Today, I would like to welcome back a previous guest, Dennis Bailey. He requested to return to give an insight into his new novel, What A Wonderful World. Now, I can vouch for Dennis and his novels, they are not just entertaining, but informative, Biblical-based, well-researched and speculative. That is more than enough to keep me reading! I am yet to read this, but it is on a shortlist.
So without further ado, read on and let your interest be piqued!
Here is a description of the novel before we start:
Brandon Foxworth, an ecology professor at the University of Virginia, and his wife are watching their two children chase lightning bugs in the backyard when suddenly all the lights go out. Three days later, Taylor Grant, a reporter with the Richmond Herald, stumbles coming down the stairs of his front porch and lands on his backside in a flower bed full of dead flowers. Following the subsequent disappearance of nearly every species of bird on earth, the two men realize something extraordinary is taking place and they join forces to find out what it is. Together with Biblical scholar Marcy Cambridge, the three embark on a sometimes perilous journey to discover whether these things have their basis in science or originate from the realm of the supernatural.
An insight into the creation of What a Wonderful World by Dennis Bailey
Hello, Friends of Perspective by Peter.
I’m Dennis Bailey, and I’m back for a return engagement
on what in my opinion is the best blog site dedicated to the promotion and review of Christian
fiction on the internet. Hard to believe it’s been six years, almost to the day, since I first
appeared on this site with my debut novel, Army of God, but the calendar doesn’t lie. Once
more, however, I’d like to thank Peter for his gracious invitation to showcase my latest story,
What a Wonderful World (WAWW). It’s a quasi-apocalyptic tale that focuses on what happens
to the world should God choose to close his hand, and the efforts of a small group of people to
get to the bottom of it.
This story travelled an unusual road to publication. After Army of God, I had ideas for two stories
I desperately wanted to write. This one and a Christmas story about a boy who travels back in
time to witness the birth of Christ but upon his return can’t get anyone to believe him. As it
turned out, they ended up being competing stories, competing for which one I’d write first. In
looking back, I was surprised to find out I’d actually started WAWW back in July of 2016.
However, in December of 2018, while working on that story, I was overcome by what I can only
describe as a severe case of Christmas fever. Despite knowing better—one of the cardinal rules
of writing is to never start a new project before finishing the one you’re working on—it was too
late. I’d been bitten by the Christmas writing bug and abandoned my current project to focus all
my efforts on the other.
Fast forward to 2020. Following the release of The Boy Who Cried Christmas, I immediately
returned to the other manuscript, but unlike the process of riding a bike, I found myself unable
to simply pick up and start peddling. It would be another three years before What a Wonderful
World would be ready for prime time.
As for where the idea for the story came from, that remains a mystery, even to me. All I can say
is I felt led by the Holy Spirit to want to remind the world of the vast blessings of God, too many
of which seem to have been forgotten or are at the very least, taken for granted in today’s
modern, humanistic, and technologically-dependent culture. And though told in a dramatic and
somewhat apocalyptic style, I made every effort to craft a story that eschewed direct
comparisons to previous works based on the popular subject of Eschatology (End Times
theology). Rather, I hoped to challenge the reader with a story equally as compelling, but
revealed in a completely new and unique way.
And in case you were wondering, yes, the novel’s main title was taken from the Louis
Armstrong classic song which, uncoincidentally, happens to be my wife’s all-time favorite tune.
Hopefully, after reading the story, you’ll understand for yourself why no other title would do.
For a more dynamic glimpse of the story, check out the What a Wonderful World video trailer:
If this has piqued your interest in Dennis' novel, check it out here:
About Dennis:
