Dragons of Lore Series: Chinese Dragons

Chinese Dragons are perhaps the most fascinating mythical creature ever dreamed up by mankind. In most ancient cultures, monstrous beasts where created to warn future generations about a certain danger. Whether the danger came from volcanoes, thunderstorms, asteroids or comets, dragons were usually a creature whose very presence spelled certain impending doom upon those unlucky to cross paths with them. Not true for Chinese dragons. These dragons are considered lucky, perhaps even givers of life. That is not to say that they don’t have a little bite!

China is often referred to as the Dragon. In ancient times they were associated by Emperor’s, or at least so the emperor hoped to be associated with them. The Chinese saw divine personality characteristics that they themselves wished to attain, or see in themselves. Chinese dragons epitomized strength, power, independence, courage, wisdom and above all else, luck!

Chinese dragons are quite different in appearance than western dragons. Chinese dragons lack wings and their bodies are more snake-like or crocodile-like than the lizard looking western fire-breathers. The ancient Chinese believed that certain animals possessed the power to overcome nature, especially when nature was being furiously angry. The dragons they worshipped were created from the parts of these different animals, such as serpents, reptiles and fish, to create a super-supernatural being to protect them.

The emperors who stylized their reigns after these creatures used dragons with five claws as their symbols. The next highest ranking military or political figure would have four and the next lowest three. The dragons were considered to be divine. Thus the dragon dance was born, to appease the gods to dispel droughts and bring life giving rains on which the harvest depended.

 The color of particular dragons is also very symbolic. Green is representative of the gods giving great future harvests, yellow embodied the emperor or his kingdom, gold and silver represent prosperity, red stands for excitement.

 

There are many beautiful dragon temples in China, many of them supported by outlandishly creative dragon pillars. With stunning craftsmanship, the ancients set out to make the dragons’ temples suitable for any god, anywhere in the world. The belief among these people was that the spirits of the dragons who dwelt within the temple would make wishes come true. In return, the wish makers would be compelled to do something to return the favor for the gods. It could be a simple fruit or bread sacrifice for the poor to a magnificent new dragon pillar in the temple for the rich lords.

Chinese dragons come in four types: Celestial, Spiritual, Earth and Underworld. The Celestial Dragon is ruler of all other dragons and protects the heavens. It has five claws. Spiritual Dragons control the wind and rain. Floating in the clouds, it reigned in nature, providing life giving rain when appeased and droughts and natural disasters when angered. Earth dragons controlled the flow of rivers and the path and maintenance of their banks. Every river in China had its own dragon. The Underworld Dragons guard hordes of treasures and precious metals buried deep underground. The guardian of wisdom, each Underworld Dragons possessed a black pearl, representing wisdom, which could multiply whatever it touched. I could use one of those magick black pearls! How about you?

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Dragon of Lore series: Beowulf and the Dragon

“O flower of warriors, beware of that trap. Choose, dear Beowulf, the better part, eternal rewards. Do not give way to pride. For a brief while your strength is in bloom but it fades quickly; and soon there will follow illness or the sword to lay you low, or a sudden fire or surge of water or jabbing blade or javelin from the air or repellent age. Your piercing eye will dim and darken; and death will arrive, dear warrior, to sweep you away.” Beowulf 

The myth of Beowulf fascinates me more than any other. Here is a man who defeated, and when I say defeated I mean killed, a leviathan, a troll, a witch-snake and a dragon! No other hero I can think off has as many skins on the wall as the great Geat. And he wasn’t even a demigod, like say, Hercules!

The story begins with Beowulf sailing away from his homeland, Geatland, to travel to the land of the Danes, to help a friendly neighboring peoples, and to make a name for himself. The King of the Danes, Hroogar, has developed a small problem. To celebrate his countries prowess against its enemies, the king built a great hall for his warriors to drink mead, tell tall tales, sing songs, ravage beautiful dames and all the other things victorious drunken warriors tend to do. The one mistake he made, however, was building his party hall within earshot of a terrible troll named Grendle, who was born deformed: his eardrum grew outside of his ear, not inside. Grendle couldn’t tolerate noise!

