The Truth is a Fountain of Living Waters. Most stories today are dessicated, devoid of Truth.
I write because we’re trapped in an arid wasteland of a culture. Sure, there are little oasis of Living Water here and there, but not enough. I want my children to live in a green cultural land flowing with the Living Waters of Jesus Christ.
But I don’t just write for my own children, or for homeschoolers, or conservative Christians. I write for everyone that loves exciting, vibrant, lush stories that come alive with the Truth in ways others can’t. The story of Jesus Christ is written into the very heart of all Creation. I write my stories to echo that Truth, to set up ringing notes that resonate in every one of our eternal souls.
My stories just happen to have dragons and swords, magic and monsters, and those sorts of things in them.
I fell in love with the Hobbit, the Lord of the Rings, and Narnia as my mother read them to my sisters and I when we were little. “Oh, just one more chapter!” My poor mother, its amazing she didn’t have a constant case of laryngitis.
I grew up on a farm, eleven miles from a town of four thousand. Books were an escape into fantastical worlds of magic and myth that were a tad more exciting that my normal activities. Though I admit, when I started playing football, that was a lot like dressing up like a knight and doing battle. That kept my attention for awhile.
Throughout my childhood, my parents staunchly refused my request for an Atari or a Nintendo. (Thanks, Mom and Dad! You were right about a lot of other stuff too.) By the time I got a Game Boy when I was sixteen, I was firmly entrenched in the world of reading.
When I saw some friends playing Dungeons and Dragons at the Science Fair (I’m not making that up), I was fascinated. I’d never heard all the rumors of how it was supposed to take over your mind and force you to commit horrible acts against your will. I just saw people playing a game with little dice that had too many sides and talking about stuff that sounded like it came straight out of the Lord of the Rings. I had to join in. Fairly quickly, I was planning and writing adventures for the other kids to play. That was when I first realized how much fun and joy creating things to share with others could be. I was hooked.
I’ve grown up a lot since I first heard about hobbits and ringwraiths and wizards, both physically and spiritually. But, it amazes me how these fantasy tales caught so much of how the real world is. The whole world really is a battle between Good and Evil. You really do have to choose sides, and you really might be asked to step up and do more than you ever thought you could to help. So, I sincerely hope that you find my books and work to be spiritually edifying and uplifting, drawing your attention to the Truth that is the Gospel of Jesus Christ by whom God chose to “ reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross.” (Col. 1:20)