The Murverse Mothership

I have published three novels thus far, and I have learned much along the way, especially from the mistakes I made.  Hopefully, I didn’t make the same mistakes in my latest novel, Heaven’s Conflict, The Rise and Fall of Angels, A Novel, published October 1, 2014.  The title of my first novel, Generation Z, Birth of the Zompire, which is a vampire love story, is simply too long.  As readers try to find me on Amazon or elsewhere, my novel doesn’t come up until they type the last letter in Zompire.  So, it’s hard to find.  I could have made the second phrase a subtitle, but, even better than this, I should have titled it simply: “Zompire.”  Shorter would have been better.

With my next novel, a murder mystery entitled Not Privileged to Know, I encountered an unexpected problem in that, “privileged,” is a tricky word to spell, and it made it tough for people to find my book.  So, I have decided to change the titles of the sequels from Privileged Information and Privileged Few to Need to Know and In the Know.  The series link will now be the “Know” series.

I ran into several problems with Heaven’s Conflict, The Rise and Fall of Angels, A Novel.  It’s an inspirational fantasy that required a lot of research.  This delayed its publication.  While doing the research, I wrote and published my first two novels.  So, I had already decided on its title, and didn’t want to change it; however, trying to apply the above principles, the searchable title has become Heaven’s Conflict.  I also made Heaven Conflict and Heavens Conflict searchable to avoid any problems the apostrophe may cause.  The rest is subtitle, including the word “Novel,” which I added because of fear that, without it, people might think the book is a non-fiction about Angels. It’s not.  It’s my fantasy story of Lucifer’s downfall from God’s Grace soon after his creation. It’s essentially a Good versus Evil story that I hope is entertaining, exciting, and inspirational to readers since it involves true friendship, love and forgiveness, hopefully, without being too preachy.

I also toyed with the idea of footnoting all the quotes from the Bible that appear in the novel; however, I was afraid footnoting would interfere with the readers enjoyment of the story flow, and might also make the book appear to be non-fiction.  In my author note at the end, I explain this, and suggest that, if a reader wants to know where any recognizable quote appears in the Bible, it can easily be found in any Bible or general search engine.

I encountered another problem from an unexpected source: one of my editors.  He stated that I’d better “be prepared to endure the sticks and stones” that will be thrown my way after Heaven’s Conflict’s publication.  He explained that he feared that non-believers (in God) would complain about the religious content (IE. That there is a God at all), and the true believers might complain that what I wrote isn’t in the Bible as such, or that the symbols I used are not correct, or that they might object to the personalities I’ve given to the Archangels, Lucifer, or even God.  My simple answer to all these is that it’s a fictional story I created using some of the Bible’s content and its mention of Lucifer’s downfall from Grace and condemnation to Hell for guidance, but it is my fictional story, and I wrote it as it came into my mind.  I believe in God, and read the Bible; so, I tried to stick to the references to Lucifer in the first few books of the Bible, drawing some from Revelation to give some depth to the story as well.  I had it checked by two Biblical scholars (Catholic and Jewish) and four Priests (three Catholic and one Southern Episcopal) to ensure that it doesn’t conflict with anything that is stated explicitly in the Bible; hopefully, it doesn’t.

Whether I can endure these sticks and stones remains to be seen.  A little controversy about the novel would actually attract more readers, and, therefore, be good.  However, I never acquired a thick skin toward criticism, so I may have some discomfort coming my way.  I’m hoping more readers enjoy the story, find it inspirational, and stand behind what I did rather than attack me or my writing technique and research results.

There are other books and movies about the Archangel Lucifer already, but most concern Lucifer’s exile to Earth and his conflict with God through Humans, which occurs later in the Bible and “after” my story.  I wrote about his initial hate for God and his lust for God’s Throne soon after his creation, and concluding with Lucifer’s condemnation to Hell.  Everyone knows the story in general, but the Bible doesn’t give great detail to this event.  I took this idea and expanded it into what would have been the most significant confrontation ever with the sovereignty of God’s Throne at stake.  As I said, I hope it provides an entertaining (fantasy) story for my readers, as well as being inspirational, whether they believe in God or not.

Finally, all three of these novels are the first of trilogies.  I need to write the next installments.  Currently, thanks in part to bloggers and those who read Zompire, and spread the word about my writing, my second novel, Not Privileged to Know, is selling very well.  The next story I turn my attention to will be determined by my readership.  All are outlined, and ready to be fleshed out.  I have a stand-alone murder mystery already written and in the initial editing phase.  It should be ready in late 2015.  The second volume of one of my trilogies will then appear in 2016.

Information on my books (summaries and first chapters) can be found on my webpage: http://billrockwell.net   They can also order the books from amazon.com and at any bookstore.  They are available in both paperback and for all E-Book readers.  The audiobooks should be out later this Fall.