Ted Dekker
Ted Remko Dekker | |
|---|---|
| Occupation | Novelist |
| Genre | Christian fiction, High Fantasy, Magical Realism, Romance, Thriller, Psychological thriller, Horror, Mystery |
| Notable works | Circle Trilogy Thr3e |
| Website | |
| http://www.TedDekker.com/ | |
Ted Dekker (born 1961) is an Indonesian-born American author of several fiction novels. His works are typically classified as contemporary Christian literature but span a variety of genres, from horror to fantasy to romance. Currently under contract to Thomas Nelson, Dekker's Thr3e was the recipient of the 2004 ECPA Christian Book Award for Fiction.
Biography
Early life
Most of what Dekker has revealed regarding his past can be found in his semi-autobiographical non-fiction title The Slumber of Christianity, which concerns misplaced values in the modern-day church. The child of missionaries, Dekker had little time to spend with his parents and recounts struggles for acceptance and happiness even at a young age.
After he moved to the United States and married Lee Ann Dekker, he shook off his Christian beliefs and became successful in the San Diego business world. He eventually ventured $70,000 on Comfort Care, a risky program entirely devoted to serving adults with incontinence by delivering diapers to them with privacy. Though the ambition thrived, Dekker writes that he was "miserable", and, four years later, Medicare stopped funding the program.
Acceptance of Christianity
Dekker moved his family to Colorado Springs to live with his parents, where he re-established financial stability by purchasing floundering businesses, propelling them to achievement with positive motivation, and selling them. He recounts his conversion back to Christianity as his coming to a "simple realization" while listening to a cassette tape on Creationism, and devotes a passage of the book to his experiences with God.
"...[F]or no particular reason, the verse I was reading seemed to leap from the page and sear my mind... The words flowed into my mind with stunning power, and I began to cry softly. Heaven was raining on me... My Father was talking to me." (The Slumber of Christianity, Chapter 4)
Dekker was faced with the death of his brother, Danny, in 1997. Though he had been before, the power of this experience compelled him to write his first novel, Heaven's Wager, which hopefully analyzes death with belief in Heaven. He wrote two follow-ups to Heaven's Wager, When Heaven Weeps and Thunder of Heaven, not caring if they were published. Dekker believes that losing Danny has given him a different perspective of eternity and his faith. He has since been writing full-time from Austin, Texas.
Writing career
Dekker's The Martyr's Song trilogy was initially rejected for being "too edgy" for the Christian market (containing very depressing scenarios of hopelessness before redemption), and he introduces When Heaven Weeps with an experience in which he was confronted by an incensed woman who berated him for writing "such awful things". It was not until 2000 that he was first published, in Blessed Child, which he co-authored with Bill Bright. The book was quickly followed with A Man Called Blessed and the publication of his first three books. By summer of 2003, Dekker had six novels, including Blink, in print.
His breakthrough novel[citation needed] was his seventh to be published, the award-winning Thr3e, a plot-driven thriller centered on Kevin Parson, a seminary student taunted by a serial killer who uses phone calls and riddles to determine whether or not he will detonate explosives. Thr3e was later adapted into a film, which was released in January, 2007, and, like most Christian indie films, was generally panned by critics.
In 2004, Dekker released the Circle Trilogy, the novels Black, Red, and White. All three books were launched throughout the same year. The arc tells the story of Thomas Hunter, who lives in two different realities, and combines suspense, political intrigue and C. S. Lewis-inspired, Christian analogy-infused worlds, with some influence from The Matrix, as well.
In 2006, he revamped one of his earlier novels, Showdown, and released two additional sequels, Saint and Sinner (fall 2008). All three books loosely follow the Circle Trilogy. Additionally, a film based on House is scheduled for release fall, 2008.
