BOOK EXCERPT
Seventh Dimension - The Door: A Young Adult Christian Fantasy
I was enjoying the water too much to worry about underlings. After a few minutes, I got out and climbed up on a flat rock. As I lay on my stomach, I dangled my arms out over the river’s edge.
A blue bird darted up in front of me and danced over the water.
“She’s so cute,” I said, fascinated by the small-winged creature.
“They are terrible,” Baruch said.
“Not the bird, I mean the underlings. Most of the time, they don’t have real bodies. They shape shift, though they look similar to large black bats. The acrid stench always precedes their appearance. I smell them coming now.”
“I don’t smell anything,” I said absentmindedly.
“There’s the crackling again,” Cherios said. She nervously twitched her ear to one side.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Lorilyn Roberts is a Christian author who writes children’s picture books, adult nonfiction, memoirs, and a young adult Christian fantasy series, Seventh Dimension. The first in the series, The Door, was just published (October 2012).
Lorilyn graduated Magna Cum Laude from the University of Alabama, which included international study in Israel and England. She received her Master’s in Creative Writing from Perelandra College and is a graduate of the Institute of Children’s Literature.
Lorilyn is the founder of the John 316 Marketing Network, a network of Christian authors who are passionate about promoting books with a Christian worldview.
To learn more about Lorilyn, visit her website at LorilynRoberts.com
INTERVIEW
QUESTION: What
Inspired You To Write Seventh Dimension - The Door?
LORILYN: I wanted to share my testimony, but I could never do it as a memoir, so I spent three years earning my Master’s in Creative Writing so I could learn how to write fiction. This story is allegorical and has been compared by reviewers to Alice in Wonderland, Pilgrim’s Progress, and The Chronicles of Narnia. Part of the story takes place in first-century Israel.
I was in Jerusalem studying at the Institute of Holy Land Studies when the Gulf War broke out in 1991. When people talk about “write what you know,” that’s what I did -- scarred, broken, abandoned, and on the road to juvenile delinquency, God took me to the mountains of Galilee and spoke to my heart. For every young girl (or man) reading this book, you will come away with this message -- you are a son or daughter of the king.
QUESTION: How
Did You Come Up With The Characters?
LORILYN: Some of the animal characters come from my children’s picture book, The Donkey and the King. Baruch, the donkey; Lowly the pig; Cherios, the rabbit; and Much-Afraid, the dog, all represent aspects of Shale’s complex personality. The battle between good and evil is represented throughout, with the underlings tormenting Shale unceasingly from the very beginning. She faces an ultimate test of life over death, as we all do in one form or another.
QUESTION: Will
There Be Another Book With These Characters?
LORILYN: The Door is the first book in the Seventh Dimension Series.
QUESTION: What
Genre(s) Do You Write In?
LORILYN: I write just about everything. I have a children’s picture, The Donkey and the King; a best-selling memoir, Children of Dreams; a nonfiction book for Christian authors to help them launch their books; and then this book, which is a YA Christian fantasy. You can learn more about my other books by visiting my website Lorilynroberts.com.
QUESTION: When
Did You Know You Wanted To Be A Writer?
LORILYN: I was writing short stories as young as eight. I have a couple of them packed away in a box under my bed. Writing has been the only thing in my life that’s come easily. That doesn’t mean I didn’t have a lot to learn, and I am still learning all the time. It just means it’s the one thing I crave, the one thing I’ve always wanted to do above all else, the one thing I would do for hours.
Even if I never got paid a dime, I would keep doing it. If only I didn’t have to work at a real job to pay the bills. My parents were very practical. They made me study something in college with which I could make money. So, my writing was put on hold until very recently. It’s never too late to start. I am fifty-seven and just earned my Master’s in Creative Writing.
Anyone that has ever achieved anything worthwhile, I believe, had to fight for it. So to be able to write at all is something I fight for, writing in the middle of the night, thinking about a story in the car while driving, asking God for direction. My kids care nothing about my writing. It all comes from deep within, this drive to write, to share my story. When I was in fifth grade, a teacher accused me of plagiarism. I suppose looking back, that should have told me I had a gift for writing. But instead, I felt humiliated and embarrassed. That scene is incorporated into this book. I love having the last word and bringing redemption to something that was unfair and hurtful.
QUESTION: What Kind of Background Do You Have, Other Than Writing?
LORILYN: I am a single mother by choice—I adopted my two daughters from Vietnam and Nepal. I provide closed captioning for television, so technically, my writing has been seen by millions all over the planet. On days when I am down that no one wants to read my books, I comfort myself with that thought. I studied classical guitar as a teenager and hope someday to get back to playing when I have more time.
We have four neurotic cats and two wacky dogs, all from the local humane society. I am an animal lover at heart. I have also scuba-dived all over the world, including the Great Barrier Reef and the Red Sea off the coast of Eilat. My worst experience diving was throwing up at 40 feet under, or maybe it was the time I got left behind by the boat and waited for hours to be found. I have lots of life experiences to draw from, which is one of the advantages of growing old in years but young at heart.
To buy Seventh Dimension - The Door, click: SEVENTH DIMENSION - THE DOOR
