THUMB PRICKS & MAGIC TRICKS- A Special Guest Post From Author Bob Freeman

Editor’s note: For Bob Freeman’s Descendant Blog Tour, celebrating his latest novel release, we asked him for a post about how much he was able to draw upon personal experience for the supernatural elements depicted throughout the story. Bob sent along a fantastic guest post in response and we are honored to share it with you today! Be sure to pick up a copy of Descendant to explore Bob’s world for yourself!

THUMB PRICKS & MAGIC TRICKS

“By the pricking of my thumbs, something wicked this way comes.”

— Shakespeare’s MacBeth

Descendant was written as a love letter to many things, the most obvious being the occult detective genre. I have considered myself something of an occult detective for more than thirty-five years. I do more than write fanciful paranormal thrillers, after all. Since I was a child, I have been drawn to ancient mysteries, to magic and mysticism, to legends and folklore and ghost stories. I have been a practitioner of magic for decades now, studying all forms of esoteric systems, from the modern witchcraft revival of the mid-20th Century to the hermetic ritual magics of Crowley and the Golden Dawn, as I slowly developed my own flavor of folk-based beliefs centered around my Northern European roots.

Reading Descendant, you will, of course, recognize a shadow of my education in these matters.

I have long been an adherent of the “write what you know” philosophy.

My years as a paranormal investigator are fully on display, albeit exaggerated for dramatic flavor. All the locations are real, just as in my Cairnwood Manor novels. Actual cases are twisted about and used for effect, and, if I’m being totally honest, the characters are all dark mirrors of friends and colleagues, warped and perverted beyond reason, of course.

I use these people and places as actors and sets, then reshape them to create a new narrative.

Some things though strike pretty close to true, The conversation, for instance, in the opening chapters, as Father Rainey interrupts a discussion of the Middle Pillar Exercise, was born from a real life debate among a close circle of friends when I was a sophomore at Ball State University.

You’ll find references to all my written works, because I believe in building a cohesive universe, and basing it as a mirror universe of the real world I inhabit, ensures that verisimilitude is maintained.

The real star of all my novels is Indiana itself, or, more specifically the Mississinewa State Forest and River. You’ll find it front and center in almost all my stories. In the 20 Century, the Mississinewa is where so many of the most important moments of my life took place, and I have seen to it that new memories have blossomed there as well, with my wife and son at the heart of them.

The Mississinewa was and is a magical place, where amazing landmarks with ties to ancient tribal rituals still stand, radiating with mystical energies across time and space. It is also home to numerous haunted locations, many of which I have made a point of adapting to my fictional universe.

In Descendant, you’ll find all of the events related to Goose Creek are intricately tied to actual experiences and incidents. Until the dawn of the 21st Century you could still go out to that washed out road and see the remnants of the magical circles drawn there in mid-80s.

As a writer, it’s your job to reel in the reader and make them believe what’s on the page, even if it’s for just a little while. Descendant is as powerful as it is because, for all of the fantastical elements throughout, at its core is something you can wrap your head around, a reality that you can sense.

The lines between the real and the imagined are blurred, and that’s the greatest magic trick of all.

Bob Freeman

occultdetective.com
writing from

Little Pipe Creek

11.2019

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About the Descendant Novel and Blog Tour! Continue to read below!

Welcome to a blog tour that will bring you thrills and chills in the heart of the holiday season with the Descendant Blog Tour featuring the Occult Detective himself, Bob Freeman!

A supernatural thriller that readers of horror will also love, Descendant includes several original illustrations from Bob Freeman! The novel is interrelated with Bob’s short story collection First Born: Tales of the Liber Monstrorum but can be read on its own.

A great opportunity to explore fascinating subject matter with a true expert who is a highly-respected lecturer on paranormal & supernatural topics!

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About the author: Bob Freeman is an author, artist, and paranormal adventurer whose previous works include Shadows Over Somerset, Keepers of the Dead, and First Born.

A lifelong student of mythology, folklore, magic, and religion, Freeman has written numerous short stories, articles, and reviews for various online and print publications and is a respected lecturer on the occult and paranormal phenomena.

He lives in rural Indiana with his wife Kim and son Connor.

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Book Synopsis for Descendant: Descendant is a supernatural thriller filled with daring action, adventure, and artifice set against the backdrop of a very familiar world – but it is a world in which preternatural entities, clandestine magical orders, ancient bloodlines, and unholy alliances converge within the shadowed recesses of our darkest imaginings.

Federal Agents Selina Wolfe and Martin Crowe are called in to investigate a series of bizarre deaths in a small rural community. What first seems to be a misadventure involving black magic and satanic ritual soon takes on even more deleterious overtones, as the agents become embroiled in a plot by a sinister cabal intent on unleashing Hell on Earth.

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Author Links:

Twitter: @OccultDetective

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/authorbobfreeman/

Website: www.occultdetective.com

Tour Schedule and Activities

11/18 Dark Bites www.darkbites.ca Guest Post

11/19 Armed with A Book www.armedwithabook.com Guest Post

11/19 Sheila’s Guests and Reviews http://sheiladeeth.blogspot.com Guest Post

11/20 Sahara Foley https://saharafoley.com/blog/ Author Interview

11/20 Honestly Austen http://www.honestlyausten.com Review

11/21 Jazzy Book Reviews https://bookreviewsbyjasmine.blogspot.com/ Guest Post