Jack Cavanaugh's Books

New Hero Fiction

FEATURED BOOK FOR MAY

Brain damaged since birth, all Damon Vaughn wants is to be normal. But he is anything but normal. Violent seizures throw his spirit out of his body and back in time. The only way for him to interact with people in the past is to possess their bodies. Some think he’s a demon, but it’s in the past he finds his destiny through a secret society guarding an ancient prophecy and the mystery of the seven candlesticks of Revelation. Damon finds himself caught up in a war that began before creation, a war with an ancient evil seeking to kill him. And a chase across time is on. . . .

BEHOLD! A coming of age story for mankind.

 

"Masterful. . . just plain masterful!" - Reader review

"Finally bought a Kindle this week just so I could read Behold." - Reader review

View the trailers in the right column. Be sure to click the expanding arrows in the bottom right corner to view in full screen. ----->

For a Kindle version - CLICK HERE 

For a Nook version - CLICK HERE 

The First Step Toward Confident Living

FINANCIAL BANKRUPTCY usually comes as no surprise. It’s not the result of a single misstep, but a series of small rationalizations over time, poor spending habits, and bad decisions that build like snowflakes on a mountainside, resulting in a sudden, cataclysmic avalanche. 

The same can be said about moral bankruptcy. In his novel, The Brothers Karamazov, Dostoevsky describes the downward spiral—  

“A man who lies to himself, and believes his own lies, becomes unable to recognize truth, either in himself or in anyone else, and he ends up losing respect for himself and for others. When he has no respect for anyone, he can no longer love, and, in order to divert himself, having no love in him, he yields to his impulses, indulges in the lowest forms of pleasure, and behaves in the end like an animal, in satisfying his vices. And it all comes from lying — lying to others and to yourself.” 

Making promises you don't keep.

Exaggerating to get attention. 

Lying to avoid confrontation.

Writing verbal checks your life can't cash.

Rationalizing that everybody does it. 

The first step toward confident living is being honest with yourself, honest with others. There is strength in truth, freedom in honesty. 

STRENGTH FOR THE QUEST
Because Life Is More Than A Journey

Fantasizing Fame: A Parable

There is an ancient African folktale that tells the story of a village that was terrorized by a lion. Old and no longer king of a pride, the lion didn’t have females to hunt for him. So he raided villages at night, stealing cattle and snatching unwary children. 

All the men of the village gathered their spears and formed a hunting party. All but one. 

Days later the hunters returned victorious. They’d killed the lion. 

The carcass was dragged into the center of the village. Everyone cheered and sang and danced. Children took turns daring one another to touch the dead animal. And in the midst of the celebration, the villager who didn’t join the hunting party, when he was  certain everyone was watching, strode boldly up to the lion . . . and kicked it. 

There are two kinds of people in this world: those who take risks, and those who want the glory without the risk. 

Dream. Do. Don’t fantasize over spotlights you don’t deserve. Don’t be a dead lion kicker. 

STRENGTH FOR THE QUEST
Because Life Is More Than A Journey

Where Do Novel Ideas Come From?

USUALLY, BY THE TIME A NOVEL IS RELEASED the author has journeyed so far down a story path he’s forgotten the fork in the road that led him there. Until someone asks him. Such was the case for me the other day when a friend inquired about the origins of my latest supernatural suspense novel, Behold. 

I had to do a little time traveling (figuratively, of course) to remember that the genesis for Behold was actually a mix of things I wanted to do and things I wanted to say. 

THINGS I WANTED TO DO — 

For some time I had wanted to write a time travel story with scenes both in the present and in the past. Michael Crichton’s Timeline  was one of the books that inspired me. But I’m not a sci-fi writer so I needed a time-traveling vehicle other than mechanical for my character. 

The second thing I’d wanted to do was craft a story that featured mankind’s spiritual nature which is so often overlooked by the crush of advertisements of all things related to the body (fashion, cosmetics, body size and shape, food, medicines, body and breath odor) and stories of physical drama (serial killers, sexual attraction, technology, politics, and all manner of life-threatening danger). 

Pierre Teilhard de Chardin said it, oh so well: We are not human beings having a spiritual experience, but spiritual beings having a human experience. This quote became the theme for Behold. 

Then, there were — 

THINGS I WANTED TO SAY —

I am fascinated by the mystery of exploring a universe that is forever out of reach. Despite our baby steps in space exploration, the size of the universe is mind-numbingly prohibitive to earthly travelers who are apparently prevented from traveling faster than light. Add to that the fact that the universe is an incredibly hostile environment to humans on so many levels. 

But what if we could explore the universe without taking our bodies with us? Or go back and forth in time? Ah! Here’s where the story begins . . . 

