Dr. Randy C. Dockens has a fascination
with science and with the Bible, holds Ph.D. degrees in both areas, and
is a man not only of faith and science, but also of creativity. He
believes that faith and science go hand in hand without being enemies of
each other.
Before you started writing your book, what kind of research did you do to prepare yourself to write it?
When I first started this series, I
was working on my doctorate in biblical prophecy. Therefore, understanding the
biblical teaching about a future earthly reign of a Messiah on Earth as
presented in many prophetic biblical books was part of my studies in preparing
for my doctorate. I also have a doctorate in pharmaceutics and, at the time,
worked for a pharmaceutical company as a pharmacokineticist. That is a fancy
word for a way to mathematically describe how the body handles a drug once it
is ingested. One can mathematically describe the absorption, distribution,
metabolism, and excretion of drugs.
Having both a scientific hat and a
biblical prophecy hat allowed me to present a unique perspective for writing
the Stele Prophecy Pentalogy series. This allowed me to present fictional
stories which can provide entertainment for readers but can also provide
biblical education at the same time.
Did you pursue publishers or did you opt to self-pub?
My publisher is a hybrid of both
and is what is called custom publishing. The publisher provides many of the
services of large publishing houses, but the author maintains all rights and
control of their work and bears much of the cost as well.
If
self-published, did you hire someone to format the ebook version for
you or did you do it yourself? Can you tell us what that was like?
For almost all my books, my
publisher took responsibility for getting the book formatted for ebook
versioning. Therefore, I had very little to do with that process.
However, I did write two
backstories for my book
T-H-B, the first book of my Coded Message
Trilogy. To produce these as an ebook, I used the online company Draft to
Digital. That was a very simple process. I simply uploaded a word version, and
it converted it to the ebook versioning that Amazon and other online stores utilize.
If self-published, how did you determine the price?
For the most part, I relied upon
the advice of my publisher. The other thing we took into account was the price
of other books that were similar to mine in both genre and book size (i.e,
number of words or pages). There are other things one must keep in mind as well.
The cost of printing will depend upon the batch size that one wishes. So, it is
important to look at total costs and then be sure you are not setting a price
where you have zero profit. Yet, it is a balancing act because you don’t want
to price it out of range for other books in your genre and size. Think through
such things as whether you want to go wide with your book (i.e., going to many
distributors) or not. Do you want to have a print run or go with print on
demand? The latter could be more expensive, but it may prevent you from having
an excess inventory which itself is an expense to consider. It is important to
think through your strategy of how you plan to present and market your book.
Every part of putting your book together comes at an expense. Therefore,
planning is key no matter which direction you decide to go.
Did you purposefully choose a distinct month to release your book? Why?
For this series I did because I had
an aggressive timeline I tried to keep. I wanted a book to come out every four
months. Therefore, I created a timeline for my editor, publisher, and interior
designer so we could all be on the same page. Several people who read my books
told me that they buy each book of a series but will not start reading until
they have all the books so they can then binge read. They didn’t want to wait a
year to continue with the storyline. Therefore, I tried to get these out as
quickly as possible. It seemed every four months was the quickest I could do
that with all the activities involved in getting a book published. I wanted to
prevent any overlap for work for my editor and interior designer so they could
focus and work on only one book at a time.
Now, to keep the books on a release
schedule of every four months, there was some overlap that had to occur on my
part, but I made sure my editor and interior designer did not have overlap and
could work on only one book at a time but with the next book coming quickly behind
the previous one.
How did you choose your cover?
I designed the covers myself and
then had a cover designer professionally produce the cover. There were, of
course, some back and forth discussions between me and the cover designer, and
she would give me additional ideas for me to consider, but I had the final say.
I like that the covers are somewhat abstract but have elements of realism that
tie in with the theme of the book.
Did you write your book, then revise or revise as you went?
I wrote the first draft and then
edited my work. The only reason for going back over something before I finished
the draft was just to remind myself where I was in the story. I was taught that
revising before the first rough draft is finished is procrastination. I guess
that statement is up for debate, but it does make sense. No matter how many
revisions and rewrites are done before the first rough draft is completed,
there will still be a lot of self-editing that will be needed before it goes to
your editor. Therefore, it is best, I think, to get the rough draft completed,
even with all its flaws, and then go back through the entire document and do
all the editing that is necessary to get it to be the quality product you
desire it to be.
