Teaching
notes
Date: July 2012
Introduction
Angel’s Fury is about a teenage girl who suffers from
nightmares. She discovers that her dreams mean she has
been reincarnated and all of her past lives are being
manipulated by a fallen angel who wants to destroy mankind.
The book encourages readers to think about the nature of
good and evil and about identity for example:
–
How good people can do bad things
–
How one person or group of people can change the
world for the worse (or better)
–
Who we are and how we make our choices and
decisions
Synopsis
Cassie’s biggest worry ought to be her upcoming exams, but she has
suffered from recurring nightmares her whole life. On a class trip to
Germany she recognises scenes from her dreams and is instrumental in
the discovery of a mass grave.
her parents admit that she spoke German before she could speak English
and that they had once taken her to a specialist in past lives: Leaza
Ashworth. Now desperate they return to the Doctor and although struck by
instant dislike, Cassie is seduced by the hope of a cure. She agrees to
attend a retreat where children with the same symptoms are said to be
making progress.
In the Yorkshire Manor house, Cassie meets seven others just like her,
including the attractive SETH and a girl, PANDRA with whom she develops
an instant bond.
But she grows increasingly uncomfortable with the Doctor’s methods and,
as their symptoms worsen, Cassie and Seth are driven to break into her
office. There they find an old legend and notes going back generations.
Evidence forces them to a terrifying conclusion: the Doctor is not what she
seems and the children themselves are vessels for the souls of the halfangel nephilim who were thought to be destroyed in the great flood. The
Doctor intends to train a group of children destined to release her fallen
brother by committing atrocities of appalling proportions … and it isn’t the
first lifetime in which Cassie and Seth have encountered her.
Fleeing from the Manor, the children spend the night in a deserted
farmhouse where some terrible truths drive a wedge between Cassie and
Seth.
The next morning two of their companions are missing. Terrified by what
the Doctor’s favourite, Pandra, might do Cassie begins to search. She
finds her friend planning to commit murder certain the act will alleviate her
own nightmares.
Although part of her is drawn to Pandra’s idea, Cassie fights her friend, the
evil lurking in her subconscious and finally the Doctor herself. When Seth
turns up and helps them, they are able to destroy the fallen angel.
Finally Seth forgives Cassie for her role in his own past life pain and their
tortured souls are both freed from the pain of the nephilim.
Writing style
•
The book is written in first person present tense. Why might
the author have done that? How does it make you feel?
•
Look at the dream sequences – are they written differently?
How and why?
•
The author occasionally allows us to hear Cassie’s actual
thoughts. How has she done this and why?
•
How would the book be different if the author had chosen to
write in a different way?
•
The book is broken in sections headed with the following
titles: Inception, Incarnation, Incarceration, Insurrection.
What might these titles tell you about the sections?
•
What is the importance of character naming in Angel’s Fury?
Look specifically at Cassie, Curt, The Doctor, Seth and
Pandra
Themes / motifs
•
•
Explore the theme / motif of ‘water’ in Angel’s Fury.
–
How often is it referenced?
–
Why is it important?
–
How is it used to highlight Cassie’s mood / situation?
Look at the role of religion in Angel’s Fury.
–
How has the author blended Hindu, Jewish and
Christian mythology to make a cohesive whole?
•
How has the author used the idea of reincarnation?
–
What past lives do the children have?
–
How do they effect them now?
–
Why are they important?
Talking points
•
What past life would you most like to have lived and why?
•
When would it have been the worst time to be alive?
•
Do you think the Doctor really could have brought about the
end of the world with only a handful of individuals?
–
How? Think about how close she came in the past
(Hitler, KKK etc.)
•
Think about how one man or woman has made a huge
difference in history
–
How many examples can you think of?
–
can you think of more ‘bad guys’ or ‘good guys’?
–
Are your examples modern or ancient? Can one
person make a difference today? Why / why not?
What is different now?
•
How could you make a difference yourself?
Exercises
•
•
Write your own short story based on one of the following:
–
Any dream or nightmare
–
When Cassie met Seth in another life
Write a plan – how are you going to ‘make a difference’
Literary allusion and the importance
of names in Angel’s Fury
At university I loved literary criticism especially that moment when I
spotted something that enhanced my appreciation of a book. Each time it
was like a personal message from the author. So, naturally, my own
book is loaded with what I have chosen to call Easter eggs (A virtual
Easter egg is an intentional hidden message, in-joke or feature).
Spotting the Easter eggs aren't crucial to the enjoyment of my book (for
example when Cassie sees her father's begonias just before boarding
the plane to Germany you don't need to be aware that in the language of
flowers begonias are a warning, meaning 'be cautious', or 'beware' to
enjoy the scene), or they're so subtle that they impact on a subconscious
level (for example water is important throughout the book as a clue to
Cassie's state).
I'm not going to give all my Easter eggs away. Perhaps after I've
highlighted a few and you have a sense of how my brain works, you can
find more in the book.
First of all, I want to talk about naming, which is important in all my work.
When I name a character I think about who they are and search for a
name that reflects that. Often a character's name will be a clue to the role
they will play later in the book.
Seth Alexander: Seth means 'appointed' and Alexander is 'defender of
men' – so Seth is the 'appointed defender of men'.
