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Snippets of The Prodigal Band Trilogy Controversial Topics Series: Episode One-Politics

Welcome to the latest Snippet Series within The Prodigal Band Trilogy, Controversial Topics! In the previous post I mentioned two of the most controversial topics within the trilogy, evolution and indentured servitude, both topics relating to two of the prodigal band members. But I will begin the series with a topic that does not get a lot of play within the trilogy, politics.

Here is one definition of politics: the activities associated with the governance of a country or other area, especially the debate or conflict among individuals or parties having or hoping to achieve power. (Source: Bing search engine)

I chose politics as the first in the series not only because of the mess regarding the recent presidential election in the US—and I did not vote for either Trump or Biden as I do not support either one, nor am I Republican or Democrat, nor am I left-wing or right-wing…and in my opinion what was defined as left- or right-wing back in the 60s and 70s has changed greatly over the last twenty or so years. In other words, I am apolitical. As for who will actually wind up in the White House next month, I have to hand it to George Wallace (his awful racism aside), who said this truth—“There’s not a dime’s worth of difference between a Republican and a Democrat.” (Note: Wallace was Democrat, which today would seem extremely contradictory since he really was racist and today’s Democrats act like “social justice warrior” types (but I still think they are closet racists…what exactly have they done for blacks other than keep them in poverty? The nation’s poorest blacks all live in Democrat-run cities like Baltimore and Detroit!).

Well, enough of “politics”! BTW, I hate politics! It’s all about power, after all.

No matter what definition I use for politics, it is the ‘ruler’ over the politics that remains hidden to most voters or otherwise. In some nations this ruler is the one with the most money, or rules over some dictator, or rules over some general, or is seemingly an oligarch or bankster or criminal even. Some nations are monarchies like the UK that have governing bodies like Parliaments and some are ruled by religious types or are backed by religious leaders (think Iran and Israel here). In my novels, the seeming ‘rulers’ are extremely wealthy bankers and oligarchs and aristocrats, within Britain (do I even mention the Royal Family? Hardly…but these books are fictional, after all).

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Parable from Luke 15: The Prodigal Son Meets The Prodigal Band (Part Two)

In Part One of this episode, here, the Prodigal Band mirrors the beginnings of the Prodigal Son within the Gospel of Luke Chapter 15, where the prodigal son is given his inheritance and then proceeds to waste the fortune given to him on ‘riotous living,’ which, if one ever read from the celebrity tabloids and popular culture magazines of the 60s through the 90s, mirrored the lifestyles of the most famous and notorious rock stars. Some of these rockers, however, would regret their wasted—and I mean wasted!—drug addictions and such, including the so-called ’27 Club’ of rockers who died or suicided (or, some say, were murdered) legends such as Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison, Janice Joplin, Brian Jones, and others of whatever age, such as Kurt Cobain, Chris Cornell and Chester Bennington and more. And let’s not forget the recently passed Eddie Van Halen, who had serious health issues likely brought about by his ‘rock star lifestyle’.

Luke 15: 14: “And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in the land; and he began to be in want.”

The next two verses say that the prodigal son “joined” himself to a citizen of that country he was in, and was to feed swine in the fields; in the meantime, he craved being about to eat those corn husks he fed as he was given virtually nothing in return.

15:17: “And when he came to himself, he said, how many hired servants of my father’s have bread enough and to spare, and I perish in hunger!”

The ‘famine’ referenced in verse 14 is spiritual as well as physical but certainly not financial, as the members of the prodigal band are all filthy rich. They have ‘spent’ all of their true actual beings, especially spiritual, on the ‘riotous living’ in verse 13 as stated in part one. They were wasted in every way they could think. Chapter Seven of Battle of the Band features several instances of their ‘wasted’ selves: singer Erik, not being able to get near his baby son, turns to alcoholism; guitarist Jack, in anger over hurting his woman who was pregnant but didn’t let him know that until the 1993 tour was over, turned to drug addiction, as did bassist Keith, who lost his wife over infidelity; drummer Tom lost his lover to another hated man; guitarist Mick was poisoned by a drug laced with poison, blamed on his partner but committed by his ‘friend’ Swami Negran as punishment for not fulfilling their ‘soul-selling oath’ to the satanic figure Corion; synthist Bry suddenly hurt his back on a short vacation that would bring about unintended consequences later. So yes, they were certainly in want!

