Dan Calabrese

Let me tell you about my friend, Katherine Jeffries, who is first and foremost the terrific author of a book called Darkness Comprehended, with more intriguing work on the way.

She also served as my primary content editor (along with Angie) for Powers and Principalties, and has agreed to return and play the same role again for Pharmakeia.

So . . . what’s with these brutal editor chicks?

As the chapters have been coming back to me over the past few days, I have to tell you, Kate is really challenging me. Word choices. Plot lines. Character development. Character interaction.

You name it, she’s holding my feet to the fire. (Oh, and her husband’s a cop, so all the police stuff? Yeah . . . I get away with nothing.)

It seems to me that Kate has ratcheted up the Nazi stuff for this effort, although she challenged me pretty good on Powers and Principalities as well. Maybe because she knows me a little better now, she feels that much more comfortable laying the brutal truth on me.

It’s not that she’s telling me the story is bad. I don’t get the impression that she thinks that at all. She’s challenging me to make sure it’s great in every way, and she won’t let me slide if she thinks I’ve fallen short – anywhere.

By the way, it looks like I’m going to get the chance to return the favor in the not-too-distant future. Rubs hands together and grins maniacally.

I became acquainted with Kate over Facebook as we shared our respective experiences with writing and publishing, and she was kind enough to send me a copy of her book, which tells the story of a woman whose husband loses his life so hers can be spared – and of her efforts to somehow correct this in spite of the seeming impossibility of the task.

If you’ve never heard of her work, check it out. Buy a copy. And let the record show that every writer can use a critical eye on his or her work. Those of you who know me understand that I’ve never been one to seek out other people’s opinions about what I do. But when someone wins my respect, I’m happy to listen to their feedback – even if it’s brutal.

That’s why Katherine Jeffries is the sadistic Nazi editor I couldn’t live without.

I care if you like my writing. But I don’t care what you want, and I think that makes me a better writer.

Huh? I know that’s what you’re asking.

I was recently reading a discussion about boundaries in writing, and what sorts of things you can or should do given the audience you’re writing for. Without getting into too much detail, the discussion involved some writers who wondered if they could include certain kinds of content in Christian fiction, and some agents (ah, agents) who spelled out the rules about what you can and can’t do. The bottom line, from the agents’ point of view, is that you’re supposed to know your audience, and only go places where the audience will feel comfortable.

OK, I get why agents say that. Agents are not writers. Their job is to pitch stuff to established publishers who want certain things, and when you write in a way that doesn’t comport to the preconceived preferences of a given audience, you make the agent’s job harder.

Fine.

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A police officer never knows when a seemingly routine call may prove to be his last. For 31-year-old Taylor officer Matt Edwards, a call to respond to a breaking-and-entering at an apartment building led tragically to the ultimate sacrifice.

The 36-year-old Westland man suspected of being responsible for the disturbance, according to his wife, wanted to commit suicide, but was too much of a coward to shoot himself, so he decided to initiate a gun battle with police. In the course of doing so, he shot Matt Edwards, who leaves behind a wife and two young children.

I did not know Matt, but his uncle is Detroit-area pastor and WLQV radio host Paul Edwards – a fine man who interviewed me some months back when I was in town for a book signing. I know his heart is broken now, and I’d like to ask everyone to offer their prayers for Paul, his brother David (Matt’s father) and Matt’s wife Shannon and their children.

There’s no point trying to find some divine explanation for all this. We live in a fallen world, and sometimes those who bravely risk their lives to protect us in the midst of this darkness do indeed pay with their lives. Those Matt left behind will need God’s blessings now more than ever.

I realize that I tend to do things in the most unconventional manner, so it’s probably understandable that people’s assumptions don’t necessarily match the fact where my books are concerned. That calls for a quick reminder: If you intend to buy any of my books, great, but don’t buy them in bookstores. Buy them here by clicking the Buy Now button on the left.

There are several reasons for this: 1. You will probably not find the book in stock. Most bookstores can order it – I know Barnes & Noble can – but you’ll have to wait more than a week for it to come in; and 2. You’ll pay $8 more if you buy it from them.

