A Reader Continues to Reread the “Dancing Priest” Stories

Pastor Bill Grandi is continuing to reread the Dancing Priest stories. And he’s continuing to pull lessons. He’s finished reading the third book in the series, Dancing King, and he posted twice this week about what he’s reading. 

On April 14, Bill discussed the question of “Why?”. People and organizations can tell you what they do, he writes, but they have difficulty explaining why they do what they do. He cites the example of Michael Kent-Hughes’ brother Henry, who becomes a Christian largely because his Mchael accepts him for having intrinsic value – that his worth came not from money, or power or position, but from being created as a child of God. Henry had never experienced that before.

 

On April 15, Bill cites a conversation between Michael and Jay Lanham, the young man Michael’s interviewing to be his director of communications. Jay tells Michael that what struck him about his sermons was that Michael didn’t communicate at people as an audience, but instead he talked with them as people. Again, this reflects Michael’s belief that people have intrinsic value, that they worth talking with.

 

I’ve often read and hear people speak of “communication to the masses.” If there’s an expression I can’t stand, that’s it. It’s elitist, since the speaker or writer never considers themselves to be a member of the “the masses.” It’s Marxist. And it’s ultimately dehumanizing, objectifying individual people as some large bloc of humanity that has to be communicated at, with talking points at the ready. 

 

Read Bill’s posts. And follow his blog, Living in the Shadow. He always has something worthwhile to talk with you about.

 

 

Related:

 

Rereading the “Dancing Priest” Series.

How I Learned About the Coronation

There I was, doing what I do best in gift shops connected to major tourist sites, in this case the Tower of London. It was 2013, and I was looking through the books for sale.  

One caught my eye: Crown, Orb & Sceptre: The True Stories of English Coronations by David Hilliam. And the reason it caught my eye was that I’d begun to think about the third novel in my Dancing Priest series, my alternative history of the British royal family. And this would be the novel in which Michael Kent-Hughes would be crowned. 

 

But I didn’t know much about the specifics of the ceremony, other than it took place in Westminster Abbey and every monarch since Edward I had been crowned there. I bought the book at the gift shop, and it accompanied me home to the States. It was another six months before I read it. It had become part of the research for Dancing King.

To continue reading, please see my post today at Dancing Priest.

Did "Dancing Prophet" Become Prophetic?

In 2012, I had a conversation with my publisher about the future novels planned in the Dancing Priest series. Dancing Priest had been published in late 2011, and the publication of A Light Shining was imminent. I walked him through what I saw as the main subjects and themes of several additional books (another six, if I remember correctly, which eventually became another three). 

The fourth book was to focus on the conflict between Michael Kent-Hughes and the Church of England hierarchy, which would eventually lead to a reformation. The catalyst would be a child sexual abuse scandal, happening over decades and facilitated (as in, covered up) by the church. The inspiration for this was the scandal in the Roman Catholic Church; what I did was to transfer the Catholic scandal to the Church of England. Or so I thought.

 

To continue reading, please see my post today at Dancing Priest. 

 

Photograph by Cajeo Zhang via Unsplash. Used with permission.

Dancing Prince Available for Pre-Order

A mother's last words, a father's final message, and a strange painting: Michael Kent-Hughes faces personal tragedy, one that leads to long-lasting damage to the relationship with his youngest child, Prince Thomas. As the young boy grows to adulthood and the estrangement from his father continues, he finds his own way in life. But in the boy's hands and heart will lie the future of the kingdom. Dancing Prince is the moving conclusion of the Dancing Priest series.

Dancing Prince, to be published about July 1, is now available for pre-order.

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What readers say about the Dancing Priest series

"At least a dozen times, I had to stop reading Dancing Priest for a moment to control the tears. The story is that gripping, that real."

"I found myself not wanting Dancing Priest to end. There was so much imagery and amazing detail in the story. As an artist, I was amazed at how accurately he understood us."

"In turns suspenseful and heartwarming, A Light Shining has all the qualities of those classic tales that stay with you for the long journey. These characters become friends and fellow sojourners, making their way into a reader's heart and encouraging a deeper faith - one that has hands and feet. We all need such role models as Michael and Sarah Kent-Hughes."

"Read A Light Shining any way you can: Kindle, Nook, paper. Be prepared to leave long blocks of time to read. Guaranteed. Be prepared to be captured with this story."

"With Dancing King, it is such a joy to be back in this world, which is so well-rendered it could qualify as alternate history. And no one writes a crowd scene like Glynn Young."

"Themes of redemption, restoration, courage, and community run deep through the lines of Dancing King. Once again, Glynn Young exceeds readers' hopes, showing a main character in Michael Kent-Hughes who continues to mature in his faith and leadership."

"In Dancing Prophet, Glynn Young continues to weave a great story with stirring characters and plot lines that anticipate the headlines. This book gives him a chance to give more backstory to some familiar characters while moving our principals, Michael and Sarah, forward into their new roles. I only wish book 5 was already out!"

"It's 3 am but I just finished reading a wonderful book that I couldn't put down, the fourth book in the Dancing Priest series by Glynn Young, entitled, Dancing Prophet. Wow, it lived up to the greatness of the prior three books."

A World Changes

“My world has changed, Zena,” Josh said. “I need to move out.” He paused. “And I want you to be my wife.”

Her eyes widened.

“My time in San Francisco with Michael and Sarah made me realize that you and I are more than just two people living together and sharing a bed,” he said. “We are a life together, and I want it to be an official life together, recognized by God and man.”

“Have you talked with Michael about this?” she said.

“No, I haven’t,” he said. “I haven’t talked with him about my finding faith, either. Although I think he suspects.”

“And now I’m truly stunned,” she said. “Stunned speechless.”

-      From Dancing King 

Photograph by A.L. via Unsplash. Used with permission.

Reality Sinks In

I try to remember when the reality of what had happened to us finally sunk in. I had a glimpse when I saw thousands camped out at the hospital, praying for Mike’s survival. And on the plane to London, I saw the looks of deference as we walked through the cabin to greet passengers. But I knew for sure when we walked into the terminal at Heathrow, with the archbishop and the prime minister waiting for us, almost surrounded by television, flash cameras, and mobiles held high to get a shot of the new royal family.

Us.

- Sarah Kent-Hughes, Dancing King

Photo: British Airways plane at Heathrow Airport.

"It's about who you are, who you are as a person"

“Josh,” Zena said, “there’s something in Michael that speaks to you, and I suspect speaks deeply. He thinks the world of you, but it’s about who you are. He’s grateful for what you’ve done and what you can do, but it’s more about you as a person. He likes you, Josh. You’re not used to having someone who simply likes you as a friend.” She paused. “And you may have to ask yourself what your new faith means in the context of government politics.”

     - From Dancing King 

Photograph by Dominik Vanyi via Unsplash. Used with permission.

Ebook of "Dancing Prophet" published today

The ebook version of my new novel “Dancing Prophet,” is published today (paperback is coming in mid-October). In this fourth novel in the Dancing Priest series, Michael Kent-Hughes confronts a collapsing, scandal-wracked church and a collapsing city government. A trusted advisor finally confronts his own troubled past. And Sarah Kent-Hughes finds her long-disappeared mother and ministers to a dying soldier. You can find the ebook at Amazon.

As a special promotion, the paperback edition of Dancing King, the third in the Dancing Priest series, is available at Amazon for $3.07. 

Writing a Fiction Series

My introduction to series fiction happened in college. I was checking the sale table at a B. Dalton’s Bookstore and found God is an Englishman by R.F. Delderfield, a novel about the Swann family set in mid-19^thcentury England. Not long after, I realized there was a second volume, entitled Theirs Was the Kingdom. And a couple of years later, the third and final volume, Give Us This Day, in the series was published.

I loved those stories. Delderfield had created an entire world built around the coming of the railroads and how one man realized that there was opportunity in the routes not connected by the railroads. He builds a business empire upon that realization. It was (and is) good, old-fashioned storytelling at its best. I still have those three books.

To continue reading, please see my post today at Dancing Priest.

The Novel That Wasn’t Meant to be Written

For roughly 14 months, from September 2005 to November 2006, a story idea that had been in my head for four years began to pour out on the computer screen. Once it came, it gushed, some 250,000 words of the roughest sort of rough draft. It would be spliced, diced, rewritten, divided into three parts, added to, and subtracted from, eventually published as Dancing Priest (2011), A Light Shining (2012), and Dancing King (2017), the three novels in the Dancing Priest series.

In November 2006, I stopped, and rested. Two months later, a story from my small suburban town of Kirkwood in metropolitan St. Louis became international headlines. A boy kidnapped in nearby Franklin County had been found by police in Kirkwood. With him was found a boy kidnapped in 2002. 

To continue reading, please see my post today at Dancing Priest.

