Blacksun

I'm pretty new to all this self-promotion stuff, so if I appear to be naive, please bear with me. This is supposed to tell you who and what I am. Well, I'm 69 years old and let me tell you, the older you get, the less sure of who and what you are you become. For better than 40 years, I was a licensed Dispensing Optician. That's somebody who takes the prescription from an eye doctor and interprets it for the frame and needs of the patient. Both my father and mother were opticians as well, so it's probably some kind of genetic disease or something.

After a couple of heart attacks, I decided that I should give up the full-time work and maybe learn to do something a little less stressful (yes, retail optical work is VERY stressfull). It wasn't hard to figure out what I wanted to do. I've been writing both fiction and non-fiction for the past 15 to 20 years. I wrote a non-fiction work that I was lucky enough to get published back in the mid 90's but haven't tried to get anything else published since then. But I've written constantly for various magazines and newsletters, so in a way, I've been published a lot.

Now I'm having a great deal of fun writing fictional stories. I never thought it could be so much fun! Writing articles and even books about non-fictional information is satisfying, but writing stories, totally dreamed up stuff that would qualify me for a rubber room if I thought it was real, THAT is a more fun than shore leave in Hawaii (what I remember of it, that is)!

Amazon carries my old book (the one from '95) as well as my two (so far) novels. All three books have a similar focus: magic and Wicca. If you aren't familiar with Wicca, let me give a brief explanation. It is the modern name of a nature based religion that has traceable roots in European folk magic and pagan spiritualities. For a time, especially back in the mid to late 20th century, a lot of folks who were part of this movement referred to their beliefs as witchcraft. That went over like a ton of broomsticks in most social groups. Now, most of us prefer the label, "Wiccan." But Wicca refers to a particular area of what has become known as "Pagan," and that term has an even larger scope of subdivisions.

I could go on for another million pages and try to sort out all the complexities of the matter, but there are plenty of books available if you're interested. For the purposes here, let me get on with it and tell you that I have been a Wiccan for over 30 years and am now considered as a "respected elder" in my local faith community. I've tried hard not to be respected or respectable, but there's only so many hours in a day, y'know?

So, dear readers, I have tried very hard to make the magic and the statements about Wicca and/or Paganism to be real and accurate in my stories. What you will find out quickly in my way of writing about those topics is that it isn't SUPERnatural. It's a way of looking at natural events and forces in a slightly different way but it isn't all that different from the way most of the people of the world see it. Now, you might consider yourself as some brand of Pagan and think of magic and your spirituality quite unlike my view, but that's all right. There's plenty of room for all sorts of perspectives, right?

Right now, I have three major works available through Amazon. They are:

The Spell of Making

-- This is a treatise on what RITUAL is and how to create one for your own purposes. It got published in 1995. Of course, since I wrote this based on my own particular spiritual viewpoint, it is couched in the language and perspective of a Wiccan priest. However, the principles and techniques delineated in this work are true for all spiritualities and even non-spiritual rituals. I'm proud to claim that this is in many ways my 'master work' for my faith group. It presents information that, as far as I've been able to investigate over the years, is not spelled out anywhere else, for any discipline or any faith group.

The Once and Future Witch

-- This is a fictional work. It is set in the near future, 2076, and deals with the possibility of a Wiccan being elected as President of the United States. Although I've played a lot with what-might-be in another 60+ years, the basic story is something that is totally believable and I believe it holds a lesson for here and now in this election year. Besides, it's a lot of fun.

The Hannut Scrolls

-- This story was written a couple of years before The Once and Future Witch. However, I didn't have it come out first for two reason: First, it is almost twice the length of TOaFW, and second, the process for creating an 'indie' (indepenant) book through CreateSpace (Amazon's separate company for self-publishing) is a little complicated and I didn't want to put a nearly 500 page work into that format without being more familiar with how it all worked.

So the Hannut Scrolls are three ancient scrolls that are supposed to explain how to create a spell so you can live young all of your life. You'll never grow old. So, assuming that works, you wouldn't ever die of 'natural causes.' The only problem is that it takes the gory death of 100 people to make it happen. Yes, that could be a problem.

There are three main characters in the book. The first is Annie, a Wiccan High Priestess. For those of you who don't know, a "High Priestess" is one who is the leader of a group. In this case, that would be Elvenhearth Coven. The next character is Dar or Darlena. She's a detective with the Seattle Police. She is not a Wiccan but her sister is, so she knows something about the matter. She knows Annie and is familiar enough with the principles of magic and Pagan ways that she isn't freaked out by it.

The last main character is Angel, and she is anything but. Angel is a spoiled brat with too much money and too little morals. And she has the Hannut Scrolls. Angel is probably close to being a genius but is completely off course when it comes to wanting to be a part of society. She has learned a great deal about magic and has set her sights on implementing the spell set forth in the Hannut Scrolls. Angel is accomplished in magic, as sexy as any movie star, as smart (or smarter) as a college prof, and she doesn't give a rat's patootie about anybody else. So, we've got a powerful sociopathic magic user with a formula for living young forever. Anybody think this might not go well?

I plan on at least two more novels to come out before the end of 2013. I've been working on both and they are nearly done on the first draft. However, in the meantime, I hope you enjoy the two stories I've published so far. If you want to email me, you can reach me at:

blacksun95@msn.com.

I'd be happy to hear from you. Please put the title of the book you are writing about in the subject line. That way, I won't think you're trying to sell me something.

Thanks for reading my stuff and I hope to offer more entertaining works in the near future.

Blessed be from Blacksun