Welcome to "The Cross & the Pen," Crosswalk.com's author-to-author interview column.  Ladies and gentlemen, as a novelist I can tell you that there is nothing zanier than two people who live in "La-La Land" engaging in "real" conversation. We talk about subject matter that if overheard would surely result in our being put "away" in some nice quiet hospital for the "titched."  So it was GREAT FUN to talk with Craig Parshall, author of Custody of the State, about the reality of writing fiction and the purpose it serves in ministry. After speaking with Craig and hearing his heart, I am proud to say I am among the ranks of such novelists as he.

Eva: Craig, your book is "edge of your seat" kind of stuff... What inspired you to write Custody of the State?

Craig Parshall:  Several different factors led to Custody of the State.  First of all, I wanted a definite change of pace from the first book.  In The Resurrection File, the story line is global and international.  In Custody of the State I wanted to be much more provincial, with the vast majority of the action taking place in a small, fictional farming community in rural Georgia called Delphi.  The second factor was the story line itself.  I wanted to write a story that addressed the slow, subtle, but powerful trend in the law where the rights of parents and families have been massively eroded.

Eva: Your last novel, The Resurrection File, introduced main character Will Chambers. Do you consider Custody of the State to be a sequel and will there be other novels featuring Will?

Craig: Both The Resurrection File and Custody of the State are part of the "Chambers of Justice" series.  The entire series features Will Chambers, who in the first book (The Resurrection File) appears as a broken, and disillusioned former ACLU lawyer.  In Custody of the State, Will Chambers (and Fiona MacCameron - a gospel singer with whom he has fallen in love in the first book) continue their relationship - while Will continues to take on challenging cases that involve a high degree of intrigue as well as personal challenge.  Book number three in the series (The Accused) has already been completed, and is scheduled for release in July 2003.  I am currently under contract (and well into) writing book number four.  I am also scheduled to write a fifth book in the series after that.  You'll see a number of the main characters following through from book to book, and, in an overall sense, the plot will ultimately weave together as the books go on in the series. Will and Fiona are, of course, constant characters in the series. You will also see some of the antagonists (Jason Bell Purdy, in Custody of the State as an example, is introduced in that book but also appears in The Accused).  The master menace in Will's life, billionaire Warren Mullburn, is a presence in all of the books, sometimes overtly, sometimes covertly.