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Woohoo! Revised chapter six is up (the murder investigation). This is a heavily revised version of this chapter, including an additional second scene. The first half is shorter, and includes the new cause of death, the analysis of the demon's remains, and different video footage. I also moved the results of the autopsy from chapter eight to here, to speed up the story.

The second scene is probably going to cost me my PG-13 rating.

Quick, go read.
Dirk

What browser do you use, Jack? I use Google Chrome. Also, what format do you save your Word documents in? I use the default (.docx).

Jack, what version of Word are you using? I've rarely had problems with Word 2007 and, more recently, Word 2019. For what it's worth, I use CTRL-V to paste my Word content directly into the TNBW text field. If I'm editing an existing chapter, I use CTRL-A, then CTRL-V. I never use the popup window.

$40 for the hardcover version of Dune rereleased to coincide with the movie. Yikes! The last time I paid serious money for hardcover fiction was the ending to the nine book cycle in Star Wars that killed off Jacen Solo. Pretty much the same character arc as Kylo Ren. Good kid turns to the dark side and is redeemed at death. I was kind of hoping they wouldn't kill Jacen since it would have been much more interesting to follow his path back into society after having killed millions. If they had done that, I might have kept reading SW books. As is, I stopped after that book.

I was searching for more info on the new Dune trilogy and stumbled on versions of the Dune saga in French, Spanish, and German. Milking that franchise had got to be a full-time job. They should hire Kathleen Kennedy, whose contract at Lucasfilm is due to expire in a few years. What producer would green light the final trilogy of the Skywalker Saga without enough of an outline to steer the damn story? Granted the Emperor's return was great, but it was an asspull of epic proportions.

Forget my earlier comment about the dark figure not needing to turn into fog. I forgot he's putting on a show for the security cameras, plus there's the fog that attacks Connor in the chapel.

Revised chapter 4 (the start of the investigation) is up for points.

Brainstorming assistance, please. In my revised detective scenes, I'll have a number of demons. They can function in one of several ways:
a) by possessing an ordinary human (appears in the Bible and in my Exorcism chapter)
b) by appearing in a human (but non-corporeal) form (angels do this in the Bible, although demons can do it too)
c) by animating a recently dead body (written about by theologians in Church history speculating about sex between humans and demons)
d) by growing a new body by sampling dead tissue. I think I made this one up, but can't remember anymore.

Of those four ways, most of my demons will be based on type d (sampling dead tissue). When they abandon their physical bodies, they revert to ghostly apparitions (spirits) and their demonic bodies dissolve. I doubt I'll have use for types b and c. I mention them in the new scene 1.4 for completeness sake.

I do, however, have need for an even more powerful demonic form, namely one who can shapeshift. This would be restricted to Satan alone, the most powerful of all demons. He has a physical body (type d), but he's not limited to just one shape. If he wants, he can convert from one human form to another at will. I'm thinking of explaining this by saying he can edit his body's DNA and thereby change shape. It requires great power, which is why he's the only one who can do it.

Thoughts?

Thanks
Dirk

Yup. Crucifixions and demons may be the answer. My first revised scene will be up tomorrow. I just need to decide if I want the reader to meet Cardinal Vitale and the dark figure before the former turns up dead.

Here's a silly observation. Why does a dark being who can practically destroy a church need to turn into fog to slip under a door? You'd think he could simply turn the lock using his powers and walk in. This comes up because I'm thinking of getting rid of the turning-into-fog part. Necessary as I redefine what demons in human form can and can't do. They can sample dead tissue and assume the dead person's identity (e.g., the chief exorcist of Rome), but if the demon dissolves, it will need to sample other dead tissue to reconstitute itself as someone else. I think this limitation should be true up to and including Satan himself since he too is a demon, albeit the most powerful one. Too bad, since it would be cool for him to change from human form into a suitably horned beast at will.

Hmm. I'm definitely leaning toward crucifixions for the manner of all four deaths. Cardinals are ideal since they each are the titular head of a church in Rome. I could kill them in their own churches. The downside is that Angels & Demons also targeted four cardinals, successfully killing three. The fourth almost died but for the heroics of Tom Hanks's character. The other downside is that now all of the killings will be identical, further complicating my desire to keep the story fresh as it proceeds. There would be no accomplices like the gravedigger to hunt down. The gravedigger led the inspectors to Father Coppola, who conveniently keels over when arrested. It mixes things up somewhat, but involves two scenes of the inspectors reporting to higher ups and two interrogation scenes. If I kept going, I'd need even more of those.

I narrowed it to four cardinals as part of the last draft. It doesn't have to be cardinals and once included other clergy in key positions as well. That was my original plan. A few of each. One advantage of cardinals is that they're old and may simply have died of old age (or coronavirus). Naturally, if the press gets a picture of cardinals (or other clergy) crucified on a church wall, the cat would be out of the bag. It needs to be clergy in positions of power since the Antichrist is trying to capture the Church from within.

If I keep the body count low, it should help avoid too much public scrutiny. There need to be murders before Connor leaves for the Holy Land and after, so that Connor can be fully ruled out as a suspect. Four total seemed like a reasonable number. He may be ruled out anyway since he's only 175 cm tall while the killer is 185 cm.

Current problems, of which there are many, is that Connor continues to be attacked in the Holy Land, which could theoretically be the work of the False Prophet (or even Satan), as opposed to some mystery about how the Antichrist is able to kill in Rome and the Holy Land at virtually the same time.