Book TWO - The Falling Man

Overview

The Characters

NARGESS

Nargess Behbaharni was an Iranian Muslim lecturer of Women’s Studies at Tehran University, and at her home whilst her family were being killed, she was kidnapped for lobbying against the punishment of execution by stoning (which thanks to the “Room”, she narrowly avoids). She would win an Amy Winehouse lookalike contest, albeit for the fact that she proudly wears her hijab wherever she travels. Single, aged mid twenties, determined, cynical, strong and bold, she is loyal to her culture and much of her religion. She is able to use the paranormal technique of remote influencing and viewing, made more powerful, when in partnership with the more sensitive and weaker, Monas.

MONAS

Monas could be described as a ‘punk’ priest with attitude. A Roman Catholic with deeply unorthodox traits, he is a Father Brown fit for the 21st century. His priestly life is overshadowed by work carried out for secret service agencies such as “The Room”, and by the love he cannot fully express, for Nargess. Almost fashionably bald, early forties, with remnants of blond hair, he remains slim and very fit living on a diet of sea air and long walks. He was plucked from an Italian seminary by the Room (his spiritual advisor was a student of the Italian bi-locationist Fr Padre Pio), and has had paranormal ability since childhood. He (and Nargess) live in the true life remote village on the north east coast of Scotland, Pennan. He has been known to wear a discreet earring, and only occasionally, his clerical collar. He is principled, anti-modernist but progressive, with a caustic sense of humour. Whilst his mother failed to survive giving birth to him, his father was an alcoholic and Monas thrives on decent coffee, the music of Amy Winehouse, and endures insomnia fuelled by the nightmare visions of the work of painter Francis Bacon.

Professor Ian Stevenson: fictionalised account in novel based on true life work of the late Professor Ian Stevenson, concerning past life reincarnation cases of children and adults, plus past life regression work. Author has uncovered link with University of Saint Andrews which provides additional Scottish context, and the current project at St Andrews relating to Tibetan Studies and the Dalai Lama. His widow Margaret Pertzoff (also recently deceased) features in the novel.

Max Becker: fictionalised account in novel based on true life record of efforts by German military doctor to protect the art and literary treasures facing imminent ruin at the Monastery of Cassino, during the second world war. True historical accounts of General Senger and Lieutenant Colonel Julius Schlegel appear in Chapter in novel surrounding the efforts to prevent looting at Cassino, of priceless art work destined for Goering as a birthday present.

Thomas Ward:  the bad guy/Ophite, who established Valarin, a company based in Tibetan India and following the death of his business partner (Max, above) exploits ownership of a valuable document obtained by Becker during Cassino campaign. Ward perverts the original intention of the company by carrying out a soul-mate social network that introduces people with elite past lives, to one another.

Edmond Szekely: true life account of man in a fictionalised friendship with Becker (above) and who is alleged to have discovered the Essene Gospel of Peace in the Vatican and at Monte Cassino, which arguably demonstrated the original and non corrupted message of Jesus Christ.

The Plot

Scotland is the early locus for an encounter with an Aberdeen based ‘brethren” family which includes a young boy alleged to have been reincarnated from a German Second World War pilot. The novel incorporates and fictionalises the historic investigation and findings of many reincarnation cases. The context of the novel is that of the politically sensitive mega-dam building projects along the Tibetan plateau.

The novel takes Monas and Nargess to the areas of devastated monasteries which are affected by seismic activity as a consequence of the geopolitical aspects of dam projects and the emerging possibility of an Indian-Chinese conflict in that region. This political overtone is cloaked within the novel by advances in paranormal techniques employed by intelligence agencies in recent decades, (and as the novel suggests, in terms of the present day political and scientific/religious landscape) which based on original research by the author, equips intelligence agencies with the ability to predict areas of seismic activity for political effect.

Glen Reynolds has collaborated with earthquake specialists at the University of Durham, in terms of research for this second book in the MONAS series. The setting is thoroughly ( and increasingly) contemporary, including incorporation of events that are in the public domain very recently, surrounding activity at the Vatican over the leaking of documentation, and public announcements by the Chinese government surrounding the dam building culture that is in place. Announcements by the then Pope Benedict, with regard to Jesus having been a member of the Essene community, are also incorporated within the novel. By way of additional coincidence, the historical Chapter in the novel surrounding the battle of Monte Casino, also appears to some extent, to be the subject of contemporary media activity and a documentary film project.

A fictionalised account in the second book is based on true life work of the late Professor Ian Stevenson, concerning past life reincarnation cases of children and adults, plus past life regression work. Glen Reynolds has incorporated current links with the University of Saint Andrews which provides additional Scottish context, and the contemporary project at St Andrews relating to Tibetan Studies and the Dalai Lama. Stevenson’s widow, Margaret Pertzoff (also recently deceased) features in the novel.

There is a retrospective fictionalised account based on the true life record of efforts by a German military doctor to protect the art and literary treasures facing imminent ruin at the Monastery of Casino, during the Second World War. Historical accounts of General Senger and Lieutenant Colonel Julius Schlegel appear in the novel surrounding the efforts to prevent looting at Casino, of priceless art work destined for Goering as a birthday present. This is the background to the contemporary scene that Monas and Nargess explore.

Thus, enter Thomas Ward, the bad guy/Ophite, who established Valarin, a company based in Tibetan India and following the death of his business partner, exploits ownership of a valuable document obtained during the Casino campaign decades before. Ward perverts the original intention of the company by carrying out a soul-mate social network that introduces people with elite past lives, to one another. In the figure of Edmond Szekely, the novel incorporates a true life account of a man in a fictionalised friendship with the man who is alleged to have discovered the Essene Gospel of Peace in the Vatican and at Monte Casino, which arguably demonstrated the original and non-corrupted message of Jesus Christ.

The concept of possession of documents that threaten the existence of Christendom like no other time since the Reformation, is at the foreground of the dam building geopolitical backdrop to the second book in the MONAS series. The modern abuse of the past life theory and practice by Valarin, in terms of the manipulation of the human soul, lies behind the Jekyll and Hyde that is Thomas Ward and all that he stands for.