Robina Williams

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Jerome
Angelos

I am a UK-based writer and editor, living in Liverpool. I've an M.A. in Modern Languages from Oxford University and an M.Phil. in English Literature from Liverpool University. I've been a schoolteacher, college lecturer, secretary and features writer. My first novel, Jerome and the Seraph, was published in paperback by Twilight Times Books in 2004.

The idea for a novel came to me while I was living in a stone cottage on a quiet, peaceful Welsh hillside. Near my cottage was an old monastery, with its picturesque graveyard with its ancient headstones and gnarled yew trees. It was a tranquil and quite historic scene. In the summer I'd be visited by a cat who would sit sunning himself in my garden. The cat obviously wasn't a stray, for he wore a collar and was sleek and well-fed, but I never discovered where his home was. He was friendly enough, though he made it clear he wasn't looking for a new owner.

While researching my M.Phil. thesis, I came across the concept of Schrödinger's Cat. The idea of a cat that was potentially dead and potentially alive interested me. I find the quantum world fascinating. I began to wonder about my mystery feline visitor, and so my quantum cat, Quant (or Leo), was conceived. I'd sometimes see the robed monks out strolling in their grounds on a fine day, and I began to think about writing a novel about the members of a religious community, one of whom had a pet cat that was not what it seemed. Brother Jerome fondly imagines that he's looking after the cat; really, the cat is looking after him. The cat is one of the Lord's seraphs, out on a mission in the world.

I've always had the feeling that the Greek gods -- and the Egyptian gods, for that matter -- are still around. Why should they go away? And so into my story came the old classical gods -- co-existing quite happily with the Lord of Christianity. Such was the genesis of my story.

A few paintings feature in the novel, for I'm very fond of nineteenth-century art, especially that of the Pre-Raphaelites. One particular painting, Spencer Stanhope's "Thoughts of the Past," plays a part in the plot, and causes the Father Guardian to fear that his sins are about to find him out.

I hope you'll find Jerome and the Seraph an exciting read and that you'll also enjoy its sequel, Angelos, which was published in paperback in May 2006 by Twilight Times Books. I am now writing the third book in my Quantum Cat series.

Books

a literary fantasy.

ISBN: 1-931201-54-4. Available now!
Amazon.com; Amazon.co.uk; Bamm.com; Barnes & Noble; Borders; your local Bookstores.
List Price: $15.50 USD

More book info

Read a chapter excerpt

Reviews

Top Rating of 10 from Harriet Klausner
...JEROME AND THE SERAPH is a simple entertaining book that ironically connects complex topics (the afterlife, mythology, and quantum physics) into a wonderful fantasy that hooks readers from the moment Al and Jerry exchange a few words. The tale never lets go until Brother Jerome completes his journeys, though Quant steals the show. Fans who appreciate an amusing with serious undertone adventure tale will appreciate Jerome Through the Looking Glass guided by Quant the Cheshire cat.
Reviewed by Harriet Klausner for Review Centre.

"...I recommend this story highly and give it a top rating of 10."
Reviewed by Dallas Franklin for Sell Writing Online.

"...Robina Williams has tackled the oldest and most troubling question known to thinking and spiritually concerned humans. JEROME AND THE SERAPH is a charming and deceptively simple story, filled with delightful puns and serenely sly humor. It is a book to cherish."
Reviewed by Pat H. Fredeman, author of Paradise Regained.

"...Paintings, classical mythology and architecture all play bit parts, but the cat is the star of the show. Ms. Williams has blended every feature together so effortlessly, you wonder why you never saw the connections between them before."
Reviewed by Annette Gisby, editor of Twisted Tales.

"This book was fantastic! ...The characters are superb."
Reviewed by Leslie Mazey for The Eternal Night

Ordering info.

Format: PDF, HTML, Palm, trade paperback
Payment Method
PayPal -or- Credit Card -or- Fictionwise
List Price: $4.95 USD ebook; $15.50 trade paperback

PDF download - pay in United Kingdom Pounds Sterling

Welcome to my new book release.

a literary fantasy.

ISBN: 1-933353-60-0. Available now!
Amazon; Amazon.co.uk; Bamm.com; Barnes & Noble; Borders; Indy Bookstores.

More book info

Read a chapter excerpt

Available May 2006 from Twilight Times Books.

"...In this sequel to Jerome and the Seraph, Williams tells a twofold tale of one priest stranded in the ancient labyrinth of Knossos and another struggling with his own search for holiness-with only a small but very unusual cat to guide them both. With its graceful hominess, quiet humor, and abiding faith, Angelos belongs in most fantasy, Christian fantasy, or New Age collections."

Library Journal (the Sci Fi column by Jackie Cassada).

Brief synopsis
Angelos, the second book in the series about the quantum cat.

