Check out my stop on the Forlorn series by Gina Detwiler blog tour!
Title: Forlorn
Series: Forlorn #1
Genre: YA Fantasy
Release Date: November 2107
Publisher: Vinspire Publishing
Summary
Bad luck seems to follow Grace Fortune wherever she goes. She was orphaned at a young age, and her musical talent got her accepted to a prestigious school for the arts, where she was caught in the middle of horrific school shooting that nearly takes her life.
But then she meets gorgeous loner, Jared Lorn, and falls madly in love. There is only one problem. Jared is not exactly human. He's a Nephilim, an angel/human hybrid, descended from a cursed line of fallen angels known as the Watchers.
Having a half-demon boyfriend who's under a curse from God can be tough enough. But then Grace decides that she wants to help free Jared from the curse by killing his angel father, Azazel, who is bound up in the Abyss, where he will be judged at the End of Days.
She has a powerful ally in her guardian angel Ariel, who has given her a weapon: a Song that can tame demons. With a crew of loyal friends, Grace and Jared will travel to the ends of the earth, battling the forces of heaven and hell that seek to defeat them. Yet as their love grows stronger, they will find themselves in danger of succumbing to the very corruption that caused the Watchers' downfall.
Author: Gina Detwiler
Title:Forsaken
Series: Forlorn #2
Title:Forsaken
Series: Forlorn #2
Publication Date: August 2018
Summary
He was forsaken but not forgotten.
Nine months have passed since Grace Fortune saw the boy she loves, Jared Lorn, die before her eyes. But Grace’s suspicions have her wondering if Jared really dead. Along with her friends, she sets out to find answers, and the investigation leads to an unexpected place: Silo City, an abandoned silo complex that houses as many dark secrets as it does forsaken people.
Very much alive, Jared’s on a mission to save the girl he loves by collaborating with the enemy—a young, brash rock star named Lester Crow who fronts the punk metal band Blood Moon. Jared’s “deal with the devil” will take him on a cross-country journey into the heartland of darkness. The music of Blood Moon is a weapon against God, and Jared must wield this weapon while trying desperately to preserve his mind and soul from its power.
Jared and Grace are desperate to be reunited, but first, they must defeat the demonic forces arrayed against them. And pray that Jared, a Nephilim forsaken in God’s eyes, has a chance at a future.
Nine months have passed since Grace Fortune saw the boy she loves, Jared Lorn, die before her eyes. But Grace’s suspicions have her wondering if Jared really dead. Along with her friends, she sets out to find answers, and the investigation leads to an unexpected place: Silo City, an abandoned silo complex that houses as many dark secrets as it does forsaken people.
Very much alive, Jared’s on a mission to save the girl he loves by collaborating with the enemy—a young, brash rock star named Lester Crow who fronts the punk metal band Blood Moon. Jared’s “deal with the devil” will take him on a cross-country journey into the heartland of darkness. The music of Blood Moon is a weapon against God, and Jared must wield this weapon while trying desperately to preserve his mind and soul from its power.
Jared and Grace are desperate to be reunited, but first, they must defeat the demonic forces arrayed against them. And pray that Jared, a Nephilim forsaken in God’s eyes, has a chance at a future.
Purchase Links
Forlorn - Amazon | B&N | Smashwords | Kobo
Forgiven - Amazon | B&N | Smashwords | Kobo
Forsaken - Amazon | B&N | Smashwords | Kobo
Seven Myths About Angels
Angels may be the most misunderstood creatures in the universe, besides teenage girls. I have experience with both, having written novels about the former and raised three of the latter. By far, angels can be more easily explained. (insert laugh track here).
While I have tried in my books to be true to the biblical depiction of angels, I admit to wielding my dramatic license like a get-out-of-jail-free card on occasion. The fun of fiction is speculation, right? So as part of my penance, I will endeavor to correct some myths in this post. Here goes.
1. All heavenly beings are angels
The word angel means “messenger.” It’s really a job description, according to Michael Heiser, author of the book Angels. Angels deliver messages to people from God and sometimes deliver other things, like dinner (1 Kings 19:5) or death (Isaiah 37:36 for instance).
There are other heavenly creatures such as seraphim and cherubim who have different jobs— throne guardians or heavenly choirs. Less understood are the “elohim,” the members of God’s divine council. Jeremiah speaks of standing before “the council of the Lord” (23:18). Psalm 82 says God takes his place “in the divine council, in the midst of the gods (
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x;" xml:lang="EN-US">elohim).” Psalm 89 proclaims God’s greatness above all who surround Him in the “council of the holy ones.” In Job, we witness God meeting with his council wherein one member known as “the adversary” challenges the faithfulness of the man called Job. (This divine being is usually conflated with the NT name Satan, but the two are quite distinct). The prophet Micaiah in 2 Kings details a vision he had of a council meeting in heaven:
‘I saw the Lord sitting on his throne, and all the host of heaven standing beside him on his right hand and on his left; and the Lord said, ‘Who will entice Ahab, that he may go up and fall at Ramoth-gilead?’ And one said one thing, and another said another. Then a spirit came forward and stood before the Lord , saying, ‘I will entice him.’ And the Lord said to him, ‘By what means?’ And he said, ‘I will go out, and will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.’ And he said, ‘You are to entice him, and you shall succeed; go out and do so.’ ‘ 1 Kings 22:19-22
God doesn’t need a council; He could do it all Himself. He doesn’t need us either, but He invites us to be part of his saving work through prayer. In the same way, perhaps, He invites his holy ones into the throne room to partake in his governance.
