FLASHPOINT, by Frank Creed

Day 7 Saturday

Every time I come across Biblical speculative fiction, I am awed. Writers, such as Frank Creed, take certain liberties that most conventional Christian authors usually would stay away from. However, I find it refreshing. For such a long time Christian fiction was relegated to nothing more than amplified Sunday School lessons, or historical romance. While some people may find these enjoyable, I always wonder what happened to the story. It's like a great story came down from heaven, rested on an author's desk, and they took it and squeezed it into their own tiny concepts of what it had to be. Biblical speculative fiction allows God to work “outside of the box”.

Am I saying that you can formulate Biblical doctrine around a work like FLASHPOINT? Not at all, however, you can see at least another perspective that exceeds what we have been taught as doctrine. Founded on the Word, FLASHPOINT offers another possible viewpoint of things. We are challenged to re-think our own views about end times. We are made aware of a God that is larger than our doctrines, yet still able to be true to His Word. So, I find FLASHPOINT and like works, to be inspiring, to help me get a glimpse of an infinite God.

FLASHPOINT begins in the year 2036. How many of us actually believe that the Lord's coming will delay to or past that date? I for one do not. Then again, what if my time table is based upon human dogma more than God's greatness? In an email Frank Creed discussed this with me. I challenge each of you to see what he is saying and take it to heart. He said, that although the Jews had the Scripture and the prophecies concerning Jesus, they missed it. Is it not then possible that we, having these same Scriptures and even 27 more books added to it, are looking at things wrong? Are we going to be as arrogant as the Pharisees to basically tell God how He must fulfill these prophecies? What if our understanding is just as flawed as their's was and God chooses to do something different than we anticipated? Wouldn't you at least want to be open to those possibilities? Wouldn't you rather let God be God and let Him unfold things the way He has ordained? Wouldn't you rather be ready? Frank and I differ, at least doctrinally speaking, as to how things will turn out. Yet both of us are open to whatever God has in store. In the meantime, we reach out to the lost. That is our job. We aren't called to understand and teach the mind of God in detail, only as it touches us and we know it to be true. There is one thing we can stick with and be certain, Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God. God has built His church upon this Rock. God has condemned all mankind, but through Jesus, offers to all, His unfathomable mercies and forgiveness. If we accept Jesus as Lord and Savior, then God is our Father, the Spirit bears witness with out spirit about this. So we struggle in the Spirit to allow Him to make us more like His Son. We do this because we love and want to please our Heavenly Father, and we do this because we want those around us to join the family and find this forgiveness, mercy an infinite love. When God speaks to your heart and you receive Jesus as your personal Savior, when we allow His Holy Spirit to baptize us with His power, well, there's a word for that, FLASHPOINT.

Oh, by the way, don't forget to check out the beautiful video teaser on the CFRB Book Trailer page. I didn't make it, but strongly suspect Cynthia MacKinnon put this masterpiece together. You'll love it. Then, if you haven't already done so, run out and buy the book.

Sold with the big boys at Amazon Books

Don't miss out on checking this site at Make Room for FLASHPOINT

Yellow 30 Sci-Fi's July Feature book and 2008 Pluto nominee
Feature Author, Frank Creed

You also may be interested in the Yellow30 Sci-Fi review
Their review of FLASPOINT

FLASHPOINT, by Frank Creed

Day 6 Monday

Being “re-formed” is something that Creed has designed, and mentions only in passing in the first few chapters. Later he goes into more detail about this, basically stating that the process of re-formation is like being hard-wired to a mega-computer and having a lot of information transferred from the computer to the brain. Think of it as a kind of programming if you will

As Frank Creed mentions in his interview, re-formation doesn't replace the workings of the Holy Spirit. It simply enables you to do things otherwise impossible. For instance, when man was first created he used 100% of his mind. Adam tended the whole Garden of Eden, to us an impossible feat. When Adam sinned, I believe God began numbing down our personal “mindware”. The reason is simple. We had access to some things that would only destroy us faster. God protected us by making it more and more difficult to use our minds the way He originally intended. I believe it was Einstein who said that the most intelligent people in the world use less than 10% of their brain. Re-formation alters this, bringing back into alignment with God's personal plan for us.

