Title: Descent of the Gods
Author: Mark G. Cosman
Series: Stand Alone
Genre: Fiction/Adventure
Publisher: Black Rose Writing
Release Date: Oct 2 2014
Edition/Formats Available In: eBook
& Print
Blurb/Synopsis:
In their self-indulgent realm, the gods
know no suffering until the end of their days. Compassion is the only portal
through which they can escape the self and its eventual demise, but without
suffering, compassion cannot be recognized. So, they go in search of compassion
in the human domain where happiness and sorrow abound. There, they genetically
engineer a superior humanoid race and are soon distracted by the delight they
find in the daughters of men. The gods are the extraterrestrial visitors of our
collective memory.
Tormented by envy, the Asuras are warlike
demigods that follow the gods into the human domain. They become the demons who
initiate our concept of evil.
Quay is the son of Om, the father of the
gods. Quay’s childhood adventures with Daya, his female humanoid companion,
take place on the Isle of the Gods, which closely parallels the legendary
Atlantis. On coming of age, Quay and Daya become inseparable lovers. Quay is
challenged to separate passion from compassion.
In the human domain, the gods were simply
gardeners. When the god Talmund left his garden across the Salt Sea and
returned to the Island of the Gods, he left his humanoid workers behind.
Eventually, two civilizations evolved from his workers, the sedentary Taltecs
in the south and the nomadic Tulacans in the north. The civilizations resemble
the pre-Columbian cultures described in the Book of Mormon.
Fearful that these autonomous humanoids
were exceeding limits the gods set for them, Om sends Quay across the Salt Sea
to observe. Before undertaking his mission, Quay interviews the first humanoid,
Ahn, and the god, Elo, to whom Ahn was given. The meeting occurs in Eden where
Elo kept an expansive garden. The interview is essentially a discussion with
the Biblical Adam, which sets the tone for the human condition and their
relationship with the gods.
Quay’s mission abruptly separates him from
Daya. Ri, an Asura driven by hatred of the gods and an erotic desire for Daya,
pursues Quay. Quay’s adventures among the Taltecs and Tulacans are interrupted
when the two civilizations collide in an epic conflict that spans a continent.
Meanwhile, a geologic cataclysm destroys
the island of the gods. Daya is rescued by an Asura ship, is assaulted and
subsequently escapes into the forests of the Eastern Isle that survived the
deluge. There, she becomes the legendary huntress of the forest, similar to
Artemis, twin sister of Apollo.
In the Land North, on a field of flowers,
during the final battle of the great war between the Taltecs and Tulacans, Ri
finally comes upon Quay and attacks, but he is shot through by an arrow from
the bow of a nomad who had befriended Quay. Quay assists Ri through his dying
experience. By his outreach to his mortal enemy, Quay discovers the compassion
for which the gods had entered the human domain.
Quay ventures back across the Salt Sea to
find the Isle of the Gods has vanished. He sails on to the Eastern Isle where
he is reunited with his kind. Scarred and embittered, Daya courageously defies
the authority of the gods. It is the darkest of nights when Quay watches from a
distance as Daya releases a virus from an urn that the gods had prepared in
secret to cull the humans. Her act is reminiscent of the legendary Pandora. The
freeing of the virus results in Daya’s death and that of all humanoids on the
Eastern Isle. In effect, she impedes the grand experiment of the gods and
alters human evolution forever.
In his 977th year, Quay began to die. His
dying experience is detailed using the Tibetan Book of the Dead as a guide.
Quay was the last of the gods that walked among us.
Book
Links:
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~ * ~
Excerpt:
“Everyone knows.” He whimpered remorsefully
and embraced his knees. “You see, it has all gone wrong. My consequences are
like infectious demons, blighting the generations that stem from me. There is
no escaping them. The fault is mine, eternally mine! My seed is bad.” He began
rocking rhythmically.
Ahn’s demons are concoctions of his mind,
Quay thought. They seem to appear to humanoids when life’s balance is
distorted. Guilt is an indicator.
It occurred to Quay that the humanoid mind
acts much like a judge. Once the cause of guilt is discovered, its harsh
reasoning carries out the sentence. Neither gods nor humanoids can help him.
The humanoid mind is a stern taskmaster. It will unlock Ahn from guilt’s yoke
only when his imagined demons are satisfied and life’s balance is restored.
~ * ~
Author
Information:
Mark Cosman’s writing began when his
daughter, Berlyn, was murdered at her high school prom party. It was when Mark
left the rubble of his beliefs and assumptions to go in search of the most
profound questions we ask ourselves. His first book, “A Flower in the Snow,”
and his latest work, “Descent of the Gods,” is the result of that odyssey.
Author Links:
Facebook Author Page
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Facebook Author Page
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