Elijah David

Hard on the heels of yesterday's discussion with Mirriam Neal, I have an article on The Crossover Alliance's blog discussing magic in Christian fiction . The Crossover Alliance is a publisher specializing in edgy Christian fiction. My short story, "The Debt-Keeper" was published in their second short story anthology . Check out the article  here .

Today it is my very great pleasure to interview/host Mirriam Neal as part of the blog tour for her newly published novel, Paper Crowns. I had the privilege of beta reading this book last summer and I can't wait to read the final version. Below you can see the beautiful cover and the synopsis of the book. Ginger has lived in seclusion, with only her aunt Malgarel and her blue cat, Halcyon, to keep her company. Her sheltered, idyllic life is turned upside-down when her home is attacked by messengers from the world of fae. Accompanied by Halcyon (who may or may not be more than just a cat), an irascible wysling named Azrael, and a loyal fire elemental named Salazar, Ginger ventures into the world of fae to bring a ruthless Queen to justice. And without further ado, the interview: ED:   Ever since I first read  Paper Crowns , I've only been able to think of it as a fun romp through Faerie. What drew you to writing a story about Faerie in the first place? What...

For this edition of Beautiful People, I'm going to focus on Radley and Clarice, two characters from my unfinished novel Shadowmen . They're the couple that I think of when I think of couples in my books, and they have been clamoring for the book to be written very loudly lately, so this might satisfy them (a bit). 1. How did they first meet? Radley met Clarice when she joined the school (which still needs a snazzy name). 2. What were their first impressions of each other? He thought she was going to be trouble since he's Catholic and she's the daughter of a Protestant preacher. She thought he would try to ask her out within a week because he had this "bad boy" vibe that she interpreted as overconfidence in the romance department. It took him a month. 3. How long have they been a couple? By the time of the novel, a year or two. 4. How committed/loyal are they to each other? Would they break up over a secret or a disagreement? Could s...

Currently Reading: Ptolemy's Gate by Jonathan Stroud, Dune by Frank Herbert Currently Writing: Merlin book 2 "When we read, we start at the beginning and continue until we reach the end. When we write, we start in the middle and fight our way out." -- Vickie Karp Beginnings are hard. I'm starting the second book in my Merlin quartet. Technically, I have half a draft written from NaNoWriMo 2013, but there are portions of that draft that aren't going to survive this one, including the beginning. It just wasn't gripping, and some of the characters' circumstances changed between edits of the first book since I wrote that half-draft. Despite starting in a different place, this draft's beginning is not so great, either. I'm not worried about getting the beginning of the book perfect on the first draft. That didn't happen with the first book, and I shouldn't expect it now. It will be easier to rewrite the beginning chapters when the middle...

Currently Reading: Poems  by C. S. Lewis                                 Even This I Get to Experience by Norman Lear                                 The Golem's Eye by Jonathan Stroud Currently Writing: Poem-a-Day challenge for National Poetry Month                               draft 3 of Merlin Book 1 (previously SOMEDAY) Where does inspiration come from? I mean, of course, where does the inspiration for art (whether written, musical, or visual) originate? As a Christian, I believe that all inspiration ultimately comes from God. As Creator of the universe, He is the source of creativity and therefore its muse. That isn't to say that I think all art is God-breathed in the way Scripture is, but I expect it's a differenc...

Recently, a friend of mine posted on Facebook about Neil Gaiman's script for the film Beowulf . Personally, I avoided the film as soon as I heard about the changes, specifically that Grendel was Hrothgar's bastard child with Grendel's mother and the dragon was the same for Beowulf. Furthermore, Beowulf is portrayed as a lying, boasting fraud. I'm just not okay with that. This friend (to return to my opening point) said: " Didn't have to read more than a few pages into Neil Gaiman's script of Beowulf to conclude it's a rotter - but then it completely violates the very thing Tolkien believed made Beowulf powerful. Bad form, dude. Bad form." I had to agree with her, but then, I also felt I needed to read Tolkien's essay on Beowulf , which I had been interested in since I first read the long poem in high school (yes, I was one of those freaks who liked it in high school). Inevitably, the conversation (through another of her friends) led to wh...

Current Reads:  Orsinian Tales by Ursula K. Le Guin                          Attack of the Copula Spiders by Douglas Glover                          Sabriel by Garth Nix Current writing projects: Same as last time This weekend I watched the film The Legend of Zorro  with Antonio Banderas for the first time. I have not seen the first film with Banderas as Zorro, but I enjoyed watching the old black-and-white Disney series Zorro  in reruns when I was a kid and I thought I would give this newer version of Zorro a try. What I found was unsurprisingly a fun action movie with lots of sword fighting and acrobatics and a decent storyline. My issue with the film was its secondary villain, the one who opens the film: Jacob McGivens (whose name I had to look up because I don't ever remember hearing it in the film itself). This man appears at...