I’m getting ready to head off to a tattoo appointment, but I wanted to sit down before I head out and jot down a little story for you all.  I realize most of you reading this blog will either be fans or followers, but I’m hoping a few people who recently picked up my book, The Awakening, will take a few minutes to sit and read my little ditty.

I just finished a, what I’d consider, very successful Bookbub campaign.  About 31,000 books were downloaded, hundreds more sold, and for the first time since I’ve been published, my book has launched itself into the hands of a slightly main-stream public.  That’s not to say I’m best-selling like crazy, but I hit the top 20 on the amazon paid list, and with it came the risk of my genre.

Theological fiction.

Ten years ago I sat down in a creative writing class, hoping for inspiration.  I was smack in the middle of earning my Theology degree, and I was eyeballs deep in classes like Christology- The Nature of Christ, and the History of the Septuagint.  My schedule was packed full of history and theology theory classes, so taking this creative writing class was bringing me back to my roots.

The purpose of the class was to spend the semester writing and perfecting a novel.  It had to be over 50,000 words long, and it had to follow a basic formula– whether it was romance or horror or sci-fi, etc.

The trouble with my idea, though, was it didn’t fit into a specific genre.  You see, the month I started this creative writing class, I began a class discussing the nature of Christ.  We were picking apart different theories which have been presented over the many many years people have been studying the very nature of one of the longest worshiped demi-gods in history.

I remember reading one particular passage in the Gospel of Mark, where Jesus, for all intents and purposes, loses his ever-loving mind at a fig tree.  Many scholars over the years have discussed the meaning of that passage, psychologically and theologically picking it apart.  My mind, being that even in my scholar days I was still a creative writer, went another direction.  What if, I thought, Jesus’ powers were slowly driving him mad?  What if he was losing touch with reality?  What if any time someone approached him and touched him and pulled the power out of him, it drove him further and further from reality?  What if when he gave his powers to the disciples it cracked something inside of him?

Needless to say, it went from there.  There’s this long-dead myth of Judas Thomas (the twin), and I thought to myself, what if Jesus had a twin brother?  What if?

Then came Isa of Kashmir.  The version of the Jesus gospels where he wasn’t present from 12 to 30 years old because he was taken by Buddhist monks and given training in India.  Then he returned to share his message– which is very much like the message Jesus preached in the Bible– with the whole of Jerusalem.  There’s not a lot of text on this particular version of Jesus, although there is a gravesite where the body of Isa supposedly lies.  Buried in the Hebrew tradition, with his plaque showing crucifixion marks on his hands and feet.  This particular savior and teacher was rescued from the cross and spirited away to Kashmir where he lived out the rest of his days.

At this point my head was spinning with ideas.  In that semester I sat down and wrote a story about a brother and sister who befriended a man named Mark.  Mark lived in an old, dilapidated, abandoned Church with his not-quite-there friend, Jude.  One day Jude snaps and disappears and the brother and sister help Mark track him down where they find him in a chapel bleeding from stigmata wounds and babbling in Aramaic.

At this point they get him home but Mark is forced to tell them his story.  However, it comes with a price.  The story of the real beginning of Christianity comes with a curse.  Every time Mark has shared his story, someone is corrupted and a new off-set of Christianity forms.  Mark had spent hundreds of years living in isolation, and now he’s telling his story again.

The book ended with the sister succumbing to the curse and the brother being forced to try and contain her.

It was well received.  In my class, we were given the opportunity to submit a sample chapter to a group of agents who visited the University.  I was one of four classmates who got a call back asking for the full manuscript.  Three weeks passed after I delivered it, and I was called in for a meeting.

They loved it, they told me.  It was edgy and interesting.  It grabbed you in all the right places, it kept you hooked, wondering what was going to happen next.

“But it’s never going to get published.  You can’t change the nature of Jesus like that.  Not with mainstream Christianity.  You’ll be crucified.”

At that point I put my book away and threw myself into my studies.

Eight years later, I was telling my husband about my book and he started asking questions.  We kicked around some ideas, and in a massive light bulb moment, The Awakening was born.  I spent about a month coming up with the complex idea of my five book story arc which now included Greek, Norse, and Egyptian gods, immortals, and the single stand-alone human character.

Now that my book has been given to a mainstream audience, it’s receiving the criticism the agents warned me about.  Angry Christians claiming I’m defiling their religion.  Claiming I don’t know my history, I don’t know what I’m talking about.  The idea of Jesus as a Buddhist is absurd.

I understand where they’re coming from.  As a child, I grew up in a fundamental religious household and I was deeply discouraged from looking outside our mainstream beliefs.  When I took on the mantle of becoming a Theologian, an entire world of history and myth and theory opened up to me and cracked my faith.

I don’t regret it.  I understand why people are insulted.

All I need to do is remind them that although there is some historical accuracy to the theory and myth I’ve presented in regards to their demi-god, it’s fantasy.  It’s all in good fun.  And to those of you who recently picked up my book, I do hope you enjoy it!

Now, off to my tattoo appointment!