What you write later could alter
some aspect of a section that you’ve already spent a lot of time editing and
rewriting, so go ahead and get through your rough draft and then do your
self-editing.
Did you come up with special swag for your book and how are you using it to help get the word out about your book?
The only portable thing I created
for this series was a bookmark that I could hand out to individuals. This was a
way to advertise even when I may be promoting a different series.
I also created a banner on a stand where
it can be rolled up into the stand. This makes it convenient to carry and can
also be used as an advertisement for this series. It can also be used when you
are promoting another series or other books. This allows customers to see that
you have other books for them to also check out, and it can be a conversation
starter with them as well.
What are some of the most important things you believe an author should do before their book is released?
Once you know when the book will be
released, advertise it on whichever platforms you are a part of and
encourage friends who receive the notice to repost so it will reach additional
viewers that your platform will not reach. Also, if you have a newsletter or
blog, mention its release there as well.
What are some of the most important things you believe an author should do after their book is released?
If you have a newsletter, again
mention it there and request that they post reviews and do so in multiple
places. Again, post on any platform you are a part of as well and again
encourage friends to repost so others outside your reach would also be notified
of your book’s release.
Do you have a long term plan with your book?
One way I plan to generate more
interest in this series is to link it to another series that I am writing. I am
currently working on a series that is tied to a more modern prophecy that is
touted by many Christian prophets alive today. Many are saying that Scripture
implies that the Spirit of God will cover the earth like the waters cover the
sea, and its fulfillment is just around the corner. I wanted to show what this
could potentially look like for our future. This is the genesis of The Cities
of Light Series, with the first book of three coming out very soon. The first
book of this series is entitled Beacon of Truth. The third book of
this series will then tie back into the Stele Prophecy Pentalogy which we are
discussing today. I hope you check it out.
What would you like to say to your readers and fans about your book?
This five-book series is a
presentation of five stories during a future earthly kingdom as outlined in biblical
prophecy. This book series also calls this period the Refreshing because things
are made new: those who were righteous have been resurrected, all pollution
generating machinery and factories are eliminated, and all disease and death
have been abolished. This is a one-thousand-year reign of the Messiah where he
will reign as King of kings over the earth with his base of operation in
Jerusalem, Israel. All my novels in this series are connected to each other but
can also be read separately. Because death has been rescinded during this time,
except for those who rebel against the King, characters within the story of one
book can still be part of the storyline of the next book even if the storyline
of each book is separated by several hundred years. The main characters in one
book become the supporting characters in the other books.
The setting of my books in this
series is at many places around the world, but the main location is in
Jerusalem, Israel, because that is the base of operation for the King, also
known as the Messiah. Kalem and his friends must travel to many places around
the globe because the stelae are hidden in various strategic places on each
continent.
Many Jewish and Christian
denominations have a belief that one called the Messiah will one day come to
earth and set up an earthly kingdom and this will be a time of great peace and
prosperity where sickness will be a thing of the past, and maybe even death
itself will be abolished. The controversy lies in who is this Messiah and how
will this kingdom come about. This book series is about this kingdom.
Not only is there confusion and
controversy about who the leader of this kingdom will actually be, there is
much confusion about what will occur during this magnificent time of our future
history. I want my readers to get a good flavor of what life during this time
may be like and be able to understand and experience it for themselves.
For example, in my first book, Mercy
of the Iron Scepter, I wanted people to experience the wonderment of this
time with all the peacefulness, beauty, and unity that will exist during this
time. In Scripture it talks about this Messiah, this King, to reign with an
iron scepter. That means he will deal harshly with the sin of rebellion. So, I
show what that looks like, but also show that there is a merciful side to this
harshness as well. While the King deals immediately and decisively with
rebellion, he is also loving and wants the best for his citizens of the world.
I show that side of him in this novel as well.
In contrast to this utopian time is
its precursor which Scripture calls the Tribulation Period, a time of chaos and
all sorts of calamities—an apocalypse of sorts. Promised Kingdom takes
the reader through this time and what it might be like to live through such an
ordeal.
Another thing many are confused
about is that sacrifices will be made again during this time of our future
history. As most Christians believe, Jesus Christ came as the promised Messiah
the first time he came to earth fulfilling the Law of Moses and became the
sacrifice that the Mosaic Law required for the redemption of mankind.
