Destiny's Damned - A Thriller Trilogy

Douglas Preston's Thoughts

noreply@blogger.com (Shawna Ryan) — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 16:24:00 +0000

The Destiny’s Damned series by Shawna Ryan is an outstanding trilogy -- shocking and fast-paced, full of interesting characters, twists, turns and surprises. I highly recommend it.

Douglas Preston, author of Blasphemy

Triumvirate Surpasses the Predictable Formulaic Religious Conspiracy Thrillers

noreply@blogger.com (Shawna Ryan) — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 16:17:00 +0000

Shawna Ryan expertly juxtaposes the supernatural genre with historical fiction in the concluding volume of her Destiny’s Damned trilogy. Triumvirate of the Damned is a multi-layered story that surpasses the predictable formulaic religious conspiracy thrillers that currently glut the market.
Cutting quickly from scene to scene like an action-adventure movie, Ryan’s novel begins in the present-day Vatican City. A faction inside the Church follows an edict called the “Issue.” This ancient document contains Emperor Constantine’s instructions for setting in motion clandestine machinations to reveal the true nature and purpose of the Church, which is “to see that the Roman Empire survives in the Church” and is one day reborn “to enslave the world.” In Ireland, a group of women are imprisoned by the Roman Empire within the stygian depths of the “Sequenti.” They maintain a secret that can thwart the Church’s insidious plans. A select few of these women know the location of an artifact, called the “Christ’s Remnant,” that would topple the Church’s power structure. A pagan goddess named Sybil gathers her forces to stand against the faction within the Church. She picks individuals like reporter Alex Caldwell and Kevin James, a professor of Mythology. These courageous men search Turkey for the original Christ’s Remnant. Also called into Sybil’s fold is Alicia Cook. She is investigating the disappearance of Patrick Bodowski, who is being tortured and held as a prisoner by the Church’s Inquisition for trumped up heretical practices. Alicia is taken prisoner, and the women in the Sequentia entrust her with their secrets. Unaware of their role as pawns in a kind of predestination, Sybil’s chosen ones join together in an epic battle between good and evil.
Ryan’s novel is written for sheer entertainment. Pseudoscience and revisionist history is not passed off as fact here. Her prose isn’t bogged down with history lessons, and she doesn’t require the reader to take silly leaps of faith away from logic. Her characters’ actions flow logically and naturally. The premise behind her novel is unique and the characterization is excellent.
Three stars out of five.
Foreword Clarion Review

The Thriller TRIUMVIRATE OF THE DAMNED Published

noreply@blogger.com (Shawna Ryan) — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 16:13:00 +0000

Triumvirate of the Damned by Shawna Ryan is the third book in a series described as being as "original and insightful as anything in the genre." Within the bowels of a timeless subterranean prison, a child, her face blistered, her hair burned away, stares at the body of a woman thrown inside. Sacrificing their lives, the women and the children in the prison are hiding from the Church a document personally dictated by Christ, which contains His last instructions to mankind. The woman is half naked. Her hands are tied. Dried blood is crusted beneath her nose and in her short, blond hair. Bruised and battered, she is the first new inmate imprisoned there for hundreds of years. With her and in her wake, come forces that would steel Christ's document and enslave the modern world.

Triumvirate of the Damned is now available at bookstores everywhere and from Amazon.com. It will soon be available as an ebook.

"A TRULY THRILLING AND ENTERTAINING SERIES" - A Clarion Review

noreply@blogger.com (Shawna Ryan) — Wed, 06 May 2009 14:37:00 +0000

In this second installment of Shawna Ryan’s Destiny’s Damned series, our heroes, Alicia, Patrick, Kevin, and Alex, work to uncover the truth about the New Testament—namely, that it’s a fictional work created by a Pagan in order to enslave the world.
Of course, the Catholic Church isn’t too happy about their work and might have something to do with the attempts on their lives and those close to them that occur as the story unfolds. Despite the immediate similarities to the works of Dan Brown, Ryan has created a truly thrilling and entertaining series that is as original and insightful as anything in the genre. Ryan’s style of writing is far more straightforward and less complex than most mystery and thriller writers, but her prose is inspired and carefully penned, making the story easily enjoyable for all readers.
Set largely in Ireland, the story offers detailed and accurate descriptions of many real locations, such as the library at Dublin’s Trinity College and the Abbey of St. Ide located in the Burren on the west coast. Ryan hits the nail on the head with her wonderfully layered and detailed descriptions. Setting the story in Ireland offers myriad ideas, locations, events, and even characters that help mold the story into another stunning thriller by this talented writer.
The protagonists find themselves in a variety of colorful situations: Alicia joins a convent in order to help bring the church down from the inside, while Kevin and Alex work closely with librarian Mrs. Shanahan in the moody and atmospheric Old Library in Dublin. The situations abound with Sherlock Holmes-esque moods and settings, while the storytelling moves forward with careful planning. Everything is kept tight and intact in this story, as multiple storylines unfold in each chapter and allow the entire work to come together in a climax that will have readers scrambling for the third installment in the series.
The only real downsides are the unprofessional cover and the lack of dialect employed by some of the characters. The story would have been more believable and entertaining if the Irish characters spoke as if they were actually from Ireland. Nevertheless, Satan’s Scat is a solid historical thriller.

