Lord, Make Me a Sledghammer of Your Will...

Roll over. Play dead. Fetch. Heel. Sit. 

You're probably thinking that the list above is a collection of doggie commands.

What if I told you that these are actually commands for Christians?

No, not commands from God. These are the commands that the world and the enemies of our soul throw at Christians every day. And every day that passes, these shouted commands become louder and louder and louder.

The sad thing is: too often, we Christians obey. We roll over for the world's whims. We play dead by behaving just like everyone else. We fetch by amusing the world with Christian infighting. We heel by compromising what we believe. And we sit on our butts when we ought to be serving. Please understand, I'm not calling you for your splinters without first wrestling with the telephone pole stuck in my own eye. I'm as guilty of this as anyone else.

But it makes me wonder: How did we get here?

How did we Christians come to the place where we are outworked, outsmarted, out-faithed, out-argued, out-created, and outdated by the world? How indeed.

Like many Christian troubles, I suspect we got here because of three things: 1) We've forgotten who we are.  2) We've forgotten to fight.   3) And worst yet, we have doubted our God. 

This could easily be the subject of a multi-volume book series, but this message is so urgent that it has to be brief and to the point.

1: We have forgotten who we are. You, Christian! Yeah, you! God says you are a royal priesthood, a chosen people, Sons and Daughters of the MOST HIGH GOD. You are ransomed by the blood of Jesus Christ. Your debt is settled. You are citizens of Heaven. Nothing can do you much relative harm, not even death! Now, don't go getting a fat head. Arrogance is just as bad (or worse) than ignorance. But soberly, SOBERLY, understand that you are not to be anyone's puppy dog. 

1 Peter 2:9
"But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light."

Galatians 4:6-7
"Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, "Abba, Father." So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son, God has made you also an heir."

John 15:15
"I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you."

Brothers and sisters, KNOW who you are in Christ. How dare anyone treat you like something to be wiped from the bottom of their shoe! How dare the enemy or his demons tell you that you're worthless! You are God's chosen people. You may be weird, but that's okay. John the Baptist ate bugs. And Jesus spit in the mud and healed someone's sight with it. If Jesus calls you "friend," if He says you were worth dying for, then you are absolutely precious.  

2: We have forgotten to fight. Somehow, we Christians have been conned into believing a little too hard in "Blessed are the meek" and "turn the other cheek" doctrine. Have you looked at those verses in context? Are they really saying, "Followers of Christ, whenever confronted with evil, let it walk all over you?" Are we commanded to wave the white flag to the world? Does Jesus ever advise us to stick our head in the sand and pray that the big, bad evil world will go away? I don't think so.

¹⁰ Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. ¹¹ Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. ¹² For our struggle is not against ^[a]flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. ¹³ Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm.
Ephesians 6:10-13

Have you ever looked at the Full Armor of God? You do realize that there's a SWORD included, right? And friends, that sword is not for slicing cucumbers.

FIGHT. That sword is the Sword of the Spirit. Get on your knees and pray. Jesus talked about having twelve Legions of Angels on call, but He didn't use them because He had a different mission to accomplish. But us? We are in a struggle. This is war. God doesn't mince words on this. We are in the fight of our lives, and there are eternal consequences. So surrender is NOT an option.

To fight, however, we need to recognize our enemy. Our struggle is not against people. Not really. It will FEEL that way. But it is NOT that way. If someone comes against you, against your view of Jesus, it is only because that person has been raised in a poisoned world and--like most of us currently or at one time--has been deceived. If someone tries to tell you that what is wrong is actually right, remember, this person has likely been conditioned over a lifetime to believe that lie. So what we do is actually kind of sneaky in a cool, subversive way. We pray. We ask God to vanquish the demon structure upon which the person is standing. We ask God to knock down the strongholds of evil and to use us as the sledgehammer with which He might do it.

And then, we hit below the belt.

3 For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. 4 The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. 5 We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. 2Cor10:3-5

Christians don't fight with conventional weapons. We fight with love. We fight with service. We fight with encouragement. We fight with shared experience. And, don't forget this: we fight with greatness. Be GREAT for God. If you want to write: be a great writer. If you want to be an accountant, then be the best one you can be. You know why? Greatness brings glory to God. Greatness makes people ask questions. We fight with all these weapons, but we DO fight.

When the blowhard at the office scoffs at the very notion of God, you do NOT sit in silence. You do NOT walk away. And you do NOT laugh along with him. When the smart-allecky secular humanist princess in your sociology class explains in no uncertain terms that people of faith are weak; that human spirit is strength, you do NOT miss the chance to counter. When the heckler gets on your facebook page and tells you that you are an intolerant bigot, you don't bend over and say "thank you, sir, may I have another."

Do NOT succumb to the playground-name-calling tactics of the world: You are intolerant. You are a homophobe. You are judgmental. Seriously, the world uses name-calling as a "Silencing Club," to batter down the fearful so that you won't speak anymore truth. Don't let those accusations cow you. Answer them. "I am not intolerant. You are using the world incorrectly." "I am not a homophobe any more than you are a Christ-o-phobe." "I am not judgmental. I am discerning. There is a difference. Let me explain it to you." And after all this, the secret weapon: love. "Can I get you a cup of coffee?" or "I heard you need a babysitter. My daughter..." or "You need some help with your move?" Bammm, just try to stop those missiles.

Important Sidenote: There is one population, however, we need to stop fighting. Each other. When Christians fight each other, satan laughs. The world laughs too.  And mankind loses.

²⁰ “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, ²¹ that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. ²² I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one— ²³ I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. John 17: 20-23

This is serious. We Christians have become WAY too WELL-KNOWN for shooting our wounded. We argue over just about every point of doctrine you can think of. We make mountains out of molehills, major on the minors, and act like we've each cornered the market on truth. People, Jesus wants us to be one. ONE. Why? So that the world will know that God sent Jesus for them. So that the world will believe that God really loves THE WORLD. If Christians can't even seem to love other Christians, what in the world would lead anyone to believe we could love the world? If we bicker over baptisms and rock music and tv shows, and every other cotton-picking thing, who wants to be a part of that? If that's what God's all about, then who wants to know God? 

We like to get all righteous, don't we? "This is a point of doctrine I must defend because it's true." Or, "I must correct my wayward brother who has clearly erred in this bit of theology." Or worst-of-the-worst, "This poor fellow in THAT denomination may not really be a Christian because...blah blah." Excuse me? Does that sound like being one? Actually, it sounds like dividing the Body of Christ. How many of you want to get to Heaven and hear Jesus say to you, "Why did you cut up my body?"

Does that mean there are no points of doctrine upon which we must stand? No, of course not. Jesus is Lord. He died for us so that we could have eternal life. It is the gift of God, the grace of God, through faith. Are there other points? Probably, but I dare not mention any more out of fear that you'll start a fight with me. That would be funny...if it weren't so sad. 

What does God say about theological arguments and infighting? 

