Asking You Anything
Reversing the AMA.
I’ve had some interesting experiences over the years regarding my books. I’ve gotten a few threats, because who hasn’t? (No, seriously, if you’re in the public eye, I just assume death threats come with the territory. I’m still confused about one or two of them. Okay, I get that you hate me, but why?)
However, I’ve gotten more than a few letters that tell me that my books have brought them A) Back to the Church, or B) converted to Christ.
I’ve had at least two direct messages telling me that “I’ve read your books, and now I’m bringing my entire family back to church”
I’ve had at least another two people tell me I was instrumental in bringing them into the church. One became Catholic, one became Orthodox—make sense of that, if you can.
I’ve puzzled over this for the past few years now. And, like that one panel at LibertyCon where I just passed out because I was coming down with shingles, it has occurred to me that I could just … ask.
I have social media and I’m not afraid to use it.
So, I guess my question is: if you’ve been affected by my writing in some way, tell me how.
Better yet, tell me why.
Because you have to understand that my confusion stems from my perception of my books.
I write shoot ‘em ups—perhaps blow ‘em ups. They’re fun, fast, exciting reads.
Or, as Father Dwight Longenecker called them: Shlock.
So when people say that my vampire novels brought them back to church, or that my Saint Tommy novels made them convert … I smile and nod and say thank you, and spend hours afterwards scratching my head.
Because why? How?
Again, feel free to ask me anything in the comments. If you get an email, you can ping me through the comment button at the top.
And please, feel free to buy a book, or leave a book review. Either would be greatly appreciated.
I had similar experiences from the writings of C S Lewis and G K Chesterton in the early 80… before you began writing… so I’m not really in the group you’re asking. But if my progress is relevant—I think it was related to a bit in THE SCREWTAPE LETTERS where Screwtape says something like, “whenever he thinks of devils, make him think of a man in red tights with horns and a pitchfork, and then tell him since he can’t believe in THAT, therefore he can’t believe in YOU. It’s a classic method of confusing them.”
Classic it may be, but it’s vulnerable to anything that directs the victim’s imagination to a serious, mature conception of spiritual beings for an extended period of time. Even the willing suspension of disbelief accorded to a fantasy novel can be enough to make the reader pause and reconsider just why the subjects of our faith couldn’t really be true… and realize that, of course, they can.
I was already back among the faithful by the time I read your Catholic vampire and St Tommy books, but they could have done the trick if I hadn’t been.