Theresa Crater

July 10, 2014

Fireworks: A Poem

From the Mysteristas Blog:

Something a little different. Today I’m offering a poem I wrote way back in 1996 about watching fireworks on a 4th of July night after leaving a long-term relationship. I hope you enjoy it.

Another 4th of July

I am sitting again
in the dark of your yard,
waiting for the fireworks
on this hot 4th of July night.
I can hear the crowds down on Ruxton
answering the firemen as they shout from their trucks,
“Are you ready?”
holding out boots and helmets for donations.

I move to a better view and brush the planter.
The smell of a bruised tomato leaf follows me.
I never thought last year
I would watch these fireworks alone,
but only the dark and the smells and the stars
press against me tonight.

The first boom,
a spray of white light,
the waterfall.
A gasp
and then a cheer
rise from down the hill in answer.
And then we’re off.
Booms that shake the windows,
vibrate my chest like the bass from certain passing cars.
Bursts of yellow, red, violet
Screaming rockets leave tails of light
Corkscrews
Long arcs fall
then bust into showers
Mandalas
of light.

And I begin to forget that I am alone
As I watch those colors explode against the dark sky,
The secret chambers of the heart
climb the heavens and explode.
Distance is closed.
We breath together,
the crowd lining the streets three blocks down
and me.
We ooh as one,
clap our hands and gasp as
another explosion shakes the night awake.
We have become united.
Our desires run down the dome of the sky.
We lie beneath the Sky God, awed
as his seeds of light explode and swim
in search of connection,
the fertilization that moves the wheel of life.

Manitou Springs
August, 1996

June 19, 2014

Power Places: The Sphinx

The Power Places series are novels set in special sites around the earth. Power places are spots on the earth that radiate a lot of energy that uplifts or energizes anyone who spends time there. One theory is the energy comes from lots of crystalline rock and running water in the ground. Some say these spots are the earth’s equivalent to acupuncture points or chakras on the human body. Myths and legends collect around these sites. Often humans will build shrines, buildings or entire complexes around them.

The first novel in the Power Places series is Under the Stone Paw, set in Egypt, a land filled with magic and myth. The title of the novel refers to the Sphinx and the legend that grew from Edgar Cayce who claimed that ancient artifacts from Atlantis had been buried under the right paw of the Sphinx. This famed Hall of Records was due to be opened by the end of the twentieth century and world history would be rewritten. Since I hadn’t heard about this happening—who knows, some secret society might have done it—I decided it was high time and proceeded to open the Hall of Records in this novel. No spoilers. I won’t tell what they found.

Here I am in front of the Sphinx on my first trip in 1999.

Many people consider the Sphinx to be male, representing the Pharaoh Khafra, but indigenous legend claims the Sphinx is female. She represents the great mother. Her name according to the locals is Tefnut, meaning the spittle of Nut. Nut is the sky goddess. You’ve probably seen her arched with her feet in the east and her head in the west, with the blue sky and stars above her body. Nut spit on the earth (bodily fluids were considered sacred then) and the Sphinx manifested.
When my character, Anne le Clair, first approaches the Sphinx, it’s late at night. She’s just arrived in Egypt, and they stop in the village of Nazlet el Samman to buy a bottle of water. She approaches the fence of the Giza Plateau, and there in the mist she sees a dim figure, a head looming out of the sand.

“She’s smaller than I expected,” Anne says.

“She’s in a hollow left from the lake that used to surround her,” Michael says.

Then a voice comes from the darkness. “You just wait until I get a hold of you.”

And trust me, the Sphinx definitely gets a hold of Anne in Under the Stone Paw.

June 12, 2014

Denver Comic Con Schedule

I’ll be on panels at Denver Comic Con on Saturday and Sunday. Here’s my schedule.

Magicians, Psychics, and Characters with Super – Room 110 – Saturday 4:45- 5:35
Café Otherworld: Where Paranormal Is Just the Beginning – Room 102 – Saturday 6:15 – 7:05

Have Sparkly Vampires ‘Bitten’ the Dust? – Room 107 – Sunday 11:00 – 11:50
How the Digital Format is Changing the Creation Process? – Room 102 – Sunday 2:45 – 3:35
Women in Fiction – Room 108 – Sunday 4:00 – 4:50

June 12, 2014

Blog on Moravian Writers’ Conference

I’m blogging at Mysteristas about how the Moravian Writers’ Conference renewed my writing.

May 29, 2014

Penny Dreadful on Showtime

I’m blogging about Showtime’s new Penny Dreadful over at Mysteristas.

May 24, 2014

Does a hero always have to be the good guy?

D. J. Adamson published this article from me in her newsletter, which you can find at http://www.djadamson.com/blog/

Sometimes the bad guy is just more—well—interesting. Think of Hannibal Lecter. During our viewing of the first hobbit film, the audience oohed in delight when Gollum took the stage. We’re way past the “good ole days” when the hero was squeaky clean, like Clark Kent with his starched white shirt, his black framed glasses, and his mild manners. We don’t expect the hero to always speak politely, do good and pick the car up for his grandparents. Oops. See there? Even Superman has a dark secret.

We want some bad in our heroes. We want them to be struggling humans just like we are. Kent Clark is the consummate outsider, copying the ways of his guest planet desperately so he can fit in and get the girl. He’s the nerd’s hero. “See, you picked the captain of the football team and look what a gem you missed in me.” Then there’s Aragorn, the dark and dangerous Strider who turns out to be the hidden king of all the lands—once he finds his courage to face the ultimate temptation of the ring of power.

We want some good in our villains, too. There needs to be some spark of light in them that we can cheer on. We adore Lecter’s good manners, while we roll our eyes at Kent Clark’s. What a delicious combination—a man with impeccable manners and gourmet tastes who eats people who we secretly think deserve it.

Which reminds me of Dexter. He’s another sympathetic mass murderer. Then there’s Gollum, who has struggled with a power much greater than himself and become a ruin. But we can sympathize. Who hasn’t felt overwhelmed by the world at times? Who doesn’t want to believe that even the worst can rise up and ironically save the day?

I was surprised when my favorite villain took over the second book in my series, Beneath the Hallowed Hill. The best of the dark magicians who serves the Illuminati in their quest to keep control of the world’s power and wealth, Cagliostro is suddenly overcome with longing. For what? For the truth of who he is and his lost love, a beautiful red head whose bell-clear laugh haunts him. He goes in search of these things and in so doing destroys Atlantis, but saves modern-day Glastonbury.

“Stories are equipment for living,” theorist Kenneth Burke declared. We read and watch stories to know about the world and ourselves. The polar opposites of children’s literature just don’t do the job.

April 14, 2014

Sacred Geometry: The National Mall

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In The Star Family, I wrote about the sacred geometry of Washington, D.C. I had Knight walk Jane down the National Mall and explain it as a Tree of Life. Also there was a magical battle to reclaim this tree for the light.

Many people have spread this idea that the National Mall is built as a Kabalistic Tree of Life. Some dispute this idea, pointing to the fact that L’Enfant’s original plan stopped just past the White House and the far side was still marsh. Masons have continued to influence the architecture in D.C., however, embodying spiritual principles in stone, wood and landscapes.

Many place the Capitol at the foot of the Tree, representing Malkuth, Earth. This is where the ideals of liberty and freedom are supposed to be made manifest in law. If the Capitol is the foot of the Tree, then the Lincoln Memorial is the top, representing Kether, pure consciousness. The Gettysburg Address and Lincoln’s second inaugural speech are inscribed there. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his moving “I Have a Dream” speech from its steps.

I’m not sure how Chokmah and Binah are represented on the National Mall, but the next levels do seem clear. The White House stands at Chesed, the station of Mercy, the place of ideal rulership. The Jefferson Memorial represents Geburah, ideal justice. Inside, Jefferson’s idea of a world ruled by justice inspires the visitor. The Jefferson Memorial is backed up by the Pentagon, a five-pointed star, a prominent symbol for this fifth station on the Tree.

The Washington Memorial is the heart of the Tree, Tiphareth, represented by an obelisk. In ancient Egypt, the name for obelisk was “Ib-Ra,” with “Ib” meaning heart: the heart of the sun. The Washington Memorial stretches high into the sky to capture the sun, the planet of this sphere, and channel that energy back down to illuminate the Tree and spread that light all through the governing bodies of the U.S.

The National Museum of Art, the Sculpture Garden, the National Archives and American and National History hold Netzach’s place on the Tree. Netzach is Victory, expressing the bounteous energy behind the arts and literature. Across the mall, we find Hod represented by the Air and Space Museum and the Department of Agriculture. Hod takes the exuberant energy of Netzach and brings form to it. The intellect and science reign more on this side of the mall, balancing the arts.

Yesod is probably the fountain in front of the Capitol. Yesod is the Moon, the Imagination. Perhaps it needs to be better represented on the mall. The Capitol Building receives all this energy and is topped by a statue of Liberty. Malkuth is represented by a Queen on her Throne.

