Friday, October 15, 2010

Beware the Devil's Hug

While I am getting ready to head out to a book festival (and sorry I doubt I'll be online tomorrow) please welcome Marvin Wilson!

Marvin’s new book is entitled Beware the Devil’s Hug. I wanted to know more about the main characters, so Marvin managed to corral them long enough for an interview…

Marvin D Wilson interviews Iam, Destiny, Christian, and Ali – main characters from Beware the Devil’s Hug!

Marvin: I want to thank all of you for being with us today, Iam, Destiny, Christian, and Ali. I know you are all very busy right now with your coalition, CUE, and its efforts to promote world peace and harmony through the dilution of religious dogma and intolerance of peoples of differing faiths. Christian, could you explain to everyone just what CUE stands for?

Christian: Thanks for having us, Marvin, and sure. CUE is an acronym for Coalition for Unity and Enlightenment. It has always astounded me that Jews, Christians, and Muslims, who all love and worship the same One God of Abraham, can hate each other with such intensity. To me, the most heinous oxymoron of all time is the ‘Holy War’. With CUE, we strive to get peoples of differing faiths to have dialog, communicate, get to know each other as human beings, all of us being God’s children and loved by The One. We don’t promote one spiritual path over the other, that’s not our purpose. We have members from Buddhism, Taoists, Hindus, Baha’i, every path on the planet—not just the three One God of Abraham major religions.

Marvin: But you yourself are a Christian, right?

Christian: Yep. Well, I consider myself a bit of a Maverick ... a non-religious, dogma-free spiritualist Christian. I know that Jesus led people to the truth through nonjudgmental, all-encompassing, unconditional love. He did not hate people who did not believe in Him, he loved everyone equally, and that to me is the True Way of Christ, hm?

Marvin: Amen to that, Christian. Ali—you are, of course, a Muslim. And your best friend is a Christian. How did that come about?

Ali: Well, I don’t want to spoil the story for those who haven’t read the book yet, but suffice it to say that twenty years ago I would have killed Christian in the belief that it would glorify Allah. Then one magical day I was transformed by an embrace from that incredible human being sitting right next to you.

Marvin: Yes, and Iam? Can you share something of yourself ... your name, for instance—very unusual.

Iam: It’s everyone’s name, really. We are all, as Jesus said, little Gods in the making, all part of The One, the I Am That I Am. So, I chose to go by that name. Or, as you wrote me, The Old Man. I like that, too.

Destiny: Ol’ Man o’ Mine, that’s what I call him, cuz he is mine. (Destiny shows off her wedding ring with a broad smile)

Marvin, (chuckling): Destiny, you are twenty nine years old, a very pretty young African American woman. The Old Man is old enough to be your great grandfather at least. What on earth attracted you to him so much as to want to settle down and get married to him?

Destiny: It’s not any ‘on earth’ reason, I can tell you that. I used to think he was butt ugly, fearsome looking. Back when I was a hooker I used to get the creeps whenever he approached me. Even a prostitute has to draw the line somewhere. But then when he hugged me—it was unbelievable. Not only was I a changed person, all of a sudden he started looking handsome to me. In a weird, rugged kind of way, but—I don’t know—I looked deeper and saw all this beauty shining out from him. This ol’ man o’ mine is the best looking man I’ve ever known, now.

Ali: And I think that’s the key. Once we look deeper into people, really see them, surface appearances are not at all that important. Initial attractions are, typically, based on physical beauty ... but how many relationships have ended up in ruin because once the sex appeal, the rush of hot lovemaking has waned, the rest of the people involved surfaces and oftentimes they find out they don’t even like each other anymore.

Christian: Yep. And although my wife is what I consider drop-dead gorgeous, I wouldn’t have considered marrying her if she were not a beautiful spirit, through and through. Has a bit of a drinking issue, but hey—and that’s another topic I’m glad you covered in the book, Marvin—the Jesus admonition of, ‘Ye who has no sin among you, let him cast the first stone’.

Marvin: Mmhmm. Well, look, people, our time is about up. Iam, as the main character in Beware the Devil’s Hug, could you close out the session with some parting words for our readers? Some advice for people to perhaps find more fulfilment in their lives?

Iam: Certainly. Want to be loved? Give love. Be love. Want to have good friends? Be a good friend. Want money? Give money. And every day, meet and greet a stranger, really talk to him or her, and make sure and share a hug before parting. A stranger’s hug a day keeps the devil away.


