Grandparents and the Multigenerational Family

multigenerational family 

My close friend Larry and I were talking this morning over breakfast at Denny's about our respective roles as grandfathers. I shared a little story about my paternal Grandpa who died when I was a little boy of seven. I told Larry that I've searched my memory and can remember nothing specific about Grandpa Henry whose first name is my middle name. We lived on the same farm in southern Minnesota. Grandma and Grandpa lived in the big house and Daddy, Momma, my sister Elaine and I lived in a house on the other side of a grove of trees and down the road a bit.

When I said I remember nothing specific about Grandpa Henry that's not quite true. He worked hard on the farm and was very serious about going to church and reading the Bible. There is one memory that sticks with me and has continued to influence me in many ways. It has to do with Grandpa's final days as he was dying of cancer in the summer of 1940, lying on a cot in the back porch of the big house.

Whenever I visited with Grandpa he usually talked with me about Jesus. He told me he wanted me to memorize a hymn with him. And so every time I came by he would get out his little black hymnal and read me a verse. Then we would say it together over and over. The hymn was Abide With Me. I never sing that hymn without remembering Grandpa Henry moving day by day toward his departure. And when I remember, a tear comes to my eye and a prayer to my heart, thanking Jesus for giving me this precious man.

Abide with me; fast falls the eventide;
The darkness deepens; Lord with me abide.
When other helpers fail and comforts flee,
Help of the helpless, O abide with me.

Swift to its close ebbs out life’s little day;
Earth’s joys grow dim; its glories pass away;
Change and decay in all around I see;
O Thou who changest not, abide with me.

Not a brief glance I beg, a passing word;
But as Thou dwell’st with Thy disciples, Lord,
Familiar, condescending, patient, free.
Come not to sojourn, but abide with me.

Come not in terrors, as the King of kings,
But kind and good, with healing in Thy wings,
Tears for all woes, a heart for every plea—
Come, Friend of sinners, and abide with me.

Thou on my head in early youth didst smile;
And, though rebellious and perverse meanwhile,
Thou hast not left me, oft as I left Thee,
On to the close, O Lord, abide with me.

I need Thy presence every passing hour.
What but Thy grace can foil the tempter’s power?
Who, like Thyself, my guide and stay can be?
Through cloud and sunshine, Lord, abide with me.

I fear no foe, with Thee at hand to bless;
Ills have no weight, and tears no bitterness.
Where is death’s sting? Where, grave, thy victory?
I triumph still, if Thou abide with me.

Hold Thou Thy cross before my closing eyes;
Shine through the gloom and point me to the skies.
Heaven’s morning breaks, and earth’s vain shadows flee;
In life, in death, O Lord, abide with me.

Germany, The Great Depression and The Year of My Birth

After World War I the German Economy was destroyed by the demands of the Allied nations that Germany make reparations. With their economy destroyed and inflation out of hand, thousands of Germans lost their savings and their incomes. This nation was ripe for a takeover by people like the national socialists (Nazis). Consider the following as a partial explanation: Germany and the Great Depression [Mackinac Center].

As I look forward to celebrating another birthday in a few days, I am again reminded of what momentous events took place in the year I was born, 1933:

Coat of Arms of the German Government

• In January German President Paul von Hindenburg appointed Adolph Hitler as the Chancellor of Germany. Chancellor was the equivalent of Prime Minister in other countries. 
• Franklin Delano Roosevelt became President of the United States and his New Deal attempted to deal with the devastating effects of the Great Depression. 
• In April of that year the Nazis began a boycott of all Jewish establishments, beginning what came to be known as the Holocaust. 
• In the same month Hitler's private police, the Gestapo, was organized and began to operate. 
• In May, with massive book burning, censorship began in Nazi controlled Germany. 
• In the U.S.A. the gold-standard was abandoned and various New Deal programs, like the Tennessee Valley Authority, began to function. 
• By the middle of the year all opposing political parties were outlawed by the Nazis. 
• By the end of that year Germany had left the League of Nations and was well on its way to becoming a dictatorship. 

