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Hike with Lauren

I was describing to Lauren the Civil War battle of South Mountain outside Burkittsville, Maryland. I didn’t find out until I got home and checked my camera that she was not paying attention to my history lesson at all. Instead, I have lots of beautiful selfies from her.
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Indissouble Love

noskov_Yamantaka

For those of you that are not familiar with Tibetan Buddhism, this image of Yamantaka and consort Yami is how Los and Enith manifest as they scrambled out of the crater after the fiery explosion at the climax of the 2nd Raid on Harpers Ferry (which actually happens at Mt Storm down the ridgeline).   The one figure is actually binary entities.  No longer lovers separated by circumstance, they now exist as a single wrathful deity patrolling the In Between (AKA Bardo) for eternity.  They will guide any lost soul they come across towards reincarnation and self realization.   You will have to read Wrathful Empathies, The 14th Colony to find out if they cross paths with Wobbly.

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The Kindred

The Kindred2

The Kindred trace their ancestry back to the few survivors of John Brown’s Raid on Harpers Ferry.   At his urging, they escaped into the night and fled up into the surrounding mountains before the final assault upon their location.  The Kindred keep the battle for freedom against tyranny going across time and space.  They hide in plain site amongst the mountain people and hikers of the Great Trail.

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Tibetan Prayer For The Dying

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ySbVs0Y1s14&feature=em-share_video_user

This is a 6 part series but I have only added part 3.   Wrathful Empathies is a layered story of self realization on many levels.  This clip on the Tibetan prayer for the dying might be useful for readers of my book that are unfamiliar with this practice.   I don’t use the term Bardo but the In Between.   I envisioned the path to consciousness winding  along the Great Trail, Golden Path or the darkened plain of the In Between.   Bret and Zoa are unique in their immediate realization of consciousness.   Los is another entity altogether.   That will be discussed in a future post and another clip.   While my understanding of Tibetan Buddhism is shallow, it is sufficient to launch my story telling imagination.   The Buddhist monk is one of my favorite characters to write.   I love the scene of him in Vagaries Tavern.  Will he make another appearance in book two?   Stay tuned.

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Scene

 

Here is the front yard of the stone farmhouse  and old barn  where I lived for a a year.  I replaced the actual town of Berryville with the fictional name of Battletown, VA.   This setting gave me the  idea for the type of location a secretive group might gather.  The rough and tumble Kindred  meet clandestinely on the second floor of the barn at midnight.   As planning for the 2nd raid gathers momentum, their numbers increase.  Eventually, the old farmhouse cannot hold all of them so they  camp openly on this lawn.   This is done under the guise of a  “Great Trail” thru hikers campsite.   Remember, the actual Appalachian Trail is only a few miles to the East.   I would see hikers wandering nearby Berryville which gave me the idea to use them as  cover for the Kindred.  The underground Kindred members  hide amongst them in plain sight.    Next time you see a scruffy, dirty and dishelved person carrying their belongings, think twice before you decide what they are.   Reading a Sufi mystic book gave me that idea.   Eventually, the barn will become the  “Singing Bowl” hiker hostel that Bret and a reluctant Zoa will own and manage with the help of a comical assortment of characters.  Back to my story…..   This location was  needed for a 2nd Raid planning HQ similar to the Kennedy Farmhouse that John Brown used about 23 miles to the North in Maryland.  This was my view during the day outside the kitchen window.  I use to write  at a  large  pine kitchen table at night.  Occasionally, I  would look up from my laptop screen to see  a mysterious light coming from inside the 1st floor barn window to the right.   I investigated several times to find no interior light source.  Finally, I  decided it was just a reflection in the broken glass pane back from the front porch light of the farmhouse.   Still, I felt I had company many late nights while writing.  Maybe the Kindred were visiting and I just missed them.  Why would the hide from me?    As a writer, you should see everything as content for your story.   The world is fascinating if you let your imagination lose.
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Urizen With His Net

William Blake envisioned organized religion as produced and subsequently passed down to christian believers as a net ensnaring the soul.   Instead, he imagined God as imagination freeing the soul from its imprisonment.   This is where Orc comes in.   He is a rebellious angel that fights for liberty at the fore front of this battle.  Blake thought the American revolution was the literal battle in this spiritual confrontation.   When slavery was not abolished upon its victory, Blake worried everything was in vain.   At least, that is how I am framing his theology in my Wrathful Empathies trilogy.

By Dmitrismirnov – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=28922594

 

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Sylvia Linsteadt and Rima Staines

I wish I could write like Sylvia Linsteadt.  To be so young but so wise in the use of words is true genius.  I will never forget the image of a disemboweled bird revealing a map of a secret journey in its ribs and arteries.  Also,  the paintings of Rima Staines imagine a world so strange but oddly familiar.   Sylvia weaves her images into an epic narrative .  Reading Tatterdemalion is like a weekend hiking through one of my favorite forests.

 

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Tom Hirons

When I first heard this poem, I thought I had stumbled across something from a long ago middle age England.  Much to my surprise, the poet is currently alive and writing.  I strongly encourage a visit to Hedgespoken Press.  I bought several bound copies of this poem and gave them to all my kids.  Wonderful and enchanting experience.   His imagination is liberating.

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Writing in the woods

I wrote three chapters of 2nd Raid sitting before this campfire.

Wasn’t terribly comfortable nor warm but the dark woods inspired my imagination.   I was on a three day  backpacking trip inside the George Washington National Forest in Ft Valley, Va last December. 

 

 

 

 

The previous night was spent atop Signal Knob.  It is a rocky cliff that has a terrific view looking north up the Shenandoah valley.  I scrambled down amongst the rocks and discovered a small cave entrance.  Since it was December, I decided not to crawl inside.  Wouldn’t want to disturb a bear in hibernation.  That small opening gave me the idea to hide Orc just below the summit.  It has a sightline down below where Lord Fairfax would have emerged from his wintery cabin in response to the angelic voice.  Further up to the right of the valley, Orc could witness the explosion atop Mt. Storm.

 

The Massanutten Trail is one of my favorite quick escapes.

Very accessible and lightly traveled, especially in Winter.   In my mind’s eye, I am always gazing south at the valley within a valley.   The sunlight softly rains over the beautiful mountains.

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At the Stone Farmhouse

This picture was taken from the front porch of the 250 year old stone farmhouse where I lived for one year.   It lays outside of Berryville, VA in the no man’s land of Clarke County.  It was here that Wrathful Empathies was conceived and partially written.  I gave it to my daughter Becky to read.  She said it was three books in one and needed major editing.   Heading her advice, I sought professional editorial help.  It took another year to finish.  This view was amazing with the entire setting inspirational.  You can see the old stone barn in the right.  Of course, the far off Blue Ridge mountains are lurking under the clouds.

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