Scions of Darkness: Progenie
GENRE
ACTION GOTHIC FANTASY FOLKTALE HISTORICAL FICTION
Core Theme
ONE'S POTENTIAL/DESTINY.
TIME PERIOD
17th Century or Earlier,Contemporary
COMPARABLE TITLES
TWILIGHT, UNDERWORLD, GAME OF THRONES.
CHARACTER LIST
ZEN GRANT (F/20S) -- LEAD. COMPASSIONATE, POWERFUL, PATIENT, NOBLE, SUPERNATURAL.
CHAZ RUTLEDGE (M/20S) -- LEAD. SELF-ASSURED, CAPABLE, LONGING, HUMAN.
SAMUEL (M/60S) -- SUPPORTING. CARING, CAUTIOUS, VULNERABLE, HUMAN.
JOSEPH (M/5000) -- SUPPORTING. DASTARDLY, UNNERVING, NEFARIOUS, CALLOUS.
EMMETT (M/183) -- SUPPORTING. CAUTIOUS, WISE, SECURE, SUPPORTIVE.
ALBERT (M/TEENS) -- SUPPORTING. YOUNG, GAY, VULNERABLE, LONELY, INNOCENT.
Logline
Progenie is a character-driven work that combines urban fantasy and historical fiction. The mythology of the Abrahamic religions provides a rich backdrop as Zenobia Grant seeks to save her father from a savage force.
Target Audiences
Age: 18-34,35-54
Target Gender: Universal
Setting
Houston, Paris, Yemen, Ethiopia, Egypt, Jerusalem
Based on a True Story
No
Publishing Details
Status: Yes: with a Publisher
Publisher: Ellysian Press
Year Published: 2019
Starting Description
Chaz Rutledge stumbles upon a gallery where he discovers a portrait that looks almost precisely like Zenobia. Believing this could be a link to the mother Zen, Chaz purchases the painting and unwittingly leads Joseph, a malevolent ancient Child of Lylith, to Zen.
Ending Description
Joseph kidnaps Zen's father, Samuel, and holds him hostage until Zen gives him an ancient artifact left her by her mother. Zen gives in to the dark powers she has resisted all her life and becomes the monster she was born to be to save her father.
Group Specific
Information not completed
Hard Copy Available
Yes
ISBN
1941637566
Mature Audience Themes
Extreme Violence, Language/Profanity,Nudity
Plot - Other Elements
Coming of Age
Plot - Premise
Internal Journey/Rebirth
Main Character Details
Name: Zenobia Grant
Age: 23yrs
Gender: Female
Role: Protagonist
Key Traits: Badass,Sexy,Complex,Blunt,Empathetic,Skillful,Educated,Naive,Lone Wolf,Secretive
Additional Character Details
Name: Joseph
Age: 5000 yrs
Gender: Other
Role: Antagonist
Key Traits: Villainous,Aggressive,Complex,Power Hungry,Faithful,Skillful,Secretive,Unapologetic,Lone Wolf
Additional Character Details
Name: Emmett Bazarab
Age: 183
Gender: Male
Role: mentor
Key Traits: Sexy,Masculine,Badass,Complex,Honorable,Leader,Secretive,Seductive,Skillful
Additional Character Details
Name: Albert Rutledge
Age: 19 yrs
Gender: Lgbt
Role: antagonist
Key Traits: Underdog,Modest,Obedient,Sexy,Engaging,Insecure,Naive,Lone Wolf,Secretive,Romantic
Genre
ACTION, THRILLER, ROMANCE, LGBT, FANTASY, MATURE AUDIENCE
Brief
Zen is a descendent of demonic and vampiric beings boasting supreme strength and telepathy. When her human father is taken by an ancient and nefarious being, she must partner with a slew well-intentioned vampires and her off-and-on human lover to defeat the malicious forces. In the end, after her father is killed and her adversaries are vanquished, Zen comes into her own as a powerful supernatural being and braces for continued conflicts and journeys to come.
