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An Interview with Alejandro Sanchez

Dayo Benson

Hi guys,

Thanks for tuning in. Legacy, the final installment of the Crystal series, will be out a week today :-). In Legacy things pick up a year after the events of Powerful Enemies and that huge climax where Crystal and the team scored a major victory (trying not to give away any spoilers here just in case some of you haven’t read Powerful Enemies). I recently caught up with some of the team members to see what they’ve been up to this past year.

I’m not sure why, but it seems the team still all live together in their safe house. I walk up the drive and ring the bell. The door swings open and a tall guy with brown-blond hair peers out at me. He’s in his boxers.

Guess who?

Alejandro of course. Who else?

Dayo Benson: Hello, Mr Sanchez. I’m here to see Crystal. I’ve booked to interview her at 6 PM.

Alejandro grins: Buenas tardes, señora. Didn’t you get my message?

Dayo Benson: What message?

Alejandro: She won’t be able to do the interview.

Dayo Benson: What do you mean she won’t be able to do the interview?

Alejandro: She’s not in a great place at the moment because Juda’s trial starts next Monday. She asked me to clear her schedule for the next two months. I left you a message explaining this.

Dayo Benson: When did you leave me a message?

Alejandro: This morning.

Dayo Benson: Well that’s just not good enough. I have flown all the way from the UK for this interview. Is there no way she can do it?

Alejandro: She really can’t. If I was just her manager I would try to force her. But I’m her friend as well. I care about her well-being. I think it’s best she doesn’t talk to the press at the moment. Thank you for your cooperation.

Dayo Benson: Uh, I’m not cooperating, Mr. Sanchez. I need to interview her ahead of Legacy. Fans of your team want to know what you’ve been up to over the past year.

Alejandro folds his chunky arms across the broad expanse of his chest. Well, you can interview anybody on the team apart from Crystal.

I’m so not impressed by this, but it’s obvious I’m not getting past Alejandro.

Dayo Benson: Who else is available?

Alejandro: Everybody. Including me.

Dayo Benson: Well, who else, apart from Crystal, would make an interesting interviewee?

Alejandro: Hmm. There’s Carsten, who’s just been modelling for the past year. To be honest he’s not a very interesting person. Zeke has been supporting Crystal on her world tour, performing during her breaks. That’s it really, he’s done nothing else of interest. Then there’s Max who’s done nothing all year but be miserable and geeky as usual. I suppose you could interview him if you want to return to the UK bored and depressed.

Dayo Benson: Not really. I guess that just leaves you?

Alejandro: Guess so. (He grins). Come on in.

A perfect gentleman, he steps aside for me to enter the house first. The safe house has a nice open plan. The hallway is wide. The stairs are to my right. Up ahead is the kitchen. The sound of a TV blaring comes from the open door to the den on my left.

Alejandro: We’ll talk in the backyard.

Dayo Benson: Okay.

Alejandro leads the way. I peep into the den as we pass it. Zeke and Carsten are inside, sprawled on the floor watching TV. They’re both in their boxers. Obviously, nobody who lives here bothers to wear clothes unless they’re going out. We pass a closed door.

Dayo Benson: Is that Max’s lab?

Alejandro: Yup. He’s in there working on something he told me all about yesterday, but it was so boring I remember nothing of the conversation.

(We enter the kitchen which smells heavenly).

Dayo Benson: Are you baking?

Alejandro: Yeah. Cookies. They’re ready. Do you want some?

Dayo Benson: Yes, please.

Alejandro: Okay, you go on out to the back, while I get us cookies and drinks.

He nods at the door in the kitchen that leads to the backyard. I open it and step out. The weather is warm today. Much nicer than the grey skies I left in the UK last night (:-)). I head over to the patio furniture, and lower myself onto a low seat.

A moment later Alejandro emerges from the kitchen holding a plate of freshly baked cookies and two tall glasses of lemonade. He sets them on the table.

Alejandro: You’re lucky Juda isn’t around, otherwise I’d be giving you something super weird to snack on, like fruit peel.

Dayo Benson: Oh, I’d much rather have cookies and lemonade.

I help myself to a cookie as I take out my interview questions. They were designed for Crystal, but I can tweak some of them as I go.

Alejandro settles down in the seat opposite me, and kicks his feet up onto the low table between us. He observes me through narrowed eyes: So you’re from the UK, huh?

Dayo Benson: Yes.

Alejandro: How long have you been a journalist?

Dayo Benson: I’m not a journalist.

Alejandro: Oh. What are you?

Dayo Benson: Excuse me, I’m the one doing the interviewing.

Alejandro grins: Muy bien.

Dayo Benson: What does that mean?

Alejandro: It means ‘okay,’ ‘okey dokey,’ ‘very well.’

Dayo Benson: Right. Are you going to put on some clothes?

Alejandro: Wasn’t planning to. Why?

Dayo Benson: Never mind. So, what have you been doing over the past year?

Alejandro: I accompanied Crystal on her world tour. As you know, I’m her manager now, and I’m also her stylist. I’ve worked a lot on her public image. She didn’t want the sexy persona anymore, so I’ve managed to facilitate her style evolution into a more modest, but still attractive and chic, kind of thing.

