Why Read Rabbity Adventures During a Pandemic (and a Sickly Contentious Election)?

I wrote a book this year in the midst of a pandemic that has taken life and, adding injury to tragedy, divided friends and families. The book is being released at the height of an election that feels like the political equivalent of an infectious disease, once again dividing friends and family and laying bare our worst idols. 

Why read about rabbits with swords at a time like this? C. S. Lewis spoke of the need to keep learning during war-time when he said this: 

“You are not, in fact, going to read nothing…if you don’t read good books you will read bad ones.” —C. S. Lewis

Why read this new story with an old soul? I hope this and my other stories are an invitation to delight and adventure and—just maybe—an opportunity to catch a glimpse of something timeless and true, beautiful and brave, hopeful and happy. I hope it’s a hospitable gift and a generous joy. I hope it is, as Heidi Johnston says, not an escape from reality but an escape into Reality. 

A month ago today we opened up preorders for The Archer’s Cup, and thousands of packages with “Bear the Flame” stickers on boxes are reaching homes right now. 

True, lots of folks are stoked about the sweet shirts and hats and mugs and I am too. But it’s the story I’m most excited to share. It’s this unusual adventure, a mystery set in the sprawling warren of Blackstone Citadel, that excites me. A story about love. This is why we became friends. We shared a story between us. Then another. Then another. This is number nine! I hope you enjoy it. I hope it makes you happy and uncomfortable (it will) and finally glad again. 

I hope it hits where I aimed it. Your heart. 

Thanks for letting me do this. Thanks for giving me another chance to share an adventure with you. Thanks for letting me be a part of your kids’ lives. What an honor. 

I hope experiencing this story is a happy memory of this strange and painful time for your family. And I hope it stacks up with many more memories of God’s goodness and grace and provision, standing out in stark contrast to the bleak lies of the Enemy, amplified, it seems from nearly every quarter. But that seemingly all-pervasive darkness is a dim thing in the end, and the Light has come and is coming to finish the victory. That will be the decisive political and healthcare triumph we truly long for. 

Till then, let us tell one another true stories that seem as fantastic as a fable. And let us love one another. 

I’m on your side.