I’d like to welcome Mrs. Lentz’s English class from Alma Heights Christian School in Pacifica, CA! I hear that you have been reading Between Two Kingdoms in your class. Since you have the greatest English teacher in the world, I have agreed to answer any questions you may have about the book here on this blog. So…comment away. Ask me some questions…let me know what you think of the story. I am waiting to hear from you!
Joe Boyd
Author, Between Two Kingdoms
Reviews are rolling in for Between Two Kingdoms. Check out the following:
Joe Boyd has written a page-turner in this fast-paced fantasy of a Dark Prince’s shadowy rule over a land where the True King is slowly being forgotten and usurped. With masterful storytelling and deft cliffhangers closing each chapter, readers are easily drawn into this sharply-imagined novel. A clever plot device poses the inhabitants of the real Prince’s Upper Kingdom as eternally seven-years old, making their risky life-and-death mission into the Lower Kingdom a more powerful allegory. Lovers of fantasies from C. S. Lewis to J. K. Rowling rejoice: a new author has delivered the goods! And with a parable that will rattle your view of “real” life. – Dave Workman, Author of The Outward Focused Life
Mr. Boyd is a teacher, a pastor, an actor and a screenwriter. His goal in this story is clearly evangelical, and you might consider reading it with adults who are new to the faith, or are seeking the truth, and discussing it chapter by chapter as suggested above. Mr. Boyd avoids “Christianese.” There are no churches or pastors in the story, but the truth of God’s love for us, our sin, and the wonderful gift of salvation and security are vividly pictured. – LeeAnn Bonds, Bible Basics Editor
Between Two Kingdoms by Joe Boyd, is a powerful allegory about living in the last days of Earth.I like the way the characters are presented as both seven-year-olds, and adults…I am embarrassed to admit I was half-way through the book before I remembered Jesus’ words, “. . . unless you are converted and become like little children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 18:3). Boyd is creative and innovative in his portrayal of the kingdom of Heaven. –Erin Cronin, Christian Children’s Book Review
This is a fascinating parable that takes a deep look at what is faith in the Lord as Tommy performs his mission but temptation is everywhere he goes. Readers who relish an interesting Christian saga with a timely message to the doubting Thomas and Thomasina as well as encouragement to the faithful will especially want to read this allegory. However, the measure of how well it is written is that the non-believers will relish Tommy’s saga in the Lower Kingdom on a holy mission. –Harriet Klausner
Between Two Kingdoms is a fantasy book with use able data for our daily lives. This is the first thought I had while reading these stories filled with verbal imagery. What I found was so much more. There was one surprise after another as I read each and every chapter. I saw me in those pages. I saw you in those pages. Joe Boyd has a great imagination and grasp on all things not of this world and of this world. The way he describes constant distractions that keeps our lives from being 100% happy and free is one extreme. All the ideas I realized I have on Heaven and the way the church should be are revealed as another…
Do you like to read stories that stand alone as individual pieces or be a part of one giant story or puzzle? Do you like C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien fantasy books like The Chronicles of Narnia or The Lord of the Rings? Have you read The Shack by William P. Young? If you have, then this book fits right in with those stories and descriptions of who, what and where God is and Jesus his son. If you have not, I hope that you will read them all in the future. You don’t have time to read them all? Ok, then read this one first because it is the shortest and then work your way to one of the others. I believe you will love this story and place it on your shelf for many to read. It will be a classic in the future just like all of C. S. Lewis’ works. I give this book 5 out of 5 stars. – Bradley Evans
Between Two Kingdoms by Joe Boyd is a beautiful and meaningful fantasy. I think any older child, young adult or adult would find themselves captured by the Higher Kingdom of light and the Lower Kingdom of Darkness. For me this book became more than a fairy tale. It became something like my real life or my real psyche. There is a light side where I always remain seven years old. Then, the dark side where everything is vague and I am old. When I am old, everything is dark, dreary, dense, ugly. I would much rather stay seven years old forever. Then, I would have the chance to meet THE KING and THE PRINCE. I would live on Mount Basilea in a breathtaking palace. I would always believe in innocence and kindness…For me this is more than a fantasy. BETWEEN TWO KINGDOMS is my daily life. Joe Boyd has written a fabulous, not to be missed allegorical novel. It took me on an adventure. Parts of the adventure seemed so familiar. I wondered had I visited this place at another time and met Tommy, Mary, Bobby. The Prince? Yes, surely I’ve felt His angelic touch. – I Love to Read Blog
I recently wrote this open letter to my spiritually unsure/seeking/agnostic friends who follow my primary blog at www.rebelpilgrim.blogspot.com. After writing it, I realized that many of the themes embedded in Between Two Kingdoms resonated throughout. Here is the entire original post below:
I have lots of friends all over the world who read this blog. Many are self-identified Christians, but some are not. I often wonder what my I-have-more-questions-about-God-than-answers friends think about my more God-centered posts. I thought I would write a post tonight for them. (I’m talking about my actual real-life friends who read this – not cyber eavesdroppers. You all know who you are. We’ve talked about this stuff at 2 a.m. in bars across America over the last decade. For whatever reason you are all on my mind tonight.)
First of all, I want you guys to know that I didn’t become your friend to try to convert you. I know you all know that, but it is true. I respect you and your spiritual journey. Nothing is gonna ever change that.
Second, I would want you to know that my faith – though rooted in Jesus and the Christian tradition – likely has some substantial differences to cultural Christianity. If you know me, you have likely sensed that already. This is intentional on my part. I am not trying to be the Christian who shocks people or anything like that. I’m trying to follow Jesus as I understand him. Jesus himself came off as anti-religious a lot, and I sometimes do the same.
