Norea is a fire-breathing prophet. Fire of Norea is her story.
I've been working on the Fire of Norea series for...sigh...how long, now? Four years? In a way, it's sad to think it's been so long. On the other hand, I'm working on (at least) a trilogy, and I love intricately woven plots, so I've spent quite a lot of time on the "world building" phase,... Continue Reading →
In the Hebrew Bible, he was simply Satan, but rarely that. In apocryphal (non-canonical) literature, Jewish writers referred to him as Sammael, Asmodeus, Satanael, Belial or Beelzebub. Later Christians called him "the Devil" and then "Lucifer." Folk tales of the Middle Ages gave him names like Old Horny, Old Hairy, Black Bogey, Lusty Dick, Gentleman Jack,... Continue Reading →
The following is an abridged version of a five-part series I published on moviepilot.com. There, I compared the short-lived NBC series Constantine to the long-running FX show Justified to show what Constantine should do to succeed on another network...basically, it's an article about the difference between trope (read: cliché)-ridden network television and the more daring and... Continue Reading →
I earned my master's degree in Religious Studies with a near perfect GPA last week and then headed out west to visit the desert with one of my closest friends. I'm back to writing for Norea today, excited to get some new fiction under my belt. The next scene is Norea, 10 years old,... Continue Reading →
I'm about to graduate with a degree in Religious Studies. Thursday, I submitted the final paper of my graduate degree: this one an attempt to salvage the reputation of second century Alexandrian Christian (often called "gnostic") Valentinus from the heresiological reports of Church Fathers like Irenaeus and the resulting orthodox historical narrative that shapes... Continue Reading →
My family has been sick lately, including myself. This keeps me from doing one of the things I love so much about life: writing. Sorry I've been away. What little concentration I've had available for the craft has been focused on my novel, and I now have a backlog of notes for blogs. (Backblogs??) My... Continue Reading →
Apocryphon of John contains one of the most complete and detailed narrations of a gnostic cosmogony, explaining how the invisible and visible realms emanated from the original monad in a highly sophisticated narrative. The tractate takes the form of the popular "apocryphal acts of the apostles," after the Greek "romances", pseudepigrapha attributed to the disciple John,... Continue Reading →
Rabbi Rachel Goodman, a friend of Bill Roberts, explains to young Norea: "Rabbi Dov Ber, the Maggid of Mezritch wrote in Or Torah that the Hebrew letters were created first, before anything else. This is the meaning of the 'Aleph-Tav': it is the alphabet from which all creation has sprung! Creation is made of language. We know... Continue Reading →
Bill slowly sighed. "We all have that power in us, don't we? To build up or destroy the people around us with merely a word." Mr. M smiled wryly. "I'm quite sure I do not know what you're talking about, Mr. Roberts." Bill met his gaze. "The prophet Jeremiah said that when God came to... Continue Reading →
Martyn Oliver posted this blog last August about the reality of religious diversity within and outside one's own tradition. It's valuable information for everyone, to deepen our understanding of the world around us and to begin a journey of strengthening our relationships through diversity rather than alienating ourselves from one another because of assumptions about... Continue Reading →
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