One Faith Many Paths: Dianne Gardner

This time around, I am interviewing a fellow Christian named Dianne Gardner, who is published by PDMI, and writes the Ian’s Realm Saga. It is available by Amazon. The first book is called Deception Peak.

1. What evidence can you give for God’s existence?
Aside from the order of things? Aside from the intricate life systems of our universe, how one species feeds on and interacts with another? How every form of life is dependent on another? How could a Creator not be responsible? If life is a master plan indeed, there must be a Master who planned it. I just can’t fathom how a person can believe we are all just some mistake that came from an explosion. That is a completely senseless assumption. But aside from all that I can give the evidence of my life and how God has worked in it.
When there was no other hope for me I acquainted myself to the one living in the desert without God. And then I prayed and began to follow His instruction and my life turned around and I found happiness–and not just happiness, but fulfillment and joy.
2. What was your childhood like?I was raised in an upper middle class, brand new neighborhood in California. I was a bit spoiled because my parents stepped out of the Depression when they were young and they swore they would never let their children suffer poverty. Something inside of me rebelled. This was in the 50’s and 60’s. I actually yearned to experience poverty, and believe me, I got my wish. But as a child, I was well-sheltered, well-schooled, well-clothed (my mom made all my clothes), well-entertained, and well-fed. The only thing I lacked was spiritual fulfillment.
3. Who are your favorite writers?CS Lewis is my very favorite writer. After him a close second would be Forester, Tolkein, Mark Twain, and a host of other classic writers including Shakespeare.
4. Was there a book that made you say “I want to write”? If so, what was that book?I used to write poetry. I always wanted to write a novel, but it took a long time to get the courage and time to do it. Then when my daughter made me sit with her and watch all the Twilight movies, I said to myself, “I can do that!”
5. Who is your favorite biblical figure besides Jesus?
King David. He had such courage and zeal and love for God.
6. Tell me about your latest books, Deception Peak and Pouraka?
Actually, Deception Peak was my first published book. It begins the Ian’s Realm saga and is a story about a boy who enters an alternate world with his dad. The story is about his adventures, and he has many–but it’s also about his relationship with a father he thought he knew. A father he held on a pedestal and discovered the man not only didn’t belong there, but didn’t want to be there. The things that happened to Ian, with the dragon, the dragon-worshippers, the pirates, and his girlfriend, all orbit around self-discovery, through loss and suffering. It can be considered a high-action kids’ story, or a deep, thought-provoking adult story.
Pouraka is my latest book, which doesn’t have a publisher yet, but I’m querying it. I call it an underwater romance, but it isn’t just about two merpeople loving each other. It’s about how they and their clans have to cope with the growing invasion of mankind. They suffer the same as any sea mammal suffers at the hands of man today, and through their love for each other they learn to overcome.
7. What is your favorite biblical passage and why?Matthew 6:25-32: “Therefore I say unto you, be not anxious for your life, what ye shall eat, or what shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than the food, and the body than the raiment? Behold the birds of the heaven, that they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns, and your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are not ye of much more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add one cubit unto the measure of his life? And why are ye anxious concerning raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow, they toil not, nor do they spin: yet I say unto you, that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God doth close the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall he not more clothe you, O ye of little faith? Be not therefore anxious, saying: What shall we eat? or, what shall we drink?, or Wherewithal shall we be clothed? For all of these things do the Gentiles seek; for your heavenly Father knoweth that we have need of all these things. But seek ye first His Kingdom and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.”
If people only understood how simple our lives would be.
8. Is there a person who makes you want to be a better person? Who is this person?My husband.

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