ForeWord CLARION Reviews

TWO INVISIBLE WORLDS

noreply@blogger.com (Shawna Ryan) — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 17:10:00 +0000

There are two invisible worlds on this earth, one of the premises of the DESTINY’S DAMNED Thriller Trilogy.

There is the world of those already damned, for which there is no salvation either in this life or in the next. And, there is the world in which the rest of us live. A world on which the damned pray. This concept is based loosely on St. Augustine’s often misinterpreted and abused notion that there are two invisible societies intertwined on this earth. Those elected to go to heaven make up one invisible society and those destined to be damned make up another. Notice there is no gray area for those of us not ready or willing to be either.

Augustine based his idea on an argument made by St. Paul in Rom. 9-11. According to St. Augustine, “no event in time can alter settling of God’s will toward any human soul: his elect are chosen before the foundation of the world. God knows not before, but apart from, the time process - how each individual in the course of time will respond to the particular form in which grace is offered to him; and the elect alone receive the grace that will win their acceptance.”*

In the DESTINY'S DAMNED Trilogy, a savage serial killer already damned for murders committed in previous lives, as well as those he is committing in this one, reincarnates. The evil builds up inside him as he carries his sins with him through each life until he becomes evil itself. Becoming not only the slave of Satan but the embodiment of Satan, he joins the church where there resides others of his invisible world. His ultimate ambition is to lure every Christian on earth to damnation.

The serial killer in DESTINY’S DAMNED actually deserves to be damned. Once damned, there is no getting out. No going back. There is no forgiveness. There is only the compounding of the evils he’s committed through each of his reincarnations. Every life he lives is an existence in hell, and he will live in that kind of hell for eternity.

© Shawna Ryan
Author: thrillers DESTINY'S DAMNED & SATAN'S SCAT
available:
www.pilchuckpublishing.com
amazon.com
books stores and libraries

*Encyclopedia Britannica.

Man Not Web of Life, but Merely a Strand

noreply@blogger.com (Shawna Ryan) — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 17:49:00 +0000

Quotation:

The earth does not belong to man. Man belongs to the earth. All things are connected like the blood that unites us all. Man did not weave the web of life, he is merely a strand in it. Whatever he does to the web he does to himself.

Chief Seattle

IS THERE SUCH A THING AS DEATH?

noreply@blogger.com (Shawna Ryan) — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 17:38:00 +0000

From a scientific point of view, there is no death. There is no time when life ceases. How would we even recognize the cessation of life? We don’t know what the source of life is. All we know is that a being as we knew it, no longer looks or functions the way we’re familiar with. Death is our “notion” of the end of life, not actually the end of life.

Our bodies are “matter,” which is anything that has weight and occupies space. “Matter is neither created nor destroyed, but it can change form through physical or chemical means.” BODY STRUCTURES & FUNCTIONS, pg. 13. When someone “dies,” what we see are dramatic changes in their form. Those changes in form are what we call death and decomposition.

Einstein determined that matter could be thought of as a form of energy. Mass and energy are equivalent to each other and are interchangeable. In other words, mass is a form of energy. RELATIVISTIC ENERGY AND MASS. Our bodies are made of cells which store energy. The source of that energy is in the atoms that make up our cells. BODY STRUCTURES & FUNCTIONS.

The authors of THE PARTICLE EXPLOSION, published by Oxford University Press, dramatically illustrate the longevity of those atoms:

“Take a deep breath! You have just inhaled oxygen atoms that
have already been breathed by every person who ever lived.
At some time or other your body has contained atoms that were
once part of Moses or Isaac Newton.
***
If atoms could speak, what a tale they would tell. Some of the
carbon atoms in the ink on this page may have once been part of
a dinosaur. Their atomic nuclei may have arrived in cosmic rays,
having been fused from hydrogen and helium in distant, extinct
stars. But whatever their various histories may be, one thing
is certain. Most of their basic constituents, the fundamental
particles-- the electrons and quarks--have existed since the
primordial Big Bang at the start of time. "

Quite a picture, isn’t it?

If the source of life is the energy within these atoms, then life is eternal. But then, that’s the mystery of life, isn’t it? That’s what draws many of us to believe life continues after the event we call death.

Joseph Campbell, renowned mythologist, observed:
"The source of life--what is it? No one knows. We don't even
know what an atom is, whether it is a wave or a particle --
it is both. We don't have any idea of what these things are.

