Those of you who follow me on FaceBook have likely seen the images of the research I’ve been performing for my new upcoming book, Storm of War. You’ve probably also seen the blurb here on my website (if you haven't, check it out here). You may have already noted that the timeframe makes this a work of medieval historical fiction instead of Biblical fiction. As a result, Storm of War will have a slightly different tone than my previous novels that followed the life of King David. With this fact, I wanted to make you a few promises, but also make you aware of a few differences before you potentially purchase this book and are disappointed.
First, I promise that Storm of War will remain true to who I am as an author: Someone with a strong desire to write quality fiction while honoring God in that effort. While God is not the center of the story in Storm of War, the morality with which he created us still permeates the book. Daniel's story is not a tale of God's redemption, and God only comes up sparingly throughout the book, yet I still like to think that God's hand is at work in his life.
Second, there will be no sex scenes, no needless swearing, and no glorification of immorality. There will be, like my Biblical fiction, an amount of violence and gore (perhaps a little bit more in Storm of War), as well as several characters who do not align their lives with God's will. These characters’ actions are never glorified as right behavior.
Finally, it must be acknowledged that the First Crusade (and, indeed, all of them) is a touchy subject for a great many reasons. While instigated by Christendom, atrocities were committed on both sides. Since Storm of War is told from the vantage point of a Christian Greek raised in Constantinople, it will obviously be skewed historically, yet I have tried to paint as accurate a picture as I could with the knowledge we have today. The result of this is Christian knights often doing un-Christian things. This could not be avoided without seriously ignoring history. Again, I have made every attempt not to glorify immorality.
In the end, this is a fictional tale with fictional characters (including those few characters who are based on real people). The intent is to tell a good story. I will leave the verdict to you.
I recognize the difficulty writing truth in fiction. Anytime we write based on people, there is a margin of intent and action that can be overwhelming of expectations. Good on you to face these truths and try to deal with them directly. I look forward to reading your books.