There Comes A Prophet Interview with @davidlitwack

Synopsis:
Who among us will cast aside a comfortable existence and risk death to follow a dream?

A world kept peaceful for a thousand years by the magic of the ruling vicars. But a threat lurks from a violent past. Wizards from the darkness have hidden their sorcery in a place called the keep and left a trail of clues that have never been solved.

Nathaniel has grown up longing for more but unwilling to challenge the vicars. Until his friend Thomas is taken for a teaching, the mysterious coming-of-age ritual. Thomas returns but with his dreams ripped away. When Orah is taken next, Nathaniel tries to rescue her and ends up in the prisons of Temple City. There he meets the first keeper of the ancient clues. But when he seeks the keep, what he finds is not magic at all.

If he reveals the truth, the words of the book of light might come to pass:

“If there comes among you a prophet saying ‘Let us return to the darkness,’ you shall stone him, because he has sought to thrust you away from the light.”

AUTHOR BIO
The urge to write first struck when working on a newsletter at a youth encampment in the woods of northern Maine. It may have been the night when lightning flashed at sunset followed by northern lights rippling after dark. Or maybe it was the newsletter’s editor, a girl with eyes the color of the ocean. But he was inspired to write about the blurry line between reality and the fantastic.

Using two fingers and lots of white-out, he religiously typed five pages a day throughout college and well into his twenties. Then life intervened. He paused to raise two sons and pursue a career, in the process becoming a well-known entrepreneur in the software industry, founding several successful companies. When he found time again to daydream, the urge to write returned. There Comes a Prophet is his first  novel in this new stage of life.

David and his wife split their time between Cape Cod, Florida and anywhere else that catches their fancy. He no longer limits himself to five pages a day and is thankful every keystroke for the invention of the word processor.

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Interview with David

How would you introduce your main character Nathaniel?

Nathaniel has grown up in a remote village at the fringe of a tightly controlled society. He has a vague sense that he wants more from life, but it’s more a desire for adventure than true idealism. When he gets the chance to challenge the existing order, he has to confront reality. Is his longing just the musings of youth or is he willing to risk his life and the lives of his friends to change the world.

Tell us a little bit about the world that Nathaniel grows up in?

The world of the Temple of Light is seemingly idyllic, a society where violence or any form of aggression is banned. But that peace comes with a price—suppression of individual dreams. The ability to fulfill one’s potential is brutally suppressed by tight control over the minutia of daily life—books, individual dress and appearance, music, food. The people accept the current order because the ruling Vicars possess “temple magic” which they use to prevent a return to a violent past called the darkness.

What is the last thing you read?

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro. It’s a thoughtful, character-driven dystopian novel, much different than the latest, more violent crop of dystopian fiction. The author takes an unusual approach. The world is not very different than our own. If taken as pure science fiction, his version of technology is suspect. But his broader theme is wonderful: the day to day trials of living with the human condition. It’s a story that stays with you long after you’ve finished.

What is your favorite book?

There are so many, I hesitate to answer. I’d like to say Lord of the Rings, but lots of people choose that. So let me give you a couple of my favorites from the past year.

Molak’ai– A touching fictional biography about a young girl diagnosed with leprosy and sent to the leper colony of Molak’ai. It sounds like a dark, historical novel, but, as with all great literature, it transcends genre and is uplifting.

The Night Circus – This book has to be called a fantasy, I guess, because it deals with magic. But it’s so original, different from the clones we so often see. And it’s beautifully written, with a striking voice that sets your mood the entire time you’re reading it. Enter the Night Circus and enjoy.

What is one thing that readers would be surprised to learn about you?

I’m a once and future author. I started writing when I was seventeen and worked at it into my late twenties when family and career intervened. I never thought I’d go back to it. But after a thirty year hiatus, it just happened. I began thinking up stories and, the next thing I knew, I was writing again.

When did you realize you wanted to be a writer?

The urge to write first struck me when I was working on a newsletter at a youth encampment in the woods of northern Maine. It may have been the wild night when lightning flashed at sunset followed by the northern lights—the only time I’ve ever seen them. Or maybe it was the newsletter’s editor, a girl with eyes the color of the ocean, who encouraged me to write an article each night for the next day’s issue. In any case, I was hooked.

What is the best piece of advice you can pass on to other aspiring authors?

If you love it, keep writing and never give up. It won’t be easy, but it will be fulfilling. If you don’t love it, find something easier to do.

Do you have any future projects you can share with us?

I just finished final edits of a new novel, Along the Watchtower. It’s a mainstream fantasy about an Iraq war veteran from a troubled family background, who has been severely injured in an IED attack. Prior to the attack, he coped with tragedy and hardship by playing World of Warcraft every chance he had. Now, suffering from traumatic brain injury and PTSD, he lapses in and out of a dream world like in the fantasy game. But unlike World of Warcraft, his quest is not for gold or a higher level, but to find a reason to live.

I’m also far along with an alternate world story called The Daughter of the Sea and the Sky. It’s about a world divided between the Blessed Lands, a place of the spirit, and the Republic, whose people worship at the altar of reason. A mysterious nine-year-old girl from the Blessed Lands sails into the lives of a troubled couple in the Republic and changes everyone she meets. She reveals nothing about herself, other than to say she’s the daughter of the sea and the sky. But she harbors a secret she herself cannot heal.

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