Double Heart

Posted on September 27, 2011 by Trish and Rob


Today is the official release date of DOUBLE HEART, which is available in print or digital. The publisher is sending out an interview to media outlets including blogs. So it only makes sense that it should appear here first. Here’s the Q&A.

1) In your own words, Rob, tell us a little about Double Heart and the characters we will meet when you read the book.

Double Heart features Will Lansa, who has moved from a privileged life in Aspen to the Hopi reservation where his father is chief of police. When Will decides to write his senior thesis on Hopi witchcraft, he’s warned against pursuing the subject. That makes it even more enticing to him, especially when he uncovers a long-running feud between the Sun Kachina cult and a coven of Hopi witches. The stakes quickly escalate with murders and a kidnapping and Will finds himself the target of a deadly shapeshifter intent on destroying him.

2) How did the idea for Will Lansa come about? What was his inspiration? What are your plans for Will in the future?

I’ve had a long-time interest in the Hopi because of their mystical traditions and have made several trips to the reservation. I wanted to create a realistic character, one who is both outsider and insider. I was influenced by my own experience as an outsider on the inside. During my twenties, I spent four years as an editor of a community newspaper on an urban Indian reservation – Little Earth of the United Tribes – and from that experience I was able to create Will. Sometimes, though, it seems that Will is an independent entity, one who keeps pushing me to tell his story.

Double Heart is the third installment of the Will Lansa story – following Prophecy Rock and Hawk Moon. After this one, Will graduates not only from high school but from the realm of young adult fiction. In the next novel, Time Catcher, Will is a young anthropology professor, who is called back to the rez by his aging grandmother, Vina, who launches him on another adventure into Hopi mystical reality. Time Catcher also comes out this fall.

3) Now, you’re well known for writing officially licensed Indiana Jones books, which are pure adventure fiction. The Will Lansa stories do have adventure in them, but they are more mystery with a paranormal edge to them. You’ve also written tons of non-fiction as well. As far as genres go, do you have a favorite? Why or why not?

I find writing fiction a bit like brain surgery. It’s difficult and has gotten harder as I’ve moved more and more into plots involving magical reality. That’s what interests me. I also write non-fiction self-help books, some with my wife, Trish. Subjects have included: synchronicity, dream interpretation, astrology, yoga, meditation and psychic development.

Non-fiction is less like brain surgery, but still challenging in different ways. Finding a unique approach to a subject is essential. Of course, so is finding a publisher!

4) Speaking of Indiana Jones, can you share a little about your experience authoring several of his books? What is the process like? How does one get a gig writing books for one of the most beloved adventure heroes in the world?

When I wrote seven Indiana Jones novels, I must’ve been in a trance most of the time. I wrote each one in four months. When I finished one, the next was due four months later. George Lucas insisted that the stories involve real legends and actual sacred artifact. So there was considerable research involved – and no Internet at the time. Indy is also a world traveler, requiring more research, but my background as a travel writer in the 1980s helped out.

I was contracted to write the Indiana Jones novels because I was in the right place at the right time. I had just finished two novels based on scripts for an editor at Ballantine Books. One was written under a tight deadline because another novelist had abandoned the project. As a result, I was rewarded with an offer to write a novel based on the script of an upcoming movie called, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. When the novel hit the Times bestseller’s list, I was asked to write a series of original Indiana Jones novels.

Interestingly, neither the editor at Ballantine nor the folks at LucasFilm knew that I had studied anthropology in college and taken several journeys to archaeological sites in Europe, North Africa, and Latin America.

5) In fiction, who are some authors who have had the greatest influence on your writing? Who does Rob MacGregor like to read for pleasure and escape?

Although they are not categorized as fiction, the stories from my youth that greatly influenced my perspective and writing were the first four books by Carlos Castenada. There are many others, of course, but that’s what pops into my mind at this moment. As far as reading fiction for pleasure, that’s a challenge because I’m always analyzing stories. It’s pleasure, but it’s also work. I recently enjoyed the Stieg Larsson novels.  Lisbeth Salander is one of the most memorable characters I’ve ever encountered in fiction. I’m currently reading The Hunger Games novels,  a 3-part YA series, mostly out of curiosity about how a novelist makes more than $20 million in one year. I haven’t found the answer yet.

