Stephen Weinstock's Blog, page 4

REVIEW: The Goddess Within by Iva Kenaz

As a follower of the Visionary Fiction Alliance, I enjoy learning about new authors and books that, like the 1001, The Reincarnation Chronicles series, address themes of expanding human consciousness. Iva Kenaz is a lovely writer from the Czech Republic who bravely writes in English about witches, fauns, and The Goddess Within.  Here is my review of her second book in a series.

Iva Kenaz’ The Goddess Within is a great testimony that the genre of Visionary Fiction is flourishing around the world, and how fiction is becoming more sophisticated in examining spiritual and philosophical themes. The novel is multi-layered in what it ambitiously explores: there’s a charming coming of age story, an environmental cautionary tale, a celebration of the Goddess in the feminine realm, a fascinating use of Sacred Geometry symbology in the storytelling and visuals, and a double world fantasy where the natural world is just as magical as the spirit world. The combination of these elements, though rarely didactic, serves to unfold a tale of a young woman entering into maturity as a physical/sexual human and attaining a higher level of spiritual consciousness.

The saving grace of current Visionary Fiction releases is elegantly structured plots and characters that aren’t afraid of terrible conflicts and dark situations. Berka, the main character of the novel, experiences self-doubt, stubbornness, pain, and terror; the loss and mystery of her parents grounds the book in psychological reality. The biased tensions and distrust between Berka’s family, the predatory humans entering her territory, and the spirits she discovers but who do not accept her, could easily reflect the cultural tensions in the world right now. Concurrent with the darkness is a shimmering adoration of Nature and its precious magical properties. I found myself reading slowly, luxuriating in the book’s worlds, even when the story picked up excitement and speed. I am not surprised that Iva Kenaz has a background in film, for the book unfolds cinematically.

The Goddess Within lives in a place between Young Adult and adult fiction. The coming of age story has greater innocence and teasing slowness than most racier American YA books. This works appropriately with the sensitivity to the divine in nature and human consciousness. Berka marvels equally over her first cup of wine as the spirit power in a tree. If the book can be called Visionary YA fiction, then its adolescent charms are not shallow, and its depth of meaning is very accessible. Berka’s doubts and recklessness may be around shifting planes of existence, but they are also the self-esteem and impulse control issues of a teen. Her problem with the mysterious background of her parents leads to peeling back layers and layers of history in the spirit world, but it also reflects an adolescent’s psychological development in seeing one’s parents as more human at times, and more alien at others. J.K. Rowling pulls off this blend of magical conflicts and real adolescent problems, but where the Harry Potter series feels contemporary and familiar, The Goddess Within has a lovely, far-off old European sheen to it.

In fact, the appearance of old European mythical beings such as fauns, nymphs, and faeries gives the novel a primordial, archetypal flavor, but more grounded and shadowed than a world like Narnia. Sara Maitland’s Gossip from the Forest discusses the roots of European fairy tale lying in the variety of old, natural forests in England and Scandinavia. Iva Kenaz was influenced by The Secret History of the Czech Lands, and her work explores these Bohemian legends and landscapes. Berka’s name refers to ancient birch trees; fauns and nymphs hold mating revels in the woods. Great power in The Goddess Within is attained from Nature, and this aspect of the novel deepens its world. I love the use of Sacred Geometry and the continual references to names and meanings of these symbols, which also add a gravitas to the spiritual component of the work. The Goddess Within is a beautiful example of today’s Visionary Fiction.

The Magical Harmony of Andalusia

I heard an extraordinary concert recently that was a breath of fresh cultural love and harmony in the midst of all the hate and violence in the world now.  It was a collaboration between: al-Bustan Takht Ensemble, an instrumental band playing Arabic music, Dalal Abu Amneh, a beautiful and mellifluous Palestinian vocalist in the tradition of the great Egyptian pop singer Umm Kulthum, and The Crossing, an American choir specializing in new, commissioned music with exquisite, eclectic taste and skill.  The program featured instrumental pieces, including an amazing solo by percussionist Hafez Kotain, several traditional songs by the band and Dalal, and two original pieces for everyone, settings of Medieval Arabic poetry from the Islamic empire in al-Andalus, Spain.  It was a tribute to the flourishing of that culture around the 12th Century.

