Welcome
"The Baptized" is a novel, my novel, and, I think, not in much of a similar vein to anybody else's novel. So yes, I have real hopes for it.
It's about, among other things, outlaw bikers, who often (particularly when stoned, in their cups or cutting deals with law enforcement) in fact talk much of "Satan," and bona fide Satanists. And it's about an evil virtually unmentionable and unthinkable today, even though it was once hurled as an accusation against both the Carthaginian empire and the medieval French nobleman Gilles de Rais (who was, of all unlikely things, an able military companion to Joan of Arc). And it's about moral rot.
Personally, I think Satanists exist and that, however small their actual numbers, they're nasty pieces of work indeed. A fine writer named Maury Terry once wrote a book about the "Son of Sam" case titled "The Ultimate Evil," positing that David Berkowitz, aka "Son of Sam," did not act alone, was instead a member of a Satanic cult. As it turns out, too, many of the cops who worked on the original case agreed with Terry. Most of us out there, however, would just scoff, laugh derisively.
And I'm not referencing Goth-type high school kids who listen to too much Glen Danzig, Marilyn Manson or assorted "death metal" bands, either. But, rather, folk who really do wish for a very different wind-up to the "end times" some maintain we are in fact in now.
Occasionally, hints of this more ominous reality seep through our social fabric. A case from some years ago in Belgium, for example, where a sleazeball procurer may well have just taken the rap for a ring of well-connected pedophiles who operated appallingly under the rubric of Old Nick. A court case in Ohio where someone suspected of child murders muttered darkly, and tantalizingly to law enforcers, of larger forces at work, then suddenly clammed up.
Even, however discredited so many such cases eventually turn out to be, instances of seemingly genuine ritual child abuse. Yes, there was in fact, for example, a sort of "cavern discovered beneath t'he building which figured in the notorious McMartin pre-school sex abuse case of the 1980's. Yes too, said cavern may have been wholly natural in nature and never used for anything more nefarious than the dumping of construction rubbish. Yes again, many of the accusations in the case seemed outlandish. But then, in this rational age, it also stands to reason that the activities of Lucifer's most dedicated servants would of course strike others as so far beyond the pale as to seem impossible to even remotely conceive of. (There is a famous Louvin Brothers album titled "Satan Is Real," and really, against the greatness of their voices, who are we to argue?)
"The Baptized" is a novel about awful things. Not meant to be taken as (excuse the word) gospel, but to be entertaining, to function as a piece of storytelling rather than as a training manual for a new corps of inquisitors. (Good luck on finding them. anyway, in a modern Catholic church already so lax about rooting out its pedophile.clergy.)
There is also the distinct possibility that what we term Satanism is but a sort of verbal and organizational cloaking device for your basic, completely evil and rotten but "mere" child abusers. Who really knows? I suspect, however, that any genuine, committed Satanists out there can play very rough indeed if threatened with exposure.
The prologue from "The Baptized" will soon appear on this site. Followed, at intervals, by some sample chapters. I hope that these, plus assorted items of relevance to the main topic at hand, will provide good reading. I also hope to hear from people as per the contact details given in the "About" section of this blog, and promise to try and respond at least semi-promptly to all rational responses. Let's even try to make the chatter as lively as possible.
Just try to remember this: Satan has the modern media, which professes not to believe in him, thus completely on his side. (We live in a world, too, where men actually join the organization called NAMBLA, something I can't quite imagine any other age in history tolerating; that we do so today isn't necessarily proof of the advantages of social evolution.) The social dice are loaded against those of us who are more truly skeptical than that, less religiously, or perhaps I should say irreligiously, sure of themselves. In such a world, where souls may truly be at risk, just the concept of Satan, whether or no he really exists, unfortunately strikes many as inconceivable.
To me, this is distinctly unfair. It sometimes seems as if even the Lord is against us. And God but I hope not.
And I'm not referencing Goth-type high school kids who listen to too much Glen Danzig, Marilyn Manson or assorted "death metal" bands, either. But, rather, folk who really do wish for a very different wind-up to the "end times" some maintain we are in fact in now.
Occasionally, hints of this more ominous reality seep through our social fabric. A case from some years ago in Belgium, for example, where a sleazeball procurer may well have just taken the rap for a ring of well-connected pedophiles who operated appallingly under the rubric of Old Nick. A court case in Ohio where someone suspected of child murders muttered darkly, and tantalizingly to law enforcers, of larger forces at work, then suddenly clammed up.
Even, however discredited so many such cases eventually turn out to be, instances of seemingly genuine ritual child abuse. Yes, there was in fact, for example, a sort of "cavern discovered beneath t'he building which figured in the notorious McMartin pre-school sex abuse case of the 1980's. Yes too, said cavern may have been wholly natural in nature and never used for anything more nefarious than the dumping of construction rubbish. Yes again, many of the accusations in the case seemed outlandish. But then, in this rational age, it also stands to reason that the activities of Lucifer's most dedicated servants would of course strike others as so far beyond the pale as to seem impossible to even remotely conceive of. (There is a famous Louvin Brothers album titled "Satan Is Real," and really, against the greatness of their voices, who are we to argue?)
"The Baptized" is a novel about awful things. Not meant to be taken as (excuse the word) gospel, but to be entertaining, to function as a piece of storytelling rather than as a training manual for a new corps of inquisitors. (Good luck on finding them. anyway, in a modern Catholic church already so lax about rooting out its pedophile.clergy.)
There is also the distinct possibility that what we term Satanism is but a sort of verbal and organizational cloaking device for your basic, completely evil and rotten but "mere" child abusers. Who really knows? I suspect, however, that any genuine, committed Satanists out there can play very rough indeed if threatened with exposure.
The prologue from "The Baptized" will soon appear on this site. Followed, at intervals, by some sample chapters. I hope that these, plus assorted items of relevance to the main topic at hand, will provide good reading. I also hope to hear from people as per the contact details given in the "About" section of this blog, and promise to try and respond at least semi-promptly to all rational responses. Let's even try to make the chatter as lively as possible.
Just try to remember this: Satan has the modern media, which professes not to believe in him, thus completely on his side. (We live in a world, too, where men actually join the organization called NAMBLA, something I can't quite imagine any other age in history tolerating; that we do so today isn't necessarily proof of the advantages of social evolution.) The social dice are loaded against those of us who are more truly skeptical than that, less religiously, or perhaps I should say irreligiously, sure of themselves. In such a world, where souls may truly be at risk, just the concept of Satan, whether or no he really exists, unfortunately strikes many as inconceivable.
To me, this is distinctly unfair. It sometimes seems as if even the Lord is against us. And God but I hope not.
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