As the 1930s progressed Germany began its moves to take over neighboring nations. Based on its war economy the country moved out of the Depression and began to function as an apparently progressive and economically successful nation. This seems to be the reason why so many German-Americans admired Germany and its centrally controlled, one party system, totally non-democratic form of socialism. 

I needed to understand that vital part of history as I worked on my third novel. In it my main character, Albert, has long discussions with his wife's father, Doc Tilden, about what it meant, both for Germany and for the United States. 

Ride of the Valkyries

The funeral service for Sheri, my son-in-law's mother, is today. We will gather to thank our Lord for her life and to bid her farewell, as we commit her soul into the hands of our loving Lord. We rejoice that she and we will meet again on the Last Day when our Lord will raise up our bodies and grant us the gift of life in a renewed universe.

Not everyone in every place has such faith. As I wrote the third novel, having to do with the Nazis' belief that it was their destiny to restore the worship of the ancient Nordic gods, I had to do some research to discover how the Norsemen would say farewell to their departed warriors. I already knew the basics, because I've seen some movies of Vikings, like Kirk Douglas way back in 1958 in The Vikings. So I knew that they had some kind of ceremony about burning their dead warriors on a funeral pyre or, in the case of chieftains, putting them on their flaming ship and sending them out into the ocean heading into the west.

My problem was that my dead Nazi was in Minnesota, a long way from the ocean or even from Lake Superior. So I couldn't send him out on his ship. He didn't even have a ship. So I had to imagine a great funeral pyre and the ceremony that went with it.

Then there was this thing about the Valkyries. No, I'm not talking about the 2008 Tom Cruise movie. I'm speaking about those mythical creatures that came to carry the soul of the departed Viking to Valhalla where he would join his drinking buddies in glorious and eternal bliss in the great hall. How would one portray that belief?

Answer: Richard Wagner to the rescue. Hitler was a great Wagner fan and Wagner has a great opera by that title, the second of the four that comprise the Ring of the Nibelung. It is the source of the famous piece that opens the third act, the Ride of the Valkyries.

So I had the pieces I needed. Simply add Silver Shirt paramilitary soldiers marching and a strangely garbed Wiccan Priestess to the spectacle and you have a Viking funeral fit for any Nazi. Of course, you'll have to wait for the publication of the novel to read what happened. And you may have to wait a bit longer for the movie!

Should Writers Use Propaganda To Promote Their Work?

Propaganda in Nazi Germany:


"Propaganda is the art of persuasion - persuading others that your 'side of the story' is correct. Propaganda might take the form of persuading others that your military might is too great to be challenged; that your political might within a nation is too great or popular to challenge etc. In Nazi Germany, Dr Joseph Goebbels was in charge of propaganda. Goebbels official title was Minister of Propaganda and National Enlightenment. . . 

"To ensure that everybody thought in the correct manner, Goebbels set up the Reich Chamber of Commerce in 1933. This organisation dealt with literature, art, music, radio, film, newspapers etc. To produce anything that was in these groups, you had to be a member of the Reich Chamber. The Nazi Party decided if you had the right credentials to be a member. Any person who was not admitted was not allowed to have any work published or performed. Disobedience brought with it severe punishments. As a result of this policy, Nazi Germany introduced a system of censorship. You could only read, see and hear what the Nazis wanted you to read, see and hear. In this way, if you believed what you were told, the Nazi leaders logically assumed that opposition to their rule would be very small and practiced only by those on the very extreme who would be easy to catch."


I shudder as I read about what happened in Nazi Germany. I cannot but ponder how much of what we hear through the media in our country is the same. I do know that during the days of World War II there was propaganda in the United States. The poster portrayed below is but one of many examples. Note the comedic cartoons of Hitler and some Japanese soldier with large teeth. Study the looks on their faces and the colors. All part of the propaganda. 

Here's a question to chew on. Should an author resort to propaganda, either in writing his/her book? And should the same author use propaganda to promote the work? The negative answer is built into this question. But it is going on. The cover of a current book is one example: 

  Makes me wonder what the cover of my book should look like. 

