The Book of Judges includes a lot of violence and can be hard to understand. However, Alli Prince and Brad Pauquette have shed some light on it through their fictional work, “Lawless.”
“Lawless” is a science-fiction novel that bases each chapter on a passage from Judges. Each is penned by a different author, with 14 total contributing to the undertaking.
The idea originated from Pauquette, who is director of The Company, a writing and publishing apprenticeship program.
“God is so much richer than what we see in the fiction section of the Christian bookstore,” Pauquette wrote in the foreward of the book. “Here at The Company, we’re ready to invest in something different — something hard, something risky.
“If the Bible talks about hard stuff in real life and asks difficult questions, why are we so reticent to do the same?”
Piecing things together
Set in the fictional world of Covenant, Prince describes the book as a “post-apocalyptic, dystopian earth” with a “mysterious deity called Donumdonair.” The entire anthology is an attempt to answer the question, “What would it really be like to live in a time when every man did what was right in his own eyes?”
Initially, Pauquette and Prince read carefully through Judges twice and watched a Bible commentary. Prayer and listening to God’s guidance led to the choice of passages.
Having 14 people working together on any venture can be daunting. Those included in “Lawless” only had a meeting in the beginning to introduce themselves. It was Prince who brought all of the stories together.
“[Brad and I] prepared a packet of information about [the world of Covenant] and its people groups before the authors were assigned their stories,” she explained.
“Then, I met with each author and carefully guided their stories. We extensively edited each short story until it became one cohesive piece of fiction but most importantly, each author prayed and asked the Lord to guide their process.”
Prince’s writing life began at her dining room table while being homeschooled. But she was shy, and it took a while for her to disclose this passion to others.
“I’ve only started to share my writing with others in the past year and a half,” she said.
Though Prince had a major role in developing every interpretative story in “Lawless,” she identifies most with the very last chapter, “The Stars Stand Witness.”
“This story brought hope to an awful and dark situation and was a great example of how Christ meets us in our darkest moments,” Prince said.
Challenge
“The Stars Stand Witness” was written by Drake McDonald, who considers himself a storyteller, not simply a writer. He makes videos, creates art, composes poetry and songs and writes both fiction and nonfiction.
“I try to incorporate storytelling into all of my endeavors. I think our brains are wired to understand stories, and the best way to communicate is through story,” McDonald said.
Unlike Prince, McDonald wasn’t shy about sharing his work. He wrote his first novella in eighth grade and worked on a novel in 10th. With the encouragement of his English teachers and the confidence from winning writing contests, he majored in creative writing in college.
McDonald found out about the project after deciding to take a free novel class taught by Pauquette in 2020. He stayed in touch by attending various workshops and learned about “Lawless” during one.
“Alli and Brad had both submitted their chapters to the workshop for feedback, and after that session they announced that they were looking for writers to adapt the other stories from Judges. I submitted an application as soon as I could,” he said.
He was accepted as one of the writers but could hardly believe it when he found out his chapter was Judges 19. It was so violent that it “made his stomach turn,” but he laughed and told himself that he accepted the challenge.
“It’s one of those stories that just kind of makes you scratch your head and go, ‘Huh. … I’m not sure what to do with that.’
“It’s a story about senseless sexual violence and unlike most of the other stories in Judges, God doesn’t really figure into it. He’s not invoked in the text. There’s not really a moral to the story. There are no angels or prophets or voices calling in the night,” McDonald said in an article published in The Pearl, a nonprofit literary magazine that publishes content with a Christian worldview.
Connecting to Jesus
Without giving spoilers, McDonald did say that there is a strong connection between these events and the story of Jesus.
“[It] was truly eye opening for me,” he said.
McDonald enjoyed working with Prince to complete “Lawless.” They, along with Pauquette and the other writers, all worked hard to make it the best it could be.
Prince said that God loves stories and He loves creativity.
“Christian fiction has a reputation for being overly preachy and poorly written,” Prince said. “However, we have the best Storyteller as an example and as His followers, our work should mirror His creativity.
“I will continue to pursue writing and Jesus at full speed, and you can keep up with my projects on my website at alliprince.com. Help me change the reputation of Christian fiction one book at a time.”
“Lawless” can be purchased on Amazon. To learn more about McDonald’s storytelling through art, go to his YouTube channel.
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