Fallen by Melinda Viergever Inman

Fallen

Love takes action. The Creator God establishes the cosmos and shapes a man. Adam rises from the dust. Envious, the powerful angel Lucifer despises him. Oblivious to the threat, Adam is captivated by his strong, intuitive wife Eve. In the Garden of Eden, they enjoy abundant food, gorgeous vistas, and intriguing challenges, including their budding love and passion. They have it all! 

But Lucifer's deceptive brilliance tricks them into disobeying God. Their unity with one another and with God is destroyed. Lucifer's jealousy threatens mankind's tenuous beginning. But God is merciful. What astonishing promise does He make? How will Adam and Eve survive - broken, shattered, and separated from God? 

The Guru's Review: 

I have waited 3 years to read this novel! It had been on my To Be Read list on Goodreads since that time but due to reviewing other authors novels, I have only now managed to get to it now.

All I can say is the wait has been more than worth it! This is a beautiful and tender novel. There are novels where the reader can feel the author pouring herself into it with the utmost passion for writing and the storyline and this novel is one of those. Having read some of Inman's Tweets, posts from Facebook and her website, she is passionate about writing, about the art of story creation, expressing her love for God and all things relating to Him. It definitely shows in this novel's construction and forms one of its foundational pillars.

I have not come across a novel where there is so much detail in describing the gaps in the Genesis account of Adam and Eve, their fall from Grace and their life after being banished from the Garden of Eden. Inman has clearly researched this, discussed with other Christians who would be able to provide more insight and expound more on this. Inman has a short reference list at the end of the book that has influenced the storyline and added to her poetic licence to fill in these gaps in this Biblical narrative. This licence does not detract from it but actually is an enhancement without making it more important than what God has included. To me, it reads as if it is a fictionalised account that could be considered the closest to what it could have been that the Biblical narrative does not give account.

It is very much alive this account of Ish/Adam and Isher/Eve. You are transported there; it is almost as if you are part of this narrative and not just reading it. I found myself relating to everything they experienced from Creation to their sin culminating in their hardship and rediscovering themselves and how to relate to each other as a result of their new fallen nature. The way God had created them to be one with each other and with God made me yearn for this when He returns and restores us to Him. Inman shines here in her description of this relationship. Again it is beautiful and tender. Reading this pre-fall account of their relationship only reinforced this oneness of what I have felt towards my own wife since marriage, albeit not to the full extent of what Adam and Eve experienced as these two are the only ones to experience the full relationship of what God had intended.

Inman further shines in her description of how this perfect relationship between them and God is destroyed and what it then comprised as they move forward with the reality of their now sinful and fallen nature. I am sure every married couple reading this, if they are honest with themselves, will relate and even be confronted with some of the emotions, attitudes and behaviour that Adam and Eve now exhibited towards each other. I know I did! And what this did to me was to reinforce what I have discovered that relationships, especially a married one, require more work on every level, physical, emotional, spiritual and on a daily basis in every situation that you are both presented with.

Inman is very clever at describing this. Reading how Adam and Eve were before their sin and after, reads like a relationship manual. The thought struck me that she has included all there is to identify in dealing with relationship conflict and resolution, learning about each other and in relation to each other and overcoming this by referencing it back to God for His guidance in what He required of them in their situation. It is here that they learn how to effectively communicate, the art of listening, of honesty, forgiveness and in understanding each other's point of view. They also learnt about dealing with anger, bitterness, regret and resentment. I even thought that every engaged couple or those wanting to be married should read this novel just for these insights! They are rich and powerful. If any reader approaches this novel with a teachable spirit, they will pick up some valuable relationship gems to apply to their lives and be strengthened and blessed by it. And all the while honouring God in the process seeing He is the force behind these insights.

One of the most powerful insights I found from this novel and that is reinforced in the Bible and what I have applied in my marriage, is that as Adam and Eve, before their sin, placed each other first and would lay down their lives for each other. It was the opposite story after their sin. Sin changed this attitude and behaviour of looking out for the other to only looking out for themselves. Placing the other first is now what we have to learn and apply to our lives and it is no wonder that Jesus stressed this to us in His example of what a married relationship needs to be. Just as He laid down His life for us, He has specified that we need to lay to lay down our lives for each other in marriage. I stated this as a condition for my future son-in-law that he could marry my daughter only if he was prepared to lay down his life for her and place her first in everything, just as Jesus had done for us! It is what I have based my marriage on and can vouch for its success. It was also what I based my Father of the Bride speech at their wedding!

Where Inman shines again, is her description of the creation of Ish/Adam and Isher/Eve and the Garden of Eden. Compared to other novelised accounts which can be dry, and very matter of fact, Inman evokes your curiosity through Ish's as he wonders in the flora and fauna, his naming of them, and in the natural workings of the environment and world that God has created. This also adds to the mystique of this part of the novel, it is not a bland description that makes you want to gloss over but encourages you to be in the same wonderment that Ish had about every aspect of this created world. And it is this description that shows more of the nature of God and the depth of relationship that He has toward His creation, the highlight being Ish and Isher. Inman's depiction of God/Creator is very relational and not just as a hierarchical Being but one that is intimately involved with His creation, especially towards Ish and Isher.

Inman has dealt with the sexuality of Ish and Isher very appropriately and respectively and I believe as close as possible to how God planned it. These two are the only ones who have lived to have experienced sex how God created it to its fullest (before their sin) and how it was different afterwards. Pre their fall, it was an integral part of their oneness with each other and towards God. Post their fall, it was fragmented and not so integrated as before. Tiredness and the effects of conflict between them altered to some extent this oneness and enjoyment of it between them. And the human race since has only experienced sex and sexuality through the effects of sin and our fallen nature. Even today, sex and sexuality in the media, education and many other areas, including families are not promoted as an expression of love and oneness towards each other within the confines of marriage but just a physical act, a relieving of one's sexual urge and expected behaviour in relationships. And the perversion of it is just becoming more so with each passing year under the new attitude of it being normal and healthy. And sadly, even in Christian marriages and amongst Christian singles, the adherence to the Bible's principles of marriage, sex and sexuality are challenged, modified and in some cases suppressed and rejected. I applaud Inman for showing and being daring to do so in today's world of political correctness to include this in this novel. She shows faithfulness to God's standards and not man's in this regard. May all Christians follow her example and stand up for what is correct in God's eyes!

