CJ Toca's Tapestry of Suspense and Spiritual Evolution

Embark on an enthralling exploration of the mystical as we engage with CJ Toca, the creative force behind "The Secret Heir" and "The Vacant Seat." Toca enjoys writing suspense and mystery fiction with an eye toward the spiritual or mystical aspects of life, and it should be no surprise that "The Secret Heir" contains both spiritual and mystical components. 

Toca enjoys settings that are somewhat unique and not often used, such as rural and urban New Jersey, rural Scotland, Malta, the Cape Verde Islands, Brazil, Turkmenistan, rural Arizona, and Mexico in "The Secret Heir." "The Vacant Seat" transports the reader to Italy, but also again to rural Scotland and Brazil. Toca's intent is to paint a vivid description of these locales, transporting the reader there. As an avid reader of fiction and non-fiction, an Anglophile, and a buff of religion, art, and history, Toca's interests shine through in his writing.

In this episode, CJ opens up about his literary journey, revealing how he intricately weaves threads of suspense and spirituality into his characters' transformative experiences. Stefania and Thomas become our guides through thrilling mysteries, their skepticism giving way to profound spiritual insights. Grappling with the fusion of fact and fiction, CJ recounts the challenges of embedding authentic historical and religious lore within his tales, inviting readers to witness Stefania's evolution from doubt to clairvoyance in his upcoming novel, "The Lost Painting."

Prepare to be captivated as we traverse through the rich tapestry of spiritual themes that CJ Toca masterfully depicts in his adventure-laden trilogy. The personal odysseys of Stefania and Thomas are set against the backdrop of iconic cultural and spiritual locales, from the sacred corridors of the Vatican to the vibrant heart of Brazil. Their journey is punctuated by a love for art and music, with Stefania's connection to Caravaggio and the operatic realm underscoring the profound role such expressions play in our search for meaning.

As we eagerly anticipate "The Lost Painting," we are teased with the promise of deeper clairvoyant experiences and a shrouded secret about Thomas poised to weave an even richer narrative of life, death, and the supernatural.

To learn more about CJ Toca Click Here 

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:48

Hello everyone, welcome to our spiritual spotlight series. Today I am joined by CJ Toca. He is the author of two books the Secret Air and the Vacant Seat. His author, he does focus on spiritual fiction, which I think is amazing, especially for the spiritual spotlight series. Cj, thank you so much for coming on today. I'm so happy you're here.

Speaker 2: 1:09

Thanks, rachel, appreciate it. I'm great to be with you today.

Speaker 1: 1:13

We're just going to jump right in. So CJ, your book, the Vacant Seat. It dives deep into spiritual mysteries. Can you maybe share the initial inspiration behind the story and how it evolved from concept to final manuscript?

Speaker 2: 1:29

Yes, I felt that there wasn't. Well, I mean, there's a great deal of fiction out there, certainly about spiritual matters, but I wanted to take a character who has no spiritual background whatsoever and bring that character in a series of books through a spiritual awakening, if you will, not only spiritual but sort of a metaphysical awakening, because as the series progresses she develops a clairvoyance, and I interviewed a clairvoyant in connection with the books and I also interviewed another psychic as well. So I did some of my homework. So that was the sort of the inspiration and one of the main characters is also a spiritual person. So I wanted to have a spiritual role and then I wanted to have someone have sort of a spiritual awakening. So those were my In the context of sort of a mystery plot. So those were sort of my idea, and that's a short answer to your question, although it was all along.

Speaker 1: 3:01

I love that. So what I really admire about your writing is that it integrally weaves together suspense, mystery and spiritual elements. What draws you to incorporate these mystical aspects into your narratives?

Speaker 2: 3:16

Well, I felt that there's a lot of things out there in life that are truly mystical and truly unexplainable. And as the book the first book progresses, the main one of the main characters, thomas, constantly talks about the fact that there are no such things as coincidences. And the main one of the main characters, stefania, basically thinks it's all baloney and hogwash and superstition and she's not only not spiritual, she's not religious and she doesn't care about anything Until Thomas kind of drags her into his world. So the object was to really develop this character and through Thomas she develops.

