The Consortium, the Quorum, the alien interface, depicted in 'romantic' fiction - what the heck?!

[XPan]

It is an intriguing series

i must say. The more i read the more it captures me - which I didn’t expect that it would (I am now in the middle of the second book). It is also clearly a more interesting read compared to those i read 40 years ago.

I wasn’t expecting that the characters would be written in various, shifting “I” forms - and with it, we get a glimpse of how Blake and the others “think” from “their perspective”.

The unfolding background info dropping in now and then, is unsettling and strange - yet at the same time makes sense given the multiple nature behind the world scene, which we talk about here at the forum…

* * *

I find is very easy to follow Lana’s mindset and her emotions. (I just don’t feel them as deep yet, because something in me is blocking too deep emotions) What a strange journey this has become, enabling memories, moments, past expectations and experiences, like that.

That was really uncalled for

Thank you Laura, for the inspiration. As it enables my mind and soul to read novels again.

Well actually, thank you everyone else in this thread, each one who has written about your impressions - and all together - inspired me further, to get curious, and snapping out of my resistance.

thank you guys

 

[Chrissy]

I can say that this book also made me cry. I've come close to crying with some of the stories from the Regency reading project, but it was usually fleeting. In this case, I cried and carried a sense of grief for several days after finishing it. Rocco was such a weary soul...

I finished this book four days ago and am still processing it and not ready to start the next one. It reminded me of a dream I had when I first joined the forum and read The Wave. In the dream, I was in an underground city and was being given a tour by lizard beings. There were humans in barred cells that were being used as food. No one spoke to me directly, but in my mind they were speaking to me and that this could be me in the future. Needless to say, I didn't sleep for weeks after reading The Wave. I had never come across that kind of information before and it terrified me.

I think with this series, if you allow yourself to be immersed in the book, all of what is described is taken as truth and you can experience a world where it's fact that there are secret societies, humans as food, a nefarious plan to make the human race slaves, etc. I know this has all been discussed here for many years, but I never really tried to envision what that looked like in real life. Just the words "TPTB" have been used so many times here, but the most I've envisioned is a bunch of crusty old men around a table hatching plans on how to control us all. The opulent lifestyle the author conveyed these people lead as compared to the rest of us is something I've never contemplated. For example the food and wine the normal characters never even knew existed. But even with all that privilege, there are these characters who are completely empty inside, longing for real connection to other people and possibly even the divine. Laura said it perfectly that Rocco was a weary soul and his and Autumn's story has left me feeling raw inside.

 

[Tristan]

I tried to find links between Sons of El and Satanists but I had no luck. The only mention was a phonetic similarity in a personal LinkedIn article where the author referenced 'Satan-el' saying that God was renamed from 'El' to 'Satan-el'. But this person clearly thinks that the Bible is a historical account of events and Jesus really existed so he's not a credible source. And given that I have very little (if any) knowledge about ancient religions I wouldn't be able to separate the wheat from the chaff in his article anyway.

In the wikipedia page in Spanish, it refers to the following: El has been the father of many gods - seventy in total - the most important were Baal Raman (Hadad), Yam, Mot and Dagan, which have attributes similar to the gods Zeus, Poseidon or Ophion, Hades or Thanatos, among others; the ancient Greek mythographers identified El with Cronus, the king of the Titans.

El is usually depicted as a bull, with or without wings. He was also called Eloáh, Eláh, which in Arabic became Allah.

As for Cronus, he was identified in classical antiquity with the Roman god Saturn. And then we have that Cronus is associated with the Saturn, which in turn can be associated with Satan et al.

A contemporary folk etymology that connects Saturn to the Hebrew word Satan, שָׂטָן, meaning adversary or accuser, seems worthy of consideration as no convincing etymologies for the word Satan appear.[1] Again, this assumes a late development of the Hebrew Bible, which this study does.

Etymologists believe Saturn originates from the Etruscan subterranean deity Satre whose name meaning is unknown. It certainly seems possible, if not likely, that they represent essentially the same chthonic deity particularly since the Etruscans appear to have had a crypto-Jewish or proto-Jewish element. Though this derivation is of course undisruptive to the idea that the word Satan is also related to Saturn. Rather its possible all words share a common root. [...]

