AMERICAN MIDNIGHT by Brandon Barr and Mike Lynch

AMERICAN MIDNIGHT
by Brandon Barr and Mike Lynch
BLOG DAYS OF SUMMER

It's a week of American Midnight! The latest release from the brilliant Brandon Barr and Mike Lynch.

CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE AMERICAN MIDNIGHT

CLICK HERE FOR MIND WRITERS THE MIKE LYNCH AND BRANDON BARR AUTHOR BLOG

CLICK HERE FOR BRANDON BARR'S WEBSITE

CLICK HERE FOR MIKE LYNCH'S WEBSITE

Friday you will see my review of this action-packed, suspense novel. But first up, I asked some questions of the two authors. I tried to make the questions unique and the two authors gave outstanding, inspiring answers. . .see what you think: Here is my with Brandon Barr:

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              Brandon Barr

KM: Hello Brandon and thank you for coming by!

So, first of all, what books have most influenced your life?


BB: Books that influenced my life are certainly different than books that have influenced my writing. Besides the Bible (which my entire life rests upon) here are some books that have had a exhorting effect on my life: God Smuggler by Brother Andrew, In God's Underground by Richard Wurmbrand, Total Truth by Nancy Pearcey, Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis, The Cross and The Switchblade by David Wilkerson.


KM: If you had to choose, which writer would you consider a mentor?

BB: Above all, I'd have to say C.S. Lewis and Ray Bradbury, their fiction has influenced the way I write profoundly. But I also must add Bruce McAllister (who has worked face to face with me) and Lars Walker.


KM: What book are you reading now?

BB: Knowing God by J.I. Packer. And I'm currently leafing through my horde of unread books to find a good fiction to read.


KM: Are there any new authors that have grasped your interest?

BB: There are some authors who are new to me, though they've been around for a while. The most incredible one being Lars Walker. I now own everything he's ever written. I read The Year of the Warrior and it blew me away. He's a master storyteller, and really an undiscovered gem. Every Christian who enjoys fantasy or historical fiction needs to read that book.


KM: Name one entity that you feel supported you outside of family members.

BB: I like the word "entity". It reminds me of the Michael Crichton novel, Sphere. Well, I can name a few supporters outside family. In the beginning it was the Online Writing Workshop (http://sff.onlinewritingworkshop.com/). The OWW is a critique group that gave me incredible feedback early on in my writing efforts. I learned so much, and I can't say enough good things about that forum. Where else can you have your manuscript critiqued by top authors? Also a huge support was a local Critique group in my hometown headed by Bruce McAllister. And lastly, I certainly feel that the blogging community has been a big encouragement for me. Friends like you, KM, help to keep me going.


KM: Wow! I agree with you, the blogosphere has been a great encouragement to me also - including those like you and Mike!
So what inspired American Midnight?

This is a two part answer. First, American Midnight sprang from my own experiences as a teenager growing up in our morally confused culture. As young Christians, we grow up surrounded by poison ideals fed to us through TV, movies, Internet, and every other media source. Morals are just your own personal tastes, and fame, popularity, image, money, and ones own immediate satisfaction are the goals of the world around us. In typical polar-opposite fashion, Jesus said to first love God, and then to love others as your own self. In American Midnight, our main character, Tania, is immersed in this self-absorbed culture, she's given up on God because she feels He's left her. Even still, she feels the emptiness of life without God.

Second, the novel explores the growing polarization between Christians who believe in absolute truth and unmovable standards set by God, and a world who wants nothing to do with "old fashioned systems of belief". And if you've read the novel, the story plays this out to its extreme ends. The Jewish people had their world turned upside down in Nazi Germany, one day, that could play out again in new ways, and with new sophistication.


KM: What was the hardest part of writing American Midnight?

It takes a lot of effort to create real, fleshed out characters who come alive. We went through dozens of drafts, refining dialogue and some of the more deep character POV moments.


KM: Do you have any words of wisdom that you want to say to your readers?

