Let's get down to business. I have two novels reasonably well polished that are fit for a beta-reader or two. Is anyone interested?
I'm also willing and eager to provide amateur (I mean free but reasonably detailed) beta-read for others.
I attach synopses below.
SYNOPSIS: POPE BARNABAS
Author Bob Springett Genre Fiction Word Count 177,000 words Target Market Adults interested in religion, even if not faithful themselves; Those who like a grown-up drama
This book follows the career of a brilliant young Sydney man with some special gifts. Or are these 'gifts' no more than manifestations of subtle brain damage? Or perhaps emotional or psychiatric instability?
He has a passion for pastoral care, eager to 'present every man mature in Christ'. This purpose is woven into the lives and deaths of his parents and friends, as well as historical events such as the Royal Commission into Institutional Child Abuse recently held in Australia. He becomes a recognised authority on how Pastoral Care should be done. Other supporting characters are also developed during this time.
He is elected Pope in 2032, taking the name 'Barnabas', which means 'Son of Encouragement'. But then he encounters a man who had been subjected to clerical sexual abuse as a child and witnessed the murder of his twin brother during abuse. This affects Barnabas profoundly. However, his 'gift' for empathy and pastoral concern is, if anything, amplified.
He is invited to a confrontation with the abused young man in a BBC interview. He accepts this challenge against the advice of his senior cardinals. This results in his death in front of the cameras, including the appearance of stigmata. It is debatable if these stigmata are miraculous or psychosomatically induced.
The answers this book suggests are tantalisingly ambiguous. Was Barnabas a saint or a psychotic? Or is a saint simply a psychotic that God uses? The eye of faith will see one answer, the eye of doubt another.
On the way through the book examines what good Pastoral Care should look like. This includes not just mental health, but promoting growth into full intellectual, emotional, relational and spiritual maturity. But this understory does not get in the way of the drama.
BONES – Synopsis
Genre Mystery; Political/Religious Drama Target Audience Thoughtful Adults Word Count 94,000 Author Bob Springett Contact bspringett@iprimus.com.au
A document is discovered in an archaeological dig in Galilee. This Aramaic document from the mid-first century appears to be a forerunner of the widely-suspected 'Q' document that is thought to have served as a source for the Gospels of Matthew and Luke. Some parts of this are ambiguous and religious arguments arise. One archaeologist, working on a hunch, conducts more digs and finds a skeleton which is apparently the earliest recorded Christian burial. The discovery of a second skeleton raises the possibility that this is Jesus, but while the data is vague the arguments are fiery.
Meanwhile the religious arguments have become excuses for geo-political moves, in particular the still-festering Palestinian Question. President Morse of America is facing re-election, and wants to be the President who brought Peace. Taking advantage of conservative Christian reactions to this 'blasphemy of desecration', he presents Israel and the Palestinians with an ultimatum. Israel attempts to divert the rage, but fails. Morse acts upon his ultimatum, enforcing the establishment of a de-militarised Palestinian State and mutual recognition.
But that still leaves the underlying questions. Is this document a fraud, planted by one party or another to precipitate a situation to its own advantage? If so, was the discovery of the skeletons co-incidental or planned? And who was behind it anyway? Or is everything exactly what the evidence hints it to be? No definite answer is provided even at the end. The Reader may make of it as he or she will. The point of the book isn’t about the evidence, which is ambiguous anyway, but how everyone reads into that evidence whatever they want to be there. Hence the Dedication of the book
To all who have the courage to follow the totality of the evidence, even into uncertainty, rather than cherry-picking only those crumbs that support their existing convictions.
Some understanding of Archaeology and Biblical Textual Criticism would enrich the reader’s understanding, but is not essential. The technical detail is only there for context, the plot is about what non-experts do with the data.
This novel is not 'feminist' as such, but features strong and competent women as the main protagonists.
Let's get down to business. I have two novels reasonably well polished that are fit for a beta-reader or two. Is anyone interested?
I'm also willing and eager to provide amateur (I mean free but reasonably detailed) beta-read for others.
I attach synopses below.
SYNOPSIS: POPE BARNABAS
Author Bob Springett
Genre Fiction
Word Count 177,000 words
Target Market Adults interested in religion, even if not faithful themselves;
Those who like a grown-up drama
This book follows the career of a brilliant young Sydney man with some special gifts. Or are these 'gifts' no more than manifestations of subtle brain damage? Or perhaps emotional or psychiatric instability?
He has a passion for pastoral care, eager to 'present every man mature in Christ'. This purpose is woven into the lives and deaths of his parents and friends, as well as historical events such as the Royal Commission into Institutional Child Abuse recently held in Australia. He becomes a recognised authority on how Pastoral Care should be done. Other supporting characters are also developed during this time.
He is elected Pope in 2032, taking the name 'Barnabas', which means 'Son of Encouragement'. But then he encounters a man who had been subjected to clerical sexual abuse as a child and witnessed the murder of his twin brother during abuse. This affects Barnabas profoundly. However, his 'gift' for empathy and pastoral concern is, if anything, amplified.
He is invited to a confrontation with the abused young man in a BBC interview. He accepts this challenge against the advice of his senior cardinals. This results in his death in front of the cameras, including the appearance of stigmata. It is debatable if these stigmata are miraculous or psychosomatically induced.
The answers this book suggests are tantalisingly ambiguous. Was Barnabas a saint or a psychotic? Or is a saint simply a psychotic that God uses? The eye of faith will see one answer, the eye of doubt another.
On the way through the book examines what good Pastoral Care should look like. This includes not just mental health, but promoting growth into full intellectual, emotional, relational and spiritual maturity. But this understory does not get in the way of the drama.
BONES – Synopsis
Genre Mystery; Political/Religious Drama
Target Audience Thoughtful Adults
Word Count 94,000
Author Bob Springett
Contact bspringett@iprimus.com.au
A document is discovered in an archaeological dig in Galilee. This Aramaic document from the mid-first century appears to be a forerunner of the widely-suspected 'Q' document that is thought to have served as a source for the Gospels of Matthew and Luke. Some parts of this are ambiguous and religious arguments arise. One archaeologist, working on a hunch, conducts more digs and finds a skeleton which is apparently the earliest recorded Christian burial. The discovery of a second skeleton raises the possibility that this is Jesus, but while the data is vague the arguments are fiery.
Meanwhile the religious arguments have become excuses for geo-political moves, in particular the still-festering Palestinian Question. President Morse of America is facing re-election, and wants to be the President who brought Peace. Taking advantage of conservative Christian reactions to this 'blasphemy of desecration', he presents Israel and the Palestinians with an ultimatum. Israel attempts to divert the rage, but fails. Morse acts upon his ultimatum, enforcing the establishment of a de-militarised Palestinian State and mutual recognition.
But that still leaves the underlying questions. Is this document a fraud, planted by one party or another to precipitate a situation to its own advantage? If so, was the discovery of the skeletons co-incidental or planned? And who was behind it anyway? Or is everything exactly what the evidence hints it to be? No definite answer is provided even at the end. The Reader may make of it as he or she will. The point of the book isn’t about the evidence, which is ambiguous anyway, but how everyone reads into that evidence whatever they want to be there. Hence the Dedication of the book
To all who have the courage to follow the totality of the evidence, even into uncertainty, rather than cherry-picking only those crumbs that support their existing convictions.
Some understanding of Archaeology and Biblical Textual Criticism would enrich the reader’s understanding, but is not essential. The technical detail is only there for context, the plot is about what non-experts do with the data.
This novel is not 'feminist' as such, but features strong and competent women as the main protagonists.