Romans 14:19 "Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification."

I Thess. 5:11 "Therefore encourage each other and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing."

Titus 3:9-11 "But avoid foolish controversies and genealogies and arguments and quarrels about the law, but these are unprofitable and useless.  Warn a divisive person once, then warn him a second time.  After that, have nothing to do with him.  You may be sure that such a man is warped and sinful; his is self-condemned."

¹⁰ I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, ¹¹ and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.
¹² Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. ¹³ Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, ¹⁴ I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

¹⁵ All of us, then, who are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you. ¹⁶ Only let us live up to what we have already attained. Philippians 3: 10-16

⁸ Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. ⁹ For we know in part and we prophesy in part, ¹⁰ but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. ¹¹ When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. ¹² For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
¹³ And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. 1 Corinthians 13: 8-13

There is no room for questioning another believer's salvation. There's no room for red-faced sweaty arguments on premillenial, amillenial, postmillenial dispensations. There's no call for bickering over styles. And there's certainly no room for judgment. See the verses up there? There's not a one of us who has it all figured out...at least not down here on earth. We see through a smudged glass. We've each got hold of some truth, and we each know it in part. But we don't KNOW IT ALL.

Can you imagine what would happen if every Christian denomination came together to serve? Can you imagine if Christians stopped shunning those who struggle with sin? Can you imagine if Christians put aside our petty arguments and went out and did some good? The world would trample the bushes trying to get in the doors of the local church.

3: We Have Doubted Our God: Look, I hate to admit it myself. I hate to peal back the curtain or lift off the carpet to reveal the unseemly truth. But I'm also getting too old to delude myself any longer. The reality is: IF I am more afraid of the world than I am of missing service to God, I really don't believe God. Not in an eternal sense. I may well have believed that Jesus died for me. I may have crossed that line of faith into eternal life. But, in terms of day-to-day life, I looked sheepishly away and decided, "God is not powerful enough to help me here." Or, "God doesn't love me enough to sustain me through all this." Or, "God is not enough to risk the rejection I'm likely to feel if I..."

If we really believe that God is who He says He is...that He created the world, that He holds time in the palm of His hand, that He is omniscient, omnipresent, and omnipowerful...then, we don't roll over. We don't play dead. And surely, we don't heel.

So my prayer is that God will embolden me to fight, to love, to understand, and to server. That God would forge me into a Sledgehammer and then use me to knock down the devil's strongholds in this world. It's a dangerous prayer, I think. But honestly, aren't you a little sick of satan beating you like a pinata? Aren't you a little tired of the world using Jesus as a punchline? Aren't you searingly, achingly tired of all the hurt in this world? So, get on your knees and pray. Then, get up and fight.

Are you with me on this? Want to join the Sledgehammer Club? If so, leave a comment.

10 Free Signed Copies of The Door Within: Get Yours at Free Book Friday!

What's this you say? 10 Free Signed Copies of The Door Within??? Well, you don't get all ten copies, silly! But you could win one. I'd like to introduce you to the best thing to happen to teens since Cliff's Notes. It's called FREE BOOK FRIDAY.

What is FBF Teens?

It's simple. Every Friday, we give away free young adult books!

Each week, we feature a new YA author with a chance to win autographed copies of his/her book.

Just sign up using the entry form on the left sidebar (on the FBF site!). Winners are chosen at random and posted every Friday morning. Hence the name, "Free Book Friday!"

AND not just The Door Within but several other ridiculously cool young adult books. Just click here:

http://is.gd/rzXbAF

 

Get Ready to Take Amazon.com by Storm!

Has your broadsword been collecting dust? Has it been awhile since you've grabbed a pitchfork, lit up a blazing torch, and charged a castle? Well, you're in luck!

This May 7th, we are Storming the gates of Amazon.com to try to propel the Re-Release of The Door Within Trilogy into the hands of many of this generations Young Adult Readers!

If you read the original release, you're probably in your twenties now. But a new generation of young readers is ready and waiting. Here's what you can do:

1) Purchase a copy of a Door Within book during the May 7th Amazon Blitz; give the book to a young reader you know.

2) Blog / Facebook / Tweet/ etc. about The Door Within books whenever you can and as much as you can. Talk about any impact the books have had on you, favorite scenes, characters, quotes, etc. Please mention the Amazon Blitz date: May 7th!

3) Word of mouth. Talk it up. Text it up. Let friends and family know about the Door Within books. 

4) Use The Door Within books as seed-planting. While not a perfect allegory by any means, The Door Within books do contain a lot of Jesus Truth. Use the books as a bridge to talk about eternity with friends and family who might not yet believe.

If you do any of the above, email me at: batguy21784(at)yahoo(dot)com. Put the following in the Subject Line of the email: Door Within ReRelease Promotion. I will put your name in the Acknowledgments Section of my newest book (Soon to be announced!). I will also provide you with lots of cool Door Within freebies here on my blog!

If you purchase a book, email me at: batguy21784(at)yahoo(dot)com. Put the following in the Subject Line of the email: Door Within ReRelease PATRON. I will put your name in a special Patron Section of the Acknowledgments Page of my newest book. THEN, email Thomas Nelson Publishing at: info(at)tommynelson(dot)com  and they will send you an all new Epilogue to The Door Within Trilogy. 

In the name of The One True King, I thank you.
-Wayne Thomas Batson, 2013

Open the Door Within for Someone New! Re-Release Date: May 7th

It brings me ridiculous joy to announce that Thomas Nelson Publishers will ReRelease the entire Door Within Trilogy on May 7th, 2013! 

The first book, The Door Within, came out in 2005 originally. A publishing executive at Thomas Nelson first took an interest in the story when we met in the summer of 2004 at a convention in Atlanta, Georgia. At that time, I was unpublished…a hobbyist writer and full time teacher here in Maryland. But the story had been at work in my heart and mind for ten years.

When God smacked me upside the head and let me know in no uncertain terms that LIFE could be found nowhere else but in HIM, I ran with the Gospel and told just about everyone I knew. One encounter with a couple who was (and is) very dear to me left me heartbroken, frustrated, and angry. I spilled my Jesus-guts to them. Their reaction: "How cute."

It left a powerful mark in my life: how could people look at the life-saving, life-changing news that Jesus died for them, to forgive their sins, save them, give them heaven forever, and new life here—how could people look at that news and think it was some silly notion? How could people not see the urgency in the message? It was as if a person, sick and blistered with cancer, lying in a hospital bed and refusing the offer of a cure for cancer because "it simply couldn't be true."

The seeds of the Door Within story were sewn in that season. At the time, I was about to begin a short story unit with my 6th graders at Arundel Middle School. As I preached to them the glorious fun it could be to create people, plots, and settings, they fired a shot across my bow: "Mr. Batson, why don't you write a story? You're always telling us how cool it is to write." That was it. I was cornered. So I wrote a 17-page short story in green ink on loose leaf paper. It was called "The Faith of a Child." Nine years of students badgering me to write more and more…and more, it became The Door Within.

