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June 21st, 2010 by Alan | No Comments | Filed in Readers' Feedback Requested

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Essay on a Beautiful Meadow

May 26th, 2010 by Alan | No Comments | Filed in Readers' Feedback Requested, Web, Writing Insights

I found this description of a meadow useful, and since it was offered for free if attributed, adapted it for use in the chapter entitled, “Butterflies.”  Essay on Beautiful Meadow.”  How would you improve this adaption?  Leave a comment.

Butterflies

The butterfly counts not months but moments, and has time enough.

- Rabindranath Tagore


Universe  7. A field.

When she materialized, Lea found herself looking at thousands of monarch butterflies on trees in a field, and she smiled. “I’ve missed you all,” she unconsciously whispered, more to herself than to the butterflies. The butterflies said nothing.  Her presence, apparently, went completely unnoticed.  The next moment, the butterflies were gone.  Had she dreamed them?

She doubted that she was in Monterrey, the weather was too cool. As a child growing up near Monterrey, California the annual coming of the monarch butterflies thrilled her. Now, that pleasant memory overrode the fear and trepidation that she would normally feel from being transported away from her nurses’ desk to a field in the middle of . . . The middle of who knows where.  The antiseptic smell of a hospital ward was gone.  Realizing that she was wearing the black- leather purse/backpack that she had donned because she was getting ready to go off shift, she took out a pen and diary and started to write.  She wrote slowly and first:  “The stringent smell of antiseptics has been replaced by the sweet smell of a meadow that is perfectly round as if someone had intentionally created the flawless circle, tearing out the trees but leaving non evidence of that violence in the waving grass.”

The speed of her writing increases, it is like she is recording God’s word, acting as a conduit, but she knows that the thoughts she is scribing are uniquely hers, “To the east, there is a stream bubbling quietly. The meadow is so stunning with the sunlight that I can only see through the cracks between the trees over my head. It is beautiful and serene. The trees are so tall that it’s necessary to lie down on the wavy grass just to see the top. I run my hand over the tall wet grass.  It  tickles the tips of my fingers.   The smell of the meadow is fresh and sweet which relaxes me.   There are two huge rocks by a lake suitable to sit on.”

Lea walked over to the rocks.  She sat  down on them, and continued writing, “the rhythm of my footprints started to numb by mind. As I gazed over the magnificent view of the huge valley that lay before me, I can see a beautiful lake that glittered in the sunlight.
At a distance, that only could be seen when I squinted my eyes. I can see a huge, beautiful waterfall that is crashing down into a long river which caused it to make foam.

Above my head, I can hear birds singing happily as they fly to their nests. Slowly, it turned dark until I could not see my hand in front of my face. I lay down on my back, wild flowers all around me as I can see millions of tiny stars in the sky. Tonight the moon is twice the size than I ever seen it before. I can hear owls hooting in the distance. I am relaxed.”

The next morning she awoke, and finished her diary entry, “I fell asleep faster than I thought I would in my beautiful meadow.[1] I thanked God for bringing me here and then, as Lea recalled watching the doctor disappear, pink mist enveloping both him and herself. She thought, ‘What about my family? What about my 2-year old Emily, my husband Robert, my sister Hannah?’

Her mind traveled to the third floor of the South Meadows campus of Reno’s Renown Hospital.  In the distance, she saw a window that looked out on the parking lot that lead to Double R. Bar Street. Doctor Joel Kismentis, was looking straight at her, wondering what was happening to both of them.

Where am I am? What I am doing here? What’s next? The thoughts fluttered through her subconscious, and surfaced in the very front of her brain. It made no sense, so she bent down and she did the only thing she knew to do, “Dear God, Thank you. Thank you for giving me this peace, this serenity.  Thank you for allowing me to recapture the joy, the passion of my childhood.  If only, Dear God, if only you could bring me my Emily, my Robert, my Hannah.  Dear God, with them, I could start over.  Please, Dear God, please.  If you do this for me, I will . . . .” and her prayers were answered. There before her, bewildered were Emily, Robert, Hannah  and strangely enough, Dr. Kismentis.


[1] http://www.123helpme.com/view.asp?id=156018.  (Used with permission granted with attribution.)

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Thank you Phil Hotsenpiller of Friends Church

May 22nd, 2010 by Alan | No Comments | Filed in Readers' Feedback Requested, Research

Phil Hotsenpiller is the teaching pastor of Yorba Linda Friends Church, a mega church in Southern California.

Phil Hotenspillar, a teaching pastor at Friends Church (listen to sermons) and the author of the Armageddon Now graphic novel series has offered to respond to several questions.  I have sent him my thoughts and questions, and I look forward to receiving his responses.

Armageddon Now.

Aramageddon Now is a graphic novel that's beautifully done.

