AN ACCIDENTAL MESSIAH - Dan Sofer - One Free Book

Welcome back, Dan. Why do you write the kind of books you do?

My writing allows me to explore situations and ideas that fascinate me. For instance, An Accidental Messiah (and the Dry Bones Society series as a whole) explores the Biblical prophecies of the Messianic Era and the End of Days.

What would life be like if the dead returned to life and society had to adjust? How would the Messiah get the job done and what problems would arise?

I love books that both make me think and make me smile, and I aim for that in my novels too.

Besides when you came to know the Lord, what is the happiest day in your life?

My wedding day and the births of our daughters are at the top of the list.

How has being published changed your life?

Through my books I’ve met a lot of interesting people, specifically readers of different cultures, beliefs, and origins. This has given me a window into other lives.

What are you reading right now?

Brilliance by Marcus Sakey, and Economics in One Lesson by Henry Hazlitt. I know, I have very eclectic reading taste.

What is your current work in progress?

The third (and final) part of the Dry Bones Society series, A Premature Apocalypse.

What would be your dream vacation?

A tropical island. Sun, sea, and sand.

How do you choose your settings for each book?

All of my novels so far take place in Jerusalem, and they are all intimately connected to the Holy City. I lived in Jerusalem for seven years and so I’m very familiar with its sights and sounds.

If you could spend an evening with one person who is currently alive, who would it be and why?

My wife, of course, and I get to do that every evening. As for famous people, I can’t think of anyone in particular. There are a lot of people whose writing, acting, or other works I admire, but I’m not sure I’d like to spend a whole evening with them. (No offense!)

What are your hobbies, besides writing and reading?

I enjoy travel and scuba diving, although I haven’t done much of the latter recently. With writing and reading, I have had little time left over for other hobbies.

What is your most difficult writing obstacle, and how do you overcome it?

Finishing the first draft. That bit can seem daunting – pulling words out of thin air, and there are just so many, many words in a novel. Once you have your first draft, then you can relax and edit the “raw material.” There’s no magic solution. You just have to keep going until you hit THE END. Practice helps.

What advice would you give to a beginning author?

Give yourself permission to write rubbish in your first draft. Turn off that inner critic. Once you hit the end, go back and edit.

Tell us about the featured book.

An Accidental Messiah picks up where the first novel, An Unexpected Afterlife, left off.

Moshe Karlin, a newly resurrected Jerusalemite, discovers that defeating death was easier than dealing with government bureaucracy! To lead a normal life again, he’ll have to out-maneuver corrupt politicians and brutal gangsters. Will he usher in an era of peaceful Utopia or trigger a civil war?

Elsewhere in Jerusalem, a recovering prophet hides his apocalyptic delusions, a scientist unearths the shocking secret to peace in the Middle East, and a lovesick suicide bomber wanders the streets in search of his own personal redemption.

In the midst of it all, one chronic latecomer is on everyone's mind—the Messiah!

Please give us the first page of the book.

The tour guide had just welcomed his first group of the day to the Mount Herzl National Cemetery when he saw the naked man. Among the bushes at the edge of the Jerusalem Forest, the pale streaker scratched his head and stroked the stately brown beard that fell to his chest.

Despite having been trained to handle this exact situation, the tour guide choked up, and his group of Japanese tourists, with their matching yellow hats and oversized cameras, chattered among themselves and eyed their catatonic guide with concern.

He had approached the rumors with a healthy dose of skepticism at first—after all, dead people didn’t spontaneously rise from their graves—until early one morning a fellow guide had discovered a man, naked and alone, among the tombstones of the military cemetery. The former soldier had saved his brothers-in-arms by diving onto a grenade during the Second Lebanon War.

A camera crew had arrived to immortalize the moment of his return, and the number of visitors to the park had spiked—resurrection tourists mostly—but after a few days life on Mount Herzl had returned to normal.

Over the following weeks, however, more casualties sprouted from their graves: shell-shocked tank drivers of the Yom Kippur War; commando fighters of the Six Day War; and then the waves of gaunt Eastern Europeans mowed down during the War of Independence.

The phenomenon, bizarre and surreal by any standard, soon became routine, and they no longer bothered to notify the media when a long-deceased Jew turned up among the hedges. They did notice one trend: as time progressed, the arrivals returned from further back in the past, and the guides placed bets on which of them—if any of them at all—would welcome back to the land of the living the personage enshrined at the heart of the national park.

Today was this guide’s lucky day. 

How can readers find you on the Internet?

Visit http://dansofer.com (and download a free story).

Thank you, Dan, for sharing this book with us. I’m sure my blog readers are eager to read it.

Readers, here are links to the book.

An Accidental Messiah (The Dry Bones Society) An Accidental Messiah: A Novel (The Dry Bones Society Book 2)

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