“The world does not need more Christian literature. What it needs is more Christians writing more good literature.” — C.S. Lewis
The city of the future was made of glass and steel, and shone brilliantly in the night. It was surrounded by ribbons of light, a steady stream of vehicles shining in the night as they rocketed to the city center or came out of it, each on their own way to who knows what. Beyond it, an enormous body of water—a sea, or perhaps a giant lake—stood shining in the moonlight.
There was a sense of confidence that shone overall here: confidence and security. The stars may dim above their heads, but they still had the artificial lights that surrounded them and reassured them every night, regardless of weather or circumstances. The water may become stormy, but they had the power to control it. And even if war were to come to their shores, they were strong enough to defeat any foe.
They numbered in the millions, and they were powerful. And in the blink of an eye, they were defeated.
The lights that signaled their invincibility winked out in an instant. The vehicles that had come and gone along the boulevards rolled to a stop, helpless. And as each and every person in this futuristic city looked up into the sky, they saw the reason why and the source of their own doom.
Instead of a brightly shining moon, a dark, hideous gap appeared in the sky. It was a mouth, a maw that swallowed light. Hundreds of feet high, it stood above the highest towers, its edge a rim of silver to accent the blackest darkness within.
It floated in the sky above the city. And waited.
I’ve given up telling people what Tesla’s Ghost is all about. It is what it is. In the same vein as C.S. Lewis’ quote above, Christian writer Stephen Lawhead says that one shouldn’t worry about what you write, but that whoever you are, Christian or not, will come through in your writing. What’s important is just telling a good story.
And that’s what I have tried to do. At it’s bare bones, Tesla’s Ghost is about a notebook that is kept by Fritz Lowenstein, the assistant to the inventor Nikola Tesla in the 1890s while he experimented with electricity. That notebook is inherited by his great-great-grandson Eli Inverness, a college student, who with others believes it might hold the secrets necessary to overcoming Global Warming. The story covers what happens in both time frames, and both deal with the mysterious happenings around a group of secret beings called The Shadow People.
It’s not overtly Christian, but it has Christians in the story. And the theme is one that can be taken as Christian. It’s also the first book in an intended series of five. As J.R.R. Tolkien might say, “It’s just a story.”
Or is it?
The Great Adventure 