Keeping Up With Communicating

From what I'm hearing a huge part of the world with access to the Internet is moving into social networking. . . and the list is huge, getting bigger by the day! As always, I'm absolutely amazed at what's happening while I plunk away here at my new IMac.

But here's my frustration (yes, another). I do want to keep up in some manner with what's going on and be a part of it. You see, I believe we Christians have a witness to bear that is desperately needed. But it ain't easy, Magee. Some examples.

I love this new Mac. Suddenly I hear that we have a new OS (I won't explain what an OS is, because you already know). OK, so I download the upgrade. Got that? And I install Snow Leopard, Growl and some other stuff. Then suddenly I find that my Norton Antivirus is a no go. Oh, don't worry. Apple has their own built in antivirus protection. Naw, don't believe it say the people on the forums. It's limited. You need more.

Meanwhile I have to get rid of the Norton stuff, because it is hanging up my new OS. I try the usual, but get a persistent little box that won't go away, even though I thought I'd cleaned Norton out. Oh, by the way, it took days before the Norton program worked for me to clean the program out.

Now what? I had to install some kind of Virus protection, but which? After two hours of searching I decided on iAntiVirus. Economical. Works good too.

Well, I won't go on and on with the list of frustrating problems that dog me as I try to "keep up" with this wondrous new way of communicating and networking. Is it any wonder that large numbers of my generation have simply given up. "I learned about email and that's enough for me," one after the other says. "And now you want me to join Facebook and follow you on Twitter. No way, buddy. No way."

But I shall persist. And with that I leave you for today. You see, I must rush to get my newest version of TweetDeck and find a way to get my Mac to play Sirius radio. Looks like StarPlayr might be the answer . . .

My Inner Struggle With Building An Author Platform

As you may know if you've read one of my earlier blogs, I'm about the business of publishing my own novel. Here's a note I received from my chosen publisher: Wheatmark.


People buy books for two reasons:
1. They're interested in the book's topic or genre
2. They've heard of either:

• the book
• the author
  or
• both.

Thus, the number of books you sell when you first publish your work will be based on the number of people who already know you. This is the size of your existing "author platform."
What's an author platform?


An author platform is how people hear about you and your book. It is your "team" of people invested in you and your project that helps spread the word to other potential buyers.
Who makes up your author platform?

• Your friends and family
• People in your immediate professional network (colleagues)
• Friends and colleagues in any extended network (i.e., a professional or trade organization or an online social networking site)
• Subscribers to your blog or e-newsletter
• People who bought your last book
• People who would make an effort to see you speak on a topic if given the opportunity

I know that as an author I must focus on platform building if more than a few are ever to read the books. But that very fact has caused me a problem, especially when I reflect upon the teaching of my Lord Jesus to His disciples. They were arguing among themselves about who would be the greatest in the kingdom Jesus, the Messiah, was about to re-establish. He said, "If anyone wants to be first, he must be the very last, and the servant of all" (Mark 9:33-36). 


This may sound strange, but I've been hung up with the idea that marketing my self, promoting myself as an author (!), is something like trying to be the greatest. And so I should be doing quite the opposite. I should be doing my best to disappear, as it were. After all, that's what a servant/slave is--nothing, nobody but someone who offers his life in service to others. 


That has caused me to stumble in a number of ways. I can remember trying to pitch myself and my book to an agent at a writers' conference. Suddenly I, who am very experienced with public speaking, started mumbling and fumbling like a kindergartner trying to recite the pledge of allegiance. It was a miserable failure and, needless to say, the agent was very happy to see me leave.


As I walked away from that dreadful experience, I asked myself why this happened. What was going on? I discovered this inner conflict between the need to promote myself and my work and the command of my Lord to "be the very last, the servant of all."  


Sometime later it dawned on me. The very way I have been given to be a servant is through my writing. Therefore, if I am to serve my readers--and bear witness to what I believe--I must do what is necessary to let people know about my novels. In other words, I can be a humble servant of my Lord even while I promote myself and my work as an author. What a relief. 

Do We Christians Believe in Parallel Universes?

