War of Attrition is Book Two of Frank Creed’s award-winning Christian sci-fi/cyberpunk UNDERGROUND series.
WHAT LED YOU TO WRITE WAR OF ATTRITION?
Reader satisfaction. War of Attrition is the sequel to my award winning and Amazon best-selling novel Flashpoint: Book One of the Underground. The main character, Calamity Kid, lives in 2036 Chicago, a place where religious Fundamentalism is equated with terrorism. Fundamentalism is illegal. Calamity Kid believes in the Bible. There was just no way that CK’s story could not be continued. War of Attrition tells what happened after Flashpoint, and I’m currently writing Devil’s Hit List: Book Three of the Underground.
I wrote the books in the Underground series because a term used by reporters bothered me way back in the late 1970s: ‘Fundamentalist terrorist’. As one who believed the Bible to be the word of God, I was a Fundamentalist, and I could see a day when such a term could mean bad things for believers in the USA. I thought an Orwellian warning of such a dark future was appropriate. Now in the day of the Patriot Act, believers need to be aware of how others in society view us. We need for them to know we are Christians by our love.
With non-stop action I strive to create page turning tales that show characters living their faith with tough decisions even in the most trying of times.
STARTING OUT, WHO WERE THE AUTHORS WHO INSPIRED YOU? WHO INSPIRES YOU NOW?
Starting out, Frances Hodgson Burnett, C.S. Lewis, Ray Bradbury, J.R.R. Tolkien, Harry Harrison and others inspired me. Later in life C.S. Lewis’ non-fiction, Francis Schaeffer, and George Orwell held my attention. The combination of Christian philosophers and speculative fiction worlds has become irresistible to me as a vehicle for meaningful fiction. In fantasy or science fiction a world is what you make of it, and through such worlds the perfect condition for tales of faith can be presented to a reader.
HOW DOES YOUR FAITH INFLUENCE YOUR WRITING?
Faith is my whole motivation for writing. If I were asked to write for the mainstream market I’m not sure I would still be interested in writing. I want to provide the answers that are found in Lewis’ and Schaeffers’ non-fiction through the medium of fiction. With my own faith I can write tales that inspire faith in others.
I believe that the worldview of my writing is the philosophical truth—the great “what is”. Without such truth behind my fiction, if it were all just fluff, my desire to write would dry-up. There would no longer be a need within me to write.
HOW LONG HAVE YOU KNOWN YOU WANTED TO BE AN AUTHOR?
When I was seven years old my divorced working mother sent me to our local library to attend a reading program. The library fascinated me to begin with, but I loved the book that the class covered: Frances Hodgson Burnett’s The Secret Garden. Way back then, about 1973, I knew that I wanted to tell stories. As I grew older the novel form fascinated me and since high school being a novelist has been my dream.
WHAT DO YOU MOST HOPE THAT READERS GET FROM READING YOUR WORK?
Readers buy fiction for entertainment, and I strive to entertain. Anything else a reader takes away from fiction is pure gravy.
But you asked about hope. I hope that readers come away with answers to life’s big questions. Who are we and why are we here? What is really important in this life? How should we live our lives? What is meaningful about right and wrong? I do not seek to answer these questions directly but my characters do it for me. When they are brave they inspire bravery. When they are noble they inspire nobility. I hope to inspire readers to live their own faiths on their sleeve.