Logic’s End, Pyramid of the Ancients and Escaping the Cataclysm make up The Origins Trilogy by Keith Robinson.
WHAT LED YOU TO WRITE THE ORIGINS TRILOGY?
About 7 years ago, I was teaching an adult class on apologetics. As I researched more and more about the issue of Creation and Evolution, I was amazed that I had never heard this information before even though I grew up in the church. At that time, the Left Behind series was very popular, and I began wondering what would happen if someone did for Creation/Evolution what Jerry Jenkins and Tim Lahaye did with end-times prophecy. So, I decided to write a science fiction, action/adventure story that presents real scientific and logical arguments against evolution and for biblical creation. The result is The Origins Trilogy, and it has been very well received by readers of all ages. It has even been endorsed by Dr. Jason Lisle, the astrophysicist from Answers and Genesis and Dr. John Morris, the president of the Institute for Creation Research.
STARTING OUT, WHO WERE THE AUTHORS WHO INSPIRED YOU? WHO INSPIRES YOU NOW?
I like to think that my action scenes are similar to those of Frank Peretti and Ted Dekker, while my character development and overall writing style is inspired by Francine Rivers and Randy Alcorn. Some of the mystery and sci-fi weirdness come from one of my favorite (non-Christian) sci-fi writers, Timothy Zahn, and some of the fantasy elements come from C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien. Oh yeah, and the Holy Spirit has been my greatest inspiration! Have you read His book? Last I heard it was the world’s bestselling book of all time!
HOW DOES YOUR FAITH INFLUENCE YOUR WRITING?
Stories have the power to portray truth in ways that are unforgettable. I believe that this is why Jesus spoke in parables so often. My prayer is that God would use my stories to bring out truths about biblical creation in such a way that my readers would never forget them. Every time I sat down to write, I would first pray that God would use my words to strengthen His people and challenge those who don’t yet know His love. If even one person has his/her faith in God strengthened, or one person questions his/her belief in evolution, all of the many hours of work will have been worth it!
HOW LONG HAVE YOU KNOWN YOU WANTED TO BE AN AUTHOR?
The funny thing is, I never really wanted to be an author! I have a Master’s Degree in Music and am a professional musician and public school teacher. However, I’ve always been an avid reader, and I’ve loved sci-fi, fantasy, and superheroes. Being immersed in this kind of literature, I developed quite a wild imagination! I eventually felt God calling me to use that imagination to write a sci-fi story about what would happen on a world where evolution supposedly really happened. That idea became my first novel, Logic’s End. It was originally intended to be a single story, but as it was nearing it’s final editing stage, God laid on my heart the idea for two more books using some of the same characters. I’ve always loved time-travel stories, and I thought it would be great to write one in which evolutionists go backwards into time but discover that their preconceived ideas about the history of the earth were incorrect. That idea turned into Pyramid of the Ancients and Escaping the Cataclysm. Although I never intended to be an author, I feel that God placed the burden on my heart and has equipped me to fulfill the call.
WHAT DO YOU MOST HOPE THAT READERS GET FROM READING YOUR WORK?
The trilogy that I have written is unique in that I didn’t just set out to write an exciting story with a moral or two (although the books DO contain a lot of excitement and action, and there are certainly morals contained within). As a public-school educator, I wanted to also write something that educates. So, I ended up creating a new genre of Christian fiction that I call Apologetics Fiction (which is also the name of my website: www.apologeticsfiction.com). This type of fiction blends real apologetics arguments with exciting stories that, while written at an adult level, are accessible for teenagers and young people. (I even have study guides available – as a FREE download from my website – for each of my novels.) My prayer is that my readers will learn how to defend their faith while simultaneously be drawn to the stories and characters. I also hope that my books will be used to help those who don’t know Christ to realize that there are scientifically supported, logical reasons for believing that the Bible is true and they can know Jesus personally.