I have to say that Jeffrey Jacob "J.J." Abrams is a brilliant and talented man. Writer, producer, director and musician, he keeps on pouring out wildly popular movies and TV series. He is both an Emmy Award and Golden Globe winner. He's obviously an amazing man--and he's only 43. 

J. J. Abrams - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


Recently I viewed Fringe, a TV series he has written and is directing. I'm planning to watch them all. Information on FOX follows: 


Set in Boston, the FBI's Fringe Division formed when Special Agent OLIVIA DUNHAM (Anna Torv) enlisted the help of institutionalized "fringe" scientist WALTER BISHOP (John Noble) and his son, PETER (Joshua Jackson), to save her partner and lover from a mind-bending death. Through unconventional and unorthodox methods, the FRINGE team imagines and tests the impossibilities while investigating unbelievable events, macabre crimes, and mystifying cases involving pyrokinesis, neuroscience, cryonics, genetic engineering, astral projection, and other fantastical theories. When the unimaginable happens, it's their job to stop it.


What are Abrams and Fox tapping into? What draws people like me to watch this stuff? My children watch it. My grandchildren watch it. So what's going on? Why the interest in aliens, parallel universes, demons, angels, sci-fi, shape shifters, etc. The list goes on. You get the picture. 
For starters, let me emphasize that the Bible has always had its own list of strange beings with unexplained powers and a parallel universe. Try your hand at explaining this.  

• The Nephilim were on the earth in those days—and also afterward—when the sons of God went to the daughters of men and had children by them. They were the heroes of old, men of renown (Genesis 6:4). 

• Then the angel of the LORD stood in a narrow path between two vineyards, with walls on both sides. ²⁵ When the donkey saw the angel of the LORD, she pressed close to the wall, crushing Balaam's foot against it. So he beat her again (Numbers 22). 

• He (Jacob) had a dream in which he saw a stairway resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. ¹³ There above it stood the LORD, and he said: "I am the LORD, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying (Genesis 28). 

Who can stop asking where heaven is? What does it mean to ascend and descend to and from that place? Is heaven a parallel universe of some sort? Is there more than one? 

Since angels are creatures of God, as are the rebel angels, what are they made of? Of what does their matter consist? And what energy do they employ to do what they do, e.g. destroy entire cities? How do they move about? Why are they able to inhabit human bodies? 

That ought to be enough to get you going with your own TV series. Or is it already being done? Oh well, there's always room for creative twists.  

Supernatural - About

Supernatural - About

Shows you how behind the wave I am: the fifth season of "Supernatural on The CW. I only learned about this greatly popular program yesterday--through a Tweet! And now I've recorded the program last night. Here's what they write about themselves:

Twenty-six years ago, Sam Winchester (Jared Padalecki) and Dean Winchester (Jensen Ackles) lost their mother to a mysterious and demonic supernatural force. Subsequently, their father John (Jeffrey Dean Morgan, "Watchmen") raised them to be soldiers. He taught them about the paranormal evil that lives in the dark corners and on the back roads of America...and he taught them how to kill it.

As I read the program's description I become quite concerned about several things. OK, so it's fiction, but it pretends to be real--I think. Maybe it's pure entertainment, meant to scare viewers for a while, until they get back to the 'real' world. And that's my biggest concern.

I've got no quarrel with fiction. I write fiction. I read fiction. I enjoy movies and stories made up by the imagination of the authors and writers. When I write or read fiction I am aware that is what I'm into, fiction. I feel I know the difference. But . . . it is still fiction.

For instance, I'm a Star Trek fan--have been for years. I saw most of the TV series and love the movies. However, I do not in the least believe any of it. You can't 'beam me up,' for instance. In my view there will probably be no contact with other civilizations on other planets, etc. We don't know how to go warp speed. It's an open question if we ever will. Etc.

Having said that, I need to tell you that I am convinced that there ARE demons, supernatural forces, the devil, rebel angels and so forth. This is not the stuff of fiction. This is not merely the imagination of the writers of the series. In my personal worldview this is definitely NOT fiction.