I was attracted to this event for several reasons.  My wife knew of The Crossing through a colleague who has sung with them.  We had heard them sing David Lang’s The Little Match Girl Passion on a frigid winter night where the subways were filled with the homeless; at the end of this beautifully performed, but austere requiem for the Little Match Girl, my heart was in such anguish that I sobbed uncontrollably.

Also, for the third book in the 1001, The Reincarnation Chronicles I did vast research into Arabic literary history of 10th Century al-Andalus and Baghdad.  So besides my interest as a composer in world music, I wanted to hear an authentic performance of that musicalized poetry.  Book Three is about the outlawing of fiction in early Islam, but poetry and revelrous music always rocked the courts.  As it did at the concert!

Finally, the premise of the qaraq’s adventures in the next book is that they collectively incarnate into that time as a group of story collectors.  They construct a special version of The Thousand and One Nights, a subversive, multi-cultural version that brings together stories from many cultures.  So of course I loved the concert’s East meets West mission.

What astounded me most of all was how the event was a cultural healing without any overt political commentary or mention of recent inflammatory tragedies.  The hope that diverse cultures can co-exist was simply displayed by the attention to detail that the performers had for each other.  From their first entrance, The Crossing worked hard to capture the vowel sounds and diction of Arabic; later the leader of al-Bustan joked with them about their efforts.  The music clearly used a special intonation system different than European tempered harmony, and the singers had to match the instruments’ intonation, a perfect example of being in harmony despite fundamentally different backgrounds.  The instrumental ensemble had to accompany the dissonances and complex textures of European composition with grace and support.  And the two composers had Middle Eastern backgrounds, so they synthesized the two musical traditions while creating a new sound.  What a sensitive coming together of worlds!

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25 New Beatles Albums, Part 3

Now that I’m done with  1001, Book 2  capitalism for a bit, I can complete my summer promise to share my playlists for fantasy albums by The Beatles.  Fantasy because the albums came from after their break-up, using the best songs from their solo albums in any given year.

Given the great response to my initial post-Beatles article, which you can revisit here, you asked for more playlists, and I delivered the albums from the 70s and 80s, before boomers strayed, and after John’s death.  George doubled his contribution from the Beatle albums, especially with all the great songs from All Things Must Pass and Living in the Material World.

There’s even more fantasy albums, so I’ve posted playlists from the 90s to the present on 1001/Qaraqbooks News, my free email subscription service.  Those years saw George’s death and some great final tunes, Ringo’s re-emergence from recovery to become a wonderful songwriter, and Paul’s continual lyricism, uber-musicianship, and experimentation.  It gets to be a challenge to include John and George on the albums, but the new Ringo output, electronica from Paul, and The Traveling Wilbury’s (with Dylan and Roy Orbison), make for a couple double albums.

A friend recently asked if there is a connection between my interest in the Beatles after The Beatles, and The Reincarnation Chronicles series.  Besides the obvious (life after…), it’s simple.  I spent two years obsessed with discovering every song the boys recorded after their break-up, choosing the greatest hits, and organizing and re-organizing them into fantasy albums.  I didn’t stop until there were 25 albums.  What does that have to do with writing an 11 book series with 1001 chapters and spending my free time organizing and re-organizing the 101 worlds that contain all the past life stories?  You tell me.

If you don’t know a song on a playlist, sample it on iTunes, Spotify, or Apple Music. If you’re curious about the order of any of the playlists, ask me in a Comment, or refer to the original article.  And if you want to see all the playlists, sign up for 1001/Qaraqbooks News.

Thursday is the New Black Friday

Happy Thanksgiving!  Oh, but I forgot: due to our irrational consumerism, I saw all kinds of ads on Thursday, Thanksgiving Day, announcing that “Black Friday Starts Today.”  Crazy enough that we line up all night after a rare day of gratitude to fight over cheap toys and televisions.  Now we have simply replaced Thanksgiving with Black Friday.  And after last Friday the 13th in Paris, can we please change the name from Black Friday?  Oh my aching, American, global-consumer, human heart!