Pandra Long: The meaning of Pandra is Chief Dragon (from the name
Pendragon) and the word dragon in Chinese is pronounced 'Long' (in her
past life she was a KKK grand dragon).
Lenny: A German name meaning 'brave lion' (ironic on two levels).
Literary allusion continued
Cassie Farrier: Cassie's name, like Cassie's character is more
complex and contains a lot of information.
Cassie's real surname is Smith and both Smith and Farrier mean
blacksmith, as does another surname in the book (Faber).
A smith is a metalworker and the ability to work metal is one of the
gifts of Azael to man, indicating Cassie's link to the fallen angel from
the very start.
The actual meaning of the name Cassiopeia is 'she whose words
excel'; it is Cassie who has to persuade the other children to escape
the Manor and it is her story we are reading.
Furthermore, Cassiopeia was a queen whose vanity is said in some
sources to have resulted in the drowning of Ethiopia. She certainly
caused the kraken to be called upon her city (again the water motif,
so important to Cassie's history). She was set in heaven as a
constellation and is upside down half of the year (according to
Jewish lore, Azael's brother was set upside down in Orions' belt as
a punishment).
Orion's belt appears again and again throughout the book. The
children have a particular affinity with the constellation and it
appears throughout their lives.
Azael himself is said to have taught man charms, conjuring
formulas, how to cut roots, the efficacy of plants, how to make
weapons, how to work metals, how to make jewellery, how to use
make up, how to brew beer and how to play music. I use these
'talents' as motifs throughout: for example, the twin town to Cassie's
(Kurt and Zillah's home) is called Hopfingen (hops are used to brew
beer) and the lady in the fountain is holding an arm full of hops.
When they are trying to escape from the Manor the children plan to
meet in a pub (the Blacksmith's Arms).
Religion and mythology
I’ve been living with Cassiopeia Farrier for some time; I always knew she
suffered from nightmares, but not why. When I learned more about
reincarnation I had my reason – she had lived before. The idea of
reincarnation is that the soul is immortal, while the body is subject to
birth and death; reincarnation is believed to occur when the soul comes
back to life in a new form. This is a central idea of Hinduism, Sikhism,
Jainism, Buddhism and even some Christian sects.
In some philosophies (particularly Buddhism), reincarnation is linked to
karma (a very basic explanation is that if you are a terrible person you’ll
be reincarnated as a dung beetle). It is said in Tibetan Buddhism that it
is very rare for a person to be reborn in the immediate next life as a
human.
The vision of reincarnation that I based Angel’s Fury around is the Hindu
one.
According to a Hindu sage, to be trapped in the cycle of birth and death
is a result of ignorance of the true nature of our existence. It is
ignorance of one’s true self that leads to a perpetual chain of
reincarnation (I linked this central idea back to the Shemhazai myth to
create the full story of Angel’s Fury – more on that later).
In Hinduism when one realises that the true self is the immortal soul
rather than the body, all desires for the pleasures of the world will cease
and the person will not be born again.
So the ultimate goal of reincarnation is to learn enough lessons from
Earth lives that reincarnation is no longer necessary.
While I was researching the idea of reincarnation I uncovered stories
that seem incredible, one particular one is available on the Internet –
that of James Huston Jr, whose tragic death during World War II is
remembered in detail by James Leininger
(http://www.reversespins.com/proofofreincarnation.html).
Many of James’ experiences mirror Cassie’s, for example the
nightmares, which began when he was two and his knowledge of
technical things he hadn’t been taught (in his case planes).
Religion continued
Psychiatrist Ian Stevenson from the University of Virginia, is probably the
most prominent researcher in this area. Over 40 years, he conducted
over 2500 case studies. Most of the cases he investigated involved
people who had met some sort of violent or untimely death (and in the
book Seth speculates that the lives they remember most clearly are
either the most recent or most violent). The children Stevenson
investigated also often behaved in ways he felt suggested a link to the
previous life, for example displaying phobias associated with the manner
of their death (in the Manor the children’s severe phobias are all linked to
their past demise and are clues to who they once were).
Once I knew that Cassie had been reincarnated and that she was
coming back as a human each time, I had to understand why she was
reincarnating in order to have my full story. This is where the legend of
Shemhazai and Azael entered the picture.
I was researching the idea of fallen angels (my original idea was focused
in on Lucifer / Satan) when I stumbled across the legend of these two
particular angels, which almost perfectly fit my needs. There are a
number of versions of the myth, one can be read in full here:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/2360578/Midrash-of-Shemhazai-and-AzazelRevised-English
Generally Shemhazai and Azael are held to be the angelic parents of the
nephilim (half angel, half human abominations who were destroyed in
the flood). I took the liberty of amending the myth, blending the versions
I had found and adjusting the end.
I was nervous, I’ll admit, about using religion in this manner, making
changes to an old testament story and writing a book that melded Hindu
and Christian religions, but so far friends from my church (I’m Catholic
incidentally) have really enjoyed it and in some way I actually think it
speaks to more people. So many of us ‘kind of’ believe in reincarnation
and seek a way to marry our belief in things we can’t rationally explain
with our Christian ideals (22% of Western Europeans believe in some
form of reincarnation); this book, for the duration of reading at least,
legitimises that association and it feels somehow right.