Years ago, when I examined why I love Christian fiction, I identified some key points and it is these that I love to see in a Christian novel (and can be found in the Why Christian Fiction? tab in this blog): 

• it has entertained me immensely, 
• it has encouraged my walk with God, 
• it has not deviated from biblical doctrine, and it will not, I believe, lead a non-believer astray or promote false doctrine, 
• it honours God, 
• it does not encourage worship of the created (eg angels) instead of the Creator (God). 

Well, Inman has more than succeeded with these criteria in this novel! She has encouraged not only my walk with God but has encouraged me to continue to place my family first and them above myself.

And since I started reading and reviewing Christian fiction, I have identified that this area of fiction across all its genres, deals with the following issues/doctrines: 

• relying on God through difficult and trying circumstances, 
• the nature of God, developing faith and trust in Him, 
• encouraging others, 
• spiritual warfare, 
• demonology, 
• angelology 
• being true to yourself, 
• standing up for what is right, 
• Godly romance, 
• sex and sexuality. 

and all these are in this novel, in varying degrees! Now, I realise that these are included in the biblical account of Adam and Eve/Genesis and elsewhere in the Bible, but I applaud Inman for being faithful to the Biblical account and to God in these areas and through the use of poetic licence. 

Inman is adept in outlining God's plan for salvation and redemption, and I appreciated how she integrated this through the fall of Adam and Eve, what this then meant to them and future generations until, through their lineage, one would come to crush the serpent's head and become the Saviour of mankind, restoring/reconciling man back to God. It was such a joy to have Inman include the reasons why God knew Adam and Eve would sin and how He had prepared a solution from the beginning which is where the doctrines of redemption and salvation come from. So much of this is omitted from similar Christian novels that leads to the plotline being thin and any Gospel message watered down. These two doctrines are, in some Churches just not taught today. I applaud Inman (yet again!) for doing this and showing how fiction can be used mightily by God to educate and uplift one's faith or sow a seed concerning biblical truth and principles. I loved how Adam and Eve began to identify these motives from God in response to their sin and fallen nature and integrated it into their newly forged relationship with each other and God. In doing so they also learnt more about the nature of God, His mercy, goodness, patience, forgiveness, "restoring lovingkindness" (to quote the author), His unfailing love, his Omniscience and that He will never forsake them. 

Inman also shows valuable insights into the spiritual warfare side of the fall of man relating to Lucifer's rebellion, banishment from Heaven and bondage to Earth. Despite his revenge enacted through his attempts to destroy everything relating to God's human race, represented here by Adam and Eve, he underestimated who God is and His Sovereignty. Inman provides a valuable biblical truth here, as Lucifer (now named Satan since his sin and rebellion) experiences first hand how the power of God's love for Adam and Eve and their love for Him, makes their relationship with each other and with God "fireproof" while the Spirit of God remains working in and through them. Inman's description of this account is a powerful read and gives the reader a solid basis of God's commitment to us that can be seen in John 3:16 as the fulfillment of this commitment and love towards us while further illustrating that nothing we do will separate us from His love as the apostle Paul expounds in  Romans 8: 35-38, the latter being my favourite Bible verse.

I am looking forward to reading the sequel, Refuge, over the next few weeks. This series is truly a blessing. I would recommend this novel to any Christian but especially to new Christians. This would definitely give reinforcement to their newly found faith and supplement the basic tenets of Christianity. I highly recommend the study guide at the end for this purpose as well. 

Inman has definitely allowed the Spirit to use her talent, imagination and creativity to craft a novel that is very much God-honouring and faith strengthening. As one of my author friends states, if you are a Christian author and you believe God has mandated you to write, then write for Him. I can see that Inman definitely does this. 

Highly recommended. 

The three ratings below are based on my discernment:

World Building 5/5

Characters 5/5

Story 5/5

The two classifications below are based on the booklet, A Spiritual System for Rating Books by David Bergsland: 

Spiritual Level 2/5

Enemy Spiritual Level 3/5

Overall Rating: 4/5

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Spiritually, based on my review and on the aforementioned reference booklet, A Spiritual System for Rating Books by David Bergsland (Radiqx Press) 

Melinda Inman is bestowed the

Reality Calling Pre-Christian Godliness Fiction Award

Fallen contains elements of the criteria of what constitutes Pre-Christian Godliness Fiction and is awarded to novels with level two spirituality detailed in the Booklet. This criterion is as follows:

• they accurately depict Godly living at the Old Testament level,
• they clearly reveal the Truth about the Lord and how He works. 
• there must be specific references to the coming Savior/Redeemer and the Lord’s ultimate plan for His people.

Congratulations, Melinda!

To buy or preview this novel, click on the BUY/PREVIEW icon on the image below:

Heaven's Oasis by Jeff W. Horton

Heaven's Oasis

Claire is dead.

She's been the love of Kevin Foster's life for as long as he can remember; his soulmate, and his best friend.

Before she dies, Claire, an archaeologist, goes on an expedition to the Middle East and comes across evidence supporting the existence of a biblical, antediluvian site the ancients called Heaven's Oasis, and that certain ancient artifacts can lead her to it. Claire believes that finding this site will help prove the Bible's veracity, and provide indisputable evidence of God's existence.

Following her unexpected death Claire's expeditions become public knowledge, and the subsequent assaults against her reputation from the scientific community and the media are both brutal and relentless.

Furious at the public ridicule and to prove she was right, Kevin decides to pick up where Claire left off in her search and to finish what she started. He's willing to sacrifice everything, even his life, to restore her reputation and to honor her memory.

A billionaire arms dealer named Kain Masterson has also been searching for the Oasis, however, intending to keep what he finds for himself. The deadly competition soon becomes a struggle just to stay alive in the race to find the artifacts, follow the clues, and ultimately to find Heaven's Oasis.

