Why is story such a great way to share truth?
We live in story, not in ideology. Everything we think is cloaked in story, including our interpretation of a stone, a tree, our neighbor, the Bible, and God. It’s said in psychology that the human brain can only think in story. All is metaphor.
This is surely why Jesus used fiction as his primary form of communication. It could even be said that all nonfiction is just fiction because even it is just an interpretation of events, ideas and relationships. I think we’ll have a much better picture of what truth actually is after we die. Until then, we live in a version of truth called story. Or so they say.
What do you hope readers will learn from The 49th Mystic?
The true nature of love and how we might walk in that love. Everything else means nothing without it.
The next novel in this set is only a few months away. What can readers expect?
In many ways, Rise of the Mystics is the second half of the story, so expect the second half to trump the first half in every way. And the last half of that second book brings us to a staggering climax that few will predict.
If Rachelle is challenged in The 49th Mystic—and she is—she will be brought to the end of herself in Rise of the Mystics. But the story ends in radically good news, I promise you that. And it’s all I will promise.
You have described these books as “the most important novels I have ever written.” Why are these books so personal to you?
I’ve learned much about life since I first penned the Circle series fifteen years ago. The 49th Mystic is the culmination of all I have written. Interestingly, Allen Arnold, the publisher of that first series, said the same thing after reading The 49th Mystic.
It is said that our challenges become our greatest teachers, and I would say that this story most closely resembles all the challenges and all the breakthroughs I’ve experienced in my life to this point. It’s very personal, but it’s also universal. We all share the same essential journey through life, from blindness to sight, from darkness to light, from fear to love.
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The 49th Mystic
Beyond the Circle #1
Ted Dekker
Revell
Some say the great mystery of how one can live in two worlds at once died with Thomas Hunter many years ago. Still others that the gateway to that greater reality was and is only the stuff of dreams.
They are wrong.
In the small town of Eden, Utah, a blind girl named Rachelle Matthews is about to find out just how wrong.
When a procedure meant to restore Rachelle’s sight goes awry, she begins to dream of another world so real that she wonders if Earth might only be a dream experienced when she falls asleep in that reality.
She is the prophesied one who must find and recover five ancient seals–in both worlds–before powerful enemies destroy her. If Rachelle succeeds in her quest, peace will reign. If she fails, both worlds will forever be locked in darkness.
So begins a two-volume saga of high stakes and a mind-bending quest to find an ancient path that will save humanity. The clock is ticking; the end rushes forward.
Ready? Set?
Dream.
COMING IN OCTOBER…
Rise of the Mystics
Beyond the Circle #2
Ted Dekker
Revell
Some say the great mystery of how one can live in two worlds at once died with Thomas Hunter many years ago. Still others that the gateway to that greater reality was and is only the stuff of dreams. They are all wrong.
Rachelle Matthews, who grew up in the small town of Eden, Utah, discovered just how wrong when she dreamed and awoke in another world. There she learned that she was the 49th Mystic, the prophesied one, tasked with finding five ancient seals before powerful enemies destroy her. If Rachelle succeeds in her quest, peace will reign. If she fails, the world will forever be locked in darkness.
In The 49th Mystic, Rachelle found the first three of those five seals through great peril and mind-altering adventure. But two seals remain hidden and the fate of both worlds hangs in their balance.
As Rachelle Matthews sits deep in a dungeon, Vlad Smith is just getting started. Thomas Hunter’s world is about to be turned inside out. The mystics say that there is no defense against the Fifth Seal–but finding it will cost Rachelle everything.
So begins the final volume of high stakes in one girl’s quest to find an ancient path that will save humanity. The clock is ticking; the end rushes forward.
Ready? Set?
Dream.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/080072979X/?tag=familyficti09-20