Satan's Last Stand (the Connor series) - Dirk B. (Page 47 of 55)

Awesome idea (if I do say so myself): rather than have Connor make up and show what he's seeing of Christ to the other members of the tour group, I'm going to change it so that the visions are real and Connor is merely showing what he truly sees. I can even switch scenes briefly to put Connor there, meaning a quick jump to the past. Connor will be in the historic scene, pretty much as he describes Christ addressing him across time, but the visions will not show Connor in the past, just that he is there and God is talking to him.

Hopefully, I can come up with things for Christ and Connor to say that have double meanings: to the others in the tour group, it'll reinforce they're growing belief of Connor as Christ (or at least won't give away that Connor is the Antichrist); only Connor knows that the words are intended for the Antichrist. Of course, God could give away Connor's real identity at any time, but He agreed up front not to do so.

I'll have to write up all these interactions up front to ensure it can actually be done in some way. It should be similar to the way Phanuel answers the questions of the group about why Antonio's noble deeds (eg saving Connor from the caracal at the baptism site) aren't really noble. Instead, Phanuel says Connor probably would not have been harmed by the caracal. He also says great deeds await you. Instead, I could put that in the message from Christ at each stop.

Cool ability: since Connor can use telekinesis, he ought to be able raise himself off the ground, though I intend to make it a limited ability, but if he can levitate, then he can use that ability (heightened temporarily by the wine from the Garden of Eden) to help him when he runs & jumps off the edge of Megiddo to jump over the attacking horde of demons and come at them from behind, while his cousins attack from the front. In other words, he uses telekinesis to help him stay in the air longer, while his boosted momentum from jumping from Megiddo takes him much farther than he otherwise could, over the hordes to land behind them.

The other option is to ignore telekinesis in this particular scene and make it the wine that allows him to sail over the hordes. An easier explanation.

LOL. Connor is already capable of telekinesis (tk). For example, at Capernaum, he uses tk to tear stones from the old ruins and hurl those with bone-crunching force at the demonic hyenas. He's also the one who topples the Baldacchino in St. Peter's Basilica. Also, I need tk to explain his ability to manipulate clouds (have them form, have them dissipate, have them concentrate into thunderstorms, etc.) and to manipulate water to generate a rainbow over St. Peter's Basilica at the end. He also uses tk during a major fight with his father halfway through book 2, and again at the climax of book 2, when God "cleanses the Temple".

I was merely considering whether or not to involve tk in his jump off Megiddo. He'll use tk again in his battle against De Rosa's most powerful lieutenant at the end of book 3.

Since I've hated the term corporeal demon since almost near the beginning of the first draft, I'm strongly considering George's term: zombie demons. To be sure no one has a copyright on the word zombie, I googled and found this:

An undead person created by reanimating a corpse is exactly what my corporeal demons are. In the second draft, they won't be grown from DNA but rather will simply involve demons taking over corpses and using their supernatural powers to heal minor signs of decay. The weakest demons can only keep it up for a few months; Satan can keep it up indefinitely.

A typical characteristic of zombies, though, is that they don't speak, whereas many of mine have to. Also, I don't know enough about zombies, but the film clips I've seen over the years had them all moving quite slowly (walking). My demons can move quite quickly when they need to (e.g., the zombie nuns in Nazareth).

Am I violating any well-established rules of zombies if they can speak and run?

I could try to come up with a different word, but the fact that zombies are reanimated corpses, fits perfectly. The downside of the term is that a Catholic thriller with zombies will probably cost me some of the potential audience since I'm going for a mostly serious trilogy.

Alternatives to zombie demons include: physical demons (yawn), solid/hard demons (yuck), bodily demons, and fleshy demons (love this one). I think I like fleshy demons even better than zombie demons.

Zombies move quite quickly in World War Z.
https://gamerant.com/fast-zombie-trope- … ays-later/

How about demon flesh, demon meat, demon corps (pronounced like Marine Corps)?

grumpies makes me think of carebears

I'm not giving up. Deathies, or deathlies or deathers.

Theodore Sturgeon: The Professor's Teddy Bear

Just spent the whole day applying edits from a stack of 30+ reviews. Then I counted. Only 36 to go. Kill me now.

Question. I finally described what demonic spirits look like, and they do not look like angels, who look like the most stunning of humans (details TBD). Due to the evil tendencies of demonic spirits, their spirit forms have turned nasty looking. They look like rotting (partially decomposed) human corpses with wings. I love that look for them. It's also easy for the reader to visualize.

The conundrum is that demon spirits in the new draft cannot grow bodies from DNA (too hokey). Instead, they can turn dead bodies into zombies. They enter the dead body of someone who hasn't decayed too much, heal minimal signs of decay, absorb whatever knowledge there is in the dead human's brain, and then proceed to use that body as if it were still alive.

If I stick with the current look of demonic spirits, it'll mean they look like rotting humans, and they take over (slightly) rotting humans' bodies in order to function. There's a consistency there, but I wonder if it's a good idea for the spirits to look like their stolen bodies. I need to make sure the reader knows which one I'm talking about at all times.

Among other things, when you shoot a zombie, the closer you get to destroying it, the more its zombie body will decompose in front of your eyes. It's face will melt, and it will eventually dissolve completely if you shoot it often enough to "terminate" the little [censored]. Once terminated, the spirit arises from it, looking very similar to the decomposing body.

There's a lot of duplication there and the potential to confuse the reader, so I'm considering changing the look of their spirit forms, assuming I can figure out another look for the spirits that's as gruesome as a rotting human with wings. I'm leaning toward changing their look to something else.

Thoughts?

If I proceeded as intended, then demonic spirits always look like rotting corpses. It's their spirit form I'm referring to here.
When a spirit assumes control of a dead body, it looks like the dead body brought back to life. When it can no longer maintain that dead body (e.g., hit with too many bullets), the spirit takes off and its spirit form still looks like the rotting corpse it will always looked like. Meanwhile, the dead body it abandoned turns into rotting flesh and/or liquified remains.

The fact that I'm having to explain this in detail tells me to find a different look for the demonic spirits.