Bio: Best-selling
author Patrick E. Craig is a lifelong writer and musician who left a successful
songwriting and performance career in the music industry to follow Christ in
1984. In 2011, he signed a three-book deal with Harvest House Publishers to
publish his Apple Creek Dreams series. His current series is The Paradise
Chronicles and the first book in the series, The Amish Heiress, was published by P and J Publishing in August of
2015 and remained on the Amazon bestseller lists for seven months. The second book
in the series, The Amish Princess, will be released in December. Patrick and
his wife Judy make their home in Idaho
and are the parents of two adult children and have five grandchildren.
Welcome, Patrick. Why
do you write the kind of books you do?I was actually challenged by an editor at a major publishing house to send him a one-sheet. He wanted an Amish story or a quilting story, so I sent him the idea for A Quilt For Jenna, and they bought the story. And that's what launched me on my journey as one of about six men writing Amish fiction.
Besides when you came
to know the Lord, what is the happiest day in your life?
The day I married my wife Judy was the happiest day of my
life.
How has being
published changed your life?
I always wanted to write books. I spent many years as a
professional musician writing songs. Then after I came to the Lord I went into
the ministry and became a teaching pastor, but my dream was always to write
fiction. When I got my first book published it gave me a reason to focus my
life and my energy on writing and so that is now the main thing I do.
What are you reading
right now?
I've been reading a lot of Louis L'Amour books. I had never
read them before but when I discovered that the man had sold millions of
adventure stories I decided I should check him out. A bookstore in our town was
going out of business and we found about fifty Louis L'Amour books for fifty
cents each. So I have read through the Sackett series and about fifteen of his
other books.
I read Louis L’Amour
books when I was growing up. Loved them. What is your current work in progress?
Now that The Amish Princess is finished, I am
moving on to the last book in The Paradise Chronicles series. It's titled The Mennonite Queen and it's set in the
sixteenth century in Germany .
It's the story of a Polish princess who runs away with her Mennonite stable boy
but eventually has to choose between him and saving her country.
What would be your
dream vacation?
My wife and I would love to visit New Zealand, especially
after we saw the Lord of the Rings movies which were all set in that beautiful
country.
Visiting New Zealand and then Australia
When I first started writing an Amish Quilting story, I
researched the places where there were a lot of Amish Quilters. I discovered a
town in Ohio , Dalton , that had the biggest quilting fair in
the country. As I looked at Dalton
on the map, I discovered a small village named Apple Creek about ten miles
away. I decided that would be a perfect setting for a series and so the Apple
Creek Dreams series was born. In that series, one of the characters ended up
finding long lost relatives in Paradise, Pennsylvania, and so that became the
focus of my next series, The Paradise Chronicles. The setting for The
Amish Princess was born out of my love for several of Zane Grey's books,
which were set in the Ohio
wilderness in the revolutionary war period.
Another of my
favorite authors when I was growing up was Zane Grey. If you could spend an
evening with one person who is currently alive, who would it be and why?
I'd love to sit with Dr. Ben Carson and just talk to him
about the next several years in this country under a new, conservative
administration. I am hoping that Dr. Carson will have a lot of influence in the
new government.
What are your
hobbies, besides writing and reading?
Fishing, music, traveling in our trailer.
What is your most
difficult writing obstacle, and how do you overcome it?
My most difficult obstacle is staying focused on a specific
writing goal each week. My mind tends to wander so I need to really kick myself
to keep up with writing every day. So I get up around 5:30 every morning. I sit
at the kitchen table in a straight-backed chair and drink a big cup of coffee.
What advice would you
give to a beginning author?
The most important thing a new writer can do is learn your
craft. Go to conferences, get books on writing and study them, read authors you
like, and authors that have been recognized as good writers. Then listen to the
Lord for the story He wants you to tell and then write it. Don't worry about
getting published, just write. Then when opportunity knocks answer the door.
Tell us about the
featured book, The Amish Princess.
