GUEST POST BY MARTIN ROTH: Book Excerpt Tour, “Brother Half Angel,” by Martin Roth

Brother Half Angel

 By Martin Roth

“Brother Half Angel” is the first in a series of international thrillers by Martin Roth. These feature Brother Half Angel, the leader of a secret new church military order dedicated to helping Christians under attack around the world.

In this first book of the series, he is dispatched urgently to China, where an underground seminary is under siege from fanatical sword-wielding members of a local cult who still pay homage to the bloodthirsty extremists who tried to expel all foreigners from China in the nineteenth century.

The following is a short excerpt from the book (continued from http://www.barbaraannderksen.com/ and http://www.kimpayne.wordpress.com). Scroll to the end to learn how to read more, and also to learn how you can buy the book for a special price and with the chance to win a $200 Amazon gift voucher.

Chapter 3 

Fulang, China

Daniel looked at Ling, clearly in great distress. He had not seen him like this before. Unfortunately, Jenny pressed on.

“What’s going on?” she asked. “What on earth is happening?”

“He’ll tell us,” said Daniel, annoyed at his wife’s apparent insensitivity. “I’m sure he’s going to tell us.”

But now Ling lapsed into silence, rubbing at his head with both hands as if trying to locate a dreadful itch, his eyes darting around the room. Finally he spoke. “I don’t know who did it. Or why.”

“Have you called the police?” asked Jenny. Daniel translated.

“We can’t possibly call the police. You know that.” He was clearly angered by the suggestion.

“But someone’s been murdered.”

“You know that we can’t have the police here, nosing around.”

“But when someone is murdered…”

“He is a martyr. A martyr of the church. If the police come they will close us down.”

“They’ll think it’s an English school.”

“We cannot take that risk.”

Once more he went silent.

Brother Yoon turned to Daniel and Jenny. “It’s a warning,” he said to them in English. Yoon was a stocky, middle-aged man from one of Korea’s gigantic mega-churches. He had lived in China for more than a decade, tirelessly aiding the underground church.

“A warning?”

“It’s those Plum Flower boxers.”

“Plum Flower boxers?” asked Jenny.

“I’ll explain later,” said Daniel. He looked back at Yoon. “At the temple? All those men practising martial arts?”

“Yes, them. It’s a Taoist temple. They hate foreigners. And they especially hate foreign Christians.”

In their two months in Fulang, Daniel had sometimes taken to riding one of the seminary bicycles around town to explore. In this hectic and ugly environment, the temple actually stood out as a mini-oasis of beauty and tranquility. Once he had seen lines of men there training in the martial arts, punching and kicking the air, and screaming in unison. This, he learned, was a local variant of kung fu known as Plum Flower boxing, even though it did not really resemble Western-style boxing.

“Why do they hate foreigners?” asked Jenny. “And foreign Christians?”

Yoon shrugged. “They just do. It gives them a feeling of superiority. Having someone to look down on. It’s not just foreign Christians. They hate all Christians. I think they really despise Chinese Christians. They see them as somehow slaves of the West - without honor or dignity. Forsaking their own Chinese heritage.”

“But they don’t come and murder people just because they’re Christians, do they?” asked Daniel.

Again Yoon shrugged.

“And why Brother Shuei? He was no different from any of our other students. Passionate for Jesus, wanting to spread the Word. But so is everyone here.”

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You can pick up a copy of Brother Half Angel from Amazon

GUEST POST BY MARTIN ROTH: “Brother Half Angel - the Persecuted Christian”

Guest Post by Martin Roth

 

 

 

"Brother Half Angel" – Fighting for Persecuted Christians

What does a writer do when current events overtake the novel he is writing? In my case I just kept on writing, guessing (correctly) that eventually the status quo would be restored.

It happened a couple of years ago, while I was writing “Festival in the Desert,” the fourth in my "Brother Half Angel" series of international thrillers.

"Brother Half Angel" is a rough-diamond military commando who was once a leader of the Korean equivalent of the SEALS, but was forced to quit after an operation went tragically wrong, cutting off his forearm (and slicing in half his angel tattoo).

He is also a Christian with a passion for justice, and is now the leader of a clandestine group dedicated to helping the persecuted church.

I personally believe that the growing levels of persecution of Christians in the world today – particularly in Muslim countries – is one of the big issues facing the church today. I am continually shocked and disturbed that so few Christians really seem to know much about the continuing – and intensifying – threats against our brothers and sisters in so many parts of the world. I write my novels at least in part to educate my fellow Christians about these matters.

