, faceless mass of humanity, but I looked at faces. I recognized emotions: boredom, anger, fear, disappointment, happiness and maybe even serenity, though I could hardly see how someone could be serene in the cutthroat world of the San Francisco Financial District. It surprised me that the crowd was alive with emotions. I had not noticed this before.

There was an obvious beggar near the platform edge, his clothes dirty and torn. He held a cane in one hand and a large filthy plastic shopping bag in the other. The bag obviously held his work tools. A small dirty white dog peeked out at one end, a ratty pillow rose out of the rest of it along with a cardboard sign, all dog-eared and grease laden, that I could not read. The man’s eyes were wild looking. If I had to characterize him, I would say crazy or on speed or the latest chemical cocktail put out by big pharma. He wasn’t just down on his luck, he was the walking dead.

I could not keep my eyes on him any longer as I started to wonder if I was going to end up like him in a few years.

I shifted my eyes to a mousey looking anorexic girl, probably about twenty-five, who continually looked left then right, pulled her shoulders in further, looked left and right again and then tried to make herself smaller again. Her face was tight, eyes like a deer in the headlights and a mouth drawn into just a slit across her face. She had her hand deep in her knock-off purse, and I would have bet a hundred she had her hand wrapped around a pepper spray can.

Next to me, a slightly obese man in an off-the-rack dark gray suit with a power tie was talking non-stop on his cell phone. He seemed irritated with whomever he was talking to and continued to berate the person. It went on for a couple of minutes and I finally heard him stop for a moment. He listened for one or two seconds and then the volume rose. He said, “I don’t care what your family problems are. You get that report typed and stop that god damned sniveling and get that report out to FedEx tonight. If there is one error, you’re going to be looking for another job.

He immediately cut the call and noticed I was looking at him. He said to me as though he was my mentor, “Don’t ever hire a single mom, they’re nothing but a pain in the ass, no matter what they look like.” He pushed forward to try to get to the front of the crowd and from a small squeal, I figured he stepped on someone’s toes.

I shook my head and thought, “not much humanity there.”

Next to walk up beside me was an attractive, mature woman in a business suit. She was holding up her left hand trying to read her wristwatch, but with a brief case, an overcoat, and a bouquet of flowers in her hands she was having a problem.

She smiled at me and actually looked me in the eye and said, “Do you have the time?”

“You bet, its 6:40.”

“Ahhh,” she smiled, “I’ll make it.”

Feeling better talking to a person who by all appearances could negotiate life in a positive way I said, “Where are you headed with those beautiful flowers?”
“They are beautiful aren’t they?” She looked them over and smiled wider, as she was obviously pleased with herself. “I’m on my way to my niece’s piano recital. I know she’s nervous but she’s been working so hard, and I thought a little bouquet for the budding Martha Argerich would make her feel special.”

“What a lovely thing to do. You’re a thoughtful aunt.”

The doors finally opened and the crowd began to surge forward intent on finding a seat without gum on it.

We were nearly the last to enter, and I held the door so it would not crush this lovely lady or her flowers. We managed to sit together and talked all the way to Walnut Creek. I stood up for my stop feeling revived, and maybe not perfectly happy, but certainly feeling better than an hour ago.

Her name was Clare and she stood up.

“Your stop?” I asked.

She smiled at me and said “Yes. You know, I’ve seen you on this train many times in the last couple of years.”

“You have? I’m ashamed to say I’ve not seen anyone on this train for a long time. I mean looked at people, you know. Just in my head and stuck in my business and my problems. I want to thank you for helping me reacquaint with humanity.”

I smiled at the lovely woman. And she smiled back.

As we stepped off the train, I said, “So, you live in Walnut Creek …”

We hope you enjoyed Meeting – Flash Fiction by Phoenix. Feel free to comment below.

Other fiction by Phoenix:
Leon’s Lair, Speculative Fiction that has it all – romance, betrayal, suspense, evil creatures, heroes, and lot’s of adventure. Amazon.com
A Whisper from Eden, Speculative Fiction based on a real Indian tribe and their ancient myths of people who came from the heavens. Amazon.com
My Beloved Ghost in the Amazon, how one man found redemption in an unexpected place – the jungles of the Amazon. Amazon.com

(more…)

Flash Fiction

DUKE’S THROW – Flash Fiction by Phoenix

His mind was ready and completely focused. He started the motion and poured every piece of himself into it, with so much emotion he felt his head and heart would explode. Duke hopped in a several circles and swung. The projectile blasted through the air like a shell from artillery.

