About
I have been writing all my life across many mediums and for many purposes. I've written for newspapers - features, news, legal stories - and I've written for government, niche magazines, websites and for social media campaigns.
I have written for private enterprise and managed many public relations and communications campaigns over the years. For the past 25 years, I've put words together in various ways, for a diverse audience and a variety of reasons, through my professional work and now as an author.
My debut novel Shadowscape – The Stevie Vegas Chronicles was published on 1 October 2012 and I’ve republished its second edition as an Indie author. It’s a story about a young skateboarder who has ESP and an amazing Kickflip (skateboard trick for those who don’t know).
My second novel Dawn of the Shadowcasters is Book 2 in the Stevie Vegas Chronicles series and it’s in production with Lodestone Books and will be available on 30 May 2014.
I’ve also authored my first adult fiction book, Belonging Places, which is in production. It’s a book for women, and about women.
Involution-An Odyssey Reconciling Science to God
Description
<p>“<em>We are not human beings having a spiritual experience; we are spiritual beings having a human experience.”(</em>Teilhard de Chardin<em>)</em></p><p><span style="line-height:1.6em;"><em>Involution-An Odyssey Reconciling Science to God </em> is as layered as a French cassoulet, as diverting, satisfying and as rich. Each reader will spoon this book differently. On the surface it seems to be a simple and light-hearted poetic journey through the history of Western thought, dominantly scientific, but enriched with painting and music. Beneath that surface is the sauce of a new evolutionary idea, involution; the informing of all matter by consciousness, encoded and communicating throughout the natural world. A book about the cathedral of consciousness could have used any language to paint it, but science is perhaps most in need of new vision, and its chronology is already familiar.</span></p><p><span style="line-height:1.6em;">The author offers a bold alternative vision of both science and creation: she suggests that science has been incrementally the recovery of memory, the memory of evolution/involution</span><em style="line-height:1.6em;">.</em></p><p>“<em> Involution proposes that humans carry within them the history of the universe, which is (re)discovered by the individual genius when the time is ripe. All is stored within our DNA and awaits revelation. Such piecemeal revelations set our finite lives in an eternal chain of co-creation and these new leaps of discovery are compared to mystical experience</em>” (From a reviewer)</p><p>Each unique contributor served the collective and universal return to holism and unity. Thus the geniuses of the scientific journey, like the spiritual visionaries alongside, have threaded the rosary of science with the beads of inspiration, and through them returned Man to his spiritual nature and origin.</p><p><span style="line-height:1.6em;">The separation between experience and the rational intellect of science has, by modelling memory as theory, separated its understanding from the consciousness of all, and perceives mind and matter as separate, God and Man as distinct. This work is a dance towards their re-unification: Saints and scientists break the same bread.</span></p><p><span style="line-height:1.6em;">All of time and all the disciplines of science are needed for the evidence. Through swift (and sometimes sparring) Cantos of dialogue between Reason and Soul, Philippa Rees takes the reader on a monumental journey through the history of everything – with the evolution of man as one side of the coin and involution the other. The poetic narrative is augmented by learned and extensive footnotes offering background knowledge which in themselves are fascinating. In effect there are two books, offering a right and left brain approach. The twin spirals of a DNA shaped book intertwine external and internal and find, between them, one journey, Man’s recovery of Himself., and (hopefully) the Creation’s recovery of a nobler Man.</span></p><p><span style="line-height:1.6em;">From the same review “</span><em style="line-height:1.6em;">The reader who finishes the book will not be the same as the one who began it. New ideas will expand the mind but more profoundly, the deep, moving power of the verse will affect the heart.</em></p><p><em>(Marianne Rankin: Director of Communications, Alister Hardy Trust)</em></p><p> </p>
Story Behind The Book
I wrote my book Shadowscape for my son who was 12 years old at the time, and a passionate skateboarder. The main character Stevie Vegas is modelled on him. Every night he would read what I'd written and say: "mum you can't say that" or "yeah, that's ok" or "yeah, pretty good". He was my biggest critic and fan, depending on if I got it 'right'. Thank you Callum.
Reviews
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<div style="padding:0px;width:574px;">Reviewed by Jack Magnus for Readers' Favorite<br style="padding:0px;" /><br style="padding:0px;" />
Shadowscape - The Stevie Vegas Chronicles is a young adult fantasy story written by Maryann Weston. Stevie is a 12-year-old skateboarding enthusiast who has a pretty decent life living with his younger brother Jem and his parents, who are both veterinarians. Underneath his normal exterior, Stevie has some pretty special abilities -- he can read people's thoughts and frequently knows when things are going to happen before they do. It's something that he doesn't really understand and isn't quite comfortable with, but it's helped him protect his brother from bullies at school. Things change drastically when Stevie arrives home from skateboarding to find a sinister man with a strange black aura chatting amiably with his parents. The man's name is Mr. Barron, and he's arranged for the Vegas family to move from their coastal town to Smithson, where Stevie's parents have been offered a lucrative veterinary practice. No one else in the family seems aware of the danger Stevie senses, but his Aunt Bessie, who shares some of his gifts, seems the right person for Stevie to call for help.<br style="padding:0px;" /><br style="padding:0px;" />
Maryann Weston's Shadowscape is an exciting and fast-paced young adult paranormal fantasy story that will appeal to sports fans as well. Stevie is a disciplined and talented skateboarder who settles his differences with Mr. Barron's son with a skateboarding contest. There's also plenty of action and adventure as Stevie and Aunt Bessie move to foil the dark schemes of the Barrons. I was relieved to read that Shadowscape is just the first part of a trilogy as I really didn't want the story to end. Shadowscape is a lot of fun to read, and I highly recommend it.</div>
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