The Abdication
by Justin Newland
BLURB:
The
town of Unity sits perched on the edge of a yawning ravine where, long ago, a
charisma of angels provided spiritual succour to a fledgeling human race. Then
mankind was granted the gift of free will and had to find its own way, albeit
with the guidance of the angels. The people’s first conscious act was to make
an exodus from Unity – they built a rope bridge across the ravine and founded
the town of Topeth. For a time, the union between the people of Topeth and the
angels of Unity was one of mutual benefit. After that early spring advance,
there had been a torrid decline in which mankind’s development resembled a
crumpled, fading autumnal leaf.
Following the
promptings of an inner voice, Tula, a young woman from the city, trudges into
Topeth. Her quest is to abide with the angels and thereby discover the right
and proper exercise of free will. To do that, she has to cross the bridge – and
overcome her vertigo.
Topeth is in upheaval;
the townsfolk blame the death of a child on dust from the nearby copper mines.
The priests have convinced them that a horde of devils have thrown the angels
out of Unity and now occupy the bridge, possessing anyone who trespasses on it.
Then there’s the heinous Temple of Moloch!
The Abdication is the story
of Tula’s endeavour to step upon the path of a destiny far greater than she
could ever have imagined.
Excerpt
Three:
19. The Freedom
of Prison
Evening was a special time in Topeth. As the pall of dusk
fell upon the rooftops, the birdsong quietened to a hush. For the moment,
though, prison bars prevented Tula from enjoying it.
From what Enoch had said, mankind’s ignorance and cruelty
had unduly restrained the angels. Humans were granted the freedom to spark
warmth into the freezing cold of the Universe. Angels and humans were partners
in a grand dance, in which the ballroom was the Universe, and the orchestra was
the Creator. That sacred dance was meant to be a thrilling voyage of discovery,
and most important of all, of mutual benefit. Angels were the keepers of the
next step for mankind. In passing it on to humanity, they, the angels, through
a spiritual osmosis or transference, could learn about the great human
qualities such as wisdom, benevolence and compassion.
While they waited for humanity to make the full and final
retreat from barbarism, the angels were custodians of that noble purpose. She
had no idea if, or when, that would ever happen. But while she lived, she would
die trying. What else was more honourable to do with the great gift of life?
Angels could learn nothing from people who danced to the tune of the merchant
or who bowed before the altar of self-gratification. Ignoring the Covenant,
humanity had fallen from its state of grace, not because of some wicked snake,
but because they consciously chose to.
GUEST POST
Guest Post: What is
Writing?
A
three-word question - to which there must be a simple answer, yes?
There
seem to be more authors out there now, everyone seems to be writing. There are
genres which didn't exist 25 years ago (Steam Punk, Space Opera etc.), let
alone new ways of disseminating books e.g. e-books, audio books.
Rather
like 21st Century life, the surface and periphery of things appear
to be changing quickly, but when you look at the core - nothing has changed for
thousands of years. Example: the human body and its systems (instinct,
emotions, mentality etc.) are pretty much the same as they were ten thousand
years ago. Literary example: a novel is written in a language with words made
up of letters of the alphabet which have also been around for several thousand
years.
Back
to the question - what is writing? Well, here's a first stab at it - a human
process which results in written words. Let’s focus on literary produce, in
which case this definition would include inventories and legal documents, so
it's too general.
Here’s a starter definition from The English Club
- Writing is the process of using symbols (letters of the alphabet, punctuation
and spaces) to communicate thoughts and ideas in a readable form.
To
limit the huge scope of this question, I’m going to focus on creative writing
where the words form a coherent and occasionally entertaining whole which we
loosely call a story.
So,
what makes writing creative, or rather, creative writing? Is it because it's
new, original, created out of nothing? Created out of nothing is referred to in
the Latin phrase creation ex nihilo, which
is applied to the creation of the universe by divine will. This quickly takes
us to some religious considerations e.g.
"By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word
of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible."
God,
the universe, creation by the word - the scope of this question seems to have
got a whole lot bigger. What's helpful in this is the notion that the 'seen'
comes from (and returns to) the 'unseen'. If that's the case, then words and
their creation come from something unseen. How's that possible? Don't we just
write what comes into our heads? How conscious is the choice or decision-making
in what we write about? Isn't creativity a matter of self-will in that if we
want to write something, we can?
