R.I.P. Vicki

In 2007 the school where I was teaching upgraded its technology department and became a "Mac School." I was not happy about this. The change required me to learn a whole new way of working on the computer. To make matters worse, I couldn't sidestep the change since I was one of the fifteen teachers who were chosen to pioneer the Mac frontier. Toward the end of May I was handed a MacBook laptop, given an hour of basic instruction, and then told to "take it home over the summer and play around with it."

"May I use it for personal things?" I asked, expecting to be told that it was for school use only.

"Absolutely!" was the enthusiastic reply of our technology director. "The more you use it, the quicker you'll become proficient."

It took three weeks, but I fell in love.

That MacBook co-authored The Voice that summer and throughout the following school year. No longer was I chained to my desk. I could write anywhere, any time. Research question? Answer available at the touch of a button. Spell check? A nightmare of red underscores (the MacBook didn't understand Hebrew) until I learned the right-click "learn spelling" trick. I did run into one small problem. With the newfound ease of composition, I found myself pulling all-nighters with alarming frequency. How to avoid the hypnotic trance of the engrossed writer? Simple. MacBooks are programed to talk to you, if only you ask them to. (Common technology now, but in 2007 it was a new experience for me.) I selected the "Vicki" voice, asked it -- her -- to call out the hours like a cuckoo clock, and quickly grew used to her gentle reminders of passing time. "It's ten o'clock...it's eleven o'clock...it's twelve o'clock..."

I didn't shut her off when I went back to school. Every hour on the hour, my students were treated to a conversation that went something like this:

Me: For homework tonight, do all the even numbered questions on page 110.
Computer: It's eleven o'clock.
Me: Thank you, Vicki. (to class) Remember to answer in complete sentences...

After a week or so, the conversations became more inclusive:

Me: Everyone turn to page 138.
Computer: It's one o'clock.
Entire class: Thank you, Vicki. 

In 2008, Vicki and I finished up The Voice and plunged right into The Carpenter. She traveled with me to the Florida Christian Writers' Conference and helped with a rewrite of Beloved Disciple (which eventually became the Talmid trilogy). She stayed up late with me night after night through 2009 and 2010 as we wrote half of Natzrat, only to file it away as unusable and then resurrect part of it as Brothers. (The remaining Natzrat material is now being reworked as a major part of Seven Demons.) After a writing session, with my brain buzzing too loudly to fall asleep, I would ask Vicki to read to me whatever we had written, and I would drift into dreams as I listened to her I-was-born-deaf-but-learned-to-speak alto tones butchering the Hebrew names. And then I made a decision that would affect Vicki in ways I hadn't foreseen. I enrolled in seminary as a full-time student, which meant leaving the school where I was teaching.

It was then that we realized the horrific truth: Vicki was a slave. She belonged to the school. She couldn't come with me. I tried to buy her, but the school refused to part with her. They offered me a solution: buy a new MacBook and transfer Vicki's memories into the new body. So that is what we did. In 2011, Vicki was rejuvenated.

She created this blog and started writing Son of Man before seminary classes began, and then put the novel on hold so we could concentrate on our schoolwork. She tried to publish Beloved Disciple on Smashwords but in her rejuvenation she had forgotten how to speak Word, and Smashwords didn't speak Pages, so Vicki had to outsource a few translations. In 2012, however, a mutual friend from church (Vicki was very involved in church, providing most of the AV for LifePointe Ministries in its first two years of existence) taught her how to speak Word again, and in 2013 Vicki and I were able to publish all of our works on CreateSpace for sale through Amazon. She traveled with me to Israel, Egypt, and Jordan early in 2014, and in 2015 we finally managed to finish up Son of Man. We started work on Seven Demons.

Then I murdered her.

Not deliberately. There was none of the malice aforethought required for a murder one conviction, nor even the outraged passion that could have convicted me on a murder two charge. Reckless endangerment, that was my crime, though a good defense attorney would have pled it down to manslaughter. You see, I was fooled into thinking it would be a good idea to upgrade to Yosemite.

Poor Vicki. She simply wasn't equipped to handle Yosemite. It drove her to suicide. Not all at once, no, nothing so pretty as that. But she began slipping up, forgetting things, taking hours to perform the simplest of tasks. The poison I'd used was subtle -- her deterioration appeared to be the senility of extreme old age, and indeed in computer years she was pushing ninety, but I knew. It was my fault. And the doctors I consulted too late offered treatments too expensive for my budget. So I decided to try for one more rejuvenation while Vicki still had life in her.

