Man Or Monster: An Army Of Angels

“One word kept jumping out at me, a word with enormous implications for me. That one word changed everything. If it was true, I was little more than Frankenstein’s monster.”

An Army Of Angels carries on with plot threads from the earlier book Chasing The Wind in this new short story by the author Norma Beishir. The first book, a novel drawing on themes of love, science fiction, religion, and dark forces, brought together two characters in a life changing journey. This short story picks up with hints and links to that earlier book, while introducing new characters in their own right. It’s meant to be the first aspect of a larger work from the author, and while the storyline has a logical conclusion, there’s room for much more to come.

We first meet Alex Stewart as he deals with the aftermath of the death of his father, Joseph Sadowski, an arrogant and vindictive scientist who he’s been estranged from. He wants nothing to do with his father’s legacy, and yet while going through personal effects makes a discovery that shakes his world to its foundations: he is not a regular person, but a clone of another man.

Alex goes into a tailspin of self destruction, unable to paint, burning his way through inherited money, ending up working odd jobs, living the life of a nomad for years on end. He drifts from place to place, trying to find out the truth about himself and the man he was cloned from, believing himself to be an abomination. Finally he meets Robyn Cantwell, a compassionate young woman who spends her time helping the homeless when she’s not working at animal shelters. There’s a connection between them, and Alex finds himself trying to deal with his growing feelings at the same time as he tries to keep himself at a distance.

It helps to have read Chasing The Wind first, obviously. This picks up plot threads from that book and hints at more to come. The story focuses on the relationship between these two people, very different characters. Strong characterization is its bedrock. Alex  is a sympathetic character from the outset. The clear estrangement he feels about his father is understandable from the glimpses we get about Joseph in flashbacks and journal entries. His father is a monster, and Alex’s reaction to the truth about his existence fits perfectly with that. He withdraws from the world, lives a ghost of a life, and his hesitation about being involved with Robyn is a logical turn of events. Alex is a tortured soul, but not because of a situation of his own making. It makes him compelling.

Robyn herself is automatically sympathetic to the reader. There’s a compassionate and empathetic quality to her personality, and a lighter touch. From the way she lives her life, the reader sees her as a genuinely decent person. And her brothers (a handful in and of themselves) provide some much needed comic relief.

The story has a natural pace to it, and a skilful touch in the writing. It’s somewhat condensed, but that’s merely for a short story format that comes to an end at the right spot. It deals with a tortured soul who has run away from the world, and the woman who coaxes him out of his shell. And it hints at a darker story yet to come. It leaves the reader wanting more, and I look forward to seeing where the author goes with the story of Alex and Robyn.

Have a look at what Norma had to say about An Army Of Angels at her Wordpress blog. And you can find the ebook through her author's pages at Amazon, and over at Smashwords.

From Marketing Chimps To Creative Freedom

It's a busy day in these parts. Today you can find me guest posting at Lyn Fuchs' blog Sacred Ground, where I wrote about the Gatineau Hills here in the Ottawa Valley. As well, my dear friend, partner in crime, and fellow mischief maker Norma Beishir and I are trading blogs. You can find my guest post at one of her three blogs, Beishir Books.  Norma is the author of Alexander's Empire, Chasing The Wind, Angels At Midnight, The Unicorn's Daughter, and more, both in the traditional publishing industry and now as an independent. She's taking the reins here to talk about her experiences in the industry, her transition to indie writer, and the sort of material she wants to write these days. Norma is known for her fondness for Dove chocolate (it seems that she'll take bribes in that) and for the odd movie superheroes (it must be Chris Hemsworth without a shirt)...

Take it away, Norma!

I've been singing the praises of self-publishing for so long, people are probably wishing I'd learn a new song. But I am a wholehearted advocate of authors taking full control of their careers. These days, conventional publishing has little to offer authors who aren't occupying the top spots on their lists. Rarely do they get advances anymore. Or anything resembling promotion. The new or midlist author is left to do their own marketing, publicity and promotion, while getting far less in royalties than their self-published counterparts.

