Valerie -Welcome to Book Worthy. Today we're talking with the host of Redeeming the Chaos podcast and author, Laurie Christine. Laurie’s passion is to raise strong, courageous warriors for the kingdom of God and to help families like yours do the same.
And that's what she's done with her Dragon Slayer Story series. Rise of the Enemy and Garden of Mysteries are part action-packed Bible stories, part devotional, and part Bible study geared for the adventurous spirit of boys ages eight to 12. Welcome to Book Worthy Laurie.
Laurie -Hey, Valerie, thanks so much for having me on the show today.
Valerie - It is a pleasure to have you. Well, we're going to start with our random question of the week, and it's kind of a doozy. So, what book could you read 100 times and still enjoy it?
Laurie -I had to think for a couple of minutes about this question because there have been some books that I've read many, many times, not quite 100. So based on books that I have already read dozens of times, I'm going to go with those. And they're a series. They're not just individual books. So, the one would be the Chronicles of Narnia series. I probably read that a dozen times with my kids on my own. I used to have a tradition of rereading the entire series once a year. And then the second series would be the Harry Potter series because I've read it.
That with all of my children individually as well as by myself several times. And so I would say both of those, I could probably get up to a hundred times and still enjoy them.
Valerie - I'm the same Chronicles of Narnia and Harry Potter are definitely the top on my list of books I can just constantly read just because there are just such engaging characters so much to think about and just so fun and adventurous Now as a fellow boy mom, I know you have four boys. How would your boys answer that question?
Laurie -I think they would agree with Harry Potter. They enjoy Chronicles of Narnia, but the style's a little older, you know, like the word, the language. So they had a little bit of a harder time getting into those. But I think they would probably agree with me that they could read and listen to Harry Potter over and over again.
Valerie -Most definitely. Think I tried to read Oliver Twist with my boys once. Like, let's, I got like an antique version of it, a classic. And then we started reading it they're like, what does that mean? What are they saying? I'm like, okay, we got like three chapters in. I'm like if I can't catch them by three chapters, we'll move on. Cause I have a 16-year-old, a 12-year-old and a 10-year-old. So right around the same age as your boys. Yep. So, Laurie, tell us a little bit about your Dragon Slayer story series.
Laurie -Sure, so the series is called the Dragon Slayer Bible Series. It is a series of adventure-packed biblical fiction and devotions for preteen readers, eight to 12 years old. Both boys and girls love the series, but I would say because I have four boys, they were my target audience. I had them in mind when I was writing the book. I like to describe the series as Frank Peretti meets the Jesus Storybook Bible because we get to peek behind the curtain of biblical events and see what might have been happening in the realm of spiritual warfare. So, the overarching theme of the series or the overarching story is that the king who is God has prophesied that Jesus, the dragon slayer will one day defeat the evil dragon. Throughout the series, the dragon's mission is to destroy the chosen descendants of Eve and turn their hearts away from the king. But the king sends Michael, the archangel, to fight the dragon and to protect the children of the king. So that's kind of like the overarching plot line of the whole series, but then each book has its own story, it's a biblical fiction narrative that involves those characters, the dragon and Michael and the king as well.
Valerie -Now you have this set up a little differently. It's kind of part devotional, part story, story, but it's broken up into kind of the message, which is the retelling as well as the mission, which is a call to action for the kids who are reading and then the marching orders, which kind of is more the devotional style. What made you decide to kind of break it up in that fashion?
