Hey, everybody! Welcome back to Through a New Wardrobe, where we sit down and chat with some of today’s hottest writers who have been influenced by C.S. Lewis and the Land of Narnia. Most of you will probably know that for the past few years we have had the pleasure of bringing you our exclusive reviews of C.S. Lakin’s fantasy series The Gates of Heaven, and have been privileged to speak with her. The last book in her series, entitled The Hidden Kingdom is now available. Before we share our review with you, we are pleased to sit down for our last interview with her.
Narnia Fans: Before we get to far along, catch us up on your life. How have you been since we last spoke to you?
Lakin: Well, I’ve been busy. In addition to writing this last book in The Gates of Heaven series, I wrote and published about seven books last year (four writing craft books and three novels). Considering I work nearly full-time as a copyeditor and writing coach, I burned a few very tall candles. I’m taking it a little easier this year, but still going with the attitude that every day is another great opportunity to be creative and productive.
NF: How does it feel to have finished the gates of Heaven Series?
Lakin: I have mixed feelings! This endeavor took ten years from start to finish, and I love each book so much, for different reasons. In a way, each book has a piece of my heart and my soul, and reflects so much about my own personal journey in my life and with my faith and relationship with God. I’m sad to be done, proud of the beautiful stories, humbled by these gifts I was given, and relieved to have crossed the finish line!
NF: Obviously this is the last book in the series .With that in mind, while the books can be read in any order is there a chronology to the events of each story?
Lakin: Well, it’s all a bit weird because of the time-traveling elements and the fact that one of the Keepers lives for hundreds of years. Well, and the fact that King Kael of Ethryn lived two lives separated by thousands of years. So… asking about chronology is a bit timey-wimey in the Doctor Who sense. Essentially though, most of the books take place in the “present day” of the series, whereas part of The Map Across Time and The Crystal Scepter take place three hundred years earlier. Sands of Ethryn moves the present ahead about forty years, which is the timeline for the last book as well (which picks up just weeks after The Sands of Ethryn ends). Confused yet?
NF: Why end the series at seven books?
Lakin: Well, that’s all I’d contracted with Living Ink Publishers, but even though I’m sure they’d welcome more in the series, I wrapped it up. I mean, I can’t give away the ending, but as I say in The Hidden Kingdom: Endings are merely beginnings.
NF: Can you give us a quick teaser for The Hidden Kingdom that will give us an idea of what we’re in for?
Lakin: Well, wow, it’s a curtain call of almost all the characters from all six previous books. It’s the ultimate issue that gets settled for all time: good versus evil, with good always winning in the end. Why? Because it’s all about God’s plans, not ours. And the kingdom he’s prepared for us from the founding of the world.
NF: One thing I loved was seeing the heroes from the first six books again. It’s probably been a while since you wrote about them. Did you have to reread the earlier books to get their characters right?
Lakin: I did go back and reread quite a bit, and enjoyed being refreshed. I loved bringing them together and seeing how they reacted to one another. It surprised me too. Lots of fun! Especially enjoyed bringing back the lunatic Moon and Joran from The Wolf of Tebron. I tried to think who was/is my favorite of all these characters, but I really love them all for different reasons.
NF: Were there any characters from the other books that you wanted to include but didn’t? Why?
Lakin: It’s not so much I wanted to include them, but they didn’t really have a place in this story. Such as Alethea (she’s back in the past) as well as Winston the pig (my favorite Keeper!), who wouldn’t have been available (no spoilers here). I didn’t include Callen and Jadiel from The Land of Darkness, or Teralyn or Antius from The Unraveling of Wentwater (they are already dead forty years later). I couldn’t have everyone there!
NF: How do you pronounce some of the new names we encounter in this story, like Meris, Na’tar, and Me’arah?
Lakin: Well, I tend to put emphasis on the second syllable on names like Joran and Tebron. But Meris has emphasis on the first syllable, and NA’tar and ME’arah are how I think of those names. I guess there isn’t really a rule–just like English!
NF: What were your inspirations for the story of The Hidden Kingdom?
Lakin: I mention all this in the back of the book (which I do in all the books). I was inspired of course by the Bible and wanted to focus on the kingdom and the promises of God. But the last episode of Lost influenced me a bit as well. And the inside story was inspired by a fairy tale. The outer story of Alia telling this as a bedtime story to her son was my invention and way of pushing the envelope a bit. I wanted the story within a story. To step back and show the whole series begin told from mother to child, and to show how important stories are. And I wanted to play with the whole concept of fairies and fairy tales.