I have been meditating about consumerism a lot these days.  Primarily about the last four months of self-marketing my literary fantasy series, 1001, The Reincarnation Chronicles.  Oh hell, let’s get it all out of the way.  Book Two: The Qaraq and the Maya Factor is now available on Amazon!  Sign up for my newsletter, 1001/Qaraqbooks News, and win a signed copy of Book One: The Qaraq!  Phew, that’s done. That’s what I’ve been doing since the summer.  And what has it gotten me, besides a sneering, post-Marxist attitude toward Black Friday?  That’s what I’ve been contemplating.

I met with my marketing coach last week (yes, I have a marketing coach), the eternally calm and wise Jason Kong.  Jason had bravely weeded through my long email describing my efforts, analyzing stats from Facebook ads and newsletter sign-ups, and looking toward the future.  Like a chef making a fine roue, he reduced my endless detail to a few clear courses of action.  I have been looking at his shortlist in terms of priorities, what I can stand to continue doing business-wise, and what attracts me the most.

But in figuring out my next steps, I wish to get a bigger picture than the necessary tasks at hand, perhaps an emotional or even spiritual picture of what it all means.  So here’s an attempt at what I took away from my first serious bout with being on the business end of consumerism.  It’s not prescriptive, there are hundreds of business books for that, but reactive.

7 THOUGHTS ON COPING WITH SELF-MARKETING, AND RESPECTING YOURSELF IN THE MORNING:

Don’t despair.  Even if you’re a miserable failure stats-wise.  Or maybe despair for a few days, then move forward.  For all practical purposes, my hours of indentured marketude were a bust. Facebook ads reached 350,000 people!  7600 people went to my website.  But only two subscribed to my newsletter, and later unsubscribed or opened nothing I sent.  I can count the number of books I sold to strangers (versus friends or colleagues I know) on one foot.  But it was such a fantastic failure that it had to MEAN SOMETHING, and something important, not just that no one likes me.
Look for the solution in the problem.  This is old school Niels Bohr-quantum physics philosophy, but it’s a good antidote to despairing over the problem.  For me, I learned that even when I accomplish a huge, global reach, readers don’t go for my book in an instantaneous, recognizable gesture.  It defies genre.  If you peek at it it should look complicated and hard to penetrate. Even its obvious draws, a theme of reincarnation, or the allure of the Arabian Nights, aren’t immediately accessible through a synopsis, blurb, or sample.  But that means my book is special, as we say to children with strange brains.  I’m not going to market it in any of the given ways that are out there within easy reach, and expect results.  So I need to think outside the box, maybe eschew some of the social media paths, and really define my narrow niche and audience. That also means it’s a long game, not an overnight sensation.  Five years or five books until I see results?  Maybe.  Probably.  Which means patience, experimentation, and creativity, all the things I’m doing as a writer of 1001.  Okay, maybe it’s not a concrete solution arising out of the problem, but I now have hope it will and see a way forward emotionally.
Understand and expand on the tiniest successes.  Opposite the dismal failure side of the game board, there were some cool things that happened.  I made my first connections with people in India interested in the books.  Pretty sweet for a book of reincarnation stories.  And Australia, New Zealand, and Brazil.  Gotta love the Internet.  It wasn’t much, quantity-wise, but the fact that I did get a global reach means that more of that could happen, that it’s something I can grow.
The same goes for finding your tribe: it can start with a handful of readers, a writing group, or a kindred Facebook page.  For me, I kept coming back to the Visionary Fiction Alliance ,  My way into self-marketing was Jason Kong’s excellent course on guest blogging, which was a soft entry into the business side since it primarily involved what writers do first and last, write.  During the year afterward I became lost in the sea of social media and email newsletters, but the VFA kept recurring as a positive light.  Struggling with a book that defies genres?  The VFA promotes Visionary Fiction, a newish, but ancient and very real category that embraces many genres while positing work that focuses on the evolution of human consciousness.  Need a place for a new idea or post?  The VFA could not be more welcoming and helpful.  Going crazy with links not working, digital learning curves causing night sweats?  The VFA’s site is user-friendly, not to mention the admins themselves, all wonderful people and writers going through the same stuff.  Need a fresh idea or a friendly stroke during that despair?  The many ancillary pages are full of writers sharing marketing ideas, queries, and shares.  By the end of my four months of pretending to be a businessman, the VFA had gone from a cool site tucked away in a huge list of bookmarks to the closest thing I had identified as a tribe.  I could probably stop all my other social media interactions and have enough support and information there.  So again, if one little thing works or feels right, blow on that ember and build the fire.  And find a tribe, if not your ideal readership at first, then kindred artist spirits.
Don’t stop writing.  This was my first crisis with self-marketing, and will continue to be a juggling feat.  But if you can continue any kind of work regimen, no matter how minimal, you’ll feel better about yourself in the morning.  I was proud that I chose a relatively easy set of chapters to work on during the four months of campaigns.  I had written material for most of the chapters, so it was more editing than writing from scratch, and yet it was a considerable chunk of pages.  I could work on it minutes at a time, attempting to get a paragraph done before I checked an email or stat.  By the end of the period I was relieved I had done thirty chapters (they’re shortish), and had left myself a few more of the easy ones for the transition back into more hours of writing.  I didn’t have to spend the weeks getting back into shape or reminding myself where I was at in the book.
Think campaigns.  My very first marketing effort was a Kickstarter campaign to raise money for the first book’s publishing costs.  It had a 30 day period, with a couple weeks of preparation and clean-up at either end.  I learned that a more intensive campaign period (hopefully with some writing going on, as mentioned above) was beneficial and practical emotionally, too.  You focus on it, but then it goes away.  It’s important to continue all this madness at a regular pace, but you can save the bigger pushes for a few times a year.  One of my self-critiques for the four month period was that it was too long for my sanity.  I loaded too many tasks into it, including re-designing a website.  I should have only done the actual tasks for the launch of  The Qaraq and the Maya Factor  and have accomplished all other tasks in an earlier campaign.  It was not possible given my life-flow that year, but for the next launch I will make sure I’ve done everything else I need to do in a preparatory phase.  All of this thinking is good for my psychological health, too, not feeling overwhelmed or frantically stressed (as opposed to just stressed, right?).
Finally, try not to get addicted to the Internet.  That’s the most negative consequence of my four months of virtual capitalism.  I’m just starting to figure that one out, so I’ll save that discussion for another post.  And really, if you liked this, sign up for my newsletter,  1001/Qaraqbooks News , and win a signed copy of  Book One: The Qaraq !  Phew, that’s done.

