Author’s Inspiration ~ J. Rutledge #fantasy #paranormal @writerJRutledge

Please give a warm welcome to fantasy author, J. Rutledge. 

Author’s Inspiration

To be honest, I did not want to write a story that dealt with religion. Religion is not one of my favorite topics, however it was the only story at the time, that had potential to move forward.

The original idea came about during a brief conversation, when the other person said to me, “all snakes are evil because of the Serpent in the Garden of Eden.” I said… “All snakes? rattlesnakes, pythons, boa constrictors… they’re just evil?” Now, I know the Garden of Eden story and I was pretty sure it didn’t say that. The person I was speaking to was very religious, and there was no way to argue rationally against that, so I left it alone. Unfortunately, it was stuck in my head. So, when I got home, I reread the garden of Eden story just to make sure, and I confirmed that nowhere in the text does it ever say Evil, Satan, or Devil.

A Law & Order type scene popped in my head, where the Serpent was on trial and the prosecution was trying to prove motive and intent. That’s when it struck me to rewrite it from the Serpent’s point of view, to see if it would make more sense. What if you somehow encountered this legendary dark figure, and it speaks intelligently and tells you its version of the events. The same events would happen but now the perspective has been changed. It sounded interesting to me, and it was something I had never heard before with this subject. The original story was only a page and a half, and after 2 years of writing it was at 800 pages, another year of editing cut it down to just under 500 pages.

Truth and the Serpent is meant as a discussion piece. It’s an absurdity about a talking animal set in the ‘WHAT IF UNIVERSE.’ It’s not an attack on religion, it’s a conversation free from judgment, or fear of reprisal. The Serpent character can ask these questions and pose alternative theories without the reader feeling threatened. Because the reader has no connection to the Serpent character. The same could not have been done with say Noah or Joseph, because our minds just won’t allow it.

You don’t take on a subject like religion or politics and expect everyone to agree with you. Truth and the Serpent is meant as a discussion piece. There really is no 100% right answer with this subject. And as such, I think the best you can hope for is to add something new to the conversation.

As a writer, it was a personal challenge to see if I could FIND SOMETHING DIFFERENT, without it becoming an attack on the subject. How many times have we heard these stories and every time it’s the same old thing. If you even mention religion, Jew, Muslim, Bible, people completely lose their minds.

Once I decided to write it, I wanted it to be for someone like myself. But how do you write a story that deals with religion, for a person who isn’t interested in debating religion? That’s when I decided that the balance of the story would be true versus untrue, instead of good versus evil or right versus wrong. As Good and Evil are subjective and change depending on the point of view. However, there are things in these stories that are universally true and relatable to everyone.

The themes of Truth and The Serpent are personal responsibility, and the seeking of truths over myth and lore. I worked very hard to find truths in these stories that unit; and not get caught up in the legends and fables that have come to control, enslave, and divide. As much as people debate the existence of God, or argue Jew versus Muslim against Christian, nothing ever seems to change or improve.

So, with this story I had a chance to question and critique as much as I wanted to. I understand that many readers will be apprehensive due to the subject, however if you don’t ask any new questions, you’re not going to get any different answers.

Truth and The Serpent is not about debunking the Bible or explaining existence through science and math. Truth and the Serpent is a fiction that examines the shared stories of humanity through the eyes of the infamous Serpent.

It is my sincere hope that, after reading this book it spurs people to think something different, ask a new question, or go back and ‘READ IT FOR YOURSELF.’ If that happens, then as a writer, I did my job!

J. Rutledge 

Writing stories has always been a passion of mine that I rarely shared with others. As a child, I was often frustrated with the stories and characters I was presented with. I then began creating my own stories, and rewriting others with new endings or plot twists that I felt were lacking. As a learned man, I have always found myself asking more in depth questions, and seeking out different meanings than my peers. Over the years, I have come to embrace that obtuseness about myself, and now I let it drive me. It was that same sense of curiosity and need for a deeper meaning that led me to creating Truth and The Serpent, my first full length novel. My goal as a writer is to generate intriguing, positive, and challenging ideas, while leaving the reader with plenty to chew on in anticipation of the next story.

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Truth and The Serpent

What if you encountered a dark and sinister character of not so subtle reputation? One whose origins are the very meaning of temptation and sin. 

What do we really know of creation, myth, and belief? There was a Man, a Woman, a Garden, and of course… a Serpent. Yet, what we have come to know as temptation, and mortal sin are only one side of the story. You see, three sinned, and three were punished, but only two were expelled from the Garden, but afterwards…what happened to the Serpent? 

A present-day man finds himself eye to eye with the infamous Serpent of curse and ruin. The Serpent who characteristically makes the man an offer to learn not just what happened, but why. 

A tale unlike any other, where the fall of man is not weighed on a scale of good or evil, but in truth and lies. The Serpent whose intellect, sarcasm, and wit cultivates over time as he appraises the history of man and religious lore. The Serpent who is also on a journey of self-discovery to learn the meaning of that ill-fated encounter and the purpose of his own life. 

Come to know the unsung story of one who lived through creation, survived the great deluge, witnessed a mass exodus, and the rise and fall of exalted kings of men. Could such a tale, as told by a forked tongue, be the end of lies, and the beginning… of the truth.

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