“Festival in the Desert” is set at a fictional mission hospital on the edge of the Sahara Desert in Mali, West Africa. It is under attack from Islamist extremists.

How many Christians know that Mali and surrounding countries constitute one of the key battlegrounds for Al Qaeda and related Islamist groups? Boko Haram, responsible for killing thousands in Nigeria, is just one of those groups.

This is why, according to a recent report in the Baptist Press, fully 70 per cent of the Christians killed worldwide in 2012 were Nigerians, making that country the most lethal place for Christians by a huge margin.

Here is an excerpt from Festival in the Desert:

“Drugs is just one of the problems,” said Dr Becker. “And it is getting worse, according to the embassy briefing I’ve received. We all know that the Sahara has become the transit point for shipments from South America, heading for Europe. That’s not new. But the big problem, the main problem now, is Al Qaeda. They are increasingly active. They are targeting this whole region. The whole of West Africa. All these traditionally moderate Muslim countries. They view them as a place for expansion. They are trying to radicalize the people. That’s why we see them in the markets more and more. Talking to local people.”

“It’s also all these new Saudi-sponsored mosques in town,” said Dr Steyn. “There’s more than a dozen of them. All recent. They send their imams from Saudi Arabia. Telling the women they have to wear veils and the men that they have to stop drinking alcohol and stop talking to people of other religions.”

“Yes, that’s exactly right. And according to the briefing I received, both Al Qaeda and the new mosques are recruiting young men, sending them off for training at madrassas in Saudi Arabia and Pakistan. These men come back home with radically new beliefs. They’re not tolerant any more. They hate the West, hate America, hate Christians.”

Dr Becker paused and glanced around. He looked a forlorn figure, with his white hair and lined face and wire-rimmed spectacles that sat at the end of his nose. “And then there are the Tuaregs. Thousands of them were forced to escape from Libya after the fall of Gaddafi, and now they’re back home, heavily armed and stirring up trouble. They’ve renewed their war of liberation against the government.”

 “Are they a threat to us?”

“They’re a threat to everyone. They say they want self-rule. But a lot of criminal elements are involved as well. They’re involved in kidnap. Extortion. Whatever. Westerners will always be a target. And they are all mixed up together.”

“Who are?”

“Al Qaeda. The Tuaregs. The drug dealers. Sometimes they’re enemies, fighting each other. But sometimes they’re friends, when it suits them. This whole region is becoming a lawless Wild West.” He looked at Bobby, the only American in the room, as if he were somehow responsible for all lawless Wild Wests around the world.

“So what does all this mean?” asked Dr Ryu.

“It means our hospital is a target.”

****** 

It was as I was completing the book that news came through that Tuaregs – the traditional desert nomads of the Sahara – had rebelled against the Malian government and captured about half the country, including the region where my fictional mission hospital was located. They were supported by elements of Al Qaeda, who quickly moved against all churches and Christians in the region. They certainly would have closed down my hospital.

My book was nearly done. I decided not to try to accommodate the new realities. I could not believe that Western powers would allow Al Qaeda to take over half a country. I was right. Eventually the French government sent in soldiers, who appear to have recaptured most of the region.

But the persecution of Christians continues. Just this month Islamists massacred several dozen teachers and students at a school in northern Nigeria. Sadly, Brother Half Angel is not ready to retire.

 

 

Martin Roth is a veteran journalist and foreign correspondent whose reports from Asia have appeared in leading publications around the world, including the Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, Baltimore Sun and The Guardian. He is the author of many books.

His Brother Half Angel international thrillers focus on the persecuted church. They feature Brother Half Angel, an abrasive former military man who heads a clandestine new military order that is dedicated to fighting for the rights of persecuted Christians around the world.

The five books in the series are The Coptic Martyr of Cairo, Brother Half Angel, The Maria Kannon, Military Orders and Festival in the Desert.

He is also the author of the Johnny Ravine Private Eye Series, with Prophets and Loss, Hot Rock Dreaming (Australian Christian Book of the Year finalist) and Burning at the Boss, and the Feisty Ferreira Series of financial thrillers - Tokyo Bossa Nova and The Kalgoorlie Skimpy.

He lives in Australia with his Korean wife and three sons.

 

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