When the book came out, I prayed and asked God that the story might change one life. Just one, I asked. God had much bigger plans. Nearly half a million books later, God is still on the move with The Door Within Trilogy. And a new phase begins on May 7th, 2013. I hope you'll raise a sword and join in the new offensive.

If you've read this far, you're likely a pretty dedicated reader of my stories. So, I'm asking you a favor: Help the new generation find The Door Within Trilogy.

If you read the original release, you're probably in your twenties now. But a new generation of young readers is ready and waiting. Here's what you can do:

1) Purchase a copy of a Door Within book during the May 7th Amazon Blitz; give the book to a young reader you know.

2) Blog / Facebook / Tweet/ etc. about The Door Within books whenever you can and as much as you can. Talk about any impact the books have had on you, favorite scenes, characters, quotes, etc. Please mention the Amazon Blitz date: May 7th!

3) Word of mouth. Talk it up. Text it up. Let friends and family know about the Door Within books. 

4) Use The Door Within books as seed-planting. While not a perfect allegory by any means, The Door Within books do contain a lot of Jesus Truth. Use the books as a bridge to talk about eternity with friends and family who might not yet believe.

If you do any of the above, email me at: batguy21784(at)yahoo(dot)com. Put the following in the Subject Line of the email: Door Within ReRelease Promotion. I will put your name in the Acknowledgments Section of my newest book (Soon to be announced!). I will also provide you with lots of cool Door Within freebies here on my blog!

If you purchase a book, email me at: batguy21784(at)yahoo(dot)com. Put the following in the Subject Line of the email: Door Within ReRelease PATRON. I will put your name in a special Patron Section of the Acknowledgments Page of my newest book. You will also receive loads of freebies, including exclusive never-before-read Door Within material, artwork, etc.

In the name of The One True King, I thank you.
-Wayne Thomas Batson, 2013

Showdown at High Noon: The Story At Last

{Cue Spaghetti Western Whistling} The gunslinger appears at the edge of town just as the church bell tolls high noon. The click of his mouse announces his arrival, and intensity shines out from his squinting eye-slits. The wireless keyboard, holstered at his side, shifts as the gunslinger steps forward. On the far end of the dirt road, separated only by whirling eddies of dust and careening tumbleweeds, is the Story. An elusive villain, wanted by every author in the land, and known to be as slippery as an eel, as mercurial as lightning, and as dangerous as life itself. The staredown begins. The gunslinger's hand twitches ominously at his side. He knows this chance is fleeting. He knows the stakes. His eyes narrow. His thumb slides against the knuckle of his forefinger. The wind stops. The time has come.

The Power of an Undivided Heart

Psalm 86:11 “Teach me your way, O Lord, and I will walk in your truth; give me an undivided heart.” 

This is my new "Battle Cry."

Division is a killer. Divorce. Politics. Civil War. A house divided cannot stand. And yet, for many of us Christians, we get up every morning and ring the doorbell to enter our own divided house. Hmmm, ten extra minutes before work. I could spend some time in prayer -OR- I could stop by the fast food joint. Stomach grumbles. Hashbrowns, here we come.

Paul often wrote about the battle within: new man (born again, spirit alive) versus old man (sin-stained flesh and bone body). It's not a pretty battle either. Paul laments "what a wretched man I am." Have you ever felt that? I have. 

I've been a Christian for 23 years, and I'm still in that battle. Too often, my heart is divided: usually between SELF and God. I want versus what God wants. On one level, I really do want to be rid of selfishness. But, on another level, I'm like Gollum: seeking my precious (selfish desires) at all costs.

I wish I had an easy answer to fix this. But, I don't. But reading this Psalm this morning gave me a thread to grasp. The Psalmist apparently had a clue: ASK. He pleaded with God to "give" him an undivided heart. That seems like a winning prayer if I've ever heard one. So, it's my new battle cry.

How about you? What are your "secrets" for avoiding or overcoming a "divided" heart? 

You Cannot Have it Both Ways

America is paddling quickly in dangerous waters toward an unyielding and more perilous destination. With one breath we seem to want to exert a "moral right" to just about anything we want. Gay marriage, polygamy, divorce on demand, premarital sex, abortion, legalized drug use, ad infinitum. And yet, with the next breath, we deny that there is such a thing as absolute right and wrong. But we cannot have it both ways. Work it out with any kind of logic, and you'll see it ties itself in knots.

To insist on certain "rights," asserts that there is a right and a wrong. But when we push people with such contradictory views to define the standard upon which "their rights" are based, we get a mish-mash of pragmatics and emotions. In other words, such relativistic folks will say, we have a right to whatever works and whatever feels good, so long as it doesn't infringe upon anyone else's right to whatever works and whatever feels good.

The thread that unravels this whole mess is this: If two individuals find their "whatever works" and "whatever feels good" at odds, whose "whatever works" and "whatever feels good" takes priority, and how do you decide? How long do you think it will take before this rationale turns into "might makes right?"

Others may claim that there actually IS an objective right and wrong, but they will refuse to define it. It's just something that is "self evident." But, if this is true, we have to ask WHY would there be a self-evident right and wrong? How did it get there? Most relativistic people don't want to go there because that line takes you directly to God. For there to be an absolute right and wrong it MUST come from something outside of us. Otherwise, we fall right back into "whatever works" and "whatever feels right," and eventually…mob rules and might makes right.

Wake up, America, before you demand so many freedoms that you drown in them.

Longing for the Straight Path...

Trust in the Lord with all your heart
And do not lean on your own understanding.
⁶ In all your ways acknowledge Him,
And He will make your paths straight.
-PROVERBS 3:5-6 
 

Back in the day, these verses were the bedrock that kept me from emotional ruin. In my early 20's when everything I'd planned on seemed to be crumbling around me, and I JUST-COULDN'T-UNDERSTAND how it had all gone so wrong, I used to recite these verses hundreds of times a day. 

20+ YEARS LATER: these verses have come to life in me again, but in a very different way. Back then, I think it was just comforting to know that "my own understanding" was never supposed to be completely adequate. BUT NOW, I realize there is so much more there than simple comfort. There's action for me, which I dig. And there's an iron clad promise. How many iron clad promises do you get from the WORLD? Few, and the ones you can count on, you probably don't want anyway.

But here, I'm told, #1: Trust in the Lord & #2 In all my ways, Acknowledge Him, and HE will make my paths straight. Mannnnn, that feels so good. Oh, to have my paths all be straight. Not to say I won't have trouble or that I might not wander, but…if I consider my plans, my daily schedule, my work, my responses...and I acknowledge God in them, then the path that results will be straight by God's standard. How do we acknowledge God? 