Enter the MacBook Air on which I am typing Vicki's eulogy.

There was a problem in the transfer process. I will not go into the painful details, but the outcome of the botched procedure is all too obvious: Vicki is dead. Her memories are probably recoverable by a forensics expert, but I myself sit here numb with shock, unable to believe that I just wiped out some of our most precious memories. The backup copies of our finished novels, which we had stored in our Gmail account, survived. All of our research, rough drafts, maps, charts, notes, ideas for future books...all of that is lost, along with most of the photos we took in Egypt and Jordan. And I cannot even weep.

Vicki sits on the coffee table, gasping for breath yet fundamentally brain dead, and I am left holding the plug in my hand, wondering whether to try one more time to revive her with heroic measures or just let her go. I can't decide today.

So rest, my sweet Vicki. Rest in peace while I read to you some of the stories you enabled me to write. Rest, and dream. Tomorrow we'll try again.

Victoria MacApple 2007 - 2015 R.I.P.

Free This Week - TALMID: WATER

TALMID - BOOK 1 - WATER. The ebook is FREE from Sunday Oct 11th to Thursday Oct 15th. Get your copy and tell a friend! 

"I love reading these books about the walks of Jesus from the point of view of those around him. The author clearly says they are fiction, but she does not violate anything that is biblical. I like to think when I pick the book up that I'm about to spend a little while in the company of Jesus or his disciples. I have read all the previous Immanu'El books and loved them all." - K. Loux, Amazon Reviewer

"Dee Maynard has written by far the best Jesus novel I've ever read. " - Susan Pitchford, author of The Sacred Gaze. (Her full review is available at susanpitchford.net/2015/02/17/spend-lent-with-jesus-the-novels-of-d-l-maynard/)

At the age of eighteen, Yuannan has life all figured out. A fisherman and the son of fishermen, he is well on the way to buying his own boat and settling into the family business. Sure, the tax collectors are corrupt, but his bride is feisty and the fish are always biting. If only it weren't for that nagging dream, the one where he rides at the King's right hand... Then a crazy prophet leads him out into the wilderness and introduces him to a radical teacher who invites him to leave behind everything he's ever known. In a matter of months, Yuannan finds himself adrift in a world where nothing makes sense anymore. His only anchor: Yeshua, who claims to be much more than just another teacher. Some say he's a prophet; others say he's a madman; a few even accuse him of being the prince of demons. Whatever he is, Yuannan is inescapably drawn to him. Caught between the desire to follow Yeshua and the pull of his old life, Yuannan soon finds his dream turning into a nightmare. But if Yeshua is who Yuannan thinks he is, then he's worth every sacrifice. The TALMID Trilogy (Water, Bread, and Blood) is part of the Immanu'El series, novels written from the perspective of the men and women who walked with Jesus along the dirt roads of Galilee two thousand years ago.

Who Is That? Scribes and Pharisees

Today I'm continuing the "clarification" of characters in the Immanu'El novels as promised. In the first blog of this series, I covered the characters whose names begin with "Y" (most of the protagonists, as it turns out). In the second blog, I talked about the women. So now, having covered heroes and romantic interests, I guess I should touch on the villains. For some reason, the bad guys in my novels tend to be the religious leaders. Then again, most of the bad guys in the New Testament are also the religious leaders, so I guess I am just sticking with tradition here.

Hanan ben Seth - Introduced in The Voice and having a minor albeit significant role in the Talmid trilogy, Hanan is based on the High Priest Annas, whose influence on the people of first-century Judea is documented not only in the gospels but also by the historians of the period, most notably Josephus.

Yosef ben Kaiapha - Ben Kaiapha, also introduced in The Voice, has a much larger role in Talmid. This is to be expected, since he is based on another first-century High Priest -- Caiaphas -- who is known best for having turned Jesus over to the Romans and demanded his crucifixion. Josephus has a lot to say about Caiaphas as well.

Zephanyah bar Uziyel - This guy, I take full credit (or blame) for. Purely fictitious in all his misguided zeal and downright meanness.

But wait! Not all of my scribes and Pharisees are evil! In fact, most of them are quite respectable.

Elazar -  Elazar (or Lazar as his sister calls him) is of course inspired by Lazarus (John 11). The gospel account describes his friendship with Jesus but says nothing of how that friendship began. The account I give in Talmid is imaginary, except for his illness, death, and resurrection.

