A power kept secret for 2000 years.
A brotherhood broken by murder.
A woman who stands to lose everything.
When Jesus of Nazareth rose from the dead, the Apostles took stone from his tomb as a symbol of their brotherhood.
At Pentecost, the fires of the Holy Spirit empowered the stones and the Apostles performed miracles in God’s name throughout the Empire. Forged in the fire and blood of the Christian martyrs, the Pentecost stones were handed down through generations of Keepers who kept their power and locations secret.
Until now.
The Keepers are being murdered, the stones stolen by those who would use them for evil in a world transformed by religious fundamentalism. Oxford University psychologist Morgan Sierra is forced into the search when her sister and niece are held hostage. She is helped by Jake Timber from the mysterious ARKANE, a British government agency specializing in paranormal and religious experience.
From ancient Christian sites in Spain, Italy and Israel to the far reaches of Iran and Tunisia, Morgan and Jake must track down the stones through the myths of the early church in a race against time before a new Pentecost is summoned, this time powered by the fires of evil.
If you’re not the type to hesitate, and you’re just interested in jumping into a heart-stopping thriller that will keep you turning the pages well into the night, just click on the picture my friend. It’s worth it.
If you can spare a few moments before spending far less than it’s worth on this great debut novel, I have a very special treat for everyone today! I hope you’re as excited as I am to experience the very first Words That Begin With You author interview and book review!
I couldn’t be more thrilled to be sharing with everyone this debut novel by Joanna Penn, the writing and publishing maven behind The Creative Penn.
You may recall an earlier post where I shared the awesome Author 2.0 blueprint Joanna gives away for free on her website, because it really gave me some great ideas regarding how an author in 2011 can take advantage of all the publishing and marketing technology available online to build and expand a solid platform, the key to successfully launching books to a mass market!
Joanna has been working hard on completing her first novel and the impressive launch campaign she’s put together for its release has been a clear object lesson in how her Author 2.0 concepts work in the real world.
I’m fortunate enough to have stolen a few minutes of Joanna’s time in the busy weeks leading up to this week’s official launch of Pentecost, and I wanted to share with you her in-depth and insightful responses to my three questions.
After that, I’ll share my own thoughts about the novel, which she was nice enough to allow me to review.
The Interview
This is an interview with Joanna Penn, author of Pentecost, a thriller novel.
Did Pentecost start out as a plot concept, a theme-driven idea, or a character who needed a story?
I always wanted to write novels but I suffered from an inferiority complex for years due to the genre of literary fiction. I thought I needed to write like 
Umberto Eco or other literary prizewinners in order to be a novelist. But then I examined my own bookshelves and what I love to read and discovered that as much as I do love some literary fiction, my true passion is for fast-paced action/adventure thrillers. I devour them! So once I embraced the idea of writing a thriller, I looked at what my obsessions were, what I could become immersed in. I have degrees in theology and psychology and those are the topics I love to research and read about. They also lend themselves to oh-so-many plot ideas! I started writing about my protagonist Morgan Sierra first. She’s a psychologist from Oxford University who specializes in aspects of religion and the paranormal, basically whatever falls between the gaps of science and faith. The book was originally called ‘Mandala’ and was based around Carl Jung and eastern religion but then I went to Venice and saw the Pentecost mural on the dome of St Mark’s Basilica. It inspired me to write a scene set there and then the book morphed into being about Pentecost. Carl Jung is still wound into the story but the stones of Pentecost became the new core and I indulged in aspects of Christian myth and history. So I guess the answer to your question is kind of all three!
If you could go back to the very first word you wrote from Pentecost, what would you have done differently, and what would that have done to change where the book is now?
I have learnt so much in the 14 months it took to write and publish Pentecost! For those who want the blow by blow, I have created a page with all my blog posts on related to writing a first novel. There were definitely some key moments though. Understanding the concept of writing in scenes was a huge realization for me. It enabled me to rewrite the whole book and base the scenes on the point of view characters. This really clicked for me when I deconstructed one of James Rollins’ books (he is one of my main influences). I also wish I had given the earlier drafts to proof readers as I did that very late and they had some great ideas I could have expanded on. But I’m happy with the book as it stands, I just would have made some of the sections richer.
The very first scene set at the burning ghat of Manikarnika in Varanasi, India was always on my mind and although I wrote that first, it is also one of the most revised pieces. So the first words written were the most considered!
Based on this experience, are you interested in jumping right into the next book immediately, or do you look forward to changing pace a bit?
I am focusing on the launch before I start the next in the series, Prophecy. I already have some of it plotted in my head. The ideas are composting at the moment! I opened some loops in Pentecost that need writing about and expanding on. The book is complete as a self-contained story but the characters have more adventures ahead of them. I intentionally wrote it as a series as I enjoy reading them myself and with the broad themes of religion and psychology, there’s a lot to explore! Morgan will also be working with ARKANE, the mysterious British government agency that specializes in religious and supernatural experiences so that gives a broader scope to plot ideas. Prophecy will also be around Christian and Jewish themes, so there will be more set in Jerusalem, a place I absolutely love. So I have lots of plans but definitely I’ll be back to writing soon! Thanks for having me.
Joanna Penn is the author of Pentecost, a thriller novel which is available now on Amazon.com. Joanna is also a blogger at The Creative Penn: Adventures in Writing, Publishing and Book Promotion. You can connect on Twitter @thecreativepenn
Go get it NOW!
You need to read this book. I got my copy and I’m already enthralled. As an author who’s wrestled with the heavyweight of the writing world, the novel, before, I can tell you it’s a tough win.
But this book definitely wins. And the fact that its author gives so much to the writing community any way makes this a win-win if you ask me.
So go pick up your copy of Pentecost, a thriller novel today and get reading!
