613 Media — Telling the Story

This has been a great weekend! Two things happened that are outstanding. First, it seems that “The 12th Demon: Vampyre Majick” has won a national book award! Not just a runner’s up. Not just an Honorable Mention. The book is a WINNER of the National Best Book Awards! Here is the actual “meat” from the email:

Dear Bruce:

Congratulations!

The epic results are in for the National Best Books 2008 Awards!

Your book has been honored as a “Winner” in the “Fiction & Literature: Religious Fiction” category:

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The 12th Demon: Vampyre Majick by Bruce Hennigan

Winner — Fiction & Literature: Religious Fiction

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National Best Book Awards 2008 in Religious Fiction

In the days ahead, I’ll be finding out more about what this means but I am pumped! So, go tell all you friends that you know of an inspirational supernatural thriller that has won a National Book Award and they should go out and buy it before Halloween!!!

But, you know, as wonderful as this news is, I didn’t write the book for fame or money. Really! I have a wonderful day job. I am writing the Jonathan Steel series because I want to make this world a better place. Sounds corny and lame, doesn’t it? But, isn’t that really what we should all strive to do? Leave this world a better place than we found it?

And, I’m not just writing for myself. I am writing because of the One who inspires me; the One who gives my life meaning; the One who did not think it beneath Himself as the Creator of the Universe to become a man and to live out the same kind of life we live. This book award is great but I give all the honor and praise to my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ! If that offends you or turns you off, then just go to your bathroom mirror, look yourself in the eyes and ask yourself, “Just what am I living for?”

There is more to life than just book awards and lots of money and fine parties and all that. You know it. You can feel it deep in the pit of your gut. We seem to become a more isolated and “me” centered society each day. We’ve lost the capacity to sacrifice time and money and personal freedoms for the good of someone else. We have placed ourselves on God’s throne.

Well, I found something to live for that will outlast my final paycheck or the last dollars in my retirement account. It’s changing the world for the sake of my God and leaving it a better place than I found it. Don’t believe me? Well, as important as that National Book Award is to me right now, this excerpt from an email I received two days ago from a reader of my books makes it all worthwhile and I would trade a hundred book awards for one of these responses to my books:

Bruce

I just wanted to give you a pat on the back for your book(s). I just finished The 13th Demon and WOW!! I haven’t read anything that made me consider finding GOD again, ever. . . . I just wanted to tell you that I loved the book and it started me thinking about my own relationship. I have started reading The 12^th Demon, which I can’t put down. Great job and keep up the good work.

I don’t want to betray this man’s privacy but he relates how he is struggling as a single father of two children and reading my book helped him discover a deeper and more meaningful relationship with God. God used my book to alter someone’s life, hopefully forever!

And, that is what it is all about!