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The Rapture, God, Jesus, Holy Spirit: Feedback Requested

May 11th, 2010 by Alan | 1 Comment | Filed in Readers' Feedback Requested

In The End of All Times, people start disappearing from the Earth. They are enveloped in a pink mist and they suddenly flash off of the Earth. (See below)  Some feel that the the rapture is happening.

Assume that you believe in the rapture.  I’m interested in your personal feelings.  Will you meet God?  Will you meet Jesus?  Will you meet the Holy Spirit?  How long will you wait?  Will you have trials and tribulations before you meet God, the Holy Spirit or Jesus?  Please comment below.

The words in blue are an excerpt from the book.

Request  a .pdf version of The End of All Times that was current as of 5/7/2010.

I also invite you to purchase a stream of e-books for The End of All Times. When the printed version of the book is available, you will receive a 20% discount.  Also, 100% of your purchase price can be applied toward the purchase of the printed version of the book, when it is available. When you purchase it, you are actually buying three things: (1) a .pdf copy of the book as it exists in time now; (2) a .pdf  every week or two, containing revisions; (3) access to a the forum website.

The question is also the answer.  Since the beginning of time, the question had always been the answer.  Those thoughts, and the image of a one-way traffic sign, were predominant in Roger Jacob’s mind as he was wrenched to consciousness by the rude ring of a hotel phone that bore absolutely no resemblance to Frederick Schiller’s Ode to Joy.   Roger never tired of hearing this piece.  Roger consciously appreciated how the ringtone started off soft, and gradually grew louder. Alas, the phone in this hotel room was loud, jarring. “Hello,” he managed as he noticed the faint smell: sweet without being cloying, fruity but not quite like citrus. No, it was floral.  It wasn’t overbearing like a rose.  It was a clean fresh smell, with overtones of sweetness and innocence. Lilacs? Look at me.  I’m talking about flowers like they’re wines.  On the other hand, wine does come from fruit, and fruit comes from flowers.

“Roger?”  The sultry voice belonged to Madeline Samuels, the woman who was most directly responsible for his being deeply asleep, primarily because they had spent most of the time from 8 PM to 8 AM making love.

They were childhood sweethearts who had drifted away like two seeds of a dandelion that were blown by the wind and how now found each. No, they were more like two eagles who had  spread there wings, flown to different parts in different parts of the world, moved to return home to build their nest and mate. “Hey, you,” he said, grinning from ear-to-ear, aware that he was fully satisfied for the first time in over ten years, thinking of her smell, not her perfume, the delicate musky body odor.  The grin started to shift to another part of his body.

“Thank heaven you’re still alive.”

“Of course I’m alive, why shouldn’t I be?” That’s strange, but that’s my Maddy.   My Maddy? “Honey, you’re good, but that’s a little presumptuous, even for you.”

“Don’t you know what’s going on?”

“Madeline, what are you talking about?” She’s not talking about last night, is she?

“Look out the window,” she said with an urgency that didn’t seem like the woman he had met last night, “and hurry.”

“Look out the window?”  My woman is definitely melodramatic.

“You heard me!”

“Okay, hang on.  I’ve got to take care of something first, or . . .” Roger tossed the phone on the bed before he could hear Maddy say, “Hush up and tell me what you see outside, okay?”  He reluctantly extracted himself from the very comfortable down comforter that kept him cozy despite the fact that he had set the air conditioning to 60 degrees.  He quickly threw the thick hotel’s white cotton robe on, walked into the bathroom. What’s wrong with me?  Why couldn’t I just go to the window?  I’m going to lose her again if I don’t shape up. Nevertheless, he threw some cold water into a glass, splashed half of it on his face, and took a pee.  Ahhhhh.  As he was relieving himself, he noticed the small cactus plant that resided (of all places) on top of the toilet.  Strange place for a plant.  It looked dry.  Roger poured the rest of the glass of water into the plant’s pot.  Had he looked at the cactus for an instant longer, he might have observed an almost invisible purple gas emanating from it.  Roger had no way of knowing it, but not taking the extra couple of seconds was a decision that would to cause him much grief.  Too much sun, he thought as he walked to the window and rubbed his skin, which felt taut.  On the way, he grabbed his polarized prescription sun glasses.  He glanced at his skin, and seemed to see patterns of Metatron’s Cube spreading over his arm. Too many lectures on sacred geometry, he thought.  Still, the society is paying for this room, and I get to play nine holes today.

Roger walked back into the large sleeping area in his suite, pulled the cords to open a set of emerald-green black-out curtains, shoved the off-white sheers aside and looked out of his hotel room onto a world-class golf course.  Yesterday, Lake Tahoe had been in the backdrop, and he could see beautifully-manicured greens, a pristine water hazard, hundreds of pine trees a variety of sand traps, and golfers who were leisurely strolling to their balls. Now, the scenery was still there, but swirls of a rose-pink gas appeared to rise from the grass and trees.  The beautiful blue sky now appeared gray.  Who ever made up the line about looking at the world through rose-colored glasses, obviously never tried it.

