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God and His Word Virtual Book Tour

 

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A Devotional Commentary in Psalm 119

Nonfiction / Religion / Spiritual / Devotional

Date Published: September 19, 2023

Publisher: Lucid Books

 
 

 Do you desire the delight and joy described in the Bible, but find it elusive? Do you find yourself struggling to move from obligation to heartfelt desire? Do you desire more than information, but deep transformation? If so, this book is for you. Psalm 119 is a prayer to God for all of these things, and a personal answer from the Lord Himself. The infinitely perfect God of the universe draws near to perfect those who walk in His law, observe His testimonies, and seek Him with all their heart. How does He do this? He provides the knowledge, understanding, desire, ability, and delight; He initiates, sustains, and completes it all. This devotional commentary is a companion and a tour guide to help you toward a growing realization of the incalculable treasure that God in His mercy has placed before you in His word. You will be blessed beyond measure as you experience God’s presence as He speaks personally and powerfully to you by His perfect Word.

 

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EXCERPT

Psalm 119:14

            “I have rejoiced in the way of Your testimonies,

As much as in all riches.”

 In one of the most stunning verses in the Bible, the Psalmist continues to rise up in praise as he seeks victory over sin, to be trained by You, and to proclaim Your truth. As he reflects on these, he recognizes what he has, incalculable riches! ‘Oh that my ways may be established’ (v.5) is expressed in so many ways in this Psalm. As much as in all riches? How excited one is at the thought of acquiring great wealth, of somehow being ‘set for life’. Father, we are not only set for this life, but for eternity! Why is my level of rejoicing so low? ‘Rejoice’ is the Hebrew שׂוּשׂ, śûś, śiyś: a verb with the sense of rejoice, exalt, jubilant celebration. ‘Way of Your testimonies (also precept, commandment, and statutes) occurs in Psalm 119:14, Psalm 119:27, Psalm 119:32-33, and refers to the pathway or pattern of one’s life which follows Your ways. See also Isaiah 26:8, which directs our desires towards You, our ultimate treasure (Psalm 73:25-26). In the New Testament, the Apostle prays that the eyes of our heart will be open to see the reality of these riches (see Ephesians 1:15- 23, which prays towards seeing the infinite riches of Ephesians 1:1-14). Reflecting on Psalm 119:111-112, may my heart be inclined towards my inheritance! May I rejoice as one who has found great spoil (Psalm 119:72, Psalm 119:162)!

About the Author

Mark Daniel Twombly

Mark Daniel Twombly is fueled by the desire to know Christ, proclaim Him, and ‘present every man complete in Christ’ (Colossians 1:28-29) as God’s transcendent purpose for him. Having come to faith in Christ as a child, God has built into him a love for His word as the foundation for all of life. He lives in central New Jersey as a husband to Betty, father of 6, and grandfather to 4. He has been blessed to serve in local church ministry in formal leadership for most of his adult life and continues to be active in teaching, leading, and discipleship. A graduate of Rutgers College, vocationally he is a Senior Manager of Program Management in the Telecommunications  industry. He has written for Well Thought magazine and is author of the blog ‘In His Grip’ (http://mdtwombly.blogspot.com/).

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The Prophecy Virtual Book Tour

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The Tuar Tums Trilogy, Book One

Young Adult Sci-Fi

Date Published: February 25, 2021

 

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The coming battle has been foretold by the myths of the Indigenous
Americans of the Arizona desert for generations.

Now, in the modern world, Alexa has celebrated twelve birthdays without her
father, and on the eve of her sixteenth, he mysteriously returns with a gift
she never imagined and a story of alien worlds beyond our own.

Can Alexa and her friends unlock the secrets of the Southwest, millions of
years in the making?

Can they stop the threat from a planet thousands of light-years away?

In this “can’t-put-it-down” young adult sci-fi fantasy, a
battle for the future of planet Earth, itself, is waged, and only a teenage
girl can save them, now.

 

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EXCERPT

Prologue: Approximately Sixty-Five Million Years Ago

 The Orb softly glowed in the evening sky, visible but not intruding on the darkness of night. Millions of years ago, a halo appeared, surrounding the Orb in a purple silhouette. The halo’s purpose was unknown to the planet’s inhabitants, but they knew little about the Orb. Its soft purple light pulsing in the evening sky was a comfort to those on the planet, nature’s night-light. 

Over time the halo strengthened, gaining in brightness as if it were absorbing the Orb’s energy. The Orb was a Neutron Star, a stellar remnant that underwent supernova billions of years ago, but this was no ordinary star, for this star marked the exact center of the universe. All things rotated around this tiny Orb, for it was the universe’s Mother Star.

The beings of the planet called the star Shinua, meaning giver of life in their language. This was ironic, for that’s precisely what Shinua did. Its faint pulsing light gave life to their insignificant planet, and the inhabitants prospered without knowing why. 

Unknown to the inhabitants, Shinua was dying. Over hundreds of millions of years, the beautiful star had suffered numerous starquakes that ruptured its surface as its rotation slowed. The planet’s inhabitants didn’t observe the effects, and they went about their lives, ignorant of the events unfolding in their night sky. Then the inevitable happened.

With its remaining fuel spent, Shinua pulsed for the last time. With one final pulse, the Orb violently exploded, expelling its core into space. The small planet’s inhabitants watched as their beloved star vanished from sight, replaced by a pinprick of nothingness. The only evidence was a disturbance in space, an invisible force tugging at the fabric of space and time, a small scar in an otherwise vast sky. 

Moments later, the consequences of the event were made known to the planet’s inhabitants. A piece of Shinua, sixty kilometers wide, slammed into the unsuspecting world. All life was obliterated within four thousand kilometers of Shinua’s impact, and the planet’s surface bore a scar three hundred kilometers in diameter and three kilometers deep. Eventually, Shinua’s impact killed seventy percent of all life and forever changed the lives of those lucky enough to survive an extinction-level event. 

The tiny planet wasn’t the only one impacted by Shinua’s debris. Throughout the galaxy, pieces of Shinua collided with unsuspecting worlds. With debris traveling near the speed of light, it wreaked havoc across the galaxy. Some parts hit other stars and were consumed in fiery blasts. Other pieces collided with distant planets still forming in a galaxy that would continue to expand for billions of years. The odds of impact were one in a million, but there were trillions of targets.              

Nearly twenty-seven thousand years later, a chunk of Shinua fifty kilometers wide approached a small planet in the Orion-Cygnus Arm of the Milky Way galaxy. The planet was insignificant, consisting of unintelligent reptilian life-forms who watched as an enormous fireball streaked through the sky before embedding in the planet’s soft mantle in an event its future scientists would call Chicxulub. Extinction was swift, but in their place rose a species that became known as mammals. Over millions of years, they grew in intelligence, finally giving way to a species of bipedalism that ultimately ruled the tiny planet.

The insignificant planet was Earth. The events that unfolded sixty-five million years ago entangled its future inhabitants with those of the distant planet that had watched Shinua vanish from sight so long ago. Two worlds, separated by more than 1017 miles, held pieces of the greatest power in the universe. A force that was torn apart when Shinua disintegrated in the distant planet’s night sky.   

Their fates were sealed, a Prophecy would be made, and ultimately, neither planet would survive without the other.

 

 

About the Author

Phil Asmundson

Phil Asmundson has taken an unusual path to publish his first
book—the first of a trilogy no less. He was an outdoor kid who built
not only miles of trails through the woods but also created adventures that
lived only in his mind. After a 33-year career at Deloitte & Touche, he
began researching Southwest myths, discovered the Tuar Tums’ legend, and
brought them to life. He’s always had a passion for science and is
fond of saying, “True science is indistinguishable from magic.”
Phil and his wife, Kim, live in Arizona, where they own Deep Sky Vineyard
and spend their nights looking at the stars.

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Waging War Against OCD Virtual Book Tour

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A Christian Approach to Victory

 

Nonfiction / Self-Help / Mental Health / Christian

Date Published: September 26, 2023

Publisher: Lucid Books

 

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If you or someone close to you is a Christian afflicted with
obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), Waging War against OCD: A Christian
Approach
to Victory provides a lifeline. Authored by an OCD sufferer who
uses Scripture as a sword in the battle against the disorder, this book
provides comfort and hope for those mired in the confusion and hopelessness
of OCD. The author demonstrates how the methods for fighting this disorder
all originate in Scripture, the ultimate source of all wisdom and power.
Sufferers can use these truths as an anchor during their darkest and weakest
moments, knowing that God’s Word prescribes a path to victory over torturous
thought patterns, crippling fears, enslaving rituals, and debilitating
guilt.

For OCD sufferers and those that come alongside them, this book provides
rare insight into the thoughts of an OCD sufferer, shared in raw and honest
detail by the author throughout his entire life story, beginning with his
first memories of OCD at age five. For many years, the author asked for
wisdom from God, and this book is based on the wisdom he received. It is his
deepest hope that the lessons he learned will bring comfort and victory to
all Christian OCD sufferers-and to those who know, love, counsel, and
shepherd them.

“If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all
liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him” (James
1:5)

 

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EXCERPT

Sometimes, OCD has been so overwhelming that forming a single logical thought seemed nearly impossible. The only thing that kept me going in those moments was the fact that I knew God was good and that He was faithful to me. I remember when crying out to God seemed impossible because I thought I was so outside God’s will that my prayers would only be a slap in His face. Despite those false beliefs and overwhelming emotions, I focused on remembering what it was like when I could fully enjoy being in His presence. Those reflections gave me the will and strength to believe that I could overcome OCD by God’s grace.

Always remember that God’s love for you is inescapable. “God loves you, and you have no say in the matter.” This truth is a quote from Christian comedian and singer Mark Lowry, who struggled with ADHD as a child and felt like he might never amount to anything. No matter how condemned we feel by OCD, how much we give in to our compulsions, or how much we think we have done to damage ourselves and our relationship with God and others, it is comforting to know we can’t do anything about what God thinks about us. He loves us unconditionally, wants us to feel loved, and wants us to respond to that love.

About the Author

Mike Kheir

Mike began struggling with OCD as a young child and has spent most of his
life battling the disorder. By seeking God’s wisdom through his own study of
the Scripture and through the careful mentorship of his grandfather, a
pastor theologian, Mike has identified many powerful tools for battling OCD
that every Christian OCD sufferer should know. Mike uses this Biblical
wisdom to evaluate common medical and psychological treatments for OCD,
showing that viewing the disorder though the lense of Scripture can multiply
the effectiveness of these treatments for those who believe.Mike earned a BS
in mechanical engineering with a minor in mathematics from Virginia Tech,
followed by an MS in finance from George Washington University. Mike and his
wife Rashel married in 2007 and moved from Virginia back to her home state
of California in 2010 where they currently live with their daughter. Mike’s
favorite hobbies include sports photography and underwater
photography.

 

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My Life on Tender: Arina & Cal Virtual Book Tour

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Book 1 in My Life on Tender series

 

Rockstar Romance/Contemporary Romance

Date Published:  11/11/2023

 

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Curl up with your next favorite rockstar romance and meet these two hot
lovers…

A gipsy fortuneteller predicted I had three years to find true love in a
foreign land, away from home. But not in my wildest dreams did I imagine
I’d end up falling in love with a smoking hot rockstar from Southern
California…

I’ve always had a thing for tall, dark-eyed, handsome guitar players.
Now, I’m dating one. Cal is a famous rock star from Southern
California, and I accidentally matched with him on Tender. When he
passionately explores my naked body and makes love to me, he takes me to
paradise. However, when he flirts with his cute neighbor or forbids me to
touch his ugly, I’m in agony and fear I have made the wrong
choice.