Opahtuhwe, the White Deer, is the beautiful daughter of
Wingenund, the most powerful chief of the Delaware tribe. She is revered by her
people–a true Indian princess. Everything changes when the murderous Delaware renegade known as Scar brings three Amish
prisoners to the Delaware
camp. Jonathan and Joshua Hershberger are twin brothers that Scar has
determined to adopt and teach the Indian way. The third prisoner is Jonas
Hershberger, their father, who has been made a slave because he would not
defend his family. White Deer is drawn to Jonathan but his hatred of the
Indians makes him push her away. Joshua's gentle heart and steadfast refusal to
abandon the Amish faith lead White Deer to a life-changing decision and
rejection by her people. In the end, White Deer must choose between the ways of
her people and her new-found faith. And complicating it all is her love for the
man who can only hate her.
Please give us the
first page of the book.
The smell of death was everywhere in the steerage area of
the schooner Charming Nancy
Jonas leaned closer. "What, Bishchopp?"
The man took hold of Jonas' arm with a painful grip. "He
let loose on them his fierce anger, wrath, indignation, and distress, a company
of destroying angels."
Jonas pulled his arm away and stood staring at the man for a
moment, and then he turned and blindly groped his way to the ladder that led
upwards toward the fresh air and escape from the horror below.
The Amish people on board the ship had not expected such
trials when they left Lomersheim near Wurtemburg that spring. Indeed, the
Hershberger family and those who traveled with them had been full of joy as
they prepared to depart. After the Palatinate
and nearby areas had been repeatedly invaded by the French, the Anabaptists
living there had struggled with the devastation and famine that followed, as
well as the constant threat of religious persecution. When the man who
represented William Penn came to their village and told glowing tales of Pennsylvania—the
rich farmland, the mighty forests, the rivers teeming with fish, the abundance
of game and most of all, the freedom from tyranny and death at the hands of
other Christians, Jonas' father, Mathias, had leapt at the chance to emigrate.
So the Hershbergers set out on their journey with others
from their village. In the spring of 1737, they journeyed to Rotterdam and there they joined a group of
Amish people who were to board the Charming
Nancy and set sail for the new world. But trouble found them before they
even started. On the twenty-eighth of June while they were still in Rotterdam getting ready to
set out, Bishchopp Kauffman’s
daughter, Zernbli, died. On the twenty-ninth, the ship went under sail but
enjoyed only one and a half days of favorable wind. Then on the seventh day of
July, early in the morning, the Zimmerman’s son-in-law died. The travelers
landed at Plymouth , England
And so it went. As the endless days on the gray-green sea
crept by, the list grew longer. Lisbetli Kaufmann died, followed swiftly by
four more. On the first of August another of the Bischopp’s children, Hansli, died, then five more children died. On
the twenty-eighth, Hans Gasi’s wife died. During the voyage of eighty-three
days, one in nine of the passengers succumbed and the Charming Nancy became a death-ship. Jonas had watched his father
and mother work themselves into exhaustion nursing the sick and praying for
deliverance. And now, at last they were coming to Pennsylvania .
Jonas climbed up the last steps of the ladder and staggered
onto the deck. The ship was slowly making its way against the current. He felt
the fresh wind that was moving them upstream and smelled the fields that lay on
both sides of the great river. His hair whipped in the chill breeze but he did
not want to go below deck again, not ever. It was so good to see land again. He
closed his eyes and breathed deeply. Then he opened them and began to look more
closely at the shoreline. As the ship rounded a promontory, he saw a small
figure on the bank. It looked like an Indian boy with a basket slung over his
shoulder. He wore a breechclout and leggings that covered his nakedness. The
boy stood silently, staring at Jonas as the ship passed. Jonas waved to him but
the boy did not wave back or make any sign. Then the boy turned and disappeared
into the tall grass lining the shore.
How can readers find
you on the Internet?
Where can readers purchase my books?
Thank you, Patrick, for sharing this new book with us. I've not read any historical Amish books.
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