A lot of people tell me they want to buy Powers and Principalities, and I guess it’s only natural that they ask me which bookstores carry it. Let me explain why I’ve decided not to make a priority of getting the book, or its coming sequel Pharmakeia, stocked in traditional bookstores. First, bookstores are very reluctant to carry product that isn’t distributed through traditional, establishment publishers. That’s a problem for me because my book is too Christian for secular publishers and too edgy for Christian publishers.

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Since Nike Chillemi booked me to host today’s stop on the Edgy Christian Fiction Lovers Summer Blog Tour, I’ve been considering the question of whether I’m an outlier even within this edgy group. As a fellow ECFL member recently wrote me (and she liked my book), “edgy” may not be a strong enough word for the stuff I write.

Oh my. That being the case, we should probably cut to the heart of the matter:

My fiction is about spiritual warfare, and that’s a battle that occurs on two planes – the spiritual and the physical. The spiritual forces are heavily engaged in influencing the physical, which is to say, humans. You and me. Satan and his demons seek to destroy our relationship with Christ. Angels seek to protect us as God commands them. The Holy Spirit offers us power to win the battle, which is infallible if we choose to take hold of it.

I believe stories of this nature cannot back away from the reality of what happens when Satan wins a battle, and from the things people do as a result. They commit acts of violence. They engage in acts of sexual immorality. They drop f-bombs. They fall into substance abuse. They do all kinds of things that are part and parcel of the general downward spirals that come to characterize their lives.

I show you that. Why? Because that’s what we’re battling! People kill each other. People have sex – sometimes in a horrible, degrading, turn-your-stomach fashion. You don’t find it titillating. You find it disturbing. You’re supposed to. It’s the result of sin. Some of my characters give themselves over to it, in all its ugliness. Other characters fight it with prayer and intercession. The clashes become intense.

Oh, and I’m honest about something else, too. My Christian characters also do bad things. Not as the general direction of their lives, but they are human and they face temptation. Since they are not Jesus, sometimes they give into the temptation, and then they have to deal with the consequences.

I was taken to task for this by a Christian publisher who actually reached out to me, but didn’t like my book that much when he read it. He wanted me to get rid of the F-bombs, especially from the believers (“Now that she’s saved, why isn’t she cleaning up her language?”), and generally present the saved characters in a much more positive light. He seemed concerned that if an unsaved person read the book, and saw flaws in the saved characters, he or she would be less likely to be won to Christ.

Here’s what I think about that: God commands us to shine like stars in a crooked and depraved generation, and when we do, I am convinced he brings about a great harvest from our faithfulness. But he does not command us to claim we do so perfectly when we really don’t. That’s fraud, plain and simple. Christians are imperfect people who make mistakes – sometimes serious mistakes. Christian fiction should not be propaganda that pretends otherwise. It should present the human side of the spiritual battle as it really is, and deal honestly with the rewards of our triumphs and the consequences of our mis-steps.

And that brings me back to those elements of my writing where some believe I have stepped over the line – which is mainly the f-bomb, the graphic sexuality (nothing compared to the stuff you read on FanFiction.net but pretty strong for Christian fiction) and the violence. I understand why Christians would not approve of behavior like this, and that prompts many to suggest that “good writing” would require me to subtlely suggest them rather than describe them in graphic detail.

But if we are serious about spiritual warfare, then why are we afraid to look the truth clear in the eye? When the Allies liberated Germany at the end of World War II, did they close their eyes to the horror of Auschwitz? No, the world needed to see what had happened there, just as we need to remember the image of the Twin Towers falling on 9/11. If we aren’t willing to see the truth, we will not be as resolved in fighting it.

Spiritual warfare is not for Christians who run screaming from the building every time a word is uttered or a disturbing act takes place. It is for strong, faithful people of God who can face down the fallen nature of the world, and call upon the power of the Holy Spirit to win victories over it.

That’s why fiction that deals with spiritual warfare must be just as willing to take on these realities with eyes wide open. So I, for one, will not protect you from the f-bomb or from anything else about the nature of the world that makes you uncomfortable. I have an obligation as a writer, of course, not to use these things gratuitously. I have caught myself a few times – both in the early drafts of Powers and Principalities and in drafting the sequel, Pharmakeia – wondering if I had used a word or a phrase just for the sake of being edgy. When I think I have done that, I change it.

But for those who say, “The f-bomb is tasteless, and therefore it doesn’t belong in Christian fiction,” I say, hey, sin and spiritual evil are about as tasteless as you can get. And because of what they are, they absolutely belong in Christian fiction.