I hope we don't take for granted our own freedoms we currently have. Our world, our country, and our culture are changing quickly. Honestly I see a future where many young Christians are swallowed up by the world's view of life and reject their Christian faith (and they reject it for good reason, because they were set up to have shallow faith to begin with). I fear too often parents are teaching their children to have only an emotional, feelings based faith. Christians are more and more abandoning the intellectual side of Christianity. I see Christians scared of science, scared of philosophy, abandoning reason, and simply having faith in faith instead of having faith in Jesus who is Truth, who created science, and who the chief end of philosophy leads to. Jesus claimed to be the way, the TRUTH, and the life.


KM; What is up next for Mike Lynch and Brandon Barr?

There's an archaeological adventure story on the horizon. We're hoping it will be out sometime next year!

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And we are all hoping to see that next year! Thanks for your beautiful answers! I am a big fan of you and Mike.


Stay tuned. Wednesday I will post my interview with Mike Lynch!

THE YEAR OF THE WARRIOR by LARS WALKER

I stumbled across THE YEAR OF THE WARRIOR by LARS WALKER on the following blog: CHRISTIAN SCIENCE FICTION Brandon Barr's post regarding THE YEAR OF THE WARRIOR is here.

I was pleased when I followed the directions on that post, and I emailed the author for the book (which is out of print). Lars Walker promptly sent me an autographed copy.

This was an emotional read for me. The world is hard core and realistic. But the days of the Vikings were hard core; were they not? The characters are rich. They are flawed heroes struggling to live in cold world.

The main character, Aillil, is ripped from his family and home in Ireland and forced into slavery. The slave owners can ask a greater price for a priest than any other slave, so they give Aillil a catholic priest makeover and sell him to the highest bidder.

The Norway conqueror, Erling (A Christian), snags the preist at auction and sails to his home to bring God to his people. Aillil pretends to be a priest. Erling works to convert his people to Christianity by any means -- even the sword. The two men go through the greatest, most difficult but realistic "baptism by fire" that I have ever read.

This book is not a bon bon and Bach read. It is soulful to the point of darkness, but the farther down you go, the greater the highs, right?

Some of the lines in this book will stick with me for a lifetime. They aid me in my spiritual journey:

Why the good and the bad seem to prosper:
"Does that make {God} your enemy? Does God give pleasant lives to His friends and pain to His enemies? I haven't seen that to be true."

Sacrifice:
"They will sacrifice even their children before they will sacrifice themselves."
(sounds much like abortion today, eh? Frightening.)

Regarding heaven:
". . .the Beloved lives outside Time itself. He goes back and forth in it when He wills. And when we go to be with Him, we too will be outside of Time."

There are plenty more lines I will take with me. Those unanswerable questions that will forever go unanswered -- and be filled with Faith; and if not Faith, with Hope; and if not Faith or Hope; Love.

If you are looking for a hauntingly real Christian Fantasy tale, pick up THE YEAR OF THE WARRIOR by Lars Walker.

Purchase used here.
Or email the author and purchase from him: lars@larswalker.com

PROPHET, a review, BLOG DAYS OF SUMMER, by KM Wilsher

PROPHET
BY FRANK PERETTI
My synopsis of the story: A television news reporter finds himself caught up in a mystery of political deceit and human tragedy all the while re-establishing his relationship with his family and God.
Review
I felt drawn to PROPHET'S main character, John Barret, the moment the author introduced the strained relationship between John Barret and his young adult son. The snapshot Frank Peretti presented of the father’s emotions, regrets, and inadequacies astounded me. Then and there I signed up for this story and knew I’d be invested to the very end.
I’d never read anything like Peretti before. Until then, Christian fiction had been pretty disappointing -- detached and unreal, surfacy and preachy. Frank Peretti breaks all the molds I had encountered. He tells a real story about real human beings. Frank Peretti’s characters let you into their internal dialogue as they face problems that you and I face.
PROPHET includes a speculative aspect, but I think it can be enjoyed by those who adore speculative fiction and those who are not sure.
I liked this book with its relevant, modern day issues, and it real characters, however, it was too long. I did not enjoy the drawn out details of John Barret’s duties at the television station and other drawn out passages. They were distractions and threatened my desire to finish the book. However, I would still recommend it. I think the Christian aspect, the hot political issues, the speculative features, and most of all the characters are enough to say, “Pick up this book.”