>> "The Dark Coming of the Holy Emissary"
>> "The Coming of the Unholy Emissary"

Those titles would give away the twist at the end of book one. Connor needs to be viewed as a holy figure, and although he won't pretend to be Christ in the second draft, he needs to be someone on Earth who is viewed as being Christ's lieutenant, which the forged Augustine letter refers to as them being in "harmonious communion." That allows Connor to say and do things "on behalf of" Christ as if the thoughts and actions were being communicated by Him to Connor in real time.

Not sure what other series title would sound more thriller-ish, though. "Hunting the Holy Emissary" and titles like it don't work because the series title is greater than just Satan et al pretending to hunt him throughout book 1.

"Wrath of the Holy Emissary" perhaps? I really like that, but he's primarily supposed to be gathering up followers on behalf of Christ from all corners of the Earth, not meeting out punishment (although that'll be part of his performance).

Regardless, I think the series title should include a reference to the Holy Emissary since the series is primarily about him, and his image will be on the cover of book 1.

The Pope's most relevant title to this is the "Vicar of Christ".
Not a fan of Chronicles. If the other titles were used, I might.

Possible series titles at this point are:

The Coming of the Holy Emissary
He's Here!

I prefer the first title.

Connor's new prophesied title in the forged Augustine letter: The Holy Emissary.

Although I also liked the Holy One, the latter is one of a million titles for Christ and would cause too much confusion,
whereas an emissary is "a person sent on a special mission..." Sounds like our boy. :-) Also, his title has a double
meaning. Connor pretends to be the Holy Emissary in book 1, but in book 3, he actually becomes
the Holy Emissary but sent by God the Father to rule over all those worlds filled with grave sinners.

I could potentially call the series "The Coming of the Holy Emissary," "The Holy Emissary Cometh," or "He Cometh."
The latter is obviously intended to draw a comparison between Connor and Christ.

Any preferences? Go ahead, blow these titles out of the water. :-)

No sweat. I do a great job of blowing myself out of the water. Since the Lesser King isn't a title he adopts until late in book 3, I'll still have to call him something (The Lord's Shepherd or the Staff of Christ), and the book blurb mentions his title (one of the two at the left) and asks "Is Connor the prophesied Lord's Shepherd, and can a young orphan accomplish all that in the time remaining?" The forged letter from Augustine has a similar issue. I don't want the prophesy at the beginning focused on whether Connor is the Lesser King but rather on whether he is the Lord's Shepherd/Staff.

Back to the drawing board. The Advent title can be my fallback.
So close!

The Lord's Shepherd vs The Staff of Christ - FWIW, neither of those will be a book title, nor the series title, and there wouldn't be a lot of references to either; one of the ideas, though, was that Connor would refer to himself as the Lord's Shepherd as his "title" after capturing the Vatican, which would happen late in book 1. Somewhere early in book 2, he starts referring to himself as just the Shepherd, which is one of Christ's titles, without actually referring to himself as Christ.

The Lesser King hasn't been used (the closest is The Last of the Lesser Kings, published in 2012). I'm okay with the title bringing LOTR to mind. It's a totally different genre. I had a bunch of other potential names for the series (e.g., The Advent Trilogy or The Advent Chronicles above), but none I liked as much as The Lesser King since the latter title refers to Connor, not Satan nor a concept, and it creates a bit of intrigue (is Connor the Lesser King and why is he a king at all?).

Connor vs the AC - sounds a little too much like a low-budget action movie (e.g. Tarzan vs. the Hunters)
Another title I like is Stalked by the Antichrist and Hunted by the Antichrist.

I think I have a winner: The Lesser King as series title, and I'll find something else for the title of book 3. Since book one no longer has him attempt to seem like Christ returned as a boy, I don't need to hide that he isn't Christ.

Thanks for your suggestions, George.

Slight change of plans. I made the mistake of asking Gemini to critique the idea of Connor as the "Right Hand of God." It totally blew the idea out of the water. Lots of serious potential objections from Christian readers, who would almost certainly think of Christ as the "Right Hand of God." It seems much happier with "The Lord's Shepherd," and gave a whole bunch of reasons why that should be more palatable to my target audience. Connor could then transition from calling himself "The Lord's Shepherd" at the end of book 1 to just "The Shepherd" early in book two, which is most definitely him calling himself Christ.

