Aum Nicol
Joy of Infinite Possibilities
Now a new novel
that asks“What if”and
dares to imagine
what your soul craves...
to love one another.
Lights Around Her: The Girl Who Sees Angels
The year is 2040 and Jemmy Sterling is born able to see angels. It’s been decades since a pandemic swept across the planet and humanity is trying to embrace the ideals of the Highest Good. Growing up is anything but normal, especially when a nefarious organization learns that Jemmy sees angels and wants to perform strange psychological research on the child.
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Human and angelic guidance intervenes and life seems to take on a new normal, but only for a short while. At sixteen years of age, Jemmy discovers the organization is a real threat. They exemplify how the world is sinking back into old ways. Angels make a request but Jemmy doubts her ability to help humanity especially with the organization in pursuit.
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Can Jemmy escape the clutches of the organization and help humanity evolve or transform towards the Highest Good for All?
"What if” asks for change
“Imagination" is the tool
“Who am I” is the fear
“I can” is the truth
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I was born in Trinidad, and at three years old, I came to Canada with my parents, who answered a call for teachers from Commonwealth countries. My family's art of storytelling has inspired me.
My first book was published when I was in grade five. A cereal box with papers stapled inside created my first hardcover poetry book. Ever since, I loved making up stories. During my incredible and playful teaching career, I enjoyed the challenge of creating poetry, games, and stories to suit all subject areas.
My first published book was A Multicultural Alphabet: Celebrating Canada's Identity. I wrote and illustrated it as therapy during treatment for breast cancer. I shall soon rebrand it under Sunara Press, along with a series of children's bedtime stories, The Adventures of the Three Little Chickens. I was able to publish A Gift of the Gurus written by my mom, Anjanee Gyan, a book on foundational gurus and their meditational techniques.
I began writing Lights Around Her in 2018 about a pandemic. Little did I know what would happen in the year 2020. I didn't want to write about what the world was intimately facing, so I imagined how life changed for the better in a future scenario. By intertwining life events similar to COVID-19 along with the social and cultural issues of this time, this story holds a mirror to humanity, suggesting there can be hope for the Highest Good for All.
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My husband and I live in Grande Prairie, Alberta, with two dogs. I'm now a retired elementary school teacher, amateur artist, and writer. Lights Around Her: The Girl Who Sees Angels is my first novel.
Aum Nicol
Let’s Ask Some Questions!
When did you begin writing your novel and why?
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I began writing in February 2018 and the story emerged because of the climate of social, cultural, environmental, and political events worldwide. Sometimes people, like myself, worry and ask, 'what can one person do?' Many often dream of a utopia to escape our current events.
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Is your story about a utopian society?
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This story isn't an escape to an alternate reality. Instead, it takes us just past our current pandemic to see how humanity is trying to change. During the writing stage, I watched the 2008 movie, The Day the Earth Stood Still, and a quote from that movie struck a chord. "It's only at the precipice that we change." It was precisely the sense of my book.
Did you start writing about a pandemic in 2018, or did that come about from COVID-19?
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That's the freaky part. In 2018, I began writing about a pandemic and what people were going through. The virus in that version came from a meteorite. In March 2020, when I was nearing the end of writing my book, COVID-19 began, and my son, who had been reading my drafts, told me that I wrote this pandemic. It was a bit unnerving.
I decided to alter the storyline to be about life after a pandemic. It offered me a chance to envision what types of changes might occur to create a better world. When the coronavirus started, real-life began influencing the storyline.
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Why did you use angels? Is this a religious story?
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I wanted to use beings smarter than us who would guide us. Using aliens was certainly a possibility, but I wanted something more intimate. Guardian angels are personal to each of us, so I chose that route. I don't think it's a religious story because I'm not writing about any particular doctrine.
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Does your novel have a message?
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There are underlying messages in the novel about conspiracy theories and empathy, but I won't go into detail without giving away spoilers.