Laurie - Well, I wanted to inspire kids to dig into the Bible. So, I wanted to have a fictional story at the beginning. And then I really wanted them to not just stop there. I wanted them to go deeper and be like, well, what does the Bible actually say? Well, what are those Bible passages? Who are these characters? And so the goal of the fictional part is to dive into the Bible and get kids excited about reading the Bible. And I will say you have the first book that was published in this series, and I know you had a chance to read that with your boys. It was called Rise of the Enemy. The second book that I'm publishing is actually now going to be book one in the series. And I don't know if I had a chance to explain this to you at all yet, but Rise of
The Enemy is now kind of like a prequel book zero origin story because it's much shorter. The narrative section is only like three chapters and then there are devotions. So that's kind of like a prequel story, but then Garden of Mysteries, which is the book that was just released in November of 2024, there are two books in the story. You talked about like, the mission and the marching orders and the message. Well, the message is the narrative. That's the fictional part of the story. And that's a whole separate book for Garden of Mysteries. And then the mission and the marching orders, that's the devotional section. And that's a whole separate book. So it's like a companion devotional too. The novel. So, Garden of Mysteries is a full-fledged middle-grade biblical fiction novel. It's 240 pages, 35,000 words, something around there. And then there's a companion devotional that goes along with it.
Valerie -Very neat, because that was one thing at least my boys were kind of like they wanted more of the story in the original. It was just like they loved the action, the dragon, you know, all the imagery that you put into that to just bring that spiritual warfare side of the Bible to life. So, I'm excited that a Garden of Mysteries kind of expands that a little bit more and allows kids to think about the Bible in new and fun ways.
Laurie -Yeah, yeah, that's the second why I call it the second book because it's the second book that was published, but it's now officially book one in the series. But yes, there's a much more substantial narrative. There's it's a whole novel they can that they can delve into and immerse themselves in in that world.
Valerie - Frank Peretti's This Present Darkness was kind of the first Christian fiction that I read as a teenager. And it was eye-opening and it's hard to see past the world that we live in a little bit. And I love talking with my boys as we've read through other books and other fictional books that kind of do kind of talk a little bit about demons, but not in a Christian sense. And it was interesting to be like, but demons are real. And he's like, huh? Yeah. And it was like, that line between fiction and fact can be so hard to define in a fictional book. But I love how your stories not only bring us into a fictional fun adventure but they also kind of point you to the biblical truth that's behind it as well.
Laurie -Yeah, one of the sections that I included at the end of Garden of Mysteries, and I'll just show the book cover for those of you on YouTube. So, this is the book cover for Garden of Mysteries. And then there's a companion devotional that goes with it. So, there's two and you can see, and then this is book one. This is Rise of the Enemy. And I'm sorry if I'm clunking around here, but you can see even just with the spines, like look at the difference. It's at least more than two times as thick as Rise of the Enemy was but one of my favorite sections in this book, at the end, I have a
The section is called Fact or Fiction. As kids are reading this, it's based on biblical characters and biblical events, but a lot of the story is imagined. A lot of it is woven together to create a fun fictional story. There's a fantastical twist to it because you know, the spiritual warfare in the background is a dragon. So there's like a dragon, you know like there's the fantasy element there with the dragon and he's fighting against the angels. As kids are reading this, I want to be very clear about what is made up, the fun part of the story, and what is actual biblical truth. So at the end of the book, I have a factor fiction section. We go through just about every chapter and talk about what was real, and what happened. There were Bible references and then parts that were like, hey, you know, this didn't happen, but it was fun to imagine. What if it did? You know, what if it did happen? So yeah, I love that part because I want kids to distinguish between fact and fiction. One is not wrong. Fiction is not bad because we're using our imaginations and we're using the creativity that God has given us. But I do want to be very clear that this part was fiction, but then this part is an actual historical biblical fact in the story.
Valerie -I love how you've done that with having the companion devotional with the Garden of Mysteries just to allow parents to dig in a little deeper where these kids are having fun reading an adventure story, but it's like, hey, let's dig a little deeper. How does this affect us? How can we be a warrior for the king as well? And how can we fight this spiritual battle? In a world that is not quite as fantastical, not too many dragons in the flesh. I love that you're giving those tools for not just kids to dig a little deeper into the Bible, but also for families to kind of do fight against that, those funky lines our culture has put between fact and fiction. And I love that your books are doing that. Now, if you could have one takeaway from your books, what would you hope kids would walk away with?