The Guru's Review:

When I saw this novel advertised pre-release, I knew I had to review this novel. The last Horton novel I read was many years ago and I have been drawn to his novels since.  Even though I have not read the many novels in between the one I read and this new novel, I can say that he has definitely fine tuned his talent and writing. This is one very entertaining novel. Horton blends biblical archaeology, romance, mystery and suspense into one engaging read. 

One thing that is highlighted in this novel is that Horton is one very romantic man. This novel is resplendent with romance and all its nuances and characteristics. I have said in many past reviews that I don't like the romance genre where romance is the main plot theme and prefer the romance to be a subplot. Despite romance being the main theme in this novel, I did not mind it all. That is really saying something from me! Throughout this romantic plot, I was impressed with how Kevin's integrity as a Christian and as a man enhanced his love for Claire and vice versa and also later in the novel towards Zari. I have seen this in other Christian novels where the romance has been developed by a male author. I seem to prefer romance written by this gender. I have many male authors who are successful at this and I can now add Horton to this group. While reading this novel, I wondered where Horton got this ability to write romance so successfully. Then I recalled him saying that it was his wife who helped develop this ability by 

"forcing me to watch so many Nicholas Sparks movies that I've gotten to where I actually enjoy them!" 

It would appear then that Horton's wife should have no complaints about not being romanced by her husband! I have no doubt that some of the aspects of romance that he has included in this novel is based on his own experience. I say this as authors are encouraged to write about what they know, when and where they can.

As far as suspense goes, Horton has created this in one very unique manner, interspersed with the developing relationship between Kevin and Claire and through flash backs as Horton provides the background to their lives and romance. As their romance and relationship develop, so does the suspense and mystery surrounding Claire's quest for Heaven's Oasis and the ever increasing hunt for her and her research from billionaire arms dealer, Kain Masterson. This is more than a hook to reel the reader in, more like a snare, and a good one! It is actually through all this and Claire's death that ignites more of Kevin's integrity and love for his deceased wife that he devotes all his time and resources to carry on Claire's quest to find Heaven's Oasis. His  aim now is to restore her honour as an archaeologist that was destroyed by her murderer and the professional slander from her colleagues. I loved this aspect of the novel. It is great to see male characters showing such integrity of character and protecting the honour of another human being, no matter their gender. In this case, it is also part of the married agape relationship and more importantly part of being of sound Christian character when one allows God to change them into His likeness as the Bible encourages.

I detect from Kevin's character that Horton may have based some of this on himself. It is very true that authors base some characters on themselves, intentionally or not, or one character solely. My guess is the latter. Again, it is the author writing about what they know, or in this case, who they know. In this novel, this is one very strong asset.

There was one scene that really touched me and is I feel has a very important spiritual message for any Christian and it involved Kevin's dealing with his grief and relationship with God. Having gone through something similar like Kevin did, I can fully relate to Kevin's reaction to grief and how this affected his relationship with God and what he needed to do to be restored to God. Very well executed and it did minister to me after all these years. Just goes to show that Christian fiction can minister to the reader's heart and situation where they are at. On my blog, I state that I expect Christian fiction to,

• entertained me immensely, 

• encourage my walk with God. 

Well, I can say that this novel did entertain me immensely and overall did encourage my walk with God, especially this scene I mentioned above. I applaud Christian authors when they do this and I applaud Horton for including this.

I loved the events that led up to the climatic ending of this novel, both in a physical and spiritual/supernatural sense. Very suspenseful and satisfying. Horton has developed this well and a fitting ending to every thing that he has included up to that point and does justice to Kevin's quest to honour Claire's legacy and quest.

This novel has definitely entertained and reinforced in me to always remember that with God all things are possible and our integrity and character as men should not be comprised by our circumstances but to stand up for the honour of fellow man including our loved ones as an expression of God's love for us. I pray that the romance that is shown from Kevin can inspire male readers of this novel that this is a natural expression of our character and one form of expression of our love for our girlfriend and/or spouse.

Strongly Recommended. 4/5 Stars.

World Building 4/5

Characterisation 4/5

Story 4/5

Spiritual Level 4/5

Enemy Spiritual Level 2/5

Overall Rating 4.4/5

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Spiritually, based on my review and on the following reference booklet,

A Spiritual System for Rating Books by David Bergsland, and that Heaven's Oasis contains elements of the criteria of what constitutes Christian Spirit-Filled Romance outlined in this booklet, I award Jeff W Horton with

The Reality Calling Spirit-Filled Romance Award

 

Congratulations Jeff W Horton!

To read a preview of Heaven's Oasis, click on the Preview button below:

The Book of the Harvest by Brad Francis

 The Book of the Harvest

THE BESTSELLING SHORT STORY THE HOLY SPIRIT HAS USED TO CHANGE HEARTS AND LIVES!

The Book of the Harvest is an "incredible book" about a man somewhere in the midst of eternity who begins to wonder what happened to those whose lives he had a chance to touch while on earth. His questions lead him to the discovery of a remarkable, heartbreaking book that opens his eyes to a truth that he would give anything to have known during his mortal life. If only it weren't too late...

Readers have called this short story "a wake-up call,"..."inspired by the Holy Spirit." Many have said that the book has opened their eyes and left them determined to listen for the whispers of the Holy Spirit, and to obey whatever He tells them. Don't read this story if you don't want to be changed!

The Guru's Review:

This is my first introduction to Brad Francis' writing and all I can say is what an introduction this is! I have found another author to follow and add to my favourite author list!

While I believe that every Christian needs to read this, I would not read it unless you are willing to be taken out of your comfort zone, to be challenged, brought back to your first love (Jesus) and to be changed and even to go to a quiet place and, if necessary, get on your knees and thank God for all He has done for you and then ask Him to forgive for all the opportunities where you know you have not obeyed the prompting of His Spirit to minister to those around you, but more importantly to ask Him to help you to be fully attentive to hearing His promptings and act on them in obedience not matter what.