6) Besides writing, what else do you do? Hobbies and interests?

I teach three or four yoga classes a week. I also teach a six-week meditation course several times a year. I also enjoy working out in the gym, trail riding on my mountain bike…and a good cup of coffee.

7) If you could only provide ONE piece of advice for aspiring writers, what would it be?

The cynical response would be to keep your day job. However, a better response: write because you enjoy telling a story or writing about a subject. The rest will follow.

 

Posted in books, synchronicity | 11 Comments

Super New Moon in Libra

Posted on September 26, 2011 by Trish and Rob

Apollo 11

Tomorrow, September 27, there will be a new moon in Libra. It will also be a super moon, a new or full moon that coincides with a close approach of the moon to the earth.  New moons are about new beginnings, new chapters opening in our lives.  But thanks to challenging angles from Uranus and Pluto, these new opportunities come at you out of the blue and may be jarring.

Before you read any farther, you may want to go here to find out where Libra is in your natal chart. You’ll need your date, time, and place of birth.  Once you locate where Libra is in your chart, check here to find out what that particular house rules. That’s where the opportunities as well as the challenge will appear. The symbol for Libra:

Let’s say you have Libra on the cusp of your second house of finances. That would mean new money opportunities, but also some sort of angst or tension surrounding finances on that day because of these challenging angles from Pluto and Uranus.

In my own chart, for example, Libra rules my twelfth house. This house rules all that is hidden, the personal unconscious, power you’ve disowned, institutions, dreams. So, with five planets crowded into my twelfth house that day, my personal unconscious is going to be rockin’  and rollin’.  But in terms of opportunities,  I may have a super powerful dream that illuminates a concern I have. I might make new friends, network in a new way,  or have a chance to work behind the scenes, doing something I enjoy. Balance will be key.

At the time of this new moon – 7:09:35 AM EDT, there will be five planets in Libra – the sun and moon, of course, at 4 degrees Libra, Mercury (conscious mind), Venus (love, romance) and Saturn ( structures, karma, discipline). Libra is a cardinal air sign. Libra individuals are perpetually seeking balance and will often bend over backward to find that balance.  So those traits are going to be really apparent in everyone. The challenge is the Uranus opposition to the sun, moon, and Mercury, and an exact and challenging angle (a square) from Pluto. Either one of these challenging angles can make for trouble; both of them could prove to be unpleasant.

Energy will abound on the 27th, thanks to  a strong, positive angle from Mars in Leo, a fire sign that ‘s compatible with Libra. Mars symbolizes, physical stamina, aggression, sexuality.  So, the bottom line here? Buckle up. It could be a very wild ride!

On a global level, this super moon could be a harbinger of earthquakes or other natural disasters. Last’s year February 28 super moon coincided with three events: the February 27,  8.8 earthquake in Chile, the Pacific tsunami warning triggered by that quake, and the February 24 “snow hurricane” in the northeast. Scientists says there’s no connection between super moons and quakes or any other disasters. Here’s an article about that published a day before the super moon on March 19, 2011, and a week after the 9.0 quake in Japan.

Here’s another article where the author  – “weather guy” – isn’t a supporter of the super moon theory. But by the end of this post, he has found some other “coincidences” where disasters coincided with super moons.

Posted in astrology, synchronicity | 19 Comments

Faster than the Speed of Light

Posted on September 25, 2011 by Trish and Rob

If faster than light travel is possible, as the recorded speed of a nutrino apparently proved recently, then time travel is possible…at least for nutrinos. But maybe, just maybe – if you know the ins and outs of the time travel – books can be published before they are written.

That’s what I thought when I noticed that a book, Finite Theory of the Universe, Dark Matter Disproof and Faster-Than-Light Speed, was published one week before the results of the faster-than-light experiment at CERN was made known.

The book, which appears to be very mathematical in nature (not for popular consumption) deals with both artificial faster-than-light motion and natural faster-than-light galactic expansion….and other matters.

