Michael Bergman: “Without darkness, we cannot truly appreciate the light”

From time to time in this space, WestBow Press  publishes articles written by our authors in which they share some aspect of their self-publishing journeys. The following are the words of Michael Bergman; author of “The Kingdom of Arke.” To begin your self-publishing journey, get your free WestBow Press publishing guide today!

God is faithful. He is worthy to be exalted in every area of this earthly life, even with writing a fantasy novel like I did. I wholeheartedly believe God called me to write “The Kingdom of Arke” to share the light of Christ onto the darkness of sin. I believe Jesus taught in stories, otherwise known as parables, for a reason. I don’t claim to be Jesus, but I do claim Christianity so I try my very best to imitate him. I wrote “The Kingdom of Arke” to reflect the darkness of sin and the light of Christ’s love.

My imagination has always been unique. I have been writing since kindergarten. Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t write a novel when I was five. It was bound by staples and filled with barely legible handwriting. I wrote another book when I was seven and placed it into my schools writing competition. They disqualified my entry because they said I had cheated, claiming there was no way I had written it on my own. That being said, writing has always been a calling on my life.

I grew up in Clearwater, Florida and had an amazing childhood. My father found another job and we moved to western Kentucky when I was 13 years old. At that time, I was diving headlong into fantasy books such as “Narnia,” “The Hobbit,” “Redwall” and “Beyond the Summerland.” For a 13 year old with an active imagination, moving to a state with plenty of woods, fields, and rivers was like moving to middle-earth.

When I was much younger, around eight, I had terrible nightmares and would see dark shadows lurking in my bedroom. At the time, I had never been so scared in my life. A deep seeded fear of darkness had been placed in my heart. Though, what the enemy used for evil, God has used for good.

“The Kingdom of Arke” isn’t like other stories. It doesn’t start off with a grand adventure and end with a celebration. It begins with a dark chase that doesn’t end with the protagonist getting away to safety. I’ll let you find out exactly what happens.

Without darkness, we cannot truly appreciate the light. I believe in those words more than anything I have ever written. My hope is that this book will reach those who would never be found in a church, but constantly find themselves in bookstores lost within another realm.

Equipped with my story, I needed a way to share it. I Googled how to self-publish a book and WestBow Press was my first choice. From the moment I spoke with one of their consultants, I was all in. Through the entire process WestBow kept surprising me with their expertise and kindness. There wasn’t one person I talked to that wasn’t eager to help and excited to get my book in the hands of the reader.

Finally, I want to thank everyone at WestBow Press for giving someone like me the opportunity to make my greatest dream come true. To share Christ’s love the best way I know how—through a good story.

Connect with Michael on Twitter: @MBERGMAN90, Instagram: @MBERGMAN531, facebook: Michael Bergman or email him.

– WBP –

WestBow Press authors who’d like to share a 350-600 word experience related to the self-publishing of their books, are invited to do so by sending a message through the WestBow Press Facebook page and follow  the WestBow Press Twitter account @WestBowPress. WestBow Press reserves the right to edit stories for content, grammar, punctuation and length.