And finally, while I have learned and taught the interpretation of end times as portrayed in the popular Left Behind series, I’m enough of a student of God and history to know that it probably won’t happen that way. Why? Because God is always surprising us. I am reminded of the Jewish scholars, experts in Messiah theology, who missed completely the coming of Christ because he did not fit their theology. I wanted to write a story that reminded us not to be cocky when it comes to predicting what God will do in the future. 

All these things came together for me resulting in Behold, the story of a boy who is thrown out of his body, back in time, and discovers the wondrous working of God in history that culminates in the end times. 

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To learn more about Behold, watch the video trailers in the right-side column, or click here to find out where you can buy the ebook. 

When Reading Was a Crime

ANNE ASKEW KNEW when they handed her the book she was committing a criminal act simply by holding it. 

I wonder if she hesitated before lifting the cover. I wonder if she began at the beginning, or turned to a particular page, and if so, which one? I wonder what emotions she felt as she read for the first time the words of God from an English Bible. 

I wonder if she knew at that moment that the simple act of reading a book would lead to her death? 

Events unfolded quickly— 

She was arrested for “gospelizing” — telling other people what she read. 

She was questioned several times by state and church authorities who challenged her to recant when her teaching did not conform to the traditional doctrines of the church. She answered their questions with quotes from the Bible.

She was taken to the Tower of London and tortured on the rack to force her to reveal the identities of the persons who gave her the Bible. She didn’t. Twice she fainted. Twice she was revived. (Anne is the only woman on record who was tortured in the Tower of London.) 

She was taken to her execution in a chair because she couldn’t walk, chained to a pole to hold her up. She was presented with a pardon. All she had to do was admit she’d committed heresy. She refused it. 

On July 16, 1545 Anne Akskew was burned at the stake. As one man described her death, "She went to heaven in a chariot of fire"

She was 25-years-old. 

So inspired were people by her courageous stand, ballads were sung of her. The Bleets company in London produced an Anne Askew doll complete with rack and stake.

So inspired was I by this young woman’s dedication to God and the Bible, I wrote two novels portraying the dangers faced by men and women like her to read and distribute the Bible in English — Glimpses of Truth and Beyond the Sacred Page. 

I dedicated Glimpses of Truth to Anne Askew. 

You can read more about these novels, click here. 

One last thing -- I found an inspiring video on YouTube depicting Anne’s courageous stand and wanted to share it with you. To watch it, click here.
 

STRENGTH FOR THE QUEST
Because Life Is More Than A Journey

Inspiring Heroes Inspire Readers

(Note: This post first appeared on Sherri Wilson Johnson's blog, on March 22, 2012. It was my part of a blog exchange. You can read her post here.)

AS A READER YOU KNOW THEM— 

Emma Woodhouse
Jane Eyre
Robin Hood
Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy
Atticus Finch
Frodo
Romeo and Juliet
Sherlock Holmes

You’ve shared their adventures. Shared their pain. And even though in your heart of hearts you know they’re not real, they feel like friends.

Every year Margaret Mitchell gets the highest compliment an author can receive when Atlanta tourists walk into the Convention and Visitor’s Bureau and ask for directions to the graves of Scarlett O’Hara and Rhett Butler. 

How do authors do it, clothe fictional characters in flesh and blood? 

Creating characters is an act of inspiration. The word inspire means, “to breathe life into.” So how does an author do that? He follows the same recipe the Creator used when He fashioned man—

“And the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living being.” (Genesis 2:7)

An author begins with dust of the ground attributes:

Physical description,
Clothing,
Hard-wiring his character with a personality type.

Then, the author breathes life into his creation with motivation and intangibles:  

Giving him hopes and dreams,
Setting obstacles and opposing characters in his path,
Placing doubts in his mind, 
Forcing him to change, 
Making him face his greatest fear.

To make a hero, the author adds: 

Courage,
Cleverness and resourcefulness,
A special talent or insight,
And a wound to make him human. 

Finally, the author places the character in a scene with other characters and sets them in motion. It’s an anxious moment, even for the author, to see how the hero will handle himself. Bestselling author Terri Blackstock expressed this anxiety at a writers’ conference when she asked the other authors, “Do you pray for your characters?” 

How do authors know if their creation has truly come to life?

They know they’ve succeeded if at the end of the book the reader suffers mild depression upon realizing they will no longer be spending time with the characters of the story.  

As magical as this seems, it gets better. 

If authors do their jobs well, there comes a moment when the reader is no longer reading the story, but living it; a dramatic moment of realization when the truth of the story crystallizes and — with a sharp intake of breath — the reader discovers something about himself. His life is changed. His sights are elevated. His resolve strengthens. He is a better person for having read the story. 

Not only has the author breathed life into his characters, he’s breathed new life into his reader. 

This is inspirational fiction at its finest. 