So, every time the Danes had a celebration, Grendle would come and play the role of party pooper, by destroying everything in his path, killing a warrior or two and taking their corpses back to his cave to dine on. A terrible pall fell across the land and no one dared stand up to the terrible Grendle. Then Beowulf showed up, full of confidence after slaying a leviathan along the way, bragging to be the greatest warrior in the world and vowing to rid the Danish lands of the cursed troll. To get matters started, Beowulf insisted on throwing a great celebration at the king’s hall, and when Grendle showed up, Beowulf battled him, ripped his arm off at the shoulder, causing the troll to flee back to his cave, fatally wounded.

When the troll dies, its angry mother, an evil witch who can shape shift into a snake, came calling for Beowulf. When she encounters the Geatmen, she attack and kills Beowulf’s best warrior before slinking back home. Outraged, Beowulf follows her to her lair and confronts her. Unable to hurt the sorceress with his weapons, Beowulf grabs an ancient magickal sword forged by a giant, lying amongst her horde and slays her with it. He then decapitates Grendle, gives the head to the king, is handsomely rewarded and then returns home to Geatland, where his new found reputation eventually makes him a great king of his own people.

Fifty years later, a young man in Beowulf’s kingdom comes upon a cave filled with treasure. He takes a golden cup with him for proof, and in the process, wakes a sleeping dragon. The dragon is furious to find one piece of its horde missing and flies from its lair, burning everything in its sight. With his kingdom under threat, old Beowulf summons his youthful courage and gathers his warriors to confront the dragon.

Sensing his own inevitable demise, Beowulf bravely orders his men to stand down and attacks the dragon alone. A great battle ensues and Beowulf finally slays the airborne beast by ripping its heart out with his bare hands. Unfortunately, Beowulf is mortally wounded by the dragon and dies soon after, surrounded by his closest friends and warriors. His people build a massive funeral pyre for their fallen hero and then bury his ashes and the dragon’s great lair together in a huge burial mound.

Two burial mounds that might fit the description have been found in Geatland, in what we today call Scandinavia. One was excavated in the late 19^th century and grand burial setting fit for a great king was found. It is debatable whether or not it was Beowulf. The other one has not been excavated.

I highly recommend reading a translated version of the epic poem Beowulf. There are a couple of really good movies made in the 2000’s that do a great job of telling this great myth as well. Of the two, I prefer the animated version. Odin and Thor would be proud.

“Wise sir, do not grieve. It is always better to avenge dear ones than to indulge in mourning. For every one of us, living in this world means waiting for our end. Let whoever can win glory before death. When a warrior is gone, that will be his best and only bulwark.” Beowulf

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Number 1 Witch of All-Time: Morgana Le Fay of Camelot

Unattributable to any one author, but originally credited to twelfth century author Geoffrey of Monmouth, the legend/myth of King Arthur’s Camelot is the greatest fantasy story of all time, in my opinion. There are so many great characters from the story, but the one we will touch on the most in this blog is Morgana Le Fay, the number one witch of all time.

Morgana was the daughter of Duke Gorlois of Cornwall and Lady Igraine. Uther Pendragon attacked Gorlois because he wouldn’t submit to Uther’s goal of gaining kingship of a reunited England. As battle loomed, Merlin caused a great fog to form between the armies and then used sorcery to disguise Uther’s face to look like Gorlois’, so Uther could sleep with Igraine. In return for the favor, Merlin got the child conceived during that liaison.

If Uther would have waited he would have gotten Igraine anyway, as Gorlois was slain in the battle, thus giving Uther the role of first unified King of England. He married Igraine, and sent Morgana to a convent. It is said that Morgana received her early witchcraft training at that convent. When Arthur was born to Uther and Igraine, Merlin came and forced Uther to live up to the agreement and give him the child, which he reluctantly did.

With the help of Merlin the Magician, Wizard, Druid, Prophet, madman, what have you, Arthur Pendragon grew up, pulled the mythical sword from the stone and inherited his rightful throne as King of England, after Uther, the father he never knew, was killed. King Arthur then became one with the land, gathered widely celebrated knights and went on a quest for the holy grail.

Everything was good until Arthur's evil half-sister, Morgana Le Fay returned to the scene, and decided to finally act upon her livelong jealousy of Arthur, by tricking him into sleeping with her at a pagan fertitlity ritual, a tryst which begets him a son who will eventually be the death of him. (note: many Arthur stories, especially older ones, cite Morgause as Mordred’s mother.)

The only person standing in Morgana’s way now is Merlin. How does Morganna do him in? She does what any beautiful royal lady and aspiring witch would do. She shows interest in his sorcery and persuades him to tutor her in the dark arts of Druidry. She then seduces the great wizard and eventually discovers his weakness. Morgana uses her newfound power to freeze Merlin and all his magickal knowledge and power in ice for all eternity and takes her role as the most powerful druid in England.

How important is Morganna? She has been the subject of countless novels by numerous authors, plays, movies, songs, comics and even a heavy metal band. Check them out: http://morganalefay.com.

Morgana has set the standard for witches for thousands of years. Her name Morgana comes from a derivative of the Welsh words for water sprite and Celtic for war goddess. The word ‘le fee’ means fairy. These spirits are as ancient as written history, if not older, and are still spoken to this day.

Perhaps more importantly, Morgana was and is a role model for women as a very dominant character. She was involved in the highest levels of English royal circles and political scene and she used her position along with cunning, intuition, and witchcraft talents to double-cross her enemies and influenced Anglo-Saxon history in the process.

Think about this: If the Arthurian legends are real, and there is no evidence I’ve seen that they aren’t, then we have a spectral war going on between Morgana and Merlin that set the stage for the end of open paganism in Anglo-Saxon Europe and helped usher in the age of Christianity. That is some huge influence right there.

Imagine how differently things could be right now. Mordred came so close to defeating his father in the battle of Camlann when he near fatally stabbed Arthur but was simultaneously killed by his father. If Morgana’s plan would’ve worked, Christianity might not have had such an easy path through Europe with Mordred ruling England.

So what happened to Morgana? After Mordred was killed and Arthur near-fatally wounded, the story goes that Morgana took Arthur by boat to the enchanted island of Avalon, where Morgana was high priestess of a society of female sorceresses. Neither was ever seen again and the island of Avalon drifted beyond the invisible veil that separates this world from the spiritual world.

Even after her dreams of uniting England as a pagan society were ended with her son’s death, the love and sympathy for her brother stayed true, as she nursed him back to health in her mystical paradise so he could return again someday as Once and Future King. And I guess that makes the answer to the question of whether she was evil or not, simply a matter of perspective.

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No. 7 Witch of All-Time: Hermione Granger as portrayed by Emma Watson (Harry Potter)

Top Ten Female Witches of All-time (real or imagined)

What fantasy author can resist a witch that loves the library? Certainly not this one! For that reason, and many more actually, Hermione Granger, Harry Potter’s female sidekick, comes into my list of the Top Ten Witches of All-Time at number seven.

The character of Hermione, portrayed in the Harry Potter movie series by the lovely Emma Watson, is more than just a sidekick. Her magick is as powerful as any witch on this list, and without her unique and well studied magickal talents, Harry Potter would have been up the proverbial crap creek without a paddle on more than one occasion.

In a world where female protagonists with super powers are much more common than yesteryear, I certainly like Hermione better than Bella on Twilight. My daughter might feel differently, but Hermione always had a purpose and that purpose usually had more to do with righting wrongs than falling in love. There, I said it…whew!

Another thing that impresses me about Hermione is that she doesn’t have to be perfect. She has doubts, fears and questions everything, but when push comes to shove, she isn’t afraid to shove.

As I researched this character I learned that she has a lot in common with her author and creator, JK Rowling. It’s nothing unusual for an author to put tidbits of themselves into their works, but if JK is anything like Hermione in real life, then she must be as good a person as she is an author.

As the series grows, so does the character of Hermione. Nothing more than a child in the first Potter books, she is a fully grown young woman by the time it all ends. I always kind of wished she and Harry Potter would fall in love, but Rowling chose the third protagonist from the series, the ever loyal Ron Weasly to be her love interest. Through all the bickering they slung at each other, a strange chemistry developed between the two and by the epilogue of the final book, they were married and had children. Perfect fairytale ending, right?

Beyond her magickal abilities, I think the things that make Hermione so charming are her intellect and her loyalty. Never one to back down from a challenge, her response to the antagonists in the series, such as the ever frowning Malfoy, was to get revenge by outsmarting the bad guys. And she did quite a good job of that!

Though some might have seen Hermione as standoffish, I felt relatively the opposite. Being a book worm and someone who did outstandingly well in class, I can relate to her character, even though she is meant to be a geeky female heroine. There is far more to Hermione than that. Seemingly always the first to master new lessons and spells, who else would Harry Potter call upon when he was in a bind against the formidable antagonists he had to face? I am sure Harry would have Hermione a bit higher on the list, but I think she is perfect here at number four. Do you agree?

What this says for the final four witches on my list is that they are amazing! I can’t wait to reveal them to you! Stay tuned!!!

Thanks for reading my blog. Please follow me, share and tell an enemy and a friend. I look forward to seeing you next time. I also encourage you to visit my author website to check out my novels and short stories. My psycho-sexual/dark fantasy novel about dragons, undead knights, and you guessed it, witches is called Rise of the Raven Knights, Suffer the Witch Volume I and it can be found at http://sufferthewitch.com.

My apocalyptic sci-fi thriller, The Devil’s Prophet is also available at http://thedevilsprophet.com.

Number 5 Witch of All-Time: Bewitched Samantha Stephens (Elizabeth Montgomery)

Number 6 Witch of All-Time: Bewitched Samantha Stephens (Elizabeth Montgomery)

Elizabeth Montgomery portrayal of Samantha brought witchcraft properly into the nineteen-sixties with a twinkle of her nose, forever changing primetime television and becoming the most mainstream witch in history. The contemporary sitcom, Bewitched, was her vehicle, and the blonde bombshell with girl next door innocence came complete with a bumbling husband who despised her religion, but reaped the rewards anyways, a beautiful daughter, a meddling mother and her husband’s buffoon of a boss. That sits Elizabeth’s character, Samantha, and her little nose trick, which I still haven’t figured out, squarely in the top ten female witches of all-time, at number six.

While the show shared a lot in common with another sitcom, I Dream of Jeannie, what set this show apart was Samantha’s devotion. She was a devoted wife, mother and daughter and even though her husband forbade her from using her formidable witchcraft skills, she still found a way to help him out of personal crisis after personal crisis, with a twitch of her magickal nose.

While Barbara Eden’s Jeannie character was drop dead sexy, (sans the belly button), Samantha did all her magick with a sleek, but chic fashion. Even without the magick, she would have been the perfect wife. She cooked, cleaned, took care of the family and her man, but when you added her magick, she was more than a handful.

Born from a long line of witches, who could appear and disappear at will, and even travel time, Sam’s mother did everything in her power to keep the family tradition alive, despite husband Darrin’s (originally Dick York, later Dick Sargent) protests. Often the catalyst to the shows appeal, the friction between Sam, her husband and her mother was hilarious. Even though fictitious, the show’s appeal lay squarely on Elizabeth Montgomery’s realistic portrayal of Samantha. It was kind of like Lucille Ball meets Glinda the Good Witch of the East, set in modern times, of course, at least at the time of its production. The show was simply beloved by millions, men, women and children alike.

Now, I must give the creators and writers credit as well. The brain trust of this series knew that in order to reach mainstream America with a witch story, they had to make her appealing and tasteful. If I possessed the kind of powerful magick that could make anything appear from out of nowhere, I would certainly be courting the kind of wealth of the likes of Bill Gates and the children of Sam Walton (Walmart). I would be a philanthropist, a world traveler, a playboy along the lines of Bruce Wayne. But Samantha never aspired to those heights. She kept it simple, and kept her powers in check, only using them when she felt necessary. Perhaps that was the most impressive thing about Samantha. She put her family and their hopes for the 1960’s style American Dream first. Kudos, Samantha Stephens!

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Number 8 Witch of All-time: Glinda, the Good Witch

Top Ten Female Witches of All-time (real or imagined)

Number 7: Glinda, the Good Witch of the East

To my recollection, Glinda, the Good Witch of the East, was the first witch shown in a positive light in mainstream culture. I have to give kudos to author of the Wizard of Oz, L. Frank Baum, for being creative and forward thinking enough to go against the norm, in a time where religion would be very apt to not accept such a character. Glinda broke all the stereotypes previously associated with witches: she was beautiful, kind, delightful; everything her nemesis, the Wicked Witch of the West was not. For that reason, Glinda, the Good Witch of the East comes onto my list of the top ten female witches of all-time, real or imagined, at number seven!

Glinda is now a huge part of Americana. Who could ever think of the classic movie, The Wizard of Oz, without thinking of the glittery, blonde haired, golden voiced good witch, played by actress Billie Burke in the famous 1939 version and by Michelle Williams in 2013’s Oz, the Great and Powerful. Sure, characters such as Dorothy, Toto, the Straw Man, The Tin Man, the Heartless Lion, the Great Oz and the aforementioned Wicked Witch of the West get more credit, but Glinda was a trailblazer, at least as far as practitioners of white magick go.

            

The acceptance of witchcraft has came a long way since the burning times of the Catholic Church in Medieval Europe and beyond, even to the shores of America, with the shameful witch hunts of Salem, Massachusetts. And even though things have changed for the better, there is still a stigma associated with practicing this oldest and perhaps wisest of religions. There is still much room for improvement in this area. Sure, today’s witches don’t carry shimmering magick wands with stars on top, except perhaps wee little girls on Halloween, but most people that practice the craft today do so to seek enlightenment and personal growth, not to eat babies or kill a neighboring farmer’s crops or prize milk cow.

It seems to me that all religions are intolerant of other religions to some degree, but this is especially true with Wicca. The famous line in the Bible, “Though shalt not suffer a witch to live”, still resonates throughout the world to this very day. Even though choosing to take to heart certain directives in the Bible and other religious texts, while ignoring others, could certainly be construed as cherry picking, I think it is much more important to believe that whatever god or goddess we worship would want us to finally live in peace and shared respect and love. Hopefully, someday the practice of Wicca will become more accepted, especially considering that most witches today are more in line with the practices of Glinda, the Good Witch, rather than any wicked witch!

            

And besides, who else could possibly take an innocent girl like Dorothy, tell her a magick spell many decades ago, and expect to have it still repeated to this day? Click your heels three times and say, “There’s no place like home”. Can you remember a better line?

Check back Thursday for the Number 8 Witch of All-time!

Thanks for reading my blog. Please follow me, share and tell an enemy and a friend. I look forward to seeing you next time. I also encourage you to visit my author website to check out my novels and short stories. My psycho-sexual/dark fantasy novel about dragons, undead knights, and you guessed it, witches is called Rise of the Raven Knights, Suffer the Witch Volume I and it can be found at http://sufferthewitch.com.

My Apocalyptic Dark Fiction Thriller THE DEVIL'S PROPHET is available @ http://thedevilsprophet.com

Number 9 Witch of All-Time: The Charmed Ones

Top Ten Female Witches of All-time (real or imagined)

Number 9: The Charmed Ones

Never mind the fluff, who can resist these heavily bosomed babes, who could rank in the top ten of many other lists, including the most beautiful witches? Yes, the Halliwell sisters, aka the Charmed Ones come into my list at number nine!

Wielding extremely powerful magick, which would rival even the great wunderkind with the lightning bolt on his forehead, these ladies saved the world every week for several years from a bevy of the underworld’s most fearsome demons. And they did so with style and a sexiness not often afforded characters that have throughout history have been portrayed as ugly, wart faced freaks. Kudos to this bevy of wizardly young ladies who could charm the socks off me any time they wished!

Of the four young actresses who played the Charmed Ones, my favorite is Alyssa Milano, who played Phoebe.  I am not ashamed to admit that I’ve had a crush on her since she played on the series, Who’s the Boss? She is also an actress not afraid to take chances, a trait I can certainly relate to, and proven by her in the role she took in the vampire film, Embrace of the Vampire. This film, while probably not garnering her much critical acclaim, certainly boasts of some of the steamiest scenes ever put on celluloid, not related to porn.

Much maligned actress, Shannon Doherty, appeared as Prue, the leader of the Charmed sisters in its first years of production, but for whatever reason, the actress with the personality of Guns and Roses’ singer, Axl Rose, was replaced by actress Rose McGowan, who played long lost sister, Paige.  Rose fit well with the group. Though not as edgy as Shannon, her innocent demeanor probably won her many new fans, especially those could never really trust the former 90210 star she replaced.

The most level headed of the sisters, Piper, was played by Holly Marie Combs. Her warnings usually went unheeded, until crisis presented itself and she had to bail her naïve, love struck sisters out of the jams they inevitably found themselves in.  Falling in love with an angelic being and having a child with him, certainly gave her character a stability that the other girls lacked, as they often had new boyfriends every week.

Like I mentioned earlier, this television series was loaded with much more fluff than substance. However, when the sisters needed to get down and dirty with some impressive magick, they always returned to their Book of Shadows. Though their powers were certainly overstated and beyond belief, the fact that they placed their Book of Shadows at the forefront of their magickal knowledge, gave Charmed that one element of believability that would otherwise be lacking.

Immortalized by the great television lexicon of syndication, these ladies will be thrilling audiences and charming young people into exploring the world of magick for years to come. Inspiration sometimes comes from the most unlikely of sources, and at some point in the future, some imaginative mind will use this series to come up with a fantastic story in a new fictionalized world, once again proving that magick will never die.

Thanks for reading my blog. Please follow me, share and tell an enemy and a friend. I look forward to seeing you next time. I also encourage you to visit my author website to check out my novels and short stories. My psycho-sexual/dark fantasy novel about dragons, undead knights, and you guessed it, witches is called Rise of the Raven Knights, Suffer the Witch Volume I and it can be found at http://sufferthewitch.com.

My Apocalyptic Dark Fiction Thriller THE DEVIL'S PROPHET is available @ http://thedevilsprophet.com

Number 10 Witch of All Time: Silver Ravenwolf

 Ranking and researching my top ten female witches of all time has been a real labor of love. Not all of my stories involve witches or witchcraft, but when my art does take me in that direction, I want to make sure I am well versed. The same is true with this blog. I can’t guarantee everything I write will be absolutely the gospel truth, but rest assured everything I write will be well researched. If I make a mistake and you happen to catch it, feel free to reply and politely set the matter straight. I will acknowledge my mistake, and you, of course, for being attentive, and all will be right! 

Though she didn't make the Top Ten, there was no way I could do this series without spotlighting Mr. Silver Ravenwolf. 

Silver is a well respected, though somewhat controversial figure in the world of Wicca, which for those of you who do not know, is the official name for the religion of Witchcraft. She has published several ‘how-to’ books on witchcraft, some of which I have personally read. Though not the first person to write and publish self instruction books for performing ancient wisdom, nor the highest authority, Silver does know of what she instructs. To me, she took a lot of the stigma of Wicca away and made it acceptable, as well as accessible. For that reason alone, she should be given credit. 

Whether or not ‘magick spells’ work or not, I will not get into today. My feelings are that if any type of spirituality makes you feel positive about yourself and your fellow woman or man, and is peaceful, then it is alright in my book. Silver’s teachings of the ‘craft’ certainly fit that scenario. 

Wicca might never be widely accepted by mainstream America, or the major religions that dominate worship throughout the world, but I am certainly thankful that the days of punishing people for being a witch are over. Nothing I have read in Silver’s work would deem someone worthy of being burned at the stake for reading or practicing it, as in ancient times, nor vilified and shunned, as often is the case in the modern world. 

Silver has garnered her share of controversy though, because of both her high profile and for speaking out. Those in other more ‘more acceptable’ religions believe she leads young, impressionable adults into the darkest of crafts, setting their souls up for an eternity of hellish punishment from their god. Some in Wicca believe her teachings often stray from the traditional and are too simplistic. Despite this, Silver keeps rolling along, writing her books and living her life the way she chooses. For this reason alone, I had to include her in my list! 

After all, we do live in a country that gives us Constitutional freedom to worship whatever religion we choose. Without Silver and other brave trailblazers like her, mainstream acceptance of magickal stories might never have happened. Thanks for all you have done, Silver!

Thanks for reading my blog. Please follow me, share and tell an enemy and a friend. I look forward to seeing you next time. I also encourage you to visit my author website to check out my novels and short stories. My psycho-sexual/dark fantasy novel about dragons, undead knights, and you guessed it, witches is called Rise of the Raven Knights, Suffer the Witch Volume I and it can be found at http://sufferthewitch.com.

My Apocalyptic Dark Fiction Thriller, THE DEVIL'S PROPHET is available @ http://thedevilsprophet.com