Dear Reader,
The Word Reclaimed, my tale of a young man named Baden who discovers what may be the last Bible in existence, releases this October from Marcher Lord Press, the premier Christian speculative fiction publisher.
I grew up in southern New Jersey with a love for books and sketching. My parents were quite willing - thankfully! - to indulge my insatiable appetite for reading materials. I’ve always enjoyed science-fiction, particularly space opera, which is somewhat less finicky about the “science” part but big on fast spaceships hurtling across the depths of space. I tried my hand at writing my own space adventures off and on in school, mostly in short story form. In high school I wrote a novel-length story called Unifying Factors that will probably never see the light of day (Lord willing).
Soon it was off to college at Boston University and I suddenly had a whole lot of free time – excluding homework and studying, of course. I worked on several short ideas that didn’t really pan out. It was later in my junior year that I committed myself to following Christ. I dove into Bible study, and came up with a space opera of clashing empires called This Stirring Strife. It eventually became a 220-page novel involving Christian protagonists and interstellar war that I self-published through Booklocker.com as an experiment of sorts.
All this took place as I began a post-collegiate career in journalism. As anyone in that field can tell you, you do a lot of writing - even if, like mine, your work appears just in weekly newspapers. For the next eight years I wrote about eight articles a week, approximately. You can imagine my reluctance to go anywhere near a keyboard when I got home from work.
As a result, my fiction writing languished for years. But during this time, the idea for The Word Reclaimed came when I asked myself a question: What would happen if a man on a spaceship found a Bible floating in space? That idea exploded into a universe of starships that jump between solar systems in the wink of an eye. In a world where all printed materials are banned, the royal family and its religious secret police control all electronic information sources. A religious tolerance act ensures that all faiths are equal – anyone who claims a certain path is the sole path winds up imprisoned, or worse. It took me several years to get just partway through the book. But after I began working at a library – and didn’t have to write all day – I finished the book in nine months.
You can buy The Word Reclaimed at the Marcher Lord Press website. Visit my website, www.steverzasa.com, for more information about my book and its universe.
Baden picked up the wrong book - and dark forces will stop at nothing to take it back.
Loved the excerpt of your book. I know why you said other women who don't read Scr-Fi liked it. It really jumps right into the story without a lot of story or character set up. Good job.
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