Continue reading ‘An open letter to my friends unsure about God’
Two copies of Between Two Kingdoms are being given away Monday March 29th.
The first is for Twitter users. Just copy and paste this in your Twitter status for a chance to win:
“Just RT to enter: I just entered to WIN a copy of the new novel Between Two Kingdoms, by @joeboyd from @freebookraffles“
The second give-away is on the blog www.readingteen.blogpsot.com. You need to comment on the review of B2K there to be eligible to win the book.
If you have already read Between Two Kingdoms and enjoyed it, one of the best ways to spread the word at this time is to write a review on Amazon or CBD.
Check out our first review on Amazon by Charles Schierbeck:
It is hard to know how to cast Joe Boyd’s book. I think the category of allegory is correct, however, at times I think that parable might be the better word. Rather, a string of parables woven into one longer story. What makes this nice is that you can read the book one chapter at a time, as a sort of devotional, or just plop down on the sofa and get lost in it for a whole night. I’d like to reread it with a group. It is that sort of book that you would want to read with friends and discuss.
The biggest thing I got out of the book was the authors concept of the upper kingdom. As I first read the book I was trying to figure out if the upper kingdom represented heaven or the church. Then I realized that there is no real distinction between the two. The upper kingdom is the “church as we see her spread out through all time and space and rooted in eternity” (CS Lewis, Screwtape Letters). I understood this concept, that the church is God’s attempt to bring his kingdom into the world. However, when I finally made the connection in the book it was a shock to my system just how much I had separated the two in my real life. It is perhaps a little sad that I have not thought of the church the way it is presented in this book.
The title of my review is perhaps a bit lofty. It would be hard for me to place any book in the company of Lewis, Sayers, Tolkein, or Williams. Of the group only Lewis is really comparable, as none of the others wrote allegory. While “B2K” might not rank with the best of Lewis’ work it is at least as good as if not better than his lesser works (such as Pilgrims Regress). The reason for the title is that the author is clearly influenced by these authors in the same way that Lewis was influenced by MacDonald and Chesterton. He is a good student of these masters. So, if you like Lewis’ allegory, “Hinds’ Feet on High Places”, by Hanna Hurnard, or “Phantastes” by George MacDonald; then you should add this book to your reading list.
Those who pre-ordered Between Two Kingdoms should be receiving them any day now. When you read the book, feel free to discuss it on our Official FaceBook Page. Joe Boyd, the author, will be interacting with readers there and answering questions.
The Cincinnati book launch is this weekend at Vineyard Community Church. Joe will be signing books after all four weekend services: Saturday at 6:30 pm. Sunday at 9, 10:15 and 11:45. All proceeds from that event will go toward the “Luke 4 Challenge” which, among other things, provides clean drinking water for the people of Nigeria. To date over 60 wells have been dug through the initiative – saving thousands of lives. To learn more, check out this video of the first borehole drilled in 2008:
Between Two Kingdoms officially releases today. I worry a lot about being too self-promotional. At some level, the whole idea of having a blog is self-promotion…or at least self-exposure. I tend to hold back when I get excited about things. I find it annoying when all people talk about our their personal projects and ideas.
The problem is that I do things like make movies and write books. I pour countless hours – years – into these things and then suddenly they are “finished.” Today is an exciting day for me, so I’m going to write about it. Not because I want you to buy my book, but because I know people will be reading it soon. It feels somewhat like sending a kid to college. (I assume. I still have eight years before that dreaded day.) I’ve done all I can for her and now she is on her own…off to become whatever she will be – to meet whomever she will meet.
Here are my hopes for this book:
1. That it lands in the hands of people who are ready to receive the Kingdom like a child.
2. That it can be used as a new canvas on which to paint the gospel.
3. That it will give useful metaphors to people to talk about the Trinitarian God and his work in the world.
4. That those who read it would become more courageous.
5. That parents and kids would read it together.
If you pray, I’d ask that you would pray for those things as you think about me and the book. Though it may look from the outside like I do many different things, all I really do is tell stories about Jesus and the Kingdom in different ways. A storyteller just wants his stories to fall like seeds on fertile soil ready to receive them. Today just happens to be the first day that this particular seed is scattered.
The book releases Monday and should be on the shelves in a few weeks. Some bloggers were given an early copy to write online reviews. Check out the following links to see what others are saying about Between Two Kingdoms:
Between Two Kingdoms review on www.pastoralia.org.
Between Two Kingdoms review on www.light-her-lamp.blogspot.com.
Check out the most recent interview with Between Two Kingdoms author, Joe Boyd:
Between Two Kingdoms is set to release in just ten days. Many people have been asking how they can help spread the word about the release. We appreciate your willingness to help. We think this book has the potential to help people understand spiritual things in a unique way.
Here are a few simple ways you can help spread the word:
1. Use Twitter and Facebook updates to let your friends know BTK is releasing March 1. Just link them to www.betweentwokingdoms.com.
2. If you have a blog, link us there.
3. Ask your local bookstores to put BTK on the shelf. The book is selling online at Barnes & Noble, Borders and the other major booksellers, but not every local store is carrying it on their shelves. They tend to listen to local customers…
4. Invite your Facebook friends to join the BTK fan page. Here is the link: BTK on FB
5. Actively participate here on this blog. Add your comment to the discussions.
Thanks again for all of you who have supported Joe and this project through the years!
Between Two Kingdoms 