Speaker 2: 4:26

And the first book that they can see involves it's a sort of a Dan Brown type of book that involves to a certain extent the Catholic faith, although there is a Muslim, sufi mystic who is also in the book, who I think is a mysterious aspect, adds a mysterious aspect to it. So that's sort of the impetus for this to have a spiritual character and a non-spiritual character. And the non-spiritual character is sort of drawn in to Thomas's world through Thomas and she finds all sorts of clues to lead her to resolve this mysterious, the mystery of the book. So that was sort of the idea and the second book is somewhat similar, but the secret air is the name of the second one, and it builds on her mystical, this mysticism, and she becomes even more attuned to her own spirituality. Hopefully that answered your question.

Speaker 1: 5:57

It did. I think that's amazing. So you brought up both Stefania and Thomas. Their relationship is central to the vacant seat. How did their spiritual journeys and personal quest for truth impact their dynamics throughout the story?

Speaker 2: 6:14

As I said, she initially really didn't like him all that much. He thought that he was stuffy. He's a British Duke and he's one of the few Catholic members of the British hereditary peers. She's basically an atheist, has no interest in her assignment. She's a journalist and her assignment had to do with the Vatican. So the idea was to, as I said, drag her into his world. Slowly but surely she gets dragged bookline, sink her into his world.

Speaker 2: 7:09

The idea was to create a spiritual awakening, as I've said. But it not only creates a spiritual awakening, it creates a metaphysical awakening as well. So the idea was that the characters would complement themselves. It wouldn't be like on a lot of similar stories Boy meets girl or boy meets boy or girl meets girl. They fall in love and the rest is history. Well, they fall in love. There's a frictional event, they question their relationship, their affections. Then it comes back and it's happily ever after story. Well, that's not really what I wanted to do here.

Speaker 2: 8:04

So I wanted to develop a construct that's going to last several books. So the characters don't really like each other initially. They eventually do fall in love, but intervening events beyond their control interfere with that and you don't get to that happily ever after story and Nori, do you get to it frankly in the next book either? So I hate to say that I'm stringing the reader along, but the idea is, as you know, and I think that everybody would agree, life isn't static. People grow over lifetime, some times change over a period of years or even shorter periods of time. So during the time frame of the two books there's an incredible metamorphosis with Stefania and we're going to see that even progress into the third book, the lost painting. So that sort of was my impetus to create characters that aren't necessarily, that don't fit the typical mold, that don't really like each other initially and that grow in the context of the books, of the story.

Speaker 1: 9:58

I think that's amazing. So one of the things that you kind of just touched upon was that your novels also they do have religious and historical elements. How do you navigate blending factual history with fiction, especially when dealing with sensitive spiritual topics?

Speaker 2: 10:20

That's an excellent question. So, as I said, I think that it has to be taken in the context of realism. And Thomas has opinions. He's a religious Catholic, his family is a religious Catholic, descended from what they would call recusants, which were Catholics who refused to convert during the Reformation in England, and he has a very prominent role in the church, but he doesn't buy into all of its teachings, but he's devout nevertheless. So what I had to do, or what the impetus was, is to wrap for the lack of a better word like a rope, like each strand of a rope or a yarn, various themes in the book that revolve around various prophecies and legends that are out there involving Catholicism, and the idea is that I've wrapped all those together and how they ultimately lead to the result, which is a sort of an ag at the Christi meeting at the end of the book, where all comes out. But Thomas knows about these things, stefania does it, he introduces her to these things. But you're right, I might be stepping on some toes, but, like I said, thomas has his opinions. He has opinions about the church and they're explored in the book. Stefania has opinions about religion. They're explored in the book. So I suppose, if people are thin skinned and they don't like some of the criticisms, but they're all actually true, in a sense, that people have these views. So if you have one dimensional characters who don't have views, then what good is your character right? So was it meant to be a tome? But it's meant to show that both Thomas and Stefania are multi-dimensional and Thomas explains his views in the vacancy and then later we find that Stefania taps a sixth sense that she didn't know she had.

Speaker 2: 13:40

So which, under certain Catholic teaching, a clairvoyance, and those type of, well, certainly, fortune telling and that type of thing are not disfavored. But we all know, if we've ever had experience with spiritualists and clairvoyance, that they exist and there may be something to it. Whether you believe it or not is up to every individual person. But, as I indicated to you, I interviewed a clairvoyant in connection with the book, a spiritualist. So I tried to get a flavor for how to set the scene. So I did my best.

