Nicole Hadaway - Guest Blog and Giveaway

It is such a pleasure to welcome author Nicole Hadaway to PVN. Her novel Release is set in Europe during the final days of WWII. Vampires are involved of course but so are fallen angels and their progeny the Nephilim. Today Nicole discusses that aspect of the back-story for Release. [see contest details at end of post]

Angels, Angels Everywhere!

No doubt about it – vampires have now come out of cult classics and into mainstream culture, and audiences are discovering what we vamp fans have known for a long time – the supernatural is very, way cool. With the advent of our fanged friends (or foes!) into popular books, movies and TV shows, other supernatural creatures are now entering the spotlight.

Zombies were all the rage in 2009, and it seems that 2010 is shaping up to be the Year of the Angel.   From television and Supernatural to the film Legion, to the novel Angelology, angels are cropping up everywhere, and I thought I’d take this time today to share with you some of what I learned about researching angel lore for my own novel, Release, which I started writing in Fall ’08 and finished in Spring ‘09.

Release is meant to be a ‘vampire novel’, though when I asked myself the question, “But where do my vampires come from?” I found myself drawing largely from Judeo Christian texts and legends. Stuff not in the Bible, but very interesting (perhaps because it wasn’t in the Bible? ;-). While writing Release, I thought it would be fun to for my vampires to have demon friends, and that lead me (again) to angel lore, in particular, the Nephilim.

The Nephilim do make an appearance in the Bible, though not too much is said about them, just this:

“The Nephilim were on the earth in those days – and also afterward – when the sons of God went to the daughters of men and had children by them. They were the heroes of old, men of renown.”  (Genesis 6:4).

The Book of Enoch and the Book of Jubilees (both apocrypha, i.e., Dead Sea Scrolls not in the Bible) delve into the creatures in much more detail. Quite a story it is, worthy of the best daytime soap opera!

Sometime after Adam and Eve got kicked out of Eden, but before the Flood, About 200 angels were sent to Earth by God to watch over humans. These angels were termed ‘Watchers’ or ‘Grigori’, and they watched the mortals, a little too well! The sons of God (angels) found the daughters of men (human women) to be very beautiful, so much, in fact, that the angels took the women as wives and had children with them – these children were called Nephilim. Unfortunately, the Nephilim were ravenous giants who proceeded to devour every living thing on earth, including most of the human population.

As if marrying mortal women (angels were heavenly creatures and were complete in and of themselves, without the need for wives) and producing Nephilim giants who terrorized the earth wasn’t bad enough, the Grigori also decided to share their angelic knowledge with humans. Azazael taught men how to make weapons and jewelry, and he – gasp! – taught women how to wear eyeshadow and eyeliner. The angels Semjaza and Aramos taught how to use herbs and roots to make spells; Baraqijal and Kokabel taught astrology and constellations, whereas Ezequeel showed his knowledge of the clouds; Araqiel taught the signs of the earth, Shamsiel the signs of the sun, and Sariel the course of the moon.

When God looked down upon the earth and saw the Nephilim eating the mortals, not to mention women wearing eyeliner, He decided at that point that it would be better to start the whole process over after a nice, cleansing flood, leaving a few chosen humans (Noah and his family) to repopulate the earth. I’m thinking that God’s relaxed his ways a lot since we still have weapons, jewelry, and even guyliner on earth today and he’s not freaked out – at least, not yet ;-).


So what happened to the Watchers who started all this nonsense? Well, they got theirs – Azazael got in trouble the most (even though it was Semjaza’s idea to take the mortal women as wives) and for that he got chained to a rock and covered in darkness; the rest of the Watchers were bound and placed in a valley of the earth until Judgment Day.

But what of the Nephilim? They couldn’t help the fact that they were born as ravenous giants, right? God was planning on having them fight each other until the Nephilim were no longer, It was here that Enoch interceded and begged God to show mercy on the giants.  God decided that since the Nephilim were being born from angels, spiritual beings, that 10% of their spirits should be allowed to roam the earth and cause trouble for mortals. (see the Book of Jubilees).