 

Dark Matters

I’d like to share the Visionary Fiction Alliance’s recent post about writing dark characters in the context of literature that is visionary, uplifting, and/or positive.  I’m honored to have a quote in the conclusion of the article, and am delighted many other VF authors are cited by the author, Eleni Papanou.

In light of the horrors in Paris recently, the article is not just pertinent to writers and their process, but provokes thought about how we can possibly approach such dark matters in our minds.  It’s a difficult subject, but the Alliance is a safe, supportive forum for trying to comprehend a violent world, and maintain a hope of evolving human consciousness.  No simple task.  I’ve seen a lot of argument online about viewing Paris with love and prayers vs. anger and action.  It’s an impossible predicament and each of us has to make personal choices.  But Eleni’s article might be a breath of air for some.

By coincidence, a couple other posts caught my eye recently that examine dark matters.  Another writerly article offers information about characters who have PTSD.  It’s a helpful breakdown of issues presented in the psychologists’ manual of diagnoses.

On an eerier note, here’s a review of a book chronicling the history of the treatment of corpses!  Not a Post Halloween Stress Document, the book is actually about the importance of remembrance to human beings.  Another timely thought provoker in the wake of Paris.

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Halloween Tale 2015

Here’s a repost of my Halloween gift, a tale of Pyramid tombs, ghosts, and immortality.

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FREE on KINDLE — THIS WEEK ONLY!

From Sun-Thurs, Oct 18-22, The Qaraq and the Maya Factor will be free on Kindle.  It’s the ebook version of Book Two of 1001, The Reincarnation Chronicles, the 11 book literary fantasy series.

