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Posted: March 29, 2019
EARTHY, FRANK, & RIBALD: 5 QUESTIONS WITH HORROR WRITER MACK LITTLE Georgia-raised writer with a keen eye for Buffy the Vampire Slayer memes, Mack Little has always found herself nomadic. She first began traversing the locations of her small town and immsersing herself in the universes found in books. Mack is a member of her local Writer’s …

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Thinking About…
Talking About Progenie
Scions of Darkness: Progenie, Soundtrack for the novel, 25 songs•1:59:06
Basis of the nature and supernatural abilities of Djinn and Scions and Dhampyrs

Scions of Darkness: Progenie, Soundtrack for the novel 25 songs•1:59:06

Basis of the nature and supernatural abilities of Djinn and Scions and Dhampyrs

The Djinn

Dark matter comprises 96% of the universe. The rest is baryonic matter or normal matter, the stuff we can see and interact with. We are made up of baryonic matter. However, dark matter is invisible. It is collisionless which means dark matter passes through baryonic matter leaving both unchanged. Dark matter is postulated to exist because we can detect its gravity. In fact, it provides the gravity that holds star and galaxies together.

What got me to thinking of Djinn as dark matter was an article that suggested that dark matter could be just as varied as baryonic matter. More exciting was that life—not as we know it—could exist. This stuck in my mind but not the article necessarily, but other articles have been written on the subject since that reference Lisa Randall’s discovery of a ‘dark matter disk’.

A Space.com article quoted Andrey Katz of Harvard University: “There is no good reason to assume that all the dark matter in the universe is built out of one type of particle." She goes on to write in journal Physical Review Letters, "The dark world might even be as diverse and interesting as the visible world." To be as diverse and as interesting as the visible world, could point to a different sort of life form. The Djinn perhaps?

I’m a fiction writer, so this was enough for me, but I found another article which made this application more exciting and possibly more plausible insofar as explaining the powers exhibited by Djinn, Scions, and Dhampyrs. An article on www.speed-light.info stated:

Traditionally physicists thought that the smallest particles in atoms were point like, that is, they looked like points. However recently discovered evidence suggest that the smallest particle is not point like, as previously thought, but rather a vibrating string of energy. But physicists also discovered that these strings need more than three spatial dimensions to vibrate in. Particularly they need six extra spatial dimensions. In all versions of String Theory there are 10 dimensions: "Time" plus the usual three spatial dimensions x,y,z (4 dimensions, our observable universe) plus six extra spatial dimensions making a total of ten dimensions (1 time + 9 spatial = 10 dimensions).

A six-dimensional creature. When imagining the sixth dimensions, scientists point out that from six dimensions, we can see the three and four (special) dimensions more completely and time is no longer linear as it is perceived by us. The novel “Flatlanders” explains this in a way that makes this idea easier to understand. In the following excerpt, it explains the difference between the second and third dimension:

One day, a sphere appears before the square. To the square, which can see only a slice of the sphere, the shape before him is that of a two-dimensional circle. The sphere has visited the square intent on making the square understand the three-dimensional world that he, the sphere, belongs to. He explains the notions of "above" and "below," which the square confuses with "forward" and "back." When the sphere passes through the plane of Flatland to show how he can move in three dimensions, the square sees only that the line he'd been observing gets shorter and shorter and then disappears. No matter what the sphere says or does, the square cannot comprehend a space other than the two-dimensional world that he knows.

In the sixth, theoretically, it is possible to see perspectives not perceivable form three dimensions. One could conceivably observe the planes of all possible worlds. Matt Williams summed it up on the website, Universe Today, “We would see a plane of possible worlds, where we could compare and position all the possible universes that start with the same initial conditions as this one (i.e. the Big Bang). In theory, if you could master the fifth and sixth dimension, you could travel back in time or go to different futures.” The Djinn from the perspective of the sixth dimension would see time as events all existing simultaneously.

Speaking of time, in the Scions of Darkness series, time is used as referential to determine speed and distance, etc. but it does not represent a directional plane Time is a numerical order of change which exists in a 3D space. Using the Minkowski model, time dimension is mathematically represented by an imaginary coordinate. All this is to say, time, in the context of these novels, is not the fourth dimension.