What does the new or midlist author get from conventional publishing? Prestige, to a degree. I'd rather have creative control!

I was a lead title author at Berkley. I got five and six-figure advances. I got advertising in major publications like Redbook and Good Housekeeping...but the Berkley marketing chimps didn't really know what to do with me or my books. Why? My novels don't tend to fit into specific genres. Berkley marketed them as women's fiction. To be honest, I've never really been clear on what "women's fiction" is. Is it romance? Glitz? Chick lit? All of the above?

Marketing chimps have limited vision. Just ask William. Give them a genre-specific project and they'll run with it. But my novels are hybrids. For example: Alexander's Empire (which they published as Dance of the Gods) was a romance...and a mystery...and a family saga. Angels at Midnight--romantic suspense/glitz/adventure; The Unicorn's Daughter (originally published as A Time for Legends)--international intrigue/espionage/thriller/romance.

The marketing chimps were clueless.

Then there were the projects I really wanted to do, the ones Berkley rejected: a romantic adventure set in Kenya...a disaster tale involving seismologists in Asia...projects Berkley rejected because they weren't "glamorous."

Long, ugly story short: with Chasing the Wind, I eventually realized things had not changed. They still didn't know what to do with my books. It's a supernatural thriller. It's also a love story. The male protagonist is a modern prophet...yet the first thing I was told to do was to drop that element from the story. That would have meant a whole new plot. No way!

I finally realized I didn't belong in the world of conventional publishing. It wasn't an easy reality to face. Pride is the deadly sin I have the most trouble with, and I knew how that was going to look to the people I'd known coming up in the business. But then, pride had never gained me anything. It had only cost me in the end.

Now...I wouldn't go back for any amount of money. I write in any genre I choose. I'm re-releasing my backlist with new packaging and in some cases, different titles. I'm marketing them under the genres they best fit.  I'm crossing over characters--those I wrote about twenty years ago are connecting with characters from Chasing the Wind. Secondary characters from An Army of Angels have found their way into a planned series of romantic comedies. And the projects that were rejected for their lack of glamour may yet see the light of day. The marketing chimps would never have allowed me such creative freedom.

Think about that when choosing which publishing route you want to take.

Chasing The Wind: Destiny, Prophecy, And Faith

"You had to live without love so that you would realize how precious it is."

Today I'm reviewing the novel Chasing The Wind, by Norma Beishir, written with considerable backup from Collin Beishir, who assisted with research. I've recently read the revised edition of the book, now released, which has been changed from third person point of view to first person, and the end result is an astonishing, powerful, and intimate story. The book follows a couple, Connor Mackenzie and Lynne Raven, as well as a number of other characters, telling an epic, sprawling tale of good versus evil through their eyes. The novel touches on archaeology, faith, destiny, and love throughout, intriguing the reader while taking them on a journey that touches down in places like Britain, Italy, Jerusalem, the Sinai, and New Zealand.

The Sinai

Jerusalem

Lynne Raven is an archaeologist seeking physical proof of the Biblical Exodus in the Sinai. She's often far from her home and family in America, occasionally feeling the notion that time is catching up to her. Her work begins to be funded by Connor, who meets her by chance, finds her intriguing, and accompanies her to the dig site. He's a man of many secrets and difficult family relations with a sister, Sarah, and step-father, Edward. We find ourselves wondering at first if he's mentally stable. It's a question Connor himself wonders. He's a man who keeps himself at a distance, closed off from the world, the pain of his mother's death an overwhelming factor in his life. He also has, as we gradually see, an innate ability to heal with his own touch.

Subiaco, Italy

Gradually Connor and Lynne fall in love as they get to know each other, as Lynne gradually gets him to open up to her. Their courtship, such as it is, is filled with lightness and humour, Connor going out of his way to openly flirt with Lynne and win her over, and they marry. It doesn't take long before they're expecting a child, but circumstances quickly send them on the run. Violence follows them as the secrets of Connor's past and his family's connection to a man of pure evil catch up. They go into hiding in New Zealand, and Connor finds himself at a point where he must make a fateful decision about his future, and that of his wife and their baby son. It requires him to come to terms with the true nature of who he is and what he's meant to do.