I think it's equal parts recognizing God's sovereignty in this area of your life and inviting God to rule over it and guide you. It is probably far deeper than that, but that's how I see it. So, as I sit down to work on a new novel today, I ask, "God, I acknowledge you in this effort today. Let it please you. Let it be yours. And please make my path straight. Amen."

What path lies ahead for you that you deeply desire God to keep straight?

Is it a "Happy" New Year?

When life pounds you and you face a series of difficult life events, beware the threat of "Attitude Shift." It can be subtle at first, but then you get to a place where you suddenly realize: "Hey, this isn't really me. It's not the me God made me to be." I have found that what happens in the face of multiple hardships is a growing distrust for God, coupled with an increase in personal pleasure seeking, ie: eat and drink, for tomorrow, we die.

It's a kind of mental equation that you don't literally verbalize, but it's there in your attitude. It goes like this: "God, I no longer believe you have my best interests in mind; I'm no longer certain that you love me; and I'm not even sure that you really are good. So, I'm going to take care of me, myself, and I."  Painful to read because it's so obnoxiously wrong. And yet, as life beats us down, it is all to easy to let it erode our faith. All too easy to return to that which comes most naturally: the pleasing of self. So what do you do when you find yourself there? I'm not certain. First step, of course, is becoming aware of the shift.

The next step *I think* is to do a reality check. In other words, ask ourselves, Is our life really so awful? Really so much worse than others? In most cases, the answer to Q1 is NO. Most of us could count on our fingers and toes all the blessings in our lives and run out of digits long before we run out of blessings to number. In most cases the answer to Q2 is also, NO. What we deem "hardship" might be nothing to someone else. But what if the answer to Q1 or Q2 is YES?

What if life really has been harsh? I think it helps to consider what life is supposed to be like. I mean to say, what does the Bible say will be true of the Christian's experience in life? Just a quick overview reveals that "In this life you will have trouble." Other scriptures reveal the very real expectation of tough times: persecution, discomfort, tragedy, pain, and poverty. These are not abnormal circumstances for the Christian. This helps with perspective, doesn't it? There's always some comfort to know that we aren't being somehow singled out. Misery loves company, right?

And yet, what are we Christians if we show the world we are just a company of miserables? Too often, that's just what we look like to the world. Who wants to meet Jesus and become just as miserable as I am? LOL, not a very nice advertisement. But what does that verse say? "In this life you will have trouble, but TAKE HEART because I HAVE OVERCOME THE WORLD." 

This is the secret, really. Take heart. Why? Jesus beat the world with a stick. The cross. He died on the cross so that our backpack full of leaden sin could be thrown away. Jesus rose from the grave so that tragedy and death need no longer be so scary. #1 our guilt is dead. #2 our death is not final. We are free on this earth. And we have the hope of eternity before us.

None of this takes away the very real pain and heartache of tragedy. There is a time to weep and a time to mourn. Jesus weeps and mourns with us. He did for Lazarus. But Jesus has the power to resurrect the dead. So we need not be hopeless. Even when everything -EVERYTHING- goes wrong, we can know that Jesus is the master of transforming the catastrophe into the blessing. Many times, the blessing that comes through it all is that we fall to our knees and seek Jesus out more often and more sincerely. Many times, the blessing is that we grow as Christians.

1 Peter 1:7 These have come so that your faith--of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire--may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.

Something else I think about in relation to all this: why should Christians be spared any trouble—any trouble at all—that the rest of the world must face? Famine, flood, fire, disease, sickness, poverty, loss, tragedy—you name it. Why should Christians be spared any of it? We ALL still live in a sin-stained, broken world. By coming to Christ in faith, we've done nothing in and of ourselves. We don't merit any "special treatment." Jesus did all the work.

And if Jesus did spare Christians the troubles of the world, or even a percentage of those troubles, how then would Christians ever be able to empathize with the world? How could we say to someone, "I feel what you feel. I know what you know."?

So perspective should help us to avoid the attitude shift. There's so much more to be explored in this issue. Books have been written. This is just my .02.

So, whether this is indeed a "Happy" New Year for you or not, I hope you'll be able to say honestly: Though He may slay me, yet will I trust in Him.

EPIC Goodness for a Hobbit-sized Price!

The eBook revolution has literally shaken the foundations of the publishing world. For centuries, print publishers have been the one and only gatekeeper, deciding if and when a writer could be published and transformed into a professional author.

eBooks have changed that. Now, anyone can publish...anything at any time. Now, the readers are the gatekeepers, and it's up to them who sells and who doesn't. Putting the power in the readers' hands is a great thing. And it has sent a shock wave through powerhouse print publishers. Most, if not all, print publishers are being forced to change the way they do business.

One of these changes is offering to sell books via Kindle, Nook, and all those other ebook formats. That's easy enough to do. A little formatting, and WHOOSH--digital content for the masses. But how to price it? That's the thing. And most print publishers missed the boat on this issue.

eBooks are digital property, not physical. But most print publishers went ahead and priced their eBooks at or close to trade paperback costs. I've read that the reason for keeping the cost of eBooks higher is to "avoid devaluing the print version." When translated, that means: we don't want to lose money.

The reality is that publishers WILL lose money by keeping the price of eBooks high. With the exception of the BIG NAME authors, people just aren't willing to shell out full physical cost for a digital property. What some publishers refuse to realize is that lowering the price on eBooks (again a digital property) will actually make more money because the volume of sales will go up substantially when the eBook price comes down.

After all, we're living in the digital age. The age of iTunes and Instant Video. People will drop a buck on a song or $3 on a movie without batting an eyelash. Why wouldn't books be the same?

So, I'm stoked and proud to say that my publisher, AMG International, is beginning to offer eBooks at a much-lower-than-print-price. It's a progressive move, one that the buying public should appreciate, that's for certain!

I think for AMG, and for many other publishers trying the lower eBook pricing, that it's kind of an experiment. They really want to know if 1) can they make money through higher volume?  2) will print sales go down if they make eBooks inexpensive?  I believe #1: YES, #2: NO. But it's up to the public, really.

So, ladies and gentlemen {Insert Trumpety Fanfare) it gives me great joy to announce that The Sword in the Stars, book 1 of 7 in the Dark Sea Annals, is now available on Kindle for the lowest price ever: $2.99.

$2.99

Click here for EPIC Goodness at a Hobbit-sized price!

http://is.gd/clnRTh

Merry Christmas! All Kindle Titles Free!

Merry Christmas, 2012!

Even as a kid, I dreamed of being an author. And while I know that I have a certain flare for story ideas, I know there are millions of writers just as gifted, and hundreds of thousands of authors more gifted than I am whose work has never seen the light of print.

Why God turned the light green for my stories, I won't know until heaven, but I am grateful beyond words. And to my readers I am grateful also. Not only do you purchase my books, but you read them, and even tell me you like them. I get notes every week now saying how this story or that story meant a lot to someone. It blows me away. 