If
creativity is a matter of self-will, how can we write of things of which we
have no direct experience, that come from our imagination? It's true that some
stories are autobiographical yet others are not and the latter would appear to
be the result of a 'connection' to something outside ourselves and our stored
experiences, beyond the ken as it were. The Ancient Greeks called that
‘connection’ outside of ourselves the Nine Muses. Examples are fantasy stories
involving characters and worlds that have never or could never exist, for
example, William Shakespeare’s The Tempest. Where do the ideas for these
come from? What is imagination?
More big questions.
Then there’s the enigma of prison
literature. I mean, who can write in a prison? But people do, and can, and
have. Is it possible that if, Malory, Cervantes, and Bunyan, to name but three,
had not been sent to prison, that the world of literature would be lesser by Le
Morte D’Arthur, Don Quixote, and Pilgrim’s Progress? What is
it about a confined space that squeezes out the words? Does it mean we should
all write in a cupboard?
And there’s that scourge of all writers; writer’s block.
A symptom is that the author has nothing going on in them about the story they
are meant to be writing. They’re stuck. They feel empty. But the term suggests
a different causation. The word ‘block’ implies something not only full, but
over-full, blocked. Pipes get blocked because of too much effluent. Could it be
that the way to deal with writer’s block is to empty out, go on a binge, or a five-mile
walk, or at the very least, follow the old adage of ‘Alter your stride and meet
a stranger.’?
How
about this question… Do all stories pre-exist in a massive store of
all-possible stories? No, that seems unlikely. So, are there ingredients or
elements of stories that an author connects to using the power of his or her
imagination? If that's the case, we move from the notion of 'who writes the book' to 'what writes the book.'
Here’s
a salient example: The author James
Clavell wrote Shogun and other
Japanese-based novels in the 1960's and 70's. He'd been incarcerated in a
Japanese prisoner of war camp in the Second World War where he'd suffered
brutality and cruelty. His novels could be seen as a therapeutic
working-out of the trauma of that experience and therefore as autobiographical
in origin, but original in composition, narrative and character.
So,
if that’s the case, we move from the notion of 'It's the author that writes the book,' to 'It's what was out of balance in the author that writes the book' -
at least in the case of James Clavell. Interestingly, this definition endorses
the notion of writing as cathartic therapy and as a means of self-mental and
emotional healing.
It
also endorses the notion of writing as a connective media through which stories
that want to be told can find their way into human psyche. Could that be
possible? Are there intelligent entities that influence our zeitgeist aka the
spirit of our times?
So,
writing is the result of what is out of
balance in the author. Is that right?
And
then you get the question: Who or what is a reader?
You
can answer that one.
Justin Newland
23rd February, 2022
AUTHOR Bio and Links:
Justin Newland
is an author of historical fantasy and secret history thrillers - that’s
history with a supernatural twist. His stories feature known events and real
people from history which are re-told and examined through the lens of the
supernatural. He gives author talks and is a regular contributor to BBC Radio Bristol’s
Thought for the Day. He lives with his partner in plain sight of the Mendip
Hills in Somerset, England.
His Books
The Genes of
Isis is a tale of love, destruction and ephemeral power set under the skies of
Ancient Egypt. A re-telling of the Biblical story of the flood, it reveals the
mystery of the genes of Isis – or genesis – of mankind. ISBN 9781789014860.
“The novel is
creative, sophisticated, and downright brilliant! I couldn’t ask more of an
Egyptian-esque book!” – Lauren, Books Beyond the Story.
The Old Dragon’s
Head is a historical fantasy and supernatural thriller set during the Ming
Dynasty and played out in the shadows the Great Wall of China. It explores the
secret history of the influences that shaped the beginnings of modern times. ISBN 9781789015829.
‘The author is
an excellent storyteller.” – British Fantasy Society.
Set during the
Great Enlightenment, The Coronation reveals the secret history of the
Industrial Revolution. ISBN 9781838591885.
“The novel
explores the themes of belonging, outsiders… religion and war… filtered through the lens of the
other-worldly.” – A. Deane, Page Farer Book Blog.
His latest, The
Abdication (July, 2021), is a suspense thriller, a journey of destiny, wisdom
and self-discovery. ISBN 9781800463950.
“In Topeth,
Tula confronts the truth, her faith in herself, faith in a higher purpose, and
ultimately, what it means to abdicate that faith.”
V. Triola,
Coast to Coast.
http://www.justinnewland.com/
https://www.facebook.com/justin.newland.author/
https://www.instagram.com/drjustinnewland/
Buy link: https://www.amazon.com/Abdication-Justin-Newland/dp/1800463952
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
GIVEAWAY INFORMATION and RAFFLECOPTER
Justin Newland will
be awarding a Paperback copy of the book (International giveaway) to a randomly
drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
