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Wednesday, September 18, 2013

Wrage by Joseph spencer

Please welcome guest blogger Joseph Spencer to the blog. Joseph is going to talk about the Dead Sea Scrolls and his book. He's also giving away a $25 Starbucks gift certificate so follow his tour and comment often. You can find his schedule here: http://goddessfishpromotions.blogspot.com/2013/07/virtual-book-tour-wrage-by-joseph.html



Dead Sea Scrolls Foretell Apocalypse

In my Sons of Darkness Series of occult thrillers, the novels detail action happening in both the mortal and supernatural realms with themes loosely based on prophecies from the Dead Sea Scrolls. Grim introduces Abaddon, a supernatural entity which convinces Heath Grim to hunt down murderers to avenge the limbo-bound souls of their victims. Wrage exposes Abaddon as a demon trying to ignite a war by recruiting souls for his Sons of Darkness army, and Archangel Michael attempts to convince Abaddon’s recruit to turn back from the darkness and join the Sons of Light.

The War of the Sons of Light against the Sons of Darkness is a manual for military organization and strategy discovered among the Dead Sea Scrolls in the “War Scroll.” This scroll contains an apocalyptic prophecy which foretells of a final war between the Sons of Light and the Sons of Darkness for the fate of all creation. The war is first described as an attack by the Sons of Light, a group consisting of the sons of Judah, the sons of Benjamin, the Sons of Levi, and the desert exiles, against the Sons of Darkness, Edom, Moab, the sons of Ammon, the Amalekites, Philistia and the army of Belial, who are accused of violating the covenant.

The war is described as a battle between the congregation of God and the congregation of men.  At its end, the scroll states Light will live in peace for all of eternity after it destroys all of Darkness. Scholars still debate the timeline when the scroll was composed. Due to the weaponry and tactics described in the scroll, scholars believe it was written either in the Seleucid period, between 165-104 BC during the Maccabean Revolt, the height of Jonathan’s military power and the reign of John Hyrcanus, or the Roman period, between 65-4 BC during the capture of Jerusalem by Pompey and the death of Herod. The Israel Museum in Jerusalem immortalized the story in the scroll at The Shrine of the Book where a white dome symbolizes the Sons of Light and a black basalt wall symbolizes the Sons of Darkness.

In my planned Sons of Darkness Series, I intend to write seven installments detailing different desperate individuals who Abaddon is targeting to become soldiers in the Sons of Darkness army. After Abaddon successfully corrupts a recruit, he uses the recruit’s body as a vessel for powerful demons to inhabit to become a soldier in the Sons of Darkness army. Each recruit will represent a deadly sin. Grim dealt with the theme of wrath. Wrage dealt with the theme of envy. The next planned book in the series is Malice which will feature a notorious rocker named Malice Madsen, inspired by Marilyn Manson, who will embody pride.

After the Sons of Darkness series is complete, I intend to write the other side of story with a Sons of Light series. This will chronicle the Archangel Michael’s attempts to amass Heaven’s army to respond to the threat being mounted by the Sons of Darkness. Each recruit to the Sons of Light will represent a cardinal virtue. The tension between both armies will mount with each successive novel .

Wrage also introduces the Black and White Army. This concept is a symbolization of Death. Without giving away any spoilers, a character in Wrage embodies Death, but reveals that the mortal realm’s understanding of Death, with examples such as the Grim Reaper ,  isn’t quite right. He reveals that there is a race of beings named Deathlings which act as a sort of police force for all of creation. They don’t pick sides in any fight. They simply harvest other forms of creation when they are compelled to do so. This race will also play an important part of the story.

Both Grim and Wrage are available at 28 percent off retail price of an ebook at www.damnationbooks.com with promo code 289snake. They are also available at Amazon.com and Barnesandnoble.com. Look for Malice in the summer or fall of 2014.
 
 
 
WRAGE
By
Joseph Spencer
BLURB:  
Sometimes the toughest fight lies within yourself.
 
As more dark secrets come to light, the battle for souls pushes Prairieville to the brink of war in the living and supernatural realms.
 
Jeff Wrage swears a blood oath to Abaddon, the supernatural avenger of murder victims, to hunt the crooked cop who butchered his wife. Jeff wonders whether he can be the executioner Abaddon requires. Their pact throws the supernatural realm in chaos and threatens to trigger an apocalyptic fight for control of the afterlife between the Sons of Darkness and Sons of Light foretold in the Dead Sea Scrolls.
 