So, I know it's not much, but I'd like to say THANK YOU and MERRY CHRISTMAS to all of my readers by offering ALL of my Kindle stories for FREE. Amazon only gives you 5 promo free days, so some of my stories only have a couple of free days left. But, staring Saturday, Dec. 22nd thru Christmas Day, ALL of my short stories are free for Kindle. Don't have a Kindle? No worries. Amazon has APPS for every electronic device imaginable. 

Interested? Just click the link below, or click one of the Amazon Book Ads on my sidebar.

http://is.gd/xBhM7H

Please consider telling anyone you know who might want free eBook stories. Thanks for reading.

--Wayne Thomas Batson

Never Alone.

Yuletide, Schmuletide! The Tide of Unmaking is Better!

Endurance and Victory! 
Just a quick reminder that the stunning conclusion to the Berinfell Prophecies: The Tide of Unmaking is out NOW!

You can get it on Kindle, of course. But if you want a paperback, the only place you can get it is Create Space (link below). Christopher Hopper and I appreciate all our Elves and other readers who have faithfully supported this series. We think Tide of Unmaking is something special, tying up a hundred threads with action, humor, fantasy coolness, and more.

If you don't really have a preference, please consider supporting Christopher and I this Christmas Season by purchasing Tide of Unmaking on CreateSpace, as it provides our best profit return. Here's the link:

https://www.createspace.com/3978759

The Tide of Unmaking Paperback

Also, if you've already read Tide of Unmaking, would you consider writing a comment to this blog entry, something that would let readers know what kind of righteous-fantasy-coolness awaits them? Don't give any spoilers away though! Thanks!

Forget Santa, Come Have Breakfast With Me!

Three Christmas Season Booksigning Events

Forget Santa. Come have breakfast* with me! No offense to the man in red, but seriously, when's the last time you saw old Saint Nick swinging a boss righteous broadsword? I rest my case.

The Christmas Season is upon us, and to celebrate with you, I'd like to announce THREE booksigning events. Just like the visitation of Scrooge's three spirits, I'll be coming to visit three times before Christmas!

Please come on out. I'd love to break bread with you, entertain you, and sign some books for you. Here are the events and the details:

Event 1, His Way Christian Bookstore, Ellicott City, Maryland: 

Saturday, December 1st

12:00-1:00pm: Lunch with Author Wayne Thomas Batson at Nora's Cafe. (Those attending the lunch must RSVP to hiswayevents@gmail.com to save your seat.)

1:00-1:15pm: Hero Costume Contest.  (Come dressed as your favorite hero from Wayne's books and compete with other fans for prizes!)

1:30-2:00pm: Author Reading from "The Battle for Cannibal Island" Imagination Station Book #8 and Book Signing. All Ages

2:00-3:00pm: Author Reading from "The Tide of Unmaking" Berinfell Prophecies Book #3 and Book Signing. Ages 10 and Up

Event 2, Family Fun Reading Night at Folly Quarter Middle School: 

Wednesday, December 5th

 

Mark your calendars for: Wednesday, December 5th in the Folly Quarter Middle School Media Center from 7:00-8:30pm! Folly Quarter continues the tradition of providing the finest reading opportunities for its students. 

This year's guest author will be none other than our own Wayne Thomas Batson (That's Mr. Batson to you sixth grade folk), author of 11 novels and several bestsellers. There will be food, swashbuckling swordplay, dramatic readings, books for sale, and signing. Students who come may have an opportunity to have the "night off" of homework in some classes. 

The event happens right before the holidays, so come pick out a signed book for the readers on your list. A portion of ALL sales will go back to FQMS to spend on future student events and supplies. So come on out, get a new book, be entertained, and give Mr. Batson a good ole case of Writer's Cramp.

Event 3, His Way Christian Bookstore, Glen Burnie, Maryland: 

Saturday, December 15th

12:00-1:00pm: Lunch with Author Wayne Thomas Batson at Nora's Cafe. (Those attending the lunch must RSVP to hiswayevents@gmail.com to save your seat.)

1:00-1:15pm: Hero Costume Contest.  (Come dressed as your favorite hero from Wayne's books and compete with other fans for prizes!)

1:30-2:00pm: Author Reading from "The Battle for Cannibal Island" Imagination Station Book #8 and Book Signing. All Ages

2:00-3:00pm: Author Reading from "The Tide of Unmaking" Berinfell Prophecies Book #3 and Book Signing. Ages 10 and Up

I have eleven books to share with you, two of which are brand new!
See below:

Hope to see you there!

Never alone!

-Wayne



*Yes, I know, technically none of these are breakfast, but two of them are LUNCH, so that counts, right?

Releasing the Storms…to You

Captured Storms 

Happy Thanksgiving!

Captured Storms is FREE

Today for Kindle!  

Click this link:

http://is.gd/j46hnN

You may not believe this, but LONG before I became a novelist, I was a poet. Yeah, I know, I know... you're probably picturing me in tights with a pluffy shirt and one of those little medieval caps with a feather sticking out of it. That's disturbing. Okay, picture something else please. ;-)

All kidding aside, poetry was probably my favorite form of creative writing for ten years. I started kind of spontaneously in high school. My wonderful English teacher, Mrs. Mangum produced a literary magazine for the school and encouraged a very shy freshman Batson to give poetry a whirl. Turns out, I loved it. Poetry's not big on length, so it didn't take forever to feel like I'd finished something. You could sit down for an hour and pound something out. And I often did.

It became a kind of high school therapy technique. For my younger readers who are still in high school, you know how volatile and troubling the experience can be. So I wrote and wrote and wrote. That's not to say that I wrote well. It was mostly rhyming verse, mostly on whatever made me angry, lovesick, happy, or sad. Often I wrote song lyrics styled after the heavy metal bands I used to listen to. Oh vey, that was some awful stuff. If anyone out there still has a copy of "Byrds in Leather," please burn it. NOW.

But some of it was pretty good…or at least my high school buddies thought so. It was enough for me.

In 1991, I became a Christian. And that really opened the poetic flood gates. I kept a Mead Black&White Composition book with me at all times and wrote all kinds of praise poetry, exploration of Christian life, doubt-filled wonderings, and a great many examinations of the world through my new Christian eyesight. Again, some of it was lousy, but it was honest, and it was a way for me to communicate to God. And, I am convinced, it was also a way for God to communicate to me.

Long about 2002-2003, I took a creative writing course up at McDaniel College (formerly Western Maryland College) in Westminster. The teacher was a published contemporary poet named Kathy Mangan. This class—and this teacher—hit me like a dump truck. She ripped my poetry up one side and down the other. But I didn't care. It was good. It was sooooo good. She taught me all about the power of words—precise, active verbs to drive every line. And each verb could carry with it a feeling or an image. Words could no longer be wasted. Specific concrete nouns, vivid figures of speech, potent words that could lead readers down more than one path. That class was a watershed moment for my writing. Not that I think I'm a great writer or that my prose are superior—no, far from it. Still very much a students. But that class opened my eyes to what my writing could be. And so much of what I learned there went into every novel I write.

So what's up with Captured Storms? It's a collection of some of my poetry over the years. You can tell the pre2002 stuff pretty easily. {Sigh} But in any case, all this work, all the hours and emotion, all the storms weathered and explored—it all sat collecting dust on a shelf. There was no way to publish it. Most traditional publishers just didn't publish poetry. But now, ebooks have made a way. I'm stoked to release Captured Storms today. Here's a little more about the collection:

View / Purchase Captured Storms

What are “Captured Storms?” They are electric passions stirred by God. They are heart’s cries from a broken person to a broken world. They are the result of those rare times when we finally—FINALLY—shut up long enough for us to hear God speak…when the cacophony of life can no longer drown out the Holy Spirit’s beautiful melody of truth.

Captured Storms are also autobiographical snapshots of where I’ve been. Some of the verse contained here reveal the joys and trials in those years long ago right after I became a Christian. And still others are simply explorations. Some of them are rough and raw; others more polished and purposeful. You’ll find free verse and rhyme. You’ll find some that seem destined to find music and become a song. And then others that would be utterly ruined by the intrusion of notes.
   
How should you use Captured Storms? It is a devotional, but not in the traditional sense. There are no study questions. There’s no small group guide. My hope is that you might read with a willingness to let God have His way with you. Perhaps a word or phrase will prompt you to capture your own storms: be honest with the pain, the struggle, the despair—see the darkness for what it is, and then let the blazing Love of Christ kindle a new fire in your heart.

-Never alone.
Wayne Thomas Batson, 2012

A Knight to Remember...December 5th!

Greetings, fine readers! Hear ye, hear ye!

Wednesday evening,

December 5th from 7:00-8:30pm, 

I will be appearing at Folly Quarter Middle School for an evening of swordplay, signings, banter, and dramatic readings! Come one, come all! Get a book (or seven) signed and personalized! Just in time for the holidays!

A percentage of every book sale goes to help the students of Folly Quarter Middle School, so do come! You'll have a splendid time and help out our students as well!

Folly Quarter Middle School

13500 Triadelphia Road

Ellicott City, Maryland 21042

410.313.1506

Christians: How should we then vote?

With the Presidential Election just a few days away, I'm finding it increasingly frustrating to read/hear that there are some "self proclaimed" Christian citizens still considering a vote for Obama. Hey, free country, do what you want, but please think before you do this.

Think about who you are in Christ. Your job on earth is to reflect God's glory, ie: show His attributes, stand for what He stands for, love what He loves; hate what He hates (sin). Obama supports abortion and gay marriage. Don't believe the hype. Those are not minor issues, esp. abortion. Jesus said "Suffer the little children to come," not "kill them whenever it's convenient."

Gay marriage is an oxymoron, at least for the Christian. It's an impossibility. Marriage as God defined it was man and woman. After all, it was Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve. Not to be overly simplistic, but that's pretty clearly God establishing the order of operations. There is absolutely no mention of homosexuality prior to the first sin. And every mention of gay lust/sex from that point on makes the behavior a sin. Not to say a worse sin than adultery or sex outside of marriage, but still sin. So we don't celebrate the sin by endorsing it as a marriage.

  Those should be deal breaker issues. You vote for Obama, you sneer at God's holiness.

Next, I've heard excuses of "we can't vote for a Mormon." That's just inane. Mormons happen to share a TON of Christian beliefs. But regardless, you want the guy who will do the best job to get our country rolling. If you use Romney's Mormon faith to rule out voting for him, you just confirm the hypocrisy nonChristians accuse Christians of.

Finally, just for the sake of effectiveness, you almost certainly have to vote Romney. Obama was overmatched by the office of President. He talked a good game and failed to follow thru. By his own standard, he needs to go. "One term proposition." He's right about that. If a sitting president does not make marked improvements in 4 years, he does NOT deserve FOUR more. Same for Romney should he get elected.


In sum, consider the issues here: Obama is for big government, more and more people relying on government, muddying moral waters, allowing America to promote sin, gigantic increases in what America owes in debt, and no substantial plan for improvement.







Consider also who promotes Obama, who speaks for him, and the one Obama counts on to "bring in the votes"--Bill Clinton. The man who was disbarred, impeached, and disgraced--and he is the Dem's big hitter? Really? Why would anyone believe a thing Bill Clinton says?

Romney is for reducing government's interference and our dependence on government, making right and wrong clear again, cleansing America of the blight of abortion, keeping marriage as a holy institution, and an actual plan for improvement.  Please vote intelligently and by faith. Mitt Romney is not a perfect candidate. I'm not convinced he'll even be great, but he will almost certainly be better than Obama. And he will almost certainly make our nation more Christian friendly than it has been in years.

Okay, NaNoWriMo, I'm in! This, Dark Sea 3 News, and New Blog Look!!

I've been a published author since 2005. My first book took me 13 years to write. Yes, years. That was because I had no idea what I was doing back then. I didn't realize it at the time, but I am not a Seat-of-the-pants writer. That's how I tried to write The Door Within, and it was an epic fail...initially. Since that time, I've learned that outlining is my best friend. I've been blessed with outstanding editors who have taught me tons about process and form. So my speed has increased exponentially. But the fastest I ever wrote a book is 3 months.

Enter NaNoWriMo.

I've heard about it tons. I know dozens of people who have tried it. But I never have. This year is different. I don't have to finish a book in one month. But I want to. So here goes nothing. In the month of November, I am attempting to finish Dark Sea Book 3. In all fairness to other NaNo writers, I have already begun the novel. But I have well over 50,000 words to go. If I finish, it will be a modern miracle. If I get even close, I will be eternally grateful. Writing is a labor of love, but make no mistake it is a labor. It is an art, a spontaneous, creative "when-the-muse-strikes" endeavor, but it requires discipline. So, come November 1st, here…we…go!

Next up: The Dark Sea Book 3

Sword in the Stars (2010) and The Errant King (2012) are out now, the first two installments of an Epic Seven Book Series called The Dark Sea Annals. I've begun work on book 3, working title: Across the Dark Sea. Here is a sneak peek of chapter one:

Chapter 1: Bay of Carrion


The mournful sound of the Bone Ministers’ horn awoke what was left of the Wetlands Village. The fishermen and hunters had been stirring in their hovels for hours, but they knew better than to set foot out of doors before the horn.

“Now, Grandi?” little Suri asked, her pigtails bouncing.

Justinian waited until the last haunting trace of the horn had faded…before answering, “Yes, yes. Now I think it is safe.”

“Yay, fishing!” Suri cried.

She tried to bounce past Justinian, but he stopped her with a light hand on her fuzzy brown head. “I’m sorry,” he said. “Did that hurt?”

“Nope, nope-itty, nope,” Suri replied. “All healed.”

