User:Jeremygbyrne/Alchemy (novel)

Alchemy is a 2019 alternate history novel by Sylvia La Some. An early manuscript of the novel and its prequel inspired an animated motion picture which was released some six years before the first book. Alchemy recieved a Sidewise Award (Long Form) in 2020. (The third book in the Cycle, Astrology, is a prequel to the opening diad, set in the 1930s.)

Plot
Four years on, Standingstone’s mission has become the defense of the planet itself. As her polarized world tilts on the brink of nuclear war, reclusive owner-director Marilyn is forced to begin personally piloting the investigation through an ever-expanding web of modern intrigue and ancient conspiracy. As evidence emerges of an apocalyptic project with a rapidly-approaching deadline, Marilyn’s dedication is turning to dangerous obsession, Maddie and Wulf’s firey relationship is becoming a threat to the organization and someone within the company is working against them.

In a 2012 slipping rapidly towards biblical Armageddon, Alchemy follows the group as they uncover the hidden battlegrounds of a conflict far older than civilization and a secret at the very heart of human nature.

Book of Revelation
The book opens with Marilyn's serendipitous purchase, through her Art Auction business, of a bundle of manuscripts, commentaries and ephemera which "proves" that the Book of Revelation is a 6th Century forgery, based on a different book entirely, mentioned by anti-Gnostic Irenaeus in 185 (of which the Apocalypse_of_Pseudo-Methodius is a variation). (The documents discuss the politics of its inclusion into canon, along with that of the non-synpotic, unusual and "High Christological" Gospel of John &mdash; which was promoted by the "disappearance" of the original Gospel of John, known as the Q document &mdash; to replace the Apocalypse of Peter and the further the ends of an unnamed organisation with specific, long-term aims. (See also Fifth_Monarchy_Men.)

Marilyn's December 2011 journey to Iraq (to discuss her discoveries with a Mandaean professor of history) and India (to discuss the Thomasian parts of the discovery) almost results in her replacement as CEO of Standingstone by its board.

A Nestorian connection?

 * the Nestorian heresy suggests Jesus is a man possessed by The Logos.
 * Xi'an has Nestorian relics (eg. the Nestorian Stele), and the tiny &mdash; 11K in Iran &mdash; Assyrian Church of the East (whose current Patriach of Babylon Mar Dinkha IV lives in Chicago) traces its origins to Babylon and the Apostles Thomas and Bartholemew
 * Mani (see Scythianus for his supposed origin from a possibly Zorastrian dualist tradition, which notably ended in Babylon) was imprisoned and executed in the Nestorian Academy of Gundishapur, in modern Iran, started under the Sassanid Kings (who claimed World Rulership).

Possibility
Marilyn's find includes evidence that the Muratorian fragment, which purports to be a 7th Century translation of a 2nd Century original, and Athaneus's canon, which appends Revelation quite dubiously (having earlier rejected it), are 6th Century forgeries, and several other examples of this kind of forgery (previously unknown) are included.

Eschatology and 2012
La Some's alternate history includes the Omega Point-like notion that the 2012 "event" involves a large number of simultaneous social changes, peaking trends and unique events: a simultaneity-spike. Some of the components of that event are:
 * Feminisation of World Politics: by December 2012, following the election of Elizabeth Montgomery to the US Presidency, the majority of members of the Security Council, and more than 40% of the members of the General Assembly, have female heads of State.
 * Emergence of AI from the pool and the georgebox project, culminating in the pseudo-empathic "awakening" of Seven
 * Attempted assassination of Pres. Bush by a New Zealander
 * Marriage of William V and activation of the ley-line grid (following a plan millions of years in execution)

Timeline
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2009

 * First half of 2009: US election result breaks Union; California, Hawaii succeed; New England Coalition forms
 * 25 February 2009: "Russian Messiah" (see ) first attracts attention
 * 08 May 2009: EU assumes control of European domains from IANA, designates domain names inalienable (ie. non-transferable) business identifiers
 * 13 May 2009: US President Bush issues "Anti-Christ Memo"
 * 29 May 2009: Nicholas VI condemns Americans for false eschatology; praises William V's peace efforts
 * 05 June 2009: Putin breaks off diplomatic ties with Israel, ostensibly over 2006 Iranian bombings
 * 10 July 2009: US and Russia (see Ya'juj and Ma'juj, Gog and Magog) withdraw from United Nations (beginning of "the Tribulation")
 * 12 July 2009: William Windsor diagnosed mentally ill, withdraws from public life
 * 06 November 2009: US Treasury defaults on short-term bills

2010

 * 12 August 2010: Nato and EGF Peacekeepers are deployed along US borders with New England Confederacy

2011

 * 04 February 2011: William V returns to public life with Parkinson interview

2012

 * 21 December 2012: Marriage of William V; assassination attempt on President Bush

2013

 * 18 February 2013: The Burial of War at the "Ground Zero" Garden of forgiveness

[ << Previous ]