Otherworld Cottage announces 2015 publication of "Morningstone" and "Mysteries of Morningstone," two new books by Travis Edward Pike

August 25, 2014 - The current Otherworld Cottage release of the nearly 50 minute "Morningstone Music" CD album, features songs and music Pike created for the unproduced 1987 progressive rock movie musical, "Morningstone" he is currently adapting into a novel. Pike also has plans for "Mysteries of Morningstone," an illustrated non-fiction book that will explore the story's underlying folklore, mythology and traditions.

Adapting a screenplay for a musical intended to be a sonic and visual experience is a daunting task. Theater-goers would have experienced the main character's mystical adventure with him, and their understanding would be based on that shared experience. Notwithstanding the availability of the audio CD, sequences meant to be experienced by theater audiences must now be rewritten to engage a reader's imagination, its images and spells invoked through the printed word, to readers from all walks of life, each bringing to the story his or her own cultural background, fears, desires and prejudices.

Both the screenplay and the book are set in 1987 Britain, where after an exhausting May Eve concert telecast from a ruined (and possibly haunted), Abby, American pop star Morgan celebrates delivery of his new sports car by taking an ill-advised nocturnal spin through a dark, stormy and unfamiliar landscape. Lulled to sleep by the sweep of his windshield wipers, he skids off the road — into a ditch not of this world, but of a timeless province of the Celtic Otherworld called Morningstone. A film audience would experience Morgan's trials, delights and terrors vicariously as he is exposed to the unfamiliar traditions and exotic music of the supernatural realm and, upon his return to "reality," readily understand why Morgan might believehis life was spared for a purpose.

For the novel version, Pike decided to tell his story through a narrator, Morgan's manager, a practical everyman, present at Morgan's hospital bedside where the pop star lay comatose for several hours. During his recovery, Morgan tells Rodney Muses chose him for their champion, basing their selection on his being a musician and thus, already in service to them, and because they need an enchanter to bring Mankind back into conformity with Nature's laws. A singer-songwriter, he is, by definition, an enchanter, a spellbinder able to delight, captivate, fascinate and charm through the mystery of song. In one of its earliest meanings, the verb "o enchant" meant to set words to music.

With the fate of the human race in the balance, Morgan begins recording his "Morningstone Music," spells of atonement intended to bring Mankind back into conformity with Nature's law, but the reality of Rodney's long vigil at Morgan's bedside, makes it nearly impossible for him to accept Morgan's mystical rebirth as anything more than a dream – or nightmare.

One fan called the "Morningstone Music" CD, "A massive piece of operatic proportions, with a sweeping score that propels the listener into another world …" Morningstone's music samples are posted online at http://morningstone.com/THEMUSIC.html. The CD and digital downloads of the album and singles are available in the Otherwolrd Cottage Industries online store.

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