Dayo Benson: So, you’re managing her career, and still doing your design work? You must be super busy.

Alejandro: I am. I actually have quite a number of projects on the go at the moment. Wanna see?

Dayo Benson: Sure.

Alejandro jumps to his feet: Follow me.

I grab a cookie and then follow him back into the house. I nibble a piece of the cookie. It’s warm and practically melts in my mouth.

Dayo Benson: This is so good. How come you’re so good in the kitchen? Did you ever take classes?

Alejandro tosses me a glance over his shoulder: I’m self-taught.

Dayo Benson: You’re really good.

Alejandro grins: I like you. You can stick around. Some people around here don’t appreciate my cooking enough.

At the stairs he once again allows me to go first. At the top he leads the way into a room. There is fabric everywhere. A sewing machine sits on the table. There are tubs of buttons, zippers, sequins, feathers, and a dozen other things. Over the next 15 minutes, Alejandro shows me his latest works, and his sketchbook of dress designs.

I’m fascinated by the sheer number of dresses he’s making at once. A deep blue dress with lace sleeves catches my eye. I can’t help staring. It’s so beautiful, and it’s obvious that Alejandro puts a lot of passion and love into his creations. Each one is like a work of art.

Alejandro: You like that Carolina dress?

Dayo Benson: It’s beautiful.

Alejandro looks genuinely delighted at my fascination with the dress: Gracias, mi señora.

Dayo Benson: You give each of your dresses a name?

Alejandro: Huh?

Dayo Benson: You just called it ‘Carolina.’

Alejandro: Yeah that’s the color. Carolina blue.

Dayo Benson: Oh.

Alejandro: Try it on.

Dayo Benson: No way. I don’t want to mess with Crystal’s clothes.

Alejandro: That one’s for my boutique. Crystal’s never worn it. It’s too demure for the stage, but a little OTT to wear off-stage.

I shake my head, although it’s nice of him to offer. I look at my list of questions. I was going to ask Crystal about Juda, so I tailor the question for Alejandro.

Dayo Benson: How’s Anabelle?

Alejandro: She’s fine.

Dayo Benson: Has there been any progress in your relationship over the past year? Are you engaged yet?

Alejandro: No.

Dayo Benson: No? Why?

Alejandro shrugs: We’re just not.

I notice that his eyes have dulled slightly, and his lips have tightened a little. I’ve obviously hit a nerve.

Dayo Benson: Have you broken up?

Alejandro: No, we’re still together.

Dayo Benson: Then what’s the matter?

Alejandro: Can we not talk about Anabelle?

Dayo Benson: Why?

Alejandro smiles: Next question.

Dayo Benson: Okay, next question. Are you thinking of settling down any time soon?

Alejandro: You don’t give up, do you?

He nudges me with his shoulder. Only, he’s so much bigger than I am that it feels like a push rather than a nudge, and I practically go flying into the wall.

Alejandro immediately looks mortified: Lo siento mucho! Are you okay?

Dayo Benson: No.

Alejandro looks like he’s trying to keep a straight face: I do that to Crystal all the time and she doesn’t go flying.

Dayo Benson: Well, I’m a writer, not a tough woman who goes around fighting practitioners.

Alejandro: Sounds like you need to join us for some morning workouts.

Dayo Benson: I think I’ll pass on that. So, speaking of practitioners, do you miss being a practitioner?

Alejandro: Never.

Dayo Benson: Really? There’s nothing about it that you miss?

Alejandro: Nothing at all. It was a horrible life. The power it gave me was a poor compensation for the living hell that being a practitioner was.

Dayo Benson: To be honest, when I read Delirium and you got saved, I didn’t think it would last. I thought you wouldn’t be able to do it, especially since you were so used to sleeping around. How have you been able to handle the change in your lifestyle that becoming a Christian required?

Alejandro: First of all, I didn’t think it would last either. But it’s been over a year now. I just take it a day at a time. I believe in God’s grace. If He can help me to live right for one hour, He can help me for two hours, for five hours, for a whole day. If He can help me to live right for one whole day, that means He can help me for two days. For two weeks. For two months. I take it day by day. It’s all by His grace.

Dayo Benson: What would you say to any guys, or girls, out there who have a past similar to yours and are struggling with purity and all that?

Alejandro: I have three tips. Stay busy, stay accountable, and stay connected to God.

Dayo Benson: Care to elaborate on those three tips?

Alejandro: Okay, the first one. Stay busy. The busier I am, the less time I have to get into trouble, or watch things that I shouldn’t. These days I’m so busy that at the end of the day I just want to sleep. I can’t stay up until 2 AM watching filth online, because I’m just too exhausted. Exhaustion is good.

(I can’t help laughing at that).

Alejandro grins: It’s true.

Dayo Benson: The second tip?

