26 Reply by George FLC

(1,415 replies, posted in Fantasy/Magic & Sci-Fi)

I've heard of non-literal interpretations of Revelations. Fine. But I've never heard of the 666 in any positive way. I've never heard of God being the source of the 666. The Beast uses it. So, of course if you consider audience then you might lose some people. Considering how fractured the modern church is then you might not lose a ton of readers. I realize that your story is not a biblical critique but some of your audience might not like it. I know that there are things you won't fool around with (e.g. birth, death, and resurrection of Jesus), many people would not like that, but I don't know people's limits on the 666.

I learned about audience considerations on this website so let me apply it! :-)

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27 Reply by George FLC

(1,415 replies, posted in Fantasy/Magic & Sci-Fi)

An upright staff with crossbar is interesting or perhaps the opposite. The cross would almost seem to carry the staff.

I will challenge your 666 branding.

“It also forced all people, great and small, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hands or on their foreheads, so that they could not buy or sell unless they had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of its name. This calls for wisdom. Let the person who has insight calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man. That number is 666” (Revelation 13:16-18).

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28 Reply by George FLC

(1,415 replies, posted in Fantasy/Magic & Sci-Fi)

Christian means 'little Christ'. So, the youth could all be little Staffs. The cross that Christians wear could be supplemented by little staffs. Or joined together. Cross and staff tattoos next to the 666...

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29 Reply by George FLC

(7 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)

Great news, Randall. Keep on writing!
George FLC

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30 Reply by George FLC

(1,415 replies, posted in Fantasy/Magic & Sci-Fi)

"The Staff of Christ." It goes back to Ps 23 hence it hides things well.

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31 Reply by George FLC

(1,415 replies, posted in Fantasy/Magic & Sci-Fi)

Dirk B wrote:

>>Therefore, what fits your story better? An ancient Antichrist or a recent one?
I'm not sure what you mean.

Connor is (supposedly) in hypostatic union with God (the Son) as is Jesus. In my story, the AC didn't exist prior to the birth of the little demon-spawn. In Connor's case, he'd be claiming to have been in hypostatic union with the Son since Connor's birth. Although his soul is ancient (Adam), that element of Connor's existence isn't revealed until the very end of book one (with Adam's identity revealed to Connor at the end of book 2). When he's attacked in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, it supposedly gives him access to the Son's "memories", which would include those of Jesus. Indeed, the whole time they're in the Holy Land, he'll seem to experience snippets of Jesus's life as the tour group moves from site to site (the same as he did in the first draft). Ostensibly, the reason he experiences these is because he's in union with the Son, who is in union with Christ.

Even as I wrote about Adam in the above paragraph, I realized that means Connor, who is physically just 14 years old, will claim to be the 2nd incarnation of God, in hypostatic union with the Son (for those past 14 years) and indirectly also with Christ, but Connor's soul once belonged to Adam. If that doesn't make your head spin, I don't know what will. :-)  Fortunately, he will have ceased pretending to be the 2nd incarnation around the latter half of book 2, and he'll learn about Adam at the climax of book 2.

The hypostatic union may or may not exist between Connor and the Trinity. There is no consensus on this, and yes, I know this is not a theology story. So do whatever is the easiest or most exciting. I personally have a hard time with the AC having any kind of union with the Trinity. But that's me. It makes for a good argument that he gains snippets of life 2000 years ago. And of course, these can be lies or things fed to him by demon helpers.

I hope this helps.

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32 Reply by George FLC

(1,415 replies, posted in Fantasy/Magic & Sci-Fi)

Dirk B wrote:

The down side of this approach is that, although Connor can "remember" things from Christ's life because they are both in hypostatic unions with the Lord, I'm not sure it's as compelling since Connor would be trying to remember Christ's past (a different human being), not Connor's own ancient past. The latter is a fairly common trope in stories involving reincarnation. So in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, where Connor seems to regain his memories of his past life but screws up as to which route through the Old City the original Christ took to his crucifixion, it seems a little more forgivable if he doesn't get it right since Connor isn't claiming he was there, although one would think he would get it right at the Holy Sepulcher since he's now fully aware of the presence of the Lord within him.

This is interesting. I found out with an AI assistant: The concept of the Antichrist varies across different religious texts and interpretations, and there is no definitive answer regarding whether the Antichrist will be ancient.

Therefore, what fits your story better? An ancient Antichrist or a recent one?

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33 Reply by George FLC

(1,415 replies, posted in Fantasy/Magic & Sci-Fi)

Dirk B wrote:

As I mentioned in a post some time ago, I'm seriously considering changing Connor from being "the Lord returning as a child instead of the man Jesus everyone expected" to "a second incarnation of the Lord in a different human being". This would allow me to say that the Bible's documented end times events involving the return of Jesus will all remain valid, but that Connor is a second incarnation in a final act of grace to bring as many people to God as possible before Christ's return. Connor's role would not be the forgiveness of sins since, in theory, Christ has that covered. Connor would simply bring people into the Catholic Church, where (corrupt) priests give invalid absolutions.

'Good' lie. I like it. But you must deal with Matthew 24:23
Then if anyone says to you, ‘Behold, here is the [a]Christ,’ or ‘He is over here,’ do not believe him.

You can say what you just mention - He's not trying to save you; he's just trying to bring you to the Catholic church.

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34 Reply by George FLC

(1,415 replies, posted in Fantasy/Magic & Sci-Fi)

Sorry, I'm a little late in responding.
You wrote:
[It then gets put away and eventually ends up in the Vatican Secret Archives, where it is conveniently found by Cardinal Song and one of his assistants (since Song is blind) over fifteen hundred years later. Song would have maneuvered himself into leading the ongoing Church effort to review and release Vatican archive records to the public. Satan could easily update the document several times during the 20th and early 21st century as he watches/steers events of the past century.]

How can Satan 'easily update' this document? I'm assuming they use ink which can be dated. He can't really erase anything.

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35 Reply by George FLC

(16 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)

Hey Alan,
My condolences to you. Yes, the songs will be awesome when we all get together and join in. Be blessed and be at peace.

George FLC

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36 Reply by George FLC

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

Do a variation on the Milky Way galaxy:
The Liberal Way.
The Brilliant Way.
Bright and Shining Way.

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37 Reply by George FLC

(6 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)

I know I'm not the most organized so if I'm behind with anyone please let me know. I'm still waiting on a chapter response for my most resent posting, but I've not waited 2 months. That's a long time.

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38 Reply by George FLC

(16 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)

Nice, sad song.

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39 Reply by George FLC

(10 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)

In case you didn't know. Contractions count as one word so use them if you can. Get rid of "that" if you can.

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40 Reply by George FLC

(9 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)

BTW, Dirk, thanks for doing the points analysis above.

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41 Reply by George FLC

(7 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)

Congratulations! Seven years in a row? Wow. That's impressive. It's great to be part of a group like TNBW that helps each other. So, keep on writing Randall and everyone else.

Do you need to slow down so people can keep up with you, Randall?

George FLC

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42 Reply by George FLC

(4 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)

Enjoy the horses, wedding, and keep on writing when you can.

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43 Reply by George FLC

(1 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)

Randall Krzak wrote:

Hi everyone,

action/romance/sci-fi novel set in an alternate reality of the American Civil War.

Now that's a thought!

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44 Reply by George FLC

(3 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)

I tried a couple of things like logging out and rebooting. I totally lost the posting even after that but got back to it by using the history feature. I will not claim to be an ace at this stuff.

Oops, I did find 3 recent email posting dated March 23, 28, and April 5. I'm not used to using that email account.

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45 Reply by George FLC

(3 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)

Nary a one.

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46 Reply by George FLC

(1,415 replies, posted in Fantasy/Magic & Sci-Fi)

What???? No hemorrhoid stuff!!!!!
Even though dimwits of desolation is pretty good.

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47 Reply by George FLC

(1,415 replies, posted in Fantasy/Magic & Sci-Fi)

Dirk B wrote:

What's a 4D creature?

From Copilot
Appearance: A 4D creature would appear very different to us. Just as a 3D object casts a 2D shadow, a 4D object would cast a 3D "shadow" in our world. We might see a constantly changing 3D shape as different parts of the 4D creature intersect with our 3D space

There is more if you're interested!

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48 Reply by George FLC

(1,415 replies, posted in Fantasy/Magic & Sci-Fi)

Kdot wrote:

I dabbled  with 4D and 5D creatures in my main series but in the rewrite, planning to leave it out. Waaay too hard to explain when a character unties a perfect knot by an easy tug

Hey Kdot,
Did you ever formally define a 4D or 5D critter? Obviously, they are not limited to 3D issues. And I assume that a 4D critter can go through 3D stuff like walls I'm 3D and can go around or go through a 2D plane.

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49 Reply by George FLC

(1,415 replies, posted in Fantasy/Magic & Sci-Fi)

Hemorrhoids are good especially in terms of variations:
Hemorrhoid-gang
Prince Hemorrhoid for the leader
Hemorrhoids of desolation (as you noted)
Demon hemorrhoids
Hemorrhoids from Hell.

Also, hemorrhoids are something people can identify with! They can even get pictures - YUCK!

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50 Reply by George FLC

(1,415 replies, posted in Fantasy/Magic & Sci-Fi)

I like just plain simple beastling but I found:
Beastlings are a race of animal-human hybrids that live in Beasting Village of western Toto'haha

So, I don't know if beastling of the sea is appropriate. But I've found an issue like this before, and it caused no alarm with you. So, keep beastling either simply as that or perhaps something like beastling-creature.

I like wretchling as well but found:
Wretchlings are adaptions of Hollow Men

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