Djinn move and exist outside of 3 dimensions. Scions are interdimensional creatures with the ability to perceive the extra dimensions but they exist in the 3rd dimension. The Scion Thaddeus’ time travel trick in the prologue is cool. He must compose a mathematical calculation of the probable event “in the future”, he then has a Djinn transport him to that moment.

Scions and their offspring, Dhampyrs, being able to perceive the six dimensions are able to circumvent time to move at a faster speed (conceivably faster than light). However, their other supernatural abilities are balderdash—fiction, if you will--to lend credence to my creatures’ supernatural abilities, including mind reading and super human strength, etc.

(I have listed below articles that contain detailed scientific explanations. As a dilettante in matters of science, I have a limited capacity to understand the information in them well enough to convert into laymen’s terms. So, I rely on pop science sites for my information)

Williams, Matt , “A Universe of 10 Dimensions” https://www.universetoday.com/48619/a..., 2014.

Fanous, Raef, Dark Matter: Extra Dimensions, http://www.speed-light.info/video_dar...,

Brody, Dorje C., Eva- Graefe, Maria, “Six-dimensional space-time from quaternionic quantum mechanics”, Mathematical Sciences, Brunel University, Uxbridge UB8 3PH, UK, 2 Department of Mathematics, Imperial College London, London SW7 2AZ, UK

Cembranos, J.A.R., Dobado , A., and Maroto ,A.L,. “Dark matter from extra dimensions”, 22nd Texas Symposium on Relativistic Astrophysics, Stanford University, December 13-17 2004

Choi, Charles Q., “New Kind of Dark Matter Could Form 'Dark Atoms”, https://www.space.com/21508-dark-matt..., 2013

Up Jumped the Devil

Iblis told her the story of how Lylith, the demon, left the darkness of the sixth realm to go to live in the dimension of light. She made herself flesh and bone and blood to be Adam’s mate.

Adam had loved her beauty but despised her dark soul. Her power frightened him, so he sent her away and chose another human as his mate. Such was the will of God, Adam believed. Adam, man, was given a mandate by God to rule over beasts of the Earth and over woman. And Eve, his new mate, docile, simple woman that she was, accepted this as truth.

How Iblis raged at the insult. He raged at the stupidity and hubris of man – that man in particular. He raged at Lylith’s despair.

He told Lola how he found them in the valley of the Mesopotamia where a garden

of green grasses and wildflowers grew. Iblis came upon the couple, blissful in their ignorance, convinced that from their own desires flowed the will of God. They sat beneath the pinnated branches of the Tamarind tree, listening to the dance of water over river rocks. Fruit hung like stones on the tree limbs, bending them with their weight. Adam stood and handed one fruit down to Eve and took another one for himself. Eve tore open the thick husk of the fruit to reveal the blood red pulp. The sight of red juices, spilling upon her breast, distracted Adam. He reached up again, to pluck another fruit, and he felt the branch slither beneath his fingers. He fell back, startled. Eve, seeing Adam’s alarm, jumped to her feet. She spilled the fruit that had been in her lap onto the ground.

They both stood mouths agape as they watched a fat boa slide down the trunk of the tree. The head touched the earth and became a pair of feet. And the body of the snake, splitting up the middle became two legs, long and muscular and the color of copper. His cock, a shade darker than the rest of him, dangled, long and fleshy and hooded, from a springy patch of black hair. The human form developing from the serpent grew into deeply etched pelvic muscles. The tail broadened and became rippled abs, a powerful chest and broad shoulders.

When the eyes of Eve and Adam finally traveled up the length of his body, past his corded neck, they looked into a face that was at once terrifying and beautiful. His wide fleshy mouth curved somewhere between a smirk and snarl as he looked down at the frightened couple with his black bottomless eyes.

Adam covered his manhood with his hands, ashamed at his inferiority. Eve, too,

felt shame, for her desire for this thing before her was unfamiliar and profound.

“A demon,” Adam breathed.

“As you will,” the deep bass of Iblis voice rumbled as he inclined his head in a bow.

“Why have you come?” asked Adam.

“Fear not. I come bearing a gift to celebrate your new union.”

“We want nothing from you,” the man answered.

“You’ll want this,” Iblis said. “Would you like to see the face of God?”

“Oh, yes!” said Eve, coming from behind Adam, showing herself to Iblis.