Alejandro: Stay accountable. You need good Godly friends who won’t be afraid to challenge you if they see areas of compromise in your life. I learned a lot from what happened to Kyran last year when he went back to Trixie. It was because he wasn’t as close to the rest of us as he should have been and he wasn’t being honest with us. As much as Max annoys me, he’s actually pretty good at keeping me accountable about women, and what I watch, and which websites I visit. We talk openly about our struggles and we also receive mentoring from Jace and Dan, which helps a lot. Every time we meet with Jace and Dan I leave inspired to want to be a Godly man.

Dayo Benson: I love that.

Alejandro: My last tip, stay connected to God, is self-explanatory. We no longer do our morning workout, but we still do our morning prayers; every day without fail. That is so important. I like to commit my day to God and ask Him for the strength to just live right and to overcome any temptation that might come my way.

Dayo Benson: Awesome.

Alejandro: It really helps.

Dayo Benson: That’s great. So, can we talk about your relationship with the other team members?

Alejandro: Sure.

Dayo Benson: Let’s start with Zeke. In Powerful Enemies, Saleisha said you’re a ladies man, Juda is a man’s man, and Zeke is both a ladies’ man and a man’s man. She said that’s why you don’t get on with Zeke. I’d like to know what you think of that statement.

Alejandro: First of all, I’m man’s man. I do love the señoritas, but…I’ve changed. Not that I don’t see ‘em anymore, or don’t notice how hot they are…but I’m learning self-control, and personal discipline—all that fun stuff. And I have Anabelle.

Dayo Benson: So, why don’t you get on with Zeke?

Alejandro: I do. But he can be so annoying.

Dayo Benson: What about Carsten?

Alejandro: He needs to stop speaking German. He can hardly even speak it anyway, he’s just trying to make a statement about being European, when in actual fact he might not be, since he doesn’t know who his real parents are.

Dayo Benson: Right. Should I ask about Max?

Alejandro: He’s just old and miserable. And he likes to sound intelligent by using big words.

Dayo Benson: So, you don’t think Max is intelligent?

Alejandro: He is, but he likes to rub it in everyone’s face that he is.

Dayo Benson: So, you would get along better with him if he was more humble?

Alejandro: Sure. I mean, I’m very attractive—always have been—but I don’t go on about it all the time.

Dayo Benson: Right.

Alejandro: Right.

Dayo Benson: How about Juda?

Alejandro: Juda needs to smile more. Sometimes, I’m not completely convinced that he’s a Christian. The Bible talks about the joy of the Lord and the joy of salvation. Juda doesn’t seem to be very joyful even after becoming saved.

Dayo Benson: So you think he’s faking it?

Alejandro: No. I just wonder what’s wrong with him.

Dayo Benson: You’re aware of his difficult childhood?

Alejandro: Yes. But he needs to lighten up.

Dayo Benson: How about Crystal? What do you think of her?

Alejandro: Ah, the boss. She’s amazing.

Dayo Benson: You have no bad words to say about her?

Alejandro: No bad words.

Dayo Benson: So the only person on the team about whom you have not a single bad word to say, is the one woman on the team?

Alejandro: Not because she’s a woman. I’ve never looked at Crystal in that way. But she’s cool. I do wish she would have married AJ, instead of Juda, since he seems like a much better option. AJ and my sister, Estelita, seem to be getting on really well these days, so I ain’t going to say too much about that.

Dayo Benson: If you don’t get along with each other very well, why do you all still live here together?

Alejandro: We do get along. It’s just…some people can be so annoying. We’re all still here because we’ve been busy traveling the world with Crystal. None of us have had the time to find someplace else and move out.

Dayo Benson: How’s your mum? Is she proud of you for that medal you got at the end of Powerful Enemies?

Alejandro: Mum? I love how you say that.

Dayo Benson: Sorry. ‘Mom.’

Alejandro: My mom is so proud.

Dayo Benson: How about your cousin…I forget his name.

Alejandro: I have many cousins.

Dayo Benson: The one who stole your first girlfriend, and caused you to become a womanizer.

Alejandro: Oh, Carlos? I haven’t seen him for a few years. He needs Jesus.

Dayo Benson: Are you going to tell him about Jesus?

Alejandro: Dunno.

Dayo Benson: Do you still have hard feelings towards him?

Alejandro: No. I’m over it now.

Dayo Benson: What about Tiana, your first love?

Alejandro grins: She contacted me last year after I received the medal. I told her I’m in a relationship with someone else now.

Dayo Benson: She wanted you to get back together?

Alejandro: Of course she did. But I’ve moved on. She, and Carlos, didn’t count on me becoming the success that I have become. Success is the best revenge.

Dayo Benson: So you’re driven by revenge?

Alejandro: No, I’m successful because I’m talented and I work hard. But the revenge is sweet too.

Dayo Benson: So, are you really not going to tell me anything about you and Anabelle?

Alejandro: I’m really not going to tell you anything about me and Anabelle.

Dayo Benson: Okay, last question. Fruit peel or enzyme yogurt.

Alejandro: Neither.

Dayo Benson: You have to choose one. Imagine there’s nothing else left on earth to eat. Which one would it be?

Alejandro: I’d rather die than ever eat any of Juda’s disgusting rations again.

Dayo Benson: Thank you for your time Alejandro.

Alejandro: My pleasure.

