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 CS Lewis and the Land of Narnia. Today, we will be catching up with our old friend, CS Lakin, author of The Gates of Heaven Series, and talking about her upcoming release The Gates of Heaven Series: Book Six: The Sands of Ethryn, as well as hearing a bit of her testimony and chatting a bit about her love for sci-fi, time travel and Star Trek.
click here and here to read our earlier interviews with her.
NarniaFans: It’s great to have you with us again, Mrs. Lakin.What have you been up to since the last
time we spoke to you?
CS Lakin: Wow, a lot. Besides blogging, teaching writing workshops, and editing full-time, I wrote and published a historical Western romance novel and a grammar book for fiction writers, to help them with all those grammar rules.
NF: Wow you certainly keep yourself busy! How do you keep your different projects organized?
Lakin: I use some software programs with calendars and lists, to keep track of all my dozens of ongoing clients. I try to work eight hours a day. Write whenever I can, which is rarely these days. I do need to finish book 7 in this series (the last), and it’s about 2/3rds done. I also have another historical Western romance to write, so I’m taking April and May off to write and hope I get pretty far. Plus I write my blog, which is time consuming, as well as marketing, fielding e-mails and comments on my posts. Mostly I just wing it through the day to get through it all, while I work steadily through my jobs.
NF:Can you give us a quick teaser for The Sands of Ethryn that will give us an idea of what we’re in for?
Lakin: As usual, another complex, deep book! I always tell myself I’ll write a simple tale, but it never turns out that way. The Sands of Ethryn is a multilevel story, mostly about a king who falls into a spell-induced coma and while “asleep” lives an entire life five thousand years in the past. He is chased by “the hound of heaven” who wants to appoint him a prophet, healer, and the first Keeper of the first sacred site, but he resists. It’s also the story of a young woman archivist who has been given the task to decipher the scroll found in the trunk at the top of the massive tower her people have discovered and are unearthing. This tower was built way in the past, and the king, in his “other” life is a slave building it. There’s much more to the story, but that’s the gist.
NF:What were your inspirations for the story of The Sands of Ethryn?
Lakin: I mention in the discussion in the back of the book that I was inspired by many things. The epic poem by Francis Thompson, “The Hound of Heaven,” was the primary influence, as it tells a lyrical evocative tale of a man who runs from God his whole life, only to surrender in realization of how loved he is. This is King Kael’s journey in my novel. I also wanted to explore the first sacred site and have always been fascinated by the story of the tower of Babel, the confusing of language, and the limit put on mankind’s years. The other main influence is the Bible book of Zechariah, and I used quite a bit of that cool imagery as well.
NF:Now normally most of your stories have been inspired by stories from various fairy tales and old myths. This time you chose an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation. If it wouldn’t spoil to much of your story, share with us what you enjoyed about that episode that made it so inspiring to you?
Lakin: Well, I’d be wishing I could find a way to do a similar story to my favorite Next Gen episode. And no, I won’t tell you which one it is. However, if anyone here reads my book and can guess it, I will mail them a signed copy of my novel! Let’s just say I’ve already given you enough of the story for you to guess the episode IF you are a big fan.
NF:Have you always been a fan of Star Trek?
Lakin: Yep, since I was a kid in the 60s watching the original show as it aired each week!
NF:OK, as a Trekker I gotta ask…Original or Next Generation?
Lakin: Next Generation.
NF: Is there any reason that it’s your favorite ST franchise?
Lakin: Actually Deep Space Nine is my favorite series because of the deep, long storyline and the spiritual components. The episode I drew from for my novel is my favorite episode of all the series overall.
NF: When did you first encounter the poem “The Hound of Heaven?”
Lakin: I’d heard that expression all my life and always thought it meant something evil, not good, not God. So one day I researched it and it’s been in the back of my mind for years. It is the iconic tale of God pursuing man—not the other way around.
NF: Like all poetry I’m sure it must have spoken to you, so in what way did this poem?
Lakin: Well, first, I love the imagery in it, which lends itself beautifully for a novel. And since I spent most of my life running from God, I can relate!
NF: Would you care to share more of your experience? What led you to run away from God and then back?
Lakin: I was raised in a Jewish atheist home and cultural environment. I’m the only Christian of the lot, thrown in among staunch evolutionists (which seems to be very common with Jews, who don’t seem to think being Jewish has anything to do with believing in God. I’m speaking of my family and upbringing here). So I didn’t even consider believing in God until I felt lost and empty as a teen. I got sucked into the Jehovah’s Witnesses for seven years and after that, I wanted nothing to do with God or the Bible. But God is faithful and he had plans to finish the work he started in me. I’m definitely still a work in progress.
