The secret of the elements (Novel), Genre: Fiction/Philosophical Fiction
Publisher: Armida Publications.
Description: 'It happens once every thousand years. It is not common but every one thousand years it is possible for a mortal to trick an immortal. This is the case of Bartholomew Marshal’s grandmother, Basilica Marshal, when on her 99th birthday called upon the devil to sell her precious soul.'
A 99 year old woman managed to do the unthinkable and tricked the devil when she sold him her soul. In order for the transaction to be completed the devil has to negotiate with the keeper of that soul, her grandson Bartholomew (Barto) Marshal, a penniless avant-garde composer. What she would like Barto to do is: ‘be a good boy’ and ask only for the secret of the elements to be revealed to him. Much to his surprise the hangover atheist discovers that satan exists and his loving grandma sold him her soul. He will do as instructed and his mind will age a million years in a week. During that time he composes the journey of mankind into the future. Barto finds himself able to travel through, and witness, parallel realities. He envisions potential scenarios of the progress of humanity, all of them leading to the same conclusion: 'It is going to happen anyway, it is only a matter of when.'
In the meantime satan and his Purgatory World Creation (PWC) corporation are scheming an aggressive coup that will overturn god and take over control of his aged and old fashioned NEW EDEN corporation. God tries his best to modernise, increase his resources , open franchises and stop satan's dangerously expanding market share. Both, however, fail to realise that somewhere on planet earth a composer closed in a secret so great that could make their buisness obsolete. The race is on. Will a young academic save his best friend from what he believes (by not believing) is a perilous journey into the depths of insanity? Will satan rule the cosmos? Will mankind achieve technological and biological immortality? Do the laws of physics allow for humanity to survive the fate of a collapsing universe? Is god physicaly threatened? What is the secret of the elements?
The end is predetermined but there are an infinite number of paths dressed in luminous tones, for the composer orchestrating the journey to choose, in order to get his audience there.
Characters:
Main Characters:
Basilica Marshal: Otherwise known as Nanny Ma. She is the devil trickster. Basilica Marshal is an old woman with three children, all from different fathers, and many grandchildren. But only one is her favourite, the musician Bartholomew Marshal.
Bartholomew Marshal: Or Barto, our composer, the unwilling hero of the story. He is the one who witnessed so many and wrote them down in music, formalised through mathematics, for us to see.
Tomas: The recluse scientist and Barto's childhood friend. The unbeliever, converted and keeper of the secret.
Satan: The fallen angel? An opportunist? God's competitor? Adversary or Advocate of Man?
God: The despot, the patriarch, architect of the cosmos, pedantic, self obsessed, profit driven President and CEO of the EDEN Corporation.
Minor Characters:
Maestro Nikos: Basilica's lover. He fell in love the first time he laid eyes on her about 63,333333 years ago.
Mihai: The young Gypsy, Basilica's first lover and father of her first child.
The girl whose name has no meaning: She is Basilica's fairytale alter ego.
Nadia: In this universe she is Barto's neighbour, in one parallel universe she is Barto's lover, wife and mother of his four kids named Hermes, Evelyn, Constantine and Stella.
Job: The biblical bet
Job's dead children: The collateral
Job's wife: More collateral
Theophilos of Adana: The man, the legend. According to the apocrypha he is the first one who made a contract with the devil.
St. Cyprian: The one who helped us reveal the truth about satan, god and their enterprises.
The Virgin Mary: What exactly is it that she does?
The Archangels: NEW EDEN's Corporation board of directors (a bunch of buffoons, really).
Fr. Hilary: Because wherever is a mob bearing torches, there has to be a priest.
The mad engineer: The one who thinks that you can square the circle using a ruler and a compass.
Dimitri: The manager of the building where Barto's apartment is.
Fr. Chrysostom: The bored cleric.
Lucretia: The cat, the scandal.
Tomas' Boss: We only know that she is German.
Papa George: The best wine in the region.
Ian: The vineyard supervisor
Christopher: Basilica's first love
Characters with no name:
The spingster aunts: The ones who housed Basilica when she was pregnant and sent away from her village by her parents.
The Thespian: The father of Basilica's second child
The union rep: The father of Basilica's third child, he died on the island he was imprisoned for his political beliefs.
Ghost narrator: The ancient greeks called her the one who covers knowledge, she was exhiled on an island with many nymphs who is she?
