Arcadia Discussion Zone

Hi all, Just thought I would share a small sampling from the book I have been working on. Hope to have it finished in the Spring. Thanks for looking. Lori

Rennes-le- Chateau ( 1917)

She had no intention of coming to Francois' funeral, but they had insisted. Emma had been able to live her life in quiet disregard of the past for many years, always careful never to move too far away from the circle of mentors who had helped shape her early spiritual views and career. They were all here today though, to pay their final respect to this man whom many in this tiny village in the south of France still considered their priest. The society which they all belonged to had continued to survive without her presence and would continue to survive without his. The order was assembling on the stone walkway now, having placed Francois on a chair near the wall. He looked surreal wearing the traditional garb of the high priest. The burgundy tassels on the hem of the cloak swayed in the wind while they waited for the final words of the Master. She had been told that they would be allowed to take one of the tassels to use as a talisman for future ceremony and to commemorate Francois sacredness of purpose. She would take one as remembrance of the afternoon they shared that had tore at her soul for years. He was her first love, the hard love, the forbidden love. She was alone within this order now. Her unwillingness to participate in the rituals and ceremonies of the society had ostracized her from this powerful group. She believed it was her fame and silence that had kept her safe from reprisals, but everyone on that walkway understood differently. It was at the insistence of their high priest Francois Berenger Sauniere that her status within the society would be honoured, and nothing else. Her sadness was debilitating. She hadn’t eaten very much in the past three days. Emma was surprised at the strength of emotions this man could still call from within her. She had believed that she was over him all these years, but the pain in her heart said otherwise, as did her now ex-husband Galileo Gaspari. Emma was uncomfortable to think that the others who had gathered for this final farewell could feel her distress. She knew she was a better actress than this but her body and mind were not responding to her attempts at light heartedness.These people did not frighten her anymore. As she aged, and her fame grew around the world, she knew it was not in the groups’ best interest to cause her harm. She had made many powerful allies around the world including Queen Victoria and the Czar and Czarina of Russia. All because of a voice, she thought, notes sung in one hall for one moment had made her life what it was today. She was rich beyond her wildest dreams and wielded influence in circles others fought to belong to. She had decided to stay on at her house in Quillan for a few days to get her bearings before returning to Paris. She would revisit the places that had made her smile all those years ago and try to put to rest or at least come to terms with Sauniere and her feelings for him. Emma found her way to her favourite stone seat on the walkway, a small corner to the right leading to the library. She had spent many days and evenings sitting and peering over the edge of the walls of this stone thoroughfare. Today, the magnificent valley below was blanketed in the whitest of snow. The light playful breeze lifted and swirled its brightness over the valley floor. As usual, she would not partake in the ceremony for Francois today. Although she had not lost faith in the sacredness of such matters, she had lost her respect for many of the people involved in the society. The weather was bitter, but Emma was not cold, her floor length fur coat and numbing grief saw to that. She sat and watched the ritual of farewell performed on her favourite soul, and as she did, Emma drifted and swirled herself, back to a time when the sacred union of male and female was practiced, back to a time when Francois was her voice of reason.

That is most assuredly the most magnificent statement, it shows the true understanding of that ceremony.

Great Lori

wow...

Good on ya Lori - I'll be first to pre-order!

VAM

Thank you everyone.

Hi Lori

Very evocative piece of writing. Are you going to share with us which society / order they all belonged to or do we have to wait for the book?

Are you intending that the book is a fictional adaptation of Emma's life, or will it be based on all known facts, with an interpretive/speculative layer layer on top?

And may I ask if you are previously published, or is this your first?

Hello Ivaldi, It will be a historical fiction of sorts based on a true story. It is my first novel and yes you will have to wait for the book. Lori

Thanks Lori. I'm looking forward to it, I think it should be very interesting. I love historical fiction and I think James Michener was an excellent practicioner of it. I think when well done, and not as hamhandedly as Dan Beige, it can also be very instructive.

I know I definitely prefer it to a fiction being foisted on people about Emma Calve presented as fact. Which I would have less problem with, if its proponents just admitted it was fiction.

Thanks, Lori. Really nice piece of writing; love the phrase about living life in quiet disregard of the past. The passage both makes you feel in the place and in the moment, and makes you want to read on, and one can't say better than that.

What I think is going to be the title is very evocative too. Is one allowed to mention that?

So looking forward to reading it; good luck in getting it finished.

Lori - good thoughts BUT too many sentences begin with a "she". Better re-arrange that.

I like it.

Call it cheating but I use something like below to help me with scientific technical reports to send to picky techy types.

http://www.novalearn.com/title.htm

lori wrote:

Hello Ivaldi, It will be a historical fiction of sorts based on a true story. It is my first novel and yes you will have to wait for the book. Lori

There you go Colin/Twyford.......
Its a simple, clear, unequivocal statement at the outset and everyone is looking forward to reading the novel.
Would have saved you all that hurt and pain!
Come to think of it you've gone very quiet. One step ahead of the Bailiffs ?

Well done Lori, a lovely, measured feel to it.

TD

TD,

spoken like a true jabberwock, as it comes across to me

Jakey,
Thank goodness you're okay!
I was worried for almost a minute that you'd shuffled off this mortal coil and we'd lost you. Do they have WiFi in Purgatory ?
When both jake and MT disappeared I thought you were a gonner or you'd not paid you electricity bill.
That makes four ids now jake almost as many as 'Voldemort' !

The problem is you have to remember to change your vocab, syntax and footprint if you wanna be reincarnated and start afresh.
Anyway welcome back you were like tooth ache, I missed it when it went !
TD.

I told you earlier, Twyford is in Spain as he was last October.
Last year he really needed a break from the translation and especially
from trying to crack that code.
Now that he`s gone for awhile, I can say that perhaps this is a simliar
situation to that of Jung`s Red Book - family objections.
What if Rodrigo were your ancestor?

Emma Calve as Carmen.

Well I hope the rest of the book is less turgid than the passage vouchsafed to us, personally I prefer the Calve of Castillon's Diary after all Emma was a prima donna a calling not noted for being either shy or retiring. Mind you if I was a betting man I would lay odds against this proposed work ever seeing the light of day unless it is self-published.

Well, I'm going to take a flyer, and predict that this book sees the light of day long before that other work of fiction, known as the Castillon Diary.

And I think the writing is anything but turgid. But that's just my opinion.

And you are welcome to it my old friend Dick but to me it reads like one of those openings one sees in newspapers from time to time where people are invited to send in a first chapter for a critical assessment from a "well-known author" of which nothing comes. I suspect that publishers shred hundreds of these promising openings every year or maybe week.

Follow up to above - I am thinking of doing something similar which will explain the source of Sauniere's "wealth." Watch this space folks. Incidentally I recently read, on the recommendation of MT Graves "The Expected One" by the Blessed Kathleen McGowan. Now there is writing of a very high order indeed and all based on hysterical fact I believe.

Anyone who enjoys the writings of Kathleen might like the new CD by Raven based on her books.

Personally, I think that the source of Sauniere`s wealth was sitting in Emma`s living room during her soiree
in May 1900, Johann Orth, whom Rodrigo did not recognize. Sauniere was on some of his mysterious errands
at the time near Lyons and the diary proves that Orth was in the area.

Thanks Renne that is something worth bearing in mind and if my book ever gets written I will see that you get a credit. Thanks also for the info about the CD.

Good luck with the book. Take it to a Lucis Trust pubisher, they'll love it.

With regard to quiet disregard for the past may I say that the only thing one learns from history is that nobody has ever learned from history.

Have enjoyed all the comments. Thank you.