JR: Welcome, Christopher. You have edited a pair of devotionals out in the Faith In Fiction series. What inspired these books, and how did you line up the topics and authors (including Kerry Nietz, who I interviewed for this blog recently)? Also, are there any more of these in the works?
CS: There are definitely more in the works. It all came together as an idea that I had while at a writing conference and thinking about collaborating with authors for networking. I belong to a few writing groups and had some ongoing devotional conversations with some other writers; most of these folks I only know in an online capacity, but some of them have attended the same events as I have and we wind up getting together in real life at events (just did a few days ago, in fact.) I do as many shows as I can. I was pretty pleased to get to know Kerry and reached out a while back when an author friend (who is somewhere on the spectrum between athiest and agnostic,) mentioned that the Amish Vampires series gave him real hope and genuine interest in faith-based fiction. Kerry did the foreword for the first book and then contributed in book 2. A third book is underway as well.
JR: You have written several novels, most recently including Rise and Fall of the Obsidian Grotto, Book 1 of The Esfah Sagas. Would you like to share anything that you've written that might be used
CS: I write. A lot. So many books… and I might never get to all my ideas. Currently I’m writing Book 6 in that series and co-writing Book 5. The Esfah Sagas is actually a continuation and rerelease of an old fantasy series from the 1990s that I was a fan of and which was put out by TSR (Forgotten Realms, Dragonlance, etc.) and I secured the rights usage earlier this year making this the only TSR fantasy property not owned by Wizards of the Coast. In the series I lean a little more Tolkien in how I present good and evil and use archetypes… what I really mean is that it comes from the faith-based worldview that I possess, but is not directly religious. My Kakos Realm series, however, is overtly Christian in nature.
Part of what we did in the Faith in Fiction devotionals is use an existing book series with a large following/fanbase and write a series of devos around themes, characters, events, and concepts from the books which aren’t necessarily faith-based themselves. For example, in the second devo, I wrote a series of pieces on concepts from Dune (knowing that the Villenvue movie is releasing this year). Secondly, authors wrote a second set of devos around the series that they wrote. My second set, following the Dune entries, draw on my ongoing my Sci-Fi series, Dekker’s Dozen. One reviewer said “it’s like Firefly and Farscape had a baby!” Which is neat since I’m a guest at a SF convention next month where an actress from Farscape is also a guest.
JR: You also have some non-fiction titles, such as the just released Muzzling Jesus: Liberty, Faith, Politics, and the Mask Debate. I am definitely interested in hearing about this book, but I'd also like to know the similarities and dissimilarities of your approach to writing fiction and non-fiction.
CS: My nonfiction comes out from issues that I feel need to be addressed head-on and have a lot of supporting data or research that is being ignored. I originally published my first novel (The Kakos Realm 1: Grinden Proselyte) with a traditional publisher, and then set fiction aside for a long while. I was doing ministry and went back to seminary for a few years. Through a few years I had been collecting data about pastoral attrition, job retention, and transition (all christianese for pastors quitting or getting fired.) That turned into my return to writing with Why Your Pastor Left which blows open some secrets that churches keep swept under the rug. Then I launched back into fiction again.
Muzzling Jesus is borne from two things: 1) my frustrations over COVID and the illogical ways it is being used to advance political, economic, and personal agendas and 2) the theology leanings that I’ve been building upon these last 2 decades I’ve been in active ministry. I am very much an advocate of freewill and the power of choice. The book has a few word studies, lots of scripture, and something like 70 news articles cited that demonstrate the lunacy and hypocrisy of them times we live in. It’s a book that will probably make me more enemies than friends, but that just means I’ll have more time for writing J
JR: What lies in the future? Also, anything from your past writing that you'd like to mention?
CS: My magnum opus is still on the way. While I’m still continuing my Dekker’s Dozen series and the Esfah Sagas, my Shadowless series will come soon. It’s very much like Stephen King/Ted Dekker’s writings and I describe it like City of Ember meets I Am Legend. In a post-apocalyptic world where only a few hundred humans remain, they live in an underground bunker with miles of tunnels covered with light panels so that not even a shadow exists: mankind is that afraid of the dark. And then… the lights begin to go out.
JR: Thank you for your time, Christopher, and I hope you have a blessed day.
CS: Thanks for reaching out! I’d love if people checked me out on Amazon or at my website www.authorchristopherdschmitz.com
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