Talking to readers about my series, The Trailokya Trilogy, I find that certain questions about the text continue to arise. One subject, which I personally get hung up on, is the fear that would-be readers walk away from the series fearing it’s a Christian book before taking the time to even read a chapter. I’ll assure you, and thus myself, by saying, it is no more a Christian book than The Exorcist (1973) is a Christian movie/book. Certainly, there are elements of both works that utilize Christianity to weave the tale. The Exorcist is also a dark paranormal story, classed in horror. Trailokya shares this in common with Blatty’s story, too.
The theological is a pretty common area with which to explore the paranormal. Paranormal activity, research, and also the genre of literature doesn’t need to be seated in any theology, however. I know that many like to think of hauntings as demonic, sometimes ancestral, environmental, and so on, but their thoughts all come back to the spiritual. This link ties into science fiction, as well. Research would require data, method, and tools of science.
Trailokya poses the question: what if it were real, measurable? It does not state that religion is truth. In fact, the narrative unflinchingly challenges dogma. Should anything paranormal be deemed legitimate, it would not require religion or necessarily prove religion correct. The truth is, religion was created to explain the unexplainable. I personally believe that is why deeply religious groups reject science and education. Those things have done more for explaining our world than any theology and superstition.
The narrative blends elements of our world, including cultures and faiths, proposing that all that we have created here is a reflection of the place from which we really come. This borrows from historical theories on reality as an illusion, one of the more recent hypotheses belonging to Nick Bostrom (disproven).
Trailokyans dwell on another plane, but transition between the main three via bio-interfaces (bodies) in the case of Samsara and plane access gates without those interfaces. For those familiar with some paranormal theories, this might conjure thoughts of possession or the lesser known walk-in.
The beings populating the trilogy are drawn from research on alien species in addition to the theological. There are reams of internet pages dedicated to cataloging and discussing alien encounters. It’s a trip to read them and even more so when using them as research and framework for a fiction. Once again, What if it were real, measurable?
The power of Trailokya is in using established legends and culture, while pinging human doubt. What if? It’s a frightening concept, isn’t it? What if demons and angels and aliens and other worlds and all the bad and good were real? Imagine it. Well, you don’t have to. It’s in The Trailokya Trilogy.
The horror, the darkness of Trailokya is in confirming human desire and fears at one. It creates a surrealness in which the reader is suspended, waiting for it to turn on them or offer them everything for which they’ve been wishing.
Obviously, the darkness comes in on the heels of the shadowalkers, too. Classic monsters of horror, Demons provide a frightening proposition to most. When doing my research on them, even I stopped to wonder if I should take some precautions. Well, if they weren’t screwing up my day already, they never were going to. But, what if they are there on the fringes chipping away at our sanity and our souls? What if the stupid things we do, or those seeming accidents we have aren’t whims or mistakes?
In the first installment of the story, the narrative walks the reader through a children’s hospital. There are vignettes in which demons and angels (called danava and duta in the books) battle over humans, some with sword, others with manipulation. Demons inspire the humans to make bad choices, spiraling them right into their dark prison, the burning down. There seems to be little space safe from them. Even in the hallowed halls of Zion, there are those touched by the dark. And, they can affect those who are pure, igniting a flame inside of them, if those innocents are not careful.
Those are just the obvious ways in which Trailokya is a dark paranormal fantasy. Numerous details support and deepen that darkness. Switch on a light tonigt, and enjoy reading The Trailokya Trilogy.
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