Amish Vampires in Space PDF
Preview Amish Vampires in Space
AMISH VAMPIRES IN SPACE by Kerry Nietz Published by Marcher Lord Press 3846 Constitution Avenue Colorado Springs, CO 80909 www.marcherlordpress.com This book or parts thereof may not be reproduced in any form, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or otherwise—without prior written permission of the publisher, except as provided by United States of America copyright law. MARCHER LORD PRESS and the MARCHER LORD PRESS logo are trademarks of Marcher Lord Press. Absence of TM in connection with marks of Marcher Lord Press or other parties does not indicate an absence of trademark protection of those marks. This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any similarity to actual people, organizations, and/or events is purely coincidental. Scripture quotations taken from the New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.” (www.Lockman.org) Cover Designer: Kirk DouPonce Creative Team: Jeff Gerke, Kate Dunn, Dutch Wolf, Lisa Godfrees eBook Conversion and Design: Kerry Nietz Author photo by Christy Boggs Copyright © 2013 by Kerry Nietz All rights reserved Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data An application to register this book for cataloging has been filed with the Library of Congress. International Standard Book Number: 978-1-940163-03-1 To Jeff Gerke and the indomitable authors of Marcher Lord Press. Thanks for half a decade of fun and inspiration! OTHER WRITINGS BY KERRY NIETZ FICTION The DarkTrench Saga: A Star Curiously Singing The Superlative Stream Freeheads "Graxin" (short story) appearing in Ether Ore But Who Would Be Brave Dumb Enough To Even Try It? (contributor) Mask NONFICTION FoxTales: Behind the Scenes at Fox Software ACKNOWLEDGMENTS First, I’d like to thank Amish aficionado Dutch Wolf for making this book so much more than it would have been otherwise. He muscled through amidst his own personal deadlines and difficulties. If there is any authenticity to the Amish society in this book, it is to his credit. If there are any mistakes or inconsistencies, blame me. As always, thanks to our fearless leader, Jeff Gerke, for not only cheering and inspiring this effort, but for asking the questions that create more work for me. (And ultimately produce a better book!) I’d also like to thank fellow Marcher Lords Steve Rzasa and Marc Schooley for their continued encouragement and friendship. And to Marc in particular, whose tenacious debating skills planted a seed for this story. He may find himself a Deacon someday . . . Thanks to John Otte, who has remained cordial and forgiving, despite nearly a year of me inadvertently stepping on his toes. Lord bless you, John. Thanks to my overworked and underappreciated wife, Leah. It would be impossible to do this without her. Subag! This novel marks an anniversary for me. A decade ago my first book was published, so I must praise the Lord here for all He has done during that time. There is nothing more true: “In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.” FOREWORD It was March 2010 and Amish fiction was all the rage in Christian publishing. Entire novelists’ careers were being made in the “bonnet and buggy” genre. Publishers were telling writers, “If you don’t write Amish, don’t bother contacting us.” What had seemed like a fad a few years ago was looking more and more like a subgenre that was here to stay. And it just cried out for a roasting. I mean, I’m quite sure that many, maybe most, Amish folks are delightful, genuine, and dear believers in Christ. But the way Christian fiction readers were flocking to novels about them, and the way Christian writers and publishers were all but worshipping them, was perhaps a bit overblown. I have a theory that the reason Amish fiction and TV shows about detectives exploded in popularity at the same time was that people were feeling overwhelmed by the complexities of modern life. They valued detective shows because detectives are good at seeing through the smoke to what is really happening, and that helped them feel that their own lives could be made comprehensible. Similarly, people flocked to Amish fiction because it represented a simpler, more easily understood way of living. Whatever the cause, Amish fiction was everywhere, and it sort of frustrated those of us who didn’t love it. So I came up with the comical title Amish Vampires in Space to poke fun at it all. As you can see to the left, I even whipped together a mock cover for my invented book. If you’ll look closely, you can maybe see the sleeping Amish vampire in the SF crate—with a nice handmade quilt draped over him. I made up the author’s name, the series title, and the painfully awesome book title. Then I showed the cover around to a bunch of my publishing friends, just for yuks. Fast-forward to August 2012. One of my Marcher Lord Press authors, Kerry Nietz, who had already written four novels for me at that point, contacted me and said that he’d come up with a plot idea for Amish Vampires in Space and did he have my permission to write that book. I reserved the right to not publish it until I could read it, but I told him to go for it. To my surprise, Kerry played the idea straight. Despite the humor implicit in the title (see, People Who Might Be Mad at Us, we intended this to be funny),
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