“Good, good,” he said. She was right about the physical healing. The burns on her scalp had scarred over, and her hair was even trying to grow back. First One only knew how long it might take for the emotional healing to take place…if ever.

“Can we go, Grandi?” she asked again, her eyes crossing as she tried to look up at his hand, still resting on her head.

“I would like very much to go now too,” he said. “But you remember what I taught you? We go straight to the compost field for bait. We don’t wander. If we run into soldiers or worse—Bone Ministers—you say nothing to them. Not a word, is that understood?”

“Yes, Grandi,” she said. “I remember. Not a peep. And if the soldiers demand our catch, I thank them and say nothing else.”

“Good lass,” Justinian said. “That’s exactly right. Now, let’s go see what the Bay of Taranaar delivers up for the most skillful fishermen in Myriad.”

“Grandi?”

“Yes?”

“Shouldn’t you say, ‘fisherfolk’ instead?” She made an earnest attempt at a frown. “On account ahm not a boy!”

“Right you are, my sweet granddaughter,” he said, lightly patting her head again.

[Insert Hiatus Marks]

Justinian kept his granddaughter tight to his side as they navigated the wreckage of the village. There was little left. The cottages and shops had all been burned or leveled during the invasion six months earlier. The Elders’ Fortress seemed as if it had never been at all, so thoroughly had it been obliterated.

Elder. Justinian sneered at himself inwardly. What an undeserved title. Just as well that I no longer wear it. I failed my village.

Agatha Dawnington limped by on her one good leg.

The poor, tired soul, Justinian thought with a pang of remorse. He’d found her that night, bloodied from head-to-toe, attacked and left for dead by a wraith-like apparition called a Lich. The creature had touched Agatha’s leg and her back, leaving her gasping and unable to move. She’d asked Justinian to kill her.

But he hadn’t. He’d saved her life.

And Agatha had hated him ever since. 

“Smile, Grandi,” little Suri said. “We’s going fishing.”

He tried…tried hard. It was a brave smile at best, but it seemed to satisfy her. She continued to bob along beside him as if Wetlands Village was a bustling community full of kind neighbors, merry music, and gardens full of flowers.

Let her think that, Justinian decided, wishing he could as well. The toll in lives from that night was by far the worst of it.
He’d seen war…battlefields strewn with the dead. Horrible beyond words, but still nothing compared to the carnage of that night. Fires burned everywhere, and it seemed each was a private cremation for some poor soul.

The fiends that Morlan had brought back from across the Dark Sea were as merciless as they were terrifying. Man, woman, child, elderly—it made no difference. They hacked them all down as if slaughtering cattle. The week before the invasion had been dry, leaving the village dusty. But that night the soil had been so drenched in blood that it turned to a viscous crimson mud.

“Keep up, Grandi!” Suri called. “You’re fallin’ behind.”

“I am sorry, child,” he said, hoisting the fishing gear higher onto his shoulder. “This walk always makes me thoughtful.”

“Always makes me hungry,” she said. “Hungry for fish!”

What a dear she is, Justinian thought. He looked up and saw the quay just ahead. And, by the First One’s grace, there seemed to be no one else in the area. Justinian released a long-held sigh of relief. The Shrike, Morlan’s occupying soldiers, would most likely stay in their barracks unless one of the black ships had docked recently. The morning mist lay heavy over the Bay of Taranaar ahead. Hard to tell for certain if any tall ships were in port, but not likely. They’d already had their weekly supply shipments.

Perhaps, Justinian thought, we can fish together without hindrance.

The thought had barely registered in his mind when Suri let out a startled squeak. Justinian’s breath caught in his throat.

He felt as if a blade of ice had been plunged into his chest.

“Does this refuse belong to you, old man?” The voice was deep and rigid, enveloped by an eerie whispering as if the speaker had been joined by a chorus of ghost voices.

A Bone Minister.

Suri stood in a tall, menacing shadow and rubbed her forehead.   

Justinian dropped swiftly to his knees. “I am so sorry, Minister,” he said, letting the fishing gear fall to the ground. “The girl meant no inconvenience—certainly no disrespect. I distracted her, she didn’t see you, and—”

“She is a blight, even among your kind,” the Bone Minister said. His fingers, encased in segmented armor, rippled at his side. “Shall I rid this place of her?”

“No, no, please!” Justinian pleaded. “She has been through so much and yet she lives and even smiles. She is dear to me. Please.”

The Bone Minister made no initial response. He stood, impassively towering over Suri. Justinian knew better than to say any more. Either the Bone Minister would kill her, or he would not. There was nothing more Justinian could do.

A pair of grizzled fishermen approached but diverted immediately to give the Bone Minister a wide berth. With good reason. He and all of his kind were a study in grotesquery. Seven feet tall, broad shouldered, and thick-legged—formidable warriors by any measure. But the Bone Ministers were more than soldiers, more than mere men and yet…somehow less than human.

From what Justinian had learned from loose-lipped villagers—mostly from old Gatlin the tavern keeper who lent his ear even to the Shrike—King Morlan and his chief assassin Cythraul coveted the Bone Ministers above all who had been brought back from the Forsaken Continent.

For in that dark realm, if the rumors were true, these beings were born and bred to a desperate dual purpose: to endure and inflict pain. From childhood, they submitted themselves to tortures, experiments, and unconscionable rituals.

Through agonies beyond imagination, their flesh and bone had been fused to nigh unbreakable armor.

Justinian might have thought such a thing impossible…if he wasn’t staring right at it. The Bone Minister wore a black cloak, lined with gray wolf’s fur. His heavy, black boots were studded and punctured with jagged shards of metal. Similar black iron talons protruded from his armored legs. Looking at those wicked hooks, Justinian winced. It was a kind wonder that Suri hadn’t split her forehead when she walked into the Bone Minister.

Still he made no move and said nothing. Suri looked up at the Bone Minister. Finally she blinked and said, “Don’t you worry, Grandi. He won’t hurt me. He’s a nice one.”

A nice one. Justinian smiled at her naivety. There were no “nice” Bone Ministers. No soul could be as tortured as these and still maintain even a splinter of kindness. Justinian looked at the tools of torture—curving, crooked, serrated implements of pain—hanging from the Bone Minister’s heavy belt. Not nice. Not very nice at all.

At last, the Bone Minister gave some sign. His deep chest—half leathery gray flesh, half molded ridges of ashen black metal—inflated and fell as he released the breath in an otherworldly whistling sigh.

Justinian tensed.

“So fragile,” the Bone Minister said, the ghost whispers present with every word. He lifted his arms out to his side. His fingers clicked and crackled like a basket full of teeming crabs.

Suri whimpered and began to shake. Her arms suddenly slammed against her body as if a gigantic invisible demon had taken her in its fist.

“No, please!” Justinian whispered.

Suri struggled, her eyes bulged, and her feet left the ground.

The Bone Minister lifted his hands slightly and smiled. His teeth were long and sharp like those of a feral beast. They protruded at odd angles from the blackened gum tissue. The jaws parted. A shadowy tongue slithered between the teeth. And a rustling, rattling breath escaped.

Suri rose into the air. She squirmed and wrestled but couldn’t escape. Up she went: a foot off of the ground. Two. Three. Now, she was almost at the Bone Minister’s eye level.

“So very fragile,” the Bone Minister said. “One constricting thought…and she will burst like an overripe grape.”

“Mmmph!” Suri cried. “It hurts, Grandi!”

“Will you raise a fist against me, old man?” the Bone Minister hissed.

Justinian hadn’t even realized that he’d clenched his fists. He could feel the white-knuckling tension in them and found the urge to strike out against his enemy almost overwhelming. But when Justinian looked up at the Bone Minister’s face, he lost all resolve.

The grey flesh of that face was threadbare, shot through with dark metal, especially at the chin, jaw, and cheekbones. Worst were the eyes, whether one could see them or not. A crown of metal protruded from the bottom of the Bone Minister’s forehead to the bridge of his nose and wrapped around his face just above his ears. A shallow chevron eye slit cut deep into the armor. And the sickly, moonlight yellow eyes stared out with malice from within.

Suri cried softly. “Please, Grandi…”

“No, Minister,” Justinian whispered, letting his fists uncurl. “I would not dare to oppose you. Do what you will.”

The rustling rattle swirled out from the Bone Minister’s mouth. And slowly by some dark power that Justinian couldn’t fathom, Suri began to descend to the ground.

The moment her bare toes touched the leaf-strewn soil, Suri raced to Justinian and clutched him.

“See that she minds her path,” the Bone Minister said. He strode away without another word.

“Come, Suri,” Justinian said. He took Suri’s hand and got back to his feet. “The First One smiled upon us today. We should head back home. Fishing can wait another day.”

“Oh, Grandi, no!” Suri, sadness etching long lines into her sweet face.

Every rational thought urged Justinian to take Suri back to the relative safety of their shack. But Suri looked so sad, so utterly pathetic that his rational thoughts fled. “Ah, Suri,” he said. “I relent. We’ll still go to the bay and fish.”

“Yay!”

“But we must be doubly cautious,” he said. “We might not survive another run in with a Bone Minister.”

“That one’s different,” Suri said. “I don’t think he would’a kilt me.”

“He may be different,” Justinian replied, hoisting the fishing gear back to his shoulder. “But make no mistake…he has killed many before. And he would kill again.”

They hurried the rest of the way to the Bay of Taranaar without incident.

“Tide’s coming in,” Justinian said.

“Good for fishin’, right Grandi?” Suri asked.

“Yes, indeed,” he said, staring off into the obscure distance. “But this fog is thicker than I’d imagined. It’ll take all afternoon for the sun to burn this off.”

He bent low and took a trenchworm out of their can of bait. It squirmed vitally, and then Justinian plunged it onto the hook. A disturbing image of the Bone Minister impaling little Suri on some sharp thing raced through his mind. He shook the thought away and handed the fishing pole to Suri. First One knew, the girl was ready to fish.

She raced away up the pier, stopped at one spot, then raced back ten feet to select the perfect spot. Then, with a practiced flip of the wrists, Suri slung the baited line admirably far out into the water.

Justinian watched her affectionately for a few minutes. No bites, not even a nibble, and yet she gave no sign of boredom. She held on to the end of that fishing pole and grinned as if it were the end of a rainbow.

Justinian heard muted footsteps behind him. He spun on his heel, but it was only another fisherman.

“Mornin, Elder,” Shipley Moor said with a friendly nod.

“Glad it’s you,” Justinian said. “Run in with a Minister a few minutes back.”

“I saw ‘im,” Shipley said. “That’ll rattle ya right outta yer boots, it will. But fishin’ cures all, so they say.”

“I hope so,” Justinian said.

Shipley nodded again. He stopped next to Justinian and stared out over the misty bay. “Weather’s changed,” Shipley said. “Not much wind, but what there is is comin’ out’a the east. Current’s coming in different too.”

“Odd smell to it,” Justinian said.

“Yep,” Shipley said. “Probably just some dead thing out on a sandbar. Big mule crab, I’ll wager. Those things stink to high Allhaven.”

Shipley gave a wink and went on his way up the pier, far past Suri’s perfect spot. Justinian watched Shipley disappear into the fog. Hope he’s right about the smell, Justinian thought. It was getting stronger now. Definitely something dead and rotting.

“Grandi, look!” Suri called.

Justinian hurried over to see his niece pointing into the water.

“It’s a dead fish,” Suri said. “Not fair. I wanted to catch’im.”

Justinian looked and was surprised to see a moonfish floating along with the current.

“There’s another one, Grandi,” Suri said. “Someone’s takin’ up all my fish!”

“HOO!” A cry came from the mist where Shipley had gone. Then there came pounding footsteps on the pier. In a few seconds, Shipley raced right by them his mouth gaping like the dead fish.

“Shipley!” Justinian called after him. “What’s going on? What did you see?”

But Shipley was already off the pier. He never answered.

Suri screamed.

Justinian flew to her side. She wouldn’t speak at first, but just pointed. There were more and more dead fish. But there was something else. A pale form floated to the surface. A body.

“Look away, Suri!” he said, pulling her to himself.

“He’s a fish man,” she said before burying her head in his jacket.

She was right. The body had wing-like fins beneath each arm. And the flesh coloring, while distorted in death, was a light purplish blue with splotches of livid red.

“Marinaens,” Justinian whispered. Another body surfaced next to the first. Still farther out in the water, there were many more pale shapes floating. The smell became unbearable.

“Come, child,” he said. They left the fishing gear where it lay, and he ushered her down the pier toward the village. But Justinian couldn’t help himself. Every few steps he gaped at the floating dead. Now there were so many they covered the visible surface.

Suri suddenly peeked out of his coat. “Oh, Grandi!” she cried. “Who would kill the fish people. They was nice. It wasn’t the Ministers, was it?”

“I don’t know, child,” Justinian said. “Not for certain. But I think this might be the answer to a question many of us have been asking since the invasion. Come, let’s get back to the cottage. I’ll fix you a hot vanilla.”

He hoped the sweet treat would take her mind on the horrors of this day. But nothing would help Justinian’s thoughts. How often he and others had wondered about that fateful evening, the night of the invasion. He hadn’t told Suri the question, but it loomed in his mind: where were the Marinaens when we needed them?

Now, Justinian thought he knew, but there was no one to tell. No one with any power to oppose King Morlan…or any power at all, for that matter.


The New Look of Enter the Door Within. 

I started fiddling with the blog, and I must confess, quite accidentally, I changed the format. Then, after a lengthy freak out, I meddled with the controls and found a format that seemed doable. Not sure I like it. Please feel free to comment about the new look. Things like font, font color, size--anything you do or do not like--helps a ton.