The love between Lynne and Connor is the emotional core of the book, and it works wonderfully. There's such a sense of believability about the couple, a feeling of genuine connection and love. They're suited to each other, and as they deal with the chaos, heartache, and losses that the story throws at them, we find ourselves very sympathetic to them. And by extension, the way each character reacts to the events surrounding them feels true to their personalities. Lynne is a woman of faith with good family ties who accepts; Connor must go through the purging by fire, figuratively speaking, to accept what fate has in store for him.

New Zealand

The strong characterization extends to the various other characters that populate the book. If Connor and Lynne represent the good of the book, then their counterparts representing evil are more then a match. Nicholas Dante is a sinister presence in the book, a man of cruelty and evil who has a facade of respect, and yet is a man of no redeeming qualities. He orchestrates and pulls strings, seeking to control Connor for his own ends and his own beliefs. His hired enforcer is a memorable villain named Judas Caine, a brutal psychopath who has none of his employer's refinement. Caine is the sort of man who enjoys causing the most amount of pain he can, a sadistic hitman whose actions are, to say the least, profoundly disturbing. While I have, in the past, enjoyed villains with at least something sympathetic in their nature, I find these two-utterly unsympathetic and the very definition of pure evil- to be very compelling.

There are a number of other characters that I rather liked throughout the book. Phillip Darcy is a photojournalist who happens to count Lynne among his various ex-wives (his pet name for her is Duchess, a touch I rather like). He's a likeable rogue with a chaotic personal life, and he's rough around the edges. I liked his personality, his way of sparring with pretty much everyone. He comes into contact with Lynne and Connor in the Sinai, where events occur and strange discoveries are made that cause him to start asking some very serious questions. Caitlin Hammond and Jack Farlow are a pair of FBI agents looking into several missing children cases that tie into the larger story, and their investigation brings them into Connor's orbit. Their rapport and dialogue is well written, and has the same genuine feel to it that the rest of the book has. And Connor's sister Sarah is a revelation as a character. She starts the book off as cold, hostile, and perhaps coming across as emotionally unstable, and her journey through the novel brings her to a very different place.

The novel deals with weighty themes throughout. History plays out in its pages, as do the themes of good versus evil, the acceptance of destiny, and the struggle with coming to terms with faith. There are harrowing, horrific moments in the book that will have you shuddering (a speciality of Mr. Caine, you see). And there are moments that will make you laugh. Chasing The Wind tells an epic world spanning tale that manages to be a very intimate, personal story of the love between a man and a woman. It's a terrific, compelling book that you're going to love reading.

An Author Interview: Norma Beishir On Chasing The Wind

I’m welcoming to the blog today my friend, fellow author, and partner in crime Norma Beishir, bestselling author of numerous novels, including Angels At Midnight, A Time For Legends, Chasing The Wind, and Final Hours. Thank you for coming.

You’ve been a writer within the industry, and more recently, an independent writer with your current works. Tell us about the challenges, and the freedoms, involved in writing Chasing The Wind.

I should have gone indie long before I did. Pride got in the way of making the best decision for me and for the novel. I had been a bestselling author--lead title, six-figure advances and all that. I knew there were people who would say, "Oh, she went indie because she couldn't cut it." I struggled for a long time, and Collin and I paid a high price for my refusal to do what needed to be done. Finally, when an agent who really loved my writing admitted she'd have a hard time getting any editor to accept the story's spiritual elements and advised me to go with a strictly sci-fi thriller instead, I had to decide what was more important to me: status in the publishing community or telling the story I wanted to tell.

The Sinai

You’ve finished a revised version of the book, which has been previously published, and spans the world from America and Britain to the Sinai and New Zealand. The revision shifts the narrative from third person to first person. What was your reason for doing this, and why do you enjoy this style?

This is one of the many advantages of self-publishing--that I can do this!