From the book description: What if your déjà vu lasted ten minutes? Involved ten neighbors? Linked to a 1001 lifetimes with this group? This is your qaraq.  Sahara Fleming, with her magical time travel powers, is her qaraq’s Scheherazade. But her estranged husband wants her back; she enjoys their romance, but Sahara sees their reincarnations as visionary terrors.

Then the Maya Factor shatters her qaraq. Maya, or “worldly illusion,” blocks some from receiving their reincarnation stories. Others uncover shocking links between ancient tombs, the sinister Red Isle, and a seventeeth century coven.

Is there a grand vision to the qaraq’s lives? Or is it another layer of Maya, obscuring the truth? Sahara can’t tell. If something exists beyond the Maya Factor, will it save the qaraq? Or tear it apart?

Structured as a modern Arabian Nights, Stephen Weinstock’s wildly imaginative 1001 conjures up magical, dark, humorous, and visionary reincarnation stories.

Fabulous Fabulists

As always, I’m proud to be represented on The Visionary Fiction Alliance, this time with a guest post about the power of fable, both classic and modern.  I look at how fable relates to my new work The Qaraq and the Maya Factor.  Here’s an excerpt from “Fables, Italo Calvino, and Visionary Fiction.”

“We know this aspect of myth, of fairy tale, of fable, that they exist as pure story, often innocent on the surface, broad-stroke actions without inner character development or thematic commentary. But scratch a bit of that surface, do the least bit of interpretation, and worlds of meaning emerge, often the kinds of transcendental truth that Visionary Fiction embraces. How then do we include or approach these folkloric narratives, which have no original authors or first editions? They are at once the most visionary of fictions, and not technically fiction at all.

What of fable? On the one hand, this form may be the closest in definition to VF. A fable is a story intended” “to reveal moral or ethical consequences to life’s many choices.” This lesson component to the fable aligns with the higher truths that VF desires to bring to light, more literally than a myth or fairy tale. On the other hand, fables tend to have talking animals (human beings qualify), and the life lessons are often practical and homespun, not cosmic. And VF is not necessarily didactic, tied up with a ‘moral.’ Like other fictional forms, are there fables that are visionary and fables that are not?

In my own work, 1001, The Reincarnation Chronicles, a character remembers and recounts a past life tale every chapter. Modeled after The Thousand and One Nights, the stories include myths and fables, and since the incarnations range from Persian royalty to wombats to supercontinents, they stretch the ‘talking animal’ aspect. Every memory raises the spiritual question of the veracity of reincarnation, but few contain literal morals.”  READ MORE

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Why (or why not) I Need Music to Write

I’m happy to have a guest post for the second time on Roz Morris’ wonderful Undercover Soundtrack, where authors talk about how music influences their writing process.  Cheekily, I confess that music may have no influence on me whatsoever.  But genuinely, I explore why I constantly listen to carefully constructed playlists as I write, if not to evoke a character or scene.  It’s an interesting journey of discovery.  Read about it here.

And for exclusive posts, books news, and free offers, join 1001/Qaraqbooks News.

Launch of 1001, Book Two!

It’s 10/01, and time for the launch of The Qaraq and the Maya Factor, Book Two of 1001, The Reincarnation Chronicles.  Today I launch the print version on Amazon, but I will be giving away free ebooks soon.  To find out when, subscribe to my newsletter, 1001/Qaraqbooks News.

From the book description: What if your déjà vu lasted ten minutes? Involved ten neighbors? Linked to a 1001 lifetimes with this group? This is your qaraq.  Sahara Fleming, with her magical time travel powers, is her qaraq’s Scheherazade. But her estranged husband wants her back; she enjoys their romance, but Sahara sees their reincarnations as visionary terrors.

Then the Maya Factor shatters her qaraq. Maya, or “worldly illusion,” blocks some from receiving their reincarnation stories. Others uncover shocking links between ancient tombs, the sinister Red Isle, and a seventeeth century coven.

Is there a grand vision to the qaraq’s lives? Or is it another layer of Maya, obscuring the truth? Sahara can’t tell. If something exists beyond the Maya Factor, will it save the qaraq? Or tear it apart?

Structured as a modern Arabian Nights, Stephen Weinstock’s wildly imaginative 1001 conjures up magical, dark, humorous, and visionary reincarnation stories.

Happy 10/01!