About my Djinn Symbol
My Indentifying Marker.
As many of my readers noticed, I had donned the strange symbol here in place of where authors typically utilize a portrait of themselves. When I first started this journey of being a published author, I figured it would be interesting to see if I could build a following without people knowing what I looked like. The idea was to allow my written words to speak for themselves.
Symbology.
The concept behind it was something derived from symbology. But just like my writing, I worked ass-backwards. Originally, I was going to use the infinite symbol, but then I stumbled on something called the unicursal hexagram.
Without lifting the pen, the design can be drawn in one continuous movement. As with most symbols, there were a number of different theories behind its meaning, and quite honestly, it was wide open for interpretation. The explanation I liked best was that the continuous movement represented endless life. Some would say that this would mean eternal life. Others would suggest that means reincarnation. Energy cannot be created or destroyed, only changes forms. It is said by many that consciousness is a form of energy.
I found it entertaining that the TV show Supernatural had utilized this symbol as part of their own story line mythology. It wasn't surprising considering they are heavy-handed with using symbology, which clearly comes with the territory. I also discovered that a real organization had utilized this symbol. Under the leadership of Aleister Crowley, The Ordo Templi Orientis (Order of Oriental Templar) was created as a religion originally modeled after the European Freemasons. They have their own meaning behind the symbol, which he added in a five petaled flower in the middle of the design. Clearly, the Supernatural creators must have known about this fact. I mean hell, they named their King of Hell, Crowley.
Djinn Symbol.
Taking inspiration from this concept of endless life, I wanted to design a symbol that represented the Djinn life. Without getting into spoilers riddled within the later parts of The Gods of Chaos series, I simply wanted to present an new way of viewing the symbol. If the unicursal hexagram represents endless life, then my Djinn symbol, with the line through the center, would represent a break in that endless life. I am being cryptic here for a reason, but a major concept called The Cycle underlies my entire Djinn Universe. I don't start explaining this concept until Purgatory (The Gods of Chaos, Part 3). But needless to say, I figured the symbol accurately depicted the Djinn concept used within all of my stories.
My Author Status.
There you have it. I have been using the symbol almost as my identity for my entire author career (2013-17). My Djinn Universe is part of me, and I figure the symbol could sort of be like my brand. I hope to make this journey last as long as possible. So why did I use this symbol as my identifying marker? Well, my main character in The Gods of Chaos, Jackie Boy, is modeled after me in my early twenties. My pseudonym is derived from combining two characters in the series, Jack and Thanatos. Simple enough, huh?
I won't be spoiling the reasoning behind why I picked Thanatos from the massive list of potential side characters. That won't be revealed until the end of Tartarus (The Gods of Chaos, Part 4), and that won't be out for some time. At least until I can figure out how to properly market my novels and gain traction. After all, drawing readers in is really the most challenging part of this career. It was what inspired this tweet: Hot Dog Stand Tweet
And yes, I do own a hot dog stand. It is doing quite well, especially since we've been able to increase our demand each year despite keeping it an all cash business. Yes, that pisses people off, but they keep coming. Check out Dreaming (The Gods of Chaos, part 1) if you'd like to discover exactly which restaurant I am referring to. It's the one that the character Chloe works at. I shamelessly plugged it, and am very proud to do so.
Honestly, before I published Dreaming, I thought selling books would be easy. But Reality has a way of setting things straight. This is a crazy challenge. I'm glad I haven't given up, and I look forward to the day when my book sales outnumber my hot dog sales. It could be next year, next decade or next lifetime. Fortunately for me, reincarnation has my back. Here's to the Djinn symbol and the life it is creating for me, cheers!
