Day of Liberation, the third book in the Dominion Over the Earth series, is now available in print, Kindle book, and EPUB at many major retailers, including Amazon, Smashwords, Barnes & Noble, Apple Books, and Kobo.
Fall to Eden, the first book in the Dominion Over the Earth series, is now free at major retailers in the Kindle and EPUB formats.
I’ll be publishing Day of Liberation, the third book in the Dominion Over the Earth series, in 2022. I’m very excited to make this book available to you. It’s my favorite of all the novels I’ve written. I love the story, and I adore the characters. In this novel, I explore themes that astonish and thrill me. Day of Liberation was always meant to be a love story, but it developed into something more—an extraordinary journey of a couple that answers questions I never meant to ask:
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I’m excited to announce the publication of Alien Roads, the second novel in the Dominion Over the Earth series, in print, epub, and Kindle. I’ll have to admit that I shed a few tears when I held the proof of this one in my hands. It took me thirteen years to get an ending on it and another three years to get it to this point. There were times I wondered if it would ever be done!
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Back in 2003 I launched Novaun Novels with the electronic publication of my fifth novel, Fall to Eden: An Apocalyptic Fantasy. Since I didn’t have a cover for the ebook at that time, I selected the above photo from NASA to represent it on the website. Now, at long last, Fall to Eden is available in print and for direct download to your dedicated reading device or app.
I’ve long called Fall to Eden my “man-eating paradise planet” novel. It is a story I couldn’t tell without acknowledging some of the extraordinary ideas contained in the scriptures used by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. For that reason, I chose to make the characters of the novel Latter-day Saints. Since I knew I would be publishing it online and understood that it would probably be found and read by a more diverse group of people than its target audience, I made it as inclusive to other religions as I could. Still, if you are not a member of my church and liked the Heirs of Novaun series, be aware that Fall to Eden is significantly different. With its mix of Latter-day Saint practice and thought, apocalyptic plot, and fantastical interpretation of prophecy, it’s something very alien indeed!
I’m pleased to announce that The Double-Edged Choice, Twin Witness to Betrayal, Travail of a Traitor, and Bond With a Terrorist, and are now available in print! They are also available in new, professionally-designed ebooks at many major retailers for a very low price. Fall to Eden will be available in the new formats this summer.
Continue readingFlatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions, by Edwin A. Abbott (English classic)
“Narrated by A. Square, Flatland is Edwin A. Abbott’s delightful mathematical fantasy about life in a two-dimensional world. All existence is limited to length and breadth in Flatland, its inhabitants unable even to imagine a third dimension. Abbott’s amiable narrator provides an overview of this fantastic world-its physics and metaphysics, its history, customs, and religious beliefs. But when a strange visitor mysteriously appears and transports the incredulous Flatlander to the Land of Three Dimensions, his worldview is forever shattered.”
We read this clever little novella in my book group. I was initially intrigued by the premise, but I’ll confess that I didn’t care for it at first. What sounded like a science fiction story appeared to really be a math puzzle. I like science fiction, but my brain rebels against math puzzles. As I continued to read, however, I realized that it was both science fiction and a math puzzle and, to my astonishment, religious fiction. I shouldn’t have been surprised, however, because the title page of the Project Gutenberg edition I read identifies Edwin A. Abbott as an English scholar, theologian, and writer.
Continue readingThat Hideous Strength, by C.S. Lewis
“The third novel in the science-fiction trilogy by C.S. Lewis. This final story is set on Earth, and tells of a terrifying conspiracy against humanity. The story surrounds Mark and Jane Studdock, a newly married couple. Mark is a Sociologist who is enticed to join an organisation called N.I.C.E. which aims to control all human life. His wife, meanwhile, has bizarre prophetic dreams about a decapitated scientist, Alcasan.”
Of the three novels in the Space Trilogy, I think That Hideous Strength has the most compelling plot and the more interesting themes. I especially like the way Lewis dramatizes the scriptural comparison between sin and sleep:
Continue readingPerelandra, by C.S. Lewis
“The second novel in Lewis’s science fiction trilogy tells of Dr Ransom’s voyage to the planet of Perelandra (Venus). Dr Ransom is sent by the Elida to Perelandra (Venus) to battle against evil incarnate and preserve a second Eden from the evil forces present in the possessed body of his enemy, Weston.”
In this novel, Dr. Ransom’s “battle against evil incarnate” is both philosophical and physical. The philosophical struggle adds meaning to the physical conflict and raises the stakes. Because the stakes are so high, the resolution of the story arc between Ransom and Weston satisfied me more that it would have had it come at the end of Out of the Silent Planet. Dr. Ransom’s battle is also fantastical, so much so that I wasn’t disturbed by the fact that the novel contains, at its core, a view of the “fall of man” that is very different from my own. Reading this book, in fact, inspired me to ponder these matters in a way that I hadn’t in a while. I particularly like this conversation between Ransom and Tinidril from chapter 9:
Continue readingOut of the Silent Planet, by C.S. Lewis (science fiction)
“In the first novel of C.S. Lewis’s classic science fiction trilogy, Dr Ransom, a Cambridge academic, is abducted and taken on a spaceship to the red planet of Malacandra, which he knows as Mars. His captors are plotting to plunder the planet’s treasures and plan to offer Ransom as a sacrifice to the creatures who live there. Ransom discovers he has come from the ‘silent planet’–Earth–whose tragic story is known throughout the universe…”
I read this book a couple of years ago and came away from it with an “eh” feeling. After my recent reading of Perelandra, the second book in the Space Trilogy, I went back and re-read much of Out of the Silent Planet, and my experience was much more satisfying. My problem the first time around was that the adventure started strong and then seemed to fizzle out in the end. What I failed to understand during that reading was that the true villain in the stories of C.S. Lewis is never completely the antagonist; it is the fallen nature of the protagonist. God always exists, is always a major player in the outcome of the story struggle, and will always win. I believe that this quality, more than anything else, is what makes the Space Trilogy radically different from standard science fiction, defines it as Christian science fiction, and marks it as a standard for modern faith-based science fiction, including my own. The question of a C.S. Lewis story is how it will end—which is generally quite unique and creative—and whether the protagonist will end his or her struggle on God’s team.
Continue readingI am pleased to announce that Alien Roads, the second book in The Dominion Over the Earth series, is finally finished! This is futuristic fantasy geared to members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Here is a short description of the series:
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