In this second installment of Shawna Ryan’s Destiny’s Damned series, our heroes, Alicia, Patrick, Kevin, and Alex, work to uncover the truth about the New Testament—namely, that it’s a fictional work created by a Pagan in order to enslave the world.
Of course, the Catholic Church isn’t too happy about their work and might have something to do with the attempts on their lives and those close to them that occur as the story unfolds. Despite the immediate similarities to the works of Dan Brown, Ryan has created a truly thrilling and entertaining series that is as original and insightful as anything in the genre. Ryan’s style of writing is far more straightforward and less complex than most mystery and thriller writers, but her prose is inspired and carefully penned, making the story easily enjoyable for all readers.
Set largely in Ireland, the story offers detailed and accurate descriptions of many real locations, such as the library at Dublin’s Trinity College and the Abbey of St. Ide located in the Burren on the west coast. Ryan hits the nail on the head with her wonderfully layered and detailed descriptions. Setting the story in Ireland offers myriad ideas, locations, events, and even characters that help mold the story into another stunning thriller by this talented writer.
The protagonists find themselves in a variety of colorful situations: Alicia joins a convent in order to help bring the church down from the inside, while Kevin and Alex work closely with librarian Mrs. Shanahan in the moody and atmospheric Old Library in Dublin. The situations abound with Sherlock Holmes-esque moods and settings, while the storytelling moves forward with careful planning. Everything is kept tight and intact in this story, as multiple storylines unfold in each chapter and allow the entire work to come together in a climax that will have readers scrambling for the third installment in the series.
The only real downsides are the unprofessional cover and the lack of dialect employed by some of the characters. The story would have been more believable and entertaining if the Irish characters spoke as if they were actually from Ireland. Nevertheless, Satan’s Scat is a solid historical thriller.
ForeWord CLARION Reviews
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
"A TRULY THRILLING AND ENTERTAINING SERIES" - A Clarion Review
Friday, November 21, 2008
TWO INVISIBLE WORLDS
There are two invisible worlds on this earth, one of the premises of the DESTINY’S DAMNED Thriller Trilogy.
There is the world of those already damned, for which there is no salvation either in this life or in the next. And, there is the world in which the rest of us live. A world on which the damned pray. This concept is based loosely on St. Augustine’s often misinterpreted and abused notion that there are two invisible societies intertwined on this earth. Those elected to go to heaven make up one invisible society and those destined to be damned make up another. Notice there is no gray area for those of us not ready or willing to be either.
Augustine based his idea on an argument made by St. Paul in Rom. 9-11. According to St. Augustine, “no event in time can alter settling of God’s will toward any human soul: his elect are chosen before the foundation of the world. God knows not before, but apart from, the time process - how each individual in the course of time will respond to the particular form in which grace is offered to him; and the elect alone receive the grace that will win their acceptance.”*
In the DESTINY'S DAMNED Trilogy, a savage serial killer already damned for murders committed in previous lives, as well as those he is committing in this one, reincarnates. The evil builds up inside him as he carries his sins with him through each life until he becomes evil itself. Becoming not only the slave of Satan but the embodiment of Satan, he joins the church where there resides others of his invisible world. His ultimate ambition is to lure every Christian on earth to damnation.
The serial killer in DESTINY’S DAMNED actually deserves to be damned. Once damned, there is no getting out. No going back. There is no forgiveness. There is only the compounding of the evils he’s committed through each of his reincarnations. Every life he lives is an existence in hell, and he will live in that kind of hell for eternity.
© Shawna Ryan
Author: thrillers DESTINY'S DAMNED & SATAN'S SCAT
available:
www.pilchuckpublishing.com
amazon.com
books stores and libraries
*Encyclopedia Britannica.
There is the world of those already damned, for which there is no salvation either in this life or in the next. And, there is the world in which the rest of us live. A world on which the damned pray. This concept is based loosely on St. Augustine’s often misinterpreted and abused notion that there are two invisible societies intertwined on this earth. Those elected to go to heaven make up one invisible society and those destined to be damned make up another. Notice there is no gray area for those of us not ready or willing to be either.
