DEMONWITCH - A Novel of Good and Evil by Robert Arvay

 DEMONWITCH - A Novel of Good and Evil by Robert Arvay

A review by Mario John Borgatti

Dumas, Hugo, Poe, Stevenson, Swift, Tolkien, Wells, Verne, are among my favorite authors. Many of their fascinating novels are deserved classics. The kind of novels I truly enjoy revisiting. That said, I believe Robert Arvay has written a modern classic in Demonwitch.

This is the story of two women, Miril and Veelos, friends from childhood who are predestined to rival one another in the consummate battle between good and evil. They, along with a small band of warriors, led by Miril's husband and Veelos' love, Kl'aarn, a pack of bandits led by Shalor, Veelos' spurned suitor and a group of hunters; are determined to exact revenge on the evil king, Druuk. Allied with demonic forces Druuk mercilessly destroys their tiny village of Har-Keem and slaughters almost every living soul within it.

Miril and Veelos, along with the band of survivors, journey far, and through perilous lands filled with fearsome creatures, in order to bring the battle to their archenemy, King Druuk. The stakes are high and they must make hard choices and unholy alliances along the way. They confront unimaginable hardship and do battle with sinister creatures, powerful demons and each other as well. Their choices: the promise of ascending to a Glorious Kingdom, or brutally thrust into the depths of an agonizing and eternal darkness.

The fact that Mr. Avray chose to include God as central to his novel is almost unique in this genre of literature. In novels of this type authors tend to supplant God with some ethereal enigma., e.g., "The Force", or in the case of Rowling's Albus Dumbledorf, an old man with a kind face. I'm not judging their choice of "spiritual countenances", rather crediting Mr. Arvay's attribution of God the Creator as the true force for good against evil.

Robert Arvay's imagery is tremendously powerful. I envisioned everything so clearly. Burned into my mind were not only the characters, but the entire landscape. Nothing was stagnant in this novel. I felt as if I were on a visual and emotional non stop roller coaster!

As engaging and powerful as this story is throughout it's chapters, I was truly wondering what the ending held in store. Lately, I find many novels to be anticlimactic. After dedicating many hours of my time, they leave me asking more questions than they supply answers. Not so in the case of Demonwitch. This thrilling story's ends in a crescendo of excitement, emotions and fulfillment.

And so,I stand by my original appraisal of Demonwitch when I say: Robert Arvay has written a modern classic. --mjb ... More >

Thoughts on Lucy West's "Origins" - by Mario John Borgatti

http://www.lucyweststudios.com/

What I see in Lucy West's "Origins" is not only a beautiful and engaging painting but a cerebral time machine as well, limitless in it's power to spark one's imagination and hence our intellect. This fascinating piece challenges us to ask: Where do we come from and where will our cosmic journey eventually take us? The longer I studied the myriad images within Lucy West's work, the more I felt as if I were traversing a portal and being transported through a magnificent kaleidoscope of imagery and color that must surely reside within the artist's being.

At the risk of sounding like an armchair philosopher I must admit I have often wondered: Is there something within our genetic code that compels us to think and create? Do we harbor an inner force so potent that we can neither suppress or dismiss it? Why do we work into the early morning hours painting, designing or writing, knowing the alarm clock will be blaring in a few hours? Perhaps some of these questions may eventually be answered by recent, and ongoing, discoveries being made by mathematicians who study the realm of fractals, a modern term for geometric shapes that exhibit the properties of self-similarity.

Although the mathematical basis for fractal geometry dates back to the 17th century it was not until the advent of powerful computers and related software, capable of generating imagery at over 100 billion times magnification, that viewing the product of these infinite numerical progressions was possible. Many mathematicians now believe that these exquisite and seemingly endless patterns and colors, generated by a simple equation, could possibly be implanted in the psyche and fiber of every human being; so much so that their influence may be responsible for some of the most wondrous works of art ever created by knowing man. Astonishingly, examples of these works, which span thousands of years, bear a striking resemblance to the fractal images we've only recently been able to observe.

The creation of "Origins" is a perfect example of what science is now discovering: Self-replication permeates the natural world. From the smallest creatures, the tallest trees, even the fleeting snowflake and within every genome there is a similarity interwoven throughout the universe. And, I do believe no one has ever stated it better than the artist, Lucy West, when referring to this splendid concept she remarked "Self-replication, how elegant!"

  Arthur C. Clarke presents - Fractals: The Colors of Infinity, was my first introduction to the subject. After watching it I had a better understanding of why I, like other artists who design, perform and create in whatever field they have chosen, seem to be driven by a force beyond their control.