Backstories
The Invitation Now Available as an Audiobook
Thanks to incredible help from an old friend, Frank Frederick, whose "basso profondo" James Earl Jones-sounding voice, The Invitation to the Shining City is now available as a 9.5-hour audio book. It's taken several months, some edits and revisions, but author Greg...
Before Ronald Reagan, John Winthrop Dreamt of a Shining City on the Hill
In our generation, it was President Ronald Reagan who asked Americans to dream of a “Shining City on a Hill.” His ideal place harked back to visions of grandeur in a speech that Puritan leader John Winthrop first delivered on the ship, the Arbella, one of a dozen on...
Where in the World Did Calvin Coolidge Come From?
Looking back at the beginning of the book I have written, I am not sure when President Calvin Coolidge makes an entrance, but his intrusion into the story now seems providential. I suppose I did pick the year 1925 out of a hat–it seemed like a good period for a...
Bringing Giants (and Presidents and Hall-of-Fame Pitchers) Back to Life
One of the advantages of writing a fantasy is that anything can happen. It does–more than once–in The Invitation. And since it is a Christian fantasy, bringing people back from the dead seemed entirely appropriate, even the right thing to do. You can read all about it...
The Genesis of The Invitation
In 1996, I had the opportunity to be part of a three-man team sponsored by the International Republican Institute to travel to Rostov, Russia, a port city on the Sea of Azov, a part of the Black Sea, to teach democratic campaign workers how we conduct political...