***

Hope you enjoyed the interview guys. Who should I interview next? And what questions should I ask them? Leave a comment or email me: dayo@dayobenson.com.

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The Craft of the Crystal Series (2/4)

Dayo Benson

Hello all,

So here’s part two of my series about the craft. Today I’m talking about the SOT Tenets, the SOT’s use of force in recruiting certain members, and DNA/Genes. Fun stuff, eh!

SOT/DSV religion Tenets

Here’s the full version of the Tenets:

There is no such thing as good or evil, no such thing as absolute right or wrong. There is only energy and agenda. Forces of will and reason. Everything is relative.

The conscious mind, the subconscious mind and the superconscious mind work together to create each individual’s own reality.

Evolution did not happen, neither did creation. Life cannot be tied down to a sole event, but is the result of a summation of processes that we may never comprehend.

Love is a figment of the imagination, as is hatred. We desire sex, and we desire revenge. These things should not be labeled as something noble: love; or something wrong: hatred.

Equity, liberty and fraternity are the building blocks of civilization. Psychological cleansing is the pathway to enlightenment. The superconscious mind puts us in touch with divine infinite divine infinite intelligence by which mankind, too, may aspire to divinity.

Basically, it’s a bunch of mumbo jumbo that I made up. It’s the SOT’s statement of faith if you like. I did some reading about occult beliefs, and all the things I read made no sense to me. It just sounded deep, while simultaneously sounding like nonsense. It’s all just mystical and ‘spiritual’ and ‘we are all divine’, ‘we believe in the wind and the rain’, ‘we are God’. Just reading that stuff freaked me out. Seriously, ha ha. I think the devil likes to deceive people into thinking they’re deep and wise when really they don’t have a clue what they’re on about (British slang there). That’s one hallmark of the devil: confusion. He likes to confuse people. And he likes to sound all philosophical, when really there’s nothing to him. He’s just a deceiver.

Use of Force

Ah, this was another sore point for some readers; the SOT’s use of force to recruit Crystal. I usually get two main questions:

  1. If that’s how secret societies and cults work what’s stopping them from just grabbing anyone off the streets and making them join?
  2. Even if they can do that, Christians are off-limits right? They can’t force a Christian to join can they?

In answer to the first question, I don’t believe cults can just target anybody they want. I believe there’s usually a method to their madness. There is definitely a method to the SOT’s madness. They target Crystal because she was promised to them by a blood covenant her grandfather made, offering four generations to the cult. So, it wasn’t just a random thing. I hope that answers question 1. (This is all explained in Searchlight, by the way).

In answer to the second question, the devil can try to get what he thinks belongs to him, but if you’re saved you can rebuke him and he will flee. In Searchlight and some of Surrender, Crystal is religious, but not a Christian (like many churchgoing young people). She has moments of crying out to God, but He’s not really her God. He’s her parents’ God. She knows there’s power in the Name of Jesus, but her turning point doesn’t come until her parents kidnap her from the Victoria’s secret show In Surrender and she is prayed for. Things are still bad, and the SOT still try to manipulate her, but now that she has woken up to her authority in Christ they are powerless. This is illustrated by the fact that she is now able to leave the SOT.

Taking this further, let’s forget about cults for a moment and think of the horrific persecution that Christians have faced both in the past and present day (yes, there are parts of the world in which Christians suffer gross persecution today, because of their faith). The SOT and other occult people in the Crystal series are constantly trying to get Crystal to renounce her faith. Doesn’t the devil harass Christians, or does he only harass non-Christians? Do bad things happen only to bad people or do bad things happen to good people too? I personally do not believe that being a Christian means the devil won’t try to get at you, or that you won’t go through hard times. Or that you won’t face persecution. Therefore, Christians were not off-limits in the Crystal series. The SOT targeted whoever they felt belonged to them, Christian or not.

Another way in which the SOT used force was in ensuring that people within the organization don’t leave. In Searchlight, the only people who had ever managed to leave the SOT were Pastor John (from the Beauty for Ashes series), Jace, Dan and Simone Rivers. They only managed to get out with God’s help. No one else had ever been able to leave. In fact, Luke, the leader of the SOT, made sure every member committed some kind of crime (often murder) so that they would be afraid to leave for fear of being exposed. Isn’t that the way the devil works? He makes us feel like we’re too bad to change, he wants us to believe we can’t leave him. He throws our mistakes in our face all the time.

DNA/Genes

This one is deep. I read some stuff about reptilian DNA and the elite and those who are ‘truly in charge of this world’. Who knows whether this stuff is all just conspiracy, or if it’s true. Whether or not it’s true, some people truly believe in it, and it was handy for emphasizing the hierarchy of the occult in the Crystal series. Some practitioners, no matter how good at the craft they are, are limited in how far they can go because they don’t have the right genes. I thought it was a nice touch since it got me thinking of Hitler and how obsessed he was with genes. Hitler’s Lebensborn program encouraged people with certain traits to mate so that they could produce more people with those traits. I also wanted to a true sense of some people being elite and others not measuring up, as a contrast to Christianity. In Christianity we are all the elite, and we are all ‘nothing’ at the same time. We’re all a royal priesthood, kings and priests, and we’re all also servants. I love that. I don’t know if this elite system based on genes is truly a trait of the occult, but they do seem to be very concerned with bloodlines.