So imagine that the author is just now planning to write the book, as a result of the recent experiment,  but he can save a lot of time and effort by simply reading his completed text because the book moved back in time and was available September 16.  Now that would make life a lot easier for writers.

Then again, maybe the publication of the book so close to the release of the experimental data was just a synchronicity. Hmm, that makes synchronicity sound like the reasonable option.

 

Posted in synchronicity | 4 Comments

The Synchronicity Code

Posted on September 24, 2011 by Trish and Rob

One day, Google delivered an alert for a site called The Synchronicity Code. We checked out the site and were delighted to discover what J Andrew Goodman has uncovered about synchronicity and numbers. We ordered his book- The Synchronicity Code : How to Follow Coincidence and (sometimes even) Predict the Future.

From the book: “The Synchronicity Code presents a new discovery about the way history repeats across hidden cycles of time. The author’s experience as an investor based on cycles led to this discovery. As the research progressed, it soon became clear that meaningful coincidences are the key to de-coding the patterns of history.”

From the beginning of the book, Goodman makes an excellent case for how historical cycles repeat themselves – not randomly, but when they’re supposed to happen. Yet, predestination is not at work here. Synchronicity is the force that brings these events about. “It is the interval of time between two events that determines when a subsequent event will occur,” he writes.  “It all boils down too hidden cycles, but to see them, we need to calculate simple fractions between the two outside events, such as ½, 1/3, ¼, in order to arrive at them. These events then “roll” forward to find the next related event in the sequence.”

Goodman provides  numerous examples throughout history. Many of these stories are well known, but what makes this book unique is the author’s mathematical approach to the timing of events.  He uses various calculation methods for doing this, which are explained in chapter 2.  Since this is a method that apparently works for historical events, then it must work for landmarks in our own lives, right?

So I spent several hours one evening playing around with Goodman’s calculations. The easiest example he provides is using his own father as an example. So I used my dad for my test case.

My dad was born in 1913 and died in 2005. Subtract one from the other for a result of 92.  It’s off a bit since my dad died about 3 weeks before his 92nd birthday.  But let’s call it 92.  What we’re about to do is find important years in my dad’s life:

Now, according to Goodman’s example,  I multiply 92 by:

1)   .33  – 92x.33= 30.36 let’s round it off to the nearest whole and call it 30

2)   .382 (inverse Fibonacci ratio) – 92x.382= 35.144 or 35

3)   .5 (half) – 92x.5= 46

4)   .618 (Fibonacci ratio): 92x.618=56.856 – call it 57

5)   .66 (two thirds) 92x.66= 60.72 or 61

I also used another fraction he suggests experimenting with – .75, the ¾ mark. 92x.75

As an astrologer, I’ve kept rather large databases on significant dates for our family, so I have those dates for my dad.  Goodman says that when you’re looking at significant events over a long span of time, the actual event can be up to a year off.  He says the yearly time frame is the least accurate for the code. But it’s also the easiest to do! So here’s how this broke down using my dad’s life as the example.

Age 30, 1943: My parents were married in 1942 and 6 months later, he enlisted and was sent overseas. In 1943, he ended up in India, an important landmark for him.

Age 35,  1948:  I was born in 1947, so this one is about a year off

Age 46, 1959: I’m not sure about this one. My sister was born in 1953, in Maracaibo. We moved back to Caracas at some point, but I’m not sure of the exact year. 1959 could be the year my dad was put in charge of an investment arm of Creole (Exxon).

Age 57,  1970.  After returning to the U.S. in 1963, my dad had various businesses. I think this was the year he became a Realtor.

Age 61,  1974. My parents moved into the home they lived in until for the next 30 years

When I fiddled around with dates from my own life, there were some hits, some misses.

I loved the chapter on predicting the future. Here, Goodman takes you back and forth in time, illustrating how an event in the distant past can be connected to an event decades later. This is the sort of pattern astrologers work with, but using transits – (the daily motion of the planets) and other predictive techniques.  He covers 9-11, space shuttle disasters, major art thefts, Chinese politics, even the death of Bin Laden.

