Post 1 – 6 May 2019
Are you curious about Jesus Christ, but turned off by organized Christianity?
Hello. my name is Fernando Quiros and I’m an indie author of a trilogy of books called The Spirit War. It’s a Life of Jesus parable, a work in a form inspired by the Master’s own teaching tales. He frequently began a parable with a phrase such as “The Kingdom of Heaven is like….” or “There once was a man who….” Through these opening lines, Jesus communicated that what follows is an example I have made up, to teach you a truth that’s important for you to understand.
As with the Messiah’s parables, The Spirit War is this author’s attempt to make the story of Jesus clear and easy to understand for 21st century readers.
One area where The Spirit War definitely can’t compete with Jesus’s genius is in brevity. That’s because His story is epic. An epic is a folk tale of a hero on a quest for a life-changing prize. The quest is hard, and he has to fight against both human and supernatural opponents. Classic epics like The Iliad, The Odyssey and Beowulf are all long. They have to be, because they span decades of time as well as physical, spirit and godly dimensions. The same applies to The Spirit War. By the time I finished telling the Life of Jesus in as true, simple and compelling a way as I could, it was long. A good way to simplify a long story is to break it up – into a trilogy in this case.
The Spirit War is written as fantasy adventure, with a good dose of romance thrown in. Best of all, it’s basically true: drawn from historical facts, and with main characters who actually walked our earth 2,100 years ago.
My reason for writing this labor of love is simple. I’ve always had an over-active imagination. In the 1970s I discovered Jesus in modern English Gospel translations. These got me thinking, how can this fantastic yet true story be put, to truly engage modern readers, both believers and non-believers?
The tale would have to feature humans, angels and demons interacting across physical and spirit dimensions. As in a well written and directed movie, there should be compelling characters to identify with. And the plot must move right along – never a dull moment, to draw the reader in and keep him or her engaged.
The Spirit War offers an alternative to the Gospels to get to know Jesus. It’s an epic parable, a work of fiction that is, nevertheless, a modern version of The Greatest True Story Ever Told.
At first, I didn’t think I would have to write the Jesus book I wanted to read. Wouldn’t penning such a book be a no-brainer for some ambitious professional author? So I searched for a fact-based and historically faithful, yet hard-hitting and action-packed Life of Jesus, fruitlessly, for twenty years.
In the 1990s, with no satisfactory modern life of Jesus story in sight, I took a crack at writing my own. It just poured out of me. Over ten years of writing (and another ten of re-writing, which is the secret of good writing), I did take a few wrong turns. Entire chapters got axed. But I never got writer’s block.
The Spirit War and this blog are about evangelism, about presenting Jesus in a fresh way to 21st century readers.
Under The Trilogy in the menu, this website has permanent pages with detailed write-ups about The Spirit War as a whole and each book individually. There is also more about me and The Spirit War under Author.
It’s my intention to post to the blog weekly. The posts are set up to also go out as newsletters. Please sign up for those at the upper right sidebar. If you do, Spirit War World posts will arrive at your inbox without your having to visit this website. In addition there is a contact form in the menu, where you can also sign up to the email list.
How can this unknown indie author entice you to take a chance on his labor of love?
There’s a problem with books – people have to read them! Because of this, word of mouth on books can be slow in developing.
I’ve tried to make it as easy for you as possible. First of all, The Spirit War is a trilogy. You can buy the books one at a time, without an initial commitment to the whole thing.
Thanks to modern technology, I’ve managed to self-publish The Spirit War through Lightning Source / Ingram Spark.
Paperbacks of all three Spirit War books are available online from Barnes and Noble and from Amazon. To order, click on any of the book cover images on the left sidebar, to go directly to the purchasing page. Prices for Spirit War paperback books are as low as I could safely go, given the economics of print-on-demand publishing.
If you prefer e-books, all three Spirit War books are available from Barnes and Noble in their Nook epub format – at prices less than half for paperbacks. The B&N links in the left sidebar are for both paperback and epub versions. Apple computers, ipads and iphones can read epub books directly through their built-in iBooks or Books aps. I’m not a Windows or Android user, but I assume those platforms should also have appropriate epub readers. Sorry that Amazon Kindles don’t read epub. Just in case, I have added a left sidebar link for Calibre – free ebook conversion software that can make any ebook format compatible with any computer os or reading device.
Once you do buy, know that I’d love to hear from readers. If you enjoy the books as much as this author enjoyed writing them, please let me know, and put out the word among all your reading friends. And hey, a favorable review, either on Barnes & Noble or Amazon, or in comments on this website, would be much appreciated. From what I’ve read, successful blogs feed off of lively comments and contacts between bloggers and readers. Since I’m just starting out in this blog thing, I’ll do my best to respond as much as I can.
Jesus, gentleman that He is, said that he knocks on everyone’s door and waits to be admitted.
Think about Christ’s attitude towards us. The Creator of the universe and Redeemer of humankind patiently waits, wanting to share Himself with each and every one of us. The Spirit War also awaits, to tell you all about Jesus of Nazareth in a compelling 21st century way.
