NEW BOOK! NEW BOOK!

I have never been a conventional writer. My mind flies all over the place. I am sometimes known as a writer of murder mysteries. I have written four of them (Who’s Grace?, Desolation Highway, Mountaintop Drive, and Springtime in Winnipeg). I have also published a collection of three novellas (short novels) in the same genre (Too Many Deaths). But that is not all. I have written and had published a PhD thesis in History (John Smyth’s Congregation: English Separatism, Mennonite Influence, and the Elect Nation). And I have written a socio-political novel (1995: Je me souviens) and a popular-level reflection on the Bible book of Daniel (Living for God in a Pagan Society: What Daniel Can Teach Us).

And now something new and different. My new book, hot off the press in time for Christmas, is The Cabin and other stories.

My murder mysteries were deliberately written for a general audience, with only a subtle Christian message. Some of the main characters are Christians, and some are not. The idea is that for a non-Christian reader it would be like living next door to a Christian and trying to figure out what makes him tick.

My new book is quite different, being written primarily for Christians, although others might well benefit from it. It is a collection of stories, some long, some short, many recognizably ordinary, some fanciful or allegorical. They are set in a wide variety of times and places, most in the present but some in ancient times, most in North America but some in other places. They explore a wide variety of themes, human, biblical, and theological. At their heart are people, young Victor and old John, young couples and loners, simple folk and a few odd university professors. If there is a common theme, it is that all of these people, in various times and places, are surprised by grace. The title story, “The Cabin,” is centered on John, an old man who shows up in church one morning and who seemingly lives a simple life in a log cabin; however, there is much more going on under the surface. The final story, “Dead Man,” is a John Smyth murder mystery but with a much clearer Christian message.

I wrote the first of these stories in my 30s, but several of the stories, including the longest two, were written in my 70s. I am convinced that they are some of the best things I have ever written. It is my hope that some of them will endure, that they will be worth reading more than once, that they will not only stir the emotions but also stimulate the mind, that they will disrupt and disturb sinful complacency, that they will lead the reader to ponder, wonder, and understand.

The book is available in the usual places, through bookstores and through online retailers such as Amazon.