BJ Avilla, #1 Buddhism Reviewer & Critic

Tuesday, October 8, 2013

Check live reviews on religious & alternate historical Sci-Fi novel, INTELLIGENCE CODE

What is INTELLIGENCE CODE? - See the synopsis

* Amazon.com Review - Click this link for INTELLIGENCE CODE

* Amazon.ca Review - Click this link for INTELLIGENCE CODE

* Goodreads.com Review - Click this link for INTELLIGENCE CODE

Thank you for your reviews!!!

Sunday, October 6, 2013

'Religious Conspiracy Theories' and their Fictional Applications on a Novel

Religious Conspiracy has been topics for many fictions and stories.

Although most of religious conspiracy theories cannot be proven by historical evidences, they are to be believed as factually by many people and critics.

In my novel, 'INTELLIGENCE CODE', the followings were dealt with as a fiction.

(1) Hidden truth regarding Jesus' private life in India and Kashmir.

According to the historical records, Jesus Christ's life between his age of 12 and 30 is unknown. Is it possible not to have some one's personal history only for the period? There is only one statement regarding his unknown years in the Bible - "And Jesus increased wisdom and 'stature' and in favor with God and Man." [The Gospel of Luke 2-3] (http://www.biblegateway.com/, retrieved May, 2013.)

Is there any possibility for someone to delet the history of the period intentionally because it doesn't help Christians to keep their faith.
Then what happened to him?
According to 'INTELLIGENCE CODE', historical Jesus travelled through Silk Road with his uncle, Joseph of Arimathea, who was a caravan on the Silk Road around the time. During his travelling, Kashmir was used as the Jewish caravans' base, and Jesus decided to travel India to learn more about Indian religions like Hinduism and Buddhism. As a Jewish prophet, he must have learned and communicated with the Indian masters there.
For this theory, I mainly depend on Nicolas Notovitch's book, 'The Unknown Life Of Jesus Christ', which was written based on the manuscript, found in the Himis Monastry in Leh, Ladakh.

(2) Hidden truth regarding Jesus' survival after crucifixion

There are many theorists, contending Jesus Christ were survived from the crucifixion attempt made by Roman Soldiers. He could have been saved by his uncle, Joseph again, and escaped to Kashmir.
Some scholars like Fida M. Hassnain & Suzanne Olsson stated that Jesus was buried a place called, 'Roza Bal' near Srinagar in Kashmir, with some critical evidences in their book, Roza Bal The Tomb of Jesus (BookSurge Publishing, 2008).
Followed by this theory, the theory of the lost Jewish tribes in Kashmir (Pasthun people) add the theoretical support for both no. 1 and 2.

(3) Hidden truth regarding a cult in U.S. being against Luciferian Zionism in U.S.

For this I heavily depend on David Icke's assertion and insistence that Rothschild Zionism is not supported by Jews but a global conspiracy who wants to control the world under a capitalist scheme being centred in U.S. According to him, the Rothschild Zionists were based on Babylonian occultism, not Judaism, who hate both Jews and Palestinians.
See this - http://www.davidicke.com/articles/political-manipulation-mainmenu-72/42734-they-dare-not-speak-its-name-rothschild-zionism
In this novel, the U.F.O. cult, called Heaven's Gate was regarded as a black cult, who fought against Rothschild Zionism in U.S. that was supported by an U.S. officer in the White House.

Those three theories are about the religious conspiracies or hoaxes that enrich the variety of the fictional reconstructions of the story.

Check Intelligence Code, Part I - 'Arena of Heroism'

What is 'magical realism' and the fictional application into 'INTELLIGENCE CODE'.

The dictionary definition of 'magical realism' -

"Magic realism or magical realism is a genre where magic elements are a natural part in an otherwise mundane, realistic environment. Although it is most commonly used as a literary genre, magic realism also applies to film and the visual arts. One example of magic realism occurs when a character in the story continues to be alive beyond the normal length of life and this is subtly depicted by the character being present throughout many generations. On the surface the story has no clear magical attributes and everything is conveyed in a real setting, but such a character breaks the rules of our real world. The author may give precise details of the real world such as the date of birth of a reference character and the army recruitment age, but such facts help to define an age for the fantastic character of the story that would turn out to be an abnormal occurrence like someone living for two hundred years."
(From Wikipedia, 'magical realism')

1) The key aspect of the magical realism in the novel, INTELLIGENCE CODE is the theme of 'Reincarnation' and 'Rebirth'.