Overall Rating
FAIR
Narrative Elements
Authors Writing Style: FAIR
Characterization: FAIR
Commerciality: FAIR
Franchise Potential: GOOD
Pace: FAIR
Premise: FAIR
Structure: FAIR
Theme: FAIR
Accuracy of Book Profile
Yes, it is robust and informative. Although, the logline feels more like a sell rather than a snapshot of the story and characters, which would be more ideal.
Draw of Story
What drew me into the story immediately were the in media res qualities of the first few dozen pages. We jump in and are immediately faced with unnerving beings, with an actively failing marriage, and with a rather pulse-pounding altercation in Zen's introduction. All in all, the author wastes little time in throwing action and excitement toward the audience, asking questions that will surely be answered as we go.
Possible Drawbacks
Yes. This book is a bit difficult to read due to the sheer volume of characters and mythology elements. After a while, it becomes easy to lose track of the characters and their interrelations. It becomes hard to remember all of the names, places, practices, and things. In fact, the author has a five page glossary at the end of the text. If the explanation was ample enough and if the time was spent--or spent more efficiently--to lay the groundwork, there might not even be a need for said glossary.
Use of Special Effects
THE STORY RELIES HEAVILY ON SPECIAL EFFECTS
Primary Hook of Story
The hook is that this work feels like a mash-up, in some ways, of TWILIGHT and GAME OF THRONES. It's definitely long form, but it has a robust cast and complex concepts that almost demand long form on screen to be rendered to completion. The amount of sex, violence, and intrigue rivals that of GAME OF THRONES, not to mention the many creature inclusions. Fans of either aforementioned properties will be sure to tune in.
Fanbase Potential
This could perhaps have a sizable fanbase-- It seems to have all of the hallmarks and attractions of blockbuster works like TWILIGHT and GAME OF THRONES, namely sex, violence, monsters, and romance.
Awards Potential
No, this is not an awards contender. It is much more geared toward pulp and entertainment, leaning closer to the UNDERWORLD and TWILIGHT series more than it does true awards fare like LORD OF THE RINGS.
Envisioned Budget
LARGE BUDGET
Similar Films/TV Series
TWILIGHT, UNDERWORLD, GAME OF THRONES
What’s New About the Story
What is original about this work is its massive scale. It seems to take familiar elements from horror and gothic properties and to expand them over a massive scope. The mythology feels robust and well-built out, and the inclusion of scenes from thousands of years ago strikes as particularly distinct and interesting.
Lead Characters
Zen stands out for her untapped potential. She is grounded, complex, and human in her personality-- She has demonstrable values and empathy. However, she is in some ways a shell for an intensely powerful demonic/vampiric inner self. This interesting dichotomy is what makes Zen memorable.
Uniqueness of Story
This is not a rare gem. Although there are many fresh facets to its scale, imagery, commerciality, and concept, the overall reading experience is a bit burdensome-- challenging to a fault. Smoothening out the mythology and history of the world and characters would make this work more palatable. Right now, the family trees and massive glossary are not enough to make this work as accessible as it needs to be.
Possible Formats
TV Series: Network, Cable, Limited Run / Mini-Series, Streaming
Analyst Recommendation
WORK IN PROGRESS
Justification
Right now, despite its obvious conceptual virtues, this work has more work to be done to make it more palatable, efficient, and easy-to-follow. Right now, how challenging it is to keep track of the endless interrelations and the massive mythological background seems to be holding this work back.
Tips for Improvement
What would need to change is that the author would need to do another combing through from the perspective of a new reader. Right now, she seems to be asking much of the audience to keep track. For starters, what are the opportunities to more feasibly insert the family tree and glossary terms into the actual text and story. How can the author make the audience work without them even realizing it? How can the experience be as efficient and effortless as it can be while still compelling and weighty?
Brief
After her mortal father is kidnapped by an ancient and nefarious being, a young woman with supernatural abilities must team with her human ex boyfriend and a slew of loyal vampire-like beings in order to rescue her kin.
What We Liked
This work stood out for the simple fact that it checks many commerciality boxes-- For instance, it has sex, violence, intrigue, and creatures aplenty. Fans of the likes TWILIGHT to GAME OF THRONES will be sure to tune in for the incredibly high stakes, the vivid gothic imagery, and the enticing romance and sex.