Laurie -Well, I want them to know the dragon slayer who is Jesus. I want them to be excited about the Bible. And as they read these books, I want them to understand that, yes, while it's a fictional story, there's a deeper level of meaning. Yes, we are in a battle against an enemy, but this enemy has been defeated. You don't have to give in to his lies. You can put your trust in the dragon slayer. So that is my ultimate desire for kids reading that they would put their trust in Jesus the Dragon Slayer.
Valerie -I love that you give me that picture. This is a battle that's already been won. It's, know, what is it we talk about? We're just waiting for the second Christmas. Because Christmas is always that really exciting time and everybody loves Christmas. Well, it's like, we're waiting for the second Christmas. So,
Whenn Jesus comes back again and makes the whole world right again. So, and that just heals our physical hearts and spiritual hearts, but you know, heals our world as well. And I love that you're providing space to have those conversations as we're in a world where there's so much going on that's hard to understand for kids, just to give them a way of addressing hard things, stepping into hard things through fiction. Now, Laurie, did you always want to be an author?
Laurie -That's a fun question. Think of my very first memories of what I wanted to be when I grew up, you know, when I was a little girl, when people say, what do want to be when you grow up? My very first memories were wanting to be an author, wanting to be a writer. And then I did a lot of writing when I was little. I remember writing stories and keeping a folder. Think I started writing a novel when I was in elementary school, very much based on like Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys and the Bobbsey Twins and like all of those old classic mystery novels that I used to read when I was little. And then my, you know, my desires changed over the years. There was a long period that I wanted to be an FBI agent. And then I was planning on. Yeah, for sure. Well, but I mean, but the mystery, the Nancy Drew aspect. Yep. So, there's always like that mystery solving crime, that kind of thing.
Valerie -That's a natural progression. Yeah. Author to FBI. Nancy Drew.
Laurie -So I was going to be an FBI agent for a while. And then forensic science, I was like, well, FBI isn't that practical. So maybe I'll go into forensic science. Then anyway, I went into my freshman year of college declaring a biology major, thinking I'd go into forensic science. And after a year of looking into a microscope, I was like, this is not for me. I don't want to stare into a microscope for the rest of my life. And writing has always been one of my passions. And so actually in college, I was like, well, what else could I do? What am I good at? What are my passions? And I declared a writing major. So I had a degree in writing, and creative writing and, a double major in Spanish. Unfortunately, my college did not prepare me for a career in writing. Like they just sent me out into the world and were like, OK, good luck. I was like, well, how am I supposed to make money? How am I supposed to turn this into a career? Nothing, nothing. I don't even remember learning how to write a novel. Like we didn't even talk about the structure of a novel. Like it was very literary. There was nothing commercial about it at all. Anyway, decided to go back and my teaching certification because I had to have a job. So I taught Spanish and English as a second language for seven years got married and stayed home with my kids. Anyway, fast forward 20 years after college, I was like, you know, I feel like God wants me to pursue writing again. I feel like this is where my heart is. And I, you know, it's kind of always been in the back of my head. And so I was like, all right. Let's do it. So it was early 2019, I think when I was inspired to pick up that pen and pick up my typewriter again and my keyboard and get back to work.
Valerie -Very fun. Love how God kind of reminds us of who we are over time. It's like he takes us on a journey and, excuse me, whatever writer we would have been, you know, right out of college is not the writer that we would be 20 years later. So, he was growing near in that process.
Laurie -Yeah, I had nothing to write about back then.
Valerie -Yep. It's one of those, that reminded the story of David where he was in the desert for like 14 years before he became a king. It's like God was not wasting, that wasn't wasted time. It was God working and training him to be the king he needed to be. And, you know, it's one of those, I have a big 20-year gap in my writing story too. And it's like God was working in those years for sure.
Laurie -Yeah, yeah, it's rewarding just to see how God has kind of brought everything full circle and I'm like, yes, this is what I was meant to do.
