In the world of The Blasphemer Series, book two Harvest, you’re introduced to the people of The Mythical Realm. Previously, it was known that Sophia Goodwich/Bishop lived there, but the world is expanded upon, and Sophia is brought back to the story. The story explains where the people come from and why they’re in The Mythical Realm. They are from the Colony of Roanoke. It, the book Harvest, explains deeper.

The main reason for me sharing this post is because real facts have come forward that were merely creative writing on my part. I had nothing to do with the real investigation and take no credit on any level for the genetic findings, but I am interested into the credible material that some of the people of the colony inter-mingled/were adopted by the local Native Americans. If you’ve read Harvest already, you will already know why this is interesting to me and maybe even you.

Before writing about the colony, I did refresh my knowledge. I dug through hours of articles and books to prop my creativity upon. Whether this was for inspiration or my usual style of mixing facts and fiction, a twist on history. At the time of my writing of this story the genetics ‘theory’ was not published yet. It only made the most sense to me that they would’ve made peace with locals or even had been adopted in my storyline.

Before I dig into the genetic articles and share them here, I would like to cover what is known. The colony was established by Sir Walter Raleigh in August 1585 (roughly). It was troubled with poor preparation and struggles with the local Native Americans. A trip led by John White occurred in which they returned to England for more supplies, but upon returning to the colony they discovered it was deserted and the word ‘Croatoan’. They believed this meant that they had moved to the Croatoan Island estimated to be fifty miles away. This led them to travel and meet up with the colonists but found none on the island. So, the mystery continued.

Studies have been done, speculations have endured, but no real facts came to the surface of what the colonists may have encountered until a tree was discovered that dated back to this time and was studied. Its rings told of droughts. The theory of the colonists being absorbed into the local Native American population begin to swirl. What is known that the results of the colony being ‘lost’ no doubt affected the colonies that came after as a lesson in preparation and a warning.

Now let’s speak to the genetics that has been discovered. Lost Colony Family DNA Project goal is to identify the ancestors of lost Roanoke colonists through DNA testing in hopes of shedding some light on the old mystery with scientific data. I highly recommend checking out this article entitled The Lost Colony of Roanoke: Did They Survive? – National Geographic, Archaeology, Historical Records and DNA on the DNAeXplained – Genetic Genealogy website.

Sources & Recommendations:

• Youtube – Roanoke Descendants Revealed by DNA Test | In Search Of
• Article – What happened to the “Lost Colony” of Roanoke?
• Article – Roanoke Colony deserted
• Article – Have We Found the Lost Colony of Roanoke Island?
• Article – The Lost Colony of Roanoke: Did They Survive? – National Geographic, Archaeology, Historical Records and DNA

You can begin reading the series and check out more information by following the link: Down the rabbit hole

What do you think? Let’s start a conversation.

As we continue on with The Blasphemer Series Mythos, we cover The Nephilim this week. We discuss what are they in the series and what are the sources I used for inspiration in the creatures’ creations in these books. The Nephilim play a large part of the series.

In the series, I define The Nephilim as ‘descendants of angels and the sons and daughters of man’. They’re greater than their parents, Gods amongst man, and not always dangerous. Different, but more than those for which they come. This is a direct inspiration for the Hebrew reference of The Nephilim.

The Nephilim were on the earth in those days—and also afterward—when the sons of God went in to the daughters of humans, who bore children to them. These were the heroes that were of old, warriors of renown.

Genesis 6:4

The Hebrew word ‘nefilim‘ translates to ‘giants’, but also is understood to be ‘the fallen ones’ if reading the word ‘naphal‘ which means ‘to fall’.

So they gave the Israelites a bad report about the land that they had spied out: “The land we explored devours its inhabitants, and all the people we saw there are great in stature. We even saw the Nephilim there—the descendants of Anak that come from the Nephilim! We seemed like grasshoppers in our own sight, and we must have seemed the same to them!”

Numbers 13:32

As scholars study the Bible and its many versions, there will always be a debate, but for me studying it, these references always seem so grand. Creatures that were giants among men? Did that mean that mean Goliath of the David and Goliath story was a Nephilim? A giant among men. These fantastic stories dotted my growing years and as I grew I also began wondering what would be ‘modern day giants’. What creatures do we know of ‘now’ that could be greater than man? That is when my writer’s creativity took over and that is why in The Blasphemer Series the Nephilim are mythical monsters.

Vampires, dire werewolves, werewolves are the Nephilim of my stories. These folklore creatures always seemed, to me at least, more powerful than man with their abilities, curses, or gifts. In the books Harvest and Ghosts, you’re taught in the world of the books that these types of beings have changed, for example werewolves originally were beings that walked upright and were more ‘manlike’ (Adele even sees this in a vision in Maxwell Demon, the first book), but after battling with their very own brethren vampires they were erased, but not forgotten. I write of a story within the story, a tale to explain things more for the reader and that being of Ana and Adolph. This story explains why the world has a form of the werewolves, the dire werewolves.

You can begin reading the series and check out more information by following the link: Down the rabbit hole

Is this interesting? Enjoying the series as it begins? Let me know! Is there something more you’d like to know? Let’s start a conversation.

In Ghosts, the third installment of The Blasphemer Series, a book series I’m writing, there is a monster-hating organization I introduce to the reader named The Sons of God. At one point, I had written a short story that never became a published piece that gave this group an origin story. The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse from Christian scriptures is where I drew inspiration.

In Christian scripture, The Four Horsemen appear in the book titled Revelations of the New Testament of the Bible and from the Old Testament’s books Book of Zechariah and Book of Ezekiel. They’re considered the bringers of the end, God’s punishments, and the ones whom the Lord has sent to patrol the earth. That last one is the one that gave me the idea mainly.

