Author: Kathryn Mackel:

 ISBN: 0785262296

The following interview was conducted by:  E.Dian Moore &  To read more about Dian Moore’s reviews click HERE

To read the review of the book CLICK HERE

DIAN: What was the impetus behind Departed?

Mackel: I was sick one day, staring at daytime television when I came upon John Edward’s show, Crossing Over. I was absolutely appalled that this man was ‘talking to the dead’ as entertainment. It only took about two minutes to consider what could happen if someone took an alleged message from their dearly departed to heart. I was planning a thriller about clones but the outrage about these television mediums was too strong and persistent for me to ignore. So I switched gears to researching and writing a what if about a television medium.

DIAN: With today's social fascination with alternate religions, including Wicca, Satanism, and New Age, what do you believe Christians can do to get across the true message without alienating the ones practicing those religions?

 Mackel: We need to pray for these folks, and pray against Satan. That’s job one.

We need to speak our own testimonies, in our own words. Rather than proving why these occult and pagan practices are false—and dangerous—we need to say what the Lord has done for us. Peter tells us: But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander. (1 Peter 3: 15-16)

 Always be prepared—to do that, we need to daily give thanks for what the Lord has done for us, daily praise Him for the hope we have. We will be able to speak with gentleness and respect when we consider an encounter with someone trapped in the occult or pagan lifestyle as an opportunity to show love and grace, and not as an argument to be won.

 The best way to approach someone whose deep into these kinds of things is to ask questions. Don’t argue the answers but ask in bland innocence so the person has to work out for you—and maybe for the first time, for themselves—what these occultists actually believe. Once you know the specific nature of this person’s worldview, you’ll be better equipped to pray, and to study.

I recommend Mind Games by Andre Kole and Jerry MacGregor as a great resource. The authors take readers through all the popular shams (astrology, psychics, numerologists, etc) with clear explanations of how they work.

 DIAN: Have you personally encountered someone like Theo, the coven leader in Departed? Tell us how you designed his character.

 Mackel: I had begun researching these occultists via books and the Internet. But honestly? I found them so repugnant that I tossed all the books in the trash and shut down that area of research. I thank God I have not encountered someone like Theo but it’s clear that people who create false and disgusting religions are out there, and more pervasive than I ever could have guessed. I designed Theo based on pagan/occultist foolish, empty, and self-obsessed notions of the spirit world. I did base Theo’s Science Scouts on the Spiral Scouts, which are Wicca’s version of the Boy and Girl Scouts. We have a troop right up here in this little corner of New Hampshire.

 DIAN: The Departed has the capacity to reach many different people including angry parents, misled teenagers and adults, Christians and those interested in the "other side". Who is your target audience?

 Mackel: One of the reasons I wrote The Departed was to provide a tool that would not be as threatening or confrontational as a non-fiction book. I imagine believers saying, “Oh, you’re into those psychics. You should read this book.”  Definitely, teens who are drawn into the occult are a target audience.

 Another target audience are readers of Stephen King and Dean Koontz, who haven’t found a comparable genre in Christian fiction. Christian supernatural thrillers are important because we have the complete story. I confess that I’m trying to lure unbelievers to read a Christian book, as well as believers who aren’t into the traditional Christian romance or historical.

 DIAN:  What is your favorite genre to write, and why?

 Mackel: Children’s books. A middle-school principal once told me I thought like an “eighth-grade boy.” There are times when my husband would agree with that, especially when we’re watching sports.

 However, I am beginning to love writing supernatural thrillers because of the opportunity to present the splendid light of Christ in the midst of human darkness. It’s a thrill as a writer to be able to paint that picture, and it’s a glorious picture indeed. 

 DIAN: What are you working on now?

 Mackel: I just turned in my third Christian Chiller, The Hidden. It’s about a woman who tumbles into a ravine and finds a young man chained in the darkness. He has complete amnesia, so she takes him through memory-retrieval therapy—realizing too late what she has unleashed. (Hint: read the book of Jude.)

 I’m about to start on the second book in the Birthright Project, a fantasy about a new Ark and a fallen world where stronghold princes fight wars using mutants. The first book, Outriders, is due out this fall and I’m very excited about it. We’re featuring an aptitude test to see what role readers would fill in the Birthright Project. I did a trial-run of the aptitude test at a recent writers’ conference and found it very accurate. And lots of fun.

 DIAN: What techniques do you use to keep the pages turning without resorting to gratuitous sex and violence – and keep the Christian element without becoming preachy?

 Mackel: I always do a scripture study first. My primary rule for myself is that I must not contradict scripture, nor should I use horrific elements without serving a deep spiritual purpose in the story.

In regard to not being preachy, I’ll hearken back to the verses from 1 Peter. I try to make my characters—and their emotional, psychological, and spiritual issues—realistic. The Departed is about a television medium, but more importantly, it’s about a unhealthy symbiotic marriage, a burning desire for fame, and the quest of millions of people for a short-cut to life after death.

I hold my characters accountable for the hopes—which are sometimes false, sometimes depraved, sometimes outright Satanic—they hold. When characters are genuine, then the faith elements will be as well. It’s so important not to use stereotypes. In The Departed, my grieving father (Penn Roper) has a lot of justification for going after the television medium. As he goes too far, I give him many opportunities to turn back, and to at least listen to and see what the gospel offers.

 Page-turners depend on characters we become attached to, interesting situations, escalating dread twined with increasing opportunity for hope, and creating mood. Once an author has all these, he or she still needs to take into account pacing. Knowing when to speed up action and when to slow it w-a-a-a-y down comes with practice. The Hidden has just come back to me from my editor and I am about to go through it and look for opportunities to slow down the action, to create that ‘what’s-around-the-corner’ moment.

 That said, every writer has their own voice. Stephen King is rich, and often, long-winded, but we don’t care because he provides so much of interest. Ted Dekker writes fast-paced action and is a great model for a writer learning to write action. Brandilyn Collins is an expert at creating mood. A writer needs to be true to his or her own voice, while understanding where her or his weaknesses lie, and compensate for those. I’m not great on description so I depend on dialogue and action to carry my prose.

 I’m still learning. As in Philippians 2:12, I walk out each book with fear and trembling, because I want the Lord to work in me to will and to act according to his good purpose. It’s humbling—and it’s scary. But if one must fear, then it’s far better to fear God than to fear the darkness. Because I know that, through Jesus Christ, perfect love drives out fear.