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| Angella's website |
A big welcome to urban fantasy author Angella Graff who's not only stopping here as the last stop on a whirlwind blog tour but is offering 10 e-copies of her book by random draw - just leave a comment on any or all of the blog stops to enter. Details at the end of the blog.
About Angella Graff
Angella Graff
was born and raised in the desert city of Tucson, Arizona. She
married and became a mother very young, and after getting started with her
family, began her University studies where she found her passion for
creative writing, history and theology.
She now resides
in Tucson with her husband Joshua, three children, Christian,
Isabella and Adia, and their three cats, Archive (Ivy), Lasciel and Fix.
She prefers to spend her days writing, gardening, and reading
non-fiction theology theory books. Angella is also an avid, if not fanatic fan
of Doctor Who and BBC Sherlock, which suit her
dry, sarcastic humor, a lot of which is apparent in her writing.
Currently
Angella is working on an Urban Fantasy series called 'The Judas Curse',
involving extensive research into Mythos, Christianity and history. The
first book of 'The Judas Curse', 'The Awakening', was released in November 2012.
Find out more or contact Angella
Read Angella's other blog posts on her 'Judas Kiss' tour
Twitter:
https://twitter.com/AngellaGraffFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/AngellaGraffAuthor
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6541966.Angella_Graff
Website:http ://angellagraffbooks.wordpress.com/
The Bible - Quilted Stories
Guest Post from Angella Graff
I have
to say that coming up with individual blog topics for this amazing tour was a
lot tougher than I thought. When the idea was first presented to me I
thought, “Well I never shut up, so this should be easy. I always have
something to say.” Then, as I tried to take on this task I was sitting at
my computer, staring blankly at the screen, waiting for something to come up.
And…
nothing. You’d think that as a writer, since it’s what I do, I wouldn’t
have a shortage of things to write about. I was email chatting with the
amazing host of this blog, and she actually suggested that maybe I touch on the
topic of how I came to write 'the Judas Curse' series. Not the, I was
inspired by blah blah blah post that I’ve answered a dozen times for
interviews, but what really happened to make these books possible.
I
realize that the book is a typical contemporary fantasy. Detective meets
supernatural beings, chaos ensues. Okay maybe not typical, because I
don’t think there’s a whole list of writers combining western theology with
ancient mythos, but it’s a typical enough story-arc. I can’t even tell
you how many times I hear my husband use the name, “Jim Butcher,” in reference
to something I’ve written.
But
although it may not seem like it, research did, and always has, gone into my
writing. Whether I’m writing some historical piece, some random blog rant
about a topic that got under my skin, or several hundred pages dealing with old
Greek mythology, I never stop researching.
Then
again, I’m a historian—or well, I like to play one from time to time. I
over-stayed my welcome when I was at the University, taking unnecessary history
and theology classes because I just couldn’t stop shoving information into my
brain about the history and psychology of Western religion.
I
remember sitting in my first theology class, and my teacher made some joke
about Ancient Rome, and a lot of the students around the class gave that
awkward, “She’s one of those guys,” chuckle, but I thought it was
hysterical. Never in my life had I ever heard anyone make ancient history
jokes before and I thought, “Yes. This is where I belong.”
A few
weeks later that very same professor said, “You know class, there’s a joke in
the bible?”
Now,
having grown up in a staunchly religious family with pastors galore, I was
skeptical. I had no idea where she was going with the comment, and of
course the very idea of a joke in the bible—I had to hear it.
“Peter,
you are the rock on which I build this church.”
It
took me a moment, but I got it. Peter. Petrus. Petrus,
in Greek meant rock. So what he said was, “Rock, you are the rock on
which I build this church.” Ha. Ha. Ha.
Okay
it wasn’t funny, but it was chuckle-worthy. In that moment it took all of
the stigma of supernatural surrounding the Bible and made it suddenly what it
was—a human written piece of literature. Not magical pages handed down by
some omniscient being, but some guys who got together and quilted stories told
generations before they were born into this thing that we’re still quoting
today as though it’s sociologically and philosophically relevant.
Now,
don’t misunderstand me—I’m not trying to be insulting, but as a person who grew
up in that environment, who was slowly making her way from religion to an
Eastern philosophy, I needed that moment to break that sort of hold that this
ancient religion held over me.
There
were moments then, that led me to 'the Judas Curse' series. The story of
the Fig tree in the Gospel of Mark. Jesus cursed a tree for not having
fruit when he was hungry, as though it was the tree’s fault. I thought,
imagine if his power actually made him slightly mad, and the more he used his
powers, the madder he became. Imagine that.