However, what the people behind Supernatural write and produce IS FICTION! It is not what the Word of God has revealed about these dark forces. This is not what we know through such revelation. It is information skewed and confused.

End results:

• viewers believe in supernatural beings
• viewers do not believe in supernatural beings and mock the very idea
• if viewers do believe in such beings, they conclude that the program has the real dope on what's going on
• everybody is confused

Confusion is not the intent of God's revelation.

Runes, Alphabet of Mystery

Runes, Alphabet of Mystery

People learned a long time ago how to communicate by symbols to form words and sentences, but do the symbols have magical power?

This is an amazingly complicated question, one often ignored and even rejected in this modern, scientific age. Paul Roland in his discussion of the dark forces unleashed by the Nazi Third Reich tells about a phoney German aristocrat, Baron Rudolf von Sebottendorf (real name: Adam A.R. Glauer). He had an insidious influence upon German politics leading up to the Nazi era.

"One of the first periodicals to promote what could be called occult nationalism was funded by Sebottendorf. Runen (Runes) featured articles on occult science, earth mysteries, rune lore and racial somatology," writes Roland (p. 23-24). Many of the Nazi leaders believed this information.

Consider but one rune (there are many, depending on your source).


How strange and unbelievable you may say. Who believes in such power? Surely words do not have magical power over lives and destiny. 

Rune	Name	Letter	Phonetic Value
	Fehu  "fay-who"	F	f as in "fire" - This rune may have many meanings if you cast it out randomly before you. For instance, it can refer to possessions won or earned, earned income, luck. Abundance, financial strength in the present or near future. It is also a sign of hope and plenty, success and happiness. Social success. Energy, foresight, fertility, creation/destruction (becoming). Fehu Reversed or Merkstave: Loss of personal property, esteem, or something that you put in effort to keep. It indicates some sort of failure. Greed, burnout, atrophy, discord. Cowardice, stupidity, dullness, poverty, slavery, bondage.

I beg you to consider what dark power the runes had in the decades leading up to and including the Nazi era. Perhaps you will have to reconsider your 'scientific' conclusions. On the other hand, you may question the research done by Roland. 

This much you will have to admit: there is still much interest in the topic. For instance:

• The Nazis and the Occult
• The Occult and Nazism Re-Examined
• Nazis: The Occult Conspiracy - documentary
• Hitler's magical rites and occult Nazi nuclear rituals

A Google search of "nazis and the occult" reveals 227,000 results. 

Loyalty can turn on the look of a logo

Loyalty can turn on the look of a logo | Business | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle

When I read this article a couple days back I was both disturbed and encouraged. It seems to me that I'm uncertain what my personal image is. Further, I'm uncertain about the image of the church that I belong to.

Once an image is established, whether it is a visible logo or the image that comes to the mind's eye, it is both difficult and dangerous to change it.

In establishing myself as a writer of novels -- something relatively few know about -- I will be asking again and again, What is my image? What do I want people to think about and see in their mind's eye when they hear my name?

Take the names of a couple universally known authors. What do you see and think about when you read the name Stephen King? Or John Grisham?

See my point? 

7 Articles To Help You Become a Twitter Ninja | Author Tech Tips

7 Articles To Help You Become a Twitter Ninja | Author Tech Tips: "7 Articles To Help You Become a Twitter Ninja
On 09.10.09, In Twitter, by Thomas Umstattd


If you want to level up your twitter skills here are seven of the best articles on the web to help you out.

After reading these guides you will become a true twitter ninja, young grass hopper."

Above is another article I've bumped into today --via Twitter, no less. You see, I got on Twitter a couple months back and soon soured with the idea.

I began to feel like the people who wrote the following objections:

Read the answers of Michael Hyatt, the CEO of Thomas Nelson publishers. Here is Hyatt’s post with his answers to these objections.

1. “Twitter sounds silly.”
2. “I don’t understand how to do it.”
3. “It think it would take too much time.”
4. “It is too narcissistic or self-centered.”
5. “I prefer Facebook or some other social media service.”
6. “It is a poor substitute for real relationships.”
7. “I don’t have anything interesting to say.”
8. “I am concerned about my privacy.”
9. “I don’t see how it could help my business.”
10. “I don’t know how to get started.”