Some people on the web have suggested that all this mysticism is satanic. Why? Because it uses pagan imagery. Because the National Mall is supposed to be aligned to Sirius. More learned writers say the whole city is aligned to constellation Virgo and dedicated to the Goddess. But satanic? The Masons are one of the recipients of a stream of wisdom that has been passed down through the ages, through different religious and spiritual expressions of those ideas. Seeing the common teachings in different religions is not evil. It is the opposite.

Has the United States harnessed all this idealism and expressed it perfectly yet? No. We are still striving for a more perfect union, just like it says in the preamble of the constitution. Have the opposite energies sometimes flowed through the Tree that is the National Mall? I imagined this in The Star Family. Next time you walk there, imagine the balanced expression of each of those Ideals manifesting themselves to flow through that grid and bring us more in harmony with our ideals.

April 4, 2014

Interview with Thriller Writer J. Robert Kennedy

Today please welcome J. Robert Kennedy. I discovered his first book The Protocol during an Amazon Kindle sale. Much to my delight, it was about crystal skulls. As many of you know, Stephen and I met during a meditation session with Max, the Texas Skull. Max makes a guest appearance in my second book, Beneath the Hallowed Hill. Stephen started researching the skulls in the 1980 at the Rosicrucian headquarters in San Jose and has written a book with David Hatcher Childress, The Crystal Skulls: Astonishing Portals to Man’s Past. So I recognized great research when I read it and enjoyed the first of many thrill rides with archeologist James Acton. It’s an honor to have a best-selling writer visit us.

Please tell us a little about yourself.

I wrote my first story when I was five. Everyone in it died. I still have it, illustrations and all. I think it ends with something like, “And no one in the kingdom was ever happy again.” Creative Writing was my favorite part of school and I still have many of my short story assignments in a filing cabinet somewhere. When I look back at them occasionally I have to laugh at what I put my poor English teachers through. My favorite teacher was my grade 8 & 9 Language Arts teacher, Miss Boss. I was able to find her on Facebook and send her some of my books. I even dedicated one to her, and named a character after her in another.

As an adult, career and family came first, but I was haunted for years by the vision of a young girl walking through tall grass, the blades flowing through her fingers. One night about ten years ago I finally sat down and wrote the story. A few years later after encouragement from friends I sent it to a magazine and it was immediately accepted. Another short story acceptance and I was ready to try a novel.

A friend had just seen a documentary on the crystal skulls and suggested I write a book about them.

Challenge accepted.

This book, The Protocol, was accepted by a traditional publisher; however after many headaches and false starts, it was finally published after over three years of waiting. My second novel was accepted by a different traditional publisher, but the eBook craze had just started and I decided after my first experience going independent might be a good idea. A month later I bought back my rights to The Protocol.

Three years and fifteen best sellers later and I think I made the right decision.

Please tell us about your latest book.

My latest book is called The Venice Code. It is book #8 in my James Acton Thrillers series, and ties up a lot of loose ends left dangling as teasers in previous novels. It is closely tied to my debut novel, The Protocol, as it deals with the discovery of a thirteenth crystal skull. It’s written in such a way that you don’t need to have read The Protocol or the other novels to enjoy it, however if you do like it, please feel free to buy the others to see how it all ended up culminating in The Venice Code.

Does this book fit into a series?

Yes, it does. The focus is on two archeology professors—now engaged—James Acton and Laura Palmer. They keep stumbling into situations that have them fighting for their lives, and friends made along the way either try to help them or they them, such as a crotchety Interpol agent, a young Scotland Yard detective, and the elite Delta Force. Acton has been described as Indiana Jones meets Jack Bauer.

How did you prepare to write about the book’s specific area or field of study?

My process is to just start writing and see where it goes. As I move forward, anything that I don’t have an answer to, such as a character name, a location, a type of weapon, etc, I’ll just put an X or Y in the document so it doesn’t slow me down. I then have an open email where I put questions for my researcher (my dad!) who then looks up the information I need to fill in those X’s and Y’s. It makes for a very quick, efficient process.

How does this book fit into your real-life interests?
I love action movies, and when I write I picture everything as a movie so I visualize the fights, the gun battles, the explosions and try to convey that on the page. Growing up as a military brat I was exposed to the military life constantly, and loved it. I am a huge supporter of our troops and try to highlight the sacrifices they make every day in my books.

What are you working on right now?

I’m working on Acton #9 right now. I can tell you that it once again mixes the historical with a modern day, “ripped from the headlines” event. If you want to know more, you’ll have to buy the book!

My website: http://www.jrobertkennedy.com

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/J.-Robert-Kennedy/e/B004GV2OR6

http://www.amazon.co.uk/J-Robert-Kennedy/e/B004GV2OR6

Kobo: http://store.kobobooks.com/en-ca/Search/Query?q=j+robert+kennedy