Jerome and the Seraph

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Jerome and the Seraph a literary fantasy.

ISBN: 1-931201-53-6. Available now!

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Brother Jerome’s death came as a surprise to him. So did the afterworld. There were no cherubs, no harps, no fluffy white clouds. Jerome had pictured the afterworld as a traditional sort of place: heavenly choirs, seraphs flying round with hot coals, that sort of thing. When he gets there, however, there isn’t a seraph in sight -- though, as his friend Michael sarcastically points out when they meet again, Jerome wouldn’t recognise a seraph if one dropped a hot coal onto his toe.

Leo, Jerome’s pet cat from the friary, turns up to say hello -- literally. Jerome is shocked, for he hadn’t known that the cat could talk. But then he hadn’t known, either, that the cat’s real name was Quantum -- “You can call me Quant” the cat tells him. Is Quant dead or alive? Jerome doesn’t know, for Quant still lives as a flesh-and-blood cat in the friary, enjoying a meat pie and a buttered scone for his dinner, yet he pops along, as if through an interdimensional catflap, to see his friend in the afterworld.

Not that Jerome is Quant’s only friend in the afterlife. Far from it. Quant’s friends seem to be many and varied: the friars of the beyond-the-grave branch of Jerome’s religious order, centaurs, the great god Pan, the Hound of Heaven. What is Quant? Jerome hasn’t a clue. All he knows is that the cat’s magical powers frighten him. And when the cat’s green eyes turn golden and grow bigger and wilder Jerome starts to quake, for he knows he’s about to see the lion that once kept his saintly namesake company in the desert. What is Quant, he asks himself.

And what is this strange world he’s now in? Is it a new world or an old world? The Hound of Heaven is here, but so are the centaurs and the Greek gods. The old gods, Jerome realizes, never went away. And everyone seems to get along together just fine.

Reviews

Top Rating of 10 from Harriet Klausner
Slipping on the icy ground of the cemetery, Brother Jerome smacks his head against the gravestone of Father Aloysius. His peers gave him a nice funeral but ironically buried him at the site in which he died.

When he first died, he briefly meets Aloysius who apologizes to Jerry, but that seem like a lifetime ago as Jerome finds the afterworld is void of anyone, even angels, except for Leo the friary cat, who is alive and well back in his former residence. Jerome is confused as there are no cherubs or angels with harps. Leo explains to Jerome that his real name is Quantum, but he can call him Quant and that it is easy to cross between the land of the living and the dead, which is why he resides here and at the friary. Simply Jerome must modify his belief system so that he can see and soon other spirits and doors to dimensions will be there. Of course coordinates are critical or else one can become the star of a painting or a branch of a tree.

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.

Jerome And The Seraph is a delight to read! I was drawn into the story immediately and couldn't put it away, reading it in one sitting. When a book captures your attention this rapidly and keeps your curiosity piqued throughout, you know the price you pay for it is well worth it....

...The story opens up with Brother Jerome, who accidentally dies in a fall when he strikes his head against a headstone in the friary cemetery. Life in the Spirit world isn't at all what he expected as he wonders why he's alone. Shortly afterwards he's visited by Leo, a cat he loved and cared for while living in the Order. Jerome comes to realize that Leo, who prefers to be called Quant, seems to be able to travel into the dead and not-dead world at will.

...Robina expertly weaves her knowledge and love of Pre-Raphaelite art, mythology and quantum physics without one needing prior knowledge of either to realize its impact on the story. I really loved how she brought the understanding of linear time and simultaneous time into layman's terms, which made the story all the more interesting and awe-inspiring.

Robina is working on a sequel to Jerome And The Seraph and I'm already looking forward to its completion. I recommend this story highly and give it a top rating of 10.

Reviewed by Dallas Franklin for Sell Writing Online.
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There are mysteries at the friary, and Brother Jerome does his bit to solve them.... Amid a plethora of reading material that shows man brutally subjugating matter, churning titanic waves in the environment, solving absurdly clever puzzles, and moving mountains to make love ring true, who would have thought such a seraphically smug cat could represent such basic, intelligent change in the interests of spiritual consummation?

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.
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The book is a well written story, with a light hearted look at quantum theory that you don't need a degree in physics to understand. The characters are all well drawn and you feel for poor Jerome on his first attempts at inter-dimensional travel, where he gets stuck inside a pillar, a tree and a painting respectively.

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, author of Writing the Dream and Silent Screams and editor of Twisted Tales webzine.
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This book was fantastic! Robina Williams has written a humorous story without trying too hard to be funny. Often, when an author tries to write something amusing they make the humour so obvious that it is no longer funny. Robina is different. The humour is subtle, eloquent and beautifully written. I read this book during a (delayed) flight from Geneva and got some very strange looks from other passengers as I kept chuckling to myself...

The characters are superb. When Jerome first enters the afterlife and discovers that he can materialise wherever he wants he is useless. He keeps missing the spot – literally. He materialises inside trees, furniture and random pieces of furniture. It is quite a relief to have a main character that is not perfect and makes mistakes....

Reviewed by Leslie Mazey for The Eternal Night
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