Whew! And you thought the Greek and Norse myths had drama!

Of course, there are discrepancies – The Book of Enoch makes no mention of the percentage of Nephilim spirits allowed to roam the earth, whereas the Book of Jubilees, gives the 10% number. All in all, from these stories I think you can see that angels and their lore are fascinating and make for great characters in novels, movies, and shows.

If you’re interested in checking out how I blended vampires with Nephilim, Fallen Angels, and the world at war, then you can buy a copy here: http://ebookundead.com.

Author Bio: Nicole Hadaway is a former lawyer who now spends her time writing and taking care of her family in Texas. She is the author of the literary paranormal novel, Release, which features vampires in a World War II setting, as well as the short story New Orleans, 1842, a short story about a vampire tangling with voodoo in early 19th-century Crescent City. Ms. Hadaway is currently working on the sequel to Release entitled Return, which takes place during the fall of 2001 in New York City. She blogs at http://nicole-hadaway.blogspot.com and at http://doubletoilandtrouble.blogspot.com



 

 CONTEST

This contest is closed.

Two lucky readers will win an ecopy of Release. Contest is international!

*To enter:  Nicole would like an answer to this question: "What's your favorite angel in film and why?"

You may also:

*Link to this contest on any of the social network sites, including Twitter, or your own web page. Let me know the url:  One chance for each link.
 
*If you are a Google follower (see sidebar on right): One chance
 
*If you are a member of the PVN Facebook page: One chance
 
*If you are an email subscriber: One chance

*If your email is not associated with your ID, please put the address in your response.

This contest closes May 3, 2010.

Danielle Trussoni - Interview and Contest

A special PVN welcome to Danielle Trussoni author of the bestselling novel Angelology. Many thanks to Danielle for this interview.

[See contest info at the end of the post.]

PVN: Please tell us about the research that went into writing Angelology - What sources did you use? What places did you visit? How long did it take?

Danielle: Research was a very big part of writing Angelology. I started off knowing that I wanted to set the book in three specific locations — A cave called The Devil’s Throat in Bulgaria, World War Two era Paris and New York. I had very little solid idea of how these locations would come together. And so, in the beginning stages of the book, I was searching for the story and for the details. I read a lot of books of theology. I sat in on a class about the history of religion. And I went and stayed at a convent where I discovered books about angels. This is what pushed me to choose angels.

PVN: Why pick the subject of angels? What fascinates you about them?

Danielle: Angels are fascinating for me on a bunch of different levels. First of all, there is the vast difference in the stereotypical idea we have of angels—the Hallmark card version of angels—and the very spooky, often dark angels that are described in the Bible and pseudoepigraphical writings such as the Book of Enoch. Then, there are the beautiful angels of Renaissance painting, which I fell in love with as I was doing research.  And finally, there is the fact that angels are everywhere—sculpted onto buildings, drawn in children’s books, hanging in museums, on key chains, tattooed on people’s arms. Angels are a huge phenomena in our culture.

PVN: What are the Nephilim?

Danielle: They are the half human, half angel offspring of the Watchers—a group of angels sent to spy on humanity in Genesis: 6—and woman.

PVN: Tell us about Sister Evangeline.

Danielle: Sister Evangeline is a 23 year old nun at my fictional convent whose parents were involved in a group called angelologists, whose mission it is to study and contain the Nephilim. She is deeply conflicted about her life in the convent, and when she begins to discover the Nephilim—and the truth about her history—her world changes.

PVN: How do the Nazi's figure into your story.

Danielle: The Nazi’s are one of the many historical groups that the Nephilim have leeched onto and used for their nefarious purposes. Essentially, the Nephilim infiltrate a group, use them and then discard them when they have served their purpose.

PVN: What can you tell us about the sequel to Angelology ?

