I've always been fascinated by the idea of the war in Heaven. As a storyteller, the eternal struggle between angels and demons fighting for the fate of creation has been a source of perpetual inspiration for me. But finding stories about angels that aren't YA or paranormal romance can be challenging. So, channeling my love of historical fiction and action-packed adventure, I set out to craft a thrilling, realistic tale that puts the reader right on the front lines beside a peaceful angel forced into becoming a warrior fighting against his former brothers. This list reflects my favorite books that paved the way and inspired my own work.
Anne Rice was one of my first favorite authors and a major inspiration in my wanting to become a writer. While not as well-known as other entries in her incredible Vampire Chronicles series, Memnoch is my personal favorite. Continuing her iconic style of sympathizing with the supernatural through first-person narrative, this is the first time Rice introduced a classic religious figure into her vampire mythos and gave us a brilliant, unique take on Heaven and Hell, angels, demons, and the eternal conflict between God and the devil. This book was truly foundational for me in creating my own voice and character dynamics for The Sabrael Confession.
The fifth work in the chronicles of the Vampire Lestat, who is at last offered the chance to be redeemed. He is brought into direct confrontation with God and the Devil, and into the land of Death, snatched from the world by Memnoch. He must decide whether to believe in the Devil or in God.
Frank Peretti's This Present Darkness is the book that's most often mentioned to me when I tell people what my novel's about. I didn't have the pleasure of reading it until after my book was done, and I'm glad, because it's so good it probably would've influenced me too much. The beautiful and sometimes terrifying story of angels fighting demons in Ashton shares a lot of DNA with The Sabrael Confession. A covert group of angels protecting from the shadows. Fallen angels manipulating human affairs. Thrilling battles between them. It's everything I wanted my own novel to be, and the success of this masterpiece showed me there was an audience for this type of story and gave me the courage to publish mine.
A powerful audio abridgement of this top-selling novel about a prayerful pastor and a skeptical reporter who find themselves fighting a plot to subjugate the human race.
There’s no way my list would be complete without mentioning this classic. While it’s a comedy and has a totally different tone than The Sabrael Confession, I love the relationship between Aziraphale and Crowley (masterfully executed in the live-action series on Amazon) and wanted to bring some of that into Sabrael's relationship with Lucifer. The concept of both angels and demons falling in love with living among humans in plain sight and staying on Earth throughout the millennia had a big impact on the formation of my story, as well as the sense of adventure and the high stakes of the plot that's unfolding under the noses of the mostly unsuspecting human race. The lighter side of the impending apocalypse.
THE BOOK BEHIND THE AMAZON PRIME/BBC SERIES STARRING DAVID TENNANT, MICHAEL SHEEN, JON HAMM AND BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH
'Ridiculously inventive and gloriously funny' Guardian
What if, for once, the predictions are right, and the Apocalypse really is due to arrive next Saturday, just after tea?
It's a predicament that Aziraphale, a somewhat fussy angel, and Crowley, a fast-living demon, now find themselves in. They've been living amongst Earth's mortals since The Beginning and, truth be told, have grown rather fond of the lifestyle and, in all honesty, are not actually looking forward to the coming Apocalypse.
One of the key references I used in writing The Sabrael Confession, this book is a comprehensive list of all the named angels throughout history, good or bad, complete with their rank in the angelic host and all mentions of them across the world's religions. My copy looks like it's been through a war with dog-eared pages, sticky notes protruding from the sides, and little scribbles in the margins. Whenever I needed a new angel in my book, I scoured this amazing resource to find the perfect fit. All my fallen angels are fallen angels found here. All my good angels are listed here. It's a truly fascinating read, and does well to point out inconsistencies where an angel has been listed as good by some, evil by others.
Gustav Davidson's classic text, A dictionary of Angels: Including the Fallen Angels, is the result of sixteen years of research in Talmudic, gnostic, cabalistic, apocalyptic, patristic, and legendary texts. The classic reference work on angels is beautifully illustrated and its reissue coincides with the resurgence of belief in angels in America. This well researched and exquisitely illustrated dictionary is a wonderful collectable for all those who believe in angels, miracles, lore, and faith.
This is actually the second book of Zeigler's Tears of Heaven series, but I read this one first and it stands perfectly on its own. There's so much I love about it, from the concept of rebel dark angels working to overthrow Satan with the help and ingenuity of human scientists and soldiers they rescue from Hell's torments to Zeigler's masterful world-building based on scripture and classic depictions of Hell. He pulls no punches in vividly describing the agonies of damnation. But it's his clever use of scientific principles to explain Hell's supernatural rules as well as arm his protagonists that truly stands out for me. I strove to achieve that level of logic in my book, but Zeigler manages to weaponize it as only a trained scientist could.
Satan and his minions have declared war on the most beautiful planet in the universe his purpose is to depose Michael the archangel and become second only to God in command of all creation. Standing in Satan's way are a scattered and disorganized host of angels, a group of inexperienced saints, a small band of humans, and some angelic rebels in Hell. Armed with faith full power, Abaddon the Destroyer creates a formidable army to challenge the evil targeting Earth. Author of best selling Heaven and Hell, Kenneth Zeigler again draws from his research to create a realistic tale where…
Sent to Earth as part of a secret force to protect the newborn Christ from fallen angels eager to kill the would-be Savior, the angel Sabrael and six of his brothers soon discover the fallen are searching for a lost gateway that would allow them to bypass Heaven’s fortified walls and mount a direct attack on their former home.
Deciding to stay until they locate and destroy the portal, the angels embark on a hunt that leads Sabrael around the world and through the ages on an action-packed journey from first-century Jerusalem to the present-day United States, battling fallen angels and masquerading as a human, culminating in a massive confrontation between Heaven and Hell's forces that will change his life—and the fate of mankind—forever.
Liveaboard sailor Cass Lynch thinks her big break has finally arrived when she blags her way into skippering a Viking longship for a Hollywood film. However, this means returning to the Shetland Islands, the place she fled as a teenager. When a corpse unexpectedly appears onboard the longship, she can run from the past no longer: Cass and her family come under intense scrutiny from the disturbingly shrewd Detective Inspector Gavin Macrae.
Even if Cass’s local knowledge and sailing wisdom help to clear the Lynch family of suspicion, they may not be enough to stay ahead of the murderer’s game...…
Death on a Shetland Longship: The Shetland Sailing Mysteries
When she wangles the job of skippering a Viking longship for a film, Cass Lynch thinks her big break has finally arrived - even though it means returning home to the Shetland Islands, which she ran away from as a teenager. Then the `accidents' begin - and when a dead woman turns up on the boat's deck, Cass realises that she, her family and her past are under suspicion from the disturbingly shrewd Detective Inspector Macrae. Cass must call on all her local knowledge, the wisdom she didn't realise she'd gained from sailing and her glamorous, French opera singer mother…
