story

If you are encountering the Birth Pangs series for the first time you may be wondering if you needed to start at the beginning, with Fidelis, in order to understand Spero.

Actually, the way that I’ve written the books they can each be read independently. You can read either or both and in any order.  This will be true for the remaining of the series, too.

Why?

The series is not linear.

In other words, Spero doesn’t start where Fidelis leads off.  For a number of reasons, I am writing the series with each book (except book 7) reflecting the perspective of a different character in the series.  The time frames covered by all of the books is roughly the same and where the characters of the different books interact, the same scene is present in each book, seen from that character’s unique perspective.  Where the characters depart from each other, the story branches off.  You might say that each book overlaps the others.

This approach allows me to lay ever deeper layers of meaning to the events in the books. One character will think nothing of an event in one book but in another book, another character will perceive the event as a turning point or startling development.

In short, you’ll be able to read any of the first six books in any order that you please.  Each is stand alone, but none are the whole story.

The seventh book will start, chronologically, where the first six books end, and proceed to tie up all the loose ends, weaving the six story lines into a single rope.

There are a number of reasons for why I took this approach.  One of them is that I perceive that our entire lives are like this.  Each of us is a character in a book.  There are some 10 billion books in the ‘series,’ with many of our ‘stories’ overlapping the stories of others. Taken together, our individual stories constitute one grand story.  This grand story contains elements that are astonishing, but in my view, missed if you take the stories of our lives one at a time.  At the same time, one cannot overlook our individual lives, for pieces of them are what make the grand story, the Mosaic, we’ll call it, what it is.

My seven book series is a very faint shadow of what I perceive is reality.  It begs the question:  if the Birth Pangs series are a mosaic of my authorship, who is the Author of the series of our lives?  Is there really no Author?  Really?  I don’t think so.  If you think that way, one of my aims is to persuade you otherwise.

This is the seventh question posed to me in a now lost audio interview which I am answering now in text.  Many of these questions and answers apply to the whole series and this one in this entry does as well:

A large part of the last few years of your life have been devoted to exploring theological issues on your website sntjohnny.com. Have your experiences in that forum informed this novel?

There is no question that my Internet ministry has informed Fidelis and the entire Birth Pangs series.  The Birth Pangs series has many purposes and one of them is to provide a tool for me to communicate in story form what I have attempted to communicate elsewhere in argument and discussion.

It wouldn’t be fair to say that the series is entirely designed to reflect back on my apologetics experiences, though.  The series is equally informed by events in my life, events in history in general, and my overall way of looking at the world which is distinctly Christian.  While I think it would be fair to say that many characters and events in the BP series can be tied in some way to a forum discussion, or a particular musing about reality in my own life, I’d urge some caution in trying to interpret the whole book and everything in it in that way.

The reason for this is that one of the things I was particularly sensitive to was to make sure that the story was enjoyable on its own terms.  Readers have to be able to relate to the characters and events in the story.  That’s the whole point, really.  I want them to put themselves in the places of the people in the story going through what they’re going through and have them more or less compare what the characters do with what they would do.

The Christian overtones I think are hard to miss but it is my hope that they are not so overbearing as to turn off a secular or even atheistic reader.  In fact, I think readers like that will enjoy some of the fun I have in addressing some of their challenges. 

From Donald Hank, writing for WorldnetDaily.com:

“Fidelis” is fluent, gripping and written as though the author had actually been there. I saw not a word out of place or any word that may have qualified as filler. That’s why I simply couldn’t put the book down. Neither could my 13-year-old son.

But more importantly, I felt as though I were in a gold mine with nuggets of wisdom popping up everywhere… READ THE WHOLE REVIEW.

From Jean Heimann at the Catholic Fire blog:

In his clear, easy to read writing style, Horvath presents us with a story that grabs our attention from the first page and holds it until the very end. He introduces us to an interesting array of characters, which he describes in picturesque terms, [who] speak for themselves… READ THE WHOLE REVIEW

From Josh M, on Amazon.com: Left Behind meets The Dark Tower, July 30, 2007

Fidelis is the first book in the Birthpangs series by A.R. Hovath. If you have ever read the Left Behind series or Stephen King’s The Dark Tower series you will fall in love with this book. I could hardly stop reading it and have been reccomending it to everyone I know. I plan to give this for birthdays and Christmas until the next book comes out.

You follow the journey of Fides through the post-apocalyptic areas of the Americas. If you liked the premise of Left Behind but didn’t like how it was so in-your-face about Christianity, then you will really enjoy this book. It gives you ideas of Christianity without telling you how to think and act. It gives you a foundation on which to build your own opinions.

This book makes for great discussions and arguments on what humanity is and what it should be. It makes you think about your life and actions. This would be great for book clubs or discussion groups.

From Nick, on Amazon.com: Awesome Read…, April 13, 2007

I have seen this book compared to Harry Potter and other literary classics, but AR (Tony) Horvath’s book FIDELIS, is in a class by itself. From the very begining to the end, this book makes you think, and also keeps you guessing. There are some bits of flashback to set up the story, and as you delve deeper into the story, you realize why an event took place… and again it makes you think!Twists and turns on every page, filled with an interesting array of characters, each with their own story and tale. I can only look forward with anticipation on the next installment. This is the kind of wait as when JR had been shot on Dallas, in the 1980′s and kept America talking for an entire summer about “Who Shot JR”. Well I know I will be talking with my friends over the summer to ask some of those same type of questions! I will not divulge anything here, as I do not want to spoil it for you… But it will definately keep you guessing!

I would not be surprised if Hollywood came knocking in the next few months, and unlike Harry Potter, this story takes place right here at home… most likely in the not too distant future.

From an anonymous reviewer on BarnesandNoble.com:

Lord of the Rings, meet Mad Max!‘Fidelis’ is an expertly-crafted adventure of human drama set in a chaotic post-nuclear America. The main character is Fides, a blue-collar ‘everyman’ from the Midwest, who unwillingly becomes a man on a mission, the importance of which is hidden from him. That is , until it’s too late to turn back… From the initial, terrifying plot twist, to places of quiet solitude, to desperate battles involving massed armies, Fides finds both conflict and comfort in the most unlikely places and people, and ultimately, from an unlikely source, the inner strength which had always eluded him. Anthony Horvath has delivered a first-class adventure , a spellbinding saga which I found to poignant, thought-provoking and magical. Packed with surprises and edge-of-your-seat action, ‘Fidelis’ captivates from start to finish.

Brett M, a US soldier in Iraq says, The plot continues to thicken and there is never really a dull moment! Masterfully written and well researched

From Elijah, on Amazon.com,

“There are precious few authors these days trying to use fantastical settings to grapple with deep, personal issues. In fact, “Fidelis”, Horvath’s first fictional work, will probably be the only novel you’ll come across these days that explores topics like truth and propaganda, manhood and bravery, and fact and religion as the deep, perplexing ideas they are–ideas that we can’t understand except in the context of real struggle. Horvath presents this struggle in an equally intriguing post-nuclear America where humanity is exposed and purified in the flames of civil-war and anarchy.As a first attempt to explore such vast topics in an equally vast setting, Horvath sets a high precedence that will make future additions to this series a real challenge. I wait in eager anticipation for the many secrets and mysteries of the Birthpangs world to be unraveled in his future books.”

From Tammy, on Amazon.com, “Great story! I had a hard time putting this book down. I was very intrigued with the “future” portrayed by the author.”

From Rareairpug, on the Birth Pangs Discussion Forum,

“From the opening chapter, Fidelis is full of action packed chases and dangerous encounters with startling twists around every corner. Fides meets a wide array of characters on his travels, and most of them are more than what they seem. From the strange necklace around Fides neck, to the book he receives from Corrie, to the enigmatic words of his fellow traveler Fermion, Fides is surrounded by mystery. Will he find the answers he seeks?

Fidelis takes the reader on an edge of his seat thrill ride from start to finish. Nothing is certain in the world of Fides, and caution is a must for survival. The climatic conclusion of the novel will have readers anxious for the next installment of Birthpangs.”

From Scott, in an email to the author,

“Your descriptive style put me front and centre during the battles, which were very well-concieved and realistic from a tactical point of view,(no invincible “Rambo’s”) and therefore quite realistic. I think I found myself on the edge of my seat more than once!”