Roger vaguely heard a voice in the room. He cocked his head and remembered the phone, the handset of which now laid lazily over the side of the bed. His eyes barely left the window as he took baby steps back to the bed to pick it up.  Despite Madeline’s loud distressed voice, he couldn’t wrench himself away from the scene he was witnessing.

Outside, a tall pink mist materialized close enough for him to make out some of its details.  It was a series of constantly-changing wisps.  The pink was darkest at the bottom, lightest at the top.  From a certain angle, it appeared to be leaves and stems, growing upwards. As they expanded upwards, the mist was less concentrated, therefore a lighter pink.  At the very top it was barely visible.  Seconds passed.  Watching it was hypnotic, a belly dancer turning slowly, sensually to Borodin’s Polovtzian Dance from Prince Igor.  Then, almost like an animal sniffing out its prey, it shifted toward the nearest golfer who was apparently hypnotized by its gyrations.

The almost silence of the golf course was suddenly shattered as a young lady started waving her hands wildly and screamed, “Daddy.  Get out!”

A silver-haired man, in his seventies, waved to his daughter, apparently not hearing her message.  He selected a club from the new Ping golf bag that sat upright in the front seat of his green-and-white golf cart.

She started crossing her arms in front of her, hands fully extended, moving them rapidly as she called out, “Get off the grass, Daddy.  Come to me.  Don’t let that thing get you.”

The man turned and saw a column of pink mist.  In a moment, it had changed direction and was upon the man.  Roger’s eyes widened in disbelief as he followed the golfer who shot up as if something had stabbed him from behind. The pink mist gathered around him, and in a sudden blur, it seemed to glow. The golfer’s scream was swallowed as the mist reached his throat.   95% of the golfer’s body was now gone, and suddenly the mist was consumed by flame that produced a golden-white light. What’s more, a moment later, where there had once been a golfer, there was now nothing at all.  Or, if there was something, it was too little to observe from the twelfth story of the Emerald Lake hotel that overlooked the Edgewood Golf course.

“Roger”, he heard Madeline’s voice coming from headset of the phone.  “What’s that screaming? Answer me!”

In two steps he was there, holding the phone to his ear.  “I’m here,” he said, “but I . . . I don’t know what the hell is going on. This can’t be real . . .”

“How you could leave me here, waiting? Wondering?  Roger, what’s going on over there?”

Roger told her, and she said, “I was looking out the third-floor window and saw three people cutting across the patch of lawn in front of the main entrance.  They were running.  One of them had an infant in her pulled close to her chest . . . “  She paused.  Her voice turned as soft as a baby’s blanket.  “You’re the first person I called.”  Roger imagined a tear running slowly down her cheek.  “Don’t ask me why.  You’d think I’d call my Mom, or my Dad or my daughter, but I called you.”  She paused briefly. “I had to call you, had to know that you’re all right.”

Roger smiled.  If she had been there he would have reached out, taken both of her hands in his, drawn her close to him and kissed her.   That feeling was evident as he said, “We have established quite a connection.”

The baby-blanket softness vanished from Madeline’s voice; “I’m coming over.”

“What?  Maddy, you could get killed driving over here, if people evaporate as they drive, they’ll be accidents.”

“I don’t care.  I want to be together.  Don’t you dare leave that room!”  Then her tone became soft, and sounded like a five-year old.  “Promise.” She didn’t wait for Roger to answer.  She hung up.  Roger looked out the window again.  There was no one left on the golf course.

Suddenly, the strength drained out of his legs and he collapsed into the plush gold micro-fiber armchair that was adjacent to the window, and clicked on a button that closed the drapes.

Roger picked up the remote and turned on the TV. I hate these hotel systems. Why can’t the TV just turn on and play a channel? He knew the answer of course. The hotel wanted to maximize its revenue, and you did that by giving guests every opportunity to buy something–movies, internet access, room service, whatever. He fumbled with the remote, pulled up the menu and selected cable news.

His choice of channel rewarded him immediately.  A golden-hair, blue-eyed, 30-some reporter filled the screen.  She held the microphone an inch away from her chin as she delivered the story.  “This is Carol Edmund, NBC National Cable News, reporting live from The George Washington Memorial Hospital, in the nation’s capital.  I’m here with Dr. Walter Jacoben, the Chief of Surgery of Kennedy Memorial Dr. Jacoben, would you briefly describe the Pink Mistover and tell us if there’s any insight into what’s causing it?”

“Certainly Carol. The Pink Mistover is a layman’s name.  It describes a human body that’s appears to hypnotize someone into watching it.  As the person watches, they are enveloped in a thin envelope of pink mist. To the best of our knowledge, the Mistover selects only people.  It does not yet appear to prefer any race, age, occupation or any other factor. However, people who are near grass and plants, especially golfers, seem most likely to be infected.

