Today, I am highlighting Jeremy Bullard, Christian novelist of 2 science-fiction and fantasy novels. I have watched Jeremy describe his writing journey and these two novels in a Facebook group we both belong to and I am impressed with the depth of imagination and creativity he has. I am sure you will detect some of this as you read his post.
So sit back and see what Jeremy has to say about himself and his Facets of Reality novels, Gemworld and Fractures.
So sit back and see what Jeremy has to say about himself and his Facets of Reality novels, Gemworld and Fractures.
But first, a little about Jeremy:
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJPBfyn0ixtH_Yp99xuH2WgnLvlnObBc6cq49kVrprQMV6FlvVhL7ZS4VDKog48uEscAXvK8PV4uPGD984hPR_qMHpJd2KtHLihBw7N8vX6WswX0Nt-xLw_IayAfNj2v9b8tQs7iizjj0/s400/Jeremy+Bulard.jpg)
Jeremy Bullard is an author, an amateur singer/songwriter, a hobby knifemaker, a TV buff, and a recovering MMORPGamer. He has been involved in various creative pursuits for as far back as he can remember, counting his relationship with Jesus Christ and his devotion to his family as the greatest of these endeavors.
His creative nature and fascination with extreme possibility led him quite naturally to science fiction and fantasy fandom. This attraction has colored the full spectrum of his writing, spurring him to pieces ranging from Stephen King and Quantum Leap fan fiction to Twilight Zone-esque monologues to finally releasing a project based in a world completely of his own making.
Jeremy lives in Southeast Alabama (also known as "God's Country") with his beautiful wife, three incredible kids, and two smarter-than-the-average dogs -- one of which knows how to open a screen door from the outside. Still don't know how she figured that one out...
His creative nature and fascination with extreme possibility led him quite naturally to science fiction and fantasy fandom. This attraction has colored the full spectrum of his writing, spurring him to pieces ranging from Stephen King and Quantum Leap fan fiction to Twilight Zone-esque monologues to finally releasing a project based in a world completely of his own making.
Jeremy lives in Southeast Alabama (also known as "God's Country") with his beautiful wife, three incredible kids, and two smarter-than-the-average dogs -- one of which knows how to open a screen door from the outside. Still don't know how she figured that one out...
Now let's have a look at the first two books in the Facets of Reality series:
For a US Navy SEAL, life can be many things -- challenging, thrilling, rewarding, hazardous, unexpectedly short. Lieutenant James Salvatori knew all this going in, but nothing could have prepared him for his mission to Laos. What started as an anti-terror operation turned into an experience that was quite literally out of this world!
New lands, mythical creatures, powerful magics, immortal tyrants. What's a guy like Sal to do, except lock and load?
A battle won.
A commander lost.
A lot of war left to fight.
James "Sal" Salvatori is struggling to find his place in the world -- and doing a heckuva job. He's gone from Navy SEAL to shol'tuk apprentice (read "uber ninja"), from a lonely prisoner to a leader in a far-reaching rebellion, and from an alien in a world of magic to the Prism, a mage of prophecy. But the victories he's won have been costly, and they're only going to get harder.
Enemies lurk in darkened corners. Secrets beckon from ancient archives. The forces of the Highest march to quell the rebellion. The pages of prophecy are unfolding.
There is no rest for the once-SEAL -- it's time to lock and load.
A lot of war left to fight.
James "Sal" Salvatori is struggling to find his place in the world -- and doing a heckuva job. He's gone from Navy SEAL to shol'tuk apprentice (read "uber ninja"), from a lonely prisoner to a leader in a far-reaching rebellion, and from an alien in a world of magic to the Prism, a mage of prophecy. But the victories he's won have been costly, and they're only going to get harder.
Enemies lurk in darkened corners. Secrets beckon from ancient archives. The forces of the Highest march to quell the rebellion. The pages of prophecy are unfolding.
There is no rest for the once-SEAL -- it's time to lock and load.
I asked Jeremy why he wrote the Facets of Reality series and whether there are any Biblical themes:
Gemworld started life as a way to alleviate my boredom, really. I was working night shift at a local jail, and had taken to reading a wide range of material – Stephen King, Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman, John Grisham, Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins, and so on – but found myself between books and nothing immediately at hand to draw me.
Now, I'd always been creative (or crazy, depending on who you ask), and this particular night, I found myself asking, “If I were to create a world like these guys (I had just finished the Weis/Hickman series, The Deathgate Cycle), what would it look like?” Well, that question turned into a rough outline of different magical influences, which in turn led to fictional histories. Before my shift had ended, I actually had created the world I was wondering about. Over the course of the next few days, I refined the world, “explored” it you might say, and started actually working on Gemworld in earnest.
I never really had a plan to write Gemworld and its sequel Fractures as Christian novels, but as novels by a Christian writer. All I was after – then as now – was a quality story that would engage the reader. I wanted to write a book that I'd love to read myself. That's not to say that God had nothing to do with it, of course. As another blogger had put it in his review of Gemworld, “Reality [of God, Jesus, and the Spirit] is largely subliminal, but it’s definitely there.” He'd mentioned that it was “not a Full Gospel book and barely Evangelical,” and I'll be honest, I didn't know how to take this at first. But upon reflection, I realized that this was exactly what I was aiming for. In my mind, the Christ within me necessarily finds His way into everything I do, if in fact it's not me who lives but Christ who lives in me. That being the case, it made perfect sense that Christ would find a way to be included in something that wasn't written explicitly to draw people to Him, but was nevertheless written by someone devoted to Him.
