GENOALLEN.com

I’m a husband, father, and storyteller who makes his living doing the normal things that normal people do when they’re doing the things they do to make a living.  Then, there are the moments. The ones that strike straight from the heart of God through to mine; and suddenly, I am a storyteller through and through (a fact I am—and will always be—deeply grateful for). By God’s grace, I have a daughter who regularly asks, “Daddy, will you tell me a story?” And I usually do. (Occasionally it's worth writing down.)  

 

 

Things to know: 

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• I write stories that are intended to be read by—and enjoyable to—virtually any age. That’s how my favorite authors have written, and they’ve left indelible marks on me! I hope to do the same for others—including you.  

 

• I love adventures—largely because life is one. I try to pepper my stories with a fair amount of adventure, hoping to show the grand sweeping adventures and the adventure that can be found in the ordinary everyday moments of life. (As Klock Terrol says in The Adventures of Hickory Dock - the Second Book, “Every day is an opportunity for something tremendous to happen... even a day that starts out bad. So stay on the lookout. Elsewise, you just might miss it.”) 

 

• Life is chock full of wonder if we don’t lose our childlike hearts. I’ve learned even the most difficult times can afford us moments of humor and joy. We only have to keep our eyes open to truth, so I endeavor to write with my eyes open in that way.  

 

• I love to read aloud, bringing life to the characters in books (whether my own or those written by other authors). Reading to people and eliciting an, “Oh, don’t stop reading,” when it’s time to move on to other things, is one of my supreme joys. So, I write with the aim that stories be easy to read aloud. I hope you will read them aloud to someone you love.  

 

• Though the stories I write (for the most part) have not been explicitly Christian, I am. At some point I may write about this, but suffice it to say, I owe my very life—quite literally and on so many levels—to God being God and loving me into life, then loving me through the dark into the light.  

 

• Miracles are real, and if I write a ‘magical’ story it’s with the hope, dear reader, that a little magic and wonder properly placed in a story may awaken desire, not a desire to seek after magic—that’s a dangerous, and deceptive path—but awaken desire for The One who makes miracles possible, who instilled this world with wonder, who made the beauty of the sunrise shining on a dewy leaf or spider’s web so captivating to behold in the radiant glory of early morning—The One who longs to show us the real magic of the life He made for us, The One who opens blind eyes and breaks open hearts of stone, releasing them from the curse laid upon them long ago and restoring them to life. (Him I could write about forever.) 

 

• People have asked me, “What kind of writing do you do?” and I usually rattle off the list of books/stories I’ve written because there’s no single genre I write in. I write the kind of stories I like, and I hope you will like them too. 

 

• Though I am explicitly Christian, the stories I write have been enjoyed both by people of faith and people without—and I certainly hope that will continue! Like C.S. Lewis, I don’t pick a topic and research how best to deliver the information in story form. I simply write the stories that come to me. Sometimes a phrase will stick with me and a world begins to form around it. Sometimes it’s a picture that needs to be folded into a story. Sometimes it is an idea that I feel compelled to get out. At times, those phrases, ideas, and pictures form a roadmap in my mind, like saying, “Okay, we start by visiting Yellow Stone, then on to the largest ball of twine in the world. From there we’ll hit the Grand Canyon, Rushmore, maybe the Giza plateau, and eventually we’ll end up at the Eifel Tower.” What bubbles up in between those highpoints is a mystery to me—and it's also where the real fun of the writing comes in—just letting God move me along the path to discover what the roads look like, who the people in between are, who will join in the journey, and sometimes at the end going… “Oh, that’s why I was writing this book!” 

 

It’s my sincerest hope that the stories I write will be, not only entertaining, but inspiring, bringing joy and a sense of the divine to each reader. I pray that God—who had the wonderful idea to bless me with the gift of story—will bless you, dear reader, as you venture through the Dark Wood of Darlandis, travel with Hickory through the hall between clocks, or takes flight with Orange Bird (or with Andrik of Andelsby and Windjack in the not too distant future), and that God will receive all the honor and glory He is due. Thank you for reading.

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