Valerie -Yes, yes. And so, what is one of your favorite books? We talked about Chronicles of Narnia and Harry Potter. Can you think of another one?
Laurie -Well, those are probably the favorites. As far as. Yes, give me a second. I made this down. I have some notes here. Okay, so I love children's books. I've always loved children's books. Other than that, so Harry Potter would probably be my favorite series. I am a huge fan of Dr. Seuss. I think I own every Dr. Seuss book that has ever been written. Save for one book.
That I found, which I didn't, I was like, I don't have that one. I need to get it. Well, it wasn't, it was not very appropriate for kids. There were naked ladies on the cover or something. I was like, yeah, we're not gonna get that one. That's okay. It was like one of the really old ones. Anyway, so Dr. Seuss, we love, I love all of his, all of his books as children's books. As an adult, you know, an adult fiction book that I love. I love all of Dan Brown's novels. I just really enjoy
thrillers, the excitement of thrillers. And I love how he combines art and religion and science and conspiracy theories all into one exciting plot line. And I know, you know, I know there's been lots of controversy over the years. I'm like, well, it's not accurate. It's not biblical. Like, well, no, and I know that and I am a smart, intelligent human being that can distinguish between fact and fiction. And this is fiction, and I enjoy how he leaves those stories together.
Valerie -I think with Dan Brown, if you kind of come in it with, it's a fiction book, but you definitely can enjoy just a broad spectrum of art and history and a little bit of conspiracy theory. Cause I think we all like that a little bit. Yeah. The mystery, right? And so those are always enjoyable reads for sure. Now what's been the most impactful book in your life other than the Bible?
Laurie -Yes, of course, the Bible. Well, I have it right here. I dug it off my shelf. And this was the original book that I had read. It's called Heads and Tailors Spiritual Secret. It's a very obscure little paperback book. And I pulled off my shelf and there's like tons of stuff underlined. And for a while in my life, I was pursuing missions, overseas missions. But regardless of the missions, and missional aspect of this book, I think this has impacted my faith more than any other book besides the Bible. It taught me how to rest in Christ's finished work through faith rather than striving to have more faith. Throughout the book, the theme is just like, you know, stop striving, stop trying to conjure up more faith or stop trying to conjure up more, like a greater spirituality in their life. Like just rest in Jesus. And he's the one who has finished the work and he's the faithful one. You know, it's not about like, I'll just read one of the quotes that say, how to have our faith increased only by thinking of all that Jesus is and all that he is for us, not as striving to have faith but looking off to the faithful one. And then another quote says, how to get faith strengthened, not by striving after faith, but by resting in the faithful one. Makes no difference where he places me or how. That is rather for him to consider than for me, for in the easiest position, He must give me his grace, and in the most difficult, his grace is sufficient." And I get goosebumps every time I read that quote, because it's like, God is enough. He is enough resting in him, abiding in him. Anyway, so read the book if you've never heard of it. Go find yourself a copy. I don't even know if it's in print anymore. I don't know. But anyway, find a used copy. But it impacted my faith a lot.
Valerie -What that striving that go get an American dream mentality that we all kind of get stuck in just from living in our culture is just, you know, one of those that's not, or what is it? Think Tara Lee Cobble says it's not the upside-down kingdom. Cause what we would put as our, the way a kingdom should be is not Jesus's kingdom. And it's, it's the weak that are, you know, those that are poor in spirit, that are going to be strengthened, those that are, you know, the peacemakers, not the warriors. And it's just kind of that opposite mentality that is hard to grasp as a human being in this world. But it's amazing when we do rest in who Christ is and the peace that comes with knowing we don't have to have it all figured out and we don't have to keep striving for something beyond the horizon, right?
Laurie -Yeah, and as authors, it's a struggle to not always be chasing the next success or chasing the next dream or looking at other people and be like, well, they're so much further along than I am. I need to work harder. I need to keep going. Which, I mean, there is an aspect, obviously, of working hard and doing your best and putting in the effort. But ultimately, it is God's grace and his sufficiency that are most important.
