Novel Gnosis is both a concept and a title of what was going to be a book of essays by multiple authors. The concept may be familiar to long time readers of my blog: religious inspiration received while writing fiction. The book of essays eventually became this upcoming series of blog posts. In this intro, I'll briefly tell the story of why it's not a book. Most of the authors who contributed essays to the anthology are still onboard with the project and have agreed to have their essays run as a series of guest posts on this blog. 

The idea:

Other writers besides me also experience inspiration while writing fiction. It's a common experience, and many famous books are the result. Beyond that, some authors even gain new religious insights while writing. That's less common, but common enough that I came up with several living published authors who wanted to write an essay about their experiences, so it's not as rare as one might think. 

Novel gnosis means two things: 1. Gnosis which is novel, that is, new and different; and 2. gnosis gained while writing a novel, that is, as a direct result of writing a work of fiction. I talked about this idea with other authors. We decided to produce a book about our own novel gnosis, each author contributing a chapter. 

The story of why it's not a book:

Originally I tried to sell it to the publisher of my Asatru book. They told me nonfiction anthologies never sell. They would only want it if every contributor was really famous. Every contributer is fairly well known but not A level Hollywood actor famous. It turned out, most other publishers felt the same way. 

It was accepted for publication by a company that then went out of business. I shopped it around, years past, and finding no commercial venue for it, eventually we decided on a charity publisher. At this point we all gave up on the idea of ever making any money on it, we all just wanted to have our thoughts out where people could read them. There was a delay because the new publisher thought the book was too short and wanted to recruit more writers. No one else signed on. More time passed. 

One of the key authors, who contributed the essay positioned first in the book because it introduced the idea of a tulpa and other key concepts, stopped responding to my emails. I contacted the editor at the charity publisher, and she indicated she thought he was still talking with her and she would see if he still wanted to be onboard with the project. She attempted to contact him, and waited. The editor left the publisher.

The publisher was being reorganized and not producing new books right then. Eventually they started again but I didn't know at the time that would happen. At the time, it looked like the book was orphaned again. I contacted the writers about trying to self publish it, and asked the former editor to try to contact the other author. We waited for him to respond.

genAI slop invaded the Amazon self publishing space and ruined any chance a niche nonfiction book of essays about a niche topic in a minority religion, by multiple authors, would ever have to be noticed. If no one discovers that one grain of sand on the beach, then no one reads it and the ideas don't get out there. 

We still waited for the missing author to respond. Since no one had signed a contract yet, the charity publisher could not just go ahead with the manuscript as it had been originally submitted to them. The missing author's essay could not be published. We waited another year.

Eventually I asked the remaining authors if they would like to have their essays run on this blog, as a last ditch effort to get their essays some eyeballs. (Because Pagansquare blogs like this one are official blogs associated with Witches & Pagans Magazine and other pagan newsstand magazines with a big subscriber base, there are quite a number of people who see the new posts on the main page of Pagansquare, and can read the first few paragraphs to decide whether to click and read the rest. And of course, some of them do click and read the rest, and some people subscribe to my blog, or follow a link from another site, so a lot of people can potentially see these posts.) The remaining authors agreed. 

Whose writing you're about to see: 

I'm always a contributing editor when I edit an anthology, whether fiction or nonfiction. I'm running the essays just the way they would have appeared in the book. The author biographies have been updated.

Author Biographies:

Rebecca Buchanan

 Rebecca Buchanan is the editor of the Pagan literary ezine, Eternal Haunted Summer. Her short stories and poems have appeared in a wide variety of venues, and she has published several novellas and poetry collections. The most recent are “Blood, Honey, Snow: A Tale of Murder at the Edge of the World” and “Dame Evergreen, and Other Poems of Myth, Magic, and Madness.”

 Jodie Forrest

Novelist Jodie Forrest (The Rhymer and the Ravens, beginning the Rhymer historical fantasy trilogy) is also a professional astrologer, writer and teacher with a full-service practice who's worked with clients and students for 42 years. A frequent contributor to astrological journals, she wrote the astrology books The Ascendant and Solar Arcs: Directions from the Sun, and co-authored (with Steven Forrest) Skymates I, Skymates II, and two synastry reports. Jodie travels in North America and Europe to speak about astrology, and she’s an instructor at the online International Academy of Astrology, astrocollege.org. Jodie writes fiction, paints, and spoils her cats. She lives with her husband, Mark Tighe, in Southern California, where an uppity cast of her fictional characters competes for her attention. Currently she's working on a contemporary urban fantasy. You can contact her at jodietighe@gmail.com.

Erin Lale

 Erin Lale is the author of Asatru For Beginners and its updated, longer successor Asatru: A Beginner’s Guide to the Heathen Path, and other books. She has been an Asatru gythia since 1989, published Berserkrgangr Magazine, was admin of the old MSN Asatru Group and is admin of the Asatru Facebook Forum, and founded the Heathen Visibility Project. She owned The Science Fiction Store in Las Vegas in the 90s, was acquisitions editor at a genre press for 5 years, and reviewed books for Eternal Haunted Summer Magazine and other magazines. She writes the blog Gnosis Diary: Life as a Heathen on Pagansquare, and the column Asatru Plus in Witches & Pagans Magazine. She co-founded City Lights Artists' Co-op in Henderson, Nevada, guided it as its first Chairman to gain its own Gallery. She was a custom dyer and sunprint artist under the business name Magicalrealist Gallery, eBay ID magicalrealistartist, and which now includes her perfumes and perfumed products business, Magicalrealistartist Perfumes, Magical for short.

 Alan Leddon

 A father of one and very happily married, Alan has served 23 years in the medical profession and is now working for a small non-profit that serves the needs of veterans newly returning home, as well as providing food and clothing to all veterans who ask. He is the author of several books on mythology and religious practice, which he is currently gathering into a single cover to be republished later. He is also an epic nerd.

 Susannah MacDonald

 S. Willson-Disher (Susannah MacDonald) says, “I was born and educated in Tamaki Makaurau (Auckland), Aotearoa-New Zealand, and live in the seaside suburb of Takapuna with the sea on either side. The sea is a constant motif the expression of my work as a painter, writer and poet.

             My initial teaching practice was with children aged 5 – 8, but on leaving the classroom, and after a stint as a graphic illustrator I returned to teaching as a flute and recorder teacher which I still do.

            After studying alongside my husband for a Bachelor in Visual Arts degree, I extended my teaching practice as an art teacher working with all age groups, the emphasis in my teaching practice being expression of the authentic self.

            A medium and clairvoyant, I and my fellow-medium husband have run art workshops where the aim is to bypass the rational mind in order to access messages from Spirit. We were also guest speakers at SpiritualistChurch services, conducting healings and channelling for the congregants.

            But painting and writing, and music making are by far the most potent forms of channelling for me and it is here that I am delving into areas which simple readings cannot hope to reach.  The Way unfolds at each brushstroke.”

Her website is:

suzartstudio.weebly.com