After publishing Chasing the Wind, I wrote a short novel titled Final Hours, which was written in first person. I loved telling the story in the character's voice! Still, I didn't think it would work for the series--until I read the novels of my good friend Beth Muscat, who writes in multiple first-person points of view. I decided this was the best way to go with the series, which meant Chasing the Wind would need a rewrite.

As I was reading the book, I was struck with the differences between your earlier books, where you could see the glamour and the jet-setting lifestyle played out, and the weighty themes you write about in CTW, such as faith versus science, evil and good, the march of history, law and order, and the notion of fate. Tell us how you approached these concepts in the writing and research.

This is the kind of novel I always wanted to write--but my publisher wasn't interested. In fact, none of the Big Six publishers wanted to let me go in that direction. Now I write what I really want to write, and I may not make as much money, but as a writer I'm much happier. I don't write every scene wondering how much the book will change by the time it's in print.

I've always been a square peg trying to fit publishing's round hole, and Chasing the Wind was no exception: too spiritual for the mainstream, too mainstream for the Christian market.

One of the things that I found intriguing is the profound sense of evil you create in the book, manifesting itself in two characters: Nicholas Dante and Judas Caine.  Where one can write villains with a certain degree of sympathy and humanity, you chose to create these two characters as pure malice and evil, and it really works. Tell us about the two of them, where they come from, and your approach in conveying just how sadistic they are.

To put it simply, they're the devil incarnate. As disciples of Satan, there is no good in them. They exist to destroy.

New Zealand

I've always loved the Omen movies (well, the first three anyway) and wanted to write something in that vein. While my protagonist would be an emissary of God, struggling with his own spiritual identity, he would have to face off against adversaries who had no such self-doubt. That makes his willingness to take a leap of faith even more imperative.

I think that your two leading characters, Connor and Lynne, are both characters on a journey- physical, emotional, and spiritual. I also like the way they banter with each other- it’s a touch of humor in a book that gets pretty dark. Tell us your point of view in creating them, in the bond between them, in the road they take.

They're both vulnerable. Connor tries to hide it, but his emotional scars run deep. He grew up believing his mother abandoned him. He had an underlying hatred of women. Lynne was the black sheep in her family, having faith but challenging everything anyway. She tries to act tough, but she wants what her three sisters have: love and marriage, children. They're more alike than they realize at first. They need each other to survive.

As for the humor, most human beings respond with humor even under the most dire circumstances. It's our nature. I can't imagine writing any novel without a big dollop of humor.

I was surprised reading the way one of your supporting characters changes through the events of the book. Connor’s sister Sarah starts off in a very set way, seemingly emotionally distant and cold. As the book goes on, we ultimately see her in a very different way. What do you think about Sarah? Was it deliberately done that way, or did she gradually change things as you went along?

Sarah grew up without her mother, ignored by her father and brother. She craved love, but made some bad choices. Deep down, she never really stopped loving her brother. When she realized he was in danger, she couldn't walk away. She was terrified, but found the courage to act. Like Connor, she had grown up very cynical, but when God spoke to her, she was desperate, with nowhere else to turn.

Chasing The Wind ties into your companion book currently underway, An Army Of Angels. Give us some information on the book, on the characters and the storylines you have in mind for the follow-up.

I can't give too much away! I will say that the male protagonist, Alex, also discovers an unbelievable fact of his existence--one that, in his mind, isolates him from society. Finding love, he finds a new life. When he loses his wife, Robyn, he goes over the edge. The result can only be defined as a miracle.  

Last question: you’ve told me about an idea you have in mind for a future work, which I think is brilliant and will really get under the reader’s skin. Any hints for the readers?

I can't go into any detail since it hasn't been written yet, but like Final Hours, it involves characters having to face certain death and how they choose to respond to it.

I know I look forward to it! Thanks for taking part today!

The revised edition of Chasing The Wind will be available at Amazon within a few days; you can look for it after the weekend. I'll be reviewing the book for my next blog. You can find her author's page and books right here at Amazon.com. 

In addition, Norma has three solo blogs to check out and follow:


Windchaser's Journey
Sam's Story
Beishir Books