After opening my Twitter account I opened up my Facebook account. That suited me more. Now I'm committed to this 'business' of publishing my own third novel and I'm being asked by the marketing folks where my social networking skills are. So, reluctantly, I'm being dragged back into the matter of 'tweeting' on Twitter. What has happened? I'm a being of the 20th century when books and paper, TV and radio were all we had. And here I am in the 21st century, feeling like Alice who has just fallen down a rabbit hole. What a strange new world this is.

What Problem Do You Solve? | Remarkable Communication

What Problem Do You Solve? | Remarkable Communication: "At some point, you need to ask what problem you're solving. (Whether that's with your business, your nonprofit, your project, your committee.) What problem do you wish you solved? Is it a real problem? Does it matter to someone other than you?"

My goodness, I'm thinking. This business of publishing your own novel is hard. Among other things I have to really develop my social network and to do that I have to take Blogging seriously.

But nobody is reading my Blog. So what do I do?

Hmmm. Meditating and searching here. Perhaps the Blog quoted above is part of the answer. I'll keep looking for more.

Why Write A Book?

As you've noticed, I have decided to publish my own third novel. One self-publishing company brags about the success of its authors. They tell me that many of their best-sellers have become hit movies, such as Legally Blonde (starring Reese Witherspon) and Proof of life (starring Meg Ryan and Russell Crowe).

This would have to be the best reason for choosing them. My book may become a best-seller, picked up by a big publisher and turned into a movie. Can't you see it now? Freya's Child, the thrilling story of a Wiccan Priestess from Nazi Germany and her attempt to steal away a little baby she believes will lead the Nazis to dominate the world!

That's nice. It really is, but first people have to discover the book, read it and pass on to others the suggestion also to buy and read it. To help me make this happen I have hired some experts. I have turned to Author Marketing Experts, Inc.  They are already teaching me many things about how to get my books into the hands of people.

But as all this goes on I'll continue asking myself, Why bother writing in the first place? My simple answer, Because I can. I'm no good at repairing cars or baking cakes or singing a songs or several thousand other ways people bless my life. But I can write. And I know my stories have blessed the lives of hundreds. They've told me so again and again.

And that fills my heart with joy. Through me the dear Lord is pouring His blessings into the lives of my readers, gaining their attention, pulling them along, helping them to celebrate, challenging them to look at themselves and what they believe and urging them to walk their own paths of love and caring.

Sound abstract? It is and it will be until you consider my protagonist Albert's love for his wife Tillie and their new baby, Louise. What if you were in Albert's place? Would you throw away your faith, your wife and your country to embrace the religion of the old Teutons and Norsemen because it promised glory and power and wealth beyond your wildest dreams?

No, of course not.

Easy to say until you find yourself in Albert's shoes. Maybe you'd better read the book before you jump to conclusions. But the book is not yet available, is it? No, but it will be. Keep watching.

 

What Should My Book Cover Look Like?

You can't judge a book by its cover. So goes the old saying. Wrong! At least that's not what I'm hearing from my advisors. People do judge books by their covers. They glance at the cover of an unknown book for a few seconds and in those seconds make a decision to open it up or not.


The creation of a book cover is one of the first tasks I face as I work on Freya's Child, my new book, with my publisher and my marketing agency. And as I do, I'm waiting for some pleasant surprises.


A couple days ago I wrote about this journey I am on. When I posted this Blog also on FaceBook I received one of those very pleasant surprises. Steve, a long time friend and fellow Christian and also a graphic artist with over 20 years of experience, offered to help. What an amazing offer. You can be certain that we'll be in detailed conversation about this matter in the next days and weeks.


There are many images in this book that may well be portrayed. For instance, the opening chapter takes us into the office of General Heinrich Himmler, head of the Gestapo. On his wall hangs a huge red flag with a large white circle in the middle. On that circle is the infamous Nazi swastika, a very ancient symbol.

