The Unholy
by Paul DeBlassie III
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GENRE: Thriller
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BLURB:
Winner of the International Book Award and Pinnacle Book Award for Visionary Fiction! The Unholy is a dramatic story of Claire Sanchez, a young medicine woman, intent on discovering the closely-guarded secrets of her past. Forced into a life-and-death battle against an evil Archbishop, William Anarch, she confronts the dark side of religion and the horror of one man's will to power.
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EXCERPTS (Please choose only ONE to use with your post):
Excerpt One:
“Hush now, child,” said a voice she recognized as that of her mother’s closest friend. “The man cannot harm you, mijita, as long as you are with us. We will make him think you are dead. But you must be very quiet. Ya no llores,” the woman warned, raising a finger to her lips.
The woman then carried her into a dark cave illuminated by the light of a single candle. The cave was frightening, with shadows of what appeared to be goblins and demons dancing on the red sandstone walls. “I will return for you soon. You will be safe here,” the woman said. The girl watched the woman walk away, shivering as a breeze blew through the cave’s narrow passages.
Closing her eyes, she rocked back and forth—imagining herself safe in her mother’s arms—then opened her eyes to the light of the full moon shining through the mouth of the cave. The shadows on the walls were just shadows now, no longer goblins and demons. As she slipped into a trance, images flickered in her mind. She saw the woman who had brought her to this place scattering pieces of raw meat around the open mesa where her mother had
struggled, helped by two other women the girl could not identify.
Suddenly, the scene shifted to a stone ledge jutting over the mesa, and she heard the pounding footsteps of a man running toward the women. The girl felt her heart race and her breathing quicken, afraid that the bad man would spot them and kill them. Then the image shifted again, and she now saw on the mesa three gray wolves circling the raw meat and the man walking away from the granite ledge. As he left, she heard his thought: The child is dead.
Excerpt Two:
Claire took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and quieted her mind so she could focus on the day’s work ahead. She noticed the unease that came with anticipating Elizabeth’s grating voice and demanding presence, knowing it was a signal that the work with Elizabeth would be demanding. Soon, a mild sense of heat went up her spine to the center of her forehead, the place of the mystic third eye, and into her hands and fingertips. Claire meditated on this feeling,
which gradually became stronger, softer, and kindled empathy, an ability to feel what her patients felt, to understand their pain, to help them to heal. She had learned about the mystic third eye as a young child when her mother had taught her to respect the world of invisible realities. After her mother’s death, Claire had continued to learn from the medicine women who had been friends of her mother, one in particular who had assumed responsibility for her care
and instructed her well in the art of healing and natural magic.
Excerpt Three:
As she ran forward, out of nowhere the two crows flew at her, scraping the air near her face with their sharp talons. Fists clenched, she struck out at one and grabbed at the other. They flew up, circled overhead, then dove, talons flaring. Unmoving, Claire placed her hands by her side and held their gaze.
They fluttered above her head for a minute, then left. Claire turned and saw an eagle soaring—a healer’s spirit manifestation. Medicine women said it came only when needed, when danger lurked.
Frantically tugging away bush, bramble, and cacti, she uncovered the mouth of the seventh cave and stepped in. She had the feeling somebody was watching.
Her eyes adjusted and she made out the contour of something. Squinting, she stooped and touched what seemed to be a circle of stones and charred, cold logs. She stood up and pulled back. A bat flew at her. She waved it away.
She stopped, waited for her breathing to slow, and, stepping sideways, touched the walls of the cave. They were damp and the stink of blood and guts was everywhere. Using the hard surfaces as a guide, her fingertips suddenly brushed through a hollow space roughly the size of a human body.
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AUTHOR Bio and Links:
Paul DeBlassie III, Ph.D. is a depth psychologist and award-winning writer living in his native New Mexico. He specializes in treating individuals in emotional and spiritual crisis. His novels, visionary thrillers, delve deep into archetypal realities as they play out dramatically in the lives of everyday people. Memberships include the Author’s Guild, Visionary Fiction Alliance, Depth Psychology Alliance, International Association for Relational Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy, and the International Association for Jungian Studies.
Interview with Paul DeBlassie III
1. What is your favorite part of this book and why? The Unholy tells it like it is, beginning, middle, and end – a supernatural thrill ride into the dark side of religion and one woman’s quest to set herself free.
2. If you could spend time with a character from your book whom would it be? And what would you do during that day? I’d be Claire, the heroine. I’d go deeper into the desert than she did and there discover the natural magic that she finally discovers and calls upon at the end of the spell-casting tale.
3. If you could have been the author of any book ever written, which book would you choose? I’d choose to be the author of The Unholy because it’s the story of years of treating patients and writing a dramatization of the reality of dark magic and the human capacity to choose between life and death.
4. Are your characters based off real people or did they all come entirely from your imagination? The characters in The Unholy are inspired by actual experiences culled from many encounters with actual people. Their lives have been immersed in the dark regions of religion and the potential to access the power of truth and the light of consciousness.
5. What made you want to become a writer? I feel I was born a psychologist and writer, my dreams confirming, my life testament to it.
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GIVEAWAY INFORMATION
Paul DeBlassie III will be awarding $25 Amazon or B/N GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.
Follow the tour and comment; the more they comment, the better their chances of winning. The tour dates can be found here:
Another great book to discover. Thanks so much for sharing this with us.
ReplyDeleteThanks for hosting!
ReplyDeleteThank you for hosting The Unholy!
ReplyDeleteI liked the excerpt, thank you.
ReplyDeleteSounds like a great book!
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