I’d like to welcome a special guest today, an aspiring author I’m sure we’ll soon be seeing more of! Please read about Mary, and enjoy the short she’s written for us too!
Hi, my name is Mary Rodrigues and I enjoy writing and am aspiring to be a published author. I am a mother to three incredible young boys and three years ago my youngest son was killed by a suspected impaired driver. I started writing as a hobby when I was pregnant with my youngest son but have since decided to dedicate more time to hone my skills. After finally completing my first full length novel Alexander’s Mystic Warriors I decided it was time to enter some writing competitions to see how well I was doing. While I expected the first few to bomb, as they did, I focused in on historical fictions and have been shortlisted in three of the last four competitions I have entered with Wynterblue Publishing out of Northern Ontario. Diamond of Pure Heart is another fantasy novel that I have just started writing. Being the mother of two young boys who barely understand death and the fact that it is forever has given me a different perspective of their understanding of heaven, angels, and the afterlife. My insight and creativity into both of these novels stems from my own need and the need of my sons to understand where their little brother might be now. I also just recently started my own blog whatsbehindaname.wordpress.com which talks about the insight into all the character’s names that I have created and how the meaning of their name is linked to their personalities and I also post some of the short stories I have written in full length. When I am not being a mom I am the fundraising co-ordinator for my son’s school and I am also a victim speaker for MADD.
Diamond of Pure Heart
By the time Diamond had reached the age of five she learned all about the beginning of life from her mother, but it would be her twin brother Raban who would become her teacher of the afterlife. For Raban has been living in the after world since his death only two years ago. Diamond, who is now in her early twenties, works as a 9-1-1 dispatcher for the city of Babylon, New York. Being several hours east of New York City you would think that Diamond’s life as a dispatcher would be quite mundane in comparison, and yet it is not. In fact, life in modern day Babylon is not even remotely as tranquil as it was in the original ancient city located on the opposite side of the world.
Diamond’s blood relations can be traced back to the original city that was in the Mesopotamian region. Her blood carries with it all the knowledge of the ancient city and the pathways that lead from it to the after worlds. It is a burden that her family has carried since the dawn of civilization. Diamond was born twenty-two years ago in western Canada and by the age of five was secretly shipped off to Babylon, New York with a long time family friend posing as her daughter. As for Raban, he was sent to Tokyo, Japan. This was necessary in order to protect the secrets that they carried and has been a tradition for many generations. Diamond and Raban were the last two remaining survivors and the only remaining guardians of the portals to the after worlds.
For many centuries their family has been hunted for their secrets of promised immortality in the afterlife. They are the chosen ones who guide all mortals down the paths to the light or dark after worlds and without the pure of hearts to show the way the dimensions between light and darkness would converge into chaos. Raban sacrificed his life to the hunters in order to protect the secret and in the process provided Diamond with untold knowledge of the afterlife. Before that time they only knew where the portals were located and the means by which to decipher who went down what path upon their death. They were the first twins ever born into the family legacy and therefore have a special bond that forever links their souls together no matter where they are. And Raban is able to see into both worlds and act as a seer for Diamond. He can tell where the hunters are, but this new role as protector to Diamond will prove to be challenging as her first priority is to protect the humans from making the wrong choice that will eventually lead them down the dark path in the afterlife.
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