I could call the series "Chronicles of the Lord's Shepherd." At least that title refers to Connor, even if only indirectly, rather than Satan. Although the "Lord's Shepherd" gets a ridiculous number of false hits on Amazon due to titles like "The Lord is my Shepherd," the Chronicles title is unique and only brings back a few false hits.

Still not a true fan of "The Advent Chronicles" (from my previous post), so I'm leaning toward Chronicles.

Yeah, my concern was that it may scare off secular readers who might otherwise give it a chance. I'm having trouble coming up with anything decent, though, that hasn't been used a million times. Lots of possibilities; all of them heavily used. So far, even Gemini has been a bust for suggestions. Satan's Last Stand puts the focus on the wrong character.

Admittedly, my original idea for the book cover image was someone's bare forearm and hand raising a glowing cross "like King Arthur raising Excalibur over the battlefield," which is the exact wording I use in the prologue when Connor fights the locusts. Got that image in my head from an old Return of the Jedi poster, where you only see a forearm and hand raising a lit lightsaber straight up. As long as that was the image, Satan's Last Stand wasn't too egregious as titles go, although it still focuses on the wrong character.

Once I decided to use an image of Connor like the one on my TNBW cover, where he looks like he could be either good or evil, I realized I needed a different name for the series, especially now that he's supposed to be the right hand of God. "The Coming of the Right Hand of God" seems rather long, although I could leave out the word Right. That would get it down to seven words. Out of curiosity, I looked on Amazon to see if anyone had the guts to name their book "The Coming," and there are two, though both 10+ years old, one from Joe Haldeman, an award-winning sci-fi author.

"The Advent Trilogy" or "The Advent Chronicles", perhaps? They're unused. That would make the titles "Advent - The Rise of Connor," "Advent - The War for Souls," and "Advent - The Lesser King."

I'm my write-up for this (the St. Augustine letter), Christ is doing two "symbolic" things: he wants to save as many people as possible, so he uses his right hand (Connor) to bring them into the Church, but on Judgment Day he'll use his left hand to sweep the wicked into the lake of fire. The right and left hands represent saving grace and punishment, respectively. This is why he is referred to in the Augustine letter as the Right Hand of God.  Technically, this is b.s. because Satan wrote that letter to pave the way for Connor to be accepted in that role.

333 is cute.

Since the Hand of God and the Right Hand of God have been used to death in book titles, I kicked around a few other names.

The Staff of Christ is probably out as a title for Connor himself. Within the story, I prefer to refer to Connor as the Right Hand of God. It's a loftier title for him. It's also more blasphemous for the AC and Satan to refer to him as that.

For the series title, I'm considering changing it from Satan's Last Stand to The Holy One. Satan's not the key character in this story, so I don't see naming the series after him. Surprisingly, The Holy One has only been used once as a series title (sci-fi), although it just came out (naturally). There are variations of the title that refer to Christ, but nothing easily confused with my series. Whatever I eventually settle on, it needs to be clear that the series is about Connor.

The first book cover will probably be almost identical to what's on my cover on this site. Combine that with the series title The Holy One, and it ought to create an immediate (lasting?) connection between Connor and The Holy One.

The first book title would remain The Rise of Connor.

Much as it would be nice to name the first book (or the trilogy) the Hand of God or perhaps the Right Hand of God (assuming I refer to Connor that way rather than the Staff of God), both of those names have been used a million times already. It would be great to be able to use one of those names as a title since it's a much more fitting name to use for someone as important as the Hand of God, assuming that's who Connor is. :-)

The Hand of God Cometh has never been used as a title.
Neither has Cometh the Hand of God.

It occurred to me that I should perhaps refer to Connor simply as the Hand of Christ or, possibly, the Hand of God rather than the Staff of Christ. My current description of the Staff of Christ is that the prophesied kid is an extension of God's hand much the way a staff is an extension of the shepherd's hand. I could change that to make Connor the Hand of God, rather than an extension of it. I think it's more impactful to refer to him that way.

Thoughts?
Dirk

666 in my story is used by God to punish the traitors who invaded holy ground (the Vatican), as opposed to the AC's marking of other humans.