Photograph by Warren Wong via Unsplash. Used with permission.

Dancing King Stories: Researching a Novel

I’m looking at a web site called English Historical Fiction Authors. Its audience is authors who write period historical novels. The various posts are written by the authors themselves. So, you can learn about how ice cream was made in the 18^thcentury, what pieces of furniture would have been found in an upper-class hoe in the 16^thcentury, who the Lord Proprietors of Carolina were in the 17^thcentury, the friendship between the British Saxon Osulf and one of Charlemagne’s sons; and similar kinds of really detailed information. If you want your period novel to show authenticity, you need authentic historical details.

I don’t write historical novels. Mine fall into the more contemporary genre; actually, they’re set a few years ahead of our own times. So, I don’t have to be concerned with a lot of historical detail, like what Osulf really thought of his friend Charles a thousand years ago.

But it doesn’t mean I’ve escaped the research yoke. Far from it.

To continue reading, please see my post today at Dancing Priest.

Photograph by by Gaelle Marcel via Unsplash. Used with permission.

Dancing King Stories: Unexpectedly Writing a Series

I never intended to write a series of novels. In fact, I never really thought about publishing what I was doing, first in my head and later on paper. Dancing Priest existed only in my head for almost five years. It began with an image and gradually progressed to a story.

You can tell a story in your mind much faster than you can write it down. 

But I did eventually push it on to a computer screen, all 250,000 words of it. It was too big for a novel, too unwieldy, shooting off in too many directions. Metaphorically speaking, I took an ax to the manuscript at about the 110,000-word mark. And then I spent the next two years culling those 110,000 words down to about 90,000. I rewrote the story at least once. And that was what was eventually published as Dancing Priest.

To continue reading, please see my post today at Dancing Priest.

Top photograph by Patrick Tomasso via Unsplash. Used with permission.

Dancing King Stories: Master of the Household

In Dancing King, Michael Kent-Hughes has a recurring problem – finding the right people for his key palace staff positions. 

A wide array of people is considered for the communications job; Michael doesn’t find the right person he’s looking for until a resume arrives unsolicited. A similar problem occurs with his chief of staff position – he finds capable people, but the chemistry doesn’t seem right. What’s happened there is that Michael has been consciously and unconsciously comparing them all to Josh Gittings, the prime minister’s chief aide sent to help Michael and his wife Sarah in San Francisco. That problem is solved when Gittings directly applies for the job.

A third key position is an operating job – Master of the Household at the palace, or as Michael shortens it, “Master of the House.” Today, the position is responsible for all of the operational positions for all of the Royal Households in the nation. In addition to Buckingham Palace, that includes Windsor Castle, Kensington Palace, and the staffs charged with managing the activities of many of the members of the royal family.

To continue reading, please see my post today at Dancing Priest.

Dancing King Stories: Michael Kent-Hughes

Michael Kent (married name, Kent-Hughes) started out fictional life as an unnamed priest dancing on a beach in Italy. He was inspired by a song, “Luna Rossa,” sung by Mario Frangoulis. I first heard the song on an airplane flight to San Francisco in 2002. The image of a dancing priest stuck in my head and wouldn’t let go. 

The priest stayed in my head for the next three years. He moved off the beach and into a tourist group. He changed religions, from Roman Catholic to Anglican. He had a mild flirtation with a young American woman who was part of the tour group. The beach, Italy, and the tour group were left behind, and the priest was moved to Scotland. He was finishing his theology studies at the University of Edinburgh. He gained a named, Michael Kent. He gained a reason for being English but living in Scotland – he was raised by guardians.

To continue reading, please see my post today at Dancing Priest. 

Dancing King Stories: Ian McLaren, Guardian

A childless couple, he 40, she 39, feel a drifting apart in their marriage. They always wanted children, but pregnancy hadn’t happened. So, one Saturday night, they go out for dinner and play, in the New Town area of Edinburgh. When they arrive home, the phone is ringing, which, at that hour, usually means an emergency with a horse. The man is a horse veterinarian, and a good one, so good that he finds himself traveling all over Britain to attend to horses.

The phone call is not about a horse. It’s about a boy, a 6-year-old suddenly orphaned by the deaths of his parents in a car crash outside of London. The man learns that the boy is being driven to their home outside Edinburgh; he and his wife are the designated guardians. He’ll arrive within the hour.

