Goodreads Rating:  Average rating 3.6

U.S. Trade Paperback Edition, 293 pages $15.99

Kindle eBook, Available instantly, $6.00

 

 

 

 

 

Linden Morningstar is an indie author and hypnotherapist who wrote two powerful and beguiling novels about women on a hero’s journey. His first novel, STARGIRLS, is an epic science fantasy and space opera.

By the decree of the Starlight Prophecy, five intrepid women are destined to become Star Warrior Mystics. This cosmic calling forces them to experience what it feels like to evolve into something more than human—an alien, superhuman state that both enthralls and terrifies them. Driven by passionate intellect, fiery natures, and adventurous hearts, this band of sisters must boldly accept their shocking destiny to defeat a cosmic terror.

Called to embark on a perilous journey to save a dying alien civilization, their path collides with the maniacal obsession of Lord God Aagaatar. The tyrannical warlord seeks to enslave the Stargirls and harvest their emerging Star power to execute his ultimate Final Solution: the genocide of the Star people and obliteration of Earth.

To cement his reign as the absolute King of Terror across the Vaangeez Galaxy, Aagaatar will stop at nothing to trap and torture the Stargirls into complete submission to his will. Can the Stargirls master their frightening new powers in time to rescue a dying world and save themselves and Earth from destruction, or will they become the ultimate weapons of a megalomaniac’s galactic conquest?

STARGIRLS features a sweeping space adventure narrative and massive world-building that tackles profound existential and philosophical themes with high stakes for the Stargirls. The consequences of Stargirl’s actions against their nemesis, Lord God Aagaatar, directly impact their survival and that of Earth and the Star people.

The story weaves together complex subplots and diverse perspectives that add depth and authenticity to Stargirl’s superhuman evolution and to the characters’ fighting a galactic war. Beyond mind-bending technological gadgets, it explores female empowerment, humanity-alternating themes like transhumanism, the nature of consciousness, and the origins and destiny of the human race.

The central internal conflict of the Stargirls revolves around their sudden thrust into an ancient alien prophecy. They face a psychological crossroads: they must choose whether to bravely embrace an enigmatic, higher destiny or turn away in absolute terror from the reality-shattering changes happening to them.

Linden Morningstar wrote STARGIRLS to honor and celebrate the births of his five granddaughters and to immortalize them as superheroes. On a deeper level, to explore the mysteries of existence and the universe, and the possibilities about life that our human intelligence has pondered since ancient antiquity. Who are we? Where did we come from? Are we alone?”

Linden’s novel, Gloria Rising, is a gripping psychological and supernatural novel that reflects the real-life experience he and Bea Hudson, his co-author, shared. Linden chose that he, as protagonist Dr. Adam Jaxon, and Bea, as Gloria, would give Gloria Rising creative freedom while still capturing its emotional truth and reality.

A fascinating narrative exploring themes of hope, survival, the complexities of the human psyche, and the astonishing reality of a spirit guide who comes to help heal Gloria. Resilience, inner strength, and the transformative power of love and understanding are the novel’s major themes.

Dr. Adam Jaxon is confronted by Gloria’s baffling array of psychiatric disorders and symptoms, and dangerous sleepwalking episodes. Even more bewildering is the unexpected appearance of a divine presence during Gloria’s hypnotherapy sessions that claims to have come to help Gloria, to watch over her, and to help guide Dr. Jaxon’s hypnotherapy. An astounding turn of events that unnerves the usually unflappable Dr. Jaxon and forces him to reconsider his own metaphysical understanding and psychological grip on reality. Dr. Jaxon’s beliefs about reality and the nature of existence will be profoundly tested and later reset when the mysterious and omniscient being reveals its astonishing identity.

Legendary hypnotherapist Dr. Adam Jaxon has spent his career navigating the darkest corners of the human mind. But nothing prepares him for Gloria. Plagued by escalating madness and fracturing reality, Gloria is a patient on the absolute brink. To save her, Dr. Jaxon must use deep hypnosis to bypass her conscious defenses and pull her back from the edge. But what speaks from the depths of Gloria’s subconscious isn’t just trauma. It is something else entirely.

