Interview: Sandy Nathan, Author of The Angel & the Brown-eyed Boy - Page 2

Could you please tell us a bit about your book? The story? The characters?

The Angel & the Brown-eyed Boy is about a young couple and their friends facing the destruction of all life on earth through a nuclear holocaust. It has been described as follows:

"New York City on the Eve of Nuclear Armageddon, Late 22nd Century—Perhaps:

Tomorrow morning at 7:35 AM, a nuclear holocaust will destroy the planet. Two people carry the keys to survival: Jeremy Edgarton, a 16-year-old tech genius and revolutionary; and Eliana, the angelic, off-world traveler sent to Earth on a mission to prevent her planet's death.

Join Eliana and Jeremy as they begin a quest to save two doomed worlds . . . and find each other.          '

There’s a story behind the story. I unintentionally practice what I call “literature through disaster.” When something awful happens to me, my subconscious seems to jump in and transform my pain into a book or a series of books. My first novel, Numenon: A Tale of Mysticism & Money, came from the resolution of a very painful personal calamity. A few years ago, another exceptionally painful event occurred. My brother died. He was my beloved baby brother and only sibling. Outwardly, I looked calm, but inside I was screaming with grief.

About three months after my brother died, I had a dream in which a shimmering golden light floated above me as I slept. That light was totally conscious, totally alive, and beautiful in every way. It radiated peace and good will. As I slept, I felt it lower itself upon me. The bliss was indescribable. The light continued to descend until it became me, merging with me fully. I got to feel the inner state of an angel. (Did I tell you I like meditation and spiritual practice and have very dramatic spiritual experiences? I’ve had them most of my life.)

When the experience of golden light faded, a book rattled around in my head. My unconscious mind morphed the angelic presence of the dream into Eliana, the exquisite dancer from another world. She appeared in my mind as a waif materializing on the sidewalk of a New York street in the late 22nd century.

Within four or five days, the major outlines of the book became clear to me. They seem to pop through a membrane separating everyday reality from the vast inner world of creativity and imagination. The character Jeremy is based on my brother. Jeremy in the book may not be much of a likeness to my real brother, but he is my brother in my soul’s eye. I don’t know where the other characters came from.

Article Author: April Pohren

April lives in Iowa and is the stay-at-home mom of two young children. An avid book lover since she was able to hold a book, she has fallen in love with blogging and book reviewing. Her own little piece of the world is at Cafe of Dreams where she …

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