His head snapped to follow the trajectory with his eyes glued, tracing it, and calculating its final target. It had not landed yet, and he didn’t need to see the ball’s final resting place. He knew he had done it. He raised both fists and with all his might leaped into the air screaming “Yes” to the dumbfounded crowd of one hundred thousand.

The audience’s eyes followed the arc of the ball headed for the grassy, soft green earth. The ball passed the last hash mark.

The astounding distance registered, they jumped from their seats and filled the stadium with an instant roar. Duke stood erect as the crowd turned as one to look at him. He raised his right fist, turned in a half circle, and acknowledged the praise for his moment of glory. He smiled, his chin held high, as sweat poured down his face, and his jersey pasted itself to his muscled body.

As Duke trotted off the field to the manic screaming of the fans, his mind flashed to his college coach saying, “You’ll never make it.” He said, “You haven’t the heart or drive to do sixty. You’re clumsy on your feet. If you can’t tell those lines on the ground are not to be crossed, and if you miss the field one more time, you’re off the team before you kill someone.”

Duke smiled to himself. What do you think now, coach Brown?

Yes, he had trouble getting his footwork down: heel-toe, turn, heel-toe, turn, spin, spin, spin, spin, and release. All with perfect balance, and with no attention on the body.

Oh, yeah, he chuckled to himself. He fell so often, he felt like a rooky guard on an NFL team. The coach was right. He was clumsy, but that coach never gave him the prescription to fix it.

He had to find the secret himself.

Once in a while, he wondered at how much effort and pain he put into learning to perform this sport. To prove Coach Brown wrong? Fame and fortune? No, none of those things; it was just there and he was going to do it. There wasn’t any other reason other than he wanted it. Not that he needed to know what motivated him, but he found a quote once that explained it all and hit him like a thunder clap in the sky. “Happiness does not come from doing easy work but from the afterglow of satisfaction that comes after the achievement of a difficult task that demanded our best.

And when he finally got it, he learned to do it with the precision of Baryshnikov. Today’s world record was proof.
Dukes Throw - Flash Fiction

As he approached the tunnel to the locker room, a reporter from ABC Sports cornered him with stupid questions like, “How do you feel.” “What do you want to say to your fans?” And finally, the only question he wanted to answer, “Now that you have demolished the world record for the Hammer Throw of 90.2 meters, to what do you owe this unbelievable success?”

Duke, a hulking man at six feet four, two hundred fifty-six pounds, with a body like Atlas, stopped walking and turned to the camera. “I owe my success to ballet lessons.”

The journalist watched with a slack jaw, as Duke entered the tunnel.

CLICK TO TWEET THIS Tweet: Happiness does not come from doing easy work but from … the achievement of a difficult task that demanded our best. http://ctt.ec/lvC6_+

If you enjoyed our Flash Fiction story, feel free to leave a comment. We love hearing from you.

Other fiction by Phoenix:

Leon’s Lair, Speculative Fiction that has it all – romance, betrayal, suspense, evil creatures, heroes, and lot’s of adventure. Amazon.com
A Whisper from Eden, Speculative Fiction based on a real Indian tribe and their ancient myths of people who came from the heavens. Amazon.com
My Beloved Ghost in the Amazon, how one man found redemption in an unexpected place – the jungles of the Amazon. Amazon.com

Our Treasure Chest of Authors and Their Books

Book Review – Into the Americas

Into the Americas (A novel based on a true story) (Kindle Edition)

Book - Into the AmericasSince I am such a fan of James and Lance Morcan, a father and son writing team, they always send me their newly launched books in exchange for a review. Which I am honored to do.

Into the Americas relates one of the great true wilderness survival stories, based on a true story from the diary of English blacksmith John Jewitt during his time aboard The Boston and his time at Nootka Sound on North America’s Western seaboard (from 1802 to 1805).

As I said, I am a fan of the Morcan writing team, and it all started with their fabulous The Ninth Orphan series. I have read everything they have written ever since and love how they have such a diversity of subjects they tackle.

