Benjamin D. Copple's Blog

Observant readers of WE BLEED FOR EACH OTHER will notice music plays a significant role in the book. Often, music indicates Jenny’s mood or helps regulate it. Worship music becomes a way for her to learn about and connect with the villagers of Sango. Her playlist is a last connection to her old life, yet also serves as an introduction to the new life she begins.

There is a story behind this. While writing WE BLEED FOR EACH OTHER, I had a playlist I used to put me in the mood, a specific set of ...

If you haven't read "The Door, Part One" check it out first!

True, they were not men exactly like myself. The first was abnormally tall and thin with pasty white skin, no nose and no hair. But his companion appeared identical to homo sapiens except for his color: reddish-orange with dark green hair and clear, grey eyes. Both were clothed, the first in a long flowing robe of gossamer strands and the second in a leather harness and a short skirt, like the kilts worn by our Scottish kinsman. But ...

My dearest Jordana,

The story I am about to relate to you is full of wonders and horrors too strange for human minds. Its nature is such that, if placed in the wrong hands, would surely bring the highest ruin and disgrace upon my head. Your uncle is far too weak to bear such disappointment and keep on living. Rather than risk such embarrassment, I have chosen to keep the tale locked away in the darkest corner of my mind, until you were ready to hear it. You, my closest companion and confidant...

On the eastern arm of the Wendish Mountains in the foothills above the plains of Wendland there sits a village that is now empty, but once was filled with men and women. It is a small village, but is sturdy and cleverly built. It is said that the Amgamal built it long ago as a sort of trading post to facilitate commerce between the early Wendish people and the inhabitants of the great city of Ir-Shâmâyim, but if that is so, it must have been many, many years ago, for none now living can remembe...

What’s the difference between a fable, a parable, and a fairy tale? More importantly, why fables, parables, and fairy tales?

If you google these terms, you’ll find strict, technical definitions and a menagerie of scholarly articles supporting them. But I don’t care about those, and neither do you. If you did, you would’ve just searched them in the first place and wouldn’t be spending your time reading a blog. What I want is to provide practical understanding, a layman’s tool, if you will, somet...

“The cave that you refuse to enter holds the treasure that you seek.” – Joseph Campbell

It's a common story: a protagonist stands at a crossroad, the success of his quest balanced on the edge of a knife. This individual is not yet a hero, for he has not yet completed what he set out to do. He cannot go forward until he decides what forward looks like. The future hero arrives at a landmark, where he must press on alone and confront a vision, pass a test, or overcome a challenge. Whatever the pa...

Back home in Preston, New Mexico where I grew up, there was a man named Elias P. Jones. Today, folks refer to him as the “Prodigal of Preston” but Elias wasn’t really a prodigal, at least not in the strictly biblical sense. He never went anywhere from which he had to come back, unless you count Vietnam, which doesn’t at all line up with the biblical story because Vietnam was anything but “riotous living.” He lived his entire life in Preston where he did live riotously, but then, you could also ...

from Chapter Seven - "Like a Lion"

Jenny awoke slowly, savoring the comfort of her pillow. It would be another long day.

She sat up with a start. It couldn’t be morning yet. What about dessert? She looked through the open flap of her tent and saw no light except for the dull glow of the dying fire. Her phone clock confirmed it for her: she’d slept through dessert. A sigh escaped her lips as she lay back and wondered what Nanci’s surprise had been. She zipped up her mosquito netting and snuggl...

“I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things kept secret from the foundation of the world.” – Jesus

Let’s get the biggest question out of the way first: why? Why write fiction? Why stories?

Short answer: “I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things kept secret from the foundation of the world.”

Okay, so it’s not really going to be a short answer. Truth is, there is no short answer. The simplest explanation for why I write can be found in Matthew 13:35, quoted above. But le...