Beware the Devil’s Hug

What if a homeless, smelly, ugly, unkempt old man had a hug so powerful it could cure cancer? Cause a prostitute to stop hooking and seek true love? Shake the demons of addiction free from a junkie? Make a Christian want to embrace and love a Muslim and vice versa? But rare is the beneficiary of his divine embrace - nobody wants to come near him out of fear.

$16.99, ISBN: 978-0984615490, From All Things That Matter Press
Purchase here at Amazon

Author Bio

Marvin D. Wilson has a widely varied and rich life experience background - from Hippie Rock and Roll musician, to nightclub entertainer, to Zen Buddhist minister, to carpenter, to small business owner, to network marketer, to sales and sales training, to skilled trades instructor and adult education teacher, to public speaker and motivational coach, to now in his chosen “golden years” career, a writer and multi-published author with the self-proclaimed, “audacity to write novels”.

Wilson describes his spiritual path as one who is a non-religious, dogma-free, maverick spiritualist Christian, with a strong bent toward Zen, Taoism, and the Law of Attraction, and who believes in the Oneness of all creation and all paths leading to re-awakening to the On e. He is a family man with three grown children and six grandchildren, and works with his son and oldest daughter in their organic compost and vegetable farming business when not writing, traveling, and marketing his books.

Marvin writes primarily in the spiritual/inspirational genre, but likes to pen “cross-over” novels that appeal to a wide variety of readers. His books are uplifting, sometimes weighty, oftentimes humorous, abidingly thought-provoking, meant to instill and create passion and emotion, more than occasionally provocative to the point of controversial, and always “tell it like it is”, real world, no punches pulled writing. He likes to deliver spiritual messages in a non-preachy, often irreverent, sometimes sexy and ribald way, through the medium of an entertaining story.

Hugs Therapy Virtual Tour 2010 – Contest, Prizes and Giveaways!
Visit Marvin’s site - The Old Silly! AFTER leaving a comment to find out how you can win some really cool prizes!
The next stop in the tour - Joyce Anthony

45 comments:

RHYTHM AND RHYME said...

Thanks for the wonderful interview of Marvin, another good book, there are so many talented authors on site it's unbelievable,

Take care and have a good weekend.
Yvonne,

PK HREZO said...

WOW! I love Iam's final comment! So very true. I love the concept of Beware of the Devil's Hug. I hope it makes readers think. I'll def check it out!
Glad I stumbled onto your site today!

Liza said...

Fascinating and fun interview. Intriguing story. Thanks Marvin. Great interview Alex.

Gail said...

Great interview...sounds like a book I will enjoy.

Golden Eagle said...

Beware the Devil's Hug sounds like an intriguing book. I love the interview!

Leeuna said...

Great interview Alex. I hope I can do as well when it's my turn.

Kissie said...

Loving this format, Alex!

Too late for me to steal this idea now. ;o) Great kickoff, I'll know so much about this book, characters, and writer by the time it gets to me. hehe :-)

Copyboy said...

Very cool interview. Can I kindle this?

DEZMOND said...

now this was a very original idea - for a writer to interview his own characters :) We want that with your heroes as well, Alex!

tashabud said...

Tehehe. I've read the book already and will be writing my own review when this virtual tour is finished as not to compete with the book tour time. All I can say at this time is that the book is a must have/read book.

This is a unique interview, by the way. Enjoyed reading the thoughts and perspectives from each of the characters in the book, Marvin. Very well done.

Tasha

Matthew MacNish said...

What a strange but awesome title. Sounds like a great story too!

Old Kitty said...

Wow. Thank you Marvin for interviewing these very varied and compelling characters from your book! I wish the OLD MAN was interviewed too!!! :-)

Thanks Alex for hosting - what an intriguing idea for an interview. Makes the characters so real! Take care
x

Mason Canyon said...

Great interview. It's interesting getting to know the characters better.

Mason
Thoughts in Progress

Anonymous said...

It is amazing Chrisians, Jews, and Islam all come from the same lineage but have been the source of so much death, pain, and confusion. Much different than how Jesus would judge, rule, and reign.

Stephen Tremp

Unknown said...

Great interview. I love the concept! Good luck with your tour.

A Pen In Neverland: Angela Peña Dahle said...

Just wanted to say congrats with your soon to be released book!

Arlee Bird said...

I have also read Beware the Devil's Hug and will be offering my review soon. Marvin will be visiting my site on Wednesday October 27, so I'm looking forward to that.

Lee
Tossing It Out

Carolyn Howard-Johnson said...