This time they have turned to the Pacific Northwest and the nineteen-year-old John Jewitt, a blacksmith from England seeking adventure, who becomes crew on a trade ship headed for the Americas to trade goods with the Indians. (more…)

Random Amusements

Speaking of Starting Something

Denial ain’t just a river in Egypt. Mark Twain

cute5

Well, that has nothing to do with this, (well sort of) but I wanted to invite you to join a group I started. Grab a cup of coffee and join us. We talk books, specifically with a “visionary/metaphysical” element that can be present in any genre and set in any time. Books that give you something new to think about. Bring your thinking cap, an open mind, and your best behavior. It should go without saying that if you haunt this group like an inter-dimensional beastie, you will be removed and we will use your worst antics in our next books.

Love,
Lee Jordan, PHOENIX
https://www.facebook.com/groups/390780937773113/cover3

Random Amusements

Is Writing a Novel Scary?

A Pic1Do you hesitate to do something because it scares you? Me too. Some things feel like you are about jump into the deep end of the pool, and you don’t know how to swim. That’s how it felt to publish my first book, A Whisper from Eden, on Kindle Direct Publishing. I was about to put my baby out there and it felt like I was walking into the middle of the street naked, asking “Well, what do you think?”

Pushing the publish button was terrifying.

Turned out not be as bad as I imagined. The majority of fears turn out that way. People like the book.

I published another book, and am working on two more. The whole process is not easy, but not as nerve-wracking as when I was a newbie, because I’ve met lots of friends here on the Internet, readers and writers.

I’d like to invite you to friend me on my Facebook author page. Just push the LIKE button.

FICTION BY PHOENIX on Facebook

Our Treasure Chest of Authors and Their Books

Mermen Series by Mimi Jean Pamfiloff

Mermen

AVAILABLE ON AMAZON.

Gary and I are not particularly fans of romance, or romantic suspense, but we have always enjoyed anything that Mimi Jean writes, which is A LOT OF BOOKS. We loved the the Mermen series.

These Mermen Don’t Have Tails, They’re Deadly as Hell, and They’ve Got Something He Wants…

INFAMOUS BACHELOR and SELF-MADE BILLIONAIRE ROEN DORAN IS A BASTARD. Yes, he knows it. And no, he doesn’t care. He’s got money and power, and he depends on no one. But when his estranged father dies, willing him a secret island, Roen will come face to face with an even bigger secret: its occupants. And these savage, sea-obsessed warriors are quick to make their position clear: Leave now or die.

There’s only one problem. Nobody tells Roen what to do. Ever. Oh, and one other thing. He’s just met the island’s other new “guest” and something about her brings out his possessive side.

SOLE SHIPWRECK SURVIVOR LIV STRATTON had been adrift at sea for ten grueling days when salvation miraculously appeared: an uncharted island. Only, the deceivingly beautiful men who live there aren’t interested in saving her. No, not at all. Because they somehow believe she is their property, a gift from the ocean to do with as they please. This is not good.

Her only hope? Billionaire Roen Doran, of all people. A man who’s said to care for nothing and no one. But if he’s so heartless, then why is he about to risk everything to help her?

~ ~ ~

NOTE FROM MIMI ABOUT MERMEN: Anyone who has read the Accidental Series or King knows I love to flip things on their heads. Mermen is no exception. THIS IS NOT A FLUFFY STORY ABOUT men with fins and tails who sweep ladies off their feet and make them long to be mermaids. Uh-uh. This is NOT that kind of story. Nobody in their right mind would want to hang out with these very beautiful yet dangerous men (who don’t actually have tails, fins, or gills, by the way) NOR would anyone want to be their mates. Well, at least, not me! Run. Away!!

Hope you enjoy the ride. – MIMI

Phoenix

A Review of Leon’s Lair

Hi Folks. Here are a couple of wonderful reviews on Amazon for Leon’s Lair:

5 Stars – Leon’s Not a “Sparkly” Vampire
What a thrill ride! This book is very well written. The back story is very well done. The Phoenix are a team that write books that transport you to the world they create. “Leon’s Lair” has the whole paranormal gamut of creatures. The story is about pirates who just happen to also be vampires or is it vampires that happen to also be pirates, lol. The vampire pirates have a nearly insatiable need for sex and blood. They prey on ships, including cruise ships, in order to kidnap young beautiful women to suck their blood as they rape them. Doing this gives them extraordinary powers such as mind reading and the ability to move quickly. They also increase the wealth they already have by selling valuables from aboard the ships.

