Song of the Flaming Fountain: When the Dawnstar Rises (Volume 1)

SONG OF THE FLAMING FOUNTAIN (SFF) is a cycle of four (4) science fantasy novels with deeply spiritual underpinnings. Its overarching theme, the power of prayer, develops in a manner broad enough to appeal to young people and adults of many faith traditions and spiritual persuasions.

* SFF depicts the four Lucandor siblings in an epic struggle to master their world, known as Andumar. A trio of sisters and their hidden resistance movement, the Dawnstar Fellowship, wield the power of prayer against the dark sorcery of the Brotherhood of the Sphere, their renegade brother and his fraternity of sorcerer-priests. Cosmic events such as major earthquakes, a fateful lightning strike, and a long-awaited rising star unfold as these agents of Light and Darkness collide. The warring brother-sister twins, Ariel and Ariana, must learn to forgive, reconcile, and unite in time to save their homeland from never-ending darkness.

* The story follows the sisters' perilous quest: (1) to find three fragments of the Embergem, a mythical gemstone, and (2) to aid the coming of Galin, the Spirit-Child, a messenger from Hashem, the Father-Creator. At every turn the three sisters battle the evil forces of their wayward sibling Ariel and his Brotherhood.

* Galin's mission is to restore the Embergem, fountainhead of the extinguished Flaming Fountain and return it to its rightful place: the Fountain's basin in Fallen City. There he and a daughter of Hadam, Andumar's ancestral couple, must revive the lost Song of the title to re-ignite the Fountain. Joining with thousands from the Fellowship, they must resurrect Shining City from its rubble, all to vanquish the Dark Angel Nachash and shatter its Curse on their world.

* The Song itself is mystical prayer in action, in all of its healing, enlightening, and transforming power. In the course of their adventures, the main characters employ the many forms of prayer from simple petitions and intercessions to contemplative, meditative, and charismatic versions.

* SFF presents an original twist on the Genesis story of The Fall. Book I introduces this prophetic tale, which unlocks some of the frailties of our human condition and the pitfalls of Western Civilization. Around this tale SFF builds an entire culture and its epic narrative. The storyline blends elements of the Judeo-Christian and other mystical traditions with insights from the social sciences to ground, illuminate, and entertain us in these uncertain times.

MINI-SYNOPSIS FOR BOOK I

WHEN THE DAWNSTAR RISES over Andumar in Book I, eighteen-year-old Ariana Lucandor vies with her twin brother Ariel for the succession to power and longs for a breakthrough in their troubled relationship. But a massive earthquake intervenes, trapping her deep underground. There she receives her calling from the Archangel Lorin. She undertakes her Illumination with the Spirit of Hashem and afterward, the quest to locate the First Keystone or fragment of the Embergem. Upon her return to Hadam village, she is consecrated as Andumar's Successor: the next Prime Leader.

But the powers of Shadowrealm threaten her cause, as Ariel aligns with the demon-Enchantress Allura Liana to overthrow his sister's reign. Their Forbidden Project, the crystalline Great Sphere, steals the devotion of the Andumaran people and leads to a landslide victory for Ariel and his fledgling Brotherhood. With the aid of her animal companion Kyrie, an eagle with metallic gold feathers, Ariana and her remnant of followers wage a life-and-death battle for the soul of the realm while the hostility between the Lucandor twins escalates. As Ariel's powers in the Black Arts grow, he employs a spell in an attempt to assassinate his sister. Will Ariana survive to found the underground resistance to Ariel's Brotherhood?

Catherine A. (Cathie) Calabro made her advent in Miami, FL on that now-infamous date: 9/11. Her fourth grade teacher first recognized her aptitude for creative writing. In high school she penned short stories and poetry, enrolling in a program for gifted students (Atlanta Public Schools), where she worked one-on-one for an entire school year with a creative writing specialist. Her work in the Exploration Quarter earned her a full college scholarship from Delta Kappa Gamma, a sorority of educators. She excelled at Georgia State University (GSU), winning numerous awards for both scholarship and service, such as Who’s Who Among Students at American Universities and Colleges. Her honors thesis, World View and Its Development in Cosmoasis: An Orbital Space Settlement, helped her obtain a graduate scholarship at the University of Houston at Clear Lake City (M.S. in Future Studies), with a probable internship at NASA. But after graduation from GSU in 1980 (B.S. in Psychology, summa cum laude), her fragile health collapsed. She spent decades rebuilding it through reading, research, spiritual growth, psychotherapy, nutrition, and both traditional and alternative medicine. Always a spiritual seeker, she found her niche in the Episcopal Church in 1982. The first inklings of her mystical fantasy series Song of the Flaming Fountain (SFF) began as a story idea in 1983, and it evolved into her life’s work, journey, and love. At age 37 she was diagnosed with a particularly aggressive and lethal form of breast cancer. Healing prayer was critical to her recovery, and it became the central theme of her books. After cancer treatment, she took classes in computer use and fiction writing and joined Georgia Writers Association (GWA). Over a two-year period, she prepared a blueprint for SFF, writing treatments (extended synopses) for all four books. While caring for her stroke-disabled mother, she composed Book I. In 2006 she began a four-year period of grief and loss. Once again, the prayer ministry at her church played a pivotal role in restoring her health and well-being. Having benefited considerably from that ministry, she became a prayer minister there herself. She has incorporated much of the knowledge and experience gleaned from her personal journey into her books. Ms. Calabro presently lives in subsidized housing—ironically, in the wealthy Atlanta suburb of Buckhead—with her beloved cat Shalimar. She joined the Atlanta Writers Club in 2009.