That's the reason we speak of the divine. There's a transcendent
energy source. When the physicist observes subatomic particles,
he's seeing a trace on a screen. These traces come and go, come
and go, and we come and go, and all of life comes and goes. That
energy is the informing energy of all things. Mythic worship is
addressed to that." Joseph Campbell, THE POWER OF MYTH WITH BILL MOYERS, pg. 132

According to Joseph Campbell and others, the belief that life goes on after death originated as far back as 50,000 to 60,000 BC. Maybe that belief isn’t as far-fetched as some would think.

by Shawna Ryan
Author: thrillers DESTINY'S DAMNED & SATAN'S SCAT

Sources:

BODY STRUCTURES & FUNCTIONS by Ann Senisi Scott and Elizabeth Fong, Delmar Cengage Learning, 10 Edition (March 1, 2003)

Relativistic Energy and Mass
http://ffden-2.phys.uaf.edu/212_fall2003.web.dir/Eddie_Trochim/Energymass.htm

THE PARTICLE EXPLOSION by Frank Close, Michael Marten, Christine Sutton; Oxford University Press, USA (April 9, 1987)]

Joseph Campbell, THE POWER OF MYTH WITH BILL
MOYERS, Doubleday, 1988, P.132

Joseph Campbell, TRANSFORMATIONS OF MYTH THROUGH TIME., Mythology Limited, 1990, Reissued in HarperPerennail in 1999.

SECTION VIII
Chapter 5. Is Religion Intrinsic to Our Human Condition?
http://www.entheology.org/library/winters/PHILOSO3.TXT

“DEATH RITES” http://www.britannica.com/oscar/print?articleId=109494&fullArticle=true&tocId=66354

THREE CUPS OF TEA by Greg Mortenson & David Oliver Relin

noreply@blogger.com (Shawna Ryan) — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 19:42:00 +0000

THREE CUPS OF TEA is the perfect example of what can be accomplished when we don’t draw lines between each other. When religious and cultural differences are left out of the mix, and the only common goal is helping children. Devoted to educating the children, especially girls, in the area where the Taliban organized and Osama bin Laden hides, the wilderness between Pakistan and Afghanistan, Greg Mortenson built 55 schools over a decade. With the help of the people who reside there, who for generations have built their lives there, radical ideas were left at the doorsteps so those children could get a balanced education. Given the state of world affairs and the intolerance we normally show each other, it almost seems impossible, doesn’t it?

Shawna Ryan
Author: thrillers DESTINY'S DAMNED & SATAN'S SCAT

Our Lords, Tammuz & Christ

noreply@blogger.com (Shawna Ryan) — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 15:11:00 +0000

The similarities between the ancient god Tammuz and the Christian God are striking.

Tammuz was worshipped throughout Palestine and Mesopotamia, including Jerusalem, as early as 700 years before Christ was born. Tammuz worshippers called him “The Lord.”

The Church of the Nativity was built at the site Christian’s worship as the place Christ was born. It is located in Bethlehem. That same site was worshipped centuries before Christ was born as the place Tammuz was reborn.
In a letter from St. Jerome to Paulinis, St. Jerome writes, “This Bethlehem which is now ours, and is the most august spot on earth, was foreshadowed by a grave of Tammuz- that is to say, Adonis in the cave where the infant Christ once wailed....”

Tammuz was said to have been crucified. Tammuz symbol was the Tau, which was a pagan symbol for the cross.

Every year Tammuz’ was laid on a bed or bier and his death mourned by women. Afterwards, his resurrection was chanted and praised. Tammuz was said to have been a beautiful youth. The women who mourned him: the goddess Ishtar of Babylon and Assyria and the goddess Astarte of Phoenicia.

Many Christians, Muslims, and Jews reject any connection with gods like Tammuz that preceded their own. They call those gods “pagan.” For most of them that term is derogatory, particularly when the pagan gods are compared with their own. But why? Why are these “modern” religions so defensive? There is no reason to be ashamed. They may not be perfect, but Tammuz and the other pagan gods are the Christian, Jewish, and Muslim god’s ancestors.

Sources:
• “The Myth of the Resurrection” by Joseph McCabe (1925).(McCabe was once a Franciscan monk.) www.faithofyeshua.faithweb.com/crucified_sun_godno4htm
• “The Origins of Christianity & the Quest for the Historical Jesus Christ,” www.truthbeknown.com/origins.htm
• “Examining the Crucifixion of Jesus and Parallels to Crucified Sun-gods,”
www.faithofyeshua.faithweb.com/crucified_sun_godno4.htm.

© Shawna Ryan
Author: thrillers DESTINY'S DAMNED & SATAN'S SCAT
available:
www.pilchuckpublishing.com
amazon.com
books stores and libraries

INTRODUCING SHARON MARSHALL - DESTINY'S DAMNED

noreply@blogger.com (Shawna Ryan) — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 15:39:00 +0000

Sharon Marshall is a high-powered trial attorney in San Francisco, a partner in the large, prestigious firm of Braddick & Beene. Alex Caldwell is an investigative reporter with the New York post.

Close friends, Sharon meets Alex outside the Medical Examiner’s office in San Francisco on the day after Alex’s brother, Eric, is sadistically and ritualistically murdered.