2. Angels have wings
Renaissance paintings notwithstanding, there are no scriptural references to angels having wings. Angels are pure spirit, though occasionally they do show up in human form. While they can sometimes be very bright or terrifying no one who sees them ever mentions wings. The seraphim and cherubim are depicted as having several sets of wings (Isaiah 6, Ezekiel 10) but not angels. In fact, Hebrews tells us to be hospitable to strangers, because you never know when you might be “entertaining angels unawares.” I think wings would be a dead giveaway.
3. Michael and Gabriel are archangels
The term archangel is not used in the Old Testament. In the New Testament, only Michael is referred to as an archangel, this by Jude, a brother of Jesus. Paul mentions archangels in Thessalonians but doesn’t name them. The idea of archangels, their names and jobs, stem more from non-canonical works like the Book of Enoch. In the OT Michael is called a “chief prince,” roughly akin to our idea of an archangel.
4. Guardian Angels aren’t in the Bible
Okay, so this isn’t really a myth, more a matter of opinion. While “guardian angels” per se are not mentioned explicitly, there are instances where they are implied. Jesus alludes to the guardianship of angels when he says, “Do you think that I cannot appeal to my Father, and he will at once send me more than twelve legions of angels?” (Matt 26:53) Or, “’See that you do not despise one of these little ones. For I tell you that in heaven their angels always see the face of my Father who is in heaven.’” (Matthew 18:10)
The Psalms often speak of angels guarding people—Psalms 34, 78 and 91 to name a few. In Acts 12, Peter was released from prison (by an angel!) and went to the house of John Mark, but the people inside didn’t believe it was actually Peter—they thought it was “his angel.” Clearly the early Jews believed in the guidance and protection of angels.
Keep in mind that while angels could be assigned to guard duty, it wasn’t necessarily to guard us. At the first Passover, for instance, when the Lord passed over and saw that a doorway was marked with the blood of the lamb, He withheld the “destroyer” from afflicting that house.
I like how Candida Moss puts it:
“The Angel of the Lord is always packing heat. More often than not if an angel shows up to an event in the Hebrew Bible it is to harm someone. On one occasion, during the reign of King David, when the Angel of the Lord is about to destroy Jerusalem, God has to tell it to put his sword away. This is small fry for the Archangels. They lead armies into battle and are in training for the final showdown at Armageddon.”
5. Angels can be male or female
Angels appear to humans as exclusively male—they also have male names. But there is no reason to believe angels are either male or female. Angels are spirit beings, wholly separate from humans. So the next time you see a painting or a statue of a female angel with wings…think Hallmark and not heaven.
6. Fallen Angels are demons
In Forlorn and Forsaken I often refer to the Watcher Azazel a demon. But the “sons of God” from Genesis 6 who sinned and were thrown into the Abyss are not actually demons. Demons are an entirely different class of spirit being. I can only justify my by saying that because Azazel is the embodiment of evil, he’s a metaphorical demon— it’s like calling a serial killer a demon. Not technically correct, but you get the idea.
7. There was an angelic rebellion before the Fall
The standard Christian view holds that Satan led a rebellion in heaven before Adam and Eve even showed up in the Garden of Eden in which he and his angels were cast down to earth. But no such pre-Fall rebellion occurs in the Bible. The war in heaven involving Satan and his angels in Revelation 12 happens after the birth of Jesus, long after Genesis.
We tend to believe that when the serpent shows up in the Garden, he is already a bad guy. But then how did he get into the Garden in the first place? It makes more sense to me that he was there because he was member of God’s divine council in good standing. His rebellion happened in the Garden. This is why Eve wasn’t afraid of him or alarmed that a serpent could speak, because she’d seen him there plenty of times before—it could also explain why she trusted him.
There’s a lot of debate about this passage of course, especially as the serpent is not explicitly called Satan. But the idea that Satan’s rebellion occured before Genesis 3 is not supported by scripture.
I’m sure there’s many more thoughts on angels we could discuss, but this post is long enough! Have a question or comment about angels? Want
to add to the list? I’d love to hear it. Also, I highly recommend Michael Heiser’s book Angels: What the Bible Really Says About God’s Heavenly Host, a very comprehensive and readable exposition on the subject.
About the Author
Gina Detwiler was planning to be a teacher but switched to writing so she wouldn't have to get up so early in the morning. She is the co-author with bestselling author and speaker Priscilla Shirer of The Prince Warrior series for middle grade readers. She has also written the novels Hammer of God and
Avalon under the name Gina Miani.
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