Well, Sophie (no longer totally human, but somehow now "promoted" into a demi-demon) is back to raise hell with the unsuspecting! Thanks, Simone, for again recognizing my very catchy "Satanic Vigilante" coinage, from your "Confession" story. I still think "Satanic Vigilante" is an excellent name for a provocative line of lingerie, fragrances, lifestyle products which can compete against Agent Provocateur. For instance: "Succubus, the exciting new fragrance from Satanic Vigilante...steal his soul forever," or something of that sort. But that's neither here nor there.
Sophie does fit the vigilante role ideally here, doesn't she? Reduces a total dirtbag guy to a pile of dust. Plus, she picks up this "insta-submissive" bisexual guy who's ready to do her bidding, no matter what. She's of course given him the option to leave, which he's refused, so he belongs to her and her hellish friends from now on.
I'm curious to see where you're headed here, of course. Going back to my "according to Hoyle" theology/metaphysics playbook, there's a lot of license here with any human being transformed into a demon, or even being cut into quasi-demonic status of course. You're dealing with two radically different beings. Both created, both possessed of free will. But demons have an angelic nature--they're immortal, indestructible, have total knowledge of the past and present (and a fairly accurate predictive ability about the future, based upon their superior past and present knowledge--they don't have God's perfect knowledge of past, present, and future all at once, as a permanent "now."), and can outwit, outsmart, and overpower the greatest mortal human out there. Their rebellion twisted their wills toward evil, and their dedication to the destruction of the human race is absolute: they haven't the slightest interest in our pleasure, wealth, enjoyment, or happiness, but will readily produce them--and the desire for same--as rope to hang ourselves with. The last thing any demon would ever do would be to welcome a human into demonic ranks, or seek to elevate a human into their ranks--their numbers are fixed, and their pride (moreso their infernal leader's) gives them the invincibly ignorant certainty that they are right, but paradoxically their perfect knowledge also gives them the certainty that they've made a terrible, irrevocable mistake, and that the pain and suffering they undergo is totally justified (in fact, there are currently serving Exorcists who've documented or recorded transcripts of their conversations with the possessed, in which demons reveal that the pains they undergo while being expelled are nothing compared to what they truly deserve for their rebellion against Love). It's why "Paradise Lost" is one of the greatest poems ever penned, and why Milton's Satan is one of the greatest antiheroes in all literature. Plus, there's also the whole thing about demons being pure spirits, and that they can assume whatever form they wish as part of their destructive, anti-God, anti-Creation, anti-Human agenda, which is pretty much all they're about. Everything they say, do, or present is necessarily a lie--a lie with a "military" purpose.
Lots of literary and real-life occult types have gotten into the black arts with the intention of somehow "becoming" a demon (believing they'll be "given" a throne in Hell, a seat at the table, so to speak, as a reward for being a faithful servant of evil--this was the motivation of the psychopathic occult murderer called "Malakh" in Dan Brown's masonically themed thrilled "The Lost Symbol," where he saw himself as an heir of Aleister Crowley and Eliphas Levi, and believed that by killing his victims, he was earning credits toward getting an all-access pass to some Hellish Theme Park; as we know, "he chose poorly"), buying into ancient magical lore and such--most of which isn't all that ancient. Most of those people end up behind the walls of mental institutions, and rightly so.
Other than my being a stickler for demonological orthodoxy (I admit to being a total pedant and pain in the ass along these lines, but that's just the kind of guy I am), I'm with you on the Goldilocks saga--looks like you're taking it into a fascinating place!
I've always been fascinated by the idea that there are different realms or dimensions that are part of our world. I like the idea that you can walk through a wardrobe or take one step to the left and end up in another realm. My base theme is, what if much of our folklore, stories of Norse Gods and legends were based on meetings between these dimensions.
Now we have seen our oblate spheroid from space we are convinced that it is our world alone. But what if there are other dimensions that we cannot see because of our obsession with technology which has removed us from the natural order.
