The Sanctuary

It's finally time! I finally had a moment to sit down and get back to my blog. It's good to be back.

So, with The Sanctuary comes the conclusion (at least as far as I know...you never can tell what Mr. Dekker will do next) of the story of Danny Hansen and Renee Gilmore. The book begins with Danny serving his life sentence and Renee trying to survive on her own. All is as fine as one can expect with Danny and Renee until Danny is transferred to an experimental prison.

Renee receives a threatening message to bring her hidden past into the open. This throws Danny and Renee into a game for their lives.

I don't want to get into it too much and run the risk of giving the good stuff away, but I will say, Ted Dekker sheds some much needed light on the correctional system of the United States, and once again does not disappoint.

 

Long Time No Blog

Well, it's been a long time...too long if you ask me. These last few months have been quite busy–I moved into my first apartment, finished my internship as a graphic designer with a great company and graduated from college with my degree.

Now that all that fun is over, I plan on coming back to this and get more posts to help spread Ted Dekker's amazing messages. Ted has also been a busy man. He released a special project...a new launch of his Outlaw projects. It was quite an interesting read. It was so interesting I was debating on interrupting the progression of my blogs and introduce it in my next post. If you are interested and can't wait for my next post, check out his Facebook page or look up Eyes Wide Open.

He is also releasing his new novel, the final installment of the Book of Mortals that he has been working on with Tosca Lee. The book is called Sovereign and I cannot wait for its release. He has a book tour schedule posted on his Facebook. So many books, so little time.

Well, I hope to have a new post up soon. Keep your eye out for it. It will also be posted on my Facebook and Twitter page.

Until then,
Dive Deep

Everyone Has Their Own Graveyard

I was going to just do my next blog about The Sanctuary, which picks up where Ted leaves us hanging in The Priest's Graveyard, but I just recently completed a design for my class ( I am a Visual Communications major) and wanted to share it. Plus, it is a nice transition between the two books, as Danny and Renee, along with the rest of the world, are always dealing with their secrets. 

This project was a good reminder of how I got onto the path of this blog. Several years ago as a student at the Art Institute, I was asked to create a design based on a quote. Naturally, I wanted to use a quote from Ted Dekker or one of his books. Upon researching, I found there weren't very many. Finally, inspiration struck from the Circle Series, and the "Diving Deep" series was born. 

Of course that wasn't enough for me...I wasn't sure what I would do if I was ever faced with the task of doing another "quote project" as I call them. So I began making a database of my own. Every time I read a Ted Dekker book, I write down sentences that stand out to me or evoke a strong image in my mind. And that is where the blog came from.

For this project, I was going to take advantage of the class time to work on a design for this blog and go with something from The Sanctuary, but the theme worked well for both books and was very inspiring to me at the time. The design is pretty self-explanatory. Take a good long look at each of the gravestones. 

What would be in your graveyard? Everyone has one...

The Priest's Graveyard - The Story

Ted sets it up so you fall in love with Danny, the priest immediately. Danny Hansen has a story that will tug at your heart strings. And then there is Renee Gilmore, the thrown away junkie. She left home with the hopes of becoming an actress and ended up strung out on the streets. With a small twist of fate, she is saved, and eventually crosses paths with Danny when they learn they have a common enemy.

Danny takes Renee under his wings to help her get justice for the man that she loved. In turn, Renee teaches Danny a few things, while Renee learns for the first time in her life, learns how to be independent and that she is worthy of a life full of love.

This book was very well written and full of surprises. There are times I didn't know whether to laugh at Renee's naivete or feel sorry for the poor thing. And once again, Mr. Dekker manages to make the reader think twice about the motives of a killer (Bride Collector being the other novel I am referring to). 

Don't just take my word for it though, check out The Priest's Graveyard and see for yourself.

 

This design was inspired by a part early in the book where we first meet Renee. She is strung out and on the run from an evil man. Here we see Renee struggling to reach the light, her only hope for survival in her mind.

 

This design comes from a beautiful moment between Danny and Renee. Without going in to too much detail, Danny learns that his way of "moral reasoning" is flawed and feels he must pay for this. Renee asks him what the opposite of judging is. He answers her with "grace and love".

Remember, judge not, or you too will be judged.

