This an introduction to our newest author:

Alic de la Peña & his newly released book

BLACK SAIL: INVASION

Chak: How long did you work on this book?

Alic: It started with stories I heard about Mexican soldiers making raids over the southern New Mexico border in the mid to late 1990s. I don’t know if they were true then—they are now. It went through at least three complete rewrites that I remember as the news changed the culture of the area. This final version was started early in 2009.

Chak: Why are you writing a book like this?

Alic: For a long time I’ve been thinking about what King David’s mighty men would look like as Christians in the 21st century. These would be men or women who would do whatever the King needed to be done—working under the direct guidance of the Lord. I wanted to examine stereotypes and show real believers responding to extreme situations in the Lord.

The more I thought about it I saw no problems with SpecWar believers, but they would be different—they wouldn’t look like Marchinko, Stone, or Rapp. They wouldn’t fit well into governmental, bureaucratic slots.

Believers are like that. “The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” It’s hard to explain to non-believers. My goal was to show it in action and demonstrate good character in situations that are brutal and violent. God has his people everywhere. We are like salt—spread thin on a molecular level.

Chak: Where did Pastor Rachael come from? I know our publisher worked with an Episcopal bishop who was a prize fighter.

Alic:  The idea of a CIA assassin who quit because she couldn’t take the lies any more cracked me up. I have no problems the assignments to take out the bad guy, but dealing with the lies and the infighting would drive me nuts. How could you do something like this without trusting your superiors? How could you work if you couldn’t rely on your data?

Chak: What about Aztlan?

Alic: It’s real. I was here when Reies Tijerina took over Tierra Amarilla. It was surreal, but he really believed his cause was right. It was a minor war. As I researched Aztlan, it became clear that these people were serious and were just looking for an opportunity.

This became the premise for the book. If you want to talk about it, write me at: alic@radiqx.com

Chak: Thanks, Alic — Like I’ve said, we really enjoyed this book and we are praying it does well for you.