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This demand has led to a rapidly developing genre, which has not only produced a frenzy amongst authors, publishers, and booksellers, but, has also brought apocryphal literature into renewed acceptance.
"But," says Smith, "there are hazards in this feeding frenzy. A novel-like all fiction, for that matter-must create characters to tell an engaging story. Unfortunately, character development in ancient texts usually falls flat, so the author, in writing his fiction, is forced to fill in the missing pieces, making stuff up as he goes along. They call it 'dramatic license.' The end result is a fictionalized novel where characters are, at least partially, based on conjecture, which tends to lead readers away from the real truths and meanings that are actually buried in these texts."
With a love for the cinema, which began in his youth, Smith came to believe that the stories in apocryphal literature were "movies just waiting to happen. But non-fiction and the cinema seemed incompatible, especially biblical non-fiction," Smith said.
Still, Kent's desire to tap the power of the cinema haunted him. Eventually, he felt that he discovered a way to reconcile the two forms of communication. "Believing I had discovered certain things about our historical record, I was driven to write non-fiction stories within a cinematic narrative. Political dramas set in a vivid, historical context particularly intrigued me.
"A lot of my inspiration comes from James A. Michener, Gore Vidal, and Arthur C. Clarke. Their unique, dramatic presentations of history inspired me in a big way.
"A screenplay hinges on symmetry and balance," says Kent. "The beauty of the cinema is that it can tell a simple, yet powerful, story. I didn't try to write a novel, per se, so I never had to stoop to making up a bunch of stuff about the characters. One thing I never wanted to do was embellish the facts. I wrote Lost Stories Revealed, envisioning it all as a movie, with action and dialog. That's one of the reasons why, I believe, it's so special. It's something everyone can relate to. I mean, what's the point of all your scholarship when only 100 people will ever read it, let alone understand it?"
Lost Stories Revealed contains three interconnected short stories, adapted from a series of biblical manuscripts, which began to be rediscovered, starting in 1768. In them, Smith brings to life some of the best known apocryphal Bible stories.
After spending years researching, adapting, and writing these stories, Smith has self-published the book. "I had to remain true to the original texts," he adds. "These stories are woven together in a very subtle and unique way. For a long time, no one could really appreciate how important it was to present them as a trilogy. Self-publishing was my only way to insure that would happen."
Now Lost Stories Revealed is perfectly positioned in an emerging market, with an accurate, easy-to-read adaptation of these texts. Yet Smith's dilemma is still a tough one. "I'm thrilled to see that in this new century we're finally bringing these ancient texts into the spotlight. It's exciting to see that people are ready for this kind of material. But I'm also frustrated, because Lost Stories might be overlooked and underappreciated simply because of its simple, straight-forward presentation. If I'm not careful, it could get lost again in all the clutter of similar-looking titles."
And that, incidentally, leads us to the reason for the creation of a supplemental publication to the book, called The LostStories Journal. "Yes, that's right. I'm constantly having to remind everyone about the reasons why things like these books keep getting lost! It's not something new, you know."
So that's what The Journal is all about, then? "Yeah, that's a good way of putting it, I guess. It's a place to rediscover the things that keep getting lost!"
But aren't you still worried Lost Stories Revealed could get lost again no matter what you do? "Of course, but then they'll just have to get rediscovered one more time by some other unsuspecting soul. Truth always seems to have a way of doing that!"
(read more on the search for truth and meaning in ancient texts...)
