Walnut Springs Press Month: Spotlight on Theresa Sneed

Spotlight on

Theresa Sneed
 

Growing up in the woodlands of Maine and spending most of her time climbing trees and looking for snakes under rocks, author Theresa Sneed has a wealth of childhood experiences and a lively imagination from which she creates her magical stories. As a mother of six, a grandmother of four and an elementary school teacher, she enjoys weaving stories of fantasy and adventure that bring about moments of wonder and reflection.

Theresa is the author of 2 published novels with Walnut Springs Press. No Angel was published in 2011 and was a Whitney Award finalist. Its sequel, Earthbound was published earlier this year.

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What Are Sheydim?

by Theresa Sneed

I've had a couple readers ask me where I got the word sheydim from in my book No Angel and what sheydim are. Most people refer to them as demons and glorify them with muscle-bound bodies and supernatural powers, but the fact is, that they are simply spirits who never received a mortal body and have ZERO power unless you give it to them. I delved deep in my research to come up with the best term that I could find to define their true character and found this at torah.org - The Judaism Site: "There's actually also a *third* sort of phenomenon that's neither specifically spiritual or physical but acts as an intermediary between the two, known as "sheidim" in Hebrew. That term is usually translated as "demons", which has a decidedly sinister ring to it. "Phantoms" or "ghosts" are closer to the sense of the word; but those terms also carry certain connotations that are off the mark. Suffice it to say that "sheidim" are phenomena that can't be experienced with the five senses, so they might be thought to be spiritual; yet they interface with the material world, so they might be thought to be physical. But they're actually of a class all their own, and are neither spiritual nor physical. It's pointed out in the Talmud that sheidim are all around us all the time. They’re more numerous than we, and we'd in fact be thunderstruck and undone if we were actually able to see them (Tractate Berachos 6A). This is similar to what I found three years ago when I wrote No Angel, except the resource I use spelled sheidim with a y instead of an i.

(Theresa Sneed Blog, http://theresasmallsneed.blogspot.com/)

Walnut Springs Press Books

by Theresa Sneed

Title: No Angel
Author: Theresa Sneed
Release Date: August 2011
Publisher: Walnut Springs Press (Facebook | Twitter)
Genre: Paranormal
Series: Book #1 of No Angel series

Jonathan Stewart is not at all happy about having to return to earth as a guardian angel, but it's required of all post-mortal spirits to fulfill at least one angel guardianship. Fortunately, on the Guardians Unlimited application, he had the good sense to request a client with early-marked-death status, so he believes that while his stay on earth will be most unpleasant, at least it will be short. What he doesn't know is that a spirit with EMD status can choose his or her time of death Jonathan's client, Celeste Knight, has a mind of her own and refuses death at every turn, leaving him stuck as her guardian angel-in a place he only wanted to forget.

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Title: Earthbound
Author: Theresa Sneed
Release Date: May 2012
Publisher: Walnut Springs Press (Facebook | Twitter)
Genre: Paranormal
Series: Book #2 of No Angel series

Heaven used to be such a perfect place...As the time draws near for the first spirits to leave their home in heaven, a group of rebellious dissenters begins to appear at every blue-planet planning meeting, demanding that all mortals are ruled by compulsory choice, instead of having the freedom to choose for themselves. Daniel is a courageous Freedom Fighter who vehemently opposes the No Choice movement. Sophie is impressed by his strong desire to do what's right...and by his intense blue eyes. But she also has a strange attraction to the handsome and ostentatious Coe, a leader of the No Choice movement, who has his sights on her and will stop at nothing to claim her as his own.

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