We have all been disobedient to His promptings, but maybe we have not asked for forgiveness or realised how our disobedience has grieved the Spirit or caused that person's situation to become worse because of this disobedience or contributed or nearly contributed to their decision to reject Christ.

Here are some of the thoughts and feelings I experienced while reading this short story: 

Sobering, a wake-up call, guilt, tears, joy, forgiveness, redemption, God's grace, the love of Christ, to live as if the Book of Harvest exists, life changing, Christ focused, those who don't know Him, the Great Commission. 

This is one unique, never to forget, uplifting and God honouring short story. I have no doubt that the Holy Spirit inspired and guided Francis in writing this, to quote him, 

Unfortunately, I don't feel like I can take any credit for The Book of the Harvest. The inspiration for this story came like a flash of lightning, hand-delivered in a manner I have rarely experienced as an author. It is my belief that God gave me this story and that it was my job to put it in print without screwing it up too badly. I see how He orchestrated events in my life to provide inspiration for certain scenes and I see His hand moving throughout. If this book touches you, if the Holy Spirit uses it in your life, it's got nothing to do with me. It's all Him! Each time I put words on paper, it is my most sincere desire to glorify Jesus Christ. I pray He is glorified through this story.

One of the things I loved about this short was the balance that Francis has created. Yes, our disobedience to the Spirit's prompting may have contributed to the decision of that person to not accept Christ, and the guilt and regret that we experience, but that same person is responsible for their decision to reject Him and that is what God acts on, as much as it grieves Him to have yet another person lost from His presence for eternity. I loved how showing what would have happened to the person who was in need had the main character been obedient to the Spirit adds to the encouragement for us to be obedient and that we do not have to stay in our disobedient state. We have a choice to make after reading this novel, allow the Spirit to change us and be obedient to Him in the future or continue on our way as we are now, knowing that we will grieve Him in this state and may contribute destructively to the decisions those He is trying to minister to.

I love Francis' depiction of Jesus. I know authors struggle to depict Him as they may feel that they would not do Him justice, but if this was the case with Francis, it does not show and I feel that his depiction may also serve to minister to the Christian reader about what Jesus' heart is concerning His redemptive work or even any non-believer who may be reading this short.

I have said in many previous reviews and have listed in this blog that what I love and expect from Christian fiction that,

• it has entertained me immensely, 
• it has encouraged my walk with God, 
• it has not deviated from known biblical doctrine, and it will not, I believe, lead a non-believer astray or promote false doctrine, 
• it honours God.

I can definitely say that Francis has achieved this in this short. This feels like it is straight from the heart of God if I may be so bold as to say that! 

I have no regrets in reading this short and despite it bringing me to tears with conviction and repentance, and a new found desire to be more attuned to His Spirit, I am so glad I have had the opportunity to be challenged, entertained and strengthened spiritually through this tome.

I thank Brad Francis for being obedient to the Spirit in writing this short. His obedience has encouraged me to do the same.

Highly Recommended. 

World building 5/5

Characters 5/5

Story 5/5

Spiritual level 5/5

Spiritual Enemy Level N/A

Average Rating: 5/5

Then Again (Realms of Our Own) by Michael Carney

Then Again (Realms Of Our Own)

It's the last few minutes of Millennium Eve, December 31 1999. But whilst the rest of the world is celebrating, Outcast Angel Jesse and a ragtag bunch of genetically enhanced trainees are desperately trying to save a Russian politician from an unknown assassin. 

The crowd is counting down the last few seconds till the new millennium -- and then suddenly everything changes. What just happened, will it happen again and is there anything that Jesse and his team can do to prevent the assassination? 

THEN AGAIN is one of a collaborative series of short stories published under the collective banner REALMS OF OUR OWN. 

Realms Of Our Own is a new model in Science-Fiction anthologies, inviting each author to contribute a single character to be shared by all, reinvented by each contributor for use in a completely different universe. Ten authors, ten universes, ten core characters, one collaborative effort. 

This story, THEN AGAIN, features characters and concepts from the Outcast Angels series by Michael Carney. If you’d like to know more about the Outcast Angels series, please visit http://OutcastAngels.com.

The Guru's Review: 

Special ops meets the angelic meets time travel! Three of my favourite genres. Mix them together and you have one cohesive, fast paced thriller! I honestly felt that this was longer than it was and that is a great quality when you know it is a short story! If it felt like this as a short imagine the potential if this was a full length novel! I would love to see this. 

In this short, Carney was responsible to describe the character of Jesse. I have come to be very fond of Jesse from the other Realms of Our Own episodes but, because this one specifically focuses on him, I feel he comes into his own in this short. When I discovered that Carney has made him one of his Outcast Angels characters from his series of the same name, I was very pleased and also very intrigued with the concept of this series. Carney explains this concept in this short, 

Jesse and Ravid were angels who had been part of the Great Rebellion against God and had been sent into exile as a consequence. However, Jesse and Ravid and several hundred other exiles had subsequently repented and so had not joined Lucifer and his demon followers. This splinter group, who called themselves, Outcast Angels, chose instead to stand against evil wherever they could. The resulting guerilla warfare, former angels against angels-turned-demons, had continued over thousands of years and the Outcast Angels had suffered many causalities along the way. 

Because the Outcast Angels were so few in number compared with Lucifer's multitudes, Jesse had also recruited from the human population, encouraging them to join the secret organization he had created, the LOA. This group was named for the institution under whose guidance it was originally founded, the Library of Alexandria. Like its namesake, the LOA's primary purpose was information. However occasionally direct action was required, especially to combat the activities of subversive groups....To meet this need, the LOA had set up several rapid response teams around the world. 

If this short is an example of what his Outcast Angels stories are about, Carney has  gained a devoted fan. This concept really does grab me and I have subscribed to Carney's website http://outcastangels.com to be kept up to date on this series. 