With Sophie and in 'At the Edge of Dreams', I am straying from demonological orthodoxy but it is easier to call Sophie 'half demon', rather that 'half strange being from another dimension'.
As I said in the intro, I am not sure whether to take Sophie's story down the horror route or back into the realms of horny demons (as in part 2) so there will be a pause. I will see what emerges and whether there are any other comments as to which route to go down.
"Interdimensional" seems to be the general trend of the current "nonfiction" aliens-from-another-world/UFOlogy genre, its purveyors clearly now cognizant of readers' better scientific knowledge--massive distances, the ultimate speed limit imposed by light, etc.--which make "space aliens" abducting humans and visiting us a tall order. But by the same token, the mind-bending nature of modern, post-Einsteinian physics makes interdimensional travel, bizarre beings, linking up with other "advanced" civilizations, and what not all possible and fully concrete. It also keeps all of the "Ancient Aliens" types in the money.
But from where you're coming from, Simone--with both sagas--it totally works, even with your theoretical take on folklore, legends, and such like--and of course, organized religion itself. The "ancient astronaut theorist" crowd are all about making the traditional deities of humanity's great religions into "misunderstood" aliens, just like it was aliens who built the Pyramids--not very smart Egyptian engineers, architects and craftsmen who knew building and logistics like no one else and spent decades building something to their national glory, which was something ancient empires were really into.
I have yet to read the second "new" Sophie installment. But if it's a matter of preference as to future events, let the record show I'm behind horror all the way. When it comes to the erotic, I'm totally in the human camp. Sex and eroticism are exclusive to and reserved for actual, adult human beings, within some intense romantic context. If you're talking demons, ghosts, aliens, machines--or whatever--it's artificial at best, or malevolently deceptive with ultimate destructive intent at the very worst. If that makes me violative of the civil rights of evil demonic entities or AI sex robots, I can live with such a stigma!
Well, Sophie (no longer totally human, but somehow now "promoted" into a demi-demon) is back to raise hell with the unsuspecting! Thanks, Simone, for again recognizing my very catchy "Satanic Vigilante" coinage, from your "Confession" story. I still think "Satanic Vigilante" is an excellent name for a provocative line of lingerie, fragrances, lifestyle products which can compete against Agent Provocateur. For instance: "Succubus, the exciting new fragrance from Satanic Vigilante...steal his soul forever," or something of that sort. But that's neither here nor there.
Sophie does fit the vigilante role ideally here, doesn't she? Reduces a total dirtbag guy to a pile of dust. Plus, she picks up this "insta-submissive" bisexual guy who's ready to do her bidding, no matter what. She's of course given him the option to leave, which he's refused, so he belongs to her and her hellish friends from now on.
I'm curious to see where you're headed here, of course. Going back to my "according to Hoyle" theology/metaphysics playbook, there's a lot of license here with any human being transformed into a demon, or even being cut into quasi-demonic status of course. You're dealing with two radically different beings. Both created, both possessed of free will. But demons have an angelic nature--they're immortal, indestructible, have total knowledge of the past and present (and a fairly accurate predictive ability about the future, based upon their superior past and present knowledge--they don't have God's perfect knowledge of past, present, and future all at once, as a permanent "now."), and can outwit, outsmart, and overpower the greatest mortal human out there. Their rebellion twisted their wills toward evil, and their dedication to the destruction of the human race is absolute: they haven't the slightest interest in our pleasure, wealth, enjoyment, or happiness, but will readily produce them--and the desire for same--as rope to hang ourselves with. The last thing any demon would ever do would be to welcome a human into demonic ranks, or seek to elevate a human into their ranks--their numbers are fixed, and their pride (moreso their infernal leader's) gives them the invincibly ignorant certainty that they are right, but paradoxically their perfect knowledge also gives them the certainty that they've made a terrible, irrevocable mistake, and that the pain and suffering they undergo is totally justified (in fact, there are currently serving Exorcists who've documented or recorded transcripts of their conversations with the possessed, in which demons reveal that the pains they undergo while being expelled are nothing compared to what they truly deserve for their rebellion against Love). It's why "Paradise Lost" is one of the greatest poems ever penned, and why Milton's Satan is one of the greatest antiheroes in all literature. Plus, there's also the whole thing about demons being pure spirits, and that they can assume whatever form they wish as part of their destructive, anti-God, anti-Creation, anti-Human agenda, which is pretty much all they're about. Everything they say, do, or present is necessarily a lie--a lie with a "military" purpose.