Hope all this isn’t too freaky for you. Do you now understand why I stopped doing research? I really don’t want to know. Most of the cult stuff in the Crystal series is my imagination, although I did try to base it on certain basic principles.

Have a good Sunday xx

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The Craft of the Crystal Series (1/4)

Dayo Benson

What-Would-You-Do-With-A-magic-wand.jpgHi Everyone,

This post is Part 1 of a four-part series I’m writing about the craft of the Crystal series.

I get a lot of emails from readers asking me how I know so much about the occult and the ‘craft’. And asking whether I know from personal experience or from extensive research.

I’d like to just say I know very little about the occult, and I’d like to keep things that way 🙂 I did begin to do some research as I wrote Searchlight (Crystal 1), but I got to a point where I didn’t want to know. I was sickened, disgusted, and quite frankly disturbed. So, I made the decision to use my imagination. I’m a Christian. I don’t know enough about God and the Bible. The last thing I want is knowledge about the devil and the occult. Apart from the basic knowledge required to know your enemy so that he doesn’t get the better of you, and so that you can keep him under your feet, I’m not at all interested in deeper knowledge. So, I used the principles of what I know about the occult and what the Bible teaches about our enemy, to create the craft and the laws of the occult in the Crystal series. I also mixed in some things I’ve heard about the occult from other people and I took a lot of creative liberties. After all it’s fiction. The aim was just to show that greater is He within us than He that is in the world (1 John 4:4), not provide a manual on how to get into the occult.

Over this series of blog posts I’ll cover the following points:

  • Terminology
  • Promiscuity
  • Vanity
  • Force
  • SOT Tenets
  • DNA/Genes
  • Centrality of death
  • Energy release
  • Sacrifices
  • Incense
  • SOT Hierarchy vs. other craft within the world of the Crystal series
  • Craft of different nations
  • Robe color
  • Ascension

And I’ll try to explain my reasoning behind them all. Hopefully, these posts will answer all your questions, and whenever someone emails me in future to ask me how I know so much about the occult I can just send them links to these posts 🙂

Terminology

i.e. Craft instead of magic, Practitioners instead of witches and wizards, Kingdom of Enlightenment instead of Kingdom of Darkness, etc.

The occult people in the Crystal series are wealthy. Many of them are celebrities. They consider themselves elite people. Their interpretation of the occult is different to the ‘average’ occultist. They consider themselves more refined. They reject the common stereotypes that most people have about people within the occult. None of them are knobbly cackling old women stirring smoking cauldrons. That’s the media’s depiction of the occult. The craft of the Crystal series is much different. It’s a rich man’s craft. On the outside, the practitioners look so glamorous and their lives look like so much fun. Only when you get in and look closer do you realise that the price they pay for their fame, wealth and success is extremely high. So, I wanted to use different terms to drive home the fact that they reject the common stereotypes about the occult. However, whether you call yourself a witch or a practitioner, whether you call what you do ‘craft’ or ‘magic’, it’s still evil. Rich or poor. ‘Elite’ or ‘normal.’

Promiscuity

Most of the negative feedback I get about the Crystal series is because of all the ‘sexual innuendo’ and promiscuity. However, there is nothing in the Crystal series that the average young adult doesn’t see or hear in their day to day life, or on TV. I wanted to emphasize the evilness of some of the characters, as there’s no point having evil people in the books if they don’t do anything evil, or anything that readers would consider to be wrong. I preferred to highlight their sexual depravity over showing them killing and doing dark rituals all the time. I didn’t want to show Alejandro, Shola, and certain other characters doing rituals, or killing.  For me, emphasizing their promiscuity was a way of showing how depraved they are without the books getting too gory. I wanted to keep the actual ‘on-screen’ gore and killing to a minimum. There are some pretty dark scenes, especially in the earlier books, but I wanted to limit the number of dark scenes.

Also, sexual sin is a form of self-worship and is an abuse of a good gift that God has given us. Excessive sexual sin and perversion can be evidence of demonic influence. That’s why when Alejandro and Shola Cardoso get saved, they change completely in this area. That demonic influence has left their lives. Yay for Jesus 🙂

Vanity

Many of the practitioners in the Crystal series are obsessed with beauty and their physical appearance. Yelissa Neir goes so far as to transmutate (is that the right word?), changing her skin color, hair color, height, body shape, etc. almost daily. The only common thing with each of her disguises is that they’re all beautiful. And I think her beauty adds to her evilness.

Beauty is a requirement for entry into the SOT. Everybody in the SOT, especially those with celebrity careers, is attractive. The Bible talks about the devil being perfect in beauty, and pride is one of his hallmarks. The practitioners in the Crystal series value beauty too, and are prideful and vain. Luke goes so far as to manipulate the genes of his children in order to make sure they’re physically perfect, and are athletic.

So, what do you think? Is there anything in the craft of the Crystal series that you didn’t agree with?

