Check out an interview with the author... The Gatekeeper’s Descendants by Johanna Frank (Interview & #Giveaway) #christianfantasy #yalit @celebrate_lit

ONCE UPON A TIME, THERE WAS A CURSE

Hesitant to enter the kingdom, spirited and stubborn Pipiera grudgingly accepts a task to save a fledgling earth-dwelling boy, Matthew, from sabotaging his own future. Challenged with the pull of an obsessive emotion from her past life, she’s unequipped to handle the mission, let alone discern the perplexing interference from a rebel–an unearthly soul who takes great interest in both she and the boy and who relentlessly seeks to capture their affection.

As Matthew’s world spins throughout the cosmos, his mother’s world churns at his bedside while she awaits an unknowing outcome.

Who overcomes?

Who ends up cursed forever?

The Gatekeeper’s Descendants is an easy-to-read, thought-inspiring fantasy. The story weaves together adventure in the afterlife with growing faith and family drama.

BEAUTIFUL… TWISTED… LIVELY…

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What inspired you to write The Gatekeeper’s Descendants?

A number of things, really. But the primary inspiration came from a story my mother once shared. One sunny and warm Sunday after church, a direct ancestor of ours was viciously murdered by his own neighbor on his front porch, with an axe. (I know, horrible, right?) Rumors of hauntings carried through the generations. The murderous neighbor claimed his victim haunted him day and night. Years later, the ghost of an old woman, the victim’s mother, simply rocked in a chair behind the front porch following her own death.

It was the notion of unresolved emotions that got me thinking - just what happens if they are taken to the grave? Might emotions follow their owner, the one who has kept them held tight and secure for so long? Might they somehow get passed down to following generations? If those rumours of haunting were true, was it the traumatic wounds from anger, guilt and unforgiveness that kept the haunters tied to an earthly realm?

Months after my teenage daughter died of osteosarcoma, I too suffered intense emotions, predominantly grief. I would have given anything to have her return to me, somehow. But in a dream so profound, she came to me as a young child, crying. Wanting to come back, feeling terrible that she had left. She loved God and was a Christian, so I was confident in all those joyous people surrounding her, coaxing her to go along with them. I gave her encouragement, and in this dream, I confidently reassured her. “It’s alright, you can go with them. I’ll be along later. Don’t worry honey.” Psychologists and dream interpreters might have a heyday with this, but it certainly gifted me pause for thought. God’s ways are clearly not our ways and often can feel quite the opposite.

The Gatekeeper’s Descendants is not a story about my child. Nor is it about my ancestors. Directly anyway. Rather, the concept of simply imagining what that lively realm lying right alongside us might be like, as we journey on in our own earthly tours, was definitely a prompt. I must confide that although a fantasized environment was necessary for the story, I used a variety of Christian allegories where I felt they were fitting.

What one piece of advice would Pipiera give?

The advice she learned herself in the book – wisdom is truly meaningless unless you learn to digest it and then take your newfound lessons for a spin.

What part or aspect of this story do you love the most?

The idea that our lives truly are journeys, that we have a magnificent home awaiting us, a place where generations can unite. It’s the big picture, the really big picture, the one that counts – a free gift should we accept it. Keeping this in mind makes the small stuff disappear and clears up more room for laughter and joy in our lives.

What advice would you give to aspiring authors?

Keep going. In your writing, be true to yourself. You have something to offer and if you are true to yourself, you will set it free. I used a pen name, not so much for unanimity, but to allow myself some room to breathe. To write without the boundaries I’ve placed upon myself over the years, to let thoughts flow freely without judgement. Sounds strange perhaps – but it was freeing.

What are you writing next?

Already started book #2! The Gatekeeper’s Descendants will be a series, although I haven’t made that official in the book’s metadata. This book #2 will include the same characters, only ten years later and set in the early 1980s. I have some intense plans for book #3 as well – but I am not quite ready to share.