The boy is the son of Henry and Anna Kent, who live a quiet life in southern England. Henry races horses, and his veterinarian is Ian McLaren. He had watched Ian work a near miracle when a valuable racehorse was injured. He had also come to know Ian McLaren the man, and it was to Ian and his wife Iris that Henry Kent entrusted his son Michael. 

To continue reading, please see my post today at Dancing Priest.

Photograph by Eberhard Grossgasteiger via Unsplash. Used with permission.

Dancing King Stories: Josh Gittings, Chief of Staff

In my second novel A Light Shining, Josh Gittings is a special assistant to Prime Minister Peter Bolting. And in his case, “special” means “political.” Gittings does what Bolting needs him to do, and much of that is ruthless. 

He’s a character who understands what his value is, what his role is, and what’s expected of him. He knows he’s often called “Rasputin,” and he’s self-aware enough to understand that it’s a justified nickname. He watches everything. He pays attention to small details. He can deal with political friends and enemies alike, and he sees little difference between them, because who’s your political friend today will be your political enemy tomorrow. 

Josh Gittings is a man of the political 21^st century.

To continue reading, please see my post today at Dancing Priest.

My Interview with KSDK-TV on the Dancing Priest Novels

Last week, I was interviewed by KSDK-TV report Abby Llorico anout my Dancing Priest novels, writing in general, and the upcoming royal wedding of Prince Harry and Meaghan Markle. The interview and news report was published today, and Llorico did a great job of condensing an hour-long interview into about a 90-second news spot.

You can read and watch the report here.

Dancing King Stories: The King’s Communications Man

This is the first in a series of profiles of some of the main characters in the novel Dancing King. Every character has a story, one that is much larger and more detailed than what can be included in the narrative.

In Dancing King, Jay Lanham becomes the communications director for Michael Kent-Hughes and the monarchy. He is all of 29, but he already has considerable communications experience behind him. He was graduated from the University of Northumberland, receiving a communications degree (with honours). He had had internships with The Guardianand The Telegraphand was hired by The Daily Mailright after graduation (from an editorial perspective, The Guardianwould be considered on the left side of the political spectrum, The Telegraphslightly more toward the center, and The Daily Mail on the right side of the spectrum). 

He worked for The Daily Mail for three years, and he then joined the communications staff of Britrail. He quickly gained a reputation for crisis communications following two train accidents, but what put him on the map in the communications industry was his adroit handling of a threatened strike by rail workers. Lanham didn’t know it at the time, but he effectively countered the plans of the would-be strikers whose unions had hired Geoffrey Venneman of the FBL public affairs firm. Two years younger than Venneman, Lanham had successfully anticipated almost every move by the unions.

To continue reading, please see my post today at Dancing Priest.

Photograph: An idea of what Jay Lanham might look like. Photo by Ali Morshedlou via Unsplash. Used with permission. 

Dancing King Stories: The Coronation at Westminster Abbey

In the 1040s, King Edward of England (later St. Edward the Confessor) began to enlarge the church of a small Benedictine monastery near his palace. It was referred to as the “west minster,” to distinguish it from the “east minister,” aka St. Paul’s Cathedral. The large stone church was dedicated to St. Peter.

In 1066, William I invaded and conquered England. On Christmas Day, he was crowned in Edward’s church. Every English and British monarch since 1066 has been crowned in Edward’s church. The complex has grown over the tears, especially during the 13^thto 16^thcenturies. Today, Westminster Abbey is one of the most popular sites in Britain, visited by millions of tourists annually and a center of major worship activities. 

To continue reading, please see my post today at Dancing Priest.

Dancing King Stories: The Tower of London

For almost a millennium, the Tower of London has stood watch over the city, a symbol of William the Conqueror who built it. Few buildings evoke such a mixture of emotions, The Tower has served as royal residence, prison, armory, mint, torture chamber, and even a menagerie of exotic animals presented to British monarchs. 

In 2014, to mark the 100^thanniversary of the start of World War I, the Tower was host to one of the most remarkable art installations ever – the planting of ceramic poppies in the moat, one for each casualty of the warm until almost 900,000 had been placed by that November.

From the time of William I to Charles II in 1660, the Tower served another purpose – the start of the coronation procession for each British monarch. Charles II was the last; his brother James II, something of a closet Catholic, was supposedly crowned privately in a Catholic ceremony and then proceeded from Whitehall Palace to Westminster Abbey for the “protestant coronation.”

To continue reading, please see my post today at Dancing Priest.

Photograph: The Tower of London seen from the Thames River, via Wikimedia.