Speaker 2: 14:41

I liked and back to your aspect of the historical aspects of it, I really liked to include true historical facts that have happened in the book, so adds a sense of realism to it rather than making stuff up out of cloth. There are things everyone can look up and relate to In the secret area. You can look up the prophecies of St Malachi, you can look up the Fatima prophecies, you can look up the Nostradamus prophecies so those are just a few and you can look up issues relating to the Pope's death. So I think that all of those things are built on some of these theories and hypotheses and speculation that are out there and I think that makes the book a better book. Hopefully that again answers your question. That was my intention. No, I think that's amazing.

Speaker 1: 15:58

It's wonderful that you can blend in history with religious aspects, with spirituality, and one of my questions is your characters often embark on quests that not only challenge them physically but also spiritually. How do you believe in the spiritual aspect of their growth? How do you believe that their spiritual awakenings contribute to the development and overall narrative arc of all?

Speaker 2: 16:22

of your books. Yeah, I think that the spiritual awakening of, certainly, stefania is a focal point of the book, of the books. However, you're right, their quest both books are quests and the third book is gonna be a quest-like situation and I wanted, as I said, in real life, no one's monolithic, no one's one-dimensional, everybody's got various dimensions. So I wanted the characters to grow and I wanted Stefania to grow and one of the I talked to Echler William about situations where clairvoyance really become in touch with their clairvoyance and it was suggested to me in many times they're in spiritual contexts. So many times I have Stefania's in a religious place, a church or a shrine of some kind, and she receives these feelings, these senses of futuristic events or times when she's at ease and at calm, and that you will see more in the second book, the Secret Air. But the idea is that this is a that she's embarking on this life struggle between her previous skepticism and her spirituality and even ultimately, in the third book, thomas becomes skeptical of her abilities but nevertheless she believes in herself. So that was the idea to move this like a truck or a car down the highway and the historical events and the plot are this impacting scenery and ultimately in each book there is an end game and a destination and the spiritual ality aspect is all part of the trip, so to speak, and hopefully the readers get that.

Speaker 2: 19:22

I can see not being popular with some folks, but it has to be read in the context of the characters and, as I said, I wanted to not make them monolithic, I didn't want to make them one-dimensional. So they have faults, they have issues in skepticism and Stefania is finding herself and Thomas is fighting various demons, including his, including. I don't want to give it away, but he's fighting various demons and he continued to do that in the third book. So that's sort of the idea. Every, each highway, as I said, is sort of a bumpy road with different scenery that gets to an end and in that those potholes are interspersed with spiritual events that I think move the move the platform.

Speaker 1: 20:30

So one of the things I do like about your books is that the characters travel extensively in their quest. They go from Scotland to Brazil. So how do these different cultures and spiritual traditions that they encounter influence or understanding in the story's mystical elements?

Speaker 2: 20:51

Yeah, that's a good, great question. Again, the idea was to mix it up a little bit, so I wanted to introduce the reader to mystical elements around the areas that the characters were involved. So so I wanted to bring the characters to places which you know I don't know if they're often written about in, certainly in English fiction by English I mean American fiction but perhaps little known places to a certain extent. So certainly everyone knows about Vatican City, where portion of the vacancy takes place. But this second book brings the well. Well, the vacancy brings the characters to Brazil, to the Brazilian interior and to areas that maybe folks haven't heard about or understood. The Aparáce de Shrine in Brazil is one of the ones that stands out in my mind as I felt was important to introduce the reader to. There is also the readers also introduced to some spiritual places in Rome and artwork. That is particularly if you've ever. It all depends on your personal point of view.

Speaker 2: 22:55

But I view artwork as being sort of an extension of the spiritual values. Thomas loves artwork. In particular, he's a fan of Caravaggio, and if you've ever been to Rome and visited any of the churches where Caravaggio's paintings are visible, it's extraordinary. So he introduces Stefania to to Caravaggio, and it's so.

Speaker 2: 23:44

I integrated the, the mystical aspect of the artwork, and various spiritual locales in the vacancy in secret air, and both of these have been translated into Spanish, by the way. The vacancy is el ascianto de cante. The secret air is el heredotero secreto and the. In the secret air we travel to the shrine of Guadalupe in Mexico City, as well as a very relatively unknown church in southern Arizona, which is, I found to be a very interesting place to do it. So I wanted to, as well as in the secret air, the places in Malta as well.