Carney writes well and I can see that he is very thorough in the construction of this short. Plot flows well and keeps the reader's attention focussed. Plot is also well developed and I felt as if I was in the middle of a special ops, military type coup happening. Action and adventure, battle strategy, urgency and well controlled demeanour when things go pear shaped and the battle strategy has to change instantly. Jesse is depicted as having the respect of his team and comes across as a true leader. I find all this as strengths of this novel. Despite the ending being rather sudden, I still feel he wrapped it up well and I did not feel that I was left hanging as if it was unfinished. I really do want more of this short and especially of the Outcast Angels series. 

I really did love the roles and situations he placed all the other characters that are a part of all the other Realm of Our Own episodes. All well placed and well balanced. 

My only negative and it is a small one was that at first I did not understand why Carney had used the electronic device called aernote which used Morse code to allow Grayson Ford to communicate with his team seeing he was mute. My first thought was that why not just use the text messaging (SMS) function of a mobile phone? Then I researched this and it was after the year 2000 that text messaging really took off so in the time of this short, it was a relatively small percentage of mobile phone users who were using SMS. But despite this, Carney may just have decided to create his own device for this short well within the realms of poetic licence and his imagination. 

Highly Recommended. 

Rewind (Realms Of Our Own Book 1) by Jeremy Bullard

Rewind (Realms Of Our Own Book 1)

An assassination gone wrong. An evil plot with horrific consequences. 

In a future where even people of virtue must live in the shadows, a ragtag group of mutants and miscreants may be all that stands between life-as-usual in the Unified American States and the untold horror of nuclear holocaust. 

But for them, there's something equally important at stake -- the lives of two of their own. 

Realms Of Our Own is a new model in Science-Fiction anthologies, inviting each author to contribute a single character to be shared by all, reinvented by each contributor for use in a completely different universe. Ten authors, ten universes, ten core characters, one collaborative effort. This short story, Rewind, is the ROOO Multiverse installment written by Jeremy Bullard, author of Gemworld, Book One in the Facets of Reality fantasy series. Other contributing authors are as follows (will update as they are published)..

The Guru's Review: 

This is the second book I have read in the Realms of Our Own Anthology and the first work from Jeremy Bullard. I like his writing style and this encourages me to read his Gemworld (Facets of Reality Book 1) series. 

Rewind keeps you interested and focussed. I can tell that Bullard likes his sci-fi and even fantasy genres as it shows in this short. I loved the romance that exists between Karyn and Indalrion Tay. In developing the characters that are common in all the shorts in this Realms Of Our Own anthology, I have discovered further character traits of those just mentioned, and more of those from A Time For Change. I like this feature, that each author in this anthology will show more of or different personality traits, abilities and powers of these characters. Bullard does this well in this novel. 

Another aspect I liked in this short was the blending of the military style action with the presence of the supernatural in the form of an angel called Jesse and also the mention of aliens. 

I did not like the character of Grayson in A Time For Change but I did not mind him in this short. I loved the description of Intalrion battling with his Garwaf nature in trying to save Karyn by travelling back in time to reverse the catastrophe she is involved in. 

I would have loved this to have been longer than its 22 pages, maybe double the length.  However, a very enjoyable instalment in this unique concept in Anthologies. 

Highly Recommended.

Interview with C.A Wolcott, author of Call to Arms

I recently read A Call to Arms, debut novel by author C.A Wolcott. This is a supernatural, spiritual warfare, Christian fiction novel and one that has a unique take on both these genres. 

From the book description on the Amazon book page: 

The fate of an entire city hangs in the balance. 

The trumpet has sounded. A declaration of war. And the need for soldiers to answer the call is greater than ever. This deadly war is not between two nations of state and politics, but between opposing powers of hidden realms. 

When a small church youth group clashes with a satanic gang at Silex City Park, James Proctor is the first to answer the call to arms. But quickly he discovers this battle is far bigger than he can handle alone. 

Peter Saxon also hears the call but wants nothing to do with it…until the war gets personal. When he starts having visions of an epic medieval battle and is recruited by both sides, he realizes just how high the stakes truly are—and that neutrality in this war isn’t an option. Before he and those he loves are caught in the crossfire, he must choose a side. But which one? 

Now that I have read and reviewed his book, (my review can be found here) I wanted to explore more of this novel and the author as I was intrigued by the uniqueness of the spiritual warfare aspects described and the background of the author after reading of his bio at the end of the novel. What better way to do this, than through an interview?

I engaged C.A (Charles) for this interview, and here is what he has to say about himself and the complex world of the supernatural, Christian worldview of spiritual warfare.

Charles has much to say and this interview contains a lot of his testimony. It really does tie in well with the background to his novel. Please do not let the length of this interview deter you from reading it in its entirety. It is well worth it and you will be able to see the hand of God in his life. This is very encouraging, honours God and shows what a might God we serve. 

Having said that, here we go!

Charles, it is great to have you drop by and put an end to my curiosity concerning your novel and yourself! I am really looking forward to this.

Tell us a bit about yourself and your background/testimony.

It’s hard to know really where to start when I describe where I come from. For those that know my story, I would be the last person on the list who would be “qualified” to write a fiction novel, especially one of the caliber of Call to Arms as you have described in your review. I was not an English nor a Creative Writing major. My degree is in Computer Science. I’m a math and science geek. I’m currently a substitute teacher at a local high school here in El Paso, Texas and I’m seeking to become a full time math teacher. Most people would expect me to be good at technical papers, not fiction. But when you give your life to Christ and tell him, “I don’t know what you want me to do, but I’m available. Use me as you want,” things tend to happen that surpass your wildest dreams. 

When I said I was not qualified to write a novel, I really meant it. Growing up, I had all sorts of both physical and mental difficulties. I did not have reading comprehension until I was 12 years old. I could tell you what was on each page, but I could not tell you why it was there. But when I turned 12, it was like God turned a switch on, and it came fast. I wasn’t much of a reader until after I had already started writing. I did read, but I wasn’t voracious. I also had moderate physical difficulties. I could not do two things at once, like sitting upright and eating. My joint and leg structure had specialists tell me, when I was six, I would never run, have difficulty walking, and not to expect any improvement. God brought me through all that. When I was 15, I started fencing and that sport did wonders for my development to now, I am at least decent at just about every sport I try. 