Augustine based his idea on an argument made by St. Paul in Rom. 9-11. According to St. Augustine, “no event in time can alter settling of God’s will toward any human soul: his elect are chosen before the foundation of the world. God knows not before, but apart from, the time process - how each individual in the course of time will respond to the particular form in which grace is offered to him; and the elect alone receive the grace that will win their acceptance.”*
In the DESTINY'S DAMNED Trilogy, a savage serial killer already damned for murders committed in previous lives, as well as those he is committing in this one, reincarnates. The evil builds up inside him as he carries his sins with him through each life until he becomes evil itself. Becoming not only the slave of Satan but the embodiment of Satan, he joins the church where there resides others of his invisible world. His ultimate ambition is to lure every Christian on earth to damnation.
The serial killer in DESTINY’S DAMNED actually deserves to be damned. Once damned, there is no getting out. No going back. There is no forgiveness. There is only the compounding of the evils he’s committed through each of his reincarnations. Every life he lives is an existence in hell, and he will live in that kind of hell for eternity.
© Shawna Ryan
Author: thrillers DESTINY'S DAMNED & SATAN'S SCAT
available:
www.pilchuckpublishing.com
amazon.com
books stores and libraries
*Encyclopedia Britannica.
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Man Not Web of Life, but Merely a Strand
Quotation:
The earth does not belong to man. Man belongs to the earth. All things are connected like the blood that unites us all. Man did not weave the web of life, he is merely a strand in it. Whatever he does to the web he does to himself.
Chief Seattle
The earth does not belong to man. Man belongs to the earth. All things are connected like the blood that unites us all. Man did not weave the web of life, he is merely a strand in it. Whatever he does to the web he does to himself.
Chief Seattle
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
IS THERE SUCH A THING AS DEATH?
From a scientific point of view, there is no death. There is no time when life ceases. How would we even recognize the cessation of life? We don’t know what the source of life is. All we know is that a being as we knew it, no longer looks or functions the way we’re familiar with. Death is our “notion” of the end of life, not actually the end of life.
Our bodies are “matter,” which is anything that has weight and occupies space. “Matter is neither created nor destroyed, but it can change form through physical or chemical means.” BODY STRUCTURES & FUNCTIONS, pg. 13. When someone “dies,” what we see are dramatic changes in their form. Those changes in form are what we call death and decomposition.
Einstein determined that matter could be thought of as a form of energy. Mass and energy are equivalent to each other and are interchangeable. In other words, mass is a form of energy. RELATIVISTIC ENERGY AND MASS. Our bodies are made of cells which store energy. The source of that energy is in the atoms that make up our cells. BODY STRUCTURES & FUNCTIONS.
The authors of THE PARTICLE EXPLOSION, published by Oxford University Press, dramatically illustrate the longevity of those atoms:
“Take a deep breath! You have just inhaled oxygen atoms that
have already been breathed by every person who ever lived.
At some time or other your body has contained atoms that were
once part of Moses or Isaac Newton.
***
If atoms could speak, what a tale they would tell. Some of the
carbon atoms in the ink on this page may have once been part of
a dinosaur. Their atomic nuclei may have arrived in cosmic rays,
having been fused from hydrogen and helium in distant, extinct
stars. But whatever their various histories may be, one thing
is certain. Most of their basic constituents, the fundamental
particles-- the electrons and quarks--have existed since the
primordial Big Bang at the start of time. "
Quite a picture, isn’t it?
If the source of life is the energy within these atoms, then life is eternal. But then, that’s the mystery of life, isn’t it? That’s what draws many of us to believe life continues after the event we call death.
Joseph Campbell, renowned mythologist, observed:
"The source of life--what is it? No one knows. We don't even
know what an atom is, whether it is a wave or a particle --
it is both. We don't have any idea of what these things are.
That's the reason we speak of the divine. There's a transcendent
energy source. When the physicist observes subatomic particles,
he's seeing a trace on a screen. These traces come and go, come
and go, and we come and go, and all of life comes and goes. That
energy is the informing energy of all things. Mythic worship is
addressed to that." Joseph Campbell, THE POWER OF MYTH WITH BILL MOYERS, pg. 132
According to Joseph Campbell and others, the belief that life goes on after death originated as far back as 50,000 to 60,000 BC. Maybe that belief isn’t as far-fetched as some would think.