The next two verses about going to another country and working for someone there feeding pigs and going hungry over it doesn’t really play out in the novel, unless one considers the ‘citizen’ they are ‘working’ for is an evil satanic agenda of debauching the youth as they had been ‘assigned’ to carry out. And they do their best to carry this evil agenda to fruition to the point where they are anything but economically ‘hungry,’ so that this ‘hunger’ is a spiritual one that is having its negative consequences in more ways than one. And no band members feels this hunger more than its front man, singer Erik. In Chapter Nine of Battle of the Band, his wife Ger ‘betrays’ him by being with her personal assistant for sex as well as ‘exercise,’ for she has convinced herself that she is ‘fat’ because the tabloids say she is, which also leads to her serious bout with bulimia (referenced here) that she hid from her man. Angry over it, Erik leaves her and continues his self-pity over it even when she tries to apologize, which he will not accept—and then gets plastered with booze that evening, leading to him (as well as his ‘bro’ bassist Keith) winding up with mild heart attacks in a hospital, having added Bry’s back medication to their drunkenness. And their wanting to end their spiritual ‘hunger’ in the process.

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The Prodigal Band Trilogy Original Deleted Scenes, Part Four

Welcome to another episode of the scenes and sections that were deleted from the original OmegaBooks self-published ‘Prodigal Band Trilogy’ novels.

In the previous deleted episode, Ger, the girlfriend and future wife of prodigal band singer Erik, and Jarris, the wife of bassist Keith, were taking a break from starring in a movie in Hollywood, discussing an escapade featuring Laurie, the girlfriend and future wife of band guitarist Jack. Gossip. In this episode, taking place after the UK ban of the group has been lifted and the band returns to their homes, Ger, a model with the Morreson Modeling Agency, is being offered a much more ‘fashionable’ scene that would make her an idol to millions of teens and women seeking the latest fashion trends. The deal would also put her on the same celebrity A-list as her man, Erik. The scene takes place in April, 1991 at the Morreson Agency, and features jeans designer Sybil and entertainment promoter Colin Darnell, who is featured in a previous snippet as the ban on the band is lifted also featuring Jack and Laurie. This episode was originally within Chapter Five of Battle of the Band.

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The Prodigal Band Trilogy Character Snippets: Tom, the Drummer

Sorry this post is late…no internet for 24 hours, went up about 1 p.m. today…

Now that the holidays are about over, next up is Tom, the drummer. Of all the band members, Tom was the most difficult to characterize and has that ‘walking contradiction’ feel. On the one hand he grew up extremely poor, son of indentured servants, in a true slum section called the Hovels; on the other hand, he surrounded himself with jet-setting celebrities and sons and daughters of aristocracy. On the one hand he was a loner of sorts and tended to show up at gigs and band meetings late; on the other hand he could only be himself surrounded by his band mates, their women, or roadies. On the one hand he loved to argue–with his antagonist Mick, but also with his band manager, his woman, a princess, and other friends among the jet-setters; on the other hand he has no truly discordant agenda with the group and seeks no attention within the group. And, when he is bored with his jet-set entourages, he travels the world meeting ‘real’ people (such as Sherpas in Nepal, African tribesmen in Tanzania, and Muslims in Morocco), and loves mountain climbing (but not skiing). One minute he’s an arrogant pretender among those he considers phonies, and the next minute he’s as humble as a celebrity could get. He pretends to ‘channel’ the so-called ‘god’ Corion using one form of ‘persona’ and then meets ‘real’ people and becomes an activist of sorts, and even converses with good spirits. He even paid off all indentured debt in his hometown of Walltown.