Excerpt from: DESTINY’S DAMNED:

A figure in shadow, sitting on a bench in an empty, colorless hall paved with marble was motionless, not even the clacking of an approaching woman’s three inch heels disturbing him. Behind him, was a double glass door, shades drawn, marked “Medical Examiner.”
“Alex,” she said, her voice soft and soothing, “are you all right?” Crowded by small, high cheek bones and brows that had no curve, her forehead pinched with worry, she stooped and put her arms around him. “I’m so sorry.”
“Yeah,” he said, beneath his breath. His eyes were red and worn with distress as he rose and hugged her. “Thanks for coming.
Tailored in every respect, her not too short, dark brown hair was brushed back and over her ears in a style that perfectly matched her expensive, conservative business suit and figure. Wearing just a touch of makeup, allowing her natural color and the brilliance of her bright green eyes expression, she possessed a kind of genuine attractiveness Alex always found appealing. Comforted by her, he held her closer. His brown eyes tearing, he cried.
He was tall and slender, casual in appearance, his all night flight across the continent telling. His pre stressed jeans, over stretched, bagged at the knees. His black wool, sports coat was crumpled. He had been out in the rain and he was wet. Shocks of his curly, black hair clung to his forehead, and he shivered.

© Shawna Ryan
Author: thrillers DESTINY'S DAMNED & SATAN'S SCAT
available:
www.pilchuckpublishing.com
amazon.com
books stores and libraries

A TROUBLED PRIEST - SATAN’S SCAT

noreply@blogger.com (Shawna Ryan) — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 15:32:00 +0000

Its air stagnant and old, its floors and ceiling, its tables and stools reeking of fifty years of stale body odor and smoke, the squalid, old bar in the heart of the Tenderloin District was home that night for Patrick. Sitting slumped at a booth in the farthest, darkest corner, a warm erotic body pressing him to the wall, he slugged down his sixth shot of mash and asked for more.

He was frightened and confused. Sybil had come for him but had not taken him. She had revealed her spirit to him but not her name. What does she want? he kept asking himself. Staring at hands that brought his drink, he took a ten from the bills he had put in front of him when he came in and surrendered it. Sober for months, he had a great thirst not only for drink but for something else.

Seductive fingers, crawling through tiny hairs at the back of his neck climbed toward his mutilated ear and played there. As her tongue took their place, her hand reached for his thigh.

Excerpt from SATAN’S SCAT

© Shawna Ryan
Author: thrillers DESTINY'S DAMNED & SATAN'S SCAT
available:
www.pilchuckpublishing.com
amazon.com
books stores and libraries

WHAT IF CHRIST LEFT HIS OWN TESTAMENT?

noreply@blogger.com (Shawna Ryan) — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 15:27:00 +0000

What if Christ left His own Testament? And what if that Testament survived and is hidden? Why would the Christian Church want to find and destroy it? And who would be protecting it?

The Christian Church is founded on the New Testament and its Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Yet none of these gospels were actually written by Matthew, Mark, Luke or John. The Gospels were written by various people, many unknown, then added to, named, and materially revised during the hundreds of years following the apostles’ deaths.

During the 4th century AD, on the instructions of the Roman Emperor, Constantine the Great, Bishop Eusebius and others edited, rejected, or destroyed the stories of Christ then in existence. Writing new and revised stories that furthered Constantine’s ambitions, Eusebius and the others created a work that became known as the New Testament. As a result, through legend, folklore and revision, Christ’s original teachings might well have been lost.

But what if Christ’s original teachings survived in another form? In His own Testament? What if his teachings were recorded contemporaneously with his life and death and survive as originally written? Can you imagine what would happen then? What would the publication of Christ’s Testament do to the power and authority of a Church built on stories that have questionable origins? What would the Church do to protect itself?

from SATAN’S SCAT

Based partly on the work of Martin E. Marty in his A SHORT HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY, the World Publishing Company.

© Shawna Ryan
Author: thrillers DESTINY'S DAMNED & SATAN'S SCAT
available:
www.pilchuckpublishing.com
amazon.com
books stores and libraries

WAS HEROD NOT A JEW? - SATAN'S SCAT

noreply@blogger.com (Shawna Ryan) — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 15:05:00 +0000