Most of us tremble or grow angry at the sight of that symbol, but it was not always so. In many ancient cultures the swastika was a revered and beloved image. It still is among many.


The Word Swastika is derived from the Sanskrit word svastika. It was an ancient symbol of peace and harmony. To this day in India it is a mark made on persons or on things to bring them good luck. American fliers even used it early in the twentieth century as a good luck symbol on their planes. Look carefully and you will find it on numerous historic buildings, including those listed in the National Registry of Historic Places.  The swastika shape even appears on a building of the U.S. Naval Amphibious Base in Coronado, California. 


The ancient Greeks created the symbol by interlinking their symbol for the letter Gamma or G in English four times. That letter looks like an upside down L. Priestesses would tattoo it on their bodies. Greek architecture and pottery is replete with the symbol. The Greeks called it the tetra-gammadion or 4-Gs. 

As I said, the symbol is and was used all over the world. The Nazis associated it with the Nordic god Thor and his hammer, but that was probably stealing a name that properly belongs to the T-shaped symbol. In any event, the swastika shape appears in Icelandic grimoires (magical symbols) where it is called Thor's hammer. Since the Nazis loved the revived Nordic religion, the swastika was an obvious choice as their national symbol. 



So back to my book cover. Should I have the swastika somewhere on it? The critical question: will this attract readers or chase them away? Steve and all you other creative and knowledgeable graphic artists, I need your help. 

My Decision To Self-Publish

This past summer has been a time of transition for me. When Sylvia and I went to our vacation home in Colorado for two months I fully intended to devote a major chunk of my time to writing. As it turned out, that didn't happen. What did happen is a decision to move more deeply into self-publishing. For starters I decided to publish the third novel in what I call the Albert and Tillie series.

I decided to do this for a couple reasons. I've dropped a summary of this novel, Freya's Child, into the hands of a about three dozen editors. One after the other said he or she was not interested in representing me to the publishing world. My writing friends kept telling me to persist. Some wise agent would finally come along to represent me, they insisted. I decided to ignore their counsel. Let me tell you why.

What I am trying to do with this novel is unique in a sense. Albert Freitag, my protagonist, is forced to deal with the occult side of the Nazi movement, a side never or seldom portrayed in fiction. To date I have yet to find a novel that explores this issue. Hitler, Himmler and a large number of other Nazi leaders were committed to the overthrow of the Christian church and all it stands for. They sought to replace it with what they considered the real religion of the Aryan race.

Freitag, whose family name means Friday in English, has to question his own faith and his commitment to his wife and newborn daughter. He has to deal with a priestess devoted to this revived worship of ancient Nordic gods. Specifically, she is a devotee of the goddess Freya. The goddess Freya is the Nordic equivalent of Venus or Aphrodite among the Greeks and Romans. She is the goddess of love, family, home--and often war. Albert is forced by this priestess to question his belief in Christ and the entire Christian story. This confrontation goes to the very roots of his existence. Ironically, his last name, Freitag, points to that day in the week originally named after the goddess Freya. In fact, we seldom realize that every day in our week is named after one of the Nordic gods. But I get ahead of myself.

In my story Hulda Schwarz, the priestess, uses her wiles, her beauty, her seductive powers and her considerable contacts with demonic forces to draw Albert away, both from his beliefs and from his wife. The story question is whether he will be able to resist the temptation.

I have found no agents willing to represent me as I strive to surface these issues  in a world now removed by half a century from Nazism and what it represented. However, the gods are still with us! They have not left. They may have lost World War II. The mere humans they used to tear up and destroy the lives of millions are dead. But the gods live on, still ripping down and overthrowing Christian civilization to replace it with the same idolatry, bigotry, hatred, racial prejudice, pride, lust, lawlessness and greed they have always promoted.

Since I found no agent to represent me to the publishing world, I decided to do my own representing. I decided to work with a print-on-demand publisher and some marketing experts who will assist me in getting Freya's Child into print and into the hands of people interested in learning about the occult side of Nazis and the demonic forces that continue to war against everything we Christians have inherited and still believe in. 

Keep tuned for more about my journey in days to come.