Here is his description: “A short, curly-blond percussionist once angered by lost love approached with the others to an unknown destination, glad with a full life behind him.” He is five-foot-six and tends to wear cotton clothing.

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Snippets of The Prodigal Band Trilogy: Suspense

Suspense is defined as a play on anxiety, and when reading a book or watching a show or movie, “suspense” leaves one “on tenterhooks” as if one is holding one’s breath waiting for some event to happen. Mystery novels and horror novels and crime novels are loaded with suspense, and likely all novels have some suspense attached to them.

There is plenty of suspense in The Prodigal Band Trilogy, but in only a few instances is the suspense of truly “being on tenterhooks” level exists in this three-books-in-one trilogy. Below I will “snippet” perhaps the most suspenseful part of the book, which takes place in Chapter Twelve of The Prodigal Band.

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Snippets of The Prodigal Band Trilogy: Paranormal

The two previous set of snippets dealt with the occult; this one deals with the paranormal. Some might consider occult and paranormal the same thing, but there are differences. Occult implies humans practicing witchcraft or satanic rituals or playing at them–that is, occult is where, to one degree or another, humans are in control or at least are doing the bidding of the spirit that is taking part in or leading the ritual. Paranormal, according to the definition I found, implies lack of control on the part of humans to some extent: denoting events or phenomena such as telekinesis or clairvoyance that are beyond the scope of normal scientific understanding. That is, normal human understanding!

The two snippets in this post, both from the final book of the trilogy, The Prodigal Band, are clearly beyond human understanding, as both events are completely under divine control, for divine purposes. One of the snippets is similar to an actual event that happened to someone I know. Similar events also occurred to some very key figures in the Bible.

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Snippets of The Prodigal Band Trilogy: Occult, Part 2

Part One of this snippet-occult series delves into mock occult practices which anyone that feels like faking occult practices could do, such as claiming to ‘channel’ some spirit entity so as to embed oneself into some New Age celebrity grouping, for instance. Heck, IMHO, anyone can claim to be a ‘witch’ or ‘wizard’ just by buying a Ouija Board or Tarot Cards or pretend to perform séances. Now I never owned a Ouija Board but I once bought Tarot Cards having no clue as to how to use them as a witch would, but just to see what Tarot Cards looked like. One girls’ slumber party I attended–I was in a high school B-list sorority–I witnessed (without taking part in it) a séance on a sorority member performed by another sorority member who may or may not have ever performed séances before. As I stated in the previous post, any activity I had with anything occultist stopped the night two friends and I created a mock Ouija Board and would up calling up spirits we should never have called up, scaring the crap out of all of us so that they had to walk me home over a mile around 11 p.m. and it was still winter.

In part 2, the snippets call forth much more sinister forces than mere fake channeling of some New Age ‘god.’ Anyone who studies the occult knows why occult rituals are used–for true witchcraft, and to capture souls for the forces of evil, the devil, aka Satan, which in The Prodigal Band Trilogy is referred to as Corion, a fictional false god of an ancient fictional Celtic cannibal sect that rivaled the Druids, called ‘the Crag-Dwellers’ of the mountains of Wales. Now who would want to ‘capture souls for the forces of evil’? The spiritual forces of evil, of course, and their minions on Earth whom they have given such as power, wealth, fame, fortune, and lusts in exchange for their loyalty to the Evil. And who would be victimized by these forces? Folks who get suckered into seeking advantages over others by “selling their souls to” the devil and such, which is supposedly rampant in the annals of popular culture, according to some. Rock stars, for instance, but also their fans.