STRENGTH FOR THE QUEST
Because Life Is More Than A Journey

The Law of Happiness

THERE ARE LAWS FOR RELATIONSHIPS. Like scientific laws, relationship laws are not made, but discovered. One such law was discovered during the race to the South Pole.

After facing the bitter disappoint of reaching the South Pole, only to discover that his rival had reached it five weeks earlier, Capt. Robert Scott and his men began the long journey back to their base camp.

They never made it home.

Deteriorating weather, frostbite, snow blindness, and exhaustion took a fatal toll. Their supplies ran out. And as their inevitable fate settled in on the expedition, Capt. Scott recorded his thoughts in a journal that was eventually found next to his body.

 Included in the journal was this entry:

 “We are pegging out in a very comfortless spot. We are in a desperate state — feet frozen, no fuel, and a long way from food, but it would do your heart good to be in our tent, to hear our songs and our cheery conversation.”

 The relationship law at work here? The key to happiness lies in who you’re with, not where you are or what your situation.

STRENGTH FOR THE QUEST
Because Life Is More Than A Journey

Having A Hard Time Getting Started?

You've had those mornings, haven't you? When the engine doesn't rev. The coffee doesn't perk. The brain cells don't spark. And the hamster refuses to climb onto the wheel. Why are so many of those days Monday?

I keep signs and quotes around me to remind me of things I tend to forget in the crush of deadlines and the urgency of the immediate. One of my favorite fiction writing quotes is from bestselling author Dean Koontz — 

TORTURE THE READER TO THE END

A favorite quote from J. Wolfgang von Goethe reminds me to press forward toward my life goal of telling inspirational stories — 

Lose this day loitering, ‘twill be the same story
Tomorrow, and the rest more dilatory. 
Thus indecision brings its own delays,
And days are lost tormenting over days.
Are you in earnest? Seize this very minute;
What you can do, or dream you can, begin it;
Boldness has genius, power and magic in it;
Only engage, and then the mind grows heated;
Begin, and then the work will be completed. 

Time to get to work. 

STRENGTH FOR THE QUEST
Because Life Is More Than A Journey

 

Stretching Fictional Muscles

 

A FEW YEARS AGO I participated in a writing exercise with some friends, just for fun. Each of us was given the following outline with instructions to write a scene in our given genre. Mine was historical. Here's what we were given—

A man walks into a room occupied by two women. One he loves, one he hates. He utters one line, then exits. One of the women then follows him.

Years earlier I'd read about a rather dubious honor related to the burial of Egyptian royalty. I'd jotted the information down in my notebook thinking it might someday make a good scene. Pairing the research with the outline, here's the story I wrote—

 

The Quote That Inspired A Novel

THE PURITANS HAS BEEN by far my bestselling novel. Although I wrote it nearly twenty years ago, I still remember the quote that proved to be the inspiration for the novel’s plot— 

Drew Morgan dreamed of becoming a world-renowned knight, long after the days of knighthood had vanished. He dreamed of fame, adulation, and glory. His dream was nearly his undoing. 

The quote that inspired the story? 

Speaking to a graduating class at McGill University, Rudyard Kipling advised the graduates not to care too much for money or power or fame. He said, “Someday you will meet a man who cares for none of these things, and then you will know how poor you are.” 

The story of Drew Morgan hinges on the small English village of Edenford where he was sent to uncover an underground publisher of seditious pamphlets. If he was successful, he’d achieve his dream of fame and glory for the Crown. But in Edenford, he met a man . . . . 

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To read more about The Puritans click here

Novels Spark Revival In USSR

I’m sure the author wouldn’t want to hear this, but for me the most memorable part of his book was a footnote— 

The footnote told how, in the 1970s, journalist Malcolm Muggeridge was interviewing Anatoly Kuznetsov, a Russian writer who had defected to England from the USSR. Muggeridge surprised to hear that a spiritual revival was taking place in the Soviet Union. This was at a time when virtually all Christian books, including the Bible, were banned by the Communist government. But according to Kuznetsov, there was hardly a writer or artist or musician who was not exploring spiritual faith. 

What was sparking the revival? 

Kuznetsov explained that while the Russian authorities suppressed all Christian writings, they dare not suppress the works of the great Russian novelists, Tolstoy and Dostoevsky, and that through their novels people were reading perfect expositions of the Christian faith, resulting in widespread spiritual revival. 

On a personal note, early in my professional career I observed how story was able to portray spiritual truth in a powerful, memorable way. People remembered the stories I told long after they forgot the lesson. It was this observation that lead me to begin writing fiction. 

I’ve staked my professional career on the fact that good fiction is life-changing fiction. 

STRENGTH FOR THE QUEST
Because Life Is More Than A Journey

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INTERESTED IN REVIVAL? For revivals in America, see my Great Awakenings novels

Click here: Great Awakenings