Since Connor is pretending to be Christ until mid book two and then bails on Satan by overcoming his genetic enslavement right after that, he'll never actually implement the mark. However, he will pretend to plan it in the latter half of book two to keep Satan from finding out that Connor is no longer under "parental control." :-)

The traitors were willing followers of the AC, so it seems reasonable that at least they should receive the mark. They then have to worry about someone discovering that they're marked as evil by God.

It's really not that different than if the Allies had tattooed prisoner numbers into the skin of German war criminals after WW2. It would have been a fitting added punishment for those eventually released back into society, especially those who served at Auschwitz and other death camps.

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Yeah, they appear only in the opening pair of chapters, which actually makes them easier to change. I don't have to worry about breaking something ten chapters further into the story.

Compare that to Connor, where I'm eliminating the idea that he is Christ returned as a boy in favour of him supposedly being the Staff of Christ, which is a kid prophesied by Saint Augustine who will be in "harmonious communion" with Christ to carry out Christ's will on Earth as if Christ himself were here in person. In theory, Christ would do this to lead as many people as possible to the safety of the Church at the last minute, followed immediately thereafter by the final judgment.

In reality, the Augustine prophesy was written by Satan in the early fifth century, setting up the arrival of Connor in the distant future.

This change has the potential to break a lot of stuff. Should be fun. :-)

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(309 replies, posted in Fantasy/Magic & Sci-Fi)

What did you think of my previous post about replacing the alterphasic cannons with something less Star Warsian?

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Quick vote: I never really liked the Electi for the elite Imperial guards since it's too evocative of the Elected, rather than the Chosen. I went back and forth with Gemini and "we" came up with the following list. :-) Any preferences?

- The Fideles - the Faithful
- The Ultima - the Ultimate Ones; the meaning in real Latin is farthest, last, or final
- The Terminati - the Terminators (we're talking serious guards here, lol); the meaning in real Latin is ended/completed
- The Domini - the Lord's Own (not necessarily a reference to God, so it works with Imperator); also evocative of the Dominant Ones

I'm leaning toward the Terminati (I'm a sick puppy) and the Domini. Domini I think is best if I wanted the ideal serious name. But since this is a demented story, the Terminati would work well too.

Thoughts?
Dirk

That's if I was writing a novel that tells the Revelation story. My story is based on (derived from?) Revelation but does not attempt to retell the exact same story (it's been done many times). For one thing, which interpretation of Revelation would I follow if I were to retell it? There are probably hundreds of interpretations (I own twelve of them myself, lol, from my original research). The predominant Catholic interpretation is that Revelation is a story about spiritual "warfare" and Christ's ultimate victory over evil. I do know that they generally do not believe in a real, final battle at Armageddon, which is why my final battle of book 3 will be different (Connor's forces vs Satan's forces), though still at Armageddon. Also, I was told, no "actual" war in Heaven when I once asked when in the biblical timeline it occurred. Similarly, I doubt Catholics believe in a real mark of the Beast for everyone on Earth except the martyrs. For one thing, it's simply not practical on a planet with almost 10B people. One interpretation suggested the mark was smartphones (held up to the head) and smartwatches (on the hand/wrist), as if everyone on Earth had those devices. Depending on which interpretation of Revelation you go with, things also don't happen in the order they appear in the book.

So, depending on your beliefs, things can happen out of order or don't happen at all.

Since my story is based on Revelation, I use many important elements of the Book of Revelation, but I adjust them (somewhat) to serve my plot (my interpretation, lol), without going off the deep end, except for the fact that the Antichrist ultimately ends up as the hero of the story, but that's not evident until the end of the trilogy. I end my trilogy roughly the same way as the Bible (the righteous go to Heaven, everyone else goes into the Lake of Fire, which teleports them to other worlds, from which they can never return, so they're in the lake forever). See how I did that, while still following Revelation? :-)

As for 666, since Connor overcomes his genetic enslavement to Satan halfway through book 2, there will be no opportunity for him to implement the mark of the Beast. Nor would he, since he's "Christ" not the Antichrist. So, God uses it while taking back the Vatican to mark the traitors with 666 on their foreheads. Those are the true followers of the beast, so it makes sense that at least they would be marked. You should see what God does with the corporeals (demons) at the Vatican. :-)

On a related note, I can't recall, did you read my Groundhog Day short story? It's a (revised) entry for the do-over contest about Satan's fate more or less how it will happen in the trilogy.