Therefore, today, we no longer have sacrifices. So, what would make them be
needed in our future? My novel, Hope Renewed, helps the reader to
understand the purpose of these sacrifices as they travel with Ya’akov as he
goes through his adventure and the decisions he makes about his destiny.
Another aspect to this future time
is that someone named the Prince is introduced in the book of Ezekiel in
Scripture. There are various beliefs as to who this person is. Through my book,
Darkness in the Light, as one goes through the struggles which Me’ira
endures, one will see that this Prince is not the Messiah and is not King David
as some purport. This novel gives a reason for him being a separate individual
from these and what his duties will be for the citizens of the world during
this future time.
Then there is the aspect of dealing
with human depravity. While this is a time of peace, harmony, and wonderment,
there will be those who are still not satisfied with the status quo. I want
people to understand that while we have dark spiritual forces today that make
many do bad and evil things, even when those forces are held at bay (which will
be true during this future time), the heart of mankind can still be evil and
against God. People born during this time still need a Savior and their
decisions, just like ours today, can have eternal consequences. As readers go
through the storyline of Janet in Iron in the Scepter, we cheer her on
to make the right decisions even though deep down we know she likely will not.
It is similar to when we knew Anakin Skywalker would turn into Darth Vader, yet
we kept hoping that he would not make those fateful decisions that we knew he was
going to make.
I wanted to write about something
that would prove to be exciting to read but at the same time be something the
reader can learn about and contemplate.
I think one aspect that I like
about this series is that it shows that no matter the circumstances or the time
in which one lives, it does not alter what humans have to go through and the
decisions they must make. People are people no matter in what historical
timeframe in which they live. Just like Kalem, we struggle with knowing what is
really true and don’t realize that truth is what determines our ultimate
destiny. And like Edvin, we struggle to find significance in this life and
sometimes we must go against what seems like the best solution for our career
just because it is the right thing to do. Me’ira, just like us today, struggled
with finding true love, and our decisions can have consequences that ripple
through time for many generations. Then, just like Janet, we sometimes let
pride get the better of us and cause us to make decisions that are unwise and
actually hurt the ones we love even though we think we are doing something for
their good when it is really not good at all.
This series is sort of done in
layers. One can get a great story with action, adventure, mystery, and even
romance set in a science fiction or futuristic type of backdrop. If that is all
a reader wants, it’s there! But if one wants to better understand the
background of the story and its significance, not only to the story but to
their own lives as well, that is also there. One can enjoy, contemplate, or
even do both.
Inside the Series
A
series of five stories run the gamut of emotional themes: struggling
with anger, the desire to belong, one seeking destiny, complicated love,
and being blinded by pride. Each cleverly crafted story demonstrates
unbelievable technology where the earthly and divine merge into an
amazing and unforgettable future.
Kalem
lives through the death of his brother by the hand of the King which
occurred when he was very young. Now that he is older and can act, he is
emotionally torn between his anger over his brother’s death and the
love he is finding in someone who supports the King. Two prophecies
stand before him. The one he wholeheartedly believes in places his life
in danger just as it had for his brother. The other is safer but
requires him to live a lie. How can he choose which direction to take?
Yet he must choose before his fate is sealed.
Edvin
experiences heartbreak during troubled times as his sister-in-law loses
her unborn baby and his girlfriend dies from plane crash injuries. Yet
he is not the only one. Thousands around the globe experience the same
events happening in their lives and to their loved ones. How can he make
sense of the apocalyptic world in which he now lives? Yet an unexpected
destiny awaits him.
Ya’akov
gets approved for a once-in-a-lifetime adventure, but he gets caught in
a nightmare of manipulation and deceit, which ultimately leaves him
abandoned at sea not remembering who he is or how he got there. Despite
such a start, he finds a destiny greater than anything he had ever
dreamed possible.
Princess
Me’ira breaks protocol and falls in love with someone not vetted by
prescribed law. Her decision will yield unpreventable heartache to
either herself or to those closest to her. While unknown to her, the
decision she makes sets a future in motion she could never have
anticipated.
Janet
discovers how to increase teleporter efficiency to an all-time high,
but her work is rejected by the King. Her selfish pride sets in motion a
plan of revenge that has devastating consequences far greater than she
ever imagined.
Each
story is stand-alone, yet they all intertwine into a unique whole that
paints a picture of a future time in which we may all find ourselves one
day.
The Stele Prophecy Pentalogy Series is available at Amazon. 