Stay tuned for more 🙂

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Legacy – Publication Date/Cover Reveal

Dayo Benson

legacy.jpgI’m excited to announce that Legacy (Crystal 9) will be out on Monday 27 June. Really…I’m excited. That’s just over a week away! Legacy is the last book in the Crystal series, and I’m really proud of it. I can’t wait for you to read it. Oh, and I love the cover, which my husband designed. He’s a gem.

Here’s the Back Cover blurb for Legacy:

A powerful wizard is destroying America, one city at a time, and it’s up to Crystal and her friends to stop her.
It’s been a year since Luke and the SOT fell, but the battle is far from over. There are deadlier, more ruthless, practitioners out there. Practitioners who want to see the Enlightenment Agenda implemented.

Crystal has faced many challenges, but now she faces the greatest personal test yet. How far will she go to protect the people she loves?
How far she will go to survive?

Judgment Day has arrived.
Juda has spent the past year in jail, awaiting trial for crimes Luke made him commit. Crystal and her family may have shown him mercy, but it is certain that a court of law will give him only justice. With a new practitioner on the loose, Juda is released to fight one more mission with the team. But the success of the mission will mean the end of his freedom.

How will he cope when justice is served?

Legacy is the intensely gripping conclusion to the Crystal series.

***

Over the next week, I’m going to be publishing lots of blog posts (maybe even 1 a day), just giving you my random thoughts about the Crystal series and explaining certain things about the ‘craft’, what research I did, etc. Legacy takes place a year after Powerful Enemies, so I’ll also do posts about what some of the characters have been up to in that time.

Jailbreak (Crystal 8.5) sets Legacy up nicely, so if you haven’t read Jailbreak yet now is the time to do so. Get Jailbreak now at: Amazon US, Amazon UK, iTunes, Kobo, Smashwords, or Barnes and Noble.

And…make sure you’re on my mailing list so that you’ll get an email as soon as Legacy goes live. Sign up Here!!!

So excited 🙂 🙂 🙂

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Out Now: Jailbreak (Crystal 8.5)

Dayo Benson

jail break2Hi again,

Jailbreak (Crystal 8.5) is live! Get your copy for £0.99/$0.99 at:

Amazon US, Amazon UK, iTunes, Kobo, Smashwords

Crystal and Juda have an adventure in Jailbreak that sets Legacy (Crystal 9) up nicely and gives a hint of what Legacy is going to be about. Here’s the synopsis:

Crystal never imagined that marrying Juda would make her a target for practitioners who want him to return to the occult, or that she would be given an ultimatum to leave him or die. Kidnapped from an airport, she must come up with a plan to escape.

Jailed for crimes his father forced him to commit, Juda Lincoln is not in a good place. The last thing he needs, the weekend before his trial begins, is practitioners attempting to break him out of jail. Will anybody believe he had nothing to do with it? And will Crystal stand by him now that the whole world knows who he is and hates him?

Hope you enjoy it 🙂

Have a good weekend.

Dayo xx

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Update/Crystal 8.5 Book

Dayo Benson

jail break2Hi Guys,

I’m really sorry I’ve been so silent since releasing Powerful Enemies. I have a good excuse though: I’ve been working hard on making Legacy (Crystal 9) as good as I can 🙂

When I released Powerful Enemies, I suddenly felt this pressure to make Legacy, the final book of the Crystal series, even more awesome than Powerful Enemies. I started getting feedback about Powerful Enemies the day I released it (some of you guys read so fast!), and the feedback was so good that I did a typical writer thing: I got worried that none of my subsequent books will ever measure up. Ha! We writers are so weird. I absolutely loved the feedback, in fact I was moved by a lot of the emails I received, and I am really happy at the positive reception the book received. In fact, I ended up on my knees thanking God about it all. But, I started thinking that Legacy wasn’t good enough. So I tore it apart and rewrote the whole thing. It was only about 40,000 words, but now it’s about 97,000 words. It’s more than doubled in length.

To be honest the book was seriously lacking. And the crazy thing is, what I added was so obvious, but I didn’t think of it until I started praying about how to take the book to the next level. I hate it when fiction writers say God speaks to them and they write what He says word for word. That might happen to some people, but I’d feel really presumptuous to say that. So, I ain’t saying that at all. But I am saying I get totally awesome ideas when I pray. I love that that happens to me 🙂

(Random info: my 2-year-old daughter, Esther, is singing ‘mummy finger, mummy finger where are you?’ at the top of her voice right now. I think she deliberately picks moments when I’m trying to concentrate on something, lol. My own fault for trying to write a blog post at 8pm. She’s so adorable).

Anyway, I’m so excited for you guys to read Legacy. I’ve had it back from my beta readers so it’s going to my editor next week. I still can’t give a date for when it’ll be out because it just depends on how long my editor takes. Sometimes she has a lot going on and it takes her a little longer than usual.

So, how about I give you a little adventure to read while you wait for Legacy?