Valerie -Our obedience. We're in charge of our obedience to God, but he's in charge of the impact is kind of how I've heard it said before. It gives me peace in my writing journey. Like, I'm just being obedient to what God has put in front of me right now and we'll see what he wants to do with it.
Laurie -Yeah, yeah, he's in charge of the outcome and he can take it and run with it or not. Yeah.
Valerie - Okay. Well, Laurie, why don't you give us a quick summary of Garden of Mysteries?
Laurie -Yeah, so Garden of Mysteries is told from the perspective of Adam and Eve's son, Seth, when he is almost 12 years old. It takes place about 100 years or so after Adam and Eve were kicked out of the Garden of Eden. So, there's not a whole lot of biblical history or extra-biblical history that covers this time period. So, I had a lot of fun imagining what might have happened. But in this story, Seth's parents have secrets that they won't share with him. He is wondering, why the king kicked them out of the garden and cursed the land. And can the curse be broken? So, he is trying to find answers to these questions, which he sends him on a quest to find the chosen one. He is looking for this chosen one who will break the curse. His dad tells him about a prophecy that this chosen one will break the curse someday. But he naively thinks, well, it must be in my lifetime. I'm going to go and find him. I'm going to track him down. And he kind of takes matters into his own hands. And of course, along the way, the dragon is seeking to thwart that plan and keep him from succeeding, keep him from finding the chosen one. Then, yeah, so it's a really fun adventure quest-type story that he goes on there.
Valerie -It's fun to think about what life would have been like for, you know, Seth and even Cain as he got pushed out and into the wilderness and just, you know, what life was like back then? And it's fun to think of and I've enjoyed books. Like I think Tosca Lee has one called Havah, which is like the story of Eve. I've always enjoyed stories that dig into those little pockets of the Bible that we don't get much information on.
Laurie -Yeah, and Cain comes into the story, and they go to visit the city that Cain established. And so there are lots of biblical facts tied in. What we do know about the Bible is in the story. The facts that we have from the Bible are tied into the story. But then, of course, there's a lot of narrative that's woven in and around those biblical events. Yeah.
Valerie- Very fun. I'm looking forward to seeing more in the series for sure. All right, we'll circle back to what can we expect next. What can we expect next from you, Laurie?
Laurie -Yeah, so I'm currently working on the next book in the Dragon Slayer Bible series. I don't have a title yet, but it takes place about 80 years before the flood of Noah. So it's kind of like around the flood era. And it's told from the perspective of Noah's oldest son, Shem when he was around 12 years old. So, you can kind of see a theme here. They're kind of 11, 12-year-old boys that are the protagonists of these stories, And I can't tell you a whole lot about the book yet, except that there's a big boat and some savage giants, And I'm hoping for that to release probably spring of 2026.
Valerie -That'll be fun to read for sure. Again, those little pockets in the Bible that we don't get a lot of information on, it's always just fun to think about how God was still moving, what life was like. And so I know your boys kind of dig into those fun little adventures that could be, could be because they want to go and have their adventures for sure. Well, Laurie, where can people find out more about you and your books?
Laurie - Yeah, you can find the Dragon Slayer Bible series at dragonslayerbible.com and you can learn about all of the books and upcoming books there. And then my podcast is at redeemingthechaos.com. It's a podcast for moms of boys who are feeling a little frazzled and overwhelmed on the journey of raising strong, courageous boys. And then my main website is lauriechristine.com, but there are links to both my podcast and the books on that main page as well.
Valerie -Very fun. We'll make sure to have some links in the description box so that people can find you easily. Thank you so much for joining me today, Laurie.
Laurie -Thanks, Valerie, it was so much fun chatting with you.
Valerie- And thank you for joining Laurie and me on this episode of the Bookworthy Podcast. Check the show notes for any books or links that we discussed and in the comments, what book could you read 100 times and still enjoy it? Be sure to like and subscribe to discover more great books together.
Happy reading.
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