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Among the Fallen
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Among the Fallen is a horror novel first published in 2010 but has been rebooted for a 2011 mainstream Paperback and Hardback Special Edition release, based on the Bible's "Fallen" theory. The protagonist is a 21-year-old female called Alexandra Louise Beaumont, who after her murder returns from the dead to thwart her father's attempts at bringing the world of the Fallen into our own. Written by British novelist Scott Beadle, it is said to be a curious mixture of psychological trauma and action drama. The plot focuses on a mythical ritual called the Supper of the Damned. It is said that a book was written hundreds of years ago by a priest under demonic possession and that it's possible to merge the Underworld and the realm of the living by performing a ritual. To make the crossover legal the Underworld present Earth with the Five Judges which are the sons and daughters of Hades, the ruler of the Underworld. Earth presents a lone Gladiator to represent the land of the living which is nothing more than a twisted game to which there can only be one winner. It's a mythology thats heavily deemed fact by some religeons and hinted at in the Necronomicon and the Black Zodiac. Alexandra against her wishes is chosen to represent Earth in the Supper of the Damned as she struggles to come to terms with her own death, her sisters death and the fall of her home city of Blackwater. Bible reference The book itself delves into the fabrics of mythology over various faiths, but mostly Christianity, claiming the Bible itself is just a witness account of the unbelievable made believable by those who lack the knowledge to understand it. This notion, despite not being a new theory, is backed up by the writer's story using real biblical examples and explaining them scientifically, which deeply offended Christian readers, some even claiming the writer to be Satanic and even the Antichrist himself in some extreme cases. Genesis 6: 1-4, the offspring of the sons of God and the daughters of men are called Nephilim, who are "heroes of old, the men of renown" literally, the word nephilim means "the fallen ones" and is a common euphemism for "the dead" in Hebrew. For example, in Jeremiah 6: 15, "they will fall among the fallen" (Hebrew, nopelim) the nephelim are fallen warriors. The plot The plot is an extremely intricate weave of events that lead Alexandra through the city whilst looking for answers to the mystery of her murder and her sisters, Sarah Beaumont. Alexandra and Sarah are brutally murdered at the start, and despite actually seeing her murderer, strangely when she returns She has no memory of her killer's identity. Three Months later she awakens and finds herself walking the Apocalyptic streets of her home city of Blackwater. She must travel the length of the city fighting legions of the undead, and she must slay the Five Underworld Guardians known as the Judges which according to folklore guard the River Styx which is claimed to be the crossing to the Underworld. Set in the fictional city of Blackwater, it basically uses the city as a battleground between Alexandra and the Fallen. The city is gruesomely described as being transformed to the Underworld in shocking apocalyptic detail. As Alexandra locates her father she is guided by a spirit known only as the Darkness, which some have said is a metaphor of her own guilt. The story soon transpires into a web of deceit and destruction, and Alexandra soon discovers her father's guilt behind the underworld invasion. Biblical Translation Among the Fallen's bulk plot is a heavily personal translation of the New Testament from which instead of reading the Bible from the usual view of Christianity and Catholic point of view, it's translated with a much darker view of perception whilst adding science to the mix. A lot of people on its original release were divided on opinion. Some say that it's a sacrilegious attempt at evilizing the New Testament while others claim it's a master piece of Literature and Imagination. Hidden Messages Many people read the many massages within Among the Fallen with various views. Some claim that the story is a simple from A to B adventure. Others have said that’s its about twisting the New Testament words and even debunking it laughing in the face of religion. Other massages that have been read into the story are that its a life lesson in taking your life for granted and living life to the full. Vivid Description The book tells the story from the point of view of a third person. The book never leaves Alexandra's side for a single moment and even in the ambient doing nothing stages. The writer uses the slower areas of the book to explore Alexandra's mind, thoughts and feelings and the transformation of her mental state