Ask the Author: C.J. Brightley
Answered Questions (5)
C.J. Brightley
I'm so sorry I missed this question! It may be dark for her... I'd compare it to Ted Dekker's Circle Cycle or Frank Peretti's This Present Darkness and Piercing the Darkness in terms of content. It isn't horror, but there are some horror elements in it. As a book, it's probably pushing the edge of PG-13 in violence and dark themes, but if it were a movie, it would definitely be R (especially later in the series), because the images would be more graphic than how I've described the events.
C.J. Brightley
I have no plans to put my books in KU. Thanks for asking!
C.J. Brightley
Yes.
I do have several unrelated books that will probably be released first - The Lord of Dreams will be out in a few weeks, and there may be another release before A Long-Forgotten Song 4 is ready. I want to be sure I do it justice, especially since the series is so complex.
I do have several unrelated books that will probably be released first - The Lord of Dreams will be out in a few weeks, and there may be another release before A Long-Forgotten Song 4 is ready. I want to be sure I do it justice, especially since the series is so complex.
C.J. Brightley
In Things Unseen, the first book in the series, the Christian aspects of the story are more subtle. Christian readers will probably see themes of worship and obedience to God, being set apart and made holy, but non-Christian readers can easily enjoy the story without picking up on these themes.
The Christian aspects get more obvious and more essential to the story as the series continues.
In The Dragon's Tongue, spoilerspoilerspoiler* the slippery slope of temptation and letting evil get a foothold. The story also explores what it means to be redeemed by Christ, how to ask for God's grace and forgiveness, and what it means to be made in the image of God.
In the later books, The Beginning of Wisdom (book 3) and book 4 (in-progress), which will be the final book in the series, you'll also see the same themes carried through. There's also an exploration of how being saved should changed us and change how we relate to the world... being in the world and engaged with the world without being of the world. One character is an example of how Biblical servant-leadership could look; he's not a Christ-figure in every aspect, but he is in some ways.
One of my goals in the series is to write a story compelling enough that even non-Christian readers will want to know what happens next, and will see the gospel presented through the books not as a set of rules hitting them over the head and making them feel guilty, but as an expression of God's love and grace.
I haven't read anything like it, but if I had to compare it to something, I'd probably say Ted Dekker's Circle Cycle (although there's no alternate world, and I don't explore the story of Genesis) and maybe Frank Peretti's This Present Darkness / Piercing the Darkness duology (although I don't show the spiritual battle as Peretti does, among other differences). One of my readers said it was "Ted Dekker meets Frank Peretti meets C. S. Lewis", which was a fantastic compliment!
My quick blurb when people ask what it's about at conventions and other events is "It's a darkish urban Christian fantasy with lots of theology and magic and monsters and angels and demons and Fae and vampires and an evil dystopian government that brainwashes people set in DC in the 2080s." It's darkish in that the evil is really evil, but only darkISH in that the reader doesn't have to wallow in every horrific detail of the evil.
If you've read any of my other books, and if you like Kemen and Cadeyrn in particular, you'll love Owen.
*spoiler tags aren't working. Sorry.
The Christian aspects get more obvious and more essential to the story as the series continues.
In The Dragon's Tongue, spoilerspoilerspoiler* the slippery slope of temptation and letting evil get a foothold. The story also explores what it means to be redeemed by Christ, how to ask for God's grace and forgiveness, and what it means to be made in the image of God.
In the later books, The Beginning of Wisdom (book 3) and book 4 (in-progress), which will be the final book in the series, you'll also see the same themes carried through. There's also an exploration of how being saved should changed us and change how we relate to the world... being in the world and engaged with the world without being of the world. One character is an example of how Biblical servant-leadership could look; he's not a Christ-figure in every aspect, but he is in some ways.
One of my goals in the series is to write a story compelling enough that even non-Christian readers will want to know what happens next, and will see the gospel presented through the books not as a set of rules hitting them over the head and making them feel guilty, but as an expression of God's love and grace.
I haven't read anything like it, but if I had to compare it to something, I'd probably say Ted Dekker's Circle Cycle (although there's no alternate world, and I don't explore the story of Genesis) and maybe Frank Peretti's This Present Darkness / Piercing the Darkness duology (although I don't show the spiritual battle as Peretti does, among other differences). One of my readers said it was "Ted Dekker meets Frank Peretti meets C. S. Lewis", which was a fantastic compliment!
My quick blurb when people ask what it's about at conventions and other events is "It's a darkish urban Christian fantasy with lots of theology and magic and monsters and angels and demons and Fae and vampires and an evil dystopian government that brainwashes people set in DC in the 2080s." It's darkish in that the evil is really evil, but only darkISH in that the reader doesn't have to wallow in every horrific detail of the evil.
If you've read any of my other books, and if you like Kemen and Cadeyrn in particular, you'll love Owen.
*spoiler tags aren't working. Sorry.
C.J. Brightley
I'm starting the fourth book in A Long-Forgotten Song. I'm also starting a darkish fantasy fairytale romance in a new world. The new novel with the characters from my short story Street Fox is still on the back burner.
And I have a secret project with some other fantasy authors I admire. If you want to hear about that project before it goes public, please join my mailing list at http://www.cjbrightley.com.
EDITED January 2017 - The secret project mentioned above was the noblebright fantasy boxed set https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3... I'm still working on A Long-Forgotten Song Book 4, but my next release is https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3... which should come out in a few weeks. Once it's done, I'll be focusing on Book 4 in both series, as well as another noblebright boxed set and putting together a noblebright fantasy anthology of shorter works.
And I have a secret project with some other fantasy authors I admire. If you want to hear about that project before it goes public, please join my mailing list at http://www.cjbrightley.com.
EDITED January 2017 - The secret project mentioned above was the noblebright fantasy boxed set https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3... I'm still working on A Long-Forgotten Song Book 4, but my next release is https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3... which should come out in a few weeks. Once it's done, I'll be focusing on Book 4 in both series, as well as another noblebright boxed set and putting together a noblebright fantasy anthology of shorter works.
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Feb 05, 2021 05:47AM · flag
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