The December Novel Numinous: The Golden Tunists

Sometimes things that happen to us authors are a blessing in disguise. My last few weeks have been one disaster or time-crunch after another, and delaying my novels gives me time to breathe and focus on one thing at a time when it comes to editing.

I will take December to focus and refine the prose of Numinous: The Golden Tunists.

The novel named Numinous I wrote last year is no longer canon and is to be tossed away. The character Zein Kestin is completely gone, and the story has shifted to focus more on the Pre-Flood world of Atlantis and the mysterious group, the Darcis, who are also at odds with the Auminous Sect.

Who the Darcis are and why they are against the Auminous Sect will be revealed by the book’s ending.

This book will focus heavily on the characters of Konner Lavi, Euthalia Chrysant, and Xantheus Eizencroft. Elisabel Lynn is also a viewpoint character, and her hunt for Esmer Baem from the first book will launch as she visits the Inter, the quantum space between the spiritual world and the realm of Earth.

I had taken the story in a frankly ridiculous direction last year, and I don’t want that exploration to taint the legacy I want to build here.

The Candlelight Man is completely gone, seeing as he was way too close so some old cartoon character I had forgotten about from the old WB days.

The Smile Springs storyline is also gone, instead giving way to a set piece of an amusement park filled with balloons that are floating around the entire span of the park filled with C4 explosives, which will make for a fun battle set piece.

Kafka Therios will be fought there, and since bullets will fly, one wrong ricochet could spell the end for the hostages taken by one of the founding members of Euthalia’s dead almost-husband-to-be’s old unit, the TRIGGER Unit.

There will be political intrigue in this novel as well, with deeper arcs and an actual plotline that will be resolved. I outline things backward, so the ending comes first. This helps me set up Easter eggs and clues throughout the book.

The ultimate battle had been decided from the moment I came up with the idea for the Candles of Elixas, the proto-tunist of the Pre-Flood world who created these seven candles.

I refuse to let my books be “mid” at all.

I want the next novel in the Occultus Ecclesia saga to line up with the intent and cheeky aesthetic from the first novel.

The first book was something special to me, having been written over years in scant free time as my first project. It went through many iterations, once being called Spirits of Gold Mountain, where Konner was named Nathan and was a lawyer trying to defend a child from murder charges with UFO undertones throughout the narrative.

The book wasn’t anything like the book Auminous. Killing those darlings honed something far greater than that initial idea, even if the small Colorado town aesthetic stayed in its final form.

This series has its own unique quirks, and I want to keep it that way.

Here is a sample of the first chapter from the new storyline, where some things are similar but changed from last year’s novel that I was not happy with.

This happens to me often, when I know things can be better and must make it so.

This book will be released on December 30th, with a different cover than the placeholder and with no intention of delay. It has been cooked in the oven long enough to come out better.