In this story, after looting a cruise ship and stealing several women aboard, they unknowingly allow the escape of Peter, Nick, Jane and another man in a lifeboat. After weeks lost at sea they just happen to land on the one island that is home to Leon and his pirates. The adventures and intrigues begin there with a roller coaster ride of thrills and intrigues. For me, one of the most poignant sentences in the book is, Jane – “Leon was a complex and complicated person. So filled with love for her, so filled with hope for the future, and so completely insane”. This book doesn’t disappoint at all!

5 Stars – An amazing story for the lovers of Romance and Paranormal books with kick ass characters.
I received this book as a gift from the author, Phoenix. I have not read a vampire book in a long while, so if I had not received it as a gift, I may never have given it a second look. From the very first this book was interesting. There are so many aspects to this story. It is not just a vampire book. There are wizards, real and false vampires (you need to read the book to find out the difference.)

Phoenix takes you on a journey all over the world. Unlike some books where the descriptions of locations makes the book drag and you wonder if the author is just trying to add pages, you feel transported to the deck of the cruise ship, the tropical islands, the streets of Boston, the castles of Scotland, and even Indonesia.

This is a love story, a story of survival, revenge, obsession, terror, and evil.

Thank you Phoenix for the gift of your book.

See it on Amazon.com

Our Treasure Chest of Authors and Their Books

Review – B.V. Larson – Science Fiction

Reading is a major part of our life, as is writing. We like all genres, just as I do, but Gary especially likes science fiction. He had ordered a whole series on our Kindle and kept saying how much he liked the Undying Mercenary Series and moved on to the Star Force Series by B.V. Larson.

I decided to pick up Steel World and loved it. What an imagination!! The protagonist is a admirable mix of humility and true grit. And action? Non-stop. I immediately went on to read the whole series and on to the Star Force Series. Non-stop twists, turns and great characters. I just want to warn you that you will not be able to stop after just one book.

I did some research on Larson and am excited to find that he does not like to limit himself to one genre, but likes to let his imagination be his guide to what he writes. Love that since Gary and I feel the same way and don’t want to let genre limit what we write about. Check out his website to see the series listed on the author’s Homepage: BVLarson.com

I highly recommend books by B.V. Larson.


B. V. Larson is the bestselling author of more than thirty novels, many of which have reached the Amazon/Kindle Top 100 bestseller list. Writing in several genres, most of his work is Fantastic in nature, and spans from Military Science Fiction to Epic Fantasy. As a California native, B. V. Larson’s stories often take place on sunny beaches and in cities such as Las Vegas. He has three kids living at home and currently teaches college. He writes college textbooks as well as fiction.

Our Treasure Chest of Authors and Their Books, Visionary Fiction

Book Review of Lamb – Visionary Fiction

Book Cover of The Lamb

LAMB – THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO BIFF, CHRIST’S CHILDHOOLD PAL, by Christopher Moore

Loved, loved this unique book about Jesus and speculation on his early years, as told from the view point of his best friend, Biff. The Gospels according to Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John leave a gaping hole in the story of Jesus. Don’t read this in public if laughing out loud embarrasses you.
5 Stars – Phoenix
DESCRIPTION:
The birth of Jesus has been well chronicled, as have his glorious teachings, acts, and divine sacrifice after his thirtieth birthday. But no one knows about the early life of the Son of God, the missing years — except Biff, the Messiah’s best bud, who has been resurrected to tell the story in the divinely hilarious yet heartfelt work “reminiscent of Vonnegut and Douglas Adams” (Philadelphia Inquirer).
Verily, the story Biff has to tell is a miraculous one, filled with remarkable journeys, magic, healings, kung fu, corpse reanimations, demons, and hot babes. Even the considerable wiles and devotion of the Savior’s pal may not be enough to divert Joshua from his tragic destiny. But there’s no one who loves Josh more — except maybe “Maggie,” Mary of Magdala — and Biff isn’t about to let his extraordinary pal suffer and ascend without a fight.

