Hi, tell us about yourself.
I grew up in the state of Oklahoma, where I ultimately studied English Literature and History at the University of Oklahoma, where I met my wife and fell in love. We were married while I was in graduate school at Ft. Worth, TX, studying Marriage and Family Counseling. We took advantage of my studies to try out several of the marriage compatibility tools on ourselves and we’ve been married 27 years, so I think they came out all right.
After graduation, we moved to Wichita, Kansas, where I worked for 4 years at a church, in charge of education and outreach. Our daughter was born there and in 2000, we packed up our little family and moved to the other side of the world to live in Istanbul, Turkey. Our two sons were born there, and we loved living in this beautiful city. For 19 years, we called this mega-city our home, but in January of 2020, I was given a permanent ban from living there and we were suddenly homeless, refugees of a different sort. In January of 2021, we moved back overseas to the island of Cyprus, where we currently live. Writing is something I love and changes over the last few years have allowed me to give more time to it.
Hunter Chadwick is a pen name and the picture featured is actually a picture of my great grandfather, one of the original “old settlers” of the plains of Oklahoma.
What do you do for fun? In addition to reading, you mean. 😊
Our family enjoys hiking and being outdoors and we like to play games together, including board games. Splendor is one of our current favorites.
Tell us about your Vella story:
“After It’s Over” was inspired by our own experiences during the Covid-19 Pandemic. In January of 2020, we were thrown into limbo when our family had to leave our home for the last 19 years and in March, the rest of the world joined us there. The Pandemic and Lockdowns impacted all our lives, but given our international connections, we were able to see this impact on friends living in a variety of countries.
This story imagines a world where government leaders continue to try and control more and more of our lives as a response to the virus, eventually bringing down society as worldwide collapses happen to supply chains and other pivotal infrastructure systems. After this man-made apocalypse, the survivors must learn to rebuild their lives, trust one another, and learn how to function and provide for themselves in much the way the pioneers of an earlier age did. At its heart, the story is a survival adventure, but I have a big twist planned that will take the story in a very different direction before the end.
Are there any deep themes or messages in the book the readers should be aware of?
One important theme is community. Part of the challenge of the society that we live in is that our technology often disconnects us as much as it connects us, and we have seen a loss of what it means to live in community with each other. In some ways, the pandemic forced us to reconnect with those closest to us, but for others, it seemed to push them further apart.
How long did the book take to write?
I started this Vella story in November of 2021 and I hope to finish it by the end of 2022, bringing it out as book/ebook in early 2023.
Do you have any other books?
My first book, Seeing God: For Who He Really Is, was finished while I was locked away with my family during the Covid-19 pandemic, so at least one good thing came out of that for us. This book is the long conversation about what God means to me that I never get to have with most people. In it, I’m able to share about our lives and personal tragedy such as my wife’s stroke and emergency brain surgery in 2018 and getting permanently banned from our adopted country in 2020, but God is the hero of this story, not me or our family. Seeing God: For Who He Really Is – is both the title of the book and an accurate description of that journey in my life. If you want to know more about what makes me the person I am, this book is an open door to what is most important to me in all the world.
Do you write in other genres?
In addition to the non-fiction book mentioned above, I write many non-fiction articles at my blog. I’m currently writing a fantasy series, also available on Kindle Vella and I’m working on a historical fiction novel about my family’s immigration to America and settling of the plains of Oklahoma after the land run.
What other writers/people do you consider inspirational? If they’re authors, what about their work captures your interest?
C.S. Lewis – the breadth of his writing is a great influence, with his focus on thinking deeply about many different things and expressing his thoughts both creatively and for a general audience. There are many great Christian thinkers, but few who can express those thoughts in such an accessible form. I also appreciate his ability to express truth through fiction powerfully. It is one of the reasons I was interested in trying my own hand at fiction.
What got you into writing?
When I was in high school, I wrote a short story for English class and my teacher accused me of plagiarizing it. When I convinced her that it was my own, she encouraged me to write, and I’ve been writing ever since, but only recently for publication.
Random Ques:
- Ques: If you had a $30 budget for supplies to do something nice as a labor of love for somebody, what would you do? (clean a house, cook a meal, etc)
- Answer: It does depend on the person, but I think making a meal and sharing it together would be my default favorite, even though my wife is a much better cook than I am.
- If you could have 1 (just 1) superpower, what would it be and why?
- Answer: Telepathy. I always wonder what people are thinking and my counseling background leads me to analyze them. I would love to know if I was right.
- What’s your favorite snack food?
- Answer: Lemon Popkeks from Turkey – a packaged lemon cupcake that is my favorite guilty pleasure snack.
Thanks for joining us today. Find out more about Hunter Chadwick by visiting his website.
https://seeinggodclearly.com
Social Media Links:
Instagram: @huntercauthor
Twitter: @huntercauthor
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Have You Tried Kindle Vella Yet?
5 Steps to Better Dialogue – (nonfiction, writing skills; Complete) I feel like nonfiction titles should come with spoiler tags. This is a book for writers seeking to learn more about the creation of realistic characters and dialogue.
Christmas Shorts – (Mystery, thriller, Christian, suspense; Ongoing; story 1 is complete) Only one story right now, but will be a collection of short stories with characters from across my series. Typically, FBI agents with personal drama. Might feature an abundance of cute puppies.
Assassin School Season 1 – (thriller, YA; Complete) Teen spies try to survive the rigorous training and other drama as powerful people battle to control the Ghost children.
The Minder Project Season 1 – (scifi, genetic engineering, superpowers; shares characters with Dustin’s Decision, Updated Wednesdays) The government gave her genetic Gifts. Now, it wants what it paid for from the program.
Dustin’s Decision Devya’s Children Book 5 – (YA scifi, shares characters with The Minder Project; Complete) Genetically altered teens struggle to navigate the murky world and control their Gifts.
Aeris Legends – Wrath and War (LitRPG, gaming, fantasy) This takes a box-of-chocolate approach to providing lore entries (creatures, quest descriptions, game mechanics) and short stories for a fantasy world.