Spiritually, I was raised in a Christian home and when I was six years old, my parents took my family and I on our first mission trip. I’ll address more about that later. I accepted Jesus Christ as my personal Lord and Savoir when I was seven, and I have never turned back. I also have a gift of spiritual discernment. As I’ve become more aware of the gift, I have been seeking to learn how to use it, but there were many times growing up where I would say something completely out of the blue, and that something would be exactly what needed to be done. I have a gift of a child-like faith that isn’t childish, where when God speaks, I believe it without question. There would be times where I would share something very profound that blows everyone away and when they ask me where I got that, I would respond with “God just told me that the other day.” I could easily go on and on about this. 

Despite your physical and mental disabilities, God gave you a glimpse of what was to come. Wow! 

What inspired you to get into writing?

As I mentioned above, writing a novel was not on my agenda or dream to-do-lists. Yet, despite that as I think back, I was a writer. I was constantly writing stories as a kid. For school, when we were told to write a story, my teachers would think 1-3 pages. Mine would be 15-20. I often had a journal where I would often write and re-write the same adventure story. But even though I was long-winded as a writer, I wasn’t a good story teller then. My main character was always me, I had no character arcs, and ultimately it ended up being one action scene followed by another. You could say I was trying to live out a dream of being a sword-fighting hero through writing. 

Writing took a bit of a back seat when I started fencing. I no longer had a need to write about an epic sword fight. I was actually living it through the sport. But during the Summer and Autumn of 2005, the door to write opened again. I was part of an on-line forum with C.S. Lewis’ The Chronicles of Narnia as the theme. And in anticipation of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe coming to film, I would give a depiction of what the final battle scene could look like. And that was a hit in the forum. Also, a friend of mine and co-worker at the time was working a potential story and he asked me to write some of the battle/action scenes. So at this point, I was starting to see that people were liking what I was writing, a big step from anything I had written in the past. 

The big turning point came in November, 2007. Another friend of mine had written the first draft of a fictional biography. He had taken his life testimony and wrote it in the context of a spiritual warfare, adventure novel. He also asked me for some feedback. So I read his draft and shortly afterwards, went over my comments with him. During this time, he suggested I try writing because he was so impressed with what I was telling him. 

So I decided, “What the heck?” I gave it a go. This time, I purposed to take myself out of the story, do it in 3rd person (all my previous stuff was 1st person and as I’ve learned, this is not a good idea for a new writer), and make sure I had good character and story arcs. I set out for a medieval/fantasy thriller as a means to test the waters. I created a few characters, came up with a few locations, and completely made up the story as I went. In three months, I had 280 pages for over 160,000 words. And it was a decent first draft. I then sat on it for a month and as I started to look at the editing process, God told me to set it aside and start thinking of another writing project. A project that would end up as Call to Arms. 

I love the way two seemingly unsimilar past times, fencing and writing, merged and became the spring board for you becoming a writer in your own right! Not just a coincidence, I believe! 

What was the inspiration for writing Call to Arms?

As I wrote my medieval thriller, ideas for different story ideas kept popping into my head. I knew that I wanted a spiritual warfare novel to be my key story of all of them. I wanted that one to be my best work out of all of them. But I wanted more practice. I wanted to continue working this medieval thriller. I also wanted to do a story that would be a modern take on “What would happen if Zorro were to be needed to today?” I knew that my “brand” so to say would be adventure/sword fighting thrillers so I wanted to keep with that theme. I wanted more practice writing stories before I got to my spiritual warfare one. But after I had finished this first draft of my medieval story, God kept pointing me towards that spiritual warfare novel. So in April 2007, I started it. I wasn’t quite sure how to really get it going, but as I was in college at the time and I was walking to catch a bus to get to church, I got this image in my head. And it answered the question: “What would it look like to see someone in the spiritual realm be “born again”?” And I absolutely loved that image. I won’t spoil it here, but I took that image and I started working a story line around that image. 

In this process, I took some of the stories I had heard and stories I had witnessed in regards to spiritual warfare and dealing with demons from while I was in the mission field and used the ideas from that as key plot points. I also remember watching one of the Harry Potter movies as I was preparing this novel. And I thought to myself, “This movie praises the use of the occult and unaware children could easily start dabbling into it, not knowing what truly lies behind.” So I wanted a story that would address the real nature of the occult.

As you mention in your review, Peter, I have strong, Christian characters. I mentioned growing up on the mission field and I frequently worked with strong Christian teenagers. We called them “Junior Staff”, teens that were mature in their faith, had plenty of experience through previous mission trips (many were annual repeaters or more), and were showing signs of leadership capabilities. I had seen some of these teens in action, and so I wanted to show that teenagers today could execute that mature, walk-the-walk, stand strong in the faith relationship with Christ. Perhaps my favourite character in Call to Arms is Zack Saxon. He is a fearless kid, almost reckless. He came about when I watched a couple of boys, only 9 and 10, fearlessly and almost recklessly witnessing to a homeless man apart from the main group. 

All these factors came to play as I started writing. In just six weeks, I finished with 250 pages at 130K words. 

Totally agree with you about Zack! He is also one of my favourite characters!

What was your goal for your readers? What kind of responses were you expecting?

My initial goal for this book was to raise awareness about spiritual warfare. I had seen too much of the church in general effectively be clueless about the battle we are in, let alone what the stakes are. As a Christian author, I wanted a story that would be more than just a fiction version of a sermon. I did not want my story to pull readers out to where I would essentially “preach” to them. Every Christian fiction novel needs to have quality substance that does teach practically how to help the reader out in their walk with Christ, but that should be done through the story, not through the author directly to the reader. I wanted a story that would show what happens when we try to stay on the sidelines and wait for God and Satan to “duke it out”. I wanted a story that shows that children are targeted by Satan early, but also that a child does not have to wait to be an adult to engage in the battle. I wanted readers to see that this stuff is real, so I used a few true encounters I had endured to demonstrate that. I do believe I met my goals. 