The
gospel of Thomas which reads in the opening lines, “These are the secret
sayings which the living Jesus spoke and which Judas Thomas, the twin, wrote
down.”
The
twin, I thought? The twin? Jesus’s twin?
I
don’t, for a moment, believe that was the implication, but the idea was there,
and when that stigma of holy and sacred and supernatural were removed, my brain
let my imagination take over and out of it came The Judas Curse. I was
able to quilt together my love of history, of theology, of storytelling and
create this series.
Yes,
I’ve experienced some negative stigma regarding the series. People who
don’t want their religion changed, the ideas are sacred to them, the stories in
the Bible are as real as the history of their own lives, and with that, I just
have to roll with the punches.
My
story is for those who can divorce themselves from what they believe, or have
faith in, and it’s for those who just want to enjoy the fantasy of it.
Who want to read about alternative views such as Isa of Kashmir who many
believed was Jesus of Nazareth, a man who escaped from Jerusalem after being
rescued from the cross. Look it up, I promise it’s fascinating stuff.
My
story is definitely different; it’s going to ask a lot of you, because I asked
a lot of myself and my knowledge bank while I was writing it. I had no
qualms about twisting and distorting ancient mythos from the Greeks, Norse
gods, and Christianity, and I’m not sorry for it. It’s not perfect, and
it’s not Shakespeare, but it’s mine and it’s something I’m proud of. I
hope, if you read it, you’ll let yourself enjoy it for what it is, and see all
of my own heart and soul poured into it.
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| amazon link |
Book Summary
Judas' Kiss haunts him 2 millenia into his unending existence. Mark's story finally begins to unfold in the newest volume of Angella Graff's well received series: The Judas Curse.
Torn between
petty gods and their hunger for power, a faithless police officer slips
further into machinations that have already cost the life of someone he
loved. Just as Detective
Ben Stanford is ready to put the past at rest, he's pulled down once again
into the chaos of gods, theology, and mystery. Told that his sister is
alive and the two immortals, Mark and Judas, have been kidnapped by the
treacherous goddess, Nike, Ben must find a way to rescue the pair before
she can harness their powers.
While Mark waits alone, forced to write out
the story of how their powers came to be, and Judas lay tortured by the
angry Goddess, a reluctant Ben must enlist the help of an unwilling being
from the ancient Norse Pantheon.
Time is ticking, and the
hard-headed detective must use everything he learned in the past to prevent
another disaster, which could potentially wipe-out the human race
Ebook available from amazon
My Review
Pacy supernatural thriller with deeper level
On the surface, this is a pacy supernatural
thriller, where various gods from different pantheons - Greek, Norse,
you name-it – battle it out in modern day human bodies. The complications are
enjoyable as you keep track of which god is in whose body, and whether it’s god
or human currently in control. Add to the mix two cursed immortals from Jesus’
day and two likable New York detectives, Ben and Stella. The fact that their
potential love affair is a threesome adds yet more complications; Stella harbours
a god.
The story has plenty of twists and it takes
place in two time periods, the modern day full of murder and mayhem, and the ancient Palestine
of Jeshua’s story as told by Mark, including the men from the east who seek
Jeshua, and his tragic crucifixion. Sound familiar? Well, it isn’t! Angella
Graff has drawn on her theological background to create a very different version
of a history known to most readers from the Bible. Letting one of the apostles
narrate this is a neat element in a complex, clever plot. Make no mistake; the
author knows her Christianity, both as religion and as history and her take on
‘the Judas Kiss’ itself is both playful and provocative. Don’t expect the usual
interpretation of ‘betrayed with a kiss’. Don’t expect the usual anything!
Somehow, Angela Graff manages to prevent
the dialogue and the battles from being as silly as they ought to be, given the
premise. On one level is the hook of resolving each mystery, starting with the
question of whether Ben’s sister is actually still alive, despite her recent
funeral. There are plenty of life-threatening menaces to survive, with
imaginative resolutions. But there is also a deeper level, for those readers
who want to think about the points raised regarding religion – or indeed to
take offence. Without pontificating, Angela Graff’s characters make clear the
damage that religion does, a viewpoint with which I totally sympathise. Whether
someone entrenched in a particular faith would enjoy the story as much, I’m not
sure. This is not a book for Christian fundamentalists.
Although I caught up on events in the previous book, I would recommend reading Bk 1 'The Awakening', before 'The Judas Kiss' as the second book is very much a continuation from the first - and I now fully intend to read the first one!
What a fabulous review and guest post, Jean! Thank you so much for sharing this wonderful book with us!
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