A Slice of Cake With... Charles Freedom Long

This week I am delighted to be having a slice of cake with Charles Freedom Long. 

Charles has lived and worked in the U.S, Canada, England and Africa. He learned that what we might think is "the way it is," ain't necessarily so. So his books, all of which have won national-level awards, are meant to both entertain and crack open new doors of thought, to take readers to another realm of existence, where life continues beyond the change we call death. To provoke thinking outside our normal conventions. 

What kind of books do you write?

I write about what might be: Psionics, aliens and other worlds, ongoing communication between the living and the dead and how that might affect the life and philosophy of a world.

Can you describe your writing why?

I see humans acting as if nothing beyond this current lifetime on this current planet exists, and where we could be heading if we allow arrogance, greed and religious fundamentalism to continue to divide the human race into illusory camps, a world where fear dominates and where logic, love and science have taken the backseat. As a medium, I speak with “dead” people all the time. As a psychologist, I see what our lack of introspection and extrospection does to our souls. I wonder what other, more enlightened species who might be observing us must think about us. So I write entertaining fiction to bring these thoughts into the light.

Share with us your favourite passage from the book you enjoyed writing the most

From Witches’ Gambit—opening pages.

“Call me Vitok.” 

Aidan Ray’s hand stopped in midair. She placed the white queen down on the chess board in front of her and looked around the living room. Rain drummed on the windows. The lights were dim, but bright enough against the darkness outside to see the shape forming in the center of the room. 

It was light, pure blue light, somehow full of substance, enthralling. A swirling column, shimmering with energy. The voice rumbled out of it. Every light wave vibrated with the sound. 

Without taking her eyes from the specter, she put her hands into a prayer mudra. Visions were one thing, visitations quite another. And this, she thought, is no earthly visitation. 

A head appeared, atop the ethereal body, crowned with gleaming blue light waves swirling out like pinwheels to all sides. 

Right in the middle of the head, where a face should be, a dark red, fist-sized eye pulsed. A concentric bright red second band jutted out from that. A thin, shimmering violet ring around that, an orange circle, and a bright yellow fifth glimmering halo band completed the multicolored sphere. Five penetrating lights, focused on Aidan like a superluminal spotlight. 

The five-part spherical eye probed Aidan’s blank face. Shocked or not, she knew her expression admitted nothing. She had long ago learned anything anyone discovered about what she thought or felt was a threat. In the litigator’s jungle in which she thrived, only the strong survived. 

Aidan caught her breath. Screwing up her courage, her voice quavering, she asked, “Those lights where your face should be, what are they?” 

“Eyes. We have five eyes.”

Aidan forced her blurring vision to focus. Eyes? 

The thing spoke again.

“I am Nord,” it continued. “From the planet Narr. You, Aidan Ray, have been chosen to represent your species in a matter of grave significance.” 

Me? My species? What is this?

“The rest will unfold.”

Drawn like a moth to the flame, Aidan rose unsteadily up out of her chair, took a deep breath, and boldly reached out her hand to touch the shimmering light form. 

Her hand went into the body, tingled and glowed blue, and she felt a mild electric shock, but otherwise, felt nothing. Nothing but light. 

“Yes,” the voice said after a fleeting pause. “This is what my present body is like. Far less dense than yours.”

What was that pause for? He seemed to be calculating before he answered. Why?

Aidan withdrew her hand from the light, turned it this way and that to see it was unharmed, and then spewed a torrent of questions. “Why are you here? What is this about? Why me? Why now? Why...” 

“You, Aidan Ray, sixth generation Terran medium, who dances with the dead, have been chosen to save your race from annihilation.”

She fell back into her chair like she’d been hit by a rocket. Annihilation? 

Aidan heard herself saying “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil.”

 “You knew the situation was bad, Aidan Ray. You see what others ignore. You do more than merely speak with the Terran dead. You are one with them.”

The blue radiance faded. For a moment or two, little lights whirled around the space it had occupied then disappeared, and Aidan was left staring at empty space again. A cooling, refreshing sensation of soothing hands on her shoulders massaged away her shakiness.

 “Well met, Aidan Ray,” resounded through the room. “We have much to discuss.” 

Tell us about your latest project

My current WIP is about twin aliens, Zakan and Javek, from a race of grey-furred, fourteen- fingered, twelve-toed, meter-high Meercat-like beings, known as Chret. The twins, a rarity on their homeworld, Saecula, where all forms of industrialization are shunned, are chosen by the planetary Goddess Amara to save their twin planet, Saetana, where the God Kharv is worshipped, and unfettered industrialization is rampant.  Greed and arrogance have led the inhabitants of Saecula to despoil the planet, and they now seek to invade Saecula and plunder its untapped mineral wealth. The twin brothers must find a way to somehow remove the tyrant Rhondal on Saecula, and enable both worlds to stop hating each other and live together. They must do this before the galactic police, the militant Krieg, take action on their own to destroy Saetana, an event which would irrevocably bring about the ultimate annihilation of the entire Chret race.

What is your favourite cake?

New York Cheesecake is now and will be forever irresistible. 

A classic, for sure! You can keep up to date with Charles at his website.

Join me next week when I'll be having a slice of cake with Jennifer Anderson.

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Claire Buss is a multi-genre author and poet, completely addicted to cake. Find all her books on Amazon. Join the discussion in her Facebook group Buss's Book Stop.