by J. Thorn
The Reversion plucks Samuel from a dying world and drops him into another, a decaying desert wasteland of darkness and peril. As his memories return, Samuel finds himself in another cycle of destruction, and he leads newcomers Jack and Lindsay towards redemption in the mountain stronghold of the mysterious one known as Deva. Finally, as the locality collapses behind him, Samuel realizes his only escape from the Reversion will be putting his faith in The Law of Three.
The Portal Arcane Series - Book III - COMING IN EARLY 2014
* * *
If you enjoyed this title, you'll love The Seventh Seal. Find out why The Seventh Seal, is a best-selling, post-apocalyptic, dark fantasy thriller that has placed in the Amazon Kindle Top 100 Paid Best Seller lists in four different genre categories!
The Seventh Seal
John Burgoyne awakens from a Halloween party, with a hangover and a dead cell phone, on the first day of the End of Days. He's desperate, on the run, and fighting for his life. After a violent coup, the Father, the figurehead of the Holy Covenant and the commander of a new military order, pursues John through the post-apocalyptic wreckage of Cleveland, Ohio, in search of the hidden knowledge he believes John holds. Burgoyne escapes and aligns with the resistance until Father orchestrates a final showdown.
In the words of author Vicki Keire, author of Worlds Burn Through...
"...an edge-of-your seat apocalyptic adventure full of twists and turns. I couldn't put it down!"
* * *
If you enjoyed The Seventh Seal, you have to read the novella sequel, Man's Ruin.
Man's Ruin - A Dark Fantasy Novella (The Seventh Seal Sequel #1)
A band of revolutionaries fights for survival in the urban decay of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, thirty years after the First Cleansing brought an end to civilization. Their enigmatic and seasoned patriarch, John Burgoyne, protects the clan until a man on horseback delivers an ominous message. John decides to lead his tribe on a grueling march down the treacherous highway stretching from Pittsburgh to Cleveland, unaware of the forces aligning against them. When the clan faces a major decision on the road, John will be forced to do whatever is necessary to ensure their survival.
In the words of reviewer, Gordie, on Amazon.com...
"I started this in the morning and had it finished by lunchtime as I could not put it down..."
* * *
If you like tight and fast-paced short stories, you'll love J. Thorn's horror and dark fantasy collection, Voices from Beyond: Volume 1 as well as The Hunt and Tunnel.
About the Author
Embrace the entire spectrum of human emotion – especially its dark realms – for a more meaningful story. Welcome to J. Thorn’s world, where the ultimate escape from reality is the horror novel.
J. Thorn is a Top 100 Horror Author (Amazon Rank 2013). He is a supporting member of the Horror Writers Association, a member of the Great Lakes Association of Horror Writers, and a writer for disinformation.com.
* * *
Official Website
Facebook
Twitter
Before the Realm and The Hidden Evil Extras
First Edition
Copyright © 2013 by J. Thorn
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
This book is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents, places, and dialogue are drawn from the author's imagination or are used fictitiously, and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Edited by:
Katy Sozaeva
Laurie Love
For more information:
http://www.jthorn.net
[email protected]
Table of Contents
The Extras
Introduction
About the Extras
Gaki – The Mythology
The Hunters
Threefold Law
Salem 1692
Floyd's Story
The Evolution of a Cover
F.A.Q.
An Interview
Before the Realm Short Stories
Before the Realm: Inception, Act I
Before the Realm: Degeneration, Act II
Before the Realm: Transformation, Act III
Before the Realm: Transition
Before the Realm: Coda
Introduction
Today is October 31st, 2013--Halloween. In addition to being the horror writer’s favorite holiday, it’s a milestone for this particular writer. This morning I finished the manuscript for Before the Realm, the series of exclusive short stories included in this box set. And this evening, I’ve begun the process of collecting ideas and interesting anecdotes for the extra features you’re reading now.
It’s been four years since the spectral visit to my bedroom in the cold, dark Cleveland winter. I had a dreamlike moment when The Hidden Evil Trilogy was born and I was introduced to Preta, otherwise known as Gaki.
It was about three in the morning and the furnace had been running constantly. The chill in our old house—which was built at the turn of the twentieth century on Cleveland’s east side—was enough to keep me under the covers at all costs. On this particular night, in January of 2009, I woke up and could not fall back to sleep. I could have sworn I heard the floorboards in the hallway creaking. At first, I thought my son was walking to the bathroom, but I couldn’t see a shadow or movement that corresponded with the noise. I sat up and stared out of our bedroom door and into the hallway, waiting. My heart quickened, and just before I convinced myself to lie back down, the furnace shut off and now the noise could no longer be blamed on hot air moving through the ductwork.
I left my bed and checked on both kids; they were sound asleep. I crept downstairs with my fists balled, ready to fight if I had to. I walked through the entire house and checked every door. Nothing.