Under a deep trance, Gloria’s hand begins to move automatically, penning heart-wrenching letters that expose a childhood of indescribable terror. Yet, as the letters unravel the puzzle of her past, they also reveal a truth that defies the laws of modern psychiatry and modern science.

The automatic writings open a door of perception to a higher consciousness—and a supernatural mystery that helps Gloria face a terrifying truth hidden in her nightmares. Now, doctor and patient are locked in a dangerous race against time. To reclaim her life and unlock her true destiny, Gloria must confront the dark secrets buried in her nightmares. Will the truth finally set her free, or will it plunge her forever into madness?

Linden wrote Gloria Rising as a heartfelt tribute to Bea Hudson to honor her courageous victory over childhood abuse and trauma, and to celebrate her miraculous healing and spiritual transformation.

In memory of Beatrice M. Hudson, co-author, 1924-2014, for her amazing contribution to our hypnotherapy, writing, and loving support that helped make Gloria Rising an enthralling story.

Linden said, “I am a seeker of truth that lies beyond what we collectively call reality. The numinous that transcends our everyday conscious awareness, understanding, and comprehension. Following the enlightened path to the true nature of God and the ultimate goal of human evolution and existence, Sat-Chit-Ananda, or ever-existing, ever-conscious, ever-new bliss.”

He lives with his cherished wife, Ari, and lovable cats Shiloh, Lilly, and Thunder in Southern California.

Linden Morningstar 

Linden Morningstar was born in 1948 in Lamar, Missouri. Soon after his birth, his mother took him and his older sister to the Promised Land of California in the hope that farmers’ fields would be bountiful and jobs plentiful. His mother worked the farm fields around Bakersfield, California.

Linden thrived in the balmy heat of his new home and loved to get his hands dirty playing in the fertile soil. Where dirt mixed with his imagination made him happy. He learned early about the power of imagination to create happiness and fun.

He grew up in the coastal city of Ventura, California, where his love for surfing taught him to become one with nature and the waves he rode. He attended Ventura Community College and majored in Electrical Engineering, where he excelled as an engineering student and won academic awards and a prestigious electrical engineering internship at a local naval base.

Although Linden had a student deferment, he chose to enlist in the U.S. Army and volunteered for Airborne, Special Forces, and Vietnam. He wanted to be a warrior for freedom. Before his deployment to Vietnam, he married and fathered the first of two sons.

 

Linden, as a young Special Forces sergeant in Vietnam, was involved in hazardous reconnaissance missions deep behind enemy lines in Vietnam. He served with Charlie Company Airborne Rangers, 75th Infantry, and MACV-SOG, Special Operations, 5th Special Forces Group.

 

 

 

The war touched his soul and deeply changed him. He had learned the hard way about the brutality and futility of war. He had lost his youthful innocence and was appalled by the senseless and horrendous cost in human life of war, and the physical and psychological toll it inflicted on him and other survivors. He learned a valuable lesson to respect and value all life, even one’s enemy.  His long journey as a warrior-healer had begun.

When Linden returned from the Vietnam War, he resumed his college studies but changed his major from Electrical Engineering to Psychology. He felt an irresistible calling to heal himself, serve others, and walk an enlightenment path to Truth.

Linden graduated summa cum laude from Assumption College in Worcester, Massachusetts with a Master’s degree and Certificate of Advanced Graduate Studies in Psychology and Counseling. He became a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist specializing in clinical hypnosis. He worked in private practice, community mental health, and in a psychiatric hospital. He also used his skill and knowledge of hypnosis to treat patients suffering from pain, terminal illness, and a variety of life-threatening medical conditions.

He realized that hypnosis, like authentic shamanic and spiritual healing, had the power to open gateways to higher states of consciousness, benevolent spiritual helpers, inner healing forces, and divine intuition and wisdom beyond our contemporary psychiatric and psychological understanding and comprehension of the human mind and existence.

Linden says, “I am a seeker of Truth, which lies beyond what is collectively accepted as reality. I seek to know my True Self and the true nature of God that transcends ego consciousness and human senses and knowledge about the material world.”

He lives with his wife, Arielle, and three lovable cats, Shiloh, Lilly, and Thunder, in Southern California.