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Snippets of The Prodigal Band Trilogy: Occult, Part 1

Along with snippets relating to the fiction genre known as horror within The Prodigal Band Trilogy are snippets of horror’s ‘sidekick,’ the occult. I have only witnessed the ‘milder’ side of occultism–Ouija Boards, Tarot Cards, mock séances with fake ‘mediums,’ and in all instances these tools were not being used by actual ‘witches’ or wiccans. Just ‘playing’ at it during parties or whatever. Yet one evening at a friend’s house more than a mile from my own house two friends and I did get a good look at what true witchcraft would look like without realizing it, and the event scared the crap out of me to the point where the two friends had to walk me home around 11 p.m.! After that, I eschewed any and all of these practices! But I did get to witness actual occult practices, and, while writing the trilogy, was glad I did partake in the occult, a little bit, knowing I would never do such things again. Any other knowledge of occult rituals came from horror movies or fiction novels.

All three novels that make up The Prodigal Band Trilogy have occult aspects. Part 1 of this snippet-occult series shows the mockery side of the occult as well as the witnessing of pure occultist evil that took place inside of a separate room within what is called an ‘Ashram,’ which is a Hindu religious retreat that could also be used in any eastern-type religion (which is what Swami Negran’s ‘Church of the Circle of Unity’ is derived from, using Hindu/Sikh systems for a New Age cult. Negran is a prominent fictional evil character within the trilogy. His successor, fake ‘healer’ Cole Blessing, is featured in the second snippet.)

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Snippets of The Prodigal Band Trilogy: Mystery

There is plenty of mystery within this trilogy, but it is not mystery in terms of crime (as with Sherlock Holmes), suspense, or science fiction, but spiritual mystery. However, the following snippets that follow a specific event highlighted by revelations from the spirit being for Good known as the ‘witch of the Hovels’ do incorporate crime and suspense themes. All of these snippets are found within the second book of the trilogy, The Prophesied Band.

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Snippets of The Prodigal Band Trilogy: Horror

I grew up immersed in the Horror genre, movies mostly, but also some comic books. When I was a pre-teen and teenager, some local TV station had aSaturday night movie series called “ChillerTheater.” Today that has morphed into the DirecTV and DishTV channel “The Chiller Channel” or whatever it’s called now. It was on this show series I saw “Godzilla,” “The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms,” “The Crawling Eye,” and various Japanese and other monster movies, various zombie/ghoul/vampire/Frankenstein-type monsters and serial murder movies many of which starred my fave actor at the time, Vincent Price. Basically, if Vincent Price was in the movie, I watched it.

In my twenties, I started reading horror genre fiction but I thought horror movies were more exciting. There was one book–I have no idea what the title was but it’s one of the few I actually finished reading–about some vampire-like rock band that recruits roadies or fans or whatever and then turns them into vampires, but one small group of fans turns against the band. Eventually, the vampire band gets “burned” if you know what I mean. But I did not buy the book because it had vampires, but because it had vampires who were rock stars!

And around this time, Ozzie Osbourne was making it huge…And. Oh yeah, AC-DC, “Highway to Hell” and all that…

One of the reasons I began writing the books that make up the trilogy was the notion, which has some merit but which can also be debunked, that rock stars are all “devil worshipers” and rock music is “the devil’s music” which quite a few Christians still believe is true. Many supposedly Christian YouTube channels try to verify this over and over and over while mentioning a few, such as the guitarist for MegaDeath–I forgot his name–are avowed believers in Christ (as is rapper DMX). My point is not to prove rockers are not devil worshipers; some clearly are (such as Marilyn Manson). My point is wanting folks to get over the notion that listening to rock music is going to turn one against Christ or for Satan. As if listening to country music and someone like Miley Cyrus is going to turn one to Christ!

But anyway…

To contrast the band called Sound Unltd’s beginning and rise to fame and fortune with their inability to handle it wisely later, and then the coming trials and tribulations they face, I thought it would be a good idea to bring in the most debauched period of their ‘supremacy’ in rock music. This is where the horror comes in. There are no monsters or vampires or zombies or mass murders, but it still has horror themes including ‘rituals of the craft’ if you know what I mean.

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