NF: This is the second book in your series that has involved time travel ( the first being The Map Across Time). When did you first become fascinated by this literary sub-genre?
Lakin: Oh, I love anything to do with sci-fi and time travel. My book Time Sniffers is all about time fluctuations and streams, and the characters have to navigate them, and get thrown back in time and see themselves (like in Map Across Time). I think I could write dozens of time travel books! This novel, though (Sands of Ethryn) isn’t really about time travel at all. A bit different.
NF: Do you have a favorite time travel story ( aside from your own)?
Lakin: I am not sure I would classify this as a true time travel story but it involves the paradoxes of time. It’s about the best sci-fi book I’ve ever read, and that’s saying a LOT. I have read hundreds of sci-fi novels. The book? Orson Scott Card’s Pathfinder (his new series). Book 2, Ruins, is out and I am drooling like a dog watching someone eat a juicy steak waiting for book 3 to come out! Don’t miss it!
NF: How does the way you handle time travel in a fantasy world differ from how it would be conducted in science fiction?
Lakin: I have no idea! I think each author handles it the way they want. I love how Card handles it, as the characters jump around in time. He’s of the “other” school that believes once you go back in time and change something, it’s done and you don’t have to “warn yourself” that you need to do it. Or something like that.
NF: How’d you come up with the names for your characters in this story?
Lakin: Kael is a character in The Land of Darkness—a young brat heir to the throne that Callen and Jadiel meet in Ethryn. This book takes place forty years later. When in the past, Kael’s name is changed to Lael (“of God”), as God is wont to change names of people for specific reasons and callings. Some of the names are Hebrew, as is usual in my books, and have meaning. Other names I just make up. I try to keep them simple, but since this is kind of an Egyptian land, I have some names that sound a bit Egyptian.
NF: The character of Ra’daf struggles with bouts of seizures. How does this help define her character?
Lakin: I like flawed characters. And by giving her an ailment that prevents her from uniting with the man she loves, this causes conflict for her—and a way the king can help her.
NF: So the Destroyer is physically unleashed in this story. What does this mean for the heroes of your fantasy world?
Lakin: You’ll see in the final book, The Hidden Kingdom!
NF:What themes did you try to convey in the story?
Lakin: Wow, I always have a lot of themes. The obvious—God pursues us because he loves us and he won’t give up until we give it all up for him. Also that God will not tolerate evil forever, which is a comfort to me. That good will always triumph over evil. Always.
NF: How did you come up with the title?
Lakin: I like simple titles. All my titles are four words (except The Crystal Scepter) in this series, and like most fairy tales starting with “the.” I ran some titles by fans on Facebook and this one stuck. Ethryn is mentioned in most of the books, and shown in book 3, The Land of Darkness.
NF: Are any of the experiences in the book based on someone you know, or events in your own life?
Lakin: Nope. Except for my watching that Star Trek episode!
NF: What was the hardest part of writing Sands of Ethryn?
Lakin: Writing every one of these novels is hard. I like rich characters with complex issues and strong character arcs. I love layers of story and meaning. The big challenge was portraying Ezbon, the Vizier having a “dual” personality as he is possessed by the Destroyer. I really loved how it all came together in the big moment before the king “wakes up” and used a frame technique, which starts the book with a partial scene from the climax of the novel. That was challenging as well.
NF: I actually thought you did a great job with Ezbon. As the story went on I couldn’t help but feel sorry for him. Any chance he’ll be redeemed?
Lakin: Ummm, nope.
NF: Did you learn anything from writing Sands of Ethryn? What did you learn?
Lakin: I always learn a ton from writing my novels. This was my thirteenth, I think, and I’m almost done with The Hidden Kingdom, which is a story within a story within a story, so it’s even trickier. I try to push my abilities and imagination all the way. Writing these novels just reinforces what an amazing God we have, and I feel his spirit and leading in these stories, so much so that often after I am done and reread them, I can’t recall having written hardly any of the scenes. The experience is humbling and empowering, but always reminding me that all that matters is God and his will and purpose for us and this universe. And it’s more that we can possibly conceive of. I feel so blessed to have this gift and desire to write imaginative stories and my prayer is that these novels will change hearts, touch lives, and bring readers closer to their creator.
NF: Thank you for your time! Any parting words you’d like to share with our readers?
Lakin: Can’t think of any, thanks!
