Fiction

Two books, available now: City of Heaven and When Shadows Dream: Twilight.

City of Heaven

Synopsis

Fourteen hundred years after the millennial reign of the King has ended, the world still lives in relative peace and safety but has strayed from the principles that led to humankind's greatest era: the Great Generation. The principal system of faith, Royalism—once a global theocracy under the King—has degenerated into a politically oriented belief system. In response to the growing threat to their beliefs, factions of the Royalist Social Movement, from the violent to the reformist, seek to restore the former glory of the Great Generation.

High above Terra, connected to the planet by a system of orbital tethers stretching from the surface to sixty-four thousand kilometers in space, the civilian space station City of Heaven is home to more than a million citizens. A futuristic Tower of Babel, City of Heaven is humankind's greatest achievement.

Enter the Ar'chay Order, a radical sect of Royalism determined to force the movement and the world to bend its knee, with Ar'chaists assuming the Regency. In a single act of terror, they sever the tethers connecting City of Heaven, killing nearly all of its inhabitants and sending the city on a collision course with Terra, where millions more will surely die.

On both Terra and the remains of Heaven, survivors battle for control and the polifaith movement reaches a crisis that threatens to unleash a new global era of faith-cleansing that will rid the world of Royalism once and for all.

Synopsis

Twelve stories of faith, hope, and absurdity.

Braxton's lonely days came to end at the annual jazz festival when he met Jenneen—dark hair with blonde highlights, radiant skin, a bold confidence, and those two beautiful heads. As Braxton falls for the most unusual woman he's ever known, he must find a way to maintain his affection, while accepting a horrible sacrifice of love.

Charles Fargo's desperation for significance leads him on an adventure of faith with devastating consequences for his hometown. Caught between the desire to do great things, and his mediocre existence, Charles takes on a simple task—moving a mountain.

Bill Harmond was the perfect employee, and prospective mate, the man all the women at the office wanted—handsome and hard working, a creative thinker with an edge, kind, generous to a fault, a man of impeccable integrity, and the best serial killer the company ever had.

Volume One of When Shadows Dream: Twilight, journeys through 12 stories where the impossible, improbable, and unthinkable are common day occurrences sparking uncommon reflections.

Read what others are saying about When Shadows Dream: Twilight:

• "Tom Terry's new book is a delightful Serling-esque jaunt into a more spiritually and culturally aware Twilight Zone. Full of delightful and unexpected twists, this anthology reinvents the science fiction short story genre. WSD:T is a great example of how Christians should "do the literary arts" in the 21st century."


• "Terry takes you on a roller coaster ride with stories that start in the surreal. Some stories are light hearted, others pack a punch, all will make you think."


• "Pick up a copy of Tom Terry's short stories and expect to be transported. Whether set in a distant land or in seemingly familiar surroundings, these stories carry the reader on a journey with an understanding of both the light of grace and the darkness that resides in the human heart. Good, thought-provoking reading. Highly recommended."


• "The short story genre is not something you see much these days. Tom Terry has used the short story form to offer faith moving stories that energize the reader."

The stories presented in this collection often take sharp, disturbing turns not normally found in modern religious fiction. Ordinary tells the story of a missionary who struggles with a decision to murder a man—by being eaten by a lion. Canvas and Flesh is a brutal tale of abuse and art suffered in an Arabic prison. Murder One, set in an alternate reality, takes place in corporate offices where one may order a felony by phone as easily as calling for a pizza.