Dekker's most recent works have been Skin, released on April 3, 2007, graphic novels based on the Circle Trilogy drawn by Matthew Hansen and Bob Strachan, and the The Lost Books series, which continues the ongoing saga left off by Saint. The The Lost Books series were completed in April 2008, and the entire story arc by an enigmatic fourth entry in the Circle series. Little has been revealed in regards to Green other than that it will bring the series to a "full circle".
Writing style
Dekker's earliest novels were largely influenced by his brother's unexpected death and his experiences as being "filthy rich"; Heaven's Wager contains a mostly pessimistic stance on life devoid of Christianity through the story of a man who achieves his goal of earning twenty million dollars but ultimately loses his family to freak accidents, and When Heaven Weeps explores the more hopeful side of death found in The Slumber of Christianity.
Recently, Dekker's novels have contained much less blatant Christian content and "darker" themes. Other Christians have protested the inclusion of graphic violence, language (minced oaths such as crap) and explorations into evil, but Dekker has defended his new position by stating that, to fully understand the power of the Christian God, it is necessary to understand the power of the evil that he conquered.[citation needed]
Dekker has been described as "upsettingly precise" in his details and Frank Peretti has commented on his "dry wit that makes me laugh". One notable aspect of Dekker's novels, particularly his latest, is the psychology of the villains; he often fleshes their thoughts and motives and eccentricities, in keeping with his theme of understanding evil.
Dekker's agent, Dan Raines of Creative Trust [1] claims that Dekker is a writer with amazing velocity, referring to the fact that he can write a novel in sometimes 6 weeks.
Search for The Lost Books of History
Description from contest website
In Ted Dekker’s latest simultaneous releases, Chosen and Infidel, four young warriors from another reality are on a quest to find the 7 lost Books of History. Books with the power to create and destroy. Books that control not only the destiny of their world…but ours as well.
In 2008, that quest comes to our world.
Get ready for a nationwide treasure hunt like no other that blurs the line between fiction and reality in a search for the actual Lost Books.
Registration for the game begins in January and the search launches in March. What awaits those who rise to the challenge? An online quest that will test their wits, and plunge them into a world of espionage and ancient secrets where nothing is as it seems and the truth is the most dangerous discovery.
The way will be paved with adventure, but also with great weekly prizes. And the one who solves the ultimate riddle and finds the final Lost Book will drive home in our Grand Prize—a 2008 Chevy Cobalt. It all begins with Chosen and Infidel, landing in stores before Christmas. Buy your copy now to see the adventure unfold.
Find the Book, Win the Chevy.
Bibliography
Novels
- Blessed Child (2000) (with Bill Bright)
- A Man Called Blessed (2000) (with Bill Bright)
- Heaven's Wager (2000)
- When Heaven Weeps (2001)
- Thunder of Heaven (2002)
- Blink (2003)
- Thr3e (2003)
- Black[2] (2004)
- Red (2004)
- White (2004)
- Obsessed (2005)
- Showdown (2006)
- Saint (2006)
- House (2006) (with Frank Peretti)
- Skin (2007)
- Blink of an Eye (2007)
- Chosen (2007)
- Infidel (2007)
- Adam (April 2008)
- Renegade (May 2008)
- Chaos (May 2008)
Other Titles
- The Slumber of Christianity: Awakening a Passion for Heaven on Earth (2005)
- The Martyr's Song (2005)
- The Promise (2005)
- The Drummer Boy (2006)
Graphic Novels
- Black: a graphic novel (2007)
- Red: a graphic novel (2007)
- White: a graphic novel (2007)
- Chosen: a graphic novel (2008)
- Infidel: a graphic novel (2008)
- Renegade: a graphic novel (2008)
- Chaos: a graphic novel (2008)
Films
Works In Progress
- Sinner (September 2008)
- Kiss (January 2009) - cowritten with Erin Healy
- Angel (Spring 2009)
- Green (2009)
- Lunatic (2009)
- Enigma (2009)
Footnotes
[1CREATIVE TRUST Agency ]
References
- Interview with Will Dawson on The 700 Club http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=keCP-k756o8