Amazon.com Review

While the Bible may be the word of God, transcribed by divinely inspired men, it does not provide a full (or even partial) account of the life of Jesus Christ. Lucky for us that Christopher Moore presents a funny, lighthearted satire of the life of Christ–from his childhood days up to his crucifixion–in Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal. This clever novel is surely blasphemy to some, but to others it’s a coming-of-age story of the highest order.

Joshua (a.k.a. Jesus) knows he is unique and quite alone in his calling, but what exactly does his Father want of him? Taking liberties with ancient history, Moore works up an adventure tale as Biff and Joshua seek out the three wise men so that Joshua can better understand what he is supposed to do as Messiah. Biff, a capable sinner, tags along and gives Joshua ample opportunities to know the failings and weaknesses of being truly human. With a wit similar to Douglas Adams, Moore pulls no punches: a young Biff has the hots for Joshua’s mom, Mary, which doesn’t amuse Josh much: “Don’t let anyone ever tell you that the Prince of Peace never struck anyone.” And the origin of the Easter Bunny is explained as a drunken Jesus gushes his affection for bunnies, declaring, “Henceforth and from now on, I decree that whenever something bad happens to me, there shall be bunnies around.”

One small problem with the narrative is that Biff and Joshua often do not have distinct voices. A larger difficulty is that as the tone becomes more somber with Joshua’s life drawing to its inevitable close, the one-liners, though not as numerous, seem forced. True to form, Lamb keeps the story of Joshua light, even after its darkest moments. –Michael Ferch

From Publishers Weekly

A childhood pal of the savior is brought back from the dead to fill in the missing 30-year “gap” in the Gospels in Moore’s latest, an over-the-top festival of sophomoric humor that stretches a very thin though entertaining conceit far past the breaking point. The action starts in modern America, specifically in a room at the Hyatt in St. Louis, where the angel who shepherds “Levi who is called Biff” has to put Christ’s outrageous sidekick under de facto house arrest to get him to complete his task. Moore (Bloodsucking Fiends) gets style points for his wild imagination as Biff recalls his journey with Jesus dubbed Joshua here according to the Greek translation into and out of the clutches of Balthasar, then into a Buddhist monastery in China and finally off to India, where they dabble in the spiritual and erotic aspects of Hinduism.

The author gets more serious in his climax, offering a relatively straightforward, heartfelt account of the Passion and Christ’s final days that includes an intriguing spin on how the Resurrection might have happened. The Buddhist and Hindu subplots seem designed to point out the absurdity and excesses of religious customs, but none of the characters are especially memorable, and eventually both plot and characters give way to Biff’s nightclub patter. As imaginative as some of this material is, the sacrilegious aspects are far less offensive than Moore’s inability to rein in his relentless desire to titillate, and his penchant for ribald, frat-boy humor becomes more annoying as the book progresses. Moore has tapped into organized religion for laughs before, but this isn’t one of his better efforts. Agent, Nick Ellison. Author tour.

Random Amusements, Visionary Fiction

What is the Difference between Visionary Fiction and Speculative Fiction and Why Should I care?

A great pic 6
Well, to answer the last part of the question, writers need to care where their books fit on bookstore shelves, and in our case the virtual bookshelf. Gary and I, writing as Phoenix, are genre rebels, writing what we want to write, but when it comes to having people find our stuff, well then we are forced into labeling our work (we hate that).

The key to speculative fiction lies in the root word: speculate. Think of this in terms of “what if” and you’ll see it. So now you might ask, but doesn’t that make all fiction speculative? What if the Wicked Witch really has monkeys that can fly? What if aliens really exist on Earth? What if we could be like Superman and leap tall buildings? And what if there was a separate world for regular folk and witches, where the witches attended an academy to learn their craft?
Does this not mean that fantasy, science fiction, and horror, are Visionary as well as Speculative? Does it exclude romance, science fiction and horror?
Fiction, by definition, is untrue, so all of it involves some degree of speculation. The difference is in what’s being speculated upon. My opinion is that Visionary Fiction is a genre that was created to specify a goal, not a genre. Romance, alternative history, weird tales, dystopian, apocalyptic, time travel, (think of time traveling World War II nurses, moving through time to Medieval Scotland), past lives, superheroes, all sorts of supernatural elements – but with a difference.