The cat is back! And once again he's keeping a protective eye on his old friend, Brother Jerome -- the late Brother Jerome, that is. When Leo, his pet cat, showed up in the afterworld, Jerome assumed he was there because he'd died. But Leo's real name is Quantum, and quantum cats don't die…

A rockfall in the Minotaur's labyrinth sets off a quantum leap. The Minotaur finds himself in a garden shed in the twenty-first century, and Jerome finds himself in a maze of corridors in the "old" world, although, with "the time thing", it isn't the old world any more.

Meantime, in the friary, the Guardian, Father Aidan, is having a crisis of faith, and his friars are suffering. Until one day he sees the divine light shining for him once more, and we see the cat in his true form -- a seraph, the angelos of the title.

As with Jerome and the Seraph, paintings feature in the plot of Angelos. Aidan, lost in a spiritual desert, finds that a goat and an ibex and a ray of sunlight in a Pre-Raphaelite painting guide him back to the path he'd lost sight of and despaired of ever seeing again. And that path leads to one of the twentieth century's most striking images -- Dali's Christ of St John of the Cross.

Reviews

Death has done nothing to stop Brother Jerome's busy life. Now, rather than remain in his friary in prayer and contemplation, he tours the afterlife, usually in the presence of his feline companion, Leo, a.k.a. Quant, the cat with the ability to travel in time and space through quantum leaps. In this sequel to Jerome and the Seraph, Williams tells a twofold tale of one priest stranded in the ancient labyrinth of Knossos and another struggling with his own search for holiness-with only a small but very unusual cat to guide them both. With its graceful hominess, quiet humor, and abiding faith, Angelos belongs in most fantasy, Christian fantasy, or New Age collections.

Library Journal (the Sci Fi column by Jackie Cassada).

"Angelos, the sequel to the fabulous Jerome and the Seraph, is a delightful fantasy that uses humor to tell a deep philosophical tale. Robina Williams provides a terrific tale that the audience will cherish." ~ Harriet Klausner, Amazon.com's No. 1 reviewer.

"Quant, the magical cat that leaps through various worlds and dimensions is back again and in action. In Angelos, the sequel to Jerome and the Seraph, Robina Williams weaves her own storytelling magic and Quant rises to the occasion. This is a fantasy ebook and written so superbly that you become totally engrossed in the tale and forget it's fantasy.

"...I loved Angelos as much as Jerome and the Seraph and if you like reading fantasy I'm sure you'll love it too. I highly recommend this ebook and give it a top rating of 10!"

Reviewed by Dallas Hodder Franklin for Sell Writing Online.
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"In Angelos, the sequel to Jerome and the Seraph, we meet the quantum cat again. When this cat is around, nothing is quite what it seems. Leo, the friary cat who can dance through dimensions is still keeping a protective eye on his friend, Brother Jerome. Jerome is still finding the novelty of the afterlife intriguing. Until a rock fall in the Minotaur's labyrinth sets off a quantum leap.

...If you enjoyed Robina Williams's first book you will enjoy this sequel so much more-as I did. Angelos is filled with humor and wisdom."

Reviewed by award winning author Tricia McGill
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Blending elements of mysticism, mythology, quantum theory and art history, it is a tale like no other. The star of the show is of course, Quant, but the Minotaur comes a close second. For this Minotaur is no monster, out to eat everyone in sight, but normally a vegetarian who enjoys reading books and drinking wine, rather than having to eat the Athenian youths sent to him as tribute (they tend to get stuck in the teeth.)

Ms. Williams is an excellent story teller, for although short, this is a very imaginative tale, filled with memorable characters that stand out in your mind. If you are looking for something a bit different, then give Angelos a try.

A book to make you think."

Reviewed by Annette Gisby, author of Drowning Rapunzel and Shadows of the Rose for Twisted Tales.
Read the complete Review

Ordering info.

Format: PDF, HTML, Palm
Payment Method
PayPal -or- Credit Card -or- money order
List Price: $4.95 USD ebook; $16.95 trade paperback

PDF download - pay in United Kingdom Pounds Sterling

Author News

Both Jerome and the Seraph and Angelos are currently available from Amazon.com; Amazon.ca; Bamm.com; Barnes & Noble; and your local bookstores.

I hope you'll visit the rest of the pages on my website, to read about the book and its sequel Angelos, and also to read my article "Paintings as Inspiration." Paintings feature in the plots of my stories. In Jerome and the Seraph, a sighting of Spencer Stanhope's Thoughts of the Past causes the Father Guardian to fear that his sins are about to find him out.

In Angelos, Father Aidan, lost in a spiritual desert, finds that a scapegoat and an ibex and a ray of sunlight in a Pre-Raphaelite painting guide him back to the path he'd lost sight of and despaired of ever seeing again. And that path leads to one of the twentieth century's most striking images -- Dali's Christ of St John of the Cross.

I hope you'll read and enjoy the books.

~ Robina ~

Read my article on "Paintings as Inspiration" and view "The Art Gallery in Angelos."

Author interviews with Dallas Franklin on the SWO website
and Lesley Mazey on The Eternal Night website.

Links