Iblis could see that this was something Adam wanted, but his pride kept him from saying it.

“This is a trick,” Adam said.

“This is truth.”

Iblis plucked two pieces of Tamarind fruit from the tree and held one in each hand. He looked down at them, his eyes glowing the deepest shade of blue. He handed out the pods, one to Adam and one to Eve. The woman tore into hers, eager to see the face of God. Reluctantly, Adam tore open the husk of his fruit and together they tasted of it. The bitterness caused them to screw up their faces.

“You have poisoned us, Demon!” Adam shouted.

“I have. And the poison you taste is the bitter truth.”

Iblis had given them all his knowledge of the world. It was the knowledge that even the djinn did not have for only Iblis had lived in Jannah. Only Iblis knew what the angels knew. What the humans tasted was the merism of tov wa-ra; good and evil, a single thing. The world, God, the creatures of darkness and of light, they were all tov wa-ra. They were everything, all that there was or ever will be. Seeing this, God became nothing, and the humans despaired.

“Then they knew the heartbreak of Lylith,” Iblis finished his story.

 

Little, Mack. Progenie (Scions of Darkness Book 1) . Ellysian Press. Kindle Edition.

The door to the chapel opened, and a tall man-child stepped out. He looked as if he had been dipped in gold dust. His skin, his eyes, his hair all a dusky auric hue. Slim-fitting turquoise slacks clung to long, skinny legs. A plaid vest, white shirt, and turquoise bow-tie completed the ensemble. Lori pounced.

“Ah. Do you work here?”

“Oui, Madame. My name is Joseph.” He gave a curt bow. “This is my gallery. Would you like to take a look inside?”

“Sure would. Come on, Chaz.” She brushed past the young man, and Chaz followed her reluctantly into the odd little gallery.

It had none of the charm of the other shops that he and his new bride had visited. A haphazard jumble of portraits of differing sizes and mediums were spread out on long folding tables. Painted canvases set in elaborate frames juxtaposed with prints and lithographs in simple, painted, plastic borders with daguerreotypes stuffed in the corners. Smaller photographs both in black and white and in color were spread along the ledge of the fireplace mantel.

Chaz felt as if he had entered a lunatic’s den rather than an art gallery, and Lori looked crestfallen. He strolled among the tables and absently browsed the images, stirring the piles with his fingertips. From the corner of his eye he watched his wife ready a polite excuse for them to make their exit.

Chaz picked up one of the photos. He glanced at it and threw it back on the pile. Oddly, his breathing grew shallow, and a niggling and fizzy sensation spread at the base of his skull as he snatched up the photo again. It was a black and white, obviously taken several decades ago. Yet the woman in it – the curve of her smile – seemed familiar to Chaz. He dropped the picture and picked up another. He stared at it, trying to rationalize the presence of the woman in each of the photos, whose eyes twinkled on the page, calling to mind laughter like a song that deeply provoked nostalgia and longing. Chaz cast one down to pick up another image of the same alluring dark-skinned woman, effigies set in various eras and places. He moved from table to table, becoming more disoriented as his realized that he and Lori had stumbled into a shrine to the woman he had loved and left to marry the girl at his side.

Against the far wall of the gallery, a golden easel cradled a brazen display of a single, over-sized portrait. Chaz faltered toward it and look upon the dark and ferine woman who stood topless. Her hair, wild and bushy and dark as night, tumbled down past bronze-hued shoulders in coarse ringlets. Sable eyes shimmered like pitch dusted with glitter, looked askance at him with a carnivorous gleam. Her full, dark lips parted in a half smile. Chaz saw there an element of a predator half hidden.

He knew this body. He remembered the softness of her skin and the musky scent of it, laced with vanilla and clove. He had been intimate with every curve and every sinew of the long legs and high round ass, now hidden by a white sarong. His fingertips tingled at the memory of fondling her jutting breasts, their peaks had grown taut breasts, their peaks had grown taut at his touch. He had felt her slickness and her heat. He had tasted the sweet saltiness of her.

Enthralled, Chaz licked his lips involuntarily. It was Zen. But not as he knew her. There was an innocence about his Zen. She nurtured. He felt safe with her. Yet that version of her in that shop, on that easel, was alluring – yes – but that version had the look of a predator.