Pink Mistover is 100% fatal one, maybe two minutes.  Fatal, perhaps, is not the right word.”

“What happens to the body of the victim.”

The Mistover appears to convert the mass of the body into energy and also into one of several gases—oxygen, nitrogen, carbon dioxide. He paused, unsure of his facts, then continued.  Some may not consider it fatal because . . .”

“Because, if you were a religious person, you might think of yourself as being reborn, and . . . ”

“. . . And, . . . “

“. . . because, even though we can not explain it chemically—there is no chemical signature— after a flashing some people smell lilac, or sometimes, sulfur.”



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Request for Input on “Deep Time”

January 20th, 2010 by Alan | No Comments | Filed in Readers' Feedback Requested

In The Occluded Emerald the main character, Jonathan, is an 11-year old boy who has accepted the challenge of saving one of the 13 known universes.  The twelfth universe has already been mostly destroyed by a black unicorn and an evil empress.

Jonathan is unique in that has the ability to learn how to navigate the different universes, and he has the ability to learn how to observe himself at different ages.  (He can’t speak to himself, but if he is clever enough, can learn things from the way that his older counterparts, things that will help him to put together the solution he seeks.)

In The Occluded Emerald, there are a number of immortal characters, including unicorns and a husband-and-wife who are the proprietors of the Jeweled Planets shop.  Literally billions of years go by, and I would like to assure that my description of deep time is both interesting and accurate.

If you have any suggestions, I will sincerely appreciate receiving them. If your suggestion is adopted, I will be pleased to acknowledge this on Harmony’s “Thank You page.

Please feel free to post links to this request on any billboards, forums, etc. in which you participate.

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Request Thoughts on Conspiracy and Evil

January 18th, 2010 by Alan | 3 Comments | Filed in Readers' Feedback Requested

People are interested in conspiracies as one can see from watching the above youtube.com video which had more than 14 million views. It makes good sense to include a conspiracy plot. It’s one thing to write a conspiracy about human beings, but what about a conspiracy that involves a unicorn and his sister, who happens to be imprisoned in human form that have been imprisoned inside an energy field for just under a billion years? I can tell you that there are thirteen known universes, that the evil duo has destroyed most of the life in the 12th known universe, where there was a high concentration of white magic and that the overall goal of the Evil Duo is to aggregate the bit of evil that is present in every living creature. Once aggregated, they will focus the evil to accomplish their purposes.

What conspiracies would you find interesting? Use your imagination. I plan to use more than one conspiracy in the books, and I will give you credit for your idea on the People Who Influenced Decisions that I Made Writing this Series page.  You’ll also get an autographed copy of the book and/or the e-book and audio-book.

In the thirteen known universes there are bound to be conspiracies that foster the growth of evil.  If you have any suggestions for conspiracies, please share them.  I assure you that you will given credit for the idea.

Feel free to suggest conspiracy with any life form, real or imagined.  However, I am not interested in a conspiracy with Hitler or The Devil.

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Request thoughts on resigning immortality

January 18th, 2010 by Alan | No Comments | Filed in Readers' Feedback Requested

Immortal creatures live forever, but some of them have a one-time option to denounce their immortality and either age, or be subject to death.

Under what conditions would you seriously consider shedding your immortality, and why.  Please comment.

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Request thoughts on what a unicorn might use instead of a book

January 18th, 2010 by Alan | No Comments | Filed in Readers' Feedback Requested
Perhaps unicorns would prefer something besides a good book.

Parental Love by msparrie. Perhaps unicorns would prefer something besides a good book.

Books are a convenient way for people to transmit knowledge,  but can you imagine a unicorn curling up at night with a good book?  I can’t.  I’ve thought of the fact that a unicorn might inscribe energy that can be read back using its fabled horn.  Perhaps the knowledge gets read back with sound, or via telepathy?  What are your thoughts and suggestions? Please comment.

This print may be purchased from http://media.photobucket.com/image/unicorns/msparrie/unicorns/steptoeshorsesmusicosuzy-vi.gif?o=17 .  I make no money on the purchase.

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Request Ideas for How Unicorns and Horses Play

January 18th, 2010 by Alan | No Comments | Filed in Readers' Feedback Requested

Unicorns Playing image by Neptune 90

What ways can you suggest that unicorns will play?

The End of All Times, features several unicorns. There are several places in the manuscript where the unicorns will be playing. One game that they will play will be to toss a ring from one horn to another, a ring that emanates sounds. I’d like additional suggestions as to games that unicorns enjoy playing, and why they enjoy playing them. If you can suggest any, please leave a comment.

http://media.photobucket.com/image/unicorns%20playing/Neptune90/Pretty%20pictures/Unicorns.jpg?o=4

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