Friday, October 31, 2008

Lost Soul: Introduction

Lost Soul: Introduction

I had no idea I was anything but another ordinary human being, albeit one who recalls more than one human past life, until my mother lay dying in the hospital with ovarian cancer.

I was, as many people are during times like this, angry at God. I was certain he was punishing me for some bad karma earned during a prior incarnation, and so I had one question for him.

While sitting on a rock outside the hospital, smoking a cigarette, I asked that question, loudly, but silently. Mentally, I screamed towards the heavens, “What do you want from me?”

I then returned to sit beside my mother’s hospital bed, and I was answered. It was some time before I was able to determine whether what I experienced was a vision or a memory, and it left me with a lot more questions, but it didn’t matter. What I experienced was the answer to the question I’d asked.

I watched spellbound as the Grand Creator, the Great Architect, spun the world out of nothingness as I hung in space, bodiless. I observed the meticulous care It put into the creation of this world, as if it were one of the model railroad layout that my ex built. I watched it create mountains and oceans and life forms, moving from single-celled organisms to multi-celled organisms to plants and fish and mammals.

I was not the only one watching. There were many others, as well as those who helped in the development of this remarkable creation. For all of us, it was a relief from the endless boredom of eternity. It was entertainment; something to do that was different.

At some point, the watchers started making the same sort of snide comments that people do when they are watching another create. Don’t we always think we can do better than the doer?

The Creator at one point left Its project to work on a new lifeform it was developing. And that’s when the real fun began. That is when the creation became involved in our endless Game. One of the watchers decided it would be fun to mess with the creation, and make changes to it. He talked the rest of us into participating in it, and it became both performance art and competitive sport. That is the Game, at its very basic. It doesn’t matter what the rules or the scenario of the Game is, as long as it is both art and sport combined.

At first, we competed against each other to see who could vandalize the new creation in the most amusing way. The life forms gave us a great deal of material to work with as we changed their sizes, colors, and gave them spots and stripes. I won points in the Game when I took a camel and did some genetic engineering to give it a long neck, turn it yellow and give it spots. The Game got even better when those who were helping with the Creation joined in. They were trying to fix the damage we were doing.
The best part was when it became obvious that they were making the vandalism worse in some cases. We derived considerable entertainment from their efforts, and redoubled ours, just to give them more opportunities to play.

Not surprisingly, all hell broke loose when the Creator came back and found that Its children had been entertaining themselves with Its creation. It was angry with all of us, vandals and fixers alike.

However, we found new entertainment in watching It introduce the new life forms that had been developed during the lengthy absence. They were developed as higher forms of the monkeys and apes, only they were hairless and walked upright. We were all amazed by the naked apes It had created.

And then It made another mistake (leaving the lot of us alone with the Creation was the first) and It showed us how to breathe life into the Created Ones. It took parts of Itself and used them to give these creatures life and sentience and the ability to communicate. And then it made those parts of Itself self-replicating.

Up until then, none of us had known how to replicate ourselves. Only the Creator knew that technique. All of us were Its children. That was when we learned to replicate ourselves, and we also learned to insert ourselves into one of the creatures and animate them. This was known as “incarnation”.

And the Game began anew. This new way of playing allowed us to experience the Creation as if we were one of the created ones. However, we really didn’t like the bodies of the naked apes. They smelled, for one thing, and still had too much hair.

Thanks to the experience gained during our period of vandalism, we were able to easily engineer a new species of naked apes that were as much like them as they were like the chimpanzees they’d been engineered from. Those Created Ones became known as “humans”.

We devoted a great deal of time to playing with our appearances, as we amused ourselves within the physical “reality” that was the Creation. That was when vanity became part of the Game. Wild hairstyles and clothing were one of our many innovations that humans eventually came to copy.

It approved of the new way of playing the Game, and approved of our use of the Creation as a playing field for the Game. Before leaving us to our own devices, It came up with a few rules to ensure that the Created Ones didn’t get vandalized. We were not to mate with them and produce offspring. The races were to remain separate.

Fruitless mating was allowed, but at the time, that was akin to bestiality for us. We considered ourselves a superior race to the humans, much as the humans consider themselves superior to animals. Eventually, some of the players engaged in both fruitless and fruitful mating, and got in trouble for breaking that rule. Others of us couldn’t resist genetically engineering all sorts of interesting things, including different hair and skin types.

