Q&A with Catherine Sharpe and Julie Bryson
Authors of the Eternity's Account Book Series
Q: What inspired your book series, “Eternity’s Account”?
A: Julie: Well back in 2007, I was attending a church where I met Cam (Catherine). We started doing an online study program of biblically-based classes. That helped build a passion in me about the Word. When you have a deeper understanding about the Creator, your relationship becomes more personal. Just like with a friend or your spouse. The deeper, more intimate relationships come from a deeper understanding of one another. It makes the relationship far more special. It actually makes you want to please that person and vice-versa. So, since we really felt we were better off because of these nuggets, we thought others would be as well.
Cam: Julie had been doing a lot of in depth study on her own and had also just published her own book. She came to me and said “Hey, I have this great idea for a book. Would you like to write a fictional novel with me?” After much prayer on both our parts, her original idea for a storyline grew exponentially and that is when we really took what we were