Untitled Story synopsis:

I've made some major changes to the synopsis here, because I've made some major changes to the story. I like this version much better and I was being led in this direction, I believe, all along.

There are two main characters (though there will be a number of minor characters too): Gabrielle is 20-years-old and living in Madison, Wisconsin, working a local New Age shop. She's feeling a bit directionless in life, but she has this great restlessness within her. She just doesn't know where it's trying to lead her. Ever since she was a child, however, Gabrielle has exhibited some unusual talents and abilities, which caused her parents some concern and her teachers a great deal of trouble. Confused by what everyone else insists are "unnatural" and "disturbing" abilities that she feels are quite natural, and pissed off at a mother who didn't really know how to raise a daughter on her own (after her father dies under shady circumstances while on photo-journalist duty in Africa when she was about 6), Gabrielle leaves home at age 17 to go live with a great-aunt whose home is a ranch in Virginia, who encourages her abilities and teaches her about witchcraft. Two years later, at 19, she leaves that home (on good terms) to persue her own life in Madison, a city she'd loved ever since visiting it as a child. It is here that we meet up with Gabrielle, as she is about to meet up with the other main character, Eloi.

Eloi is a 3000-year old immortal man with, as he would say, "no special powers really, just what skills I've managed to pick up over such an incredibly long period of time". He was born in ancient Assyria, in the city of Asshur, to a soldier and his wife. But his family had a history they were running from. His great-grandfather was one of the sons of a man called Elishama, who was one of those chosen to lead his tribe--one of the 12 tribes of Israel that was liberated from Egypt only to walk for 40 years in the dessert. Eloi's great grandfather, angered at what he considered was "going from one slavedriver to another", abandoned his people and went west into the land of what would become Assyria. They settled, and tried to forget their past. Eloi as a young man enlisted in the army, is sought out by a prophet from the nation of Israel who teaches him of the faith of One God and manages to convert Eloi. But Eloi's superiors discover that he is practicing this illegal faith and order to have his parents killed and a price put on his head in punishment. Angered by the deaths of his parents and afraid for his life, Eloi hides in a cave outside of town, where the prophet finds him and tries to console him. But in a rage, Eloi kills the prophet, drags his body into the city and offers it to his superiors, claiming brainwashing, etc. He goes back into the army, determined to kill any follower of the One God he encounters. But God, angered by Eloi's action (and considering his family's past), comes to Eloi in a dream and threatens to condemn him to walk the Earth forever or ask for forgiveness. But Eloi, still enraged and pull of pride, refuses to ask for forgiveness and so is condemned to live forever until he can bring himself to do so. But, in rebellion against God, Eloi uses his immortality to go out and cause as much strife as he can.

By the time the birth of Jesus rolls around, Eloi has taken up residence in the city of Athens in Greece, then under Roman rule. He eventually hears of this man, Jesus, and having read many accounts of the "messiah" phenomenon, Eloi sets off for Galilee to investigate this man whom he hopes is a messiah that he can manipulate to his own ends. Once there, Eloi befriends Jesus under the guise of being an angel of God. Eloi doesn't directly influence Jesus to do anything, but he does help set the events in motion that will eventually lead to his betrayal and crucifixion--which were not originally supposed to happen (and this is why the Jews didn't consider Jesus to be the messiah, because the original prophesies never came true). Eloi then goes off to influence the writers of the Gospels, again posing as an angel of God, so that things will be written in such a way as to confuse people and help them justify things like the Crusades and religious/social persecution. Eloi continues to have negative influence over the world for hundreds of years, meeting various other messianic figures like the Buddha, Muhammad, Ghandi, and Martin Luther King Jr. up until nearly present time. A particular run-in with a messiah woman in the early 80s causes him to do an about-face and suddenly, he wants to find someone who can help make him mortal again (he wants to die). The story opens when he's about to find Gabrielle--who is considered to be a somewhat powerful "witch" at this time.

They'll meet and Eloi will convince Gabrielle of his strange story, but he'll have a harder time trying to convince her to help him. Gabrielle is conflicted--she doesn't even know if she could pull off making him mortal again, let alone does she know if it's the right thing to do. They'll go through problems with that, and all the while Eloi will be leading Gabrielle towards revealing a great secret. Craziness ensues. :)

This is the basic idea for the story. There is much much more to it all, and I may post more synopsis ideas in the future. At the moment, I'm in research mode for it all, and have not officially started writing the story itself. When that happens, it will be posted here in completed installments (chapters). Please feel free to email me with suggestions! batgirl@agog.net

For a completed, self-contained short story based on the basic idea of the novel, click here: Tempting Faith