as she progresses through one horror to the next. Scott has subtly changed the characters mental attitude throughout the book as she gains more abilities, sees more horrific events and generally tries to make Alexandra as humanly realistic as possible turning her from a frightened young woman to a tough Protagonist towards the end with even evil tendencies of her own. Some have said that this is an ingenious part of the literature while others say it merely mocks those who suffer with mental illness, but most see it as a touch of realism to an already unbelievable story. Sequels and Prequels Although Among the Fallen closes deliberately, closing all threads and strands of story up, a sequel if any will most likely be a complete new story with new central characters, locations and enemies. Prequels according to the official site are most definite and in the book they are most definitely hinted at deliberately in the same vain as Starwars originally hinted at the Clone Wars. According to the Official Site there will be Two Prequels. Among the Fallen: Outbreak - Post Production Telling the story of the Six days before the events of Among the Fallen. It will concentrate more on the Virus Outbreak and the Zombie theme rather than the crossover itself centralising on the two characters Alexandra sees every now and then. In a deliberate set up in writing Alexandra sees the same two uninfected people at various points in the book but despite her best efforts to communicate with them they always escape her fearful of her demonic appearance. The Characters as yet, are un-named. Among the Fallen: 1945 Among the Fallen uses various blind spots in World War Two history to hint that the Nazi's attempted the Crossover in 1945. The prequel if written will be about the Nazis plot to overthrow Europe using Demonic Occult Forces and the Protagonist will be a Jewish victim of the holocaust called Asher Aguilar who overthrows the Nazi plot after being chosen to be the Challenger and is said to have executed Hitler personally and making it appear as a suicide. Characters Alexandra Beaumont Main protagonist, who travels the city after clawing her way from the ground and seeks out the answers to her and Sarah’s untimely death three months previous. She arrives in the city of Blackwater to find the dead have returned and city in an apocalyptic state. Early on she suspects her father's involvement, but is sidetracked in five subplots along the way involving other survivors. The Five Subplots are Her and Sarah’s Murder, the Virus, Doctor Laventhorpe, Billie Wilde and Her Fathers Involvement. She wears a special suit given to her by the Darkness which is demon bio-armour which can flow like water and harden like stone protecting her whilst also forming blades and stabbing weapons. The suit itself is a living organism of sorts and Alexandra hears it's voice in her head at key moments, however, the voices are never heard by the reader and just described as whispers the she responds to. The suit is described as being like a second skin, smooth like Plastic with an Oily light translucent glow. It also has its own mouth which opens on her stomach and devours the heads of the Fallen stealing their Primary abilities. The suit bonds with Alexandra and stays loyal throughout and despite its swimsuit appearance, Alexandra wears normal clothes on top of it. The first five chapters she learns how to use the suit effectively and uses it to steal abilities from the other Judges. Grayston Beaumont Alexandra's notorious Father and instigator of the Supper of the Damned. Mayor of Blackwater and Industrialist owner of the Beaumont Corporation. When his wife Sherry Beaumont dies giving birth to Alexandra twenty-one years ago he harbours nothing but resentment towards her. Unable to get over his wife’s unfortunate death he researches the occult and develops a taste for sacrifice and secretly builds chambers under the Abbey to prepare for the arrival of the Fallen. Learning that he can in fact bring his wife back from the dead by appeasing the Underworld with the souls of the city, he develops the Legacy Virus. The Supper of the Damned indicates that Six Soulless Humans must be killed in Six very distinct ways, from the combined and mixed remains he creates a Flu Vaccine that spreads the disease throughout Blackwater. However, all is not as clear cut as he is promised by the Underworld. Doctor Laventhorpe A mysterious Doctor that walks the streets of Blackwater strangely unscathed and unharmed. He conducted Alexandra's autopsy personally, however it soon revealed his part in the crossover is quite substantial in the later version. The Darkness A mysterious rouge Demon from the world of the Fallen. He presents her with the suit and the rules of the game claiming he has no need or desire for the two worlds to be reunited. It later