Cal’s unpredictable nature keeps me on my toes. He showers me with
gifts and love on one day, but on the next, he acts as if I’m his
worst enemy and turns cold. As if his dark past and emotional scars
won’t let him open his heart again and love a woman. As if he is a
complex riddle that I cannot solve.

The quartz crystal gifted to me by the gypsy fortuneteller seems to agree
with it. It’s supposed to turn pink when I find true love, but it
stays white. That is the reason why Tender is still installed on my phone,
and I keep on swiping left and right. Tender is my trusted friend, my
accomplice, and a contingency plan if Cal and I fail.

However, this is not an option. I’ll make things work between us.
I’ll make him adore me. Beg me to become the second Mrs. Hudson and
stay with him in California. I’ll keep my promise to myself to never
again squander another birthday, drowning in my own tears.

 

Arina and Cal is a rockstar romance novel and the first book in My Life on
Tender Trilogy. If you enjoy spicy scenes, unexpected plot twists, an
unconventional female protagonist, and surprise endings this novel is for
you. The book is also packed with your favorite tropes: one of us is famous,
grumpy sunshine, blind to love, and emotional scars.

Get cozy in your reading corner and dive into this steamy romance book. Let
the warmth of the love story chase away the chill of the season.

My Life on Tender: Arina & Cal tablet

EXCERPT

He looks exactly as he did in the pictures he texted me. Yes, he does. And so does his guitar, with its hue of emerald green akin to my eyes, follows suit. Thank God-Almighty of-Designer-Stilettos that Aidan had to leave town on a business trip. I can tell he is becoming fond of me, and would hate to hurt his feelings. Shopping or meeting with a client wouldn’t have been an acceptable excuse for going out on my own after 10 p.m. Plus, unfortunately (or not), I couldn’t make one single girlfriend in London. 

The band has been playing for half an hour to a cheering and whooping full house; the smell of genuine leather, sweat, and cigarettes crawls into my hair, into my clothes and eyes. As the drummer thumps and pounds the grand finale of a song, the singer grabs the microphone with both hands and his raspy voice echoes throughout the room. 

“How’re you doing tonight, dudes? Man, it’s good to be back in London. We missed your lager. And your fuckin’ energy!” 

Feet stomp on the floor, and hands shoot towards the black ceiling. My ears ring from prolonged shouts and whistles and my skin is damp and sticky from the moist, heavy air. I bet everybody else’s is the same, but I’m the only one who seems to care but me. 

As the stage lights sweep over the excited crowd, the guitar player grabs the beer bottle near the pedal board and chugs it down. His eyes slowly scan the room, ignoring the group of girls at the front of the stage shouting his name. 

“Cal, Cal, Cal!”

 They’re probably 18 or younger, the short-skirt-fake-lashes-flabby skin type, but still brimming with the freshness and vitality of youth. I can no longer deceive myself: 30s are nothing like 20s. It’s hard for me to wake up early if I go to bed after midnight, and a fine line sits at the right corner of my mouth like an exclamation mark. I never noticed it before this evening when I applied the bronzing foundation. When did I get it? I was aiming for a natural look, but this unexpected disaster on my face caused me to change my mind. Aidan says my eyes have a bewitching quality akin to a siren’s song, so I added false eyelashes and played with green and pink shades to make them pop even more. 

I wonder if Cal saw me. Even in my high-heel designer boots, I’m still shorter than the hefty guys in front of me. 

“Are you ready for some more?” the singer yells into his microphone, and I immediately recognize the groovy opening guitar riff of Led Zeppelin’s Whole Lotta Love, one of Dad’s favorite songs. My teeth clench—Asshole!—yet my feet join the stomping crowd, propelled by a will of their own. As if he could read my mind, Cal moves to the left side of the stage and stops just about where I am. He performs a flawless rendition of Jimmy Page’s solo, and the hint of a smile blossoms on his lips. 