I’ve had a few readers email me about whether there’ll be an 8.5 book and I said no. But I’ve changed my mind now. I cut out a whole chunk of stuff from the beginning of Legacy because I thought it made the opening too long. So, guess what? I jazzed up the bits I cut out and I’m going to release it as an 8.5 book. In fact, I’ve already published it but it’s not live anywhere yet (apart from Smashwords.com who are super-efficient). I’ll email my mailing list once it goes live (that will probably be tomorrow morning – UK time).

Crystal 8.5 is called Jailbreak. Here’s the synopsis:

Crystal never imagined that marrying Juda would make her a target for practitioners who want him to return to the occult, or that she would be given an ultimatum to leave him or die. Kidnapped from an airport, she must come up with a plan to escape.

Jailed for crimes his father forced him to commit, Juda Lincoln is not in a good place. The last thing he needs, the weekend before his trial begins, is practitioners attempting to break him out of jail. Will anybody believe he had nothing to do with it? And will Crystal stand by him now that the whole world knows who he is and hates him?

I’ve had such a blast writing about the Crystal series, but at the moment I’m cleansing my palate with some sweet romance. I’ve been editing Pressure–remember Pressure? The Pure Passion Series book that I never released? Anyway, I’m actually enjoying it. No practitioners, no supernatural stuff, just a guy and a girl falling in love and learning to trust God with their baggage. Not that I don’t love Crystal & Juda, and Alejandro & Max etc. But it’s nice to work on something less ‘serious’ and ‘intense’. More about Pressure another time 🙂

Click Here to sign up for my mailing list so that you’ll get an email once Jailbreak, Legacy, and any book I release, goes live.

God bless.

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Out Now: Powerful Enemies (Crystal 8)

Dayo Benson

Powerful EnemiesIt’s finally out folks. I’m so excited. Having read the book one last time myself last week, I realized there’s a lot of fire in it, ha ha. Just thought you’d like that random fact. So expect fire, angels, a kidnap and even Jesus (yay!) Plus, you finally get an answer to the will they/won’t they relationship between Crystal and Juda.

From the back cover:

Love shouldn’t be so hard…

Juda’s secret has the potential to change everything. Crystal knows that whichever choice she makes, it won’t be easy. She must decide whether the pain of his secret is greater than the pain of letting him go. Either way there will be pain.

Freedom should be a right…

But Luke doesn’t think so. As violence, destruction, and death take over the nation, the powers-that-be turn to Crystal and her team for help. But is this battle too big for them?

The past two years have presented challenge after challenge for Crystal. However, she is determined to see things through to the bitter end. Luke is powerful, but there is One more powerful than he. Right now, He is their only hope.

Buy Now @ Amazon UK, Amazon US, Smashwords, Kobo, iTunes.

Apologies to all my Nook readers. I published to Barnes and Noble the same time as all the other stores, but it’s still not up yet. Should be there soon though.

There’s one book left in this series (phew!). It’s tentatively titled ‘Legacy’. I’m off to start editing it now because I’ve already had an email asking when it’s going to be out, and I know that more of such emails will be coming over the next few days.

Happy reading guys, God bless, and remember: we serve an awesome God 🙂

Dayo xx

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Cover Reveal: Powerful Enemies (Crystal 8)

Dayo Benson

Powerful Enemies

Hi Guys,

Here’s the cover for Powerful Enemies. Powerful Enemies is still in pre-flight checks, but it’ll be out on Monday (22nd Feb). I can’t wait to hit publish. If it’s ready before then I will definitely publish it sooner. Make sure you’re signed up for my mailing list HERE so that you get a notification as soon as it’s out xx

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Coming VERY Soon – Powerful Enemies (Crystal 8)

Dayo Benson

 

Hi Everyone,

I’m so excited, Powerful Enemies is almost here. I am literally going to read through it one last time and then hit publish. But before you get too excited and start doing a happy dance, you should know that I am a very slower reader when I am reading one of my own books. I really want to catch any final issues, and I am quite obsessive about my final read through. I’m starting the read-through tonight. It’ll probably take me a few days, judging by how long it took me with Sleeper, but then Powerful Enemies is a longer book, so we’ll see how it goes.

I can’t wait for you to read this book. Here’s why:

1. Juda confesses to Crystal’s parents

I don’t want to say too much about this just in case people read this and haven’t read books 6 and 7 and don’t know Juda’s secret. But, Juda confesses, and I actually had some tears in my eyes while I wrote that scene. Thankfully, I was alone–nobody to give me strange looks.

2. Jesus is finally an on-screen character

Quite frankly, I’m sick of even typing about the devil and typing his names. It’s necessary when writing from a ‘practitioner’s’ viewpoint, but it quickly began to annoy me. I got to write about Jesus and angels quite a lot in this book and it was truly humbling and awesome for me, ha ha.

3. There’s a Wedding!!!

I’m not telling you who. There are lots of couples in the Crystal series. I know everyone wants to see it happen for Crystal and Juda, but there’s Alejandro and Anabelle, Jamie and Carsten, and even Kyran and Trixie. Trixie could have a miraculous conversion in this book…you never know…

Here’s two random pictures of gorgeous wedding dresses.

      

And a picture of me when I got married six years ago this April, ahhh.

