I have just read Renewal and enjoyed it enormously. It depicts in very clear way the character's journey after death and manages to portray the detachment felt by the spirit, the essential element of the afterlife. Of course, to those who believe that one passes to heaven, (or the alternative!) quite soon after death might be disappointed that one must live multiple lives to make themselves ready for eternal reward! Indeed if this philosophy was more widely accepted, I surmise that the state of the world might be the better for it.
I was particularly interest in one of the character's sojourn as an Irish farmer heading off to a better world on an ill-fated voyage. Ironically, the character achieves a better world although not necessarily what was envisaged at the outset!

I just finished reading this work of art. How imaginative and very creative! I couldn't stop reading until I came to the end. I am putting this one on my bookshelf.

Winona

Anne has a wicked sense of humour. To appreciate this particular example, it will require you to read the preview yourself.
( Anne, I don't download as such, sorry, my PC is creaking as it is after recently grappling with a 600M file )
However, three thumbs purely because I reckon you are as cracked as I am. )

John Haines ( Josh Rogan )

This work is so realistic and matter-of-fact that it enables the reader to see clearly how consciousness can continue beyond the death of the physical body. It is almost as though the author is a reporter, simply writing a chronicle of events up to, including, and after, death, and then the surprising discovery at the end. One of the great pluses is the lack of any attempt to get the reader to adopt a particular belief system.

"Renewal" is well worth your time and I look forward to more from Anne in this vein.

Although I do not believe in reincarnation, I do find this work to be masterfully written. The details of this work are very realistic; moreover, a segment of the work involves a shooting that is described very accurately and many other such events are described very accurately and realistically within the first person perspective. Overall, this is the type of work that is very accurate in details.

I find that this work teaches the concept of reincarnation; moreover, this work is maybe one of the more reasonable stories that I have read that shows the concept of reincarnation applied in fictional writings. I however find that the reason why the teaching is so popular in my opinion is because people whom see God as being distant often look for ways to still make the case that a god is existent and even thus an afterlife; moreover, all of my friends whom have died and whom have come back never report any type of activity that even remotely resembles the idea of reincarnation. Overall, the concept of reincarnation has been popular over the years because of eastern religion that mainly centers around the aria of India involving the Hindus and Buddhists.

One of the reasons why I do not believe in the teaching of reincarnation is because I believe that God is very close. In fact this work does not ever make reference to God let alone God being close or actively part of a person’s life. I find overall that those religious systems that teach that God is close will also have a teaching of the afterlife that does not approve of reincarnation, and those religious systems that teach that God is far always will often teach about reincarnation when referencing the afterlife.

If God is close to use then by our own decisions we could choose to accept him or deny him. In fact when we hear a voice in our mind’s that tells us the better of the two moral decisions that we are to make we can choose to listen to the voice or not listen to the voice, and thus we can choose between accepting God and denying God. Truly we all hear this voice we call conscious, and the way that most people get conscious to leave is by denying conscious.

How else would we ever know truth if we did not have conscious? If a person has the proper relationship with conscious, then would such a person not have a relationship with the truth? If we had a relationship with the truth, then would this not be better end even if this led us ourselves to be condemned would not a relationship with truth be better than anything else that we could gain.

In the story we are told of a criminal that is hardened. Does this criminal at all follow conscious, or does he instead not have conscious anymore to guide him. Hasn’t he just decided that at one time he knew what is true but has chosen not to follow?

What I am proposing is that the spirit of God is felt by conscious, and that throughout our lives we live making decisions that deny God or accept God. When we dye, we do not need a time for reincarnation because our acceptance or rejectedness of God has already been determined and thus we would loose all choice about choosing or rejecting God if the choices became taken away and we became reincarnated. Truly a God would not choose for us that we love him but instead would have use choose for ourselves.

In the examples that I have seen of actual people that have died and returned to life that I have spoken to none of these people appeared to believe that God was just trying to force his way into their selves by bringing them back and giving them another opportunity. Instead some of these people had conceptions that are very evil to have, and many of these same people sought to free themselves of the captivity of their own beliefs when given a second chance to live. Overall, the way that we see the world with what we call knowledge as well as values, ideals, and systems of values makes the difference of how we will generate our beliefs.

Wow this is good. I am into the supernatural fantasy genre.

Johnna

A very well written story that centers on our perceptions. It is nice to think that our deaths will be like this. And if we think about it, our lives can do. This tale though not the least bit preachy, speaks volumes about perception and just how things we view as extremely important may not be in the long run. It speaks about forgiveness and pettiness as well. I wholeheartedly recommend this and will be reading more from this author in the future.

Renewal is such a great story - It really makes you think about life. I enjoyed it from beginning to end!