The infamous Herod may not have been a Jew. The man historically responsible for Christ’s death was probably not a Jew at all.
His grandfather was Antipater, an Idumaean. The Idumaean were conquered by John Hyrcanus at the end of the 2nd century BC. The Idumaean, together with Antipater and his family were obliged to live as Jews and were thereafter considered Jews. However, Antipater’s loyalty was to Rome.
Antipater won favor with the Romans by helping them in the Orient. That favor won Antipater’s son, Herod the Great, the office of governor of Galilee. The Roman Emperors Octavian and Antony later secured Herod the Great the crown of Judea. To help secure his position, he married into the Hasmonean family who were very popular with the Jews.
Herod the Great was known for building the temple of Jerusalem, but he also built temples to pagan gods. The most notable was a temple to Apollo in Rhodes.
Christ was probably born during Herod the Great’s lifetime.
After Herod the Great died, he was succeeded by his sons: first, by Archelaus; then by Antipas, the Herod accused of being responsible for Christ’s death. Both were educated in Rome.
Herod Archelaus publicly declared that his title and authority were dependent on the the good will of Caesar. But he lost that good will and was banished to Gaul ten years after his reign began.
His brother, Herod Antipas, succeeded him. It was Antipas who was allegedly responsible for Christ’s death.
Antipas, too, catered to Rome. The Roman Emperor Octavian confirmed him as tetrarch of Galilee. When Antipas built his capital city on the Western Shore of the Sea of Galilee, he named it after the Roman Emperor Tiberias. He tried to Romanize Galilee. He helped Rome extract as much wealth from the conquered land as possible.
He was devoted to the Romans. And like his family, Herod Antipas, appeared to be more interested in wooing the Jews than being one.

see: SATAN’S SCAT

Sources:
•Catholic Encyclopedia, New Advent, “Herod.”

•USU 1320:History and Civilization, “Section 13: Early Christianity and the Church,” http://www.usu.edu/markdamen/1320Hist&Civ/chapters/13XITY.htm

© Shawna Ryan
Author: thrillers DESTINY'S DAMNED & SATAN'S SCAT
available:
www.pilchuckpublishing.com
amazon.com
books stores and libraries

An UNUSUAL DETECTIVE - DESTINY’S DAMNED

noreply@blogger.com (Shawna Ryan) — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 14:38:00 +0000

An UNUSUAL DETECTIVE - DESTINY’S DAMNED

San Francisco. The sadistic, ritualistic murder of Eric Caldwell brought Sybil Meter, Lieutenant Detective of Homicide into the case. Outside the Medical Examiners office, where Eric was being autopsied, his brother Alex waited.

At precisely the appointed time, the double door that led to the Medical Examiner opened and a woman in an inexpensive, somewhat worn, brown, slack suit and black turtle neck, without adornment, stepped outside. She wore her thick, light brown hair like a hat, full on top and short on the sides. Elfish, triangular sideburns extended to the middle of her ears and framed big, round cheeks slung low over a subtly dimpled jowl. A small, but not delicate, mouth and strong, definite chin line accentuated her perfectly oval head. Under gently sloping eyebrows, trimmed evenly from one end to the other, her walnut brown eyes were dark and equivocal. She was not to be read easily.
“You Alex Caldwell?” she asked. She wore no make-up at all, but had a clean, fresh look, her skin reflecting the hall light. Suddenly sharing the light with her eyes, she drew them toward her, holding them captive. “Lieutenant Detective Sybil Meter,” she said, breaking the spell as she extended her hand.
Excerpt from: DESTINY’S DAMNED

© Shawna Ryan
Author: thrillers DESTINY'S DAMNED & SATAN'S SCAT
available:
www.pilchuckpublishing.com
amazon.com
books stores and libraries

SATAN’S SCAT: THE DEATH OF THE VIRGIN MARY

noreply@blogger.com (Shawna Ryan) — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 15:39:00 +0000

Scholars believe The Blessed Virgin Mary, mother of Jesus Christ, died about fifteen years after His death. Although there is a “Mary’s Tomb” attributed to her in Jerusalem, many believe she left Palestine and actually died in Ephesus, Turkey. She was apparently 13-15 years old when Jesus was born in AD 1. It follows that she was 46-48 when He died and was 61-63 years old when she died.
Evidence The Blessed Virgin lived and died in Ephesus includes the following:
A. Ephesus, Turkey was a major Christian community.
B. The synodal letter of the Council of Ephesus infers that Virgin Mary and St. John lived and were buried there.
C. “Bar-Hebraeus or Abulpharagius, a Jacobite bishop of the thirteenth century, relates that St. John took the Blessed Virgin with him to Patmos, then founded the Church of Ephesus, and buried Mary no one knows where.
D. Pope Benedict XIV said Mary followed St. John to Ephesus and died there. Benedict was going to remove from the Breviary the lessons which mentioned Mary’s death in Jerusalem but died before he could do it.
E. Mary’s residence and death in Ephesus are upheld by such writers as Tillemont, Calment, etc.
F. The remains of a house, identified as the one in which Mary lived is on a hill about nine or ten miles from Ephesus.

This evidence raises certain questions. For example, why would Mary, at the end of her life, take such an arduous journey away from her lifelong home in Palestine?
What would make her leave? Was it fear of the people who killed Jesus? Scholars believe she did not depart Palestine until about 13 years after Jesus’ death.
Why did she leave St. Peter, Jesus’ successor?

