The Anathemas Q-and-A: Introduction to Blog Series

In the few years since the publication of my first novel, The Anathemas, A Novel about Reincarnation and Restitution, I have been asked many question about the book: What’s does the title mean? How did you come up with the material in it? How much is history and how much fiction? Did you use material supposedly from your own past lives in the book? And many more.

Reading a book is the only way to actually find out what a book is about. It has to stand on its own or the writer failed. However, to have someone get and read a book is asking for a considerable investment, especially a big book like The Anathemas (479 pages). The cost of the book aside ($19.30 in trade paperback and $8.95 on Kindle from Amazon), I, the author, am requiring you, the reader, to sit for hours while you listen to my story. And who listens to anyone for hours, especially in today’s busy world, unless they are convinced the person has something to say?

And a book that revolves around history—events that occurred over 1500 years ago? I once took my then 6-year-old daughter to Washington’s Crossing on the Delaware and began to tell her what happened there on Christmas night, 1776, as Washington’s army prepared a sneak attack on the British camped across the river near Trenton, New Jersey. After a bit, she looked at me and said, “I don’t really care that much, Dad, what happened here 200 hundred years ago.” I reminded her of this a bit ago (she’s now in her final year of medical school) and, to her credit and perhaps mine, she corrected me. “I was just a little kid then,” she said. “Now I love history.”

Washington’s crossing is an event that happened long ago, but its effects are still in evidence today. Had the General not risked sending his ragtag troops against the well-equipped royal army that night, the Union Jack, rather than the Stars and Stripes, could be flying over America today. The historical events in The Anathemas, even though further back and lesser known to moderns, had an impact at least as great as the American Revolution on the course of world events. As I posed the question elsewhere to summarize the book: Is it possible that centuries ago we were robbed, personally and collectively, of our true history, our immortal heritage, and then force-fed a myth about a rigid and unforgiving spiritual destiny that enslaved us to the robbers? If so, it is indeed very big news.

I don’t expect an instant, “Fine, if you say so. I’m in,” response. There’s lots of hype out there, and many books don’t stand up to the ads written for them. So, this blog series is a preview of the book: a q-and-a for the curious as well as an opportunity for past and current readers to comment on what I claim and how it compares with their reading experience. Even if you don’t get the book, I plan to make this blog series worth your while—stay tuned!

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