The Priest's Graveyard - Mission Submissions

I started this post awhile ago, but life seemed to get in the way of completing it (I hate when that happens). I had the intent of breaking this up in to two posts on different days, but due to the delay, I will post both of them today. Now may I introduce (or re-introduce if you've had the pleasure of reading it already) to The Priest's Graveyard.

There was a lot of hype leading up to this book. Ted had a bunch of giveaways and even gave his Facebook followers little "missions"to complete. It's been so long I am sad to admit I don't remember specifics, but I do remember one of the "missions" was to create designs to promote the book. Right up my alley, right?

I wish I would have jumped on the bandwagon a bit sooner than I did. I didn't really get into the missions until the end, but I managed to make some really nice pieces. The graphic on the top is one of the designs I created. I also did several advertisements which can be seen below.

Doing the missions made me anxious for the book's release. I think I was in love with the book before I even read it. The book most definitely lived up to all of the hype, but how can you go wrong with a damsel in distress and a vigilante priest?

Want to know more about The Priest's Graveyard? Move on to the next post to see just how a junkie and a vigilante are the perfect ingredients for a compelling novel.

Burn

I was lucky enough to get an Advanced Reader's Copy (ARC) of this book at the 2009 Gathering. I think I have read this book three or four times since. 

This book was co-authored by Erin Healy and it is obvious this is not all Ted. I'm not saying that as a bad thing. It was actually quite refreshing having someone another voice chime in. 

It is about a Gypsy girl named Janeal Mikkado. Janeal is tired of the gypsy life when a man named Salazar Sanso abruptly enters Janeal's life. He presents her with an opportunity to escape the camp and save her father from some bad business deals he made. Janeal takes the opportunity, but at a very steep price–the lives of many that she loves. 

Janeal puts the camp behind her to become a successful businesswoman. She finally has her life just the way she wants it until her past comes back to haunt her–her best friend Katie who died the day she made a deal with the devil–only, she didn't really die. Janeal must face the consequences of her actions head-on with a twist I don't think any reader will see coming. 

Pick up the book and read it for yourself. If you do, or have read the book, leave a comment below on what you thought of the book. This was definitely on my top favorites in my Dekker collection, although I have a love for each book for its own reason, but I could read this one again.

I unfortunately cannot go into great detail about the graphic on the left without giving away too much of the story. I will tell you the mesa on the bottom represents the setting of the Gypsy camp while the heart shows the good and evil that resides in each of our hearts. The quote is stated a few times but the eldest member of the camp to Janeal. 

The one on the bottom I have named "Million Dollar Soul" for obvious reasons. I loved the mesa so much I decided to use it in that picture as well. If you look closely, there is more going on in this picture than first meets the eye. There's the obvious money flying through the desert, but see if you can spot Salazar watching the destruction from far away as Janeal runs from the chaos she has created.

We each struggle with the chambers of our heart every single day. Do we take the money we found on the sidewalk or turn it in? Do we extract revenge or forgive? Do we sell our soul for a million dollars or do we make the most of the life that has been given to us? The choice is yours, but remember, each action has a reaction...everything comes with a price.

The Fall of Marsuvees Black

The Light defeating the darkness is a recurring theme in Ted Dekker's library. One of my favorite quotes (which is also in this book) is, "the Light came into the darkness and the darkness did not understand it."

Whether you are spiritual or not, you cannot have darkness where there is light. It is a thought that is both simple yet complex at the same time.

I think Ted does his best job with this theme with Marsuvees Black. He is so dark and sinister, brought to life by a thirteen-year-old boy who was brought up to be pure of heart.

That same thirteen-year-old boy must now face his creation and choose whether he wants to allow the Light into his heart or to be forever swallowed by the darkness he allowed to take hold several years ago. As the visual above suggests, with the help of his friends, Johnny and Darcy, Billy is finally able to see the truth and accept the Light. Because Marsuvees is the darkness and has come from Billy, the two cannot co-exist and Marsuvees is banished once and for all.

For all of you that love Marsuvees as much as I do, fear not–you have not heard the last of good old Marsuvees. He kept busy between all of the showdowns in Paradise and used several pages of the Books of History to spawn some of his own evil. Pay attention when reading Ted's thrillers and you may just catch a glimpse of one the literary world's greatest villains.