He’s so incredibly sexy in his black shirt, unbuttoned down to his chest, and black jeans tight around his muscled hamstrings that I swallow hard, close my eyes, and imagine his body pressed against mine. His talent is the cherry on the top of this perfect package. Playing guitar must 2 Prologue be one of the most difficult tasks in the world, yet he is comfortable, completely natural and at ease, like a child playing with his favorite toy. Cal disregards the typical stage moves that other guitarists use to thrill the spectators—he’s too entrenched in the music. In fact, he plays with such intensity, as if he was making wild love to his guitar; the way he holds and touches it is filled with sensuality, and the fire in his eyes is so passionate it drives all the women in the room, myself included, into a state of frenzy. 

As the song crescendos to a close, Cal goes back to his spot on the left of the stage and the audience is bathed in the glow of bright lights once more. I can now make out the denim jackets of the towering men in front of me. The band’s logo of Dark Surf is stitched above a printed image of its four members. 

My lips draw up into a smile. These guys may obstruct my gaze with their hefty frame, but… They bought their tickets while I’m the special guest of the rock’n’roll god himself. We connected rather by accident—an accidental match on Tender. 

Some people say there are no accidents in life and stuff always happens for a reason.

About the Author

A.G. Billig (her friends call her Andreea) is a #1 Amazon Bestselling
Author, motivational speaker, and founder of The Project Love. A life
explorer, she delights in writing novels for the romantic in you and
non-fiction books that will inspire you to fully open your heart to
love.

Celebrated for her unparalleled ability in writing characters that resonate
with readers and painting scenes that come alive, she delights in fashioning
courageous women protagonists who will risk it all for love. While
navigating through a bumpy ride of unforeseen challenges, they unveil their
raw, authentic selves as the ultimate prize on their quest to a happy
ending.

A.G.’s love for writing blossomed at 8, and she wrote her first novel
at 15. As a child prodigy, she won several national literary awards in
Romania, her country of birth. Her academic qualifications include a BA in
Foreign Languages and Literatures and an MA in PR and Communications.

Over the years, she experimented with different roles to explore her
creativity and interests. She was a TV host, a radio host, an
editor-in-chief, a PR consultant, and a self-publishing coach. She even won
a bronze medal in ballroom dancing. Ultimately, she came to the realization
that writing is where her true happiness lies.

She is currently a proud (and grateful) resident of the magical place
called Sedona, Arizona.

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Tales of a Spiritual Sun Virtual Book Tour

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Historical Fiction / Short Stories

Date Published: March 20, 2023

 

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From the Sphinx communicating through a Ouija board to Narcissus’s
traditional, terrible fate morphing into his first glimmer of hope, Tales of
a Spiritual Sun re-writes the Greek myths as never before. The tales of the
familiar are tackled, such as the stories of Medusa, King Midas, and
Pandora. Yet, Tales of a Spiritual Sun also includes those that are,
perhaps, less well known such as Orpheus, Proteus, and Psyche.

All the stories are viewed from new angles or written with modern twists.
They take on new lives, with fresh locations and messages at their heart.
These include a scientific experiment ready to change the world on the night
it is set to end and a personal detective who must decide if a man, claiming
his wife is a nymph, is delusional or about to commit an awful crime.

 

Tales of a Spiritual Sun allows readers to discover ancient myths in a bold
and original way, in both contemporary and traditional settings.

 

Tales of a Spiritual Sun tablet

EXCERPT

PREFACE 

Choosing to contemporize or reconstruct any ancient myth, particularly a fragment of universally recognized mythological discourses such as Homer’s The Iliad and Odyssey or Hesiod’s Theogony, can be an incredibly daunting experience. Yet for any writer who intuitively penetrates the dark veil of entertainment, or explanatory devices, and sees myth as a primal mover in the narrative or story-telling process, one who can acknowledge the intrinsic powers of myth in reshaping and recasting the cosmic clay which forms the mold of knowledge, the cultural attitudes, behaviors and values of any society, and for any writer who appreciates the political ramifications that may ensue, retelling these extraordinarily powerful and timeless stories somehow mimics a thermometer. The thermometer—measuring and reflecting the increment and nature of our collective consciousness―acts as a necessary precursor to our evolutionary leap in critical thinking, inquiry, and the way we process and evaluate information as a whole. 