I'm sending you a BENEVOLENT hug, Ol' Silly. And good wishes.
Best,
Carolyn Howard-Johnson
Tweeting writers resources @frugalbookpromo

KK Brees said...

Loved the interview, Marvin. Jesus's message was a simple one, after all. 'Love God and love one another" - what we've done to that has been the biggest sin.

Helen Ginger said...

Sounds like you have a lot of interesting characters in this allegory, Marvin. Best of luck with sales!

Colene Murphy said...

Awesome interview! Sounds great

RaShelle Workman said...

Wow. Interesting. A different type of interview. Cool. =D

Belle said...

What a great interview! Such interesting characters, great premise - looks like a very good read.

The Old Silly said...

First of all, thanks, Alex, for such a finely done kick off post for the tour. Doing the interview with the main characters was a great idea and one that I enjoyed writing up.

To all you wonderful readers - thanks so much for all the kind words! I'm actually having to work today and am on my lunch break, so I have limited time right now. but I will be online in the early eve and will take the time to interact with those of you who left comments and/or questions which beg a reply.

Chow all, and please join us for the rest of the tour!

Marvin D Wilson

The Old Silly said...

First of all, thanks, Alex, for such a finely done kick off post for the tour. Doing the interview with the main characters was a great idea and one that I enjoyed writing up.

To all you wonderful readers - thanks so much for all the kind words! I'm actually having to work today and am on my lunch break, so I have limited time right now. but I will be online in the early eve and will take the time to interact with those of you who left comments and/or questions which beg a reply.

Chow all, and please join us for the rest of the tour!

Marvin D Wilson

The Old Silly said...

Hey Alex - sorry for the double comment post - please delete the duplicate for me?

Cowboy - you CAN get Hugs in your Kindle reader. I think it's like only $4 or something like that.

Marvin D Wilson

Glynis Peters said...

Great post as always, thanks, Alex. :)

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

Glad to have you Marvin! Sorry I was caught up with work all day. Hope this kicks off the tour with a bang.

Patricia Stoltey said...

This is a fun interview. Since I just finished reading "Beware the Devil's Hug" and will post a review on my blog next Thursday, it was a real bonus getting to hear the characters tell us a bit about themselves and their part in the story. Thanks Alex and Marvin.

Unknown said...

See, Muslims and Christians can get along.

Great interview, Alex. It's interesting that we can all take away different things from an interview.

CD

Southpaw said...

Really good interview.

Carolina M. Valdez Schneider said...

Cool character interview! I love their free-spirited, loving natures.

BryStearns said...

Wow, Marvin sounds like an absolutely fantastic person! The world needs more people like him, and it needs more people who are willing to take a risk like he has done. GO MARVIN!

Grammy said...

Hey, Alex...really interesting interview! I may even have to read the book...Thanks for your continued support of my blog and of me.
Love,
Ruby

Connie Arnold said...

That was a great interview! Love your characters and their answers, Marvin. I can't wait to get a copy!

Hannah said...

What a fantastic interview! I will definitely check that out. Thanks gentlemen!

The Old Silly said...

Hey Alex,and All-

Just stopping in once again to say 'thanks!' to you, Alex, the host, and all the great readers with so many kind words in their comments. I hope you all will follow along on the Hugs Therapy Virtual Tour 2010, and Alex, I'll be seeing you often on your tour, also. :)

Charles Gramlich said...

Interesting interview. I've thought a few times about doing something similar with my charcters but have never done so.

Enid Wilson said...

Big hugs to you Marvin! Love the interview. I'm reading a book about ageing. It talks about belief, attitude, creativity, forgiveness and so on. Your novel seems to be touching a lot of these interesting concepts too. Congratulations!

My Darcy Mutates

Talli Roland said...

Brilliant interview, Alex and Marvin. The concept sounds great and I love the title, too. Good luck with it!

Jo Schaffer Layton said...

I'm all about hugs. Big time.

Ella said...

Wonderful interview! Iam has much to say ;-D
Marvin has worn many hats, which gives him great insight to many facet of life. Sounds like a great read~ Thank you, Alex, you did a marvelous job~

Hope you enjoyed your book festival!

Jemi Fraser said...

Great interview :)

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

Glad everyone enjoyed the unique interview! Marvin, wishing you much success on the rest of your tour.

Theres just life said...

Wow, I love the concept of the book. It is something I have always believed in. I just wish more people did. I would really like to read this one. It is now on my reading list as well.