PATTAYA, Thailand – On 18th October, author Ren Lexander introduced the Pattaya City Expats Club to his HellDemons vision. Ren took the audience through his journey to writing “Initiation,” the first of four novels in his “HellDemons” saga. It is Ren’s second novel. His first novel, “Eye of the Shadow,” was published in Australia by Penguin and short-listed for Book of the Year.
Ren noted that the basis of this saga is the second biggest influence on Thai culture after Buddhism: The Ramakien (“The Glory of Rama”). Originally from India where it is called “The Ramayana,” Thai royalty so loved it that Thai kings were involved in translating it and adapting it into Thailand. They also adopted this as their royal name: Rama.
Almost all foreigners do not realize they have seen images of these demons of Thai myth. But they have. Any demon figure you see at a temple is a representation of a demon from The Ramakien – positioned there to protect the temple. Ren’s HellDemons vision was spawned by a question: “Whatever happened to the demons from the Ramakien?” The answer suggested by a friend and fellow-writer was that they have been serving in the Buddhist version of hell (Naraka/Narok) where souls sink to if they have become too heavy with bad karma to continue human incarnations. There, hell demons inflict pain on souls commensurate with their misdeeds.
In Ren’s words to introduce his saga: “Have you noticed that the world is going to hell at the moment? There is a bad reason for this. Eight demons have deserted their posts in hell. They have been hiding amongst us in human form… manipulating the course of humankind… aiming to enslave the entire human race. And, unknown to us, they are slowly and secretly doing just that. But there could be turning point… maybe… Ciao Bella Café in Los Angeles. A strange man walks in and is served by a waitress-wannabe-actress named Brandi…” Ren’s provided many striking pictures to emphasize his narrative which can be viewed by visiting http://www.pcecnews.com/permNL/Ren Lexander – The Birth of HellDemons.pdf.
To close his talk, Ren read the first review of his novel from Linda Hansen: “Wow – where to start? I am only 40% through this novel and it has had an effect on me like very few novels have ever had. The characters right from the first paragraph are palpable. It is written in a way where I can put myself in Brandi’s place. The novel is compelling, exciting and thought-provoking. There are many references that have brought me to tears and some that are related to today’s modern advances – whether good or bad – that have left me challenging my own current actions and wondering is there something different or possibly a better way to act on a basic level. Anyway – I love this novel. I look forward to reading it again and again. And I also look forward to future novels by Ren.”
Ren said this should be perfect reading for Helloween… Oh, he meant “Halloween.” To learn more, visit this website: https://helldemons.com/. To buy “Initiation”, the first boo in Ren’s saga, visit: https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B0CKL9DG8Y?geniuslink=true. To watch the video of his talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgkwgmBsiQE.
Ren, also being the MC for the meeting, brought everyone up to date on upcoming events and called on George Wilson to conduct the Open Forum portion of the meeting where the audience can ask questions or make comments about Expat living in Thailand, especially Pattaya. To learn more about the PCEC, visit their website at https:/pcec.club.
