The Unholy Name Before the Masses Tour

THE UNHOLY

By

Paul DeBlassie III

BLURB: 

A young curandera, a medicine woman, intent on uncovering the secrets of her past is forced into a life-and-death battle against an evil Archbishop. Set in the mystic land of Aztlan, The Unholy is a novel of destiny as healer and slayer. Native lore of dreams and visions, shape changing, and natural magic work to spin a neo-gothic web in which sadness and mystery lure the unsuspecting into a twilight realm of discovery and decision.

Excerpt 2

“Help me? Help yourself! Face what is yours to face,” Elizabeth hissed. She yanked the door open then forced it to slam behind her.

Claire stood still for a moment, feeling as if a tornado had swept through the room. Elizabeth’s demand had left her shaken. She drew a deep breath, then went to her desk and picked up her tea, noticing her trembling hands.

Turning toward the window, Claire saw a muscular orderly accompanying Elizabeth to the locked ward at the far end of the hospital compound. A flock of crows circled high overhead, seeming to follow the two receding figures. As they arrived at the outer doors of the locked unit, the orderly reached for his keys. The crows circled while the two crossed the threshold of the unit, Elizabeth suddenly pausing, turning, and looking outside, her gaze riveted on the flock of birds.

All but two flew off, disappearing into the piñon-covered hills. The two that remained came to rest on the red brick wall adjacent to the locked unit, their black eyes boring into Elizabeth. She looked panicked then enraged and, shaking a finger at the creatures, yelled something. Her frantic gestures told Claire that she was screeching curses to ward off evil.

Claire took a step back from the window, from the impact of Elizabeth’s rage.

The orderly grabbed Elizabeth roughly by the arm and pulled her inside.

The crows waited, watched, then flew away.

How to handle negative criticism.

The most important thing for me to remember about criticism and The Unholy is to realize that it sets off a religious complex in people who haven’t come to terms with the meaning of religion, freedom, spirituality, and love in life. If there is conflict in the confluence of these areas for an individual then they may hate the novel. It makes them vulnerable and suddenly what they’ve wanted to cling to and perhaps find redemption in becomes threatened. Instead of looking within and wondering, pondering the source of their intense emotional reaction, they take it out on the story and may rage against it. Intense emotional reactions are always telling, there is stuff lurking underneath. With The Unholy it provokes strong feeling and may cause folks to love it or hate it…depends on where they are and how they are feeling about themselves and their life. So, I take all this into account when I receive negative criticism. I believe it is helpful in maintaining a certain remove, a distance so that my objectivity remains as clear as possible. There was an initial reaction by a few church folk to The Unholy, stating or really wondering if this was a novel that “is just about slamming religion.” Actually I enjoyed answering them and saying that the novel is not about religion so much as it is about the dark side of human nature, religion just being the particular venue for this story. There is a dark side to religion, something they agreed with, and The Unholy takes this reality and dramatizes to show how good and evil can be masked and show up in the most unlikely of ways. This addressed their criticism and interestingly enough set them more or less at ease about reading a terrifying novel about the dark side of religion!

AUTHOR INFORMATION:

Paul DeBlassie III, Ph.D., is a psychologist and writer living in Albuquerque who has treated survivors of the dark side of religion for more than 30 years. His professional consultation practice — SoulCare — is devoted to the tending of the soul. Dr. DeBlassie writes fiction with a healing emphasis. He has been deeply influenced by the mestizo myth of Aztlan, its surreal beauty and natural magic.  He is a member of the Depth Psychology Alliance, the Transpersonal Psychology Association and the International Association for Relational Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy. 

LINKS

Author Links

Amazon Author Page: http://www.amazon.com/Paul-DeBlassie-III/e/B00E5TBJXY/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_pop_1

Website: http://www.pauldeblassieiii.com/

Blog: http://pauldeblassieiii.blogspot.com/

Buy Links

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/The-Unholy-Novel-Paul-DeBlassie/dp/0865349592/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1379592287&sr=8-1&keywords=the+unholy+paul+deblassie

BN.com: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-unholy-paul-deblassie/1116061527?ean=9780865349599

The author will be giving away a $25 Gift Card to a commenter on the tour. Make sure you follow the blog and the rest of the tour for more chances to win!

http://goddessfishpromotions.blogspot.com/2013/12/virtual-nbtm-book-tour-unholy-by-paul-d.html

a Rafflecopter giveaway