Orlando Marino sees the death of Cyrus Black as his opportunity to restore the Marino family's stronghold in Prairieville’s organized crime scene and become a mob kingpin. He unleashes a plague, turning its victims into mindless followers. Cyrus' heir is busy rooting out a traitor and is unable to stop the coming turf war in the realm of man.
 
The fate of all rests with Homicide Detective Anna Duke, who steps into the shoes of her mentor while coming to terms with unrequited love. As she tries to clear the fallen hero's name, she takes on a case where corpses go missing. Her new partner is reported dead. She learns the truth about her true identity and uncovers a trail of secrets questioning her tragic past. She journeys to avert the destruction of all creation.
 
EXERCPT:
Thunderclaps from high above jolted Jeff out of his slumber.
Something hard and cold with jagged edges pressed into his back.
When he tried to move, iron shackles strained against the skin of his arms and legs. Chained to a rock in a dry stream bed, he knew he’d become a helpless prisoner who could do nothing more than wait for his captor. Stormy skies threatened from directly above him with bright flares of lightning snaking among sooty clouds and disappearing. Out of the corner of his eye, he could detect that the sun was shining brightly on the other side of the rock.
Scant rays of brilliant sunshine peeked over the rock, reflecting bright light off a magnificent golden shrine on a bank not far from where he was chained.
This can’t be real. He’d never seen a place like this in his life.
Large wet drops crashed against his skin. The coolness of the rain streaking down his body caused steam to rise from his skin, which he noticed had turned a dark shade of crimson. The only being this red was….
“Lucifer,” a calm voice echoed from above Jeff on the shoreline.
A giant, dressed in white armor sparkling like diamonds in the spare sunlight, stepped into view. He wielded a golden-hilted silver sword in one hand and a silver shield with the Latin inscription “Quis ut Deus” (I am like God) on the front in the other hand. He loomed above Jeff. A large gold cross ran down the center of the giant’s breastplate. A second inlaid golden cross glinted at the center of his white helmet. The helmet obscured his face, save for flawless ivory skin which radiated a blinding light. There was something across his back casting a large shadow, but Jeff couldn’t see what it was.
 “You were thinking of Lucifer, whose skin is often portrayed as red,” the giant said. The ivory giant stepped into full view. From his back a pair of massive wings spanned over ten feet wide and five feet long majestically fluttering in the breeze, yet didn’t cast a shadow. The rain pelting Jeff in the eyes didn’t touch this giant. He certainly was no man. The only thing Jeff could compare it to would be—
 “An angel,” the giant completed Jeff’s sentence again. “You are correct.”
 
 

AUTHOR INFORMATION:
As a boy, Joseph Spencer immersed himself in the deductive logic of Sherlock Holmes, the heroic crime fighting of Batman and Spider-Man, and a taste for the tragic with dramas from poets like Shakespeare and Homer.
Before Joseph took to spinning his own tales, he pursued a career in print sports journalism, graduating summa cum laude from Southern Illinois University-Carbondale. He covered such events as NASCAR’s Subway 500 race in Martinsville, the NBA Draft Camp in Chicago, the Junior College World Series, and Minor League Baseball’s Midwest League All-Star Game during a ten-year career throughout the Midwest. Now, he works as an emergency telecommunications specialist with an Illinois police department. The combination of years of writing experience with a background working with law enforcement professionals gave rise to his writing aspirations.
Joseph was married to Dr. Amy (Waggoner) Spencer, an accomplished veterinary doctor, on March 14, 2012. He received word his debut novel was accepted by his publisher, Damnation Books, the next day. Joseph is hard at work on the rest of the series. Book 2 – Wrage – was released June 1, 2013.  The Spencer family enjoys reading Charlaine Harris, George R.R. Martin, Mary Janice Davidson, and most paranormal stories. The Spencers also enjoy quoting movie lines from “The Princess Bride”, “Rain Man”, “Bridesmaids”, and “Office Space.”
 Website Link:  www.josephbspencer.com ; http://www.damnationbooks.com/book.php?isbn=9781615729777
 Blog Link: www.josephbspencer.com/blog
 Twitter Link: https://twitter.com/josephspencer00
Facebook Link: https://www.facebook.com/joe.spencer3
Google+ Link: https://plus.google.com/u/0/
Goodreads Link: http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/7881659-joe-spencer
 LinkedIn Link: http://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=193078929&snapshotID=&authType=name&authToken=MmuR&ref=NUS&goback=%2Enmp_*1_*1_*1_*1_*1_*1_*1_*1_*1_*1&trk=NUS-body-member-name
Book Video Links:
 
 

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