transpires that a lot of the information given to Alexandra is in fact false and the Darkness is a major player in the forces of evil. Billie Wilde A survivor who awoke in a field at the same time as Alexandra. Friendly and cheerful he and Alexandra form an unlikely emotional bond and meet up accidentally at certain points in the book and at key parts. In the original he was a moody character that actually defied Alexandra’s story, yet when rewritten he embraces Alexandra’s story as fact and the pair help each other along the way. Lucius Beaumont One of the more notorious settlers who came to the newly named Blackwater in the 17th Century was a Lucius Beaumont who had escaped England before he could face trial for practicing witchcraft and religious Homicide. Lucius according to historic documents built Blackwater Abbey on Nacoon Island, continuing his alleged devil worship. Rumours also claim he was buried somewhere on the Island, however privately funded excavations found nothing, yet even still to this day his body has never been found. Alexandra uncovers Lucius Beaumont Tomb underneath the Abbey from which she lived and the events of the Demon world cause her ancient ancestor to resurrect. Lucius informs her of the true nature of her enemy and reveals much of the Fallen Mythology to her and submits himself to her as her guardian, only to be called upon on in her darkest hour. Rhamnusia Rhamnusia is a successful Bio weapon created by the Beaumont Corporation as a back up plan if Alexandra were to refuse to participate in the game. It's main goal is to hunt her down and lead her towards her to the areas of significance, however its mind is unstable and sets out to destroy Alexandra and the undead in a battle that wages throughout the streets of Blackwater. The final confrontation takes place in a street overrun by zombies in a dramatic three way battle. In Greek mythology, Rhamnusia, also called Nemisis/Rhamnusia ("the goddess of Rhamnous") at her sanctuary at Rhamnous, north of Marathon, was the spirit of divine retribution against those who succumb to hubris (arrogance before the gods). The Greeks personified vengeful fate as a remorseless goddess; the goddess of revenge. The name Nemesis is related to the Greek word ??µe?? , meaning "to give what is due", as in the word "economy". The Romans equated the Greek Nemesis with Invidia. The Judges (Fallen) Sarpedon Judge One - Alexandra is attacked by this Demon who’s Blind thus reacting on sound. Revealed as an Eight foot high Butcher with a taste for living human flesh. The battle is considered by some to be one of the best in the book where others just say its in introduction to her skills and abilities. She fights him in a long drawn out battle that wages throughout a shopping centre in East District of Blackwater. The Demon represents her blindness to experience and acceptance of the truth. Minos Judge Two - Alexandra is led to an Apartment building where she first experiences the horror of what the virus actually did to the people. Minos is a religious Fanatic who turned to Satan during the Outbreak of Blackwater and rallied up the survivors before casting judgement on those who she felt were infected spiritually. Alexandra battles her in the Lobby where she is watched by the hanging residents of the Apartments. Minos is a Metaphor of the power of religion over the weak when all hope is lost. Rhadamanthus Judge Three - Alexandra fights her way through a lunatic Asylum that has been over run buy the insane and the corrupted. The Fallen comprises an orderly and a Doctor who claims to be the same Doctor from the Massacre a few years previous. The battle slips backwards and forwards as Alexandra is forced to question her own sanity which cleverly makes the reader question theirs too. The Doctor represents the vulnerability of the human mind when subjecting Alexandra to a whole host of macabre and sinister mental horrors. The fight is not so much physical as mental and is a fight to the death using will and strong minded power alone. Moirae Judge Four - A Special Forces Agent who is possessed by the Fallen and hunts Alexandra down. A sadistic and ruthless killer that plays cat and mouse with Alexandra as she passes through the Fairground revealing mind shattering altercations and revelations about just haw far the City slipped into the darkness. Being the only Fallen to use modern warfare and technology, Moirae represents the evils of mankind and the technology they create to bring suffering on the innocent. Poseidon Judge Five - The only Judge not to have the physical appearance of a human. A vast mutated shark that swims Lake Naccoon. When Alexandra discovers the Pharmaceutical Labs beneath the Lakes floor the Shark breaks in and Alexandra finds herself face to face with One Hundred feet of shark. The shark itself originally escaped from