NF: I really loved the story’s framing device, with the mother Alia telling the story to her child, mainly as it almost reminded me of one of the best fantasy movies of all time, The Princess Bride. Was that intentional on your part?
Lakin: See above answer:) Very intentional.
NF: What themes did you try to convey in the story?
Lakin: The biggest themes possible. God’s purpose for humanity. His promises. That love conquers all. That God is love. That evil can’t triumph. That everything will end but it’s okay; it’s part of the plan. These aren’t so much themes, I guess, as they are plot elements. I also spent a lot of time talking about power and God’s right to tell or not tell us what we want to know. Shamara created the hidden world and kept her people in darkness (figuratively). Characters argued whether she had the right to hide the truth of the real world from them (I stole this from a Star Trek episode). She felt she was doing this for their own good. People question whether God has this right–to determine what is good for us and what isn’t. I took a lot of sides (via the characters) on this issue and hope it gets readers thinking.
NF: Which Star Trek episode?
Lakin: I can’t remember! I think it was Next Gen or Voyager. The one in which a couple of the crew go to a planet and the people there have been lied to by their cult leader and didn’t know they could leave their world.
(Note: I tried to google-search which episode of Star Trek this may be with no luck. If any of our more Trek-savvy readers may know which episode it is, let me know via private message. There may just be a free book in your future.)
NF: Well, it ( your book) certainly got me thinking. In many ways the world of Me’arah kind of reminded me the world depicted in movie The Truman Show. Meris, and her people, like Truman may live a perfect ideal life, but there really isn’t much room for the people to grow as they are spared many of the more difficult aspects of life.
Lakin: Right! I was thinking more about this today. It’s really all about God’s sovereignty. Did God have the right to create us? To leave us to suffer the effects of sin? To determine the terms of our fate and future? When we understand God doesn’t have to answer to us or do what we want, we see how kind God is to care so much. I love how the Bible says (paraphrased) we are lumps of clay, and really, should the clay say to the potter “Why did you make me this way?”
NF: How did you come up with the title?
Lakin: Pretty obvious 🙂 All my book titles in the series start with “the,” similar to most fairy tales, and since this is about a hidden kingdom, seemed the best title.
NF: Are any of the experiences in the book based on someone you know, or events in your own life?
Lakin: Not that I can think of. I hope not!
NF: What was the hardest part of writing The Hidden Kingdom?
Lakin: Wow, it was very hard keeping all the characters straight, in the sense of tracking what each one knew and learned and from whom. I had to take a lot of notes! And I didn’t want some huge, long epic battle, yet I needed to imply the destruction of the world. I hope that worked. What do you think?
NF: I think it worked very well. I could tell that the world ended, and yet much like with C. S. Lewis’s The Last Battle, the big final battle wasn’t the “be all, end all” of the story, nor was the mass destruction. You clearly reminded the readers, much as Lewis did almost sixty years ago, that even in the face of Armageddon, God is, and always will be, in control, and as long as we are on His side, we have nothing to fear.
Lakin: That’s the point. He’s promised us everything we could ever hope for or imagine, and more. How can we not love him and want to worship him forever? What other option would compare or suffice? None.
NF: Did you learn anything from writing The Hidden Kingdom? What did you learn?
Lakin: I learned a ton from writing the whole series. I gave so much of my heart and soul to these books and they fed me in return. This book especially dealt with some of my inner fears about “the end” and the future, but always reminding me of God’s awesome goodness, mercy, and love. How kind of him to provide us with eternal life in peace and joy in his presence. We don’t deserve it, but it’s about him, not us. His goodness. It’s truly humbling. I hope this book makes readers long for God and long for his promised kingdom.
NF: Any plans to do more with science fiction or fantasy?
Lakin: Oh, I hope so. Although I have about ten other novels planned to write first, not in this genre. I have some heavy contemporary novels I want to write, and continue my really fun historical Western series set in Colorado in the 1870s (under pen name Charlene Whitman). I just can’t resist shooting up a bunch of outlaws on the open range!
NF: It has been a real honor to read your series. Thank you so much for your time, and for sharing it with us.