I honestly did not know what kind of responses I should expect. I knew people liked reading my battle scenes but creating two complex story lines and weaving them together, I honestly did not know what to expect. What I got was far above and beyond what I imagined. All but universal praise for the story weaving, the character development, the action scenes, and the staying true to Biblical truths. I had a few people that did not care so much for the spiritual aspects but even then they were very impressed with the story structure and my writing ability. 

Charles, having read A Call to Arms, I can honestly say you have exceeded your goals in this book, and you have also educated the reader in the reality of spiritual warfare. I believe that Christian Fiction should educate and edify the body of Christ and you have achieved this very successfully. 

Now, describe your journey of becoming published. How did it help your relationship with Christ?

After I finished my first draft of Call to Arms, I let it sit for a while. I wanted to come back to it with a fresh mind. And as I came back to it, I realized I had material that was too dark and too descriptive for a young-adult reader, my target audience. I wanted to reach youth with this novel and as Charles Jackson, a friend of mine who wrote the endorsement, says: “It is a middle-school boy’s dream fantasy. “ But my first draft was truly what some authors like to call a vomit or barf draft. It was not good. It did not have good story structure. How I had crossed the two worlds was too unclear and not effective. Some scenes were a bit too unrealistic to follow. And other scenes went into material that my target audience should not be reading into the details I had revealed. And looking back, it was material no Christian publisher would have accepted. So I took a few characters I liked, a few key plot points I liked, and I scrapped the whole thing and started over again. 

But that is part of the journey of a first-time author. I persevered and my second draft had much better material and a stronger story. I also revised how I described my two worlds to what is there now. But it still wasn’t done yet. I then had to re-write the whole back third of the novel again because of reorganizing a few scenes. But it was getting stronger and stronger. 

At this point I was starting to explore how to get my work published. And I found a Christian publishing ‘pre-screening’ company called Writer’s Edge Service. Writer’s Edge Service will take the plot summary, first three chapters, and author info, and with detailed feedback, they will determine if a publisher would consider looking at a manuscript. After six revisions and editing phases, I submitted it to them and they loved it. My anonymous reviewer said “It was the best depiction of spiritual warfare for the everyday believer that I had ever read.” That’s part of what makes Call to Arms stand out from a lot of other spiritual warfare fiction novels. My characters, while spiritually mature, are believable and attainable for the average reader. The average reader can live their Christian walk similar to how my characters do. 

So with that review, I immediately had contact from several publishers. But they were self-publishers and all of them required some money, money that I as a college student did not have. I was tempted but I had to wait and see. Through this though, I found out about an American Christian Fiction Writers Conference and I did have enough time and money to go during my Spring Break that year. So I went and it was good. Small, but good. During an appointment I had with Rene Gutteridge, she told me I needed to look for a real publisher because my work was good enough to not need to look at self-publishing. But I still did not know much about the publishing industry and how to separate out what was what. 

Shortly after I got back from that conference, I received contact from Lighthouse Christian Publishing. I did not know they were self-publishing at the time and they charged a very low fee to cover initial costs: just $300. After praying about it, I decided to go for it. So I published this work under the title Battle Cry: Adventures in the Kingdom of Heaven. But after it was published, I soon saw two glaring issues. One, the cover was just a stencil sketch. I thought that was going to be used as a basis for a much better cover. The other issue was that they did not do the final editing job, the final fine tooth comb of spelling and grammar that I thought they were going to do. Both were due to my lack of understanding of the system. But that being said, my initial readers were able to get through all that and they could not believe what I had written. So I had quite a dilemma. I had an awesome story but with problems. And I wanted to write more. How could I continue to promote it, knowing the issues? God provided the answer shortly afterwards. 

I got the opportunity to attend the Colorado Christian Writers Conference in Estes Park, Colorado. I had to wait four years, from when I first heard of it until I got to go, because it was always held during Finals Week in college. But I finally got the chance to go and there my eyes were opened. The CCWC is one of the biggest and best writers’ conferences in the US and I learned more than I could comprehend during that week. It was also there where I got the chance to meet with Ramona Tucker of OakTara Publishing. I learned that very rarely will publishers look at the same work that was self-published. But Ramona saw something in my manuscript and she wanted me to submit it, with a better editing job, some content changes, and with a title change. And in the next month, I did that. I fixed the spelling/grammar issues, tweaked a few scenes partly in anticipation of the second book in the trilogy, and changed the title to Call to Arms. OakTara loved the book, gave me one of the coolest cover designs I’ve ever seen, and it was released on May 1st 2014, just in time for me to return to the Colorado Christian Writers Conference for the 3rd time, but this time it would be as a speaker and the topic: spiritual warfare. I have now finished my trilogy for The Battle Cry Saga and am waiting on OakTara for determining when the best time to release them. 

Seems to me that God was teaching you to be patient and to let Him pave the way for you to get Call to Arms published. You have certainly done that and now are reaping the benefits. 

Your author bio says you grew up as a missionary kid. Where did you serve? For how long? With whom? How did this experience influence this book?

As I mentioned above, I grew up on the mission field. My parents joined with International Family Missions (IFM) when I was six years old, in 1990. My family was more in the support side, where we worked behind the scenes and were not directly doing the ministry as much as the teams themselves. IFM had a vision: to teach families how to do ministry as a family unit and it was here that I got to see many children of all ages (and adults) live and walk their faith. Many mission organizations either took teenagers or empty-nester parents. Rarely were kids allowed to go and handicapped people were rarely allowed to go. Partly because many of those short term trips involved work projects to go along with their Gospel sharing. But IFM was different. We hardly did work projects. We just did “visits in Jesus’ name”. We focused our ministry to Juarez, Mexico because it was so close to the US border and because it had the 3rd world culture to get the groups out of their comfort zone. El Paso, Texas and Juarez, Mexico are literally sister cities. The only thing that separates them is a river, which happens to be an international border. El Paso/Juarez is the largest international metropolitan area in the world. And because of the proximity, we could take our teams to El Paso (just a one day drive from the Denver, Colorado area where we were from), have them stay on the US side every night and for a week at a time, take them into Juarez daily to do ministry. 