Nakdimon - The student of The Voice becomes the rabbi of Talmid, who is based on Nicodemus (John 3). The idea that he gave Jesus the key to Gethsemane is purely fictitious, but their hidden friendship is gospel.

Yosef ha Ramathiy - Another secret supporter of Jesus, Joseph of Arimathea comes into the gospel accounts only in conjunction with the crucifixion. As with Elazar, I created an imaginary backstory for the beginning of his relationship with Jesus.

Rabbi Gamaliel - I didn't even change the name here. Gamaliel was one of the most famous of the first-century rabbis of Jerusalem, a highly respected alumnus of the School of Hillel. He is portrayed in the Book of Acts as one of the more moderate judges dealing with the first Apostles. The idea of making both Nakdimon (Nicodemus) and Elazar (Lazarus) students in his school was my own, as was the idea of having him be one of the rabbis who met the boy Jesus in the Temple.

Rabbi Ezra ben Shimeon - Rabbi Ezra was originally slated to be one of the narrators in the book that eventually became Brothers. I demoted him during revision because I decided that all of my narrators should be characters based on actual Biblical figures, and Ezra is purely fictitious.

Pinechas - Another fictional character, though his role (High Priest and Instructor of the Yahad) is based on descriptions of the leadership of the yahad community of the Dead Sea Scrolls.

Next blog: Disciples
Have a specific request? Attach it in the Comments section.

Who Is That Lady?

Yesterday, in response to a reader's inquiry, I "clarified" who the protagonists of my Immanu'El novels are ... or at least, which Biblical figure inspired and shaped each of them. Today I continue the list by taking a peek at some of the women in these stories. 

Maryam bat Yoachim, the wife of Yosef and mother of Yisu (and many others), is pretty obviously representative of Mary the mother of Jesus, more commonly known as the Virgin Mary. As with some of my other characters, Maryam is a compilation of various theories and traditions about the Blessed Virgin and "the other Mary" and "Mary the mother of James and Joses" (in the Immanu'El universe, all three of them are the same person).

Shelomith bat Yoachim, the wife of Zebdi the fisherman and mother of Yakob and Yuannan, is the end result of countless hours wading through the gospel accounts of the women at the cross ... Salome is one of them, as is Mary's sister, and I blended the two because that made the most sense to me. My Shelom is Maryam's sister by adoption only, but that idea was not suggested by anything in Scripture. (I confess, I have some fairly convoluted family trees here, mostly because I was having a hard time figuring out how a Galilean fisherman would have access to the home of the High Priest.)

Elisheba bat Amram ("Aunt Elisheba"), the wife of Zechariah and mother of Yochanan, is my tribute to Elizabeth, the elderly kinswoman of Mary, who miraculously gave birth to John the Baptist (Luke 1). My Elisheba is also the elder sister of Yoachim (see previous note about convoluted family trees).

Maryam Magdalit is based on Mary Magdalene, from whom Jesus drove out seven demons, and who supported his mission financially (Luke 8) and was the first witness to his resurrection (John 20). She has made only a token appearance in the series so far but is the protagonist of the novel I am currently writing (Seven Demons).

Yochanah "Yunna" ha Shealtiel is a creation of my own imagination, although I also use her to reenact the story of the woman who was caught in the act of adultery (John 8).

Michal, Philip's sister, is pure fiction, as are Leah, Talyah, and Tamar. 

Shoshonah is Susanna, another of the women at the cross, though the Bible does not imply that she was Philip's wife. (Her story is told in more depth in Seven Demons.)

Rachel, Hannah, Sarah, and Rebekah, Yisu's sisters, are semi-fictional. The Bible does mention that Jesus had "sisters" living in Nazareth but does not say how many or what their names were, though "Hannah" may well have been one of them since tradition gives this as the name of Mary's mother ("Anna"). (Hannah, Sarah, and Rebekah were given those names in my novels because of a promise I made to my cousins Hannah, Sarah, and Rebekah.)

I think that pretty much exhausts the female characters.
Next blog: the Priests, Scribes, and Pharisees

Who Is That?

Yesterday I received this email from one of my readers:

Love All your books--am on the second read. Can you clarify who the characters are?

I immediately went into "should I or shouldn't I" mode. As I have explained in the "Note About the Names" that appears as front matter in all of my novels, I made a conscious decision years ago to stick with the Hebrew and Aramaic names rather than their English derivations. I did this for several reasons, not the least of which was the hope that this would allow readers to approach these stories without all of the preconceptions invariably associated with those oh-so-familiar English derivations.

This hope has proven to be as forlorn as Little Bo Peep sans sheep. Even I have succumbed to the convenience of using the E.D. name forms when discussing the books with friends and family. But this is a dangerous habit and I am reluctant to enable its development in others. You see, I am not writing biographies about Jesus and John and Joseph and Mary, historical figures regarding whom people have very strong opinions ... I am writing fiction about Yisu and Yochanan and Yosef and Maryam, people who might well have existed but probably were nothing at all like the characters in my novels. I can take certain liberties with fictional characters that I dare not take with historical figures.

Even so, most (if not all) of my readers seem to enjoy playing the "Who Is That?" game as they read. For this reason, I will attempt to "clarify." (In other words, here is the answer key that will never appear as an appendix to any of the novels unless a publisher sneaks it in over my protests.)

Today, let's clarify some characters whose names begin with the letter Y, since they tend to be the protagonists. 

Yeshua "Yisu" bar Yosef attempts to be as much like Jesus as this author can make him. However, since this author is a fallible human being, Yisu is also fallible and should not be listened to by anyone who is not willing to take his words and compare them to the red letter sections of the Bible. 

Yosef bar Yaakob represents my attempt to get inside the mind of Joseph the husband of Mary (see Matthew 2). This effort was probably doomed from the start since Joseph was a 1st-century Jewish man and I am a 21st-century American woman, but hey, it's called "fiction" for a reason.

Yaakob "Katan" bar Yosef translates to James the Less. There is a bit of disagreement concerning the identity of that Biblical figure; was he James the Just, half-brother of Jesus and purported author of the book of James, or was he James son of Alphaeus, one of the twelve apostles? Regardless of who you believe James the Less to have been, Yaakob Katan is the half-brother of Yisu, and will eventually become leader of the fledgling Church in Jerusalem (though that particular story has not yet been written).

Yochanan "Tabol" ben Zechariah grew out of my desire to better understand John the Baptist.

Yuannan "Yuani" bar Zebdi is hoping to grow up one day to be the Apostle John, a.k.a. Saint John the Revelator, a.k.a. the Beloved Disciple. However, the way I've written the character of Yuani (a teenage boy: arrogant, impetuous, and decidedly immature) there is a definite possibility that the real Son of Thunder will punch me in the face when I meet him in the next life.

Yakob "Kobi" bar Zebdi was inspired by James son of Zebedee, one of the twelve apostles. Since little is known of him other than his occupation (fisherman) his nickname ("Son of Thunder") and his death (beheaded by Herod), I filled in the gaps with amphibian DNA -- oh, wait, that was Jurassic Park. Never  mind.

Yoshiah bar Zebdi has never lived anywhere except in the imagination of the author. He was created to provide backstory for Yakob. Though I wrestled with the morality of creating a character for the sole purpose of killing him, morality lost.

Yoachim "Saba" "Dodi" ben Amram is based not on a Biblical figure but one from the church tradition that credits "Joachim" as the father of the Virgin Mary. However, the name Yoachim is the only thing I borrowed from that tradition. Everything else about the man was dreamed up, but if Saba never lived, he should have. At least, that's my opinion.

Today's blog (complete with spoilers) was brought to you by the letter Y.  
Next blog: the ladies of Immanu'El.

(You may submit requests for specific character clarifications in the Comments section.)

Seven Demons

When the dam bursts, it BURSTS. After nearly four years of pushing myself to write, I finished the last four chapters of Son of Man in just a few weeks, and immediately started on the next Immanu'El novel, Seven Demons. 

This is one I've been meaning to write since 2008, but the time was never right. Readers have repeatedly asked me when I am going to tell a story from the perspective of one of the women who followed Yeshua (a valid question, since the series description does say "men and women"), and Seven Demons is that story. Inspired by Luke 8:1-3, this novel explores the life of Maryam Migdalit, more commonly known today as Mary Magdalene.

The Migdalit did not live a PG-rated life, however. At some point during the Dark Ages, a rumor got started that she was a prostitute although there is nothing in the Bible to support that rumor. The Biblical truth is much worse, much more shocking--this is a woman from whom Jesus cast out not one but seven demons. Telling her story is a risk, a huge risk. I strongly suspect some readers will feel that I've broken an unwritten agreement with them when they read this book, especially if they throw it away before getting to Part Three (where Yeshua finally shows up and turns her world upside down...or rightside up, depending on how you look at it). 

I don't like unpleasant surprises, and I don't want to spring any on my readers. On the contrary, I want to prepare people for this book release well in advance. I thought I'd have a year or more to do this, but the book is moving along so quickly that I may not have that much time. Here, then, is a first draft of the Author's Note with which I have prefaced Seven Demons:

AUTHOR'S NOTE 

I long debated whether or not to write this book. Let the reader be forewarned: the material of which this garment is sewn is not suitable for children of any age. Neither, however, are many parts of the Bible itself. God does not gloss over the faults in his children; there are no hidden skeletons in His closet. 

Certain chapters of this book were originally part of Brothers, but the content was so disturbing that it had to be removed. It did not at all fit into the mood crafted in that novel; both Katan and Yisu are possessed of an innocence incompatible with the horrors that Satan delights in inflicting upon the world. Our world is a less innocent one than theirs. In our world, people are entertained by horror. 

I do not want this book to be entertaining. 

On the other hand, I cannot tell Maryam’s story honestly and still remain innocent. There is nothing—nothing—innocent about demonic possession. In a culture that has denied the reality of such things, dismissing them as mere superstition, medicating them or allowing them to live homeless on the corners of our society—in such a culture as ours, demonic possession has become mere entertainment. I, however, believe it to be the reality for many tormented and discarded souls. In this belief, I am in good company: both Jesus and Paul attest to the reality of demons and, while Paul may have been mistaken, it would be the height of arrogance for me to accuse Jesus of credulity. 

For that reason, and many others, I have deviated from the usual format of my storytelling. What happened to Maryam is not the past. It is the present. It is now.

You probably won't see too many blog posts from me for a few months, for this novel is begging to be born. Whether the world will embrace it, leave it to cry on someone's doorstep, or throw it into a dumpster in the middle of the night...this remains to be seen. I am only the midwife.

New Release! Son of Man (Immanu'El Book 4)

The cover photo is one I took in Nazareth in 2014.

Only four years in the making...
Only one year overdue...
Son of Man, sequel to The Carpenter and Brothers, explores the last decade of the "missing years" of Luke's gospel. You can read an excerpt at http://dlmaynard.com/whats-new.html or order your own paperback copy by clicking the SON OF MAN link at the top of this page. Prefer to read on your electronic device? Visit me at Amazon to download the Kindle version.

And now for the rest of the story...

As my masthead warns, a lack of blogging on my part is usually a good sign. It means I'm writing a novel instead of writing ABOUT a novel. Before I jump right into the next novel, though, a few words about this one.

Son of Man is the hardest thing I've ever written, and in the process of wrestling with it, I also found myself wrestling with God more than once. The AUDACITY of thinking for a moment that I could write an entire novel from the p-o-v of Yeshua... and yet, here it is. You can blame Dr. Bob Tuttle for that, at least in part, since his comments about Brothers encouraged me not to give up on this book when I was on the verge of quitting.

Even so, it might have taken me another four years to finish it if not for the constant nagging frequent reminders from my new friend Susan Pitchford. (Autocorrect is desperate to turn your name into "Pitchfork," Susan -- I find that oddly appropriate!) She became my friend when she contacted me via my website to ask why I hadn't published Son of Man by the promised deadline; I told her if she wanted to read it that badly, she'd have to help me finish it, and she did! (Let it never be said that I don't read my fan mail.) 

When it came down to the last chapter, I had to pause in my writing to lead a Bible study at my home church. This hurt. I was "in the zone" and the words were flowing; the last thing I wanted to do was stop. God honored my faithfulness, however, and the conversation we had at that study provided the focus for the final scene. The kingdom IS wherever the King reigns, and I DO want Him to reign in my heart. Thank you, Led, Patty, Bev, Rob, and Ray for helping me remember that. 

Thanks also to the many friends who have prayed for me and supported me as I've pursued (and completed) my seminary degree, visited the Holy Land, and helped plant a church ... all while writing this novel. What an AMAZING four years it's been, and I couldn't have done it without you! Connie Matejek, Kristen and Chad Grissom, Scooter and Dawn Morrison, Theresa Bailey, Bill and Nancy Hall, the aptly-named Dr. Joy Moore, Dr. Bill Patrick, Dr. Rick Gray, Dr. Brian Russell, and so many more ... You have been a blessing to me, and to whatever extent this novel blesses others, please know that you have blessed them as well!