The difference is that the goal of the story would be to uplift, illustrate, and demonstrate that we as humans have much more ability than we even suspect.
How much power do we as spiritual beings really have? Are there any boundaries?

No one knows for sure. We can do all sorts of things with the physical universe that no one would have believed possible even just a year ago, much less decades past. I’m sure you can think of hundreds of examples of such amazing technological advances.

But how much do we really know about the spiritual universe? A few years ago, this was explored only in the realm of traditional religious dogma or ghost movies. The spiritual universe vs. the physical universe. Some people think they are just a body, a heart and a brain and two arms that they can pick things up with, but not spiritual beings of immense power. How much do we humans really know about who we are? I say not enough.

Sometimes visionary fiction has themes of a character winning over nature by sheer will, or winning over impossible evil odds, also that uplift and give the reader an expansive feeling about the possibilities for the human race. Other stories can have the characters have sudden unexplainable powers and delve into unexplored spiritual abilities.

So if you suspect that there is more to humans than meets the eye of common awareness, then you will enjoy novels that explore the matter within all sorts of genres, that make use of plots, characters, and setting with imagination and asking the question “What if?” With visionary fiction, an author can weave a tale that immerses us in drama, along with offering a new way of looking at our spiritual selves, what is possible, and give an ode to the indomitable human spirit.

Speaking of odes, here is one that says it all:

ODE
We are the music-makers,
And we are the dreamers of dreams,
Wandering by lone sea breakers,
And sitting by desolate streams;
World-losers and world-forsakers,
On whom the pale moon gleams:
Yet we are the movers and shakers
Of the world forever it seems.

With wonderful deathless ditties
We build up the world’s great cities,
And out of a fabulous story
We fashion an empire’s glory:
One man with a dream at pleasure,
Shall go forth and conquer a crown;
And three with a new song’s measure
Can trample an empire down.

We, in the ages lying
In the buried past of the earth,
Built Nineveh with our sighing,
And Babel itself with our mirth;
And o’erthrew them with prophesying
To the old of the new world’s worth;
For each age is a dream that is dying,
Or one that is coming to birth.

Arthur O’Shaughnessy (1844-1881)

Random Amusements

An Interview with a Vampire about Vampires

On an early evening in October, we caught up with Victor Bainbridge, a vampire who is very British but lives in a splendid home in Spain. It was obvious from his palatial home that being a vampire was not hurting his earning capabilities.

As the authors of Leon’s Lair, in which he is a major character, we were shown into his study by his majordomo. The study walls were lined from floor to ceiling with books, many leather bound and obviously quite old. Victor sat in a leather high-backed chair with a small crystal glass on a side table, a volumous report in his lap and his right leg crossed at the knee. Dressed in soft chinos, Italian shoes (no sox) and a black cashmere pullover, he looked self-assured and comfortable with our visit.

He rose to greet us with a smile and offered us a chair opposite him. After a few pleasantries and an offer of a drink. we began. We were both little nervous about accepting a drink as we surmised what he was drinking was a dark red, viscous drink that clung to the sides of the crystal and wasn’t the kind of refreshment we wanted.

GARY: Well, Victor, I must say you have a beautiful home. It seems being a vampire has been a rewarding way of life. Can you tell our readers a little about how you became a vampire and where it all started?

VICTOR: Well, Gary, there are a lot of misconceptions about vampires, many old tales that have survived down through the ages. (more…)

Just for Fun

The Phoenix

The phoenix, a fabulous bird connected with the worship of the sun, especially in ancient Egypt and in classical antiquity. The phoenix was said to have resembled an eagle, but was larger and had brilliant scarlet and gold plumage and a melodious cry.

Only one phoenix existed at a time, and was very long-lived – no ancient authority gave it a life span of less than 500 years. As its end approached, the phoenix fashioned a nest of aromatic boughs and spices, set it on fire and was consumed in the flames. From the pyre, miraculously spring a new phoenix. The new bird embalmed his father’s ashes in an egg of myrrh and flew with them from its home in the desert of Arabia to Heliopolis in Egypt, where it deposited them on the alter of the Temple of the Sun.