The main character, Thomas Collins of PIRA is working as he believes himself as a reincarnation of King Arthur. Since Collins had listened a story of Celtic myth from his grandfather that believed the Irish as a descendant of real Celts, Collins decided to be a great warrior to retrieve Excalibur. He went to the British Royal Military Academy to realize his dream. After getting married to Irene Shannare, he even strengthened his dream to become a warrior or a hero to conquer the world thanks to Irene's magical power and her knowledge to produce bio-chemical weapon.
Also, the antagonist, Kevin Remiscu, who is an old friend of Collins, acts as an reincarnation of Sir (or King) Galahad. Thanks to the help of Irene, Remiscu reincarnates as King Galahad, who used to retrieve the Holy Grail; Galahad was selected as the only person who could defeat Collins by Lady of the Lake.

2) The other key point of the magical realism in the novel is adopting the concept of 'Karma'

Karma is the concept of "action" or "deed", understood as that which causes the entire cycle of cause and effect (i.e., the cycle called saṃsāra). Originating in ancient India, Karma is part of Hindu, Jain, Buddhist and Sikh philosophies.
In this novel, the concept of Karma accompanies one of the most important ethical contexts.
As King Arthur committed some moral mistakes when he chose Excalibur, Collins also made similar mistakes when he acts as a reincarnation of King Arthur; furthermore, he made more mistakes by enhancing his ambition to conquer the world, as a perverted hero.
The theme of 'Karma' as magical realism is one of the most important spices that make this novel fresh and unique as was shown to the tragic conclusion to Collins and his ambition.

3) Most importantly, the main them for magical realism is from the Druid magic.

As a reincarnation of Viviane, Irene had practiced her magic since she was very young. However, it is very important to notice the ideology is originally to understand and work with the nature and human being.
This novel tells that the ethical issues that may lie on every magician could drive their pure intention of using magic into a wicked way. Irene chose not to help her husband Collins, but she couldn't overcome her ethical defects toward her magical indulgence and attachment through her lives even from her past life.

Check the novel to see the fictional application of 'magical realism' in 'INTELLIGENCE CODE' - http://authorbja.blogspot.ca/p/my-novels.html

Kashmiri Poet, Waseem's great review on my novel, 'INTELLIGENCE CODE'!

Thank you for your great review, Waseem. I found you read 'INTELLIGENCE CODE' thoroughly with your deep understanding and analyses.

===

Wa See M wrote:

"This is for the first time I'm writing a review of a book, and that too for 'Intelligence Code, Part I: Arena Of Great Heroes' by BJ Avilla. This book, as a novel thoroughly able to keep a reader's attention as well as the reader, glued to it. The story is very well-knit with lots of turns and twists, keeping us eager to know more and more about it. It is a simple story, but written with extreme care to bring out the complexities in the plot, all throughout.

The story of perverted PIRA hero, Thomas Collins has been very well elaborated to make the reader feel for himself all the disadvantages of pseudo-heroes and hero worship, the dangers of an armament race that each nation has been contesting to master all of the world, and the hope for victory of good over evil, as this part of the story winds up. Being a debut novel, one can't help but ignore the editing mistakes at a few places, but outshined by the flow of events and language used.

As a book, it can be classified under many genres, and no matter where it fits, it gives the reader an insight into various facets of multiple religions, their ideologies and the ideology of war. For the first time, I was able to distinguish between Judaism and Zionism as two separate entities. This novel gives an insight to the ideologies of Druids and Druidry, which was unknown to me til now. Summarily, this novel is worth reading."

===
Waseem A Malla is the managing Editor at 'Fragrance, the quarterly literary e-Magazine'
- See the Fragrance Online Poetry Magazine - http://efragrance.weebly.com/index.html

See the introduction of the novel. 'INTELLIGENCE CODE' -http://authorbja.blogspot.ca/p/my-novels.html

Now, it is available on Amazon Kindle!

Saturday, October 5, 2013

My novel, 'INTELLIGENCE CODE' Is on GOODREADS now!