My sense is that Goodman is onto something with his synchronicity code. Be sure to have a calculator handy when reading this book. The temptation to do your own calculations is overpowering! Or, use the calculator on his intriguing blog, the link at the top of this post.

 

Posted in synchronicity | 19 Comments

The White Mountain Abduction

Posted on September 23, 2011 by Trish and Rob

We’ve just passed the 50th anniversary of the first known and widely publicized alien abduction case. The famed case of Betty and Barney Hill took place in rural New Hampshire on the night of September 20-21, 1961. No one can say that the Hills’ strange experience that night – much of it revealed under hypnosis – was related to something they had read about. There were no such known cases prior to this one.

So why Barney and Betty Hill? Could it be that there were other abductions previous to this one that received no publicity? Such an incident would be so bizarre that most people probably would prefer to keep it quiet. That would be especially true in the late 1950s and early 1960s.

But Betty and Barney Hill were already used to controversy. After all, they were a mixed race couple in an era marked by intolerance. In an interview, Barney noted that fact. For that reason, the couple was willing to come forward and bring light to another controversial matter.

The experience altered their lives forever. Barney’s behavior changed and has been compared to someone suffering from post traumatic stress syndrome. When we met Betty Hill 25 years after the event, she was obsessed by the experience and frequently went searching for UFOs late at night. She claimed to see them frequently in the skies in a remote area of New Hampshire.

The late Berthold Schwarz, a psychiatrist who explored the UFO phenomenon, joined Betty on a couple of occasions. When we asked him about his experience with her, he confided they saw moving objects in the sky, but he wouldn’t say they were unknown.  “Yes, we saw things. What they were is an open matter.” If that sounds somewhat obscure, there is good reason. By this time, Betty believed that alien vessels could disguise themselves as airplanes.  Right or wrong, that belief, of course, did not convince skeptics and  resulted in ridicule in a subject already strife with such reactions from disbelievers.

Here’s a well done documentary about the White Mountain case.  Enjoy…and wonder.

 

Posted in Betty and Barney Hill, synchronicity | 11 Comments

Capital Punishment

Posted on September 22, 2011 by Trish and Rob

Before I go to bed most nights, I usually check Huffington Post or msnbc.com for news. Given the weirdness in the world, it’s probably not a smart thing to do for a peaceful night’s sleep. It saddened me to find this headline about Troy Davis, executed this evening in Georgia for allegedly shooting a police officer in 1989.

There was ample evidence for reasonable doubt in this case. Quoting from Huffington Post: “Though Davis’ attorneys said seven of nine key witnesses against him disputed all or parts of their testimony, state and federal judges repeatedly ruled against granting him a new trial. As the court losses piled up Wednesday, his offer to take a polygraph test was rejected and the pardons board refused to give him one more hearing.”

Excuse me, this is Georgia, the deep south, where racism is alive and well.  Troy Davis was a black man. That’s the smaller picture. The larger picture here is about capital punishment.  Currently, according to Wikipedia, “over 60% of the world’s population live in countries where executions take place” – China, India, Indonesia, and the U.S.

In 1976, I worked as a librarian at a minimal security prison for young men between the ages of 16-19. We had older guys, but the majority fell within that age group and were doing time for drug offenses. One of these guys, a black guy, Aiken, was older than the general population and had been sentenced to twenty years for killing a police officer.

I liked Ake. He was smart, was enrolled in college classes, and read voraciously. He claimed he was innocent, as so many do, but oddly, I believed Ake. I think he was at the wrong time and place and was a fall guy. He and I used to sit in my office for hours, talking about world events, about life. I used to bring him books from my personal library  and he always returned the books in pristine condition and we would talk about the ideas in the books. He was also in the Spanish class I taught at the prison twice a week, at night. He was motivated.

I was one of 15 women who worked on the compound. My library, a double wide trailer, was a sanctuary for inmates like Ake who sought to improve themselves. They knew they could come there for conversation, good coffee, pastries, anything I happened to bring to work with me. One day during an escape attempt, Ake and two of his buddies rushed into the library and stayed until the lockdown was lifted. I knew they were there to protect me in the event of an uprising on the compound.

