Paul DeBlassie III, Ph.D., is a psychotherapist and writer living in his native New Mexico. A member of the Depth Psychology Alliance, the Transpersonal Psychology Association, and the International Association for Relational Psy- choanalysis and Psychotherapy, he has for over thirty years treated survivors of the dark side of religion.
SoulCare, his professional consultation practice is devoted to the tending of the soul. One of the few therapists writing fiction with a healing emphasis, Dr. DeBlassie has been deeply influenced by the surreal beauty and natural magic of the mestizo myth of Aztlan.
The Unholy is his first novel.
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A young curandera, a medicine woman, intent on uncovering the secrets of her past is forced into a life-and-death battle against an evil Archbishop. Set in the mystic land of Aztlan, the Unholy is a novel of destiny as healer and slayer. native lore of dreams and visions, shape changing, and natural magic work to spin a neo-gothic web in which sadness and mystery lure the unsuspecting into a twilight realm of discovery and decision.
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Q) What inspired you to write this story?
Over thirty years of treating patients who have suffered from the dark side of religion inspired The Unholy. The travails and dramatic life stories ushered my imagination into a phantasmagoric realm in which a young medicine woman engages in a life-and-death battle against an evil Archbishop. Dreams, such as ones experienced in therapy, and synchronous events, natural magical happenings, inform the healing process just as they guided Claire in her battle against evil!
Q) How long did it take you to write?
Q) How long did it take you to write?
The book was in process for ten years. After years of rejection from other publishing houses, Jim Smith of Sunstone Press in Santa Fe, New Mexico saw it and claimed it. The actual writing took two to three years with edits. The Unholy was its own journey of discovery and natural magical happenings!
Q) What is your favorite thing about writing?
Q) What is your favorite thing about writing?
Listening to the unconscious mind unfold creatively in the form of story, dramatic narrative is fascinating. The characters come alive, speak to you, tell you what to write, what they suffer, their challenges, and their outcome. The Unholy filtered through my waking life, dreams, and ongoing musings during the three years in which it was written. I totally enjoy the life of the story felt within the context of my daily life and inspiration and then taken to paper.
Q) What is your least favorite thing about writing?
Q) What is your least favorite thing about writing?
Waiting to hit the page running is my least favorite thing about writing. The anticipation of pouring words out onto paper can be painful. You want to get to it and do it. The pain is in the waiting. The Unholy would allow me to write only so much at a time, pause, let days pass, wait, write more….painful in the waiting…a pregnancy of sorts.
Q) If you could be any famous person for one day, who would you be and why?
Q) If you could be any famous person for one day, who would you be and why?
No fame for me. The mystics of old would flee the thing. They felt it compromised them. I believe that. Archbishop William Anarch in The Unholy craved the power and prestige of fame, among other things. When you read the story, you’ll see where it got him.
Q) What is the oldest thing in your fridge and how old is it?
Q) What is the oldest thing in your fridge and how old is it?
Old memories are the oldest thing in my fridge. They’ve been there metaphorically for a good, long time. Funny thing, when I open up the fridge, things from the past pop to mind. So often, the stored memories of pleasant encounters and painful occurrences usher forward. In The Unholy, a young woman is haunted by the past, things stored in her mental fridge, and needs to come to terms with them, to face the past, deal with it, or forever be haunted.
Q) What can readers expect from you in the future?
Q) What can readers expect from you in the future?
The Dark Goddess is rolling out. It’s another psychological thriller set in the mythopoeic realm of Aztlan, same region as The Unholy. It’s a novel asking is bad love better than no love? This and other psychospiritual thrillers will be coming on down the pike over the next few years.