I like a combined cross + staff, especially for Connor, but he won't start wearing it until the day he appears on the balcony at St. Peter's after conquering the Vatican. Maybe an upright staff with a crossbar on it. I also have a use for 666. At the end of book 2, the protagonists try to retake the Vatican with God's help, which includes Him branding all the traitorous Church leaders there with 666 on their foreheads. :-)

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(7 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)

Congratulations, Randy.

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I still hate the alterphasic cannons in the opening pair of chapters. It's nothing more than a miniature Death Star weapon. In other words, a type of laser weapon. Yawn. I had a chat with Gemini about how to improve the tech, and it suggested making it into a weapon that can fire tiny black holes. Instead of the new cannons punching huge holes all the way through the ships with massive energy blasts, I could have mini black holes rip through the ships by tearing apart (via intense gravity) anything within a short distance from the black holes such as the ships' hulls. I'm sure something like it has been done, but I can jazz it up with energy siphoned from the alternate universe. I was hoping to declare this novella done very soon, but the alterphasic cannons are so lame, I hate the idea of leaving them in the story. It would probably take only a few days to figure out the new tech and write it up.

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I have a tricky problem with the distances between ships in my space battles. Unless they get close enough to the terrorizer to be caught in the blast, the risk is substantially less. And yet 1400 meters is nothing, as K noted in his review of part 1. They should have improved their tech long ago to allow supernovas to fire from greater distances. Not sure how best to make that plot hole go away. Ignore it?

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(46 replies, posted in Fantasy/Magic & Sci-Fi)

250K words? Yikes! I think that's even longer than Galaxy Tales was before I decided to split it into novellas. Although, in novella form, I like the freedom it gave me to flesh out the story some more in certain places.

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(5 replies, posted in New Authors)

Welcome to the site, hullabaloo. I'm so sorry for the losses you've experienced. I can't imagine how hard that must be.
I'm one of the other writers here and do my best to help new members get up to speed quickly. Please check out an article I pinned near the top of the Premium forum for tips on how to maximize the number of reviews you can get. It'll help you avoid some of the mistakes other new members sometimes make.
I'm going to send you a connection request. If you accept, we can use private messages to communicate.
Fastest way to get answers to any questions you might have would be to simply post them in the Premium forum (that's one of its main uses). You'll get the most eyeballs on it that way. But if you prefer to ask me privately, feel free, although my turnaround time may be overnight given where you're located.
By the way, Morag, one of our other members, is from Scotland. Great lady. She's writing two books at present (mysteries), as am I (a supernatural thriller and a space opera). Depending on what you like to read, I can point you toward the right members. Until you know who's who, who's active, etc., I suggest reviewing mainly material scrolling down your home page, as well as anything that's just scrolled off your home page (there's a button under each section that lets you go back further). The stuff on your home page is guaranteed to be from active users.
As you've probably seen by now, and unlike Booksie, this site uses "points" for posting. You earn points by doing reviews (at least 5 inline comments in an inline review or 50+ words in a regular review). While collecting and using points may seem annoying at first, it's actually very easy to collect enough points.  The points system encourages people to Review each other's work, and it tends to scare off trial users who just want to post their stuff without reviewing the work of others. For points, review (roughly) 3 chapters or stories to be able to post each of yours; those are averages, and it's a little different for poems. The longer a posted work is, the more points you get when reviewing it; the longer your work is, the more points you need to post it; try to avoid posting overly long pieces (all this is covered in my Premium post mentioned above, including how to deal with long chapters or short stories).
That's all I can think of right now. Please look for my connection request on your home page in a few minutes.

Welcome aboard!
Dirk

Tentative new wording for the 4th version of Connor :-)

The Holy Spirit revealed the youth is to gather together as many humans from every corner of the Earth as will heed his call to change their sinful ways before the Day of the Lord, so they may be spared from an eternity in the Lake of Fire.
Just as a shepherd’s staff is an extension of its bearer’s hand, the youth is an extension of the Lord’s hand, with frequent active communion between them. Through their unique bond, Christ will share important guidance and memories with the boy, and through him, express God’s will, pour forth his mercy, and gather the lost.
The youth will serve, in essence, as the living Staff of Christ, wielded directly by the Lord to bring forth a final opportunity for repentance by all."

You could even interpret that verse as referring to the Staff. He's got the power to fight evil, and he's there (ostensibly) to help bring more people to God.