Sources:
1. http://experts.about.com/q/turkey-207/virgin-mary-1.htm
2. Wikipedia, “Mary, mother of Jesus”
3. Catholic Encyclopedia, New Advent, “The Blessed Virgin Mary”
4. Catholic Encyclopedia, New Advent. “St. John the Evangelist”
© Shawna Ryan
Author: thrillers DESTINY'S DAMNED & SATAN'S SCAT
available:
www.pilchuckpublishing.com
amazon.com
books stores and libraries

THE REVEREND JOHN LESTER - DESTINY’S DAMNED

noreply@blogger.com (Shawna Ryan) — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 15:34:00 +0000

In a dramatic moment outside the apartment house where Eric Caldwell was murdered the reader meets the Reverend John Lester, minister of the Calvary Gospel Church, San Francisco.

As if thunder suddenly struck from a dry, clear sky, a scream rolled across the lawn and hit them. Sybil turned.
Her eyes on fire, her voice shrill as a whistle, the woman on the porch next door was shrieking in long desperate cries, setting them all on edge. Darting from side to side, her gaze a flurry of fear, she was frozen, unable to stop what was happening.
Outside an open gate and in the middle of the street, a curly haired toddler without a coat, in blue and pink overalls and shirt, was squatting, trying to pick up a penny, oblivious to the dinosaur about to consume him. Less than twenty feet from him, a 60’s vintage Lincoln with gray fender and dented passenger door, was about to run over him.
A middle-aged man with close cropped hair and thin, taut lips was driving, not paying attention to the road. His mouth agape, he was staring at them instead, ignoring the mother’s frantic screams.
With no time to move or otherwise react, Sybil picked up a stone and threw it as hard as she could at the passenger window. Sailing in the direction of the driver’s eyes, he started, clasped the wheel, and as the stone chipped the window, screeched to a stop. Exploding with rage, he opened the door on the driver’s side and got out, rounding the front fender to come after her. Grabbing the hood ornament to pick up speed, he cursed, “You bitch, I’ll get you for this!” He was pushing off the ornament when he heard the mother’s cries.
She was just feet in front of the car. Her arms around the toddler, weeping.
“Jesus,” he whispered, realizing what almost happened.
His anger turned to fear. Taking one last hateful look at Sybil, he retreated, jumping back into his brute of a car. Racing the engine and shoving it into reverse, his tires squealed as he careened backwards down the street. Wheels smoking, he backed around the corner, gunned the engine, and roared away.

Excerpt from DESTINY'S DAMNED

© Shawna Ryan
Author: thrillers DESTINY'S DAMNED & SATAN'S SCAT
available:
www.pilchuckpublishing.com
amazon.com
books stores and libraries

SATAN’S SCAT-MARY MAGDELENE SET ADRIFT

noreply@blogger.com (Shawna Ryan) — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 15:20:00 +0000

The French claim Mary Magdelene came to France and died there. But did she really?

The Catholic version of Mary Magdelene’s journey to France begins with Mary and others being set adrift by the Jews. As the story goes: Fourteen years after Our Lord’s death, St. Mary was put in a boat by the Jews without sails or oars - along with Sts. Lazarus and Martha, St. Maximin (who baptized her), St. Sidonius (“the man born blind”), her maid Sera, and the body of St. Anne, the mother of the Blessed Virgin. They were sent drifting out to sea and landed on the shores of Southern France, where St. Mary spent the rest of her life as a contemplative in a cave known as Sainte-Baume. She was given the Holy Eucharist daily by angels as her only food, and died when she was 72. St. Mary was transported miraculously, just before she died, to the chapel of St. Maximin, where she received the last sacraments.
Source: Catholic Online, St. Mary Magdelene “The Penitent,” www.catholic.org.

Even on its face, there seems to be problems with that story. First, if Mary and the others were set drifting in the Mediterranean, why did they go all the way to France? How did they get around all the land masses between Palestine and France? Where would the currents have taken them? Why didn’t they land sooner?
What destination would have made more sense in light of biblical and historical fact? Turkey maybe?

From: SATAN’S SCAT

© Shawna Ryan
Author: thrillers DESTINY'S DAMNED & SATAN'S SCAT
available:
www.pilchuckpublishing.com
amazon.com
books stores and libraries

SATANS SCAT: THE COMULSION TO KILL-THE AFTERLIFE

noreply@blogger.com (Shawna Ryan) — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 14:44:00 +0000

If you were a compulsive killer in one life, would that compulsion follow you into the next? And would it be even stronger?
What would you be?
What would you look like?
What would you feel like to your victim?

Excerpt from SATAN’S SCAT:

Curling beneath her robes and coiling up her legs, the swirling, black smoke took form, and something oily and bristly crawled upon the nun’s breasts and bit her. “Ooohhh,” she shuddered, frantically hitting and swatting at what she though was a rat.
Its jaw clenched, its teeth dug deep into her flesh, she screamed, but there was no sound. Flailing at him, hysterically clawing at the robes that confined her, her fingers tore at her chest. Ripping the robe to her breasts, she flung it open and grabbed.
An empty victory. The rat was gone, and so was her nipple.
A hesitant witness to what was happening to her behind the abbey, the sun was but a glint on the horizon waiting until it was over to rise. Crowded into a corner of the enclosure, the chickens were but stunned and silent observers.
Sobbing, she knelt, unaware that the form that bit her was still there. Stealthily moving just over the dust in circles around her, it was stalking her. Long and sinewy, its fingers reached up and hovered over the inside of her thigh. Titillatingly skimming over the soft hair of her skin it moved over her groin and upward.
....