by Shawna Ryan
Author: thrillers DESTINY'S DAMNED & SATAN'S SCAT
Sources:
BODY STRUCTURES & FUNCTIONS by Ann Senisi Scott and Elizabeth Fong, Delmar Cengage Learning, 10 Edition (March 1, 2003)
Relativistic Energy and Mass
http://ffden-2.phys.uaf.edu/212_fall2003.web.dir/Eddie_Trochim/Energymass.htm
THE PARTICLE EXPLOSION by Frank Close, Michael Marten, Christine Sutton; Oxford University Press, USA (April 9, 1987)]
Joseph Campbell, THE POWER OF MYTH WITH BILL
MOYERS, Doubleday, 1988, P.132
Joseph Campbell, TRANSFORMATIONS OF MYTH THROUGH TIME., Mythology Limited, 1990, Reissued in HarperPerennail in 1999.
SECTION VIII
Chapter 5. Is Religion Intrinsic to Our Human Condition?
http://www.entheology.org/library/winters/PHILOSO3.TXT
“DEATH RITES” http://www.britannica.com/oscar/print?articleId=109494&fullArticle=true&tocId=66354
Our bodies are “matter,” which is anything that has weight and occupies space. “Matter is neither created nor destroyed, but it can change form through physical or chemical means.” BODY STRUCTURES & FUNCTIONS, pg. 13. When someone “dies,” what we see are dramatic changes in their form. Those changes in form are what we call death and decomposition.
Einstein determined that matter could be thought of as a form of energy. Mass and energy are equivalent to each other and are interchangeable. In other words, mass is a form of energy. RELATIVISTIC ENERGY AND MASS. Our bodies are made of cells which store energy. The source of that energy is in the atoms that make up our cells. BODY STRUCTURES & FUNCTIONS.
The authors of THE PARTICLE EXPLOSION, published by Oxford University Press, dramatically illustrate the longevity of those atoms:
“Take a deep breath! You have just inhaled oxygen atoms that
have already been breathed by every person who ever lived.
At some time or other your body has contained atoms that were
once part of Moses or Isaac Newton.
***
If atoms could speak, what a tale they would tell. Some of the
carbon atoms in the ink on this page may have once been part of
a dinosaur. Their atomic nuclei may have arrived in cosmic rays,
having been fused from hydrogen and helium in distant, extinct
stars. But whatever their various histories may be, one thing
is certain. Most of their basic constituents, the fundamental
particles-- the electrons and quarks--have existed since the
primordial Big Bang at the start of time. "
Quite a picture, isn’t it?
If the source of life is the energy within these atoms, then life is eternal. But then, that’s the mystery of life, isn’t it? That’s what draws many of us to believe life continues after the event we call death.
Joseph Campbell, renowned mythologist, observed:
"The source of life--what is it? No one knows. We don't even
know what an atom is, whether it is a wave or a particle --
it is both. We don't have any idea of what these things are.
That's the reason we speak of the divine. There's a transcendent
energy source. When the physicist observes subatomic particles,
he's seeing a trace on a screen. These traces come and go, come
and go, and we come and go, and all of life comes and goes. That
energy is the informing energy of all things. Mythic worship is
addressed to that." Joseph Campbell, THE POWER OF MYTH WITH BILL MOYERS, pg. 132
According to Joseph Campbell and others, the belief that life goes on after death originated as far back as 50,000 to 60,000 BC. Maybe that belief isn’t as far-fetched as some would think.
by Shawna Ryan
Author: thrillers DESTINY'S DAMNED & SATAN'S SCAT
Sources:
BODY STRUCTURES & FUNCTIONS by Ann Senisi Scott and Elizabeth Fong, Delmar Cengage Learning, 10 Edition (March 1, 2003)
Relativistic Energy and Mass
http://ffden-2.phys.uaf.edu/212_fall2003.web.dir/Eddie_Trochim/Energymass.htm
THE PARTICLE EXPLOSION by Frank Close, Michael Marten, Christine Sutton; Oxford University Press, USA (April 9, 1987)]
Joseph Campbell, THE POWER OF MYTH WITH BILL
MOYERS, Doubleday, 1988, P.132
Joseph Campbell, TRANSFORMATIONS OF MYTH THROUGH TIME., Mythology Limited, 1990, Reissued in HarperPerennail in 1999.