the Sea life centre on the Blackwater coast but was later possessed and placed in the Lake to prevent people crossing into Blackwater island. Poseidon represents the forces of nature and the pollution humans inflict upon creatures of the Earth. Hades Judge Six AKA the Wild Card. In certain circumstances the final Judge can be proceeded by the Demon Worlds Wild Card. When the battle with Poseidon is manipulated by unseen forces, Alexanda's defeat of Poseidon is considered unfair by the forces of Darkness and Hades is revealed. Depicted as a Fifty foot high Torso and head extruding from the ground and made from the millions of dead souls of Blackwater, it forms the final and biblical battle at the end. The Hades battle takes place on the freeway outside Blackwater as the Underworld begins to spread further throughout the lands. Alexandra and the Military fight it together in a battle that's spread out over Two whole Chapters, utilizing Alexandra's Darkness Abilities and the Military's modern technology warfare. The climactic battle has been rumoured to be deliberately made with a movie in mind and considered one of the biggest and most brutal endings in any horror novel to date. Some argue that in novel form its actually too tough to follow, while others claim its a masterpiece of story telling. The Undead One of the many Subplots throughout the book is the mystery behind the disease that kills and zombiefies the Three-million citizens of Blackwater which is soon to be revealed caused by a Viral Strain released by her father to sacrifice the millions needed to bring the Underworld into our own. The zombies however, appear to have been redesigned by the author shedding the pseudo-image of the typical "Zombie". Scott who clearly has borrowed the idea of the zombie infestation from titles such as Night of the Living Dead, Dawn of the Dead, Resident Evil and similar, has gone to great lengths to bring the zombie into a clearly definable work of its own with mixed reception. Some say the his redesign is to make the franchise stand above the rest or simply to make the zombies unique. Others argue that the Zombies are not there as storyline threat and are there just to add a creepy and macabre overtone to the book as they do not appear to have a major part or even role in the crossover. Twists The story was rumoured to be written backwards, thus allowing simultaneous threads of the story to weave and overlap with the smallest of details at the beginning that were almost forgot having profound meaning later in the book causing the books to labelled as extremely complicated to follow. Some die hard fans of the original deny this saying it adds genius to the web of subplots. There is Four major Twists mile stoning every Forth of the book. The Four Twists are in Chronological Order. Identity of Billie Wilde, Her father's involvement, Alexandra’s Murderer Revealed, The Rules of the Game. Some argue that the final two twists are the wrong way round, however this is something the writer supports vividly claiming the book is not about her murder its about the game. Her Murder is irrelevant. Many people have translated the book into many different meanings ranging from hidden messages, pokes at history and even at attempting to sicken and twist the verses in the New Testament itself. Locations All the Locations within the book each have their own history and a page or two delving into that history. The writer considered the actual locations just as important as the characters and the story itself. Reception The book was originally self-published, and each chapter was put online as it was written. In 2010 the writer retracted all the chapters and rewrote them and compiled them altogether for a mainstream release by Bloomsbury Publishing after the server crashed when thousands of people tried to simultaneously download the latest chapters at once. The online version reached Chapter 6. The novel version itself has twenty-five chapters and six subchapters, with the Biblical Showdown between Alexandra and the Underworld spanning two whole chapters. The book itself was withdrawn from Amazon and shelves in 2011 after the writer suddenly decided that it was not complete, adding seven new chapters and two new characters which is sub headed "Special Edition". In 2010 horror fans hailed the writer as the next Stephen King, as each chapter depicted scenes of psychological horror and gore so literally graphic that some refused to read the rest of the novel. <references />http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis+6%3A1-4&version=NIV <references />http://amongthefallen.com <references />http://unexplained-phenomena.co.uk/among-the-fallen-preview.html <references />http://lunkiesreviews.wordpress.com/2011/09/06/among-the-fallen-by-scott-beadle-review/ 
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