INTELLIGENCE CODE (Book 1. Arena of Great Heroes) is on GOODREADS now!

Please check out my Epilogue

[Epilogue]

"Religious and Mythical Relativism for Inter-Religious Peace and Communication"
(within a context of a fictional re-construction of heroes' unending rebirths and struggles from their karma)

================
"This post script was written to give you a better and more comprehensive approach to understanding this fiction based on the facts. My main point is 'LETTING READERS EXPERIENCE A HOLISTIC VIEW, NOT BIASED' about religious ethics and heroism in the world."
- BJ Avilla
=================

To explain the title 'INTELLIGENCE CODE', the 'INTELLIGENCE' refers to military and political secret information mainly based on the U.S. settings in this novel. On the other hand, the 'CODE' has double meanings in the story on the basis of a dictionary definition. The first one refers to a system for communication and a set of symbolized contents or messages, AROUND MANY RELIGIOUS TRADITIONS as shown in this story, which needs to be deciphered if necessary. The second implication refers to a systematically arranged collection or compendium of laws, rules, or regulations for the MYTHICAL HEROES. In this story, the term 'intelligence code' leans more towards the second implications, as 'INFORMATION FOR THE COLLECTIVE RULES AND LAWS IN TERMS OF HEROIC ETHICS' while the story was written to decipher the code revealed in the symbol, Triskelion of the Celtic religion, Druidry.

The geographical backgrounds of this story refer to more than six to seven countries. Among them, the following three are the most important and meaningful ones, explaining the main messages for the idea of inter-religious peace: Ireland (Northern Ireland & Republic of Ireland), Israel or Palestine, and Kashmir. The three areas share similar histories of the most tense and violent warfare and military situations caused mainly by inter-religious conflicts and lack of practical inter-communications between the groups. Although the conflicts started simply with different political and religious views, the situations from these three areas have covered the most tragic pages in the history of human being. To explain the nature of the conflicts, the closer the two groups of people are related in terms of religion, culture, ethnicity, the more severe and bloody wars and battles are to be observed through history by their exchanging endless violence and inter-terrorism between the two. Although it is very hard to say which side was or is right, the results brought so many disasters and unhappiness even to non-religious and non-political civilians, which have been antagonizing their religious ideal and original teachings.

One of the most important messages in this novel is in the revelation of the real features and phenomena of historical and mythical heroes, which were believed to bring ultimate peace to everyone on their own side. However, heroism didn't always bring the religious harmony or peaceful results most of the time because of political pollution or personal schemes as was shown in the case of the protagonist, Thomas Collins of P.I.R.A, who has been regarded as the violent terrorist for the Irish Independence.

The main character in this novel was born out of the Irish Celtic heritage, P.I.R.A.'s general Thomas Collins. He was described as a perverted hero, wishing to achieve the legendary power of King Arthur by successfully retrieving the holy sword, Excalibur. However, the depiction was not for emphasizing the failure of a hero from a specific tradition. Rather, Thomas Collins' pervertedness was exaggerated to reveal other misguided and corrupted mythical heroism from the so-called major religious traditions such as Judaism, Christianity, Islamism etc. Among the religious traditions, political or secular Zionism, the antagonist, was regarded as the most evil one while the ultra-orthodox Jewish, Haredi was against Zionism, by regarding the Zionism of the State of Israel as Illuministic Luciferianism. The biggest twist in the beginning of the story is that the Irish general of the P.I.R.A., Thomas Collins was regarded as a hero by the Haredi Jews, who was prophesized as a savior by the prophet Yuz Asaf.
Therefore he brought out the Haredis to their old territory in Kashmir, as a reincarnation of King Arthur. While Collins searched for the invincible power of Excalibur, the Haredi Jews successfully rebuilt their own territory in Kashmir, which tentatively brought peace to one of the most conflictive areas being causing religious and political disagreement between different religions. This could be seen as the second twist in this story. To explain more about the characters of the novel, there were two antagonists to Collins: Kevin Remiscu and Irene Shannare. Remiscu was Collins's old friend who was an alumni at the British Royal Academy, but later Remiscu became a U.S. military general; Remiscu, as a general of the U.S. army fought against Collins at the end. Irene was Thomas' wife, and had worked for Collins and P.I.R.A. by developing viral weapons with the highest fatality rate ever. However, in the end, Irene helped Remiscu to defeat the perverted Irish hero/ her husband, Collins with the power of her Druid magic, as a descendent of the great Druids.

