Morgan L. Busse's Blog, page 26
March 27, 2012
CSFF Blog Tour-Night of the Living Dead Christian, Day 2
I love the humor used in Night of the Living Dead Christian. Humor is a powerful tool. It can disarm the reader, making one chuckle or laugh out loud, and then a second later, grow sober and realize a good point has been made.
Through the story, we follow a werewolf. In reality, he is a man with a troubled past and a problem with anger (major problem). But by turning him into a werewolf, Matt puts a light touch on a dark subject. On the outside, we see the werewolf. He grows hair and claws when he loses his temper. But on the inside, he is just like us: beastly and scary. And is willing to do anything to get rid of the beast within and become a man again.
Of course, not everyone is a werewolf. There are vampires, zombies, mad scientists, androids, you name it. Each one is a monster. Most of them realize this. And want to be human again.
I laughed when I read about the church filled with zombies. They did everything the pastor told them to. They had their study bibles, their podcasts, and their commentaries. The problem was, they never thought for themselves.
As I read that chapter, a part of me pointed and said, “You know these people in real life. In fact, you were once one of them.” That realization made me sad.
I also laughed at the comments the android would say. He was more about logic and calculations that he was about a person’s feelings. But I also knew that some of his comments could have come right out of my mouth.
By using humor, Matt drew me in as a reader. And then held a mirror up for me to see myself. I love books like that 
. Tomorrow, I will take a look at the Spiritual Factor of Night of the Living Dead Christian.
March 26, 2012
CSFF Blog Tour-Night of the Living Dead Christian, Day 1
The Christian Science Fiction and Fantasy Blog tour (also known as the CSFF) is a group of people dedicated to reading and reviewing Christian speculative novels. This month, we are reviewing Night of the Living Dead Christian by Matt Mikalatos.
I. Loved. This. Book. In fact, I loved this book so much I’ve decided to break it down and blog on it for the full three days of the blog tour. So grab your stakes and silver bullets and get ready for a wild night!
Cool Factor: First thing I loved about this book: the title. It’s one of those that makes you do a double take and stutter, “Say what?” Night of the Living Dead Christian. And yes, that’s what the book is about. Monsters, dark creatures, and things that go bump in the night, Christian style .
Matt uses monsters like Zombies, Vampires, and Werewolves in a tongue-in-cheek way to show how we as Christians can be. It’s a funny and scarily accurate portrayal at the same time (pun intended).
The story starts off with Matt (the author) on neighborhood watch late at night. He finds two of his neighbors out fiddling with an electric box. One neighbor is a mad scientist. The other is a robot (I mean android).
He finds out they are trying to invent a device that will drive away all werewolves in the neighborhood. When they start up the machine, a bunch of zombies come lumbering down the street in the moonlight. Not quite what the machine was suppose to do.
Then the werewolf appears (yes, there really is one living in the neighborhood). Matt realizes it’s one of his neighbors down the street. Matt follows the werewolf to his house. After a jumbled attempt to capture the werewolf, the werewolf actually captures Matt.
The werewolf explains to Matt that he wants to get rid of the beast within. He has given up on Christianity because the promised “transformation” never happened. He is still a wolf. And now it has driven his wife and his daughter away.
The werewolf pleads with Matt to help him find a way to become a man again. And thus the story begins.
I loved this book. I laughed, I cried (tears of sadness, not humor), and I thought about the book long after I finished it.
Tomorrow I will take a look at the Writing Factor and Wednesday I will dive into the Spiritual Factor of Night of the Living Dead Christian. Until then, take a look at what these other CSFF Bloggers have to say:
*In conjunction with the CSFF Blog Tour, I received a free copy of this book from the publisher.
March 17, 2012
The Story Behind Daughter of Light
Come April 1st I will have been working on Daughter of Light a little shy of eight years. As I draw near to my release date, I thought I would share with you how I came up with this story…
Rowen (my main character) did not start out with the ability to see inside the soul. I actually created her to be a healer. I was annoyed by the “healing” I saw constantly in fantasy: just place your hands on someone and heal them. Tada!
I asked myself what would it be like if healing cost you something? What if, instead of healing someone, you absorbed the person’s pain, sickness, or wound? Would you do it? Really?
I wanted to explore the psychology behind this answer: What would it feel like? Who would you choose to heal? How much fear would you feel? Would you ever do it again? I wanted real answers, not “this is what the hero would do” answers.
But as I began to write Rowen’s story, I realized she needed something more than this. But what? Then I read a story about a woman who microwaved her baby. I read the headline, horrified. Why would anyone do that? What this woman thinking? What inside of her made her do this?
That made me think. We never see most of the evil in this world. Why? Because most of it is never acted out. But it’s still there, inside of us. What would it be like to see inside of people? What if you were burdened with that ability…and never knew it. Until the moment you touched someone?
What would you see inside the human heart?
This is Rowen’s gift and burden. To see what only God sees, and to reflect it back. To reveal the truth.
Her story begins April 1st.