Danielle: The sequel is called Angelopolis and it is a love story between Evangeline and Verlaine—a character introduced in Angelology . The novel is set in Paris.


PVN: What were your favorite books as a young reader?

Danielle: I love to read many, many different things. I loved The Phantom Tollbooth and Alice and Wonderland. I loved anything with a fantastical element to it.


PVN: You received great acclaim for your memoir, Falling Through the Earth. Would you tell us about this book?

Danielle: It is a memoir about my relationship with my father. It looks quite closely at the time my dad spent in Vietnam as a tunnel rat, and the effect this experience had on my family. You can learn more about it at: www.fallingthroughtheearth.com

PVN: What is your writing day and your writing environment like?

Danielle: I wake up, get my two children ready for school (I have a boy and a girl), eat something and then spend the morning writing. I usually make lunch and them am back at my desk. This is the typical day, but sometimes I work much more than this and other times less. It depends on where I am in a book.

PVN: What do you like to do in your spare time - assuming you have any?

Danielle: I love to cook. I’m living in France and this is the perfect place to teach yourself—the markets are simply amazing, and the wine and cheese is, of course, great. I haven’t had a whole lot of free time lately, but when I do I plan to get some hobbies.

PVN: Where can readers find you?

Danielle: The best place is on my website: www.danielletrussoni.com

PVN: Anything else you would like to add?

Danielle: Yes, I’d like to suggest to any readers who want to learn more about angelologists, and the work that they have been doing, you can go to the Angelological Academy’s homesite: www.angelologist.com. They have a course that you can sign up for and lots of extra information at the angelological mission.


CONTEST


One commenter will win an autographed copy of Angelology. US and Canadian residents only.

*To enter: Name an angel.

You may also:

*Link to this contest on any of the social network sites, including Twitter, or your own web page. Let me know the url:  One chance for each link.
 
*If you are a Google follower (see sidebar on right): One chance
 
*If you are a member of the PVN Facebook page: One chance
 
*If you are an email subscriber: One chance

*If your email is not associated with your ID, please put the address in your response.

This contest closes April 25, 2010.

Angelology - Book Review

Angelology
by Danielle Trussoni
Viking, March 2010

A young nun named Evangeline stumbles across a letter written to the mother superior of St Rose convent in 1944. it concerns a dangerous and mysterious expedition financed by Mrs. Abigail Rockefeller

Meanwhile Percival Grigori has asked the young scholar Verlaine to find out about the same Mrs Rockefeller and any connection she may have had St Rose Convent in NY.

Percival is one of the Nephilim, descendants of the Watchers, fallen angels who defied God and took human wives. While the Watchers were cast into a pit of darkness their offspring, throughout the centuries, walked the earth waging a war against humanity by instigating conflicts and taking control of earthly affairs through breeding with the most influential families.

One secret group of humans, the Angelologists, actively fight these creatures who, at their purist, have a physical beauty that echoes their angel ancestry.  Their vicious nature belies that beauty. It should come as no surprise that the Nephilim were instrumental in the rise of Nazism. Yet it was during the second world war that the expedition payed for by Mrs Rockerfeller led to the finding of an instrument that could end the struggle against this evil.

When Trussoni concentrates her attention on the angelologists and the mysteries they have uncovered about the fallen as well as the dangers they must face to unearth these findings, she is at her best. Her richly imagined history of the Watchers and Nephilim is riveting. Although readers of Urban Fantasy will not be strangers to the concept of fallen angels and their progeny, I cannot think of another novel that goes into the depth of their history and its consequences.

The ending of of Angelology leaves no doubt there will be a sequel. My hope is that the author will revisit the Watchers who were last seen pleading for their freedom.

I have some quibbles about certain scenarios, but they are minor and I enjoyed this book tremendously. I stayed up late many nights, fighting sleep because I had to know what happened next.

Patricia Altner March 2010

[Dear FTC, This book was sent to me by the publisher]