The ministry we did was not work projects but consisted of evangelism, church visits, VBS Bible clubs, sport camps, feedings, and simply just spending time with the people. After we visited with one of the children’s homes, they told us: “Other groups paints our walls and build our fences, but you were the first group to just play with us.” My parents remained involved with IFM for 22 years total. In July 1999, we moved to south-east El Paso to manage the ministry base we used to house and facilitate these teams. We’d host a team of 35-40 people, comprised of mostly families, but we also took toddlers, the elderly, grandkids, grandparents, handicapped, the works. I was also one of the “handicapped” because of the challenges I had growing up. My parents quickly realized that God was going to use me when I was eight years old. I was in my own world while the team was doing ministry at the prison in Juarez. The men were inside with the men, while the women and children visited with the wives and kids visiting the men. Our director was speaking to a group of pastors that was interested in what we were doing and he asked me to get a “Worldless Book”, a felt booklet that contained five colors (gold, black, red, white, and green) and this booklet contained the Gospel message. I then shared the Gospel with this booklet to these pastors along with all the verses that went with it. And the pastors were totally amazed that a child (not knowing my story) could share the Gospel so simply. 

In this time of ministry, we saw God move in many different ways. We did a kite flying event with kids at another children’s home and God stopped the heavy winds so we could do it. In another event, we planned a massive feeding, but God sent the strongest windstorm in recorded history, which meant heavy dirt. Many people know about blizzard conditions with snow. We know the same conditions with dirt. But we had to close down because of this dirt storm. As a result, we found another orphanage that we had been trying to find for several years. And they were down to their last few carrots on food. We had enough for them for a week. We’ve seen food multiply numerous times, sometimes with leftovers, sometimes where the last apple or slice of meat went to the last person. We’ve seen miraculous healings. One woman we witnessed to in the market one year accepted Christ. Two years later she found us and told us that very day she was healed of cancer and was in the markets doing exactly what we had been doing: sharing Christ. 

One thing I observed during this time, which I mentioned above, was that teenagers and even kids as young as 7-10 could display a true Christian faith with that innocent, child-like faith that is not childish. I’ve seen little kids share the truth with full grown men who had lost everything. I’ve seen teenagers take leadership where a number of adults would not. But these mature youth showed me that teenagers and younger could walk that kind of Christian life. And I wanted to demonstrate through my book one way that could look like. 

My parents and I separated from IFM in January 2012 to move on to another direction God was taking us. IFM itself had ceased to bring groups to Juarez, mostly because of a brutal war between drug cartels. That war has mostly ended but IFM is seeking the Lord on what to do from there. In the meantime, my parents have moved on and are currently waiting on the Lord to direct their steps. 

Those are amazing experiences and very unique to have while growing up. I can see how they have influenced the plot of Call to Arms. You have definitiely shown in this novel that teenagers and even those younger can take the leadership role. Again, the character of Zack comes to mind. James as well.

You say you experienced a number of encounters with the demonic. Tell us about one of them and how it played a role in your writing?

Spiritual warfare has always been a favorite topic of mine. In writing Call to Arms, I used some of my personal experiences in dealing with demons and I used some of the experiences I heard from those involved first-hand. My first draft did not use as many of these encounters as my later drafts did. My first draft was more about getting some of the principles down, but one very interesting thing about writing I have learned is this: when you write about a certain topic, you have a tendency of dealing with said topic. And while the majority of my experience in ministries was helping facilitate the teams from behind the scenes, I got to see a lot of stuff and hear about a lot of things going on. As I mentioned above, after writing my first draft, I had to scrap my entire story and re-write it. Between those drafts, I had the most significant encounter with the demonic I had personally been involved with. 

I was using my first draft as a witnessing tool for a co-worker of mine at the time. He had expressed a strong interest in spiritual discussions, though not always about Christianity. So I used my first draft as a means to get him to open up about the need for the Gospel. But in this encounter, I awoke a demonic stronghold that had laid dormant in him. It started with trying to get some written feedback from him about my novel. Because he did not have a printer, we had to do it via e-mail. But attempt after attempt after attempt, nothing came through. Then something did and it was not the feedback he was trying to send. It was messages from a demonic entity. Each one got more and more sinister, but I was seeing what was happening. I hammered him with the Gospel, recognizing what was going on and day by day, it got worse and worse. I knew he was aware of demonic activity and other “spiritual issues” so I very cautiously watched him, seeing if it was some sort of sick prank. It was not long afterwards that the demonic stronghold manifested itself through him and I started to engage with the demon directly through my co-worker. But I did not quit and I kept presenting the Gospel. I was the only believer in the store where we worked, so I had no physical backup. I also had Acts 19:13-17 in mind. That is the time where the seven sons of Sceva tried to drive out a demon and it went very poor for them. I used that passage of Scripture for one of my scenes that you pointed out in your review. I knew I was in a very tight situation, and the only help I could get was prayer support from a distance. During my final day at that job, I got the chance to give him the Gospel one last time, but in the end, he would not submit to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. 

I was shaken. Hard. I was sifted like wheat. But I held my ground. I was reduced to my foundations, and my foundations were on solid ground. This encounter did change my life but it made me stronger in my faith. It took about six months for me to be able to tell this story in detail and when I do, it usually takes about an hour to tell it. This is the short, short, short version. But I have an awesome T-shirt that was very appropriate for this encounter. I got the shirt at the Colorado Christian Writer’s Conference. It says this: “Be careful what you say or you might just find yourself in my next novel.”

Most of us would never have such an experience! Most of us would reel in fright at such, but you show how the battle belongs to God and He is the Victor. I loved how you added that part of the verse from Acts in your plot! More realism and very clever! When I was reading A Call to Arms, one of my first thoughts was that these spiritual scenes could not just be from your imagination, I figured they were God inspired or that you would have had to at least experienced them. Now this does not surprise me from what you have experienced first hand.