Those were allowed, because they didn’t change the fundamental makeup of the Created Ones. Combining their genes with various animals to create half-human hybrids was eventually allowed, but only if the hybrids were sterile, or could only reproduce with other similar hybrids.

Once we got tired of genetic engineering it was time for the Game to enter a new phase. We began to teach them all manner of arts and trades, and built a variety of civilizations. Yes, “Atlantis” was one of them. It was one of many city-states that we built during the long eons that we played that particular phase of the Game.

Once we got bored with civilization building, we taught them to make war upon each other and began the War Game. Most of the civilizations and city-states were destroyed, and new ones were built during that time. Including Atlantis. Islands and coastal civilizations were precarious, because it isn’t that hard to create a destructive tsunami.

We also began playing the God Game, setting ourselves up as local deities. We found great amusement in competing against one another for worshippers, as well as grandness of temple, sumptuousness of priestly garments, and amount of human sacrifices.

We probably would still be playing the Game in that way if it weren’t for a few of the players who started breeding our race with the Created Ones. The crossbreeds were a nasty lot, and highly fertile. Left unchecked, that would have completely eradicated the human race in favor of them.

We never knew who it was that snitched on us, but someone did. The Creator returned and wiped out the entire area where the crossbreeds were, including the humans, except for a handful of breeding stock. Because Its anger melted part of the polar ice cap, most of the coastal civilizations were lost as well. Most of our race ended up fleeing to inland areas as refugees.

It also did something worse. It made our race sterile, and the new rule was that we had to use human bodies when ours wore out, and not re-incarnate in those of our own creation.

And it remained to supervise the Game, to make sure things didn’t get too far out of hand again. Some children require parental supervision when playing. We certainly did.

It chose the group of breeding stock left from those that it destroyed as Its own particular group, and made it very clear that we were not to play with them. However, it soon became clear that It was playing with them and against us. And the Game began in earnest, as we got the chance to play against our Parent.

I was playing on Egypt’s team, and it was looking like we were going to win the Game, when It smoked us. That’s when I switched sides for the first time, and began to play on Its side.

Some time later, I regretted that decision, when Babylon’s team won a round, and I ended up playing on their team instead. It was angry with me, and we were at odds until not long after my impertinent question outside the hospital while my mother lay dying.

It wants me back on Its team again. It isn’t easy switching teams after this many centuries of playing against It.

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Pre-Novel interview with Ashtar Khreth

This year for my first NaNoWriMo adventure, I will be writing the autobiography of a fallen angel, who calls itself Ashtar Khreth. As the last few days tick away before the first of November, it has consented to an interview.

Q. We've been hearing a lot about Ashtar Sheran in the New Age community, after Blossom Goodchild's prophecy turned fiasco? Who or what does the word Ashtar signify, and what, if any, is your relationship to Ashtar Sheran?

A. That's a complex question. I will try and distill it down into a reasonably simple answer using concepts which will be familiar to you. Ashtar Sheran, and all of those of us who are referred to as "The Ashtars" are the what you would call the children of it that you call your God, Jehovah, Yahweh, Allah, etc. Our preferred names for It are the Great Architect or the Grand Creator, because It built this remarkable creation you call Earth with such precision and attention to detail.

We are It's servants, It's emanations, and It's messengers, and the word "Ashtar" encompasses all of those. In the Greek language, we were known as the "Angelos", more commonly referred to as "angels". That word supplanted the word Ashtar, so that for a very long time, it was forgotten.

Ashtar Sheran, and all the rest of us are siblings, in a very profound way. Originally there was only ONE, but that ONE became lonely, and thus, It became TWO. And each of those two was also one, and in time they became two.

Q. I'd better clarify because in addition to receiving words in this telepathic transmission, I'm also receiving images. What I'm seeing are paramecium reproducing by one splitting into two.

A. Exactly. The way that single-celled organisms, and all multi-celled organisms reproduce at the cellular level is how our kind reproduce. That's why we all look alike. How else to create something in your image, but by dividing yourself in twain?

Q. So, Ashtar Sheran is your twin, then.

A. One of many. All of us are twins. And although there often arguments over which was the original ONE, and which is the "child" of the other, it really doesn't matter. When we first reproduce, each of us is completely identical to the other.