SECTION VIII
Chapter 5. Is Religion Intrinsic to Our Human Condition?
http://www.entheology.org/library/winters/PHILOSO3.TXT
“DEATH RITES” http://www.britannica.com/oscar/print?articleId=109494&fullArticle=true&tocId=66354
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
THREE CUPS OF TEA by Greg Mortenson & David Oliver Relin
THREE CUPS OF TEA is the perfect example of what can be accomplished when we don’t draw lines between each other. When religious and cultural differences are left out of the mix, and the only common goal is helping children. Devoted to educating the children, especially girls, in the area where the Taliban organized and Osama bin Laden hides, the wilderness between Pakistan and Afghanistan, Greg Mortenson built 55 schools over a decade. With the help of the people who reside there, who for generations have built their lives there, radical ideas were left at the doorsteps so those children could get a balanced education. Given the state of world affairs and the intolerance we normally show each other, it almost seems impossible, doesn’t it?
Shawna Ryan
Author: thrillers DESTINY'S DAMNED & SATAN'S SCAT
Shawna Ryan
Author: thrillers DESTINY'S DAMNED & SATAN'S SCAT
Friday, July 25, 2008
Our Lords, Tammuz & Christ
The similarities between the ancient god Tammuz and the Christian God are striking.
Tammuz was worshipped throughout Palestine and Mesopotamia, including Jerusalem, as early as 700 years before Christ was born. Tammuz worshippers called him “The Lord.”
The Church of the Nativity was built at the site Christian’s worship as the place Christ was born. It is located in Bethlehem. That same site was worshipped centuries before Christ was born as the place Tammuz was reborn.
In a letter from St. Jerome to Paulinis, St. Jerome writes, “This Bethlehem which is now ours, and is the most august spot on earth, was foreshadowed by a grave of Tammuz- that is to say, Adonis in the cave where the infant Christ once wailed....”
Tammuz was said to have been crucified. Tammuz symbol was the Tau, which was a pagan symbol for the cross.
Every year Tammuz’ was laid on a bed or bier and his death mourned by women. Afterwards, his resurrection was chanted and praised. Tammuz was said to have been a beautiful youth. The women who mourned him: the goddess Ishtar of Babylon and Assyria and the goddess Astarte of Phoenicia.
Many Christians, Muslims, and Jews reject any connection with gods like Tammuz that preceded their own. They call those gods “pagan.” For most of them that term is derogatory, particularly when the pagan gods are compared with their own. But why? Why are these “modern” religions so defensive? There is no reason to be ashamed. They may not be perfect, but Tammuz and the other pagan gods are the Christian, Jewish, and Muslim god’s ancestors.
Sources:
• “The Myth of the Resurrection” by Joseph McCabe (1925).(McCabe was once a Franciscan monk.) www.faithofyeshua.faithweb.com/crucified_sun_godno4htm
• “The Origins of Christianity & the Quest for the Historical Jesus Christ,” www.truthbeknown.com/origins.htm
• “Examining the Crucifixion of Jesus and Parallels to Crucified Sun-gods,”
www.faithofyeshua.faithweb.com/crucified_sun_godno4.htm.
© Shawna Ryan
Author: thrillers DESTINY'S DAMNED & SATAN'S SCAT
available:
www.pilchuckpublishing.com
amazon.com
books stores and libraries
Tammuz was worshipped throughout Palestine and Mesopotamia, including Jerusalem, as early as 700 years before Christ was born. Tammuz worshippers called him “The Lord.”
The Church of the Nativity was built at the site Christian’s worship as the place Christ was born. It is located in Bethlehem. That same site was worshipped centuries before Christ was born as the place Tammuz was reborn.
In a letter from St. Jerome to Paulinis, St. Jerome writes, “This Bethlehem which is now ours, and is the most august spot on earth, was foreshadowed by a grave of Tammuz- that is to say, Adonis in the cave where the infant Christ once wailed....”
Tammuz was said to have been crucified. Tammuz symbol was the Tau, which was a pagan symbol for the cross.
Every year Tammuz’ was laid on a bed or bier and his death mourned by women. Afterwards, his resurrection was chanted and praised. Tammuz was said to have been a beautiful youth. The women who mourned him: the goddess Ishtar of Babylon and Assyria and the goddess Astarte of Phoenicia.
Many Christians, Muslims, and Jews reject any connection with gods like Tammuz that preceded their own. They call those gods “pagan.” For most of them that term is derogatory, particularly when the pagan gods are compared with their own. But why? Why are these “modern” religions so defensive? There is no reason to be ashamed. They may not be perfect, but Tammuz and the other pagan gods are the Christian, Jewish, and Muslim god’s ancestors.
