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Today is the official release date for Clear Winter Nights: A Journey into Truth, Doubt, and What Comes After. If you have pre-ordered the book, you will probably receive it today or tomorrow. If you ordered the eBook version, it should be waiting for you the next time you turn on your reading device this morning.

Matt Smethurst at The Gospel Coalition recently asked me several questions about the book – both about the process of writing it and the purpose of using story to teach theology. Read the interview here. Below are his excellent questions.

  1. I know you enjoy reading fiction books, but what inspired you to write one?
  2. What are some of your favorite novels and what authors have particularly inspired you?
  3. What are some of the most common misunderstandings you sense among theologically-minded people about the purpose and value of fiction?
  4. Where did you get inspiration for your characters and how did they develop as you wrote?
  5. Not everyone’s a “reader.” But why might a book like Clear Winter Nights be a wise use of time even for one rarely inclined to read?
  6. You’ve written that your personal attachment to Clear Winter Nights is stronger than anything else you’ve written, yet you’re less defensive about this book at the same time. Why is this the case?
  7. In what ways was the fiction-writing process different than you anticipated? What advice would you now give to someone attempting to write his or her first novel?

I’ve had a few friends write and ask me how they can help “launch” the book today. Here are some easy ways to help get the word out.

1. Spread the word through social media.

If you receive your copy today, take a picture of it and post it on FaceBook or Twitter. You can use the hash tag #clearwinternights.

2. If you’ve blogged about the book, share your review on social media and post a review on Amazon.

There are lots of reviews of the book already out there. I’ve linked to a bunch of them at the bottom of this post. If you’d like me to add your review to the list, send me an email and I’ll link it.

3. If you have any intention of getting the book, do it today.

If you think you’ll get the book at some point, it would help us launch well if you went ahead and got it today. You can order Clear Winter Nights through LifeWayAmazonBarnes & NobleWaterbrook Multnomah, other online bookstoresChristianBookParable, and Books a Million. The eBook version is available on KindleNook, or other eBook formats.

ENDORSEMENTS

  • Randy Alcorn: “Trevin Wax’s Clear Winter Nights is an engaging story about something fresh and vital—the old kind of Christian, transformed by Christ, doing battle with sin, relying on Jesus day after day. The book raises honest questions and offers honest answers based on what’s rock solid, not on our culture’s ever-shifting worldview. I enjoyed the moving relationship between a young man and an old one, with history, heritage, mentoring, and friendship. I found Clear Winter Nights to be warm, compelling, and thought provoking.”
  • Collin Hansen: “The best novels leave you wanting more. As I read Clear Winter Nights, I wanted to join the characters’ conversations and felt the pain of separation from them when I finished. Trevin Wax has given us the gift of a compelling story about family, doubt, faith, and the biggest questions of life.”
  • Matt Carter: “Trevin Wax takes you on an honest intellectual and emotional journey as he explores the exclusive claims of Christ that everyone has struggled with at some time or another. His characters draw the reader into the conversation and leave you feeling satisfied about where they end up, bringing in a whole new dynamic to how we typically approach theological study.”
  • Trillia Newbell: “Chris is struggling with his faith in God, his relationships are falling apart, and he doesn’t know where to turn. He doesn’t have to go far to find a faithful friend in his grandfather. Trevin Wax’s Clear Winter Nights tackles faith, doubt, theology, the person of Christ, evangelism, and our struggle with sin. Clear and insightful; the pages pour out God’s amazing grace to sinners and His unfailing love to those who’ve wandered away. A perfect book for anyone with questions about faith in the one true God.”
  • Timothy George: “‘Tell all the truth, but tell it slant,’ said Emily Dickinson. This book does exactly that. This book goes to the guts of the gospel, and it shares the good news story straight by telling it slant. Thank you, Trevin Wax, for putting your imagination as well as your theology in service to Christ.”

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REVIEWS

  • N. D. Wilson – “Clear Winter Nights is the story of two very real people, rooted in a very real place, with very real pasts and very real struggles, pitting the grand and glorious truth of the gospel against some of the lies and compromises most common in the church today.”
  • Aaron Earls – “I see this theology in story as a stepping stone for Trevin to push himself further in the future.”
  • Aaron Armstrong – “Here’s what I loved most in Clear Winter Nights: the end.”
  • Michael Kelley – “In this story, Trevin shows us that the presentation of truth like this best comes through relationship and trust, and that it’s actually possible to have it be so.”
  • Matt Capps – “Through engaging dialogue Trevin aptly explores the relevance of solid biblical truth in an unstable world.”
  • Kyle McDanell – “Instead of confusing the faith, like The Shack, or tearing it down, like in A New Kind of Christian, Wax articulates it and builds it up.”
  • Marty Duren – “I did not like the first draft at all and told Trevin as much. I do not read a lot of Christian fiction for the same reasons many people do not listen to a lot of Christian music.”
  • Virginia Garrett – “There is so much food for thought. So much that resonates in my soul as a YES!”
  • Denise Hershberger - “I like it when a book makes me think without making me feel like I am reading a textbook.”
  • Mike Winters – “It is a shorter book but deals with a ton of issues on the topic of questioning, doubt, being unsure about your beliefs (or anything you stake your life on, really), and how to navigate those doubts to point towards the Gospel all the more.”
  • Jenni Alcantara – “a beautifully simple story that honestly takes apart the issues that young people today struggle with as they seek to decide whether to step into their parents’ faith…or walk away.”
  • Rick McQueen – “The theology is rich and much more enjoyable to read than many dry texts on theology which somehow robs God of his glory.”
  • Patricia Janes – “In essence, as indicated by the subtitle, “theology in story”- this book is the perfect apologetic and theological tool.”
  • Johann Vanderbijl – “No work of fiction has ever touched me this deeply.  I often had to stop to think, meditate, pray, and search my own heart.”
  • John Michael Wiley – “This book is proof that you can be conservative in doctrinal usage while writing in a novel format.”
  • Don Haflich – “Trevin has managed to write a compelling story while intermingling the theological trademarks of Scripture.”
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