Q. Got it. Are you from another planet then? Some alien world? Did you arrive here in a space ship or "lightship"?

A. Not really, people involved in that belief system have been watching too much SciFi channel. Galactic Federation of Light, indeed. We exist in a non-physical reality, that you would call "another dimension". In that reality, there is nothing physical, only the illusion of it that we can create or not, as we see fit. We do not have physical bodies, because the physical is only an illusion.

Q. I don't understand. Please don't tell me you are talking about something like the Q from Star Trek.

A. *laughter* Actually, that is as close a metaphor as I can find in your memory, so it will have to suffice. From the nothingness that exists in the non-physical reality, we create our homes, our playgrounds, and our gaming fields. And although they can appear to be real and solid, they are in fact no more real than a dream, which can also feel real while you are in it, but when you awaken, it is only a memory.

Q. Are you talking about "virtual reality"?

A. Exactly. Our thoughts have the power to create these virtual realities such as this planet, just as your throughts have the power to create computer programs that simulate your reality.

Q. (Okay, my brain really hurts now.) So, the Earth isn't real?

A. What is reality? It is a subjective experience. And to those experiencing it, it is real, but to those on the outside looking in, it is only an illusion.

Q. (This is getting way too deep for me. I'm a writer not a philosopher.) So, how did you come to be living in this reality like the rest of us, if you are a powerful alien from another dimension? (And why does this keep sounding more and more like Star Trek?)

A. I'll answer your unspoken question first. I heard that. I can only explain things using terms and metaphors that will be familiar to you, and since you've watched a lot of Star Trek, I am utilizing them.

I won't get into all of the details, but suffice it to say that those of us who are known as "fallen angels" or the Ashtars who got left behind, are those who are imprisoned here for our own hubris. We thought we could get away with more than we could.

In my case, I switched sides as a result of a setback in the Game. And although I've regretted it ever since, it put me on the losing side, and I've been locked into playing the Game until I can figure a way out of it, or until the other Ashtars return to start another round.

Q. The Game? What is the Game? Is it Battltoads? Or have I just lost it for thinking about it?

A. The Game is the only thing that has kept us sane for all of these endless eons. Humans long for immortality, but quite frankly, there is nothing more incredibly boring than being immortal and non-physical. As soon as there were enough of us in existence to become bored, we developed the Game.

It isn't a set group of rules, there is no specific playing board, and no little cars and shoes and hotels on Boardwalk. Instead, it is something that we continually changed and evolved.

The reason this entire world was spun out of nothingness by the Grand Creator, was for us to have a new reality upon which to play the Game against each other. While it was still being created, the Game was Creation vs Vandalism, and we chose up sides and some helped with the Creation of the gaming field, others did everything possible to vandalize the Creation. Usually by making it funny in some way.

Q. Vandalism? How can you vandalize a planet?

A. Some things were small and obvious, like taking a camel and manipulating it genetically. The long neck was funny. Turning it yellow and adding spots...The duck-billed platypus was a committee effort. Causing the one single continent that was to be the playing field to slowly split apart was more subtle, and infinitely more humorous.

Q. So, once the Creation was completed, how did you play the Game?

A. Then it became a game of Civilization building. And when that palled, there was the War Game.

Q. So, you fought against each other? Is that what they meant by the War among the Angels?

A. No, we didn't fight one another directly. The first thing we did when we started playing the Civilization Game was to enslave the humans and breed up armies of soldiers, among other things.

Q. I see. Please continue.

A. At some, the Game got out of hand, because some of my siblings started mating with the humans. And others of us were performing genetic engineering on them and combining them (in a laboratory) with other species.

Q. That sounds like some of the stories I've heard about "Atlantis".

A. Of course. Atlantis was one of the many, many city-states that existed during that phase of the game.

It was at this point that the Grand Creator decided it was time for a new round of the Game and wiped the playing field clean.

That's when we started a different Game. The Religion Game. Most of us became Gods. I signed on to Jehovah's team, along with Ashtar Sheran (who was going by the name the Metatron at the time) and others of us. It was playing to win, and everyone wants to be on the winning side in the Game.

Q. Naturally. What happened?

A. The Babylonians won a round when they sacked Jerusalem, and I ended up on their team. That was when Jehovah found out that I'd been cheating and playing on more than one team at once. I wasn't the only one.