Sources:
• “The Myth of the Resurrection” by Joseph McCabe (1925).(McCabe was once a Franciscan monk.) www.faithofyeshua.faithweb.com/crucified_sun_godno4htm
• “The Origins of Christianity & the Quest for the Historical Jesus Christ,” www.truthbeknown.com/origins.htm
• “Examining the Crucifixion of Jesus and Parallels to Crucified Sun-gods,”
www.faithofyeshua.faithweb.com/crucified_sun_godno4.htm.
© Shawna Ryan
Author: thrillers DESTINY'S DAMNED & SATAN'S SCAT
available:
www.pilchuckpublishing.com
amazon.com
books stores and libraries
Monday, July 21, 2008
INTRODUCING SHARON MARSHALL - DESTINY'S DAMNED
Sharon Marshall is a high-powered trial attorney in San Francisco, a partner in the large, prestigious firm of Braddick & Beene. Alex Caldwell is an investigative reporter with the New York post.
Close friends, Sharon meets Alex outside the Medical Examiner’s office in San Francisco on the day after Alex’s brother, Eric, is sadistically and ritualistically murdered.
Excerpt from: DESTINY’S DAMNED:
A figure in shadow, sitting on a bench in an empty, colorless hall paved with marble was motionless, not even the clacking of an approaching woman’s three inch heels disturbing him. Behind him, was a double glass door, shades drawn, marked “Medical Examiner.”
“Alex,” she said, her voice soft and soothing, “are you all right?” Crowded by small, high cheek bones and brows that had no curve, her forehead pinched with worry, she stooped and put her arms around him. “I’m so sorry.”
“Yeah,” he said, beneath his breath. His eyes were red and worn with distress as he rose and hugged her. “Thanks for coming.
Tailored in every respect, her not too short, dark brown hair was brushed back and over her ears in a style that perfectly matched her expensive, conservative business suit and figure. Wearing just a touch of makeup, allowing her natural color and the brilliance of her bright green eyes expression, she possessed a kind of genuine attractiveness Alex always found appealing. Comforted by her, he held her closer. His brown eyes tearing, he cried.
He was tall and slender, casual in appearance, his all night flight across the continent telling. His pre stressed jeans, over stretched, bagged at the knees. His black wool, sports coat was crumpled. He had been out in the rain and he was wet. Shocks of his curly, black hair clung to his forehead, and he shivered.
© Shawna Ryan
Author: thrillers DESTINY'S DAMNED & SATAN'S SCAT
available:
www.pilchuckpublishing.com
amazon.com
books stores and libraries
Close friends, Sharon meets Alex outside the Medical Examiner’s office in San Francisco on the day after Alex’s brother, Eric, is sadistically and ritualistically murdered.
Excerpt from: DESTINY’S DAMNED:
A figure in shadow, sitting on a bench in an empty, colorless hall paved with marble was motionless, not even the clacking of an approaching woman’s three inch heels disturbing him. Behind him, was a double glass door, shades drawn, marked “Medical Examiner.”
“Alex,” she said, her voice soft and soothing, “are you all right?” Crowded by small, high cheek bones and brows that had no curve, her forehead pinched with worry, she stooped and put her arms around him. “I’m so sorry.”
“Yeah,” he said, beneath his breath. His eyes were red and worn with distress as he rose and hugged her. “Thanks for coming.
Tailored in every respect, her not too short, dark brown hair was brushed back and over her ears in a style that perfectly matched her expensive, conservative business suit and figure. Wearing just a touch of makeup, allowing her natural color and the brilliance of her bright green eyes expression, she possessed a kind of genuine attractiveness Alex always found appealing. Comforted by her, he held her closer. His brown eyes tearing, he cried.
He was tall and slender, casual in appearance, his all night flight across the continent telling. His pre stressed jeans, over stretched, bagged at the knees. His black wool, sports coat was crumpled. He had been out in the rain and he was wet. Shocks of his curly, black hair clung to his forehead, and he shivered.
© Shawna Ryan
Author: thrillers DESTINY'S DAMNED & SATAN'S SCAT
available:
www.pilchuckpublishing.com
amazon.com
books stores and libraries
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