In a world of monsters, magic, and myths it made the most sense to me to add in a group that would keep everything balanced and in check, but since I write them not as monsters themselves, but as men and men are fallible, corruptible, and ‘monsters’, they’ve changed with a writer’s imagination. The exact four men you meet in Ghosts are not the originals, but descendants of the originals. The Original riders are more in line with the Biblical sources.

Their purpose, historically, is positive, but at other times negativity has been the popular interpretation that’s understood. They have interpreted these stories as thee great cleansers of the land, clearing out the wicked to bring paradise to the good, but also heartless bringers of misfortune. The Red, the Black, the Pale, and the White horsemen all have separate duties.

The White Rider

considered the ‘war rider’ it is more often interpreted to be the bringer of disease.

Now I saw when the Lamb opened one of the [a]seals; and I heard one of the four living creatures saying with a voice like thunder, “Come and see.” 2 And I looked, and behold, a white horse. He who sat on it had a bow; and a crown was given to him, and he went out conquering and to conquer.

Revelation 6:1-2

The Red Rider

interpreted to be the bringer of war, carrying an upright sword.

When the Lamb opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, “Come!” 4 Then another horse came out, a fiery red one. Its rider was given power to take peace from the earth and to make people kill each other. To him was given a large sword.

Revelation 6:3-4

The Black Rider

the rider that is believed to be Famine and carries scales

When the Lamb opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, “Come!” I looked, and there before me was a black horse! Its rider was holding a pair of scales in his hand. 6 Then I heard what sounded like a voice among the four living creatures, saying, “Two pounds[a] of wheat for a day’s wages,[b] and six pounds[c] of barley for a day’s wages,[d] and do not damage the oil and the wine!”

Revelation 6:5-6

The Pale Rider

is known as Death. The only one given a name.

And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see.

Revelation 6:7-8

And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth.

Revelation 6:7-8

Through writings of the riders have changed from literature, films, and historical interpretation the version of these four in my series is different. They ride horses, run a ranch, and are not the scary carriers of The End. They hold many of the similar traits they remain: a new visual interpretation of these horsemen.

In order to understand their grand purpose within the series, you’ll have to simple read the book.

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You can begin reading the series and check out more information by following the link: Down the rabbit hole

Is this interesting? Enjoying the series as it begins? Let me know! Is there something more you’d like to know? Let’s start a conversation.

The principal characters of the first book in the series, Maxwell Demon, are definitely the fallen angels and their counterparts. Originally, when I began writing the series, it wasn’t even a series, much less a book, it was a character named Dante Angeloft that doesn’t appear in the series until book two, Harvest. I wanted to write of his struggles; he was and still is the most relatable of my characters specific to my teen and younger years.

Dante in his origin interacted with vampires, but throughout my years of aging and my interests changed eventually angels came into play as I enjoyed then and continue to now doing religious studies. I have always loved learning of other cultures and the religions of ancient times. So, he became a man conflicted with morality. Good and heaven or bad and hell. The series was always going to be called The Blasphemer Series. Even ancient original journal-like writings I did of him were calling him The Blasphemer.

When the time came to publish my own stories, I wasn’t sure if he was going to come back to life through my words or even take part in a series, but things began working around. My award-winning short story Human Ouija was in the works before I finished Maxwell Demon, but some things began clicking and inspiration struck. I was reading articles and really digging into documentaries, books, and reading over old work when inspiration came together.

This led me to purchase encyclopedias, the most important being the one on angels, one I wasn’t aware would also include fallen angels and demons as well. This was really the most important reference guide I used. It helped me carve out traits, looks, and really gave me the ability to build the villains and the heros of the first book. From there it just flowed naturally.

Vampires inspired the story element of ‘reincarnation’, with their immortality. I had read about Samsara Cycle, reincarnation, and began researching in that field of interest and it made the most since to me. I will cover reincarnation more in depth in another post, but for now I will merely add that it became an element I sewed in because it was beautifully tragic.

Love is beautifully tragic with its highs and lows, for me I had experienced different love being betrayed, longing, wanting, and never wanting to give up. This is important and since this book was to be important to me as my first serious attempt of publication it felt required. Every good ‘love story’ I had ever read had tragic events and conflict. ‘Lovers torn apart’ is a theme that can be played upon and directed this way or that.

The fallen angels, led by Lucifer, is one of the oldest stories I knew of. Lucifer betrayed God’s wishes as the story began and ultimately ended with his and his cohorts being cast out. The angels that remained continued on doing good deeds, but for me I am forever the researcher… the curious mind. I learned of The Watchers, alternative origins from old religions, and one by one the story I wanted to tell formed.

Specific angels in the story, Maxwell Demon, were chosen for sins they embodied or what they magically had. For example: Yeqon was chosen because he was one angel that led men astray, in stepped the Nephilim. Many fallen angels I learned off from the above mentioned encyclopedias but also reading material on the Book of Enoch. The Book of Enoch is an ‘apocrypha’ book thus removed from The Bible. This specific book also mentions The Watchers naming some of them. Yeqon is one of those mentioned.

If you have already read the book in this series that’s published already then you will see this is a heavy inspiration for much of the main stories origins, the chapter of Maxwell Demon that I’d like to reference is a scene in which I wrote of the fall of the angels that battled.

Harvest, the second book, isn’t as heavy on the angels and the fallen, but Dante has visions of the past of an angel, one of The Unforgiven or also known as The Forgotten. She is unique as well and as this series is still being written and published, I won’t release too much from the unfinished books. The phrase comes to mind: the meek shall inherit the Earth.

Here’s what the original edition of Maxwell Demon looked like

You can begin reading the series and check out more information by following the link: Down the rabbit hole

Is this interesting? Enjoying the series as it begins? Let me know! Is there something more you’d like to know? Let’s start a conversation.