While the religious conflicts and mythical heroism can be perceived as the two major pillars for setting up the story, the mythical spice with the concept of 'reincarnation' enriches the flow of the story and dramatization. Thomas Collins was a reincarnation of King Arthur while Irene Shannare was one of Lady of the Lake from the story of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, who had given Excalibur to King Arthur and taken it back from him. Also, Kevin Remiscu was a reincarnation of Sir Galahad who retrieved the Holy Grail and the Holy Lance. During the one-on-one fight scene at Lake Manasarovar, Collins fights with Remiscu as a reincarnation of King Arthur with Excalibur, but Remiscu defeats Collins as a reincarnation of Sir Galahad, who was more ethically sound and morally stable. With the help of Irene as a reincarnation of Lady of the Lake, who was also the grandmother of Galahad, Remiscu successfully defeated Thomas, who was currently the most threatening danger to the world. 'Rebirth' is a concept based on Indian philosophy such as Buddhism and Hinduism as well as the Druid religion, who emphasized respect and being intimate to understand nature more in depth as our fundamental basis. In short, the 'INTELLIGENCE CODE' is trying to show the results of our actions including our heroes' through the forms of rebirths and reincarnations that are unavoidable as Karma or 'Karmic Power' regardless of religious beliefs or backgrounds.

The battle between Collins and Remiscu resulted in both of them killing each other. Meanwhile, Irene was sent to the U.S. invited by the U.S. president. In the U.S., the descendants of the Druids and the Luciferian Illuminati were in conflict, which drove the U.S. into complete Chaos. The member of the Black Druidry, and the evil scientist, Dr. Morris stole the U.S. intelligence and flew to North Korea, which will be continued in the next series of this story. As an author, I promise to develop the entire story of 'Karma' between the religious groups and 'Reincarnation' of the three main characters, Collins, Remiscu, and Shannare in the continuing series, although the physical backgrounds are changing and the three main characters were all killed.

The most important message in this novel is on the emphasis on the 'relative viewpoints of religious truth or ethics', revealed through many different episodes regarding religious figures and heroes. To do that, it could be suggested that we need to be more flexible in understanding and accepting different religious teachings and messages. For example, this novel attempted to reveal different historical aspects of Jesus Christ and his life, mainly as a life of a prophet. Although it is not possible to see Jesus as a historical figure with human nature in terms of Christian theology, it is necessary to research his life from many different aspects in order to understand his real message and teachings even for people with different religious beliefs. In this novel, Jesus Christ was mostly referred to as 'Yeshua' with the intention to show his life as a Jewish prophet in a fiction setting. Meanwhile, he was called Yuz Asaf (means 'the Son of Joseph' in Persian) by the Haredi Rabbis in this novel, which was more based on Persian or Babylonian tradition. In India and Kashmir, he was called, Issa or Isha that refers to 'Ishwara' in Sanskrit, which means 'God' or 'All knowing'. Commonly through the different religious traditions or cultural setting, he was regarded as a prophet or teacher, who delivered a message of peace and equality throughout the entire novel. By dramatizing his life in many fictional settings and contexts, it was possible to flourish the meaning of Jesus Christ's life and messages rather than by confining his meaning within the strict context of the Christian theology, which could have been manipulated and deviated by their political scheme of the ancient Roman Empire. In short, it is more important to regard different and fresh aspects of your own and others' religious truths rather than adhere to only the tradition or theologian view of religious truth or ethics in order to realize a better 'inter-religious harmony and communications'.

Through the religious conflicts and the clashes of the heroes, moreover, this novel was intended to emphasize that the conflicts between the religions shouldn't be accepted as desirable when they use violence or assault to ensure their own religious and political justice. If any violence or exploitation was applied in favor of any group, the religious groups or the heroes are be defined as 'evil' or 'Luciferian' followers as was shown in the case of the actions made by the secular Jews or Zionists against Palestine.

The message for the inter-religious peace and the relative view of truth is to be summarized as the prophet Yeshua's last words, fictionally given in this story (#51 on this novel).