I sat in on his parole hearing. I was in his court. I knew he was innocent.

Some years later, long after I’d left the prison system, I was in a grocery story and heard someone shout, “Ms. Trish!” I turned and saw Ake rushing toward me. He was out, he was free. We rushed toward each other and hugged. “You saved my ass,” he said.

We talked for a while in the parking lot, catching up on each other’s lives. I’ve never seen him since. But when I saw that Huffington Post headline tonight, I thought of Ake, a  black man far more fortunate than Troy Davis.

In 1979, I was feeling like an inmate myself and knew I needed a change. The supervisor of the prison where I worked arranged an interview for me at Huntsville State prison in Texas. It wasn’t exactly the change I had in mind,  but  I was flown out to Dallas, then transported to the prison for an interview, and toured their Death Row.

Up until this point, I was ambivalent about the death penalty. That’s a horrible thing to admit. But honestly, I just hadn’t thought about it that much. I was in my twenties, I was naive.   The prison where I worked was minimum security, which meant none of these inmates would be hitting death row. But my tour of Death Row at Huntsville changed all that in a instant. It was the most desperate, depressing, and despicable place I’ve ever been.

Imagine: men languishing in solitary for years, released for just an hour a day for exercise or a shower, no contact with anyone else. The cells were impossibly small, just a toilet and a sink and a cot. The entire cell block stank of terror, a very real and tangible smell.

“So when do you think you can start?” the prison supervisor asked me afterward. “Our library really needs someone like you.”

Never, I thought, and flew back to Florida and ended up leaving my job not long afterward.

Yes, heinous crimes are committed. Yes, lives are shattered. Yes, some part of us screams for retribution.  But capital punishment is like war. The executioner, like the invading country, is a murderer. And there’s this religious thing, an eye for an eye, that has been twisted  and perverted so that we actually accept lethal injections, that we actually accept invading sovereign countries. What the hell is wrong with this picture?

Every time a person is executed, a country is invaded, every time an eye for an eye is implemented, we are diminished as a people, a  society, a country, a planet. You lose a child, a spouse, your life is violated. But an eye for eye just doesn’t set things right.

Ake, I hope you’re reading this. I hope you’re flourishing. And always, I wish you well and thank you for what you taught me.

Posted in capital punishment, prisons, synchronicity | 18 Comments

Nicholas Cage – Time Traveler?

Posted on September 20, 2011 by Trish and Rob

Apparently the image on the right is an authentic Civil War era photo of a man who bears an uncanny resemblance to actor Nicholas Cage. The comparison of photos has sparked Internet rumors than he’s a vampire. I’m not sure why anyone would jump to that particular conclusion. When Rob and I first saw it, our first thought was, ‘ Hey, Nicholas Cage, time traveler!’

How about a distant relative? But maybe an immortal with hidden fangs fits better with pop culture in cyberspace. Now if we hear Cage has a new movie coming out in which he plays a Civil War era vampire, then we know where that photo came from! – the hype-sters from La La Land.

Posted in actors, synchronicity | 14 Comments

A Couple of Synchros

Posted on September 20, 2011 by Trish and Rob

Katniss from Catching Fire, the movie

Sometimes synchronicities can serve as reminders, or as clues to future events. Here are two that do just that. I think these incidents are commonplace, but we often overlook them.

One recent morning I was reading a novel, Catching Fire, the second in the Hunger Games series. I’d only read a page or two when I came to a passage in which a character named Finnick saves the life of Peeta – Katniss’ love interest and fighting partner – who has collided with an invisible force field. He’s knocked unconscious and his heart stops. Finnick saves him by using CPR.

As soon as I read that, I looked up at the clock. At noon, I had a CPR training session scheduled at the gym. A nice reminder not only of the CPR, but also that there’s an underlying connection of all things and synchronicities offer us a peek at that deeper level of reality. (I also noticed that the CPR wasn’t quite done properly, but who cares. The guy was saved!)

That synchro reminded me of one from the previous evening.  I was heading to a yoga studio that I visit only a few times a year because it’s a 50-minute drive. A French woman I’ve known for years through yoga needed a ride so she joined me.