The Egyptians associated the phoenix with immortality and the symbolism had a widespread appeal in late antiquity. The phoenix was compared to undying Rome and it appeared on the coinage of the late Roman Empire as the Eternal City. It was also widely interpreted as a allegory of resurrection and life after death – ideas which also appealed to emergent Christianity. The newly formed United States of America choose the phoenix as its emblem for similar symbology: undying, immortal and indestructible. The phoenix was later changed to an eagle in about 1860. I heard that was because most people thought the bird was a turkey.

Vampire and Werewolves

Vampire Facts for Dummies

Separating Myths from Facts in Vampire: The Requiem

By Justin Achilli, Ken Cliffe, and Colleen Totz Diamond from Vampire: The Requiem For Dummies

http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/separating-myths-from-facts-in-vampire-the-requiem.html


Where does Vampire’s mythology diverge from popular belief? Where do the conceits ring true? The following statements outline real-world legends of the undead, clarifying their truth or falsity in the World of Darkness.

•Vampires must sustain themselves on the blood of the living: Fact. For the Kindred, the act of feeding is highly sensual. The vessel feels ecstatic when it happens, and the feeding vampire undergoes a heady rush. Certain vampires sustain their undeath by drinking the blood of animals, but rarely for long, as either their tastes or the needs of their cursed bodies force them to seek human blood.

•Vampires are immortal: Myth and fact. Although vampires do not appear to age, and some survive for centuries, the Kindred use the word undead rather than immortal. Vampirism is a curse, not a blessing. It does carry with it great power, but the state of being a vampire also brings with it numerous detriments, not the least of which include the internalized rage of the Beast and feeding on human blood.

•A vampire’s prey automatically becomes a vampire: Myth. You do not necessarily become a vampire if you’re bitten or killed by a vampire. It takes a conscious act of will, known as the Embrace, to create a new vampire. Indeed, a vampire leaves little to mark her passing if she is careful. All a vampire must do to hide the wound left by her feeding is to lick it when she’s done.

•Vampires have every manner of supernatural power, such as turning into animals, flying, and wielding the strength of a dozen men: Fact. While these powers are not universal, vampires have unique abilities, known as Disciplines, that can grant individual undead capabilities such as these and more.

•Vampires can have sex: Fact. While the act of feeding replaces all physical urges, vampires can still indulge in sex and even take pleasure from it. Curiously, however, the emotional aspect of sex vanishes after the Embrace. A vampire might enjoy the physical sensation of sex, but no more than she enjoys a particularly savory smell or the touch of a luxurious fabric.

•A wooden stake destroys vampires: Myth. Vampires aren’t destroyed upon being staked; they’re held in stasis. A vampire’s body slowly withers while trapped in this state, becoming ever more corpselike.

•Vampires don’t show up like normal people on camera or in mirrors: Fact. Vampires show up with their features obscured in photographic media (including video footage) and in mirrors. They can temporarily counteract this effect, but by “default,” their features are obscured. The same is not true for voice recordings; vampires’ voices are captured normally on voice recorders.

•Sunlight burns vampires: Fact. As part of their curse, vampires recoil at the touch of the sun, its vital rays scorching their undead flesh. Vampires typically spend the daylight hours in the cold sleep of undeath, and only the most resolute can shake off the weight of the day’s forced slumber for even a short time.

•Garlic and running water repel vampires: Myth. Such notions are
nothing more than old wives’ tales, cultural biases, or perhaps the banes of certain bloodlines of Kindred.

•Vampires are repulsed by crosses and other holy symbols: Myth — almost. While such is not generally the case, the devout sometimes do affect the Kindred with miraculous aspects of their faith.

•Vampires’ souls are as dead as their bodies: Myth and fact. A vampire may believe that he feels an emotion, but what he actually feels is the echo of mortal emotions that the remnants of his soul apply to his current experience. That is, a vampire who feels angry might indeed be angry at the subject of his ire, but the resonance of the emotion actually comes from some situation the vampire dealt with in life. This condition results in many strange situations. A vampire who has never experienced a given emotion before becoming Kindred might become confused, while a vampiric artist might create a work of art that is awkwardly devoid of any true emotional insight.

Vampire and Werewolves

How to Kill a Werewolf – True or False?