Sleep came very quickly, but I woke up again, again convinced someone was walking around the room. I looked at the doorway from beneath my covers, and for just a moment, I swore I saw motion. To this day I’m not sure how or why, but I felt my grandfather’s presence in the room. I didn’t hear him speak from beyond the grave and I didn’t see his ghostly image float across the room. But he was there that night, and I could feel it.
My paternal grandfather died when I was twelve. My maternal grandparents lived well into their 80s, but they both died within months of each other in late 2008. My siblings and I were close to our maternal grandparents in childhood, but like grandchildren do, we moved away and our contact became less frequent. However, my grandfather was not a very nice man. I can say this now without judgment, because he was a product of his time. Although it’s no excuse for being a selfish, racist bigot, he was born in the Great Depression and ideas of human rights and equality didn’t take hold until he was an old man.
In that bedroom in the middle of the night, my grandfather—my “Pap-Pap”—was there. I felt like there was something he wanted to say, a message I needed to hear. For weeks afterward the experience continued, and I began to feel sluggish at work and miserable at home. I snapped at my wife and yelled at my kids while I began to lose control of my daily life.
I wish I could make this a Hollywood ghost story and tell you that he showed himself to me and that we spoke. But that’s not what happened. At some point in my sleep-deprived delirium I began to write a manuscript about an average family man that begins to unravel as insanity sets in. I created Drew and pushed him into Preta’s Realm.
Preta, or Gaki, materialized quickly; the mythology behind the creature resonated with me, and in a sad way, reflected my grandfather’s energy. He was a selfish man even though he was my Pap-Pap. The further I moved into the manuscript for what would become Preta’s Realm: The Haunting, the less frequently I woke in the middle of the night. By the time the first draft wa
s complete, the phantom visits stopped.
Maybe this trilogy is the message. Maybe my grandfather’s spirit knew I needed to write it, and once I did, he was at peace. Maybe. But of course I have no idea if that’s true. I do know that I have awakened in the middle of the night since and have not had that sensation of another spirit in the room, one trying to deliver a message across time and space.
But I write scary stories, so let’s just go with that.
This box set is the culmination of years of writing across three novels that tell the story of greed, destruction, and ultimately, redemption. The extra features and the Before the Realm mini-series are only available in this set. I hope you enjoy The Hidden Evil and all that is revealed to you.
J. Thorn
October 31st, 2013
About the Extras
Due to the shallow but extremely accurate articles on Wikipedia, I often use and quote a few sentences here in order to give you a place to start. If the stories spark your interest, you’ll have plenty of information to dig deeper, as I did. I encourage you to look up the articles I’ve quoted or referenced here, as they were the source for Gaki.
Although I do not intentionally include spoilers in the extras, you may want to read the novels first just in case. Even though it’s titled Before the Realm, you may want to read that after the novels as well.
Gaki – The Mythology
I don’t remember exactly how I stumbled upon the mythology of Preta, but I’ve always had a fascination with Eastern religions and philosophy, Buddhism in particular. There seems to be an ancient wisdom in many of those stories. I’m certain that’s where I stumbled upon the idea of the Gaki.
From Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preta)
Preta…is the name for a type of (arguably supernatural) being described in Buddhist, Hindu, Sikh, and Jain texts that undergoes more than human suffering, particularly an extreme degree of hunger and thirst. They are often translated into English as "hungry ghosts", from the Chinese, which in turn is derived from later Indian sources generally followed in Mahayana Buddhism. In early sources such as the Petavatthu, they are much more varied. The descriptions below apply mainly in this narrower context.
Pretas are believed to have been false, corrupted, compulsive, deceitful, jealous or greedy people in a previous life. As a result of their karma, they are afflicted with an insatiable hunger for a particular substance or object. Traditionally, this is something repugnant or humiliating, such as human corpses or feces, though in more recent stories, it can be anything, however bizarre.
Read more from the source…
Of course, the version of Preta or Gaki that most Westerners are familiar with, especially those interested in fantasy, is Gollum. Although there is no hard evidence to suggest that Tolkien used Preta to develop his character in The Lord of the Rings, there are striking similarities.
One of the ideas that resonated with me regarding Gollum is the idea that he was not entirely good or evil. He constantly struggled between the two, and most of that took place within one body. In The Lord of the Rings, a major theme is addiction or insatiable desire. It plays out as Gollum degenerates and ultimately loses his life because he cannot forsake the ring.
Another movie involving the idea of the “hungry ghost” was done by Eduardo Sanchez, the director of The Blair Witch Project. In 2008 he released The Seventh Moon, and the images on the screen felt as though they were plucked from my head. Here’s the synopsis from IMDB (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1052040/):
Melissa and Yul, Americans honeymooning in China, come across the exotic 'Hungry Ghost' festival. When night falls, the couple end up in a remote village, and soon realize the legend is all too real. Plunged into an ancient custom they cannot comprehend, the couple must find a way to survive the night of the Seventh Moon.
