Open Book Blog Hop #4 – If you could be immortal for one day, what would you be and why?

‘Do you like to read? Wouldn’t you like to know more about your favorite authors? Well you came to the right place! Join the MMB Open Book Blog Hop each Wednesday and they will tell all. Every week we’ll answer questions and after you’ve enjoyed the blog on this site we’ll direct you to another. So come back often for a thrilling ride! Tell your friends and feel free to ask us questions in the comment box.’

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Question:
If you could be immortal for one day, what would you be and why?

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Hello and welcome from PJ MacLayne’s blog: Mountain Musings.

This question comes just before the release of my next work: The Trailokya Trilogy, Book One: The Shadow Soul. As you can surmise from the title, this is a fantasy/science fiction work. I’ve pulled out all the stops on this one and put the full force of my attitude in for extra measure. The trilogy is unlike anything you’ve seen before–trust me, I spent a lot of time trying to find something to compare it to for marketing purposes and that has been really difficult. On the one hand that is good, it means I’ve struck an open field ready to plant with my work. On the other hand that is bad, because I am not sure who will love these books so that I can get them in front of those readers.

Regardless, I can answer the question because of the books. I’d be Maiel. Captain Maiel, to be respectful to the character. She is an immortal, what I refer to as duta, a sanskrit term meaning angel. They’re a race that existed long before the other beings throughout the seven universes of the texts. They’re not perfect, they just cannot be killed, not really. Even if someone is successful in draining every ounce of their energy, except for what is left in a protected shell thrown up by the atman (lifeforce, being), they will return. Sometimes they return as themselves and sometimes they’re ready to move onto the next stage of their evolution and will be reborn as better stronger selves (duta become svargaduta, who become principalities, who become either dominions, virtues or powers, and when they are ready they become either thrones, cherubim or seraphim). The text, as you can see relies heavily on the legends and lore of angels and demons.

Why would I want to be Captain Maiel? First, I’d like to know what it feels like to understand and see so clearly, be that deeply unafraid of the things that threaten our lives–mortality. She’s tall, and strong and well respected. And! She can fly. Of course, I’d be without a body for that day, Bio Interface Apparatus, and I’m left wondering if I would feel things the same. I wouldn’t miss eating and drinking so much for the day, because I’d be so distracted leaping from tall buildings and frolicking like a unicorn on cocaine that I wouldn’t notice. I might miss feeling–literally feeling something when I touch it. Though, in my book, none of the characters express a loss of senses, I cannot help but wonder if there would be some price for this day long gift, that I lose some sense, or will entirely forget when I wake up the next day, as I forget most of my dreams upon waking.

It is only for a day, so I couldn’t turn down the opportunity, out of my desire to learn all I can. This would certainly be a learning experience.

Well, that’s exciting! Let’s hop on over to Stephany Tullis‘s blog and check out her answer to this question.

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Stephany Tullis’s life changed dramatically in the fall of 2008. When her oldest son asked, ‘why don’t you just write a book? Do what you love to do?’, after a few weeks of thought, she decided to give it a shot.

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Born and raised among the rolling hills of western Pennsylvania, P.J. MacLayne still finds inspiration for her books in that landscapes. She is a computer geek by day and a writer by night who currently lives in the shadow of the Rocky Mountains. When she’s not in front of a computer screen, she might be found exploring the back roads of the nearby national forests and parks.