As to Christian themes, I'd say it largely comes from the “alternate reality” aspect of the book, in that God is not merely the God of What Is, but also of everything that Could Be. God is present in this book and subsequent books as the Crafter, complete with a Savior-figure in messac'el (the Heart of the Crafter), at least one champion in a secondary character – Reit Windon du'Nograh, known as el'Yatza (the Crafter's Hand) – and at least two denominations in the Priesthood of the Way, and a more “common” sect that follows the Crafter according to their holy text, Unending Seasons.
If what you have now read has whetted your appetite for more, here is an excerpt and Jeremy's reason for choosing it:
In selecting an excerpt, I had a hard time deciding on how to best exemplify how complex the series is. It's gritty, funny, sometimes even gory (though I try to keep that to a minimum). But first and foremost, I try to make my world and its characters real enough that my reader can easily become invested in them. No character is disposable, even if they have only one line in one scene, because in the real world, no life is disposable. Every life is unique. Every life has its own story, its own hero and villain. Every life is believable, even if the most unbelievable things happen to them. If I can achieve that, then everything else falls into place.
So with that mindset, I decided on this fight scene from Fractures featuring my main character, a former Navy SEAL who has become apprenticed to the assassin Retzu since finding himself in this alternate reality. It demonstrates the kind of action – and inter-action – that a reader might expect. Things to note are the hilts (signifying rank in the shol'tuk) and the mantras associated with the hilts, which hopefully speak to the level of detail I strive for in my worldbuilding. There are other scenes that I felt were better suited for what Peter was asking for, but most of them had spoilers for Gemworld, so hopefully this will suffice.
~~~~~~~~~~~~Start of Excerpt~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sal's bowels liquefied at the thought of Marissa being in danger. He edged her into an alley to the right of the street, and hissed, "Run!"
They sprinted north, the passageway barely wide enough for the two of them to run abreast. Sal urged Marissa onward while he trotted sideways, looked back over his shoulder for his pursuers.
The man with the sword appeared before them, as if from nowhere. He backhanded Marissa as she came in range, the crack of his hand against her jaw echoing down the alley. She fell in a dazed heap.
"No!" Sal shouted, drawing his doeskin-hilted katana. In a flash, the other man's sword was in his hand, neatly blocking Sal's chop. Sal saw with sickening clarity that the man's hilt bore a copper winding.
He was shol'tuk.
Sal didn't have time to ponder this before the man countered his attack, showering Sal with cuts and chops and slices of his own. It was all that Sal could do to keep from being butchered.
The doeskin-hilted adherent blocked everything out -- the ringing of the katanas, the two men yet to join the party, the groggy redhead still kneeling to one side of the alley. The world shrank in focus, until the alley was all that was left. The alley, and the copper-hilt that controlled it.
Death is raw, like the hide of the newly skinned bull.
Death is soft, like the doe in her winter coat.
The alley was narrow, limiting the full range of attacks that the copper might employ. Sal used this to his advantage. He pressed the attack, using fist and foot as much as he did his sword. He reached out to Marissa through Emerald and wielded. He could spare no concentration to build a proper spell for Marissa -- not as Aten'rih had taught him -- so he simply willed that the magic heal her however she required, all the while desperately lashing out at his attacker.
The fury of his assault set the other man on his heels. He tilted off balance, scrabbling with his feet for purchase. Seeing an opening in the copper's defense, Sal jabbed, then spun and cut diagonally, slicing the shol'tuk's chest open and knocking his katana away. The assassin fell heavily, his breath leaving him in a gurgling whoosh.
Sal spun to meet the other two men... only to find them already dealt with. Retzu stood over one at the far end of the alley, and Marissa was just finishing the other one up.
Marissa?!?
For all that she looked dainty, there was nothing fragile about her at that moment. Blood streamed from her nose and from the corner of her mouth, but the look in her eye wasn't hurt. It was rage. She grit her teeth as she lashed out, her doubled fists catching her attacker squarely under the jaw. Before he had time to fall backward, she grabbed his shoulders and yanked him down into her knee, driving it deep into his face. Blood squirted to both sides as his nose shattered. She released him, and he dropped in a near-lifeless pile at her feet, eyes glazed and struggling for breath. Sal stood there looking at her, agape.
"What?" she said, self-consciously. "I have brothers."
~~~~~~~~~~~~End of Excerpt~~~~~~~~~~~~
Gemworld has a good ranking on Amazon:
- Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #135,315 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
- #830 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Science Fiction > Military > Space Marine
- #972 in Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Science Fiction > Military > Space Marine
- #1400 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Fantasy > Sword & Sorcery
on March 5, 2016
Format: Kindle Edition|Verified Purchase
This book had some strong pros and some definite cons, but in the end the positives outweigh the negatives and deserve a net 4 stars.
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Fractures has two positive reviews so far:
You can find out more about Jeremy and his novels at the following social media platforms:
Amazon Author's Page (with book links within) –
Facebook Author's Page – https://www.facebook.com/facetsofreality/
Personal Blog – https://nashdude.wordpress.com/
To read more excerpts of buy these first two books in the Facets of Reality series, click on the BUY or PREVIEW icons:
To read more excerpts of buy these first two books in the Facets of Reality series, click on the BUY or PREVIEW icons:
Readers and reviews are an author's best asset, so I encourage any reader of Christian science fiction and fantasy, Christian inspirational, to consider reading the Facets of Reality series and submit a review on Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes and Noble and on Google+, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest (or any other social media you subscribe to).
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