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Blogs by Pinckney D Rivers
Controversial Subjects get a lot of Attention 1/19/2009 7:22:31 AM
getting ready for the Book convention in April. Book two in the Magdalene Series. Research into the controversial. Working diligently to get book two of my series done so that I can have them at the book convention in Orlando in April. I have already shelled out money for give-aways for the reader's table. Personalized pencils with the website, book name, author; mugs with a wrap of the book covers, tee shirts with the message "A Legend is a Secret that's too Dangerous to Know". It is very tiring. Then there are the copies for the expo. To sign now and personalize at the event, that is the question. In the meantime,I have classes and have to write my newspaper column for the week. Will I make it till April?
As I write this series I wonder just how it will be received. In my family there are legends about Jesus, Mary Magdalene and Judah Thomas as well as the other members of his group. I have included them in the series without giving away the "big reveal". Then there are the obscure writings from ancient days that have been lying around all these years and not talked about. One reason I continue with this college stuff is that there is always something "Old" that is new. They have found a tomb that has ossuaries with names Judah Thomas,Joseph, James, Jesus, and Mariamme. There is a cave in France that has just been excavated and had a body inside. Was it Mary Magdalene? Then there is the Priory of Sion, a fake organization that keeps popping up and giving information to fuel the conspiracy theories. Did I say fake? Yes; I did. The real POS was dissolved sometime in the 13th century and no one ever linked it to the Holy Grail. Then there is the Holy Grail. What the heck IS it? Some legends say it is the silver tray that once held the head of John the Baptist. Some say it is a cup used at the Last Supper. Or is it a small vial used to catch the blood at the Crucifixion? Maybe it's a sword, a crown of thorns, a robe, a surplice, a grave cloth, a well, a tomb, or is it a bloodline? Of all these things there has been a big uproar about a bloodline. I can tell you, as a Biblical scholar, that it is definitely true that there is a bloodline. Of course, it doesn't necessarily follow that Jesus was the father. What about all of his brothers and sisters? Wouldn't they have had children? Of course they would have. But, you better be able to back up what you say in some manner because (even though it is fiction) there will be someone out there who wants you to prove what you said and show where you got it.
So, when Eusebius says that the Emperor Domitian met with the Despysoni, you better make a note. Some person will want you to PROVE there were descendants. This does. In fact, Domitian was so afraid of the "grandsons of Judah" (as he called the grandsons of Jesus' brother)that he considered killing them all rather than worrying about them. Thankfully,they convinced the Emperor that they were poor working people and, once he had taken the rest of their money and confiscated their lands and belongings, he let them go. Where they went isn't written down. But they did exist. No one made them up. Maybe it just isn't like they have been telling it but it is true.
I have enjoyed my research for this series. I guess since we have legends in our family it has been even more important to me. The series sort of writes itself. I am often surprised when my characters do something I hadn't thought of. Can this really happen? Well, it happens to me. I never know what I am writing till I start it. Once I thought I had a plan; even made an outline. My characters went an entirely different direction all on their own.
My big dream is that I will find a publisher who believes in me and lets me write, write, write and then publishes it all. Not even Phyllis Whitney got that. Even she got turned down once in a while. Oh, well, Dream On.
