It’s a fall evening
and the sun whispers goodbye as it gently descends over the horizon. But the
day has been too short for you so you decide to go for a walk with nature. But
then you realize that you’ve wandered far from home. . . . very far. So far
that you’ve come across a dark forest and you ask yourself if you really want
to go in there. Despite the fading of sunlight your curiosity gets the best of
you. After all, you’re not far from the gravel road, right? You go in and hear
the crunch of leaves beneath your feet. The chill in the air caresses the back
of your neck and begs to turn back. Suddenly, you notice an old wooden sign
that is nailed to a tree.
ABANDON
ALL HOPE,
YOU
WHO ENTER HERE
You’ve heard
stories of this place before. It’s not where you want to be. You try to move
your feet but you can’t. You start to shake and break into a cold sweat when
all of a sudden...
...you wake up.
It was all a dream. It’s not real.
But what if it was? How would you escape the nine circles of hell?
This is the premise (at least, in part) for the new novel by author, Leonardo Ramirez titled, Haven of Dante: The Staff of Moshe. In the work, the nine circles have become incensed at the audacity of Alighieri’s emergence from their realm and after a lengthy war they’ve come together to inflict pain on mankind. Calling themselves “The Aristocracy” they are responsible for every evil that has plagued man.
Here’s the synopsis:
Haven Irena Dante, seventeen, struggles with a dysfunctional family. Her workaholic father is never there, but his absence is filled by a loving mother harboring the secret and mysterious past of their family. The Dantes are inheritors of a centuries old legacy stretching back to Dante Alighieri himself. They fight to contain the nine circles of hell described in the classic literature "Dante's Inferno."
Today, the nine circles have infiltrated the world at every level, operating as a secret society known as "The Aristocracy." The only thing stopping The Aristocracy from world domination is the Dante family line.
Now its Haven's turn to carry that torch.
Combining literary fiction with fantasy, this action-packed young adult adventure races through dimensions of paranormal, science fiction and the supernatural.
Why did you write this book?
I wondered what someone would do if they were at the point of death and they were given the choice to remain in a suffering world where all they had experienced was heartache and pain or go into paradise. The catch would be to return to this world knowing that there was a chance they could fix their relationship with a loved one. This is where the idea stemmed from and led into the inclusion of Dante Alighieri’s cantos which represent the ills of mankind and our struggle to overcome them. Our protagonist needed to have more than enough reason not to return so we also included a violation. This was not done gratuitously. My wife had suffered the same experience and today she is alive and well. I wanted others to have gone through this horror to have the same chance and be an encouragement to them. Aside from this I wanted to delve into some of the things that we fear the most fully knowing that there is always a reason (more specifically, a hurt) behind them. I think that sometimes we allow a hurt to become a fear and then the fear becomes a part of us. Some could argue that it makes us human and I would not disagree. But at the same time we reach a point of decision when we are exposed to the meaning behind the fear or the hurt. And that can manifest itself in any of the areas explored in the nine circles.
To
keep it interesting, I’ve given the leader of each circle a character who in
turn, become hybrids.
In the interest of keeping the spoilers
to an absolute minimum, I’ve deleted some of the biographies of the hybrids.
Circle One – Those in limbo
led by Lord Limbus. This
demon transports humans into the nine circles. According to the code of the
Aristocracy, no human can be transported out of the realm of the nine circles
except of their own volition.
Circle Two – The lustful led by Lord Hedonis.
Circle Three – The gluttonous led by Lord Voratum. This is a gluttonous
demon that possesses Chuck Flegman, an outcast in Haven’s high school.
Circle Four – The hoarders led by Lord Hordran.
Circle Five – The wrathful led by Lord Vengus.
Circle Six – The heretics led by Lord Retic.
Circle Seven – The violent led by Lord Ravage. This demon is a mindless savage beast bent on the
destruction of the Dante family line and all human life. The more he kills the
stronger he gets.
Circle Eight – The sorcerers led by Lord Lock.
Circle Nine – The traitors led by Lord Traiton.
What
are you working on at the minute?
Right now I’m
writing the 2nd book in a Children’s Steampunk series titled, The
Jupiter Chronicles: The Ice Orphan of Ganymede. It’s geared towards struggling
readers in the 2nd grade and on up.
What’s
it about?
The series focuses on two kids (Ian and Callie Castillo) who have just discovered their missing father had been the ruler of the steam-powered world of Jupiter. It also explains how steam technology arrived on Earth and forever changed our world.
What is the one message that you want readers to hear coming from this book?
The one resounding message that I want folks to (hopefully) get is that no matter how bad the cards that have been dealt to you are, you can still make good choices. You might stumble along the way. You might fall. You might be angry and hate for a little while. But after you’ve allowed yourself to experience those feelings you can still make constructive choices for your life. The road to heaven sometimes goes right through hell.
There is a violation on the main character that occurs in the story but this is not done gratuitously. My hope is that the book will be an entertaining source of encouragement in its message that you can make some good choices despite the cards that have been dealt to you.
So with all of that said, how would you escape the nine circles?
Author BioThe series focuses on two kids (Ian and Callie Castillo) who have just discovered their missing father had been the ruler of the steam-powered world of Jupiter. It also explains how steam technology arrived on Earth and forever changed our world.
What is the one message that you want readers to hear coming from this book?
The one resounding message that I want folks to (hopefully) get is that no matter how bad the cards that have been dealt to you are, you can still make good choices. You might stumble along the way. You might fall. You might be angry and hate for a little while. But after you’ve allowed yourself to experience those feelings you can still make constructive choices for your life. The road to heaven sometimes goes right through hell.
There is a violation on the main character that occurs in the story but this is not done gratuitously. My hope is that the book will be an entertaining source of encouragement in its message that you can make some good choices despite the cards that have been dealt to you.
So with all of that said, how would you escape the nine circles?
Leonardo
Ramirez is a husband, a father, a Karate instructor with a 3rd degree
black belt, and a writer. His first graphic novel, Haven, is a
supernatural Young Adult story centered on an ancient war between the
Dante family and the nine circles of hell. His follow up is a
self-published children’s Steampunk book called The Jupiter Chronicles:
The Secret of the Great Red Spot. It follows the adventure of two
children as they are transported to the steam-powered cities of Jupiter,
find their long-lost father, stop an attack from Mars, and witness the
birth of Steampunk.
“My
heart and motive have always been for people who are hurting. These can
be kids who have had to suffer through child abuse or neglect or an
absent parent which can be equally torturous as was the case in The
Jupiter Chronicles. It can also be young girls who have suffered an
assault like Haven did in Haven of Dante. Young or old it doesn’t
matter. Those are the kids and adults I want to speak to because I’ve
been there.”
It’s not just Science Fiction.
It’s Science Fiction for the Human Condition.
Social Media Links
It’s not just Science Fiction.
It’s Science Fiction for the Human Condition.
Social Media Links
Website: http://twitter.com/leonardoverse
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/leonardoverse
Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/leonardoverse
Goodreads: http://goodreads.com/leonardoverse
Where we can find your books
Jupiter Chronicles: HERE
Haven of Dante: HERE
An excellent book and a great tour stop. :-)
ReplyDeleteSo grateful to Travis for posting this!
ReplyDelete