Source: Saturn, Satan, Set and Tan

 

[Mrs. Peel]

I think some of you might be shocked when you finish the last book about Blake and Lana, "Love's Sacrifice." What a zinger.

Oh dear. I'm at the part where and have to stop for a while. I'm gonna be really upset if there isn't a happy ending.

Hmmm, I did an in-line spoiler above but it's not showing up when I view the post.

 

[JeanneT]

I can say that this book also made me cry. I've come close to crying with some of the stories from the Regency reading project, but it was usually fleeting. In this case, I cried and carried a sense of grief for several days after finishing it. Rocco was such a weary soul...

I just finished "The Other Side Of Midnight" a couple of hours ago after reading it most of the day as I couldn't put it down. I did not cry but I was left with a deep sense of sadness that is still with me as I now read your post, Laura, and the one from Jones. Out of all of the novels read so far this one is not leaving me for some reason and it actually feels deeper than grief. I feel unsettled and I am trying to figure out why, exactly. Anyway, it is comforting to know I am not the only one a bit shaken by this one.

 

[Mrs. Peel]

I just finished Love's Sacrifice. The author says at the end that it's the last of Blake and Lana's story. But it leaves you hanging to wonder what is going to happen when Sorab turns 18? Perhaps that will be told in another book.

And the scene at the end with his mother in the car when he finds out she is the power behind the throne, did he still have to give up his fortune since that was his deal with Victoria but now she is dead?

To me it wasn't quite clear in the Epilogue and obviously Lana doesn't know about the choice Sorab will have to make later.

I'm glad at least that neither Blake nor Lana were killed off.

 

[3DStudent]

Some of the kindle books has "Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled" in the product description. But, it only works on Kindle Fire tablet v4 onwards (current kindle fire version is 11). It didn't work on my kindle on windows or ipad.

I think I will just get a Kindle Fire for the text-to-speech feature. Eventually I will run out of audiobook versions of the Romance novels, so this would help with that too. I don't have a free time slot for actual reading at the moment, as I'm slowly making my way through FPTM. I think I'll have to get some kind of fanny pack or shoulder sling to put the tablet in while I listen. The Fire 8 has a better battery life if you don't want the Fire 7 and have to charge it so often.

Kindle for PC text-to-speech is enabled with Ctrl T. It seems to use your default installed voice. Mine is MS David, which I've become used to. Here are the additional shortcuts:

Toggle Text-to-Speech: Ctrl, T
Pause or resume reading: Space bar (while in a book)
Read the previous sentence: Ctrl, Shift, Up arrow
Skip forward one sentence: Ctrl, Shift, Down arrow
Increase speech rate: Shift, +
Decrease speech rate: Shift, –
Toggle continuous reading: Ctrl, Shift, C

 

[jsf]

No translation into French alas !

You can buy it in english and use google lens on the phone to translate it automatically. It's far from perfect, but still readable.

 

[mamibio74]

Thank you JSF but I have no mobile phone

 

[jsf]

Thank you JSF but I have no mobile phone

Uhmmm so if you really want to read them you can still extract the text from some files on the computer/kindle and run it through google translate or deepL after. At least it's something possible to do.

 

[Laura]

I just finished Love's Sacrifice. The author says at the end that it's the last of Blake and Lana's story. But it leaves you hanging to wonder what is going to happen when Sorab turns 18? Perhaps that will be told in another book.

And the scene at the end with his mother in the car when he finds out she is the power behind the throne, did he still have to give up his fortune since that was his deal with Victoria but now she is dead?

To me it wasn't quite clear in the Epilogue and obviously Lana doesn't know about the choice Sorab will have to make later.

I'm glad at least that neither Blake nor Lana were killed off.

Blake and Lana make cameo appearances in "The Russian Billionaire".

 

[Bluefyre]

I just finished "The Other Side Of Midnight" a couple of hours ago after reading it most of the day as I couldn't put it down. I did not cry but I was left with a deep sense of sadness that is still with me as I now read your post, Laura, and the one from Jones. Out of all of the novels read so far this one is not leaving me for some reason and it actually feels deeper than grief. I feel unsettled and I am trying to figure out why, exactly. Anyway, it is comforting to know I am not the only one a bit shaken by this one.

