Brian Ritchie
has 25 years in the publishing business as a manager and innovator at a large
metropolitan newspaper. He is a freelancer, author and occasional poet. On his
blog butterscotchridge.wordpress.com,
he writes about the quirky little adventures that everyday life in a family
provides. As an author his passion is for sharing biblical stories through
futuristic adventures, while including the gospel message. When he isn't
writing, or keeping the presses rolling, he spends his time on his real
passion, loving on and enjoying his wife and three children, just outside of
Cleveland, Ohio.
Anointed:
The Chronicles of Ascension volume 1
Anointed
takes the reader to a bleak dystopian future, after the United States
government has collapsed.
The
sitting ruler is a mad man who is steering his subjects to depravity, and
self-indulgence. The singular remnant from the collapsed government, Syrus
Finn, sets-out on a covert quest to discover and anoint God's new ruler.
Desperate and on the verge of giving up, he discovers Duncan, a wild and
untamed boy. Could this really be God's chosen King? As the boy eventually
finds himself working in the Palace, war is waging out west, against the bitter
separatist country, Pacifica. The armies face-off and the tension builds as
Pacifica presents their vile, mutation Grimm to issue a challenge. When no one
comes forward, the unlikely Duncan volunteers to meet the challenge.
Set
in a future time, Anointed takes the well-loved biblical story of David and
Goliath and follows the events as described in 1 Samuel 16-18.
An
excerpt:
Once
he had struggled to his feet, he turned to the children, and discovered they
had all frozen. They were stiff, eyes wide, and afraid.
They
heard something, he thought. Something he hadn't, and they were looking
right at him. Two or three of the youngest shakily stepped backward, the fear
more prominent on their faces than the others. His head raced, somehow he knew
their senses were attuned to things out here that his worn set of faculties
were not.
He
waited, and the children held their positions, as if waiting for affirmation
before bolting. Then he heard it, himself. A low, throaty growl, coming from
the woods right behind him. The birds hadn't stopped their songs in fear of the
children, after all. There was a real predator nearby, and Syrus's instincts
told him he was it's prey.
The
next one was deeper and longer, menacing and ferocious, its vibrato shaking the
very leaves on the bushes. This one revealed it's identity. A bear, and a big
one by the sound of it. He had seen them in zoos as a child, but those had no
access to him. They didn't live under the rule of the jungle, that drove them
to eat or die.
Youthfully
stepping off the mat, and several feet down the hill with adrenalin coursing
like a drug through his veins, he turned his back to the children, ready to
defy, or at least occupy the animal. He wouldn't be much protection for them,
but he was closer and the easiest victim, so he would make sure his death
counted, and know they would all be able to escape.
What
made me do it:
I
know it has been said many times by many people, and it feels a little cliche
to say it, but I've wanted to write a book since I was a kid. I really have.
The real question is, why did I wait until I was in my forties to actually do
it? I wish I could say, but when I finally got down to the task, it pored out
of me.
I've
been forever a fan of science fiction, and have read the C. S. Lewis Space
Trilogy and the Lord of the Rings more times than I can count. So when I sat
down to write my first book, I knew I wanted to do something futuristic (I'm
learning that sci-fi/fantasy are dirty word in Christian Literature), while
retelling a biblical story. So, I decided, since I wanted to sell books, it
would be wise to write a book that fits in the popular genre of Young Adult
fantasy that is so popular these days.
I
wanted Anointed to have the appeal of books like the Hunger Games, and I think
that is just what it does.
Anointed
is available on Amazon, kindle, kobo and a couple other online stores, all of
which can be accessed through my web site.
HOW OFTEN DO YOU READ C.S. LEWIS STYLE WRITING?
