0 PROLOGUE
Heaven and hell are no longer.
They’ve left their stations and come to Earth,
the winters colder, the summers stronger,
the sun so hot that it melted the needle
atop the pointed cross on the highest steeple
of the church.
The metal drip dropped down.
The young ones watch from the bottom ground.
It looked as though the needle ripped a hole in the sky.
The sun melted things now that it hung so nigh.
As little eyes look up, the sun bashes down on their faces.
Their skins are all crisp and their hearts burn to ashes
and they float. They float away in the wind,
to the graveyard filled with the people who’ve sinned -
Ghosts.
The oldest and youngest child
stand facing the storm, their faces wild,
then they turn their backs from the bashing sun,
and they run.
Off in the distance the ghosts sang and laughed.
It was heaven that made them laugh like that.
But the living, no, they were still facing the sun,
disease, and rot, and the devil’s gun,
and they knew there was only one escape -
off to the graveyard where ghosts await.
All races gray, all colors pale,
flowing and fleeting beyond the vale.
Death was dangerous, quite, but the only way
to reach heaven, who’d fallen away from her place.
Heaven had fallen, the sun would follow,
making hollowed shells of people even more hollow.
And Hell had risen with the falling sun,
the King himself, and he’d brought his gun.
The ghostly Queen will soon have to fight
the ruler of Hell. The day versus night.
Only one will win, it's too early to tell.
They’re building their armies and training them well.
So choose your side - the sun’s bashing rays
or the winters that freeze your soul each day.
The church and its steeple,
the drip dropping needle,
the hole that the metal had ripped in the sky,
the ashes that float as the wind howls by,
or the graveyard filled to the brim with her ghosts.
Filled with the sinners who never mattered the most.
Audiobook coming by end of 2026!
Book Launch and Theatrical Live Reading
On June 26th, 2026, I held a book launch elevated reading event at Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center!
10 actors brought the piece to life, with costumes by Siavash Ford and scenic and props by myself with the assistance of Clover Kustak, and stop-motion animations by me.
Original 3D Renderings of Mother's Cave
View out of the cave opening to the rocky cliffs and permanent sunset over the ocean.
View into the Mother's room.
View from Raysha's sleeping spot.
Original Alcohol Marker Drawings