"Please don't sacrifice others' love for protecting what you love.
Please don't sacrifice others' peace for securing your peace.
Please don't sacrifice others' freedom for keeping your freedom."

Please check out the ON-LINE BROCHURE OF THE NOVEL! -http://authorbja.webstarts.com/uploads/e-brochure.pdf

Friday, October 4, 2013

Book Awards for Self-Published Authors

These awards were selected based on their acceptance of self-published books. Including them here should not be taken as an endorsement of the competition or its sponsors. The list is supplied as information for authors and self-publishers interested in pursuing awards and citations as a means to their own publishing goals.

For award specific entry details, deadlines and entry fees, click on the link provided for each award.

Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award

https://www.createspace.com/abna?ref=478921&utm_id=5969

Sponsored by

Amazon, Createspace, Penguin Group, Publishers Weekly

Axiom Business Book Awards

http://www.axiomawards.com/

Sponsored by

Jenkins Group Inc.

Beverly Hills Book Awards

http://www.beverlyhillsbookawards.com/index.html

Sponsored by

Ellen Reid’s Book Shepherding, a division of Smarketing LLC

Bookworks Awards

http://www.bookworks.com/bookworks-awards

Sponsored by

The Self-Publishers Association

eLit Book Awards

http://www.elitawards.com/

Sponsored by

Jenkins Group Inc.

EPIC eBook Competition

http://epicorg.org/competitions/epic-s-ebook-competition.html

Sponsored by

The Electronic Publishing Industry Coalition

Foreword Reviews Book of the Year Awards

http://www.forewordreviews.com/services/book-awards/botya/

Sponsored by

Foreword Reviews

Global eBook Awards

http://globalebookawards.com/

Sponsored by

Dan Poynter

Green Book Festival

http://www.greenbookfestival.com/

Sponsored by

JM Northern Media LLC

IACP Cookbook Awards

http://www.iacp.com/award/more/cookbook

Sponsored by

International Association of Culinary Professionals

IndieReader Discovery Awards

http://indiereader.com/the-indiereader-discovery-awards-welcome/

Sponsored by

Kirkus Indie

International Book Awards

http://www.internationalbookawards.com/home.html

Sponsored by

JPX Media Group

IPPY Awards

http://www.independentpublisher.com/ipland/ipawards.php

Sponsored by

Jenkins Group

London Book Festival

http://londonbookfestival.com/portal/

Sponsored by

JM Northern Media LLC

National Indie Excellence Book Awards

http://www.indieexcellence.com/

Sponsored by

Smarketing LLC, Ellen Reid CEO, and President

Nautilus Book Awards

http://www.nautilusbookawards.com/

Sponsored by

Marilyn McGuire & Associates, Inc.

New England Book Festival

http://www.newenglandbookfestival.com/index.html

Sponsored by

JM Northern Media LLC

New York Book Festival

http://www.newyorkbookfestival.com/

Sponsored by

JM Northern Media LLC

Next Generation Indie Book Awards

http://www.indiebookawards.com/

Sponsored by

Independent Book Publishing Professionals Group

Paris Book Festival

http://www.parisbookfestival.com/

Sponsored by

JM Northern Media LLC

Publishing Innovation Awards

http://www.publishinginnovationawards.com/

Sponsored by

Constellation – Digital Power for Independent Publishers

Reader Views Literary Awards

http://www.readerviews.com/Awards.html

Sponsored by

Reader Views

Readers Favorite Contest

http://readersfavorite.com/annual-book-award-contest.htm

Sponsored by

ReadersFavorite

San Francisco Book Festival

http://www.sanfranciscobookfestival.com/

Sponsored by

JM Northern Media LLC

Shirley You Jest Awards

http://www.shirley-you-jest.net/#!

Sponsored by

Dudes and Stuff Podcast, The Bunnys Review, Reading Addiction Virtual Book Tours, Conversations Magazine, Tiffany Talks Books, TeamNerd Reviews, Humor Writers of America, Author Groupie, The Paperback Pursuer, Lisa Haselton’s Reviews and Interviews, Conversations Live Radio, Book Guys, The Humor Columnist, Doing Dewey, Humor Times, Indieminded, Underground Book Reviews, Morgen Bailey’s Writing Blog