Lots of literary and real-life occult types have gotten into the black arts with the intention of somehow "becoming" a demon (believing they'll be "given" a throne in Hell, a seat at the table, so to speak, as a reward for being a faithful servant of evil--this was the motivation of the psychopathic occult murderer called "Malakh" in Dan Brown's masonically themed thrilled "The Lost Symbol," where he saw himself as an heir of Aleister Crowley and Eliphas Levi, and believed that by killing his victims, he was earning credits toward getting an all-access pass to some Hellish Theme Park; as we know, "he chose poorly"), buying into ancient magical lore and such--most of which isn't all that ancient. Most of those people end up behind the walls of mental institutions, and rightly so.
Other than my being a stickler for demonological orthodoxy (I admit to being a total pedant and pain in the ass along these lines, but that's just the kind of guy I am), I'm with you on the Goldilocks saga--looks like you're taking it into a fascinating place!
I've always been fascinated by the idea that there are different realms or dimensions that are part of our world. I like the idea that you can walk through a wardrobe or take one step to the left and end up in another realm. My base theme is, what if much of our folklore, stories of Norse Gods and legends were based on meetings between these dimensions.
Now we have seen our oblate spheroid from space we are convinced that it is our world alone. But what if there are other dimensions that we cannot see because of our obsession with technology which has removed us from the natural order.
With Sophie and in 'At the Edge of Dreams', I am straying from demonological orthodoxy but it is easier to call Sophie 'half demon', rather that 'half strange being from another dimension'.
As I said in the intro, I am not sure whether to take Sophie's story down the horror route or back into the realms of horny demons (as in part 2) so there will be a pause. I will see what emerges and whether there are any other comments as to which route to go down.
"Interdimensional" seems to be the general trend of the current "nonfiction" aliens-from-another-world/UFOlogy genre, its purveyors clearly now cognizant of readers' better scientific knowledge--massive distances, the ultimate speed limit imposed by light, etc.--which make "space aliens" abducting humans and visiting us a tall order. But by the same token, the mind-bending nature of modern, post-Einsteinian physics makes interdimensional travel, bizarre beings, linking up with other "advanced" civilizations, and what not all possible and fully concrete. It also keeps all of the "Ancient Aliens" types in the money.
But from where you're coming from, Simone--with both sagas--it totally works, even with your theoretical take on folklore, legends, and such like--and of course, organized religion itself. The "ancient astronaut theorist" crowd are all about making the traditional deities of humanity's great religions into "misunderstood" aliens, just like it was aliens who built the Pyramids--not very smart Egyptian engineers, architects and craftsmen who knew building and logistics like no one else and spent decades building something to their national glory, which was something ancient empires were really into.
I have yet to read the second "new" Sophie installment. But if it's a matter of preference as to future events, let the record show I'm behind horror all the way. When it comes to the erotic, I'm totally in the human camp. Sex and eroticism are exclusive to and reserved for actual, adult human beings, within some intense romantic context. If you're talking demons, ghosts, aliens, machines--or whatever--it's artificial at best, or malevolently deceptive with ultimate destructive intent at the very worst. If that makes me violative of the civil rights of evil demonic entities or AI sex robots, I can live with such a stigma!