S. Andrew Swann's Blog, page 2

5 Favorite Occult Conspiracies

I’ve been a conspiracy buff my entire adult life. I cut my teeth on the Illuminatus! Trilogy, after all. Since my current work is going in a more occult direction, I thought I’d like to gather five interesting occult groups that inhabit the center of some conspiracy theories that may or may not make appearances in future works of mine.

Thule-Gesellschaft: The Thule Society (Thule-Gesellschaft) was an esoteric nationalist group formed in Munich after World War I, officially a study group for “German antiquity” but drew on Theosophy, runic mysticism, and the pseudo-science of Atlantis as the origin for a lost Aryan master race. Several early Nazi figures—such as Rudolf Hess, Hans Frank, and Dietrich Eckart—were members or affiliates. It’s suggested their influence led to Heinrich Himmler molding the SS into a full-blown esoteric order and that Thule acted as the ideological seedbed of Nazi occultism. The Vril Society : This is more Nazi occultism, though with much less documentation. The Vril Society supposedly were a secret inner circle of psychic mediums and esoteric engineers—including the mysterious Maria Orsic, a medium who received transmissions from Aldebaran. Through these communications, Orsic and the Vril Society supposedly received instructions to build advanced propulsion systems and anti-gravity craft. Some claim these “flying saucers” were hidden away in Antarctica after the war. The Bohemian Grove : Bohemian Grove, a private retreat in northern California, is the annual meeting site of the Bohemian Club, a highly exclusive gentlemen’s club composed of political leaders, corporate elites, media moguls, and military brass. Membership has included people like Nixon, Reagan, the Bush family, and Henry Kissinger. Rumors have swirled for decades about what actually happens behind the Grove’s heavily guarded gates. One concerning thing is the “Cremation of Care” ceremony, a nighttime ritual in which a robed procession burns an effigy called “Dull Care” in front of a 40-foot stone owl. It’s believed by some that the statue represents the ancient god Moloch and this is an occult ritual, rooted in Babylonian or Canaanite sacrifice rites. Skull and Bones : Founded in 1832 at Yale University, Skull and Bones is one of the more infamous secret societies in the United States. Its alumni include multiple U.S. presidents, senators, and CIA directors. While its rituals are secret, leakers and researchers have described bizarre initiations involving coffins, bones, mock death rites, and declarations of rebirth. Some consider it an occult lodge patterned after older mystery schools with links to the Bavarian Illuminati, Rosicrucianism, or even Egyptian funerary cults. Rituals there are said to condition members for control and manipulation. The Saturn Death Cult : The Saturn Death Cult is a modern mythos that ties together planetary worship, ancient apocalypse, and elite ritual control. According to proponents, ancient civilizations once worshiped Saturn as the supreme deity, the “Black Sun.”  Saturn was associated with time, death, and harvest—and eventually became the archetype of the devouring god: Kronos, El, Moloch, or Satan. According to proponents, a global cult has persisted since antiquity, devoted to Saturn and the values of entropy, sacrifice, and control. This cult supposedly encoded their symbolism (the black cube, the sickle, the ouroboros) into architecture, corporate logos, and religious iconography. It manipulates economic collapse, war, and social engineering as forms of mass ritual. The elite followers of this Saturnian order view human life as a resource to be harvested through sacrifice, suffering, and despair.

Photo by Dalton Smith on Unsplash

Three Reasons Why I Write About Religion

If you’re familiar with my work you know I often dabble in religions both real and invented. Here’s a few reasons why:

It can add depth both to a character and a setting. In Wolfbreed , the main antagonist, Landkomtur Erhard von Stendal, is a member of an order of monastic warriors, the Teutonic Knights. (Think Templars, just crusading in Northern Europe.) Erhard’s character is driven by his faith, which helps ground the book in 13th Century Prussia, as well as being a source of conflict between him and the Pagan locals.It can add an otherworldly speculative element, especially when the tenants of the faith diverge from what the reader is presumably familiar with. In Broken Crescent the chief deity of my secondary world, Ghad, is actively hostile to mankind. Instead of offering blessings, the people say “May Ghad avert his eye.” It doesn’t help that Ghad is a particularly Lovecraftian interdimensional entity.It can be a wellspring of conflict and thematic elements. In my Apotheosis Trilogy the main thematic conflict is encapsulated on one side by Nickolai, a descendant of genetically engineered warriors who has the gnostic belief that creation is an act of false divinity perpetrated by a fallen creature, man, and on the other side by Adam, a post-singularity AI that views itself literally as God.

Four Reasons I Like Writing about John Dee.

When it comes to historical personages that interest me as a writer, few come with as many story hooks as John Dee (1527 – 1608). Dee was an English mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, alchemist, and advisor to Queen Elizabeth I. I’m attracted to the blend of Renaissance scholarship with occult mysteries, and here are four reasons he interests me:

Dee was a trusted member of the Elizabethan court, advising on navigation and astrology.  When he traveled to Europe in the 1580s, he likely gathered intelligence for the queen while mingling with Polish and Bohemian nobility. So, he was, in some sense, working as a spy for Queen Elizabeth like an occult James Bond.Dee was of a time when science and the occult were still intertwined. That was why he’d be as comfortable drafting navigational charts for explorers like Francis Drake as he was casting horoscopes for the Queen. Bringing rationalism into occult subjects is fascinating to someone used to the science of the 21st century.He amassed the largest and most significant private libraries in 16th century England, rivaling those of Oxford or Cambridge Universities. Notable works included texts by Euclid, Ptolemy, Roger Bacon, and Arabic scholars, alongside Kabbalistic, Hermetic, and alchemical treatises. And, like the library of Alexandria, the library was lost to vandals while Dee was in Europe. And, like the library of Alexandria, can be a fertile source of lost eldritch tomes. (Like that translation of the Necronomicon that Lovecraft mentioned.)With medium Edward Kelly, a charismatic yet shady figure, he communed with angels via a crystal ball.  Dee’s angelic dialogues involved cryptic symbols, otherworldly entities, and the Enochian language. This could lead to anything from cosmic horror to divine quests.  Enochian is especially cool if you like arcane symbols and invented languages. (I happen to own an Enochian dictionary.)

So I’m not dead

Just wanted to add a post to say I’m still here. Round about COVID I had a bit of a setback that put me off writing for a while. But I think I’ve gotten over it. I’ve written a few short stories to get back into the groove. Now I’m just trying to get my bearings, as a lot has changed since I dropped out. I mean, Romantasy? Where did that come from? (Actually, I’m aware of where it came from, but it’s a bit jarring that the most popular book genre now is one that didn’t exist when I dropped out. At least not in those numbers or under that name.) Also, BookTok didn’t exist back then either.

Anyway, I’m hoping to dig myself out of the hole I’ve been hiding in for the past five years, and maybe do something about my non-existent internet presence. Wish me luck.

So my Internet went out for a while.

So early last week I had an issue with Internet access. It was Sunday, I was taking a break from writing, eating lunch and watching a YouTube video. Then, all of a sudden, the stream dies. My household Internet is gone. I go and check the router, and the broadband light is flashing red at me. So I try rebooting the router. No dice. I try re-seating the cables. Nothing.

So I call AT&T support and after telling me I can solve my problem on the web��� as if��� I go though a bunch more automated prompts before I get the archetypal Indian call center dude. He makes me reboot the router and reseat the cables again. Then he does diagnostics on his end for several minutes before coming back to me and asking if the light’s changed. It hasn’t. We go through more diagnostics.

Apparently there’s no sign of my router anywhere on AT&T’s network. Great. They’ll have to send a guy on Monday to look at the wiring in my house and check the router. So, no Internet for at least twenty-four hours. It also means I have to burn a vacation day at the day job because I can’t telecommute with no Internet, and I have to be home for when the AT&T guy decides to show up.

So, with my day going swimmingly, I decide to go outside and do some yardwork…

Then I see what happened to my Internet.

I have to call back and tell them to bring a bigger truck.

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The Number One Rule About Outlining

I started out as a seat of the pants writer. My first books started out with me writing on page one, and just chugging along until I was done. It worked for me as far as it went, though I notice now in retrospect how much revision was involved. The second draft of Raven, for instance, cut about twenty thousand words and added about thirty thousand. The current ending of Teek bears precious little resemblance to the first draft version. I didn’t start really outlining my novels until about ten years ago. The driving force was a combination of contractual requirements, and losing the ability to juggle all those plot threads in my head.

Since then, the process of outlining my work, while a pain in the ass, has helped out. Revision has been much less of an issue since I started. Dragon•Princess, for instance, changed very little between subsequent drafts. However, the past two days has reminded me of the first rule of outlining: It’s only a suggestion.

I had reached chapter six in The Methuselah Club, the second book of my Jack Paris series I’m working on, and I realized Jack needed to run into a pair of bad guys much earlier than I had in the outline. The pacing sort of demanded it. So I backed up a couple of chapters and replaced a scene of exposition with a chase across the Case Western University Campus. It improved the book, but it’s done serious damage to the outline. Especially because he knows who these guys are about twelve chapters ahead of where I originally IDd them in the outline.

But the outline is only a suggestion. You have to veer from it if the book demands it. I may have to re-order some chapters, but in the end it’s not a big deal. I spent the first part of my writing career pantsing it. And the funny thing is, even with these kind of changes to the outline on the fly, I still end up with fewer revisions.

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So the new occult detective series is going well…

That’s the good news. I’m several chapters into book two and I’m enjoying myself. That said, I don’t have a home for it yet. It’s not usual for me to get committed to a project like this before I know where it’s going to sell. But I like my main character, Jack Paris, psychic and inadvertent occult detective. I also like the premise of the series. Think Harry Dresden if he lived in the universe of The Exorcist. It also gives me an excuse to mash together all sorts of arcane subject matter, from John Dee, to Voudon, to the Voynich Manuscript. So if I do the traditional publishing route, I’ll probably be selling it as a series and I suspect having multiple books ready to go would be a plus. Same thing goes if I try the self-publishing route.

I’ll keep you posted on my new occult detective series. Sometime in the not too distant future Jack Paris should be hitting shelves and Kindles.

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Shiny New Website Continued

So I’ve fallen down a bit of a rabbit hole setting up my new site. In particular geeky fashion, once I started digging into the update I found a lot of shiny new toys to play with. To give some perspective: The last time I dug into CSS for this site, it was still on version 2, and compatibility with Internet Explorer was still a thing. No my wife is giving me the side-eye because I’m watching CSS website design videos on YouTube.

This time, at least, all the tweaking I’m doing shouldn’t break the theme or my plugins, and I shouldn’t be locked out of updating things as new versions come out. The most frustrating thing so far is keeping the site responsive. I don’t want to exclude the half of the traffic using their phones, but occasionally I get in situations where the various tools that show me a phone view of the side don’t render things exactly the same. . .

The most fun thing so far has been playing with the Smart Slider plugin, which I’ve used three times on my front page.

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I Have a Shiny New Website

I know I’ve been AWOL from the site for a long time. For most of 2020 I was distracted by a special project that I’m still supposed to keep secret about. Unfortunately, Covid has stretched out the timeline a bit, so I am unsure when exactly it will see the light of day. But that’s beside the point. It just illustrates that I’m easily distracted from things like Blogging, Social Media, and maintaining my website…

I’ve been meaning to bring this site up into the current decade for a while now, and I finally got all the fiddling bits into place. I had to revise most of the pages on this site, which meant touching a lot of content. It also meant updating the archives so I have excerpts for all my novels now, as well as adding a few more pages. It also meant transferring all my old blog content from one WordPress install to another. That was fun. I’ll probably be tweaking and adding things over the next few weeks, but I wanted to get the new install up and running as soon as it was functional.

Welcome, and thanks for dropping by.

Epic Sword & Sorcery Game Release

Available September 12th

On Thursday, September 12th, Choice of Games will release Sword of the Slayer, the epic sword & sorcery game I’ve been working on for the past year. Choice of Games creates choose-your-own-adventure text-based games. They’re very much interactive novels, so the games have novel-length narratives as well. Sword of the Slayer tops out at 185,000 words, the longest single-volume narrative I’ve written to date.

In the game, you’re an orphan living in an ancient city controlled by a despotic ruler. One day you find a magic sword. This thrusts you into a world of monsters, gods and sorcerers, trying to stay alive and save the city from darkness.

You can play the first three chapters of this sword & sorcery game for free. You can find it here.

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