{"id":1677209,"date":"2022-10-07T03:02:55","date_gmt":"2022-10-07T07:02:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1677209"},"modified":"2022-10-07T03:04:13","modified_gmt":"2022-10-07T07:04:13","slug":"how-a-father-and-son-came-together-to-tell-stories-about-virtue-and-hope","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/how-a-father-and-son-came-together-to-tell-stories-about-virtue-and-hope\/","title":{"rendered":"How A Father And Son Came Together To Tell Stories About \u2018Virtue And Hope\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">28<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fhow-a-father-and-son-came-together-to-tell-stories-about-virtue-and-hope%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1677209&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><\/div>\n<p>The \u201cGreen Ember\u201d series by S.D. Smith has sold more than a million copies, reigned as the No. 1 bestselling audiobook worldwide on Audible, and impressed readers of all ages with thrilling, classically moral tales. Now father and son co-authors S.D. and J.C. Smith are embarking on a new series, \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/jackzulu.com\/\">Jack Zulu and the Wanderer\u2019s Key<\/a>,\u201d a saga \u201ccentered on virtue and hope.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Book one, released on Oct. 4, brings a novel set of heroic, fearless, and tangible characters to the Smiths\u2019 limitless new world, sure to satisfy readers\u2019 thirst for epic adventure in an ultimate quest. I sat down with the bestselling co-authors to talk about, among other things, how they managed to tell a story with the right balance of adventure and virtue and what it\u2019s like for a father and son to work together so closely.<\/p>\n<h2>Q&#038;A with S.D. Smith<\/h2>\n<p><strong>The \u201cGreen Ember\u201d series is set in a fantasy world in no specified time; but this new series opens in Myrtle, West Virginia, in 1984. What made you decide to place the book in that specific place and time?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I grew up in the \u201980s, so it\u2019s a familiar setting for me, and J. C., my son and co-author, has come to enjoy a lot of the stories that were born out of that era. So many of those stories still have cultural weight, like \u201cStar Wars\u201d and \u201cE.T.\u201d and \u201cThe Karate Kid.\u201d We wanted to tell a story set in that period that, instead of being weighed down by vice and horror, instead centered on virtue and hope.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Jack Zulu, a mixed-race West Virginian, is a complicated protagonist with the traits of a classical hero: strong, athletic, smart, well-liked, and honorable. Is he intentionally archetypal?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I love Jack. His father is a South African (Zulu) immigrant, and his mother is a West Virginia girl. Since I am an Appalachian who spent his teenage years in Africa, I relate to his sense of being divided between cultures and confused about finding his place and purpose. Jack is grounded in the truth of the remarkable capacities of people we know from the real world, but he is a rare person. He is, in a realistic way, a heroic ideal. His struggles and limits are around ambition and greatness, not as much around capacity. He\u2019s going to be great, but will he be good?<\/p>\n<p><strong>In the \u201cGreen Ember\u201d series, characters express a strong sense of morality but no stated religion. In contrast, religion in \u201cJack Zulu\u201d is intentionally incorporated. What drove your decision to include that in the storytelling?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>This book is in no way an allegory, nor is it best seen as what most people think of as \u201cChristian Fiction.\u201d But we wanted to be honest. So much sci-fi and fantasy is written with a pretense that enlightened beings don\u2019t practice religion, nor do they even acknowledge its existence \u2014 except to deride it. This is silly and unfaithful to most human experience. We present a world where it\u2019s not unusual that kids go to church and parents pray and that religion factors into everyday life. For us, the story must comport with reality. And therefore, since it takes place (at least partly) in a real time and place, we wanted to tell the truth about what the world is really like. The book\u2019s core is rooted in the Christian worldview, as has been most of the great art and literature throughout history. We aren\u2019t ashamed of that in the least.<\/p>\n<p><strong>In writing this book, you collaborated with your son. Tell me about that experience.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Fans of my \u201cGreen Ember\u201d books may think I let my son join me in a new fantasy world I created, but it\u2019s really the opposite. J. C. invented this world, originally developing it as a TV show when he was 13. He kindly invited me to join him in adapting it as a novel together. And it\u2019s been an awesome experience. I love co-writing with him. At 16, he\u2019s got amazing story instincts and incredible drive, but he pairs that with humility and generosity that makes working alongside him a pleasure. I\u2019m super proud of him as a dad and, at the same time, I feel really blessed to get to work with such a talented co-author. It\u2019s been a win-win.<\/p>\n<p><strong>You continue to find stories to tell through the \u201cGreen Ember\u201d series. Will \u201cJack Zulu\u201d continue in many directions, or is it a series with a finite end?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s probably going to be a trilogy, but we are open to that changing based on how the story develops. We both love satisfying endings, and so we are aiming for that. We won\u2019t overextend the series for any reason. The world of the Wayland is open to innumerable adventures, and so we are building a playground to create in for many years. Jack Zulu is a first thrilling step into those adventures.<\/p>\n<h2>Q&#038;A with J.C. Smith<\/h2>\n<p><strong>At what age did you develop the Jack Zulu character? What was your inspiration?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I first conceived this story when I was 13 years old. I remember wanting to see a sprawling fantasy adventure with a very nostalgic, American take on that type of adventure. Jack comes from a familiar pool of heroic characters \u2014 he\u2019s got a little bit of Luke Skywalker, a little bit of Frodo Baggins, blended with this unique Zulu heritage that comes directly from my dad\u2019s experience growing up in South Africa. Our hope is that there\u2019s enough familiarity paired with fresh material for this to be an engaging and truthful adventure for readers.<\/p>\n<p><strong>You initially created Zulu as a television character. How was he adapted to become a literary hero?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The character of Jack Zulu didn\u2019t change significantly from television to novel format. One advantage of writing for the page as opposed to the screen is that you get a much deeper look into a character\u2019s psyche. In a novel, you\u2019re essentially living inside Jack\u2019s head \u2014 you hear all of his thoughts and feel what he\u2019s feeling. It\u2019s an entirely different task to communicate these things onscreen, and the novel format really gives readers a chance to experience this adventure alongside Jack. It\u2019s a magical way to tell stories.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><strong>Tell me about the experience and process of writing alongside your Dad.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Writing alongside Dad has been an incredible experience. We\u2019ve collaborated on stories together before, but never to this degree, and it\u2019s such a superpower to have a partner in the process. It\u2019s kind of an unfair advantage to have this deeply familiar connection with your co-author. We\u2019re able to collaborate so much more effectively since we live under the same roof. We like to take walks together just about every day and often hash out story details or talk through ideas during those neighborhood treks.<\/p>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\" \/>\n<p>\n  Ashley Bateman is a policy writer for The Heartland Institute and blogger for Ascension Press. Her work has been featured in The Washington Times, The Daily Caller, The New York Post, The American Thinker and numerous other publications. She previously worked as an adjunct scholar for The Lexington Institute and as editor, writer and photographer for The Warner Weekly, a publication for the American military community in Bamberg, Germany. <\/p>\n<p>Ashley is a board member at a Catholic homeschool cooperative in Virginia. She homeschools her four incredible children along with her brilliant engineer\/scientist husband.e who lives in Virginia.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The \u201cGreen Ember\u201d series by S.D. Smith has sold more than a million copies, reigned as the No. 1 bestselling audiobook worldwide on Audible, and impressed readers of all ages<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":638,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1677209","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1677209","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/638"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1677209"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1677209\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1677209"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1677209"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1677209"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}