A few lost rounds later, and Jehovah set us all up to lose. It arranged for another of the Ashtars (he was called Jesus during that round) to "incarnate" and be killed according to a prophecy that It had issued previously.

As a result, It had a good reason to leave in a huff, taking all of Its team members with It. The rest of us got left behind to play the Game against each other, because, just to be funny, it locked us in. We are stuck playing by the same rules that humanity has to play by. We incarnate into a physical body, which eventually dies, and then we incarnate again.

Over the eons, we all gradually lost our memories of what we were, and became human.

Q. Why have you decided to tell your story?

A. Only recently did It forgive me and return that which it took from me, so that now I can remember who I was. I'm still not quite where I was before losing the round in Babylon. I'm working on it, and my old rival, and most beloved twin is helping with that.

Once all of us "fallen angels" remember, can we return to playing the Game. By telling my story, I hope to trigger their memories, as well. They'll have to ask forgiveness on their own, but first, you have to remember enough to know that you have a need for being forgiven. It hates when players cheat against it in the Game.

Q. So cheating is against the rules?

A. Rules? What rules? The only rules are the rules of the system that is the playing field. And as with any game, those can be bent or broken. Cheating has always been a big part of the game. The trick, though, is to not get caught doing so.

Q. I see. And where are the rest of the Ashtars?

A. All around us. The ones who merely lost the Game, are in all countries, and in all religions, as well as none. The ones who got busted for cheating are involved in religions and belief systems that are based on the Game. The ones who lie, cheat, fleece their flocks, and act badly, are those that you would call "fallen angels".

Q. I think I know of a few.

A. Yes, that video you saw the other day of the so-called ascended master of light, or whatever she calls herself, who was engaging in a tantrum of swearing, giving the camera the finger, and telling people to kiss her fat ass, was a fallen angel. Don't let that light and love and Namaste stuff fool you. That's for the suckers, and it always has been.

Q. Thank you for answering my questions, Ashtar Khreth. I look forward to beginning the NaNoWriMo project this weekend.

A. As do I.

And that was an interview with a fallen angel, who has an interesting view of human history.

Laura Adams

(1831 words that don't count towards my novel count)

Monday, October 13, 2008

Improve your book titles with Titlescoring

According to lulu.com's Titlescorer, the new title I chose for my NaNo has a 69% of being a bestselling title. Which is much better than the title of my self-help book. That only has a 23% chance of being a bestselling title.

Check out the Titlescorer.

Or, pit two titles against each other in Mortal Title Kombat.

Laura

Sunday, October 12, 2008

A new resource for new writers

I read about this on the NaNoWriMo forums: HarperCollins has launched an online slush pile.

For people not familiar with the concept of a slush pile, it is where all unsolicited manuscripts go at a literary agent or publisher's. They may get read, they may not.

Authonomy.com works the same way. Writers can upload excerpts or entire manuscripts of unpublished or self-published works.

Internet users read them, and comment and rate them. The top 5 each month are read by HarperCollins staffers.

This is designed to help them find new writers and new books to publish. Among the readers of the manuscripts on the site are literary agents looking for new writers to represent.

It's a great way to use the technology, and the users of the Internet, to help them with their jobs. And, like many things online, it's free to use it. You can also provide links to your self-published works for sale.

For more information check out their site at www.authonomy.com. They have a very detailed FAQ list.

My self-help book that I wrote and self-published is there now. I'll keep my fingers crossed.

Laura

NaNoWriMo is coming



Today, I signed up for the National Novel Writer's Month competition. I need to crank out 50,000 words of fiction between November 1 and November 30, in order to be a winner.





That's all. I can crank out 50,000 words of crap, as long as I meet the minimum word count.

They are even allowing fanfiction, which admittedly would be cheating, but I'll leave that option open as I may get desperate at the last minute if I can't come up with something original. Just don't worry, it won't be Harry Potter slash. That's just creepy.

Hmmmm...a novel about a troll on the Internet (too autobiographical)...a novel about an evil spirit manifesting over centuries (too goth)...a novel about a member of Anonymous (raids, raids and more raids)...

As I complete each chapter in my NaNoWriMo entry, I'll post it here to this blog.

One idea, and 50,000 words to go.