I felt like a total queen, lol. And it was a big wedding. I think we had like 700 people. No way was my church letting me show any ‘back’ or ‘cleavage’, hence the shrug. I love my church. And I love my dad (he’s the pastor; yes, I’m a preacher’s kid 🙂 ).

Anyway…

4. Shola Cardoso is a POV character

In Powerful Enemies you get four viewpoints, Crystal’s, Juda’s, Shola’s and Luke’s. Shola’s POV was fun to write. A new female villain is introduced and it was fun to write about her twisted ‘feminist’ philosophies and how she tries to get Shola to buy into them.

The whole point of the Crystal Series is to remind people that we’re in a battle, and we’re not fighting against flesh and blood (Ephesians 6). It’s easy to forget that life is a journey, a probation, and a battle (as well as a gift and a privilege from God). I just want to get people to think.

By the way, you guys wanted a longer book, and you’ve got one in Powerful Enemies. It’s the longest book of the series, almost double the length of Insurrection and Secrets.

 

From the Back Cover

Love shouldn’t be so hard…

Juda’s secret has the potential to change everything. Crystal knows that whichever choice she makes, it won’t be easy. She must decide whether the pain of his secret is greater than the pain of letting him go. Either way there will be pain.

Freedom should be a right…

But Luke doesn’t think so. As violence, destruction, and death take over the nation, the powers-that-be turn to Crystal and her team for help. But is this battle too big for them?

The past two years have presented challenge after challenge for Crystal. However, she is determined to see things through to the bitter end. Luke is powerful, but there is One more powerful than he. Right now, He is their only hope.

**If you’re not on my mailing list already, sign up HERE so that you’ll get an email alert as soon as Powerful Enemies comes out.**

***On another note, I’m thinking of doing character interviews. Who would you like me to interview first? Alejandro, obviously, wants to be interviewed first, but I told him it would depend on what the audience wants 🙂 Leave a comment or email me (dayo@dayobenson.com) with who should be interviewed first and what questions you like to ask them.***

God bless.

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Survey: What do you want to read next?

Dayo Benson

confused cartoon downloadGuys, I’ve been working on my 2016 books, and I just have too many ideas; it’s hard to decide what to do. I’m praying about what projects to focus on in 2016, and I would also like some feedback from you about what you would like to read next. I’ve thrown together a questionnaire, and I would so much appreciate you taking a few minutes to complete it. There are only 9 questions.

Please click here to access the survey.

Thank you in advance for your response 🙂

And thank you for taking Sleeper to no. 1 in its category on Amazon UK and no. 3 in its category on Amazon US. I’m totally overwhelmed 🙂

Quick update, I’m working on editing Powerful Enemies (Crystal 8). It’s a long book, the longest of the series so far, so I know I have to cut it down and sharpen the prose. I also have a 7.5 book called ‘Wedding Kidnap’ which I will be releasing in a week or two. After Powerful Enemies will come Legacy (Crystal 9) and that will be the end for the Crystal Series. I’ve had a blast writing the books and I’m so glad many of you are enjoying them.

After I finished writing the Beauty for Ashes series, I felt a little sad at saying ‘bye’ to those characters, but I was mostly relieved. I was sick of the books because Raw Deal had been on my laptop for six years, as had rough outlines for Red Carpet and Refiner’s fire. I’d read Raw Deal over and over for six years before publishing it. I really wanted to move on to new books and characters. With the Crystal series, the idea was in my mind for a few years before I started writing it last year, but it was pretty vague until I started writing. Because I only started writing the series last year, the series and characters still feel new-ish to me. I feel like I could easily write another ten books about them. But I have other characters in my mind too, whose stories I want to tell, and other ideas I want to explore.

I’m still trying to work out my ‘author brand’ and determine where I fit in the marketplace. My books are all too different from each other. I have both romance and supernatural suspense books; books about adults and YA/NA books; books with white main characters and books with black main characters. At the moment I just categorize my books on a book-by-book basis.

I guess, I just like the freedom of writing about whoever and whatever I want. I’m an independent author, so why not? If I had a publisher there is no way I could write the Beauty for Ashes Series and then follow it with the Pure Passion Series. Neither would I be able to write sweet romance and then follow it with a series about a cult. Only the biggest authors are allowed to genre-hop, and even then, not very much.

Anyway, I’m thinking about my brand so that readers know what to expect from me. A lot of my readers are so sweet and have followed me as I’ve genre-hopped all over the place, but I want to settle down now, enough playing the literary field (ha ha). I want people to know what to expect when they pick up a book by me. Denise Hunter has been my favorite author for a while, probably because she writes sweet romances that relax me. I can’t read anything too suspenseful while I’m writing suspenseful books myself. It’ll be suspense overload. I know what to expect from Denise Hunter. I know what to expect from Francine Rivers. With most authors you know what to expect. I’d be completely shocked if I opened a Denise Hunter book and there were angels in it? If I wanted angels I’d go to Frank Peretti. So, I think brand is important. I’m praying about it. I wonder if my brand can be that I have no brand, and that I’m unpredictable, lol.

Please don’t forget to complete my short survey. Here’s the link again.

Have a great week.