Guard your hearts, keep the Light on and banish the Marsuvees Black's of the world.

Sinner...The End or the Beginning?

 I have decided to break this next stop in the Ted Dekker adventure into two parts, as is the case in this book. We begin the conclusion of the Paradise Trilogy by catching up with two of the monastery students, Billy and Darcy to find that like Johnny, they were blessed (or cursed) with significant powers thanks to their run in with the Books of History. 

I'm sure most of you have heard the saying, "See No Evil. Speak No Evil. Hear No Evil."? Well this book takes that to the next level. Each of their gifts relates back to that saying, which is illustrated on the left. Johnny has the gift of making people see the truth, Darcy has the gift of speaking the truth, while Billy has the gift of hearing the truth (being everyone's thoughts). 

Ted chooses to take us on an epic adventure in this conclusion, throwing the three grown children back into the past that brought them together. Once again, Paradise will be forced to face the evil in which Billy created, but on a much grander scale. In an attempt to create harmony among the melting pot that is America, laws are passed to increase religious tolerance. In other words, no one is allowed to speak of their religion while speaking against others. There is no one God, no Way is the only Way, etc. Johnny decides to bring one final showdown to Paradise and asks 3,000 believers to stand up against Billy and Darcy who have used their gifts to take over Washington D.C. (Hence the illustration on the bottom accompanied with a quote from the book). 

Will Marsuvees and his evil plot finally prevail, or will the Light once again prevail? Stay tuned for the next post to find out what happens next in the Rise and Fall of Marsuvees Black.

Saint

Next in the Paradise Novels is Saint. This novel has more focus on Johnny Drake, no longer a boy, but one of the deadliest assassins in the world. His code name...Saint.

Johnny is thrown into another battle of good and evil while trying to remember what brought him to become so deadly. At the same time, he is learning to develop a power he obtained back in his hometown of Paradise. 

He must return home to accomplish all of these things, throwing Paradise back into the middle of the battle which will once again change every one's lives. 

Will Johnny prevail? Will he remember the original evil that once plagued his home? Will he remember who he is? I guess you will have to read to find out.

As for the graphic above, it is a favorite saying of the notorious Englishman. Englishman takes on any identity he wants and plays it well. He is many people and no one at the same time. Before Johnny became a member of the world's deadliest assassins, Englishman was the best. Being second-best doesn't sit well with Englishman and he tries to prove he is really is the deadliest of them all. 

The praying hands represent the good in the battle, while the gun the hands are holding is the evil. The gun also represents the set-up of the story–the assassination training, Johnny's mission, etc.

In case you haven't seen my post for Showdown, I strongly recommend reading Showdown first. While you can read this book without reading Showdown, there are many references to occurrences of the Showdown and will make more sense after reading it. 

Coming soon....Sinner

Showdown

I chose Showdown next, because it has some connection to the Circle Series. You will have to read it for yourself to find out how.

Showdown is the first book within the Paradise novels. While Ted said you can read the books in any order, which you can, I found it much easier to grasp Saint, the second book after reading Showdown. This book is definitely my favorite of the three.

It takes place in a small town called Paradise, Colorado. There is a secret monastery just outside of the town where an experiment is taking place to raise children in isolation, teaching them nothing but good values through love and writing. Their core curriculum are the four rules of writing, which are featured above. Write to discover, there is no greater discovery than love, all love comes from the creator, and write what you will.

The monastery has a dungeon, which is the proverbial forbidden fruit. I hope I'm not giving too much away when I write that one student by the name of Billy, with the help of one, Marsuvees Black (the shadowy figure pictured above) guides him down below. Through his explorations of the tunnels below, Billy stumbles upon some empty journals, which he begins to pen a story that changes the town of Paradise forever unbeknownst to him. What Billy doesn't know, that when he writes in these special journals, the words become flesh, or, they actually happen.

Billy unleashes a terrible monster based off of the real Marsuvess Black on the town of Paradise where a young boy by the name of Johnny Drake must fight against all odds to save his town.

Showdown is a wonderful story of love, temptation, and the beginning of a great adventure; not only for the characters, but for the reader as well. Marsuvees Black has become my all-time favorite villain. Read the book and he will become yours, too.