Film: Audiences would flock to this work due to its many enticing features in the form of graphic sex and equally graphic violence. It has something for everybody in that it checks all of the most viable boxes for commerciality. Moreover, this work features a scope and conflict that feels big enough to earn its place on the big screen. The visuals and creature allure alone would be more than enough to entice an audience, and this work has much more than simply that.
TV: This would make a viable candidate for adaptation for TV due to its sheer scope. Imagine GAME OF THRONES but with vampire and demon lore and set in the modern day-- The sex, violence, and creature thrills will be certain to call rightful attention to itself. In fact, the sheer volume of mythology and characters in this work would almost require a longer-format in order to most fully flesh out all of the characters and conflict. There would be no filler episodes for an adaptation of this.
Key points:
1. The moody, interesting, gothic visuals.
2. The creature and horror genre fare.
3. The intense sex and romance.
4. The high stakes-- both personal and worldly.
5. The inclusion of a story line from thousands of years in the past that dutifully accents the events of the present.
Synopsis
We meet the self-assured CHAZ RUTLEDGE, 20s, while on his Paris honeymoon with LORI. Chaz is enchanted by a mysterious painting that resembles his estranged former lover, ZEN, and has a curious encounter with the owner of the painting, the unnerving JOSEPH. Soon, Lori leaves Chaz, as he is still evidently hung up on Zen. In Houston, we meet the impossibly strong telepath of demonic descent, ZEN, 20s, who lives with her ordinary, human father SAMUEL, 60s, and practices medicine at a local hospital. Intercut with the present, is a storyline from ancient times, where we follow the mystical "Djinni" UMAYA as she conceives and births a prophetic child of limitless potential, MAKEDA. Soon, Chaz returns to the United States, set on reuniting with the skeptical and resistant Zen.
Meanwhile, Chaz's younger cousin ALBERT has an encounter with the vampire CLAUDIUS. Before long, they fall deeply in love, and an intense romance yields Claudius turning Albert into a vampire, or "Scion," too. Soon, Joseph, also a Scion, partners with the spiteful Lori, who reinvents herself as LOLA. The two head for Texas, where they abduct Zen's beloved father Samuel. Meanwhile, Zen is sedated and abducted by the mysterious EMMETT. Millenia ago, we follow Makeda as she consorts with royalty and rises to power, aided by her supernatural abilities.
She soon crosses paths with the demonic and charming JOSEPHUS, a juvenile version of modern day's Joseph. Josephus falls out with Makeda, and he resorts to biting her, effectively turning her into a Djinni/Scion hybrid. Emmett brings Zen up to speed, a cautious ally of hers, while Chaz soon links up with them. They reflect on the fact that Joseph and his followers have recruited Lori/Lola and Albert into their circle of influence, as well as the fact that vulnerable human Samuel is being held prisoner. Chaz and Zen have intense, passionate sex, where Zen shows her true demonic form. They brace for an imminent confrontation. Claudius soon defects and joins the side of Emmett, Zen, and co. He fears for Albert, who has been taken by Joseph as a punishment.
Soon, Zen and co. face-off against Joseph and his followers. She discovers that poor Samuel has been violently slain by Joseph. With that, a final confrontation ensues, with Zen squaring off with Joseph head-on. A riotous battle ensues, leaving Albert with a broken neck. After a tense back and forth with Joseph, Zen exhibits her full power, vanquishing Joseph, who only narrowly manages to escape with his life. Chaz and Zen take time to recover from the conflict, while Chaz wrestles over his deep sexual attraction to Zen's true, demonic form. Claudius opts to take the comatose Albert to a hospital in France, clinging to hope that Albert will recover from his brutal injury. Chaz and Zen share a kiss, although they are spun over Zen increasingly leaning into her true form. Zen comes to realize that her mother, none other than Makeda, might be still alive. She reflects on the death of Samuel, parts ways with Chaz, and braces for looming conflicts with those that wish her harm.