Or at least, those who are serious about standing up to the enemy can’t be afraid of them.

Just a preview for anyone who’d like to join the discussion: Michelle Sutton has started an excellent Ning group called Edgy Christian Fiction Writers, and a member of that group, Nike Chillemi, has organized what she calls the ECFW Summer Blog Tour.

Tomorrow, they’ll be stopping by DanCalabreseBooks.com.

So my job is to get things rolling with a thought-provoking post on spiritual warfare and the role edgy Christian fiction plays in it (done, scheduled to post around 1 a.m.), and then we’ll have a big honkin’ discussion about same.

Should be a good chance to meet some interesting people, so by all means, come by and join the discussion tomorrow!

Most of the attempts I’ve seen at depicting what Hell might be like are either hilariously overwrought or just too poorly produced to be effective. This one is pretty good. (Actually I don’t really get the part they add on to the last minute-and-a-half, but the part with the girl named Mary is superb.)

With the usual and, I would think, obvious caveat that Hell is surely much much worse than even this . . . eh, this looks pretty bad.

No wonder she’s freaking out when they revive her in the ambulance. As my friend Craig Hamilton has put it best, Hell means complete and total separation from God, and that means no more access to any of God’s blessings. No love, no peace, no joy, no protection, no comfort, no hope of anything ever getting any better. Because if you choose to reject God throughout your life, eventually you will lose your access to all these things.

Of course, I realize many of you don’t believe in this stuff. Good luck with that, because it’s luck that you’re trusting, and you’re also rejecting the promise of a kingdom in which there is no mourning, no tears, no crying.

This is the proposition you want to carry throughout your life, in the hope that what you’re about to see below is not reality?

Not me.

Whew!

I actually cranked out four-plus chapters this past weekend to finish the first draft of Pharmakeia and move the project into the editing stage. That’s a lot to write in one weekend, but if you’ve pretty well worked out the details in your head, it’s eminently doable.

I’d had the general culmination of events in my head for months, but you always have to sort out details as you go, and you always get new ideas along the way for how you might approach it. About two weeks ago, the final ideas really came together in my head – and for the first time I was extremely confident the conclusion would be excellent.

Once you’re there, you can hardly tear yourself away from the keyboard.

In my opinion (and more importantly, in Angie’s) Pharmakeia is better than Powers and Principalities. I suppose your second book should be better than your first, because otherwise you’re not progressing as a writer. But it’s widely believed that sequels struggle to stand up to the original. I think I’ve managed to achieve it with this effort, but ultimately the final judgment on that belongs to you. I am convinced that Powers and Principalities is an excellent book, and as you can see from our reader comments, plenty of others agree.

So if we actually went and topped it here, well . . .

We’re targeting an October release and I’m extremely confident we’ll meet the target, mainly because we’re in complete control of all facets of the process this time.

Get ready! Oh, and if you haven’t read Powers and Principalities yet, do it now! (Click the “Buy Now” button at the upper left.) Pharmakeia is a story that stands on its own, but it’s still a sequel, and you’re going to appreciate it a lot more if you’ve read the original first.

It’s almost beyond comprehension to me that anyone could believe a mind-altering substance would not have a negative effect on the overall functioning of the body – particularly the brain. The body is designed to work in a certain way. To think you can barrage the body with foreign chemicals and do no damage simply defies belief.

But this is what marijuana-smokers and legalization advocates believe. Talk to them about the harmful effects of marijuana, and they will either deny that any exist, or they will quickly change the subject to alcohol, which they will claim is far more harmful. Then they will tell their counterpart that because he or she surely drinks alcohol (they’re wrong in my case), he or she must be a hypocrite.

At any rate, a new report from the National Center for Biotechnology Information, authored by Dr. Masood A. Kahn and Sailaja Akella, demonstrates how cannabis use can induce bipolar disorder with psychotic features. (Hat tip to my friend Marie Jon.) There is some disagreement among researchers about whether cannabis use causes bipolar disorder or merely exacerbates it, but there is really no debate about the connection:

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This is a terrific summation of how a non-believer often hears that judgmental sales job that many Christians try to shove in their faces. We’re dealing with real people who are yearning for something real, and we have it – and it starts by giving them love. Watch the video: