The Dissection of Ezekiel

I found David Ryan Long's debut novel, Ezekiel's Shadow, in the library about a year ago. It's the story of a horror writer who becomes a Christian and how that decision wreaks havoc with his writing career. As a writer myself, I enjoyed getting into the character's head and seeing similarities and differences in work habits and thought processes. But you don't have to be a writer to enjoy the book. It's good.

Dave, who is a fiction acquisitions editor at Bethany House, is offering his book as a guinea pig in an experiment designed to help writers and readers understand better what makes fiction work. Or not work. Ezekiel's Shadow worked for me, and it must have worked for other people too, because it won a Christy award when it came out, I believe in 2002. Still, I think Dave's a brave guy to offer it up for public dissection this week, online.

The guy wielding the scalpel is gutsy, too: J. Mark Bertrand, a Christian writer who thinks way deeper and better than I can ever hope to do. Mark's intro to the discussion is here, and the Faith*in*Fiction blog hosted by Dave Long is here, and the F*i*F forum is here. I'm sure it will be a lively discussion on all fronts as Mark analyzes and Dave answers questions and the rest of us join in.

Alas, I won't have much time to take part, even though I have my very own copy of the book now. Out-of-state relatives are descending upon my house tomorrow, and then I'm going out of town myself. But I'll at least check in to see how the guinea pig is faring on the operating table.