© Shawna Ryan
Author: thrillers DESTINY'S DAMNED & SATAN'S SCAT
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A POPE MADE MARY MAGDELENE A WHORE

noreply@blogger.com (Shawna Ryan) — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 15:17:00 +0000

Mary Magdelene was apparently not a whore until Pope Gregory the Great made her one in 591 A.D. He was at the Basilica San Clemente in Rome when he announced it.
He based his conclusion on an event briefly described in the New Testament, Chapter Seven of Luke. Though the woman was not named, Luke mentions that a “sinful woman” anointed Jesus’ feet.” From that description, he assumed the woman was Mary Magdelene and that she was a whore. He made her a whore so Jesus could reform her.
After Pope Gregory made Mary a reformed whore, her reputation spread through Europe, and she became somewhat of a heroine. The French, as you might suspect, made her their heroine, which is why the stories were told she ended up there. In the 13th Century a Dominican Monk claimed, in writing, she came to southern Gaul after Jesus died.

SOURCE: May 29, 2006 issue of Newsweek, “An Inconvenient Woman,” by Jonathan Darman with Anne Underwood.

© Shawna Ryan
Author: thrillers DESTINY'S DAMNED & SATAN'S SCAT
available:
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MURDER FOR SALVATION

noreply@blogger.com (Shawna Ryan) — Sat, 31 May 2008 00:31:00 +0000

In the DESTINY’S DAMNED Trilogy, a man who has been a vicious killer through all his many lives, carries such evil within him that he becomes evil himself. He is haunted by it. He lives in a hell because of it.

He comes to believe his only hope is the Christian promise of salvation, but there is historical evidence there is no salvation. How desperate would he be? What would he do? He turns to the God that promised him salvation, joins hands with Him, and kills again.

Swearing to God his allegiance he did what he always did to satiate himself. He hurt someone. He murdered. He hurt even himself:
“Like stings from wasps, bits of razor woven in knots of sisal rope cut him in nine different places, their sharp points slicing into then ripping his bare back. The cat-o-nine he was using on himself was devised from pictures he saw of relics. Knees pressed hard against the concrete, shoulders rounded to stretch and make the cuts bleed, he bowed in prayer. Amid the musty darkness of the unfinished basement, the only light that single, 25-watt, purple bulb, he was in spiritual reverie, his mind unshakably linked with God’s.
Resting the tendrils of the whip on the floor, raising his eyes to heaven, he prayed, ‘Forgive me, Dear God, all my trespasses, and lead me not again into temptation.’ Lowering his head and, once more, rounding his shoulders, he flicked his wrist, raising the tendrils like willows in a wind over his shoulder. Striking himself even harder than before he repeated, ‘Forgive me, Dear God, for all my trespasses and lead me not again into temptation.’”

From DESTINY’S DAMNED.

© Shawna Ryan
Author: thrillers DESTINY'S DAMNED & SATAN'S SCAT
available:
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IS CHRISTIAN SALVATION IMMORAL?

noreply@blogger.com (Shawna Ryan) — Wed, 28 May 2008 20:27:00 +0000

When we think about the possibilities of reincarnation or any other afterlife, we want to believe that when we leave this life and go into the next, we go with a clean slate. Even if we reincarnate into a dung beetle because of our wrongs or if we go to purgatory, we want to believe that despite our demotion or punishment we have a chance to redeem ourselves. If we’re a good dung beetle, we’ll come back on a higher order the next time and ultimately become human again. If we pay our debt in purgatory, we’ll get to go to heaven. Better yet, if we’re forgiven by the church here on earth, there is no debt and we’re free to continue our evil ways at will, unscathed.
It’s seems important to humans that we be forgiven for our evils. We want to be able to start over again with an unmarked soul even if we’ve done something awful. Christian churches have made a lucrative business out of forgiving us. They’ll forgive us even for cardinal sins as long as we worship the way they want us to worship and we give them tithing.
But what if those churches have no power to forgive? What if the men and women behind the pulpit aren’t really the agents of God? What if there is no redemption? The evils we commit in one life go with us into the next. Isn’t that the way it should be?
Is it right to be able to leave this life and go into the next with a clean slate? Should reincarnation or any other afterlife free us from the evils we commit? Isn’t it only fair that each of us carry forever the burden of our evil?
Doesn’t the promise of salvation by merely accepting a faith actually encourage evil? Doesn’t that alone, make it immoral?
© Shawna Ryan
Author: thrillers DESTINY'S DAMNED & SATAN'S SCAT
available:
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DESTINY'S DAMNED: A KILLER'S SACRIFICE TO GOD

