Interview with novelist Kenneth B. Little

Today’s special guest is novelist Kenneth B. Little. We’re chatting about his literary work, God’s Intervention: A Second Chance for Humankind, which he co-wrote with Helen Davies.

During their virtual book tour, the authors will be giving away a $15 Amazon or Barnes and Noble (winner’s choice) gift card to a lucky randomly drawn winner. To be entered for a chance to win, use the form below. To increase your chances of winning, feel free to visit their other tour stops and enter there, too!

Bio:
Kenneth B. Little is a 72-year-old retired business executive who is unhappy about how the state of the world has deteriorated during his lifetime.

The human population has ballooned from one billion to nearly eight billion, and people have moved off the land into massive cities where they have no ability to survive on their own. Instead, we rely on massive electrical grids energized by power plants largely burning fossil fuel; we’ve developed industrial complexes and global transportation systems that also rely on fossil fuel; we’ve created corporate farms that promote animal cruelty and destroy the soil by overusing chemicals; we’ve decimated our ocean marine life by dragging the ocean floor; we’ve created plastics that pollute land, rivers, lakes and oceans; and, of course, we’ve created nuclear, chemical, biological and cyber weapons that are now in the hands of unstable countries and terrorist organizations.

In short, we are racing headlong into a series of mass extinction events.

At seventy-two, Ken felt motivated to try to create a better world for his grandchildren by writing a fiction book full of non-fiction ideas that could potentially correct many of the world’s problems. Realizing that the only two avenues toward this were themes of divine intervention or mass extinction, he chose divine intervention as the solution, creating a scenario where God could step in to save humankind.

Ken wrote his initial manuscript during the Covid-19 lockdown, a 70,000-word overview that his wife told him read like a textbook. Deciding to see professional help, he engaged Tellwell Publishing to do a critical edit, which was performed by Tellwell editor Helen Davies.

Helen was intrigued by the storyline but, like Ken’s wife, felt it needed a lot of work to develop the characters and make it more engaging. With Tellwell’s blessing, Ken then contracted Helen to do just that. Thus began a most unusual and successful collaboration!

Says Ken:
Helen and I are completely different people. She is a writer, musician, and farmer. I am the grumpy old man who watches European business news when I get up at 3:00 a.m. We live as far apart as possible in Canada. She lives in Victoria on the West Coast, and I live in Fredericton on the East Coast. We have never met, yet we talked for nearly two hours on our first phone conversation. Usually, I never talk for more than five minutes with anybody on the phone. What unites us is that we share a passion for this story, and for the idea of a better, more united world.

During the writing process, Helen routinely sent me edited chapters, one at a time, always with the tagline, “I hope you like it.” I like it very much; the story I wrote that sounded like a textbook now brings tears to my eyes.

God’s Intervention: A Second Chance for Humankind is a story of hope.

We hope you like it.
Kenneth B. Little and Helen Davies

Welcome, Kenneth. Please tell us about your current release.
Nuclear, chemical, biological, and cyber weapons of mass destruction are proliferating and threaten the very existence of humankind. God is forced to intervene to stop the killing to buy time for our species to become at one with itself.

The task is daunting, even with divine intervention. Hatred, intolerance and greed are deeply entrenched.

God selects a very special emissary to get the job done. Sarah is the embodiment of 40 million female souls who lived every life and died every death on every corner of the Earth throughout human history.

Speaking with one voice in hundreds of languages simultaneously, Sarah delivers the message of God’s intervention directly to every person on the planet.

Sarah spends a full year working directly with global leaders to get them all to work toward the ultimate goal of a united world at peace.

What inspired you to write the book?
I am 72 years old and do not like the way my generation is leaving the world for our children and grandchildren. It is too late for me to fix any of the problems, so I wrote a fiction novel that fixes them all.

 

Excerpt from God’s Intervention: A Second Chance for Humankind:
What is going on here? he wondered as he searched for a salient point in her face, something that would give a clue to her identity and intentions . . . but the more he tried to focus, the more she changed. This lady’s face shimmered in an unearthly way, though it consistently remained female. Perhaps it’s a hologram? Those damn Russians are capable of beaming something over here. And they’re probably in league with the North Koreans. Maybe it’s some type of spy-bot . . .

But even as he thought this, he knew that wasn’t the case because along with the unknowable face, the woman in front of him projected such a peaceful presence that he felt his shoulders slumping the way they did after a good sauna or a hot bath. For a second, he wondered if she was some sort of new holographic technology that also delivered nerve gas, and if perhaps he was dying, but then he decided that wasn’t possible. The feeling he was experiencing was not unpleasant—and he was sure nerve gas was. No, this couldn’t be nerve gas. It was too enjoyable, like being massaged from the inside out. In fact, it was so relaxing that he felt a need to lean on his desk for support, and so he did.

He glanced down at his hands on the desktop, his white knuckles ensuring he would remain upright for the moment, and then back up at her. Her ever-shifting eyes locked onto his. Are they blue? Green? Brown? he wondered—and instantly, he was transfixed. They were bottomless pools of . . . well, hope. And as angry as he was at this person’s unwelcome intrusion into his lair—the Oval Office, the seat of power for the United States of America—he was also mesmerized by the overwhelming sense of rightness she projected. It felt like whatever wrong he carried in his heart and mind was being put to rights, and with sudden insight, he understood that just being near her was relieving him of some long-held emotional burdens he was not even aware he was carrying. In fact, something about the woman in front of him was energizing him, making him feel stronger and more confident than he had in years, though she still hadn’t even uttered a word. He was awed, and without conscious thought, his resolve to be angry and defensive drifted away like steamy breath in winter.

And then she spoke, though he could swear her lips did not move. Her eyes, however, projected deep feeling into his heart, and he had to look away as she said, “Mr. President, I am of God. You may call me Sarah of God.”

 

What exciting story are you working on next?
In case God does not intervene, I am planning a sequel that outlines how humans could save humankind themselves. What if 40 million living women came together with one voice to call out world leaders on the issue of world peace like Greta Thonberg called them out on the climate change issue?

When did you first consider yourself a writer?
I have always enjoyed writing. Now a septuagenarian and 8-year cancer survivor, I am compelled to jot down my thoughts while I can. Time will tell whether I am really a writer.

Do you write full time?
No. At night, when I should be sleeping, I spend an hour or two thinking about the future of the planet or the universe. In the morning, I will often spend a couple of hours working on storylines until both typing fingers get tired. The rest of the day I am retired.

Links:
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