But before we go onto my preferred choice of subject, it is necessary to define the physiology, the internal components or “stuff” of what might be defined as “myth.” Strictly speaking, myths are sacred, timeless stories that attempt to make sense of an otherwise confusing and chaotic universe. They also define and delineate the central “Self” from the unconscious matrix, illuminate the relationship between the microcosm of the “Self” and the macrocosm of the greater cosmos, and recount events pertaining to the origins and functions of the universe and all things, living or inanimate, contained within it. 

Most of the questions inexplicably linked with myth are abstract, philosophical in nature, and highly resistant to localization in the three-dimensional, corporeal region of time and space. Myth consciousness might be viewed as a baby struggling to make sense of its immediate environment despite its own helpless state of passivity in a world of meaningless associations. Information processing belonging to this level of evolving intelligence would inevitably raise the following questions: Who am I? Who are we? How did I come to be? 

What is the world? How did it come to be? Who created it, and what are the moral, and social codes of conduct that govern our behavior and society as a whole? What are the consequences of law-making and law-breaking? 

The term mythos itself, derived from the Greek “mythos,” denotes a word or story. Apparently, the pre-Socratic philosophers only referenced it in passing and the concept didn’t really gain eminence in the intellectual world until the life and times of Plato, who perceived it to be a literary vehicle encapsulating allegorical truth, i.e., the mythos of Atlantis. The Platonic and Neo-Platonic schools of thought, despite some significant differences and unlike the dark age separating them, are inextricably linked with the exploration of reality. This exploration divided the cosmos into an eternal world of “being” which encompassed the intellect, divine forms and ideas, and the ever-fluctuating, temporal, and chaotic world of “becoming.” It goes without saying that Platonic thought flirted openly with a psychological, ahistorical approach to mythography, though little to no attention had been given to the hermeneutics of myth until well into the nineteenth century. 

In 1890, Sir James Frazer published his now-classic book, The Golden Bough,  as a quasi-anthropological work which defines mythological discourse as a preserved body of oral folklore, embodying the unconscious projections of pastoral dilemmas and traditions. Emerging in the twentieth century, Carl Gustav Jung and Sigmund Freud, taking a more holistic approach, saw myth as an exploration of psychological terrain in which archetypal content of the human psyche emerged from the unconscious, subsequently forging dynamic relationships with one another and with the macrocosm at large. Joseph Campbell, the author of The Hero with a Thousand Faces,  took the psychoanalytic point of view a step further; he professed that the   characters of myth and dream were urgent heroes who embarked on a long journey, underwent a struggle of some sort, and successfully emerged from it enlightened and anew with a refined, resilient and altogether more evolved identity. On the polar end of this hermeneutical or interpretative scale sat French anthropologist Claude Levi-Strauss, who rejected the psychological internalization of myth for a more impersonal model, one that emphasizes narrative strategy and plot device as the bone which forms the skeletal framework of all stories, be they compelling fiction or dramatic non-fiction. 

My purpose here is not to analyze the scope of hermeneutical interpretation that has typified the study of mythography over the last few centuries but to give a millisecond flash, a fleeting glimpse, if you like, of the onion-skinned layers composing the mythological sphere; in this way, readers may garner a greater appreciation of its interdisciplinary, multifaceted nature. Thus, entering the labyrinth of mythology, one must tread the winding passages which harness a worm’s eye view of political, social, literary, performative, textual, psychological, astronomical, seasonal, and structural aspects, and all the while he or she must never lose sight of the birds-eye view, an impartial trajectory which succeeds in taking all into account without becoming localized. 

