Follow the Thread

My second novel, The Awakening, was the opening act in a three part tale of the end of the world.  Rather than taking the position of any one religion, the Rebirth trilogy weaves "...Hopi, Mayan and Christian prophesies with current events and the theories of quantum physics. The Awakening is a novel of the ending of a reality, of the reclaiming of a dimension that we call home. Told from a perspective beyond the filter of mythology, the beginning of the end is shown from a non-religious perspective while embracing the spiritual origins of our own existence."

The second part of the story, A Tide of Shadows, is due out early next summer.  In preparation for the sequel, I've been spending a tremendous amount of time with my nose buried in international news sites, defense and scientific journals, and religious texts as I hone the details that herald in the end of reality.

While I won't give away the next portion of the story, this is one trail of bread crumbs that I ultimately discarded.  It can be argued that the following events are one of the threads that lead to the end of the world - threads that the mortals in The Awakening were encouraged to find and unravel.  Had the teenager, Jenny, brought the following to the attention of Nathaniel (one of the Old Ones), he would have acknowledged its validity and stated that it was too large for them to personally address.  If The Awakening seemed a little "too real" for comfort, it's because the storyline that connects all three books is backed up with history, current events, and the latest discoveries from the scientific community.

Follow the thread...

The first piece...

"Terrified at her torment, they will stand far off and cry: "'Woe! Woe, O great city, O Babylon, city of power! In one hour your doom has come!'" ~ Revelation 18:10

The second piece...

"Babylon... was an Akkadian city-state (founded in 1867 BC by an Amorite dynasty) of ancient Mesopotamia, the remains of which are found in present-day Al Hillah, Babil Province, Iraq, about 85 kilometers (55 mi) south of Baghdad." ~ Wikipedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babylon

The third piece...

Distance between Baghdad (Iraq) and Tehran (Iran): 431.11 miles

http://www.mapcrow.info/Distance_between_Tehran_IR_and_Baghdad_IZ.html

The fourth piece...

"The IAEA acknowledges that some of the activities set out in its annexe may have civilian as well as military applications, but it says that 'others are specific to nuclear weapons.'  So the agency's grounds for concern are not that Iran conducted "this" activity or had documents on "that" process. The question it is posing is that if Iran's research effort really touched on all these areas, then what else could it have been doing but attempting to develop a bomb?" ~ BBC News (November 8, 2011)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-15648166

The fifth piece...

"GOP frontrunner Mitt Romney and increasingly popular Newt Gingrich both used a presidential debate on foreign policy to back a pre-emptive military strike against Iran to stop the country obtaining nuclear weapons. Former Massachusetts governor Romney said that if 'crippling sanctions' failed, war would be an option because it is 'unacceptable' for Iran to become a nuclear power, while ex-speaker Gingrich argued the United States should covertly 'take out their scientists,' and 'break up their systems'." ~ The Daily Mail (November 13, 2011)

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2060875/Republican-debate-Mitt-Romney-Newt-Gingrich-Iran-war.html

The sixth piece...

"The US has test-fired a new weapon which can travel at five times the speed of sound, the Pentagon says.  The missile was launched from Hawaii and reached its target on a Pacific atoll 2,300 miles (3,700km) away in less than half an hour.  The Advanced Hypersonic Weapon is part of a programme to build new high-speed long-range missiles. Its aim is to allow the US military to strike targets anywhere in the world within an hour." ~ BBC News (November 18, 2011)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-15790620

The Awakening is available through Amazon in paperback for $12.99.  It is also available in Kindle, Nook, and various ebook formats for $2.99.  Autographed copies of the trade paperback edition are available through my personal Web site for $15 - which includes two day priority mail shipping anywhere in the United States.