FROM:

http://www.gods-and-monsters.com/how-to-kill-a-werewolf.html

You probably already know how to kill a werewolf, even if you don’t realize it. Unlike vampires, werewolves don’t have specific methods that need to be used to kill them. That doesn’t mean it’s an easy task, though.

Werewolves can be killed through a various number of methods, much like humans. Getting hit by a car, falling from a high elevation, or bleeding to death will all work just as well on a werewolf as they would on a human being. The challenge is not really figuring out how to kill a werewolf, it’s figuring out if you’re going to be able to kill that werewolf before it kills you.

I have a few recommendations to make the job easier. (more…)

Vampire and Werewolves

How to Kill a Vampire – True or False?

FROM: http://www.gods-and-monsters.com/how-to-kill-a-vampire.html

So you want to know how to kill a vampire. Hopefully this is you being pro-active just in case you run into a vampire one day that needs killing. Otherwise this likely means that there is a vampire outside of your door and this is your last ditch attempt to survive and/or keep your soul. If this is the case, you’re probably screwed, but I’ll try to help you out anyway. (more…)

Witches and Wizards

Why Can’t We Call Our Wizard a Warlock?

When writing our paranormal thriller, Leon’s Lair, I did some research on witches because we have a main good guy, Wolfgang Ulrich, who is a what? … a Wizard? Sorcerer? Magician? Mage? Warlock. Witch?

It seems all of these appellations are fine if your witch has good intentions … with the exception of the term warlock.

Most people think a warlock is simply the male equivalent of a witch. I was assured in some of my research that witch applied to both male or female. However, it bothered me to call Wolf a witch. It seemed female to me, so I started out calling him a warlock and found that was a big mistake.

The way I found out was when I was posting fun stuff on our Facebook Author Page having to do with facts about vampires, witches and warlocks. I was severely reprimanded by one visitor. It seems calling our male witch a warlock was a big no-no. People in the Wiccan religion object to that term.

So I started looking into it. What I found was there are many people who claim to be witches. I mean, there is even a school on the Internet – Witch School International – for the education and training needed to become an accomplished mage.

I also found that people who really know their stuff tell you that warlocks, as a Christian legend, were dark or villainous, consorts of the devil and flew on pitchforks rather than on brooms. Some say that in Old English a warlock meant an oath breaker, which was a major offense when someone lived in a time where a man’s word might be all you had to judge him. Warlocks in this sense were liars who could not be trusted, and they were often exiled or reviled by those who knew of their deeds.

In modern Wiccan groups, the word warlock is often used to refer to someone who has broken vows, or who is a practitioner of dark magic. It’s a very insulting and derogatory term in these circles and shouldn’t be used lightly.

Even in modern fiction the idea of a warlock remains dark and mystical. In games like World of Warcraft and Dungeons and Dragons, the warlock tends to be dark if not outright evil and diabolical, with power gained from infernal sources, of or relating to hell.

The difference between a warlock and a wizard varies, depending on who you talk to, and in both cases, the terms refer to a practitioner of magic. Some people use the terms “wizard” and “warlock” interchangeably, along with terms like sorcerer and mage, while others use these terms in very specific ways. In the Wiccan community in particular, the word “warlock” has a very specific and offensive meaning.

“Warlock” is an older word than “wizard,” coming from the Old English waerloga, which means “oath breaker,” while wizard comes from the Middle English word for “wise.” The etymologies of the words illustrate the different ways in which people sometimes view them.

Wizards are generally viewed as good people with strong moral codes who also offer wise advice and assistance, and many fantasy stories feature a kindly wizard who helps the characters achieve their goals – like Gandalf in The Lord of the Rings.

And who does not love Gandalf?

Now Leon in Leon’s Lair, on the other hand, is bad to the bone. He is not a warlock but a vampire.

If you would like to meet him, and our wizard, Wolfgang Ulrich, a leader with the secret society called The Association for Paranormal Creatures, and find out what he and his associates propose to do about Leon, pick up a copy of Leon’s Lair.

What would you do if your vacation cruise ship was being attacked and you were certain you would to be killed?

Would you fight? Would you hide? Would you try to escape?

LEON’S LAIR is available in Kindle and paperback versions on Amazon

US- http://amzn.to/163AcH8

UK-http://amzn.to/1fVdGGa