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
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