That being said, you have to realize there is “re-formation”, which is used by Christians in the Body of Christ, and there is the scientific unleashing of the evil in man by those who have rejected Christ. Both begin to utilize more of their minds than one thought possible. The difference is that in the latter case evil is unleashed in its most potent form. Imagine an evil being with almost limitless brainpower and you'll get the idea of the threat these pose. Yet, with Christians, the “mindware” works along with its original design, guided by the Holy Spirit. Think of Peter speaking to thousands at the day of Pentecost, or Philip, who after baptizing the Ethiopian Eunuch, was whisked away by the Holy Spirit and found preaching in the city of Azotus, think of the glorified bodies we will one day receive and you have an idea what is really happening in the re-formation process. It is a technological advancement that, in the lives of Christians, not only infuses them with great knowledge and ability, but also lines the person's thinking up with the Holy Spirit, allowing them to be further utilized by God. The concept is awesome. I personally doubt this will ever take place because we are so sinful it would only serve to drag us down. Yet, for the story, it works great and makes for a truly fantastic ride.

Sold with the big boys at Amazon Books

Don't miss out on checking this site at Make Room for FLASHPOINT

Yellow 30 Sci-Fi's July Feature book and 2008 Pluto nominee
Feature Author, Frank Creed

You also may be interested in the Yellow30 Sci-Fi review
Their review of FLASPOINT

FLASHPOINT, by Frank Creed

Day 5 Thursday

One of the neatest and craziest things you'll find in FLASHPOINT is the creation of various technological advances and street slang. How one comes up with the way people will talk in 29 years is beyond me, but it works. Com-vision and brain wave technology are just two of the technological advances that Creed introduces to give the story an amazing power. The challenge, he once told me, is not in the creation of such technology or street jargon, but trying to do so before it comes about and then gets obsolete. So, what Frank Creed has done in FLASHPOINT is nothing short of a marvel in itself, on those grounds alone.

He seems to take the cellphone society of today, mingle it with our passion for the Internet, and then tweaks it a bit so that we have, what he calls “com-vision”. Forget camera phones, which after 40 years of promising, have finally made it to the market, com-vision seems to be a visual, voice or keypad system of cruising the web. In a way it's like that flip phone you have, but much, much more sophisticated. Only Frank's not done yet.

We are introduced to “brain wave” technology, the ability to wear a suit that will integrate with a person's brain, giving them abilities that those without BW suits do not have. This is called “mindware”. You're going to find out who invented the BW technology, and further developed it, as well as the existence of at least two different levels of BW suits.

So what does that mean to you the reader? It means that you are going to go on the ride of your life. You'll find Calamity Kid and Legacy battling it out with the Neroes after the fashion of Jackie Chan or Bruce Lee, with a mixture of John Wayne and Clint Eastwood thrown in for good measure. Oddly enough, the mixture gives you a swashbuckling feel, which is another genre altogether. And that's just the Sandmen. There's websurfing for readers to enjoy in a way that you may never have thought possible.

As I'm writing this I'm reminded of the movie “The Matrix”. Everything I've said is similar to that, only with FLASHPOINT, Frank Creed takes off where The Matrix left of or got completely wrong. There's no guessing which world is real and which is not. The Body of Christ has been forced Underground, but, like in the Matrix, it is far from docile. The Matrix talks about a prophesied messiah, only Neo doesn't know about this, or that he's supposed to be this messiah. In FLASHPOINT, the Messiah isn't someone we're waiting for. It's someone who already came, even Jesus. We serve Him with all our being out of our love for Him and all His people. We do not walk blindly around wondering if this or that is going to happen. For while this physical war is being fought, and even the spiritual war, the ultimate battle was already won by Jesus on the cross. Now that's something to inspire love for Him.

I have the privilege of having the name David, so I can relate to the ancient King of Israel, and I can relate to Calamity Kid. We share the same name, the same love for our Lord. Hopefully I will be used as greatly as my namesake or even as Calamity Kid (although I don't see myself spinning through the air over the enemy while “napping” Neroes. I see myself as someone who can put a few words together and make people think, make them consider the wonderful gift of God's grace in His son. - David Brollier

Sold with the big boys at Amazon Books

Don't miss out on checking this site at Make Room for FLASHPOINT

Yellow 30 Sci-Fi's July Feature book and 2008 Pluto nominee
Feature Author, Frank Creed

You also may be interested in the Yellow30 Sci-Fi review
Their review of FLASPOINT

FLASHPOINT, by Frank Creed

Day 4 Wednesday

I thought it would be good for CFRB to take a closer look at a couple of points that seem to be, at least, doctrinally confusing. Frank was eager to help us here. - David Brollier

CFRB - Frank, in describing the Body of Christ and using the term "reformation" you seem to be doing a couple of things that throws me off. David and Jen Williams are Christians, but according to FLASHPOINT they aren't part of the Body of Christ. That was one point that bothered me.

Frank - Thanks for asking about the Body of Christ. I'd spelled out the distinction in a rough-draft early-chapter, but learned the scene was what reviewers call a data dump. I had to take out the scene and redistribute the details.

I hint that the organized saints in the underground work under the name "The Body of Christ". Later, in a late scene with a character called Matron, the topic comes up. Matron explains to Calamity Kid that his parents were in a tough spot.

I think in my rewrites I lost the detail that believers still living in the One State are made to sign citizenship documents denying belief in any "word of God".

I've made a note to clear this up early-on in War of Attrition: Book Two of the Underground.

CFRB - When you added the mindware "reformation" thing into the mix it was almost as if you were replacing the work of the Holy Spirit in a person's life with human technology. Help us out here. Why did you opt for going this route in telling your story? Did you feel it was necessary?

Frank - The Holy Spirit's in the lives of Christians still in the One State--in the lives of those in David & Jen's home church that was busted--just the same as He's in ours. The Holy Spirit does not make us three times stronger than a normal human, or five times faster, or upload the entire Bible instantly into our memory, or allow us to understand and speak most languages, or turn our muscles and nerves into targeting systems for projectile weapons. Early-on in War of Attrition: Book Two of the underground I better explain the concept of reformation. God acted into time and space both at the Fall of man, and at the Great Flood. At the Fall man's relationship to the world around him, God, and himself were changed. At the Great Flood God changed, at the very least, the human lifespan. In War of Attrition Lightfast explains to Calamity Kid that the effect of the Fall and Great Flood on human beings was like dropping one of his delicate laboratory instruments, that he has to recalibrate.

Here is another related point that other reviewers had a problem with. The Spiritual cannot be apprehended by physical means. Reformation is not an injection of spirituality; the process nudges the body back into better alignment with the soul, making us more like he'd intended us to be.

I did explain in Flashpoint that God was giving back a little bit of what it was like before the Fall. This is very deliberate, and I cannot give away the secret until the last book in the series. I only have two sequels outlined, so I don't know how long it will be before I can tell you how and why God is doing this so deliberately. Can't blow the big finish! Hope this helps!

CFRB – Thank you for your time, Frank, and for a truly remarkable book. I think any reader who likes a little action in their life and doesn't read FLASHPOINT is going to be missing out on a lot. I know that I'm ready to read the 2nd book already. - David Brollier

Sold with the big boys at Amazon Books

Don't miss out on checking this site at Make Room for FLASHPOINT

Yellow 30 Sci-Fi's July Feature book and 2008 Pluto nominee
Feature Author, Frank Creed

You also may be interested in the Yellow30 Sci-Fi review
Their review of FLASPOINT

FLASHPOINT, by Frank Creed

Day 3 Tuesday

We meet some fascinating characters along the way. We are first introduced to David and Jen Williams in a way that depicts them just as we are, in totally flawed humanity, fearful and weak. They have one thing going for them, although when we meet them it seems to be that very thing that causes all their problems. That thing is that they are Christians. So, flaws and all, Jesus is their righteousness. However, it is because of this they are enemies of One State, the universal society that has taken over the world.

They are just about to get captured or worse when we meet Legacy. He makes his entrance with all the bravado of an old western gunslinger or one of those kung fu characters, or maybe a combination of both. What he does is, well, you'll have to read it for yourselves. Legacy, we learn, is a “Sandman” working for a “Muscle Cell” of the Body of Christ in Chicago. He's their protector, guide, and, by gosh if he isn't their uncle as well.

As you read FLASHPOINT you will get the feeling of a certain freshness of these characters. They're not the stamped images of many characters you find in other novels. These people are real, well, as real as they can be. That's why I started this tour with a message from Calamity Kid. If you'll read the first post again you'll see just how real Calamity Kid feels. This is that very special element that Frank Creed carries throughout the book. I hope you come to love these characters as much as I do. I know you'll love the story.

Sold with the big boys at Amazon Books

Don't miss out on checking this site at Make Room for FLASHPOINT

Yellow 30 Sci-Fi's July Feature book and 2008 Pluto nominee
Feature Author, Frank Creed

You also may be interested in the Yellow30 Sci-Fi review
Their review of FLASPOINT

FLASHPOINT, by Frank Creed

FLASHPOINT, by Frank Creed

Day 2 Monday

It's the year 2036 and Christian fundamentalists (called “fundies”) have been branded as terrorists. The story starts out with Dave and Jen Williams, who have escaped capture by the One State government with the aid of their father. The two teens can only see the dismal future that lay ahead of them if caught by the One State government. Although the setting is the future and we have all kinds of toys to play with...we'll get to that later...right now Chicago looks like a dismal place. It looks a whole lot like the world outside your window, and I suspect that's one of the attractions of the book.

Creed takes some artistic license with certain doctrinal things like, “The Body of Christ”, “walking in the Spirit” and what he calls “Re-formation”. If the reader is willing to understand that this is just a means to create a vehicle for the story they will love this book. Through even these artistic vehicles Creed is able to introduce some basic truths about the Christian life.

There are several really good books I've read in the past year that attempt to jar Christians out of the normal way they think of things. They offer different, and often bizarre explanations to replace the moldy old teachings of many denominations. Funny, however, that they don't seem to stray from the teachings of Christ, which were much older, and always relevant. Could it be that the Christians today have turned Christianity into a religion and not the family relationship it is supposed to be? FLASHPOINT is one of these novels, challenging us to rethink the things we've been taught, view things from a perspective that we haven't thought of doing so before. It is by far one of the best, most engaging, end times scenarios I've read.

One of the things I like about FLASHPOINT is Creed reintroduces the reader to the promise of both revival and persecution in the last days. Pick up most other end times novels and they're real big on the revival part, but sorely lacking in the persecution area. The teaching of “the Rapture” today has gotten to the point where a lot of people in the church aren't busy serving the Lord. Instead they're sitting on their butts waiting for God to whisk them away from this horrible world. Not only is this attitude lazy, it totally ignores the many millions of people struggling for a hot-seat in Hell. Jesus told us to “Occupy until I come.” So, saints, prepare for battle, not rapture...unless you really do want to get left behind.

Sold with the big boys at Amazon Books

Don't miss out on checking this site at Make Room for FLASHPOINT

Yellow 30 Sci-Fi's July Feature book and 2008 Pluto nominee
Feature Author, Frank Creed

You also may be interested in the Yellow30 Sci-Fi review
Their review of FLASPOINT

FLASHPOINT, by Frank Creed

Day 1 Sunday

CFRB is going to kick off the tour of FLASHPOINT, by Frank Creed using his post from Shout Life. It will give you a taste for his style, and hopefully get you to run out and buy the book. - David Brollier

Calamity Kid, here. Don't worry, these Israeli Military Industries nine-millimeter Baby Eagles are loaded with tranquilizer rounds. We're ordered to love our enemies, not send them to Hell before they get a second chance, so I pack a variety of non-lethal weapons. This is a spiritual battle y'all, not one of flesh and blood.

They call me a Sandman because I only put people to sleep. I'm the main character of Flashpoint: Book One of the Underground, and War of Attrition: Book Two of the Underground. Read about yours truly nappin' anti-Christian fundi-hatin' Neros who arrest and lock-up believers in the dark streets of 2036 Chicago. Naw, not on my watch.

Bad news is, you can meet my author in Shoutlife's author section. I'm written by a slave-drivin' workaholic who runs under the pen name Frank Creed. It's a good thing this ain't film, and he ain't a director, or he'd have run over-budget a decade ago. Frank's a perfectionist, always rewriting. Calamity do this: no-no do it that way: Calamity, do the scene again but raise an eyebrow: Calamity, fetch me some coffee: write my bio. A real jerk this guy. Tell him he owes me twenty bucks for lunch yesterday.

Hold on, Frank's publisher asked me to read you something--that data chip's around here somewhere. If Frank ordered me to do this I'd tell him the chip fell out of my pocket that time he almost got me smoked by One-State peacekeepers. Good thing for him that Cynthia at The Writer's Café Press is a real sweetie. Cyn's the only reason I haven't napped Frank's muse with a tranq round, and dumped her on a plane to New Zealand. Well, I cant find it. Just Google the loser's name and click on the first result. Don't forget my $20!

Sold with the big boys at Amazon Books

Don't miss out on checking this site at Make Room for FLASHPOINT

Yellow 30 Sci-Fi's
July Feature book and
2008 Pluto nominee Feature Author, Frank Creed