Zine Writer
🔗 http://zinewriter.blogspot.com/2009/09/guest-post-labor-of-love-by-john-gorman.html
Before John's stories made it into print he snapped the Eyesore of the week for the Queens Ledger. He's author of the novels Shades of Luz and Disposable Heroes. His newly released Fantasy/Adevnture novel The Acolyte & The Amulet is the first of a 6-part Nebilon Series. John's stories and articles have appeared in over 50 journals worldwide. He earned his MFA in Creative Writing from Pacific University in Forest Grove, OR. You can read more about him on his blog jgpapercut.blogspot.com
<p>Sayetta is an archangel who has been sent into the physical world to seek out eight archangels who have been reborn into the world. She knows that she cannot do it in the form of an angel so she takes on a human form to move through among us in the physical world. Gabe a mortal has the soul of a warrior angel. He is reborn in physical form to prepare for her coming. He is born with abilities that he is unaware he has.</p><p>All of his life Gabe had been having dreams of a ruined church. He never knew the name of the church, but the dream was always the same. In the dream, he was standing facing the ruins of the church. But he didn’t look like a human. Instead, he was an angel with pure white wings and a golden countenance. Another much larger angel appeared to him. The angel pointed towards what was left of the door and said “Enter, your journey has just begun and your guide awaits you.</p><p>Sayetta finds out from Archangel Michael that Lucifer has sent an old demon to find and stop Auriel from removing the demons he has imprisoned in the earth.</p><p>They receive a little help from the Archangels Azuriel and Gabriel as they journey to locate Auriel. It’s a race to find Auriel before the demon does. In the end, it’s a battle between two powerful beings, one good and one evil.</p>
Many years ago I set off a bookstore's metal detector with a bag full of grocery items. A security guard took a quick peek to see I hadn't pilfered anything. When he saw it was only ginger ale, a loaf of bread, yogurt, and a box of Twinkies he let me go on home. As I walked the street, I wondered what it would be like if this rolled out into an ordeal? What if I was detained for shoplifting and nobody would believe me. What if I'd been imprinting books in my head? That is, if I had a photographic memory and what if that was a crime? It took me a number of years to write "Shades of Luz". I had many failed attempts with other books, but the "Shades of Luz" idea - or at that time "Book Thief" as my file was known kept coming back. I had to write it out of my head. And the book kept evolving as I grew to love my characters deeper and deeper. It became a coming-of-age love story, and a quest for meaning and hope.
<span style="font-size:medium;"><span style="font-family:Georgia, helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size:small;">"A coming-of-age story that is refreshing to read because it is empty of dyfunctional types of characters."<br /><br />Weam Namou, author of The Feminine Art and The Mismatched Braid <br /><br />"Shades of Luz is a frantic, cockeyed search for love and meaning. This wonderfully odd story introduces us to a marvelously inventive universe with tough guys, loony broads, jazz-playing monkeys and surprises that can change lives."<br /><br />Karen Heuler, author of The Soft Room<br /><br />"A charming and original coming-of-age story. As is Hieronymous Bosch and Ralph Bakshi had a love child. Filled with sentences that reel and careen like a roller-coaster ride before they hit you with cartoon punches. You'll be knocked off-balance but eventually you'll be pulled back toward the center, where you'll find a love story with a very big heart."<br /><br />E.R. Catalano</span></span></span>