Speaker 2: 24:44

So I wanted to integrate these spiritual places to the spiritual story and introduce the reader to them, so that again I that is, that was the that's how I address the spiritual aspect in terms of the story and the mysticism, and again I said I really want to do integrate art into it, because I think art, as I said, is a as a mystical aspect, and in the secret air. It also includes now in the vacancy. It also includes music as a spiritual backdrop because there are there is there are discussions about various musical other discussion about an opera and other and a coral musical element that are somewhat in somewhat, I think, helpful in in developing the characters and in making the story spicy, because, as art is somewhat mystical, especially religious art, big music is also somewhat mystical, especially the two pieces that I talk about in the vacancy oh no, I like that, so you kind of touched upon it a couple times.

Speaker 1: 26:17

Now you do have another book that is coming out, the lost painting. So with your upcoming works that will continue to explore these characters and their stories, can you give us a sneak peek into the spiritual themes or questions that you plan to take place in the lost painting?

Speaker 2: 26:33

yes, the lost painting is going to be the third in the series and Stefania now is is becoming more per. Clairvoyance is becoming more commonplace and since the, since the secret air, her father passed in the COVID epidemic pandemic and so if you, if you believe in the power of those beyond the grave, contacting those who are still with us and influencing their actions, there's that aspect as well. She had a very close, she had a very significant connection to her father and and frankly, and even in this vacancy, death is a. This is an important part of it, because there was a death of Thomas's aunt which really affected Stefania. So the lost painting reveals in in the secret air at the very end now, but the vacancy at the very end, when they're in the Vatican, the Cardinal tells Thomas that we all have secrets, even you, and Thomas is painted pretty, pretty, pretty well in the vacant seat in the secret area.

Speaker 2: 28:13

Somebody with, with an a significant exception, is is a goody two shoes. Well, so Stefania finds in the lost painting that he has a significant secret and this is going to be in the back cover of the book. So it's no secret that she's the one he seeks out to help her because she's the only one he can trust and for the first time in the three books, stefania is on her own sometimes and she has to deal with that and she has to deal with things herself and it's really a. The third book is really going to focus a little more on Stefania. Even though it is a quest type book, it doesn't involve as much the Russian characters, groschenko especially who is for the lack of a better word Stefania and Thomasus is Nemesis and always seems to get the better of them, but maybe not in the lost painting. Maybe Stefania will finally get her revenge. We'll see.

Speaker 1: 29:52

Ooh, I like that. Now, before I ask you the last question, if anyone is interested in learning about your books and any upcoming work that you have, where is the best place for them to go to?

Speaker 2: 30:05

My website is wwwcjtokacom and they can go to the website. I have a modest Instagram presence but I really just do everything through the website.

Speaker 1: 30:19

That is perfect. So, finally, what advice do you have for writers who might want to explore spiritual or mystical themes in their own work without losing the essence of a good mystery or adventure story?

Speaker 2: 30:32

Well, I would suggest they research, Certainly, the vacancy. I did a lot of research. I have a plastic tub in my home office with all the research I did for that book and interview folks and talk to folks if you're not really familiar with certain aspects of spiritualism as I did, Although throughout my life I've certainly had my fair share of spiritualism and spiritual experiences but I do talk to folks and you never know how you can derive a plot. And when it comes to you, I've been asked a question how I go about these books. My writing styles have been unorthodox. It's like a Blitzkrieg style. I start kind of have an idea in my head where I'm going and just fill in the details as I'm going along. But other folks do an outline, they have detailed outlines, they do charts with their characters and I kind of do it all in my head. But the vacancy certainly got very good reviews, so I'm sticking to that. But my advice would be, if you want to do something like this, I mean I would read certain periodicals and magazines and I would save snippets and I kind of saved and I said, man, that looks like a great plot line or that looks like a great issue for a plot.

Speaker 2: 32:36

In the book, as I said, the vacancy it's no secret. There's a reference to the prophecies of St Malachy. I read an article about that. I'm like this would be a great plot. I read an article about the prophecies of Fatima. I said this would be a great plot line. And then in the Secret Air I read an article about British nobility and the Succession Act and I said this is also a good, potentially a good plot line. And then I read another article about the Guadalupe Shrine and I said this could be a good plot line. So every day, things that you just sort of come across on the internet or in a periodical, you never know what you can pick up. Well, breadcrumbs you can pick up and mold into something greater.

Speaker 1: 33:54

I like that. Take the breadcrumbs and mold them into a wonderful loaf of bread. I love that. Yeah, well, cj, I want to thank you so much for coming on the Spiritual Spotlight series. I really look forward to seeing all the books that you have coming out in the future, and thank you again.

Speaker 2: 34:12

Thanks, Rachel, for your time today. Have a great day Thank you.