But the idea of Gaki goes deep into Eastern mythology, long before he found a foothold in the American psyche. The “Hungry Ghost Scrolls” in the Kyoto National Museum of Japan are some of the most striking and visceral images of the demon.
From Kyoto National Museum (http://www.kyohaku.go.jp/eng/syuzou/meihin/kaiga/emaki/item03.html)
Through words and pictures, this scroll tells one part of the seven-part story of the gaki, or hungry ghosts. The emaciated ghosts, with their skeleton-thin limbs and swollen bellies, are invisible to the human eye. They are in a state of perpetual thirst and lick the drops of spilled water in a temple cemetery.
Read more from the source…
The scrolls are in the public domain and therefore are included here. You may want to view some of the sections in landscape mode. The images are set to expand to 100% of the width of the screen.
Linday Heaphy on Kashgar.com explored the concept of the Gaki through various mythologies, including Christian ones. The second paragraph supports the concept of Gaki taking control of a human as he did Drew Green.
From Kashgar, By Linda Heaphy (http://www.kashgar.com.au/articles/Hungry-Ghosts-their-History-and-Origin)
Defined by a fusion of rage and desire, tormented by unfulfilled cravings and insatiably demanding impossible satisfactions, hungry ghosts are condemned to inhabit shadowy and dismal places in the realm of the living. Their specific hunger varies according to their past karma and the sins they are atoning for. Some can eat but find it impossible to find food or drink. Others may find food and drink, but have pinhole mouths and cannot swallow. For others, food bursts into flames or rots even as they devour it. Japanese hungry ghosts called gaki must eat excrement while those called jikininki are cursed to devour human corpses. According to Hindu tradition, hungry ghosts may endlessly seek particular objects, emotions or people, those things that obsessed them or caused them to commit bad deeds when they were living: riches, gems, children, even fear and the vitality of the living.
Read more from the source…
And of course, it can always be a relief to poke fun at such serious and dark subject matter, as was done on EsotereX.com.
From EsotereX (http://esoterx.com/2013/03/20/hungry-ghosts-the-diet-of-the-dead-among-the-grigori-preta-yidak-gaki-and-egui/)
…Let’s face it. It sucks to be a ghost. All that haunting and insubstantiality has to wear you down after a while. Maybe you get a little jealous of the living, rattle a few chains, even go poltergeist in a ghostly tantrum. Boring, yes, but at least you are not consumed by unquenchable thirst and insatiable appetite, often for the most unsavory of items (decayed flesh, fire, human excrement, etc.
Read more from the source…
The Hunters
In the first book, Mashoka is modeled after Mr. Miyagi from The Karate Kid. He helps Ravna uncover the origins of Gaki and he also nods to the history and somewhat esoteric nature of the Hunters. Mashoka was in Japan when Gaki reemerged, and the demon eventually tainted Drew’s grandfather. Later in the trilogy, the Hunters become more prominent, although they remain mysterious.
The Hunters exist to track down and contain Gaki, although it’s a never-ending battle, evil vs. good, dark vs. light, etc. If there were ever to be a spin-off series from the Hidden Evil, I could imagine it taking place in the world of the Hunters.
Grandpa
My paternal grandfather fought in World War II. He didn’t talk much about it when he was alive, and he died when I was eleven, so I never had the chance to try. I remember my dad telling me that my grandfather had a box in the attic that held some of his things from the war. Inside that box was a silk “Rising Sun” flag with blood on it. My grandfather never told the story of how he ended up with it, and if he did, my dad never told me. I do know that he fought in hand-to-hand combat in the Pacific Theater. Most of those battles were fierce, violent clashes in the jungle. I tried to imagine my grandfather in that time and what it could have been like to find Gaki hiding in a cave.
Sage
Sage began as an insignificant character in the first book of the trilogy, but I realized her strength could not be ignored. She is young, brash, tattooed, and
loves heavy music. I knew a girl like this in high school, and although we were never more than acquaintances, I admired her. She had a Mohawk and purple hair in 1988 when most girls were trying to look like Madonna or Mallory Keaton from Family Ties. Sage is like that. She’s a throwback in certain ways, like listening to classic Nine Inch Nails, but as we find out, she has a history that goes deeper than the 1990s. Once the significance of her character revealed itself to me, I knew she would play a significant role in the outcome of the main story arc.
Ravna
Ravna is a composite character, like most that I create. There is a lot of me in him, the love of horror and heavy metal and the tendency toward the esoteric and arcane. Ravna also has a sense of determination that ultimately costs him his life. He cannot leave well enough alone, cannot abandon the quest for truth that pushes him to chase Gaki to the ends of his world and beyond. Ravna is a handsome man, easing into middle age and attractive to young ladies.
Drew
Like Ravna, Drew and I share many desires and fears. His initial downward spiral is the result of a confrontation with the spirit of his dead grandfather and Gaki. It turns him from a regular family man into a being out of control, unable to curtail desires that would not rise in normal people.
