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By Lee Duigon
June 13, 2013
NewsWithViews.com

Tired of reading about our poor country being debauched, dishonored, and devoured? Would you like a glimpse of something better?

I know I would. That’s why I write books. My newest, The Fugitive Prince, has just gone on sale.

What’s it about?

Adventure and discovery, loyalty and treachery, heroism and villainy; miracles, wonders, and redemption; an epic fantasy grounded upon a Biblical view of reality—even when it’s a reality other than the one we know… All right, I don’t mean to be writing a review of my own book. I just want to tell you what the book is like.

The Fugitive Prince is the fifth book in a fantasy/adventure series that begins with Bell Mountain [see the mini-ad on the right-hand margin]. I’ve written them for young readers, ages 12 and up, but adults enjoy them, too. Don’t worry about getting stuck reading a couple hundred pages of Barney the Dinosaur. It’s not that kind of fantasy.

Of course, if you only want “adult” fantasy in which the bad guys always win, the characters are always ready to fornicate at the drop of a hat, and low-down moral turpitude is trotted out as smart sophistication, then my books are probably not for you. Not that wicked characters are scarce, in my stories. It’s just that they don’t comprise the entire population of the book. Besides, a setting in which sheer nastiness is the invariable rule doesn’t exist outside of politics.

If you like stories in which magic, sorcery, or witchcraft is the way to get things done, you won’t find it here. Sorry, no witchcraft.

For one thing, “magic” has been overused in fantasy. Got a problem? Cast a spell. Got a conflict? Shazzam! It’s enough to give the whole genre a bad reputation. But more importantly, I try to allow nothing in my stories that the Bible doesn’t allow. So my characters can’t do “magic” that sets them up as little gods. They’re stuck with being human.

To be sure, my imaginary world of Obann has its share of problems. There’s a war on, and the institutional religion has become a shambles. Some of the country’s leaders have betrayed it. God has intervened in Obann’s history—forcefully, even terrifyingly.

I must confess that my stories are big on the theme of redemption. Back here in the real world, God’s promise of redemption, both personal and universal, is the only thing that lets us keep on living without losing our minds. I am aware that many people don’t believe in that promise, don’t care about it, and are perfectly sane. But that’s only because they are falsely persuaded that redemption will come from some other source than God—from politics, from science, from whatever. This delusion keeps them from despair. You wonder how anybody but a total chucklehead can look at history, or even at current events, and find anything to hope for from those quarters. But who would say the world isn’t full of chuckleheads?

I write these novels because I believe in God’s promises and want my readers to believe in them, too. With the same purpose I might write theological dissertations, private eye stories, songs, TV screenplays, or speeches; but I’ve been called to write fantasy novels. I believe that fantasy is a way to look at the truth from yet another vantage point, one that’s not easy to find when you’re here in the real world being distracted by bills, the horrific national and world news, the weather, and the not-so-simple-as-it-looks business of everyday living.

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The Bible tells the truth. Sometimes looking at truth from an imaginary perspective can help us see it more clearly.

We must never be afraid to use our imaginations in Christ’s service.

To get your own copy of The Fugitive Prince or any of its predecessors, order them through amazon.com. You can also order them on my blog. Just click on “Books” and the titles will come up. The blog also offers free sample chapters and book reviews by persons who are not me. Finally, you can order them direct from the publisher (click “Store” and then “Fiction”). The first four Bell Mountain books are also available as e-books for your Kindle doohickey, with Prince to join them soon.

Caution: There are two other novels out there entitled The Fugitive Prince. Please make sure you get the one by me!