ŷ������

In short, no.

Does that surprise you?

I write generous, adventurous stories that are faithful to Reality. They tell the truth about the world, but there aren’t one-for-one specific truths being taught in the guise of a story. I just try to write excellent stories.

Allegory VS Application

Do the Green Ember stories resonate with you as a Christian? What you may be experiencing is application.

“I cordially dislike allegory in all its manifestations, and always have done so since I grew old and wary enough to detect its presence. I much prefer history―true or feigned―with its varied applicability to the thought and experience of readers. I think that many confuse applicability with allegory, but the one resides in the freedom of the reader, and the other in the purposed domination of the author.��

―J. R. R. Tolkien

I recently received this question during my Q & A with my pal Brett Harris of��.

How do you write a biblical allegory without making the story boring or predictable? How do I “disguise�� the allegory without boring Christians and turning away non-Christian readers?

Here’s my full answer, including some pitfalls to avoid when seeking to write a story that is faithful to Reality.

Telling Truthful Stories

God made the world. Vocations like farming, storytelling, and serving kids PB & J’s are good.

This world is his. Motherhood, fatherhood, brotherhood, sisterhood―it’s all his. We don’t have to pretend that it’s not and we don’t have to disguise it. We don’t have to sneak a message into fatherhood. It’s already good and doing it well is good. God invented it. It doesn’t need another sneaky, sly purpose. The same is true for stories.

We tell good stories and don’t have to be burdened with sneaking (even very good) info into them—because God made the world.

If you’re a Christian in the arts and you’re asking me what I think you need to be faithful and fruitful in your work, here’s my response. Follow Jesus and go to church. Have a high view of Holy Scripture, the Doctrine of Creation, and the Doctrine of Vocation. Then, pray and smile and sweat and do your very best work.

I’m on your side!

Sam

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Okay, you’ve got to help me out here. I’m dying to know who your favorite character is. And, related to that, who you’d like to have more stories about?

During the launch party for��The Found Boys, I talked about����and if��.

Now I want to hear from you! Invite your kids to help answer the poll below��

Which Green Ember character(s) would you like to read more about?

Heather? Picket? Jo Shanks? Helmer? Smalls? Or someone else?

Speaking of Green Ember, the Green Ember Kid Art contest ends in just a few days!��. Winners will be announced in October.

Can’t wait to see who you pick,

Sam

Jo Shanks from The Archer’s Cup by Lilly, age 15

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The Found Boys

Ready for liftoff!

Launch days are crucial for an author and his or her family (a he in my case), and I’m so grateful to have your support on this my 14th book release day! It makes me so happy I’m laughing (a he he in my case).

Fun Fact: If you stacked all my books on top of each other, they would reach part of the way to the moon. Wow! Double-wow! #Science

I know many of you want to know how you can help. Thank you so much for caring!

First off, please grab a copy of the book. After that, leaving a great review (especially on Amazon) and sharing about the book with others are the most helpful things. Lastly, come to launch party at noon ET today!

Get it here:��������������������������������������.

“It makes me so happy that S. D. Smith is putting good stuff like this out there. Books we can confidently put in our children’s hands. Books that show them how amazing it is to encounter a great story full of heart, hope, and thrills. Go Sam!��

Scott James, Author of�� The Sower

Watch the Launch Party replay to hear the heart behind this book and see the crazy :

Last Chance �� Ends 9/10

I’m giving you an extra day –��today���� to get the audiobook, activity guide, and first chapter download all for free when you order the book. Once you’ve ordered the book, please enter your order info����*crucial step* and you’ll receive all your goodies.

I’m on your side,

Sam

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Jack Zulu is out in the world and shipping now! You can find it at�� , , & more. (You can even listen to the first 5 chapters for free��.)

“I can’t stop thinking about this adventure! While the intense action is exciting, it’s the soul-turmoil and development of character that makes this a classic that I will reach for again and again.��I’m so glad I gave Jack a chance!��

Jayla G.

I want to invite you to��Escape Into Reality��by entering into the exciting world of Jack Zulu with this crazy deal.

Both books—plus the genuinely excellent audiobook of Jack 1—for only $25!

I hope you’ll take advantage of this amazing deal. This is your last chance!

“It’s good!!!!!!��

�� review written by a ten year old boy of few words

I’m on your side,

Sam

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It’s time to announce the winners for this quarter’s Green Ember Kid Art contest! Watch .

Best Green Ember Kid Art

The FIRST prize goes to the Best #GreenEmberKidArt, judged according to the artist’s age. The winner will receive a $25 gift certificate at the����(along with Unimaginable Glory & Prodigious Esteem).��

And the winner is…��

Colton, age 10!