As we were leaving, an odd thought came to mind. Anne is hanging around with Arabs. Where did that come from? I wondered. I didn’t say anything about it and when it came to mind again before we arrived at the studio, it occurred to me that she rides Arabian horses owned by a Saudi family. So maybe that factoid trickled into my awareness.

As I pulled into the parking lot, I asked if she had been riding lately. Not since breaking a finger several months, she said, but wanted to get back into it. We walked inside and quickly found out that the teacher we both expected had opted out and was replaced by someone we didn’t know.

Anne started acting very much like the Cancer she is,  lifted her chin, and refused to take the class. “Okay, be that way,” I said.  “But I’m taking the class.”

“I’ll wait out here,” she said.

“For an hour and a half?”

“Sure. I have things to do,” she said, patting her large purse.

I shrugged and walked into the studio. I was thinking that I would leave early to accommodate her, especially if the class wasn’t very good. But it turned out to be quite challenging with variations I’d never tried, and I wanted to see it through to the end.

When it was over, I wasn’t particularly looking forward to the drive back. However, I was surprised when Anne didn’t seem a bit peeved. “I had a very interesting time. I spent the entire time talking to Jamal,” she said somewhat smugly. Jamal’s an old friend who works at the studio, checking people into class and usually takes the class after everyone has arrived. Apparently, like Anne, he decided to skip it.

“Did you know that his family is from Morocco and he speaks French?” she asked.

“I’m glad you weren’t bored,” I responded, and I couldn’t help thinking that she’d spent the entire class hanging out with an Arab. Hmm, guess I saw that one coming.

 

 

Posted in synchronicity, yoga | 17 Comments

Reno Air Crash

Posted on September 19, 2011 by Trish and Rob

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zejdh6Ab478&feature=player_embedded

Earlier this week, I spoke to our friend Lynn Gernon, who is married to Bruce Gernon, Rob’s co-author of The Fog. She said that she and Bruce were headed out to Reno for the airshow over the weekend.  So Friday I checked one of my online news sites and saw that a WWII, P-51 fighter plane had crashed into the grandstands at the Reno airshow.

I immediately thought of Lynn and Bruce. I scrolled through my cell numbers, couldn’t find Lynn’s number, and ran to the back of the house to get the number from Megan. She is working part-time at a business their daughter owns and had the number. I texted Lynn and was relieved to find out they hadn’t attended the air show today.

Here are the details. Around 4:30 PM Reno time,  the P-51 Mustang crashed into a box-seat area in front of the grandstand. It appeared that the pilot, 74-year-old Jimmy Leeward of Ocala, Florida, a veteran air man and stunt pilot, had lost control of the plane. Leeward was a stunt pilot for the movies Amelia and Cloud Dancer.

According to the Huffington Post, “the competition is like a car race in the sky, with planes flying wingtip-to-wingtip as low as 50 feet off the sagebrush at speeds sometimes surpassing 500 mph. Pilots follow an oval path around pylons, with distances and speeds depending on the class of aircraft.”

While reading about the disaster, I was struck by the name of Leeward’s plane, which may push this story into the realm of a global synchro: Galloping Ghost.

Why that name? If you’re  a stunt pilot, flying in risky air shows, why would you even dare to call your plane anything related to ghosts? Isn’t that like, well, tempting fate? Or did Leeward have some inking  of the future?

 

Posted in airplanes, synchronicity | 16 Comments

An upside down synchro

Posted on September 18, 2011 by Trish and Rob

 

This synchro appeared as a comment by Jeff D’Antonio,   under a post about the nature of consciousness.   In case anyone missed it, we’re bringing it forward. It’s simple and to the point and may have an element of the trickster.

+++

Last night I was awakened in the middle of the night by a loud thunderstorm, as the remnants of Tropical Storm “Lee” made its way up into New England. Still half asleep, I looked at the clock, but because I was lying in bed at a weird angle, I saw the clock upside-down.

It was 3:37 AM. If you look at 3:37 on a digital clock upside-down, it looks just like…”LEE”. I chuckled, and thought of you guys.

 

 

Posted in names, Numbers, synchronicity | 11 Comments