DiAnn Mills @DiAnnMills
Guest Post by Dennis Bailey @DennisBailey
Hello, I’m Dennis Bailey and I’m the author of The Boy Who Cried Christmas. I’d like to thank DiAnn for inviting me to be a guest on her blog and for giving me this opportunity to spotlight my latest Christmas novel. It’s the story of a skeptical young boy swept back in time to the doorstep of Christianity. There, in addition to an encounter with the newborn Messiah, the boy’s life is threatened along the way by both human and nonhuman antagonists before finally being returned to the present. But like the character from Aesop’s famous fable about a boy and a wolf, when Logan gets back he can’t get anyone to believe his story. And that’s when the fun really begins.
I wanted to write a Christmas story. I just didn’t know when. To my surprise, it would turn out to be a lot sooner than I expected, the circumstances of which might interest you. Two years ago in December, I was working on my second novel, an apocalyptic thriller, when I was overcome by what I can only describe as a severe case of Christmas fever. An idea popped into my head for a story about a spoiled brat who’s transported back in time to learn the true meaning of Christmas.
Despite knowing better—one of the cardinal rules of writing is to never start a new project before finishing the one you’re working on—it was too late. I’d been bitten by the Christmas writing bug. I worked feverishly to try and complete the manuscript in time for a December 2019 release, but had to postpone it for another year for revisions. I also knew I needed a twist from the often overused “protagonist travels back in time to learn lesson” formula of similar novels. I’ll leave it to you, the reader, to judge whether the delay and the twist were worth the wait.
I suspect many readers will not be surprised to learn that the part of my protagonist, Logan, was patterned after the title character from “A Charlie Brown Christmas.” Both are the same age and suffer from the same disillusionment about the true meaning of Christmas. But where Charlie’s revelation comes from hearing the Christmas story—Linus’s memorable recitation from the Gospel of Luke—I wanted Logan to have a more personal experience with the Messiah. Enter the character of Robert, and a journey back to Bethlehem. In using the vehicle of time travel, I wanted Logan to hear the message of Christmas and bring back a firsthand account to share with the world.
My hope is that in reading this book the reader will experience a small taste of the wonder and excitement, the childlike faith that brought the Christmas story to life for Logan. The story hasn’t changed in over two thousand years, despite the best efforts of scoffers to ridicule it.
What Christmas truth have you learned this year?
Merry Christmas – Dennis Bailey
Dennis Bailey is a retired police detective who turned in his gun and badge for a monitor and keyboard. He is an ardent student of the Bible who felt the calling of God on his heart to take that learning and use it to further His glory. Dennis’s first novel, Army of God, a story about how the animals of Noah’s Ark rose up to defend it against an invading army, is a Readers’ Favorite 2020 Gold Medal Award Winner.
Thanks, Dennis, I really enjoyed the story!