Present-day Western society is eclectic in its choice of subject, with most academics and students harboring an unconscious bias toward Greek, Roman, and Norse myths. If one elects to study mythology at a postgraduate level, they’ll be surprised to find the subject reader askew with a profusion of classical texts. This is one reason I’ve chosen to contemporize a selection of Greek myths. Another is because simplified and unaltered children’s versions of classical myths comprised my first ever experience of active story-telling. It’s downright impossible to forget the page-turning suspense and anticipation evoked by masterful tales absorbed during one’s formative years, and I am no different. Who could overlook memories of the twelve death-defying feats of Heracles, Jason’s adventures in finding the Golden Fleece, Theseus’s courage in squaring off against the dreaded Minotaur, Perseus’s subjugation of Medusa, the snake-haired Gorgon, and the lamentable fate of Oedipus who killed his birth father and unknowingly married his own mother? Myths are narratives that reflect universal laws of being that no human can transcend, and so, carry widescale appeal. We are fascinated by them because we are them, individually and collectively. 

The collection of short stories in this tome is Tales of a Spiritual Sun. As an avid lover of multiple meanings, my choice of a pun is self-explanatory. Just as the sun is the heart-center of the solar system that makes life on earth possible, so, too, is the Divine Mind, or what many would term as God,  the source of the transient human soul which makes personal growth and transformation possible. These are the stories whose nuclei have their roots in esoteric spirituality as well as mystical philosophy, and the writer who transcribed them is merely a transitory vessel for an everlasting spiritual world. One might say, then, that they are cogitations of the spirit world written by one of its mortal children, a spiritual son. Functioning mythically, these cogitations aren’t true in the literal sense of the word. They are allegories comprising philosophical and spiritual truths about the anatomy of the individual and collective human psyche. In other words, they are unconscious archetypal projections that find expression through the contingencies of chance, time, and time again. 

There are thirteen retellings in this collection, all written within the space of a year. In terms of content and proximity to the old myths, they range from marginally transformed versions that stay faithful to the original plots to versions whose skeletal frameworks and compositions are virtually unrecognizable. 

Whichever the case, the contemporary versions can be linked to their ancient counterparts through ideologies, philosophies, characters, or narrative fragments held in common. 

The reader is first dropped into the mystical marshes of the Minoan world and the inner chthonic workings of Hellenistic fatalism before a change of scenery brings him or her to a variegated landscape of star-crossed lovers; a landscape that includes inwardly-turned reinterpretations of Orpheus and Olympia Eurydice, Pygmalion and Galatea, Eros and Psyche, and Narcissus and Echo. Following this is a transposition into turbulent waters where the reader encounters such dreadful villains as the Minotaur, the shape-shifting Proteus, the Theban Sphinx, and the Gorgon Stheno. The mythological journey then changes trajectory once again, wheeling a Trojan horse of a different kind before the reader. Finally, an ethereal narrative built around a Pandora’s Box of the latter-day intellect unleashes a cosmic paradox into consciousness. 

I hope you enjoy reveling in these tales as much as I enjoyed breathing life into them. 

In the beginning, was the Word and the Word was with the Imagination, and the Word was the Imagination. 

So, let the Imagination begin…. 

About the Author

Paul Kiritsis

Paul Kiritsis, PsyD, MScMed, is a medical psychologist, poet, and artist.
His seven published books cover contentious topics in psychiatry and
clinical psychology, mind-matter interaction, literary studies, and poetry,
and he is the recipient of twenty-two book/literary awards. He was elected
for inclusion in the 2023 Doctors’ edition of the Best of California
Magazine for excellence in medicine. Paul’s diverse academic interests
straddle cognitive neuroscience, psychology/neuropsychology, and philosophy
of mind on one end of the spectrum and esotericism, comparative religion,
and history on the other. He enjoys cycling, weightlifting, playing the
keyboards, and scuba diving in his spare time.

 

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