noreply@blogger.com (Shawna Ryan) — Fri, 16 May 2008 16:50:00 +0000

Careful not to remove the veil, Judy reveled in the feel of the towel across her body. Like a hot, cleansing bath of the kind she had not had in weeks, she did not mind when he took the towel to reach around her and tenderly clean her back and buttocks. Better than a meal, life almost again worth living, she sighed. Patiently waiting while he returned the towel to the bathroom, she clasped her hands, looked to the ceiling, and prepared to pray.
From his pants pocket, he took a tobacco tin and, holding his hand over the tin, dipped his fore and middle fingers inside. “Repeat after me. Our father,” he began, as she followed, “who art in heaven. Hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven....” Stepping toward her, he put his ash soiled fingers on her forehead and made the sign of the cross. “In this time of sacrifice, we must forego our sins and be penitent,” he continued alone. “Judy Bowers, You and I are adulterers. We are sinners before God. If we are to find salvation we must sacrifice. We must free ourselves from sin.”
Instinct telling her this was the moment of her release, hope erupted inside her. Looking up at him expectantly,she smiled as his blade found her throat and cut.

FROM DESTINY'S DAMNED

© Shawna Ryan
Author: thrillers DESTINY'S DAMNED & SATAN'S SCAT
available:
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JACK THE RIPPER-HIS HOPE FOR SALVATION

noreply@blogger.com (Shawna Ryan) — Mon, 12 May 2008 17:59:00 +0000

Murder for salvation. Even the most evil of men hope to be forgiven. Hope to be granted the salvation offered by the crucifixion.

Jack the Ripper, whose actual identity has not been established, murdered, cut open and removed organs from five women in London in 1888. According to Richard Patterson, Jack the Ripper may have been Francis Thompson, a renowned poet. He was also a cricket fan who impressed and made friends with other poets. His most famous poem was “The Hound of Heaven” in which he talks about God’s pursuit of a human soul.

All of Jack the Ripper’s victims were prostitutes, all murdered near Christ Church of Whitechapel. Richard Patterson, in his casebook FRANCIS THOMPSON, believed The Ripper’s motive might have been that he was chosen by God and that he was the voice of God. Killing these women would have wounded society. Patterson argued that The Ripper may have perceived himself to be a “messiah.”

Patterson connected the murders to the feast days of martyred saints, all eastern crusaders and saints of Innocence, Butchers, Soldiers, Doctors and Scholars. Contending The Ripper was attempting to project the five wounds of Christ’s Crucifixion on society by murdering five sinners near a church, Patterson believed The Ripper was trying to be a key player in the apocalypse so he could be forgiven his sins.
Source: From an article entitled: “Francis Thompson” by Richard Patterson at http://www.casebook.org/suspects/ft.html

In DESTINY’S DAMNED, the serial killer is also obsessed with the hope that by murdering he will be granted salvation by virtue of the promise of the Crucifixion. How can we help but wonder why these murderers conclude the Christian promise of salvation was meant for them? Meant they would be forgiven if only they killed for God. Is it something the Church said?

© Shawna Ryan
Author: thrillers DESTINY'S DAMNED & SATAN'S SCAT
available:
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SATAN'S SCAT: SYBIL AND THE ASYLUM

noreply@blogger.com (Shawna Ryan) — Wed, 07 May 2008 17:08:00 +0000

Furrowing her brows, she stared at him, slowly and steadily guiding her eyes along straight planes as she carefully examined his face, hesitating but once as she paused at the ear she bit off.
“Remember?” he asked, restraining his impatience.
Her eyes met his, and as she gazed at him, he felt her soul move inside him. It startled him. His saliva turned to salt. When he gulped, his throat burned. His legs unwilling to wait, his body forcing him to get up, he stood. “That’s all right, you don’t have to remember. I’ve got to go now, but I’ll be back tomorrow.”
He found himself running down the hallway, down the stairs, and onto the street, his heart skipping beats every time it tried to repel her. “Sybil!” he screamed, as he kept running.

Excerpt from SATAN’S SCAT.

© Shawna Ryan
Author: thrillers DESTINY'S DAMNED & SATAN'S SCAT
available:
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CLOISTER

noreply@blogger.com (Shawna Ryan) — Sat, 03 May 2008 02:07:00 +0000

Forbidden to touch anyone or anything but the cold, stone floor on which they prayed and prostrated themselves, sleeping without cover on thin beds of straw, they lived isolated and alone. In a dark, dank, six-hundred-square-foot room with a fourteen-foot high ceiling, in a structure made entirely of stone, with only two, scant candles on the granite altar providing light, the brilliant orange dawn was lost somewhere outside.
In control of her shaking, the cold forgotten, she allowed her senses to wake and heard from a distance, a thick, bronze bell, the sound muffled by pungent smoke which draped the air and hindered her breathing. Her awareness aroused, the rich, lingering sound of the bell came closer and, with it, a voice, a grim, deliberate voice in methodical rhythm.

Excerpt from SATAN’S SCAT.

© Shawna Ryan
Author: thrillers DESTINY'S DAMNED & SATAN'S SCAT
available:
www.pilchuckpublishing.com
amazon.com
books stores and libraries