I had the same experience. I had to stop for a couple of days to process before continuing on with the Russian Don series. I have kind of adjusted/skimmed the graphic porno sex as I go along but see how even that is used, as in some of the romance novels to show the inner state of these damaged male protagonists and how their sexual interactions change as their hearts awaken and they learn how to love and be loved.

 

[merlinsgirl]

Here's the list in reading order (and they really do need to be read in order):

The Billionaire Banker Series (Owned, 42 Days, Besotted) can be purchased as one book.

Seduce Me

Love's Sacrifice

Then, the related books that have other important elements:

Blackmailed by the Beast

The Russian Billionaire

The Other Side of Midnight

I am able to find the Billionaire Bankers Series box set on my Kindle. And since it’s categorized as Kindle Unlimited (which I received with my Prime membership) it’s free to read! Thank you Laura!

 

[Bluegazer]

the ancient Greek mythographers identified El with Cronus, the king of the Titans.

As for Cronus, he was identified in classical antiquity with the Roman god Saturn. And then we have that Cronus is associated with the Saturn, which in turn can be associated with Satan et al.

I am intrigued by these associations. Think of time as a tyrant. Cronus devoured his children, Saturn has his rings (loop)

Could it be an allegory of the time loop to which humanity is enslaved?

 

[BHelmet]

I have finished the "Lana/Blake" story - there are many very interesting things in it as the story progresses, and maybe for the first time when reading about these things I thought "well, this could really be how it actually works". When reading about various conspiracy theories, although I can recognize the truth of some of it, it often somewhat clashes with my experience of real life, including dealings I have had with the upper classes. But with these books, presenting the "conspiracy" things in the context of "daily life of the 0.01%", it actually makes more sense. There are many aspects to this that caught my eye.

But one thing I got on my mind is the whole "quorum" issue and the relationship between STS and STO. The Cs said this about the quorum:






So in that sense, what the books describe as the "Agenda" (STS plan of world domination) needs to be somewhat in line with "the Wave" or the positive transformation. The one cannot be without the other: we need all that darkness here, all that craziness, to bring about/birth the transformation. It's part of the answer of the old "question of evil" theologians have pondered forever (If there is a higher power, and it is Good, how can this place be so evil?).

If that is so, one would expect that some "coordination" or confluence of STO/STS must go on at some level. And this is described in the books too.

Spoiler: Lana/Blake series

Blake's mum turns out to be the real power behind the Barringtons (or even among the "ruling elite"?), but she keeps hidden behind a show of "spoilt wife of rich guy". Which is interesting, because it isn't really typical psychopathic behavior (?), osit. And she says that she does all that so that the "overall grand plan or design" can proceed, to give humans the choice between darkness and light. Hence she allows or even furthers the "dark agenda".

Now this could be just twisted rationalizations, but she somehow in the story seems to represent this point of contact between STO and STS. Kind of like an "overseer" role à la quorum.

I find it difficult to wrap my head around this. On the one hand, I can see and sometimes even deeply feel that this is right, we really do need all this darkness, all this STS stuff. It is crucial, and I can see that even an STO being could be on a mission to "oversee" and somewhat further this STS agenda in the name of the "grand design" of learning, the Wave etc. On the other hand, I am so repulsed by this darkness - in the book and on this planet - that I just want all of theses STSer to die for their sins. Also, it seems to me that "acceptance" of STS, although it might be necessary in a sense, can also be very dangerous if not tightly held in check, otherwise you might get sucked into their vortex.

Perhaps it is something that cannot be resolved in this reality: we need to constantly choose light and oppose STS within, but choosing light also entails the wisdom to accept STS as a necessary part of creation that makes STO possible. Maybe sorting out our messy emotions about these things is an important step? And maybe these books do help with that?

Thanks for the context.

I am reminded of the old Cartoon where the Coyote and Sheepdog clock into work with their time cards and proceed to fight tooth and nail and a whistle blows and they clock out and it ends with “See you tomorrow Ralph.” “See you tomorrow Sam...”.

Or World Cup Soccer. Bitter opponents square off and fight for victory. In the end they are part of the same system, with a unified governing body that actually also has a certain amount of infighting over rules Etc. Perhaps that is a useful analogy.

Without Athens vs Troy, there is no game. And perhaps No need for Olympus.

In the beginning was The Word and God sayeth: “This is Booooorinnngggggg. Lights! Camera! Action!”