WAKING LAZARUS FAQ

WHERE DID YOU COME UP WITH THE IDEA FOR WAKING LAZARUS?

When I was a young buck--five years old--I fell through the ice while icefishing with my uncle. Thanks to some quick reflexes, my uncle was able to pull me out of the lake before I slipped beneath the ice. Fast forward several years, to a time when I was working my way through college as a janitor in the University of Montana's Chem/Pharm building. I cleaned the room where the cadavers were stored, and I sometimes pictured the cadavers sitting up suddenly. Those two images--a boy drowning, and a cadaver sitting up--converged, and the opening scene for Waking Lazarus was born. That's the short version; for a longer answer, see the press kit section of my web site.

WHAT ABOUT THE TITLE?

If you recall, Lazarus is a character who is resurrected from the dead in the Bible. In the King James Version, John 11:11 says, in part: "Our friend Lazarus sleepeth; but I go, that I may awake him out of sleep."

DID YOU DO A LOT OF RESEARCH FOR THE BOOK?

True confession time: I'm not a huge researcher. I know some writers get all geeked out about researching guns and locations, and scenarios, but I'm lazy: I like to make it up as much as possible. So although I based the story on NDEs (Near Death Experiences, the technical term for the phenomenon of people who have died and returned to life), most of my NDE data is anecdotal: the bright light, the warm comforting feeling, and so on. I didn't do a lot of NDE-specific research.

NEAR DEATH EXPERIENCE? ISN'T THAT A MISLEADING NAME?

I think so. I'd say "After Death Experience" is a more appropriate term.

IS THE BOOK BASED ON THE LIFE OF (FILL IN THE NAME OF AN NDE CELEBRITY)?

No. The book was the result of a personal incident from my own childhood, some time spent cleaning a cadaver storage room as an impressionable college student, and an overactive imagination. (See my Q&A about Waking Lazarus in the Press Kit section.)

IS WAKING LAZARUS A "RELIGIOUS" BOOK?

Hmmm. Depends on your definition of “religious book.” Waking Lazarus is being published by Bethany House Publishers, a well-known name in the CBA (Christian Booksellers Association) industry. So in the sense that it’s a book written by a Christian, and published by a Christian publisher, yes, I suppose it’s a “religious” book.

But I wouldn’t say it’s any more “religious” than, say, The Da Vinci Code. (In fact, I would say it’s less so, because, unlike The Da Vinci Code, the main threads of Waking Lazarus don’t have anything to do with church history or doctrine.)

My faith is an integral part of who I am, and so the world of Waking Lazarus naturally reflects some of that. But not overtly so. Nowhere in the book will you find a big conversion scene, or a thinly-disguised sermon telling you to repent. It’s a novel, not a tract.

At its heart, Waking Lazarus is a suspense/mystery novel with elements of the supernatural in it. So I think it could easily be shelved with general market mysteries, psychological horror novels, or suspense/thrillers. Despite this, I’m well aware most booksellers will stick it with “religious fiction” on its shelves, simply because it comes from a “religious” publisher.

I’m fine with that because, frankly, I’m happy to be shelved anywhere in the bookstore. But let me say again, I didn’t write this novel to preach to anyone. In fact, if you read it and think it’s preachy, email me and let me know; I’ll buy it back from you.