Randomly Selected Kid Artist

For our next prize:��Wild Glee, Contagious Joy, and $20 Gift Certificate at the��, everyone who submits art is entered.

And the winner is��

Colt, age 16!

Congratulations to these winners!

We had so many wonderful submissions!! Here are some of them:

Check out��this video��for more!

The contest for the next quarter starts now. Here are the��:

To enter, submit your art��.

If you have social media, please share your child’s Green Ember art (publicly) on social media (Instagram, Facebook, YouTube). Use the hashtag����(along with����and����if you would) and tag S. D. Smith on either����or��. YouTube submissions may be featured in our playlist��.

Art can include but is not limited to pictures of Green Ember drawings, paintings, songs, poems, animation, sculptures, woodwork, crochet art, and MORE! We love seeing your creativity.

Please submit 1 original piece per quarter. If you have more than one, hold onto it until our next quarterly contest opens up (every 3 months). The next contest ends in September and winners will be announced in October.

202420232022

We look forward to seeing your submissions!

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Home, boy,
It’s just some soil and sky,
Strange that it can get,
Its hooks into my ribs.
And make me feel so,
Unfashionably loyal,
To mere sky and soil.
It’s just rocks and rivers,
It’s only an auburn autumn forest alive with dying fiery bursts of orange and gold, great swaths of spectacular hills and hollers nestled in gorges and (usually) green—green going on and on and on for miles and mountains, modest though they are.
They are ours and we are free,
We mountaineers.
And it’s the mountaineers, more than the mountains,
That bind me in this archaic, unspoken allegiance.
Kinship isn’t everything,
But neither is it nothing.
There is room in the world for loving,
Though scorn is heaped on sincerity,
And rural second-caste citizens,
Are denigrated daily and overlooked always,
While sophisticated cities with disconnected citizens influence us in inordinate and destructive independence and addictive selfishness,
Spurning what smacks of tradition,
Haughtily mocking what passes for devotion,
And we have let them lead us,
Let them show us how to lead hollow lives.
Ichabod, oh my God,
The glory, it has faded away.

It’s not that simple, no.
Blame is the game of victims,
And responsibility is the act of the valiant.
If we can’t own what we’ve got,
We get owned.
And we can’t be owned,
Because mountaineers are always free.
Free to be happy?
Free to be hopeful?
Only if we’re free enough to be humble.
Only if we exchange victimhood for servanthood.
Only if we trade self-centered worship for Reality,
For Harmony,
With the Maker of the mountains,
The Shaper of the gorges,
The Lord of all the forests.
The Painter of sunsets,
The Poet of romance,
The Father to the fatherless.
Healer, Helper, Hopesource.
Lover, Lifter, Lifeforce.
The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel,
Ain’t a stranger to our place,
Won’t flinch at our deep pain,
But by his holy name,
Will welcome and restore us,
Will unmake all our horrors,
And give us life in him.
And true, good, and beautiful,
Brotherhood.
Real freedom.
Life.
Here.

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Jack Zulu 2 is here!

Jack Zulu and the Girl with Golden Wings is here! And we’re celebrating with a launch party.

Join us live on our YouTube channel on Thursday, June 20 (TODAY!) at 7pm ET.

Don’t miss the:

GiveawaysLive readingQ & A (submit questions in the comments below)Book & audiobook announcements MORE GIVEAWAYS

We’re going to have a good time.

Get Jack for $1

Want to catch up on Jack Zulu 1? From now until the live, get Jack Zulu and the Waylander’s Key audiobook for just $1! Use code JZ1 . Zeno Robinson is a fabulous reader and he’s back for the second one.

Very important math word problem: There are approximately 58 hours between now and the launch party. Jack Zulu and the Waylander’s Key audiobook is approximately 8 hours and 23 minutes. How many times could one listen through the audiobook before the party?

Thank you for your support as we launch new stories with an old soul out into the world for families hungry for soul-shaping, memory-making, darkness-shaking adventures.

We’re on your side,

Sam
The Very Serious Author

P. S. Who has better hair?

P. P. S. This crazy launch deal �� Jack Zulu 1 & 2 SIGNED for just $25 and a free audiobook �� is going away soon. Plus, just for you awesome subscribers, use code JACK to get an extra $5 off.

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Every nation, people, or culture has a story. It seems to me that in every one of those cultures there is a place of honor reserved for those whose work it is or has been to protect all the others. Such is certainly the case in the American story. From the founding our principal heroes have been warriors. This seems to be the case for most cultures which endure at all (for obvious reasons).

In a world where sin is a universal plague, it is for now necessary to have governments who serve their people by bearing the sword. These abstract considerations find form in so many men and women who serve in the military.

It’s an easy thing to forget that the liberty we enjoy is not produced in a vacuum. It was got the way it is usually got –by men with guns. These men have frequently been people of the highest moral character, willingly sacrificing themselves for the love they have for those they would protect. Many have died.

I think it’s a peculiar and grievous kind of selfish delusion to deny gratitude to these servants.

I pray for peace with our enemies. I understand that our enemies are in need of the Gospel just like we are. I understand that as Christians we are called to have an attitude of forgiveness and love. But the world is what it is and has been since the fall –a place where many powerful men want to dominate others for evil.

I thank God for soldiers who stand guard at the gates, who work to allow me to live in peace and safety in my home. I don’t want to assign divinity to these servants, provoke or participate in idolatry to the nation they serve, but I want to thank them for being an instrument by which we receive so much kindness in our lives.

So thank you. To everyone who signs a paper that says you are willing to go anywhere and fight anyone so I can be with my family and be a lot less fearful than most people in history have been and most people in the world are.

We honor the memory of the fallen, and say that we won’t forget you. Saying “thank you�� doesn’t feel adequate. But may we with our lives be a kind of tribute to the cause you laid down your lives for. I’ll hug my kids a little tighter, seek joy and deep meaning in the life I have. And remember the part you played in securing those joys, with thanks.

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If You Liked Mooses, You’ll Love This NEW BOOK

I’m thrilled to introduce you to Story Warren’s hilarious new book, Team Burger Shed by Tavin Dillard. Tavin is an absolute legend, one of the funniest characters you’ll ever come across. If you enjoyed , or you just love clean comedy with hysterical storytelling, this is for you.

There’s no easy way to explain this wonderful world that you’re entering. There’s a rhythm to how Tavin tells a story. Rather than trying to describe it, your best bet is to meet Tavin in this :

Everyone in my family loves Tavin and his comical antics. He is a hoot!

About the Author

Now, you might be wondering, “Who’s Tavin Dillard?�� Well, let me tell you, Tavin is a master storyteller with a knack for crafting clean and hilarious comedy that’s perfect for the entire family. His new book is a delightful throwback to the days of classic humor, reminiscent of “the old bathroom book.��

At Story Warren, our mission is to be your “allies in imagination,�� and we love bringing delightful books to families. This is a good’n. And useful!

“You take a phone book, some plywood and the Team Burger Shed book, you got a pretty decent remote control car ramp.��

Bret Dillard, Tavin’s brother

“Team Burger Shed is my back up door stop. Cinder block is still my first choice.��

Memaw

Trust me, you’re going to love this book. Thanks for supporting our family business.

Sam

P. S. This makes a great gift for dads!

“There ain’t enough pictures.��

Delma Spencer, momma and attempted firework thief

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It’s time to announce the winners for this quarter’s Green Ember Kid Art contest!

Best Green Ember Kid Art

The FIRST prize goes to the Best #GreenEmberKidArt, judged according to the artist’s age. The winner will receive a $25 gift certificate at the����(along with Unimaginable Glory & Prodigious Esteem).��

And the winner is…��

Dani, Age 13!

Randomly Selected Kid Artist

For our next prize:��Wild Glee, Contagious Joy, and $20 Gift Certificate at the��, everyone who submits art is entered.

And the winner is��

Rhoda, Age 9!

We would like to give a very special mention to Edward, Age 8.

“Hours of love was poured into his Cad designed necklace. Each detail intricately crafted. Terminal cancer hit. E gave me his necklace. “Bear the Flame, Mommy.�� Thanks 4 the spark!�� -Edward’s Mom

We had so many wonderful submissions that it made choosing a winner so so difficult. Here are some of them: (Check out for more!)

The contest for the next quarter starts now. Here are the��:

To enter, submit your art��.

If you have social media, please share your child’s Green Ember art (publicly) on social media (Instagram, Facebook, YouTube). Use the hashtag����(along with����and����if you would) and tag S. D. Smith on either����or��. YouTube submissions may be featured in our playlist��.

Art can include but is not limited to pictures of Green Ember drawings, paintings, songs, poems, animation, sculptures, woodwork, crochet art, and MORE! We love seeing your creativity.

Please submit 1 original piece per quarter. If you have more than one, hold onto it until our next quarterly contest opens up (every 3 months). The next contest ends in March and winners will be announced in April.

20232022

We look forward to seeing your submissions!

Andrew, age 6

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