Quest for the King (45 page)

But Andy, at least, was not content. "Where did the tower in The Tower of
Geburah come from?" he asked. "Obviously it must have some kind of history."
I began to worry. Andy was right. I had just invented the building. The tower
had come "out of the blue" as I had needed it. It had seemed convenient.
What a poor job I had done! I felt resentful. Was I condemned to worry about
details of that sort? When you write a series of stories, you have to keep more
details in mind, something I am very poor at, and therefore I am liable to
make multiple errors. I wished Andy had never raised the question, or other
questions he asked. Perhaps I should not have presumed to write fiction of
any kind. I wasn't cut out for it.

But the questions continued to haunt me, bringing into existence, eventually, the Archives of Anthropos. As one book followed another, I felt more
and more the pull of what had been controlling my thinking all along. All
our thinking is based on the mythologies of our culture. My "mythology" was
no mythology. Scripture was that for me. My heroes lived their lives from
Genesis to Revelation. They filled my thoughts. Other stories were evaluated
by Scripture's stories.

Gaal (Hebrew for "shepherd") had been the Christ-figure in the Anthropos
books all along. Thus his death (in Gaal the Conqueror), and in Quest for the
King his birth, became increasingly important. If Anthropos is about humankind, then the incarnation, death and resurrection of Jesus the Messiah must
become central.

As the series developed, I also chose to draw an increasing contrast be tween the prophet and the sorcerer (as seen especially in The Sword Bearer).
To me there is a vast difference between the two. I know that the power of
the Holy Spirit is a reality, but charismatics and noncharismatics alike sometimes use that power, whether in preaching the gospel or in healing the sick,
to glorify themselves rather than God and to demonstrate their own power.
To me, that constitutes the essence of witchcraft.

The Iron Sceptre continued the time line (both in Anthropos and the "real"
world) begun in Tower. But in The Sword Bearer I began to take on many of
the vexing questions about the prior history of Anthropos that Andy had set
before me. Gaal the Conqueror then became a sort of sequel to The Sword
Bearer.

Thus the books in the series came to be written out of "chronological"
order. To help readers, IVP has begun to number the books properly. So if
you wish to read them in the least confusing arrangement, follow the sequence listed on the back cover.

As you can tell from having read Quest for the King, this fifth book in the
series introduces a significant departure from the other books. While it does
follow Gaal the Conqueror chronologically in regard to the "real" world, it does
not in regard to Anthropos. The children, Uncle John and Aunt Eleanor now
find themselves in a period of Anthropos's history that falls between books
I and 2, that is, between The Sword Bearer and Gaal the Conqueror. This twist
in the two time lines may provide you some mindbending delights, but I also
seek to show in this way a God who is beyond the constraints of time in
achieving his will.

I do not know whether there will be another children's book, though I do
have a final one in mind. If it is ever written, it will continue the theme of
prophet-sorcerer that has characterized the books so far. But I have many
more adult Christian books in my head that I want to get on paper. Besides,
I travel and preach. And who knows what each day may bring to any one of
us?

Jesus once said, "As long as it is day, we must do the work of him who sent
me. Night is coming, when no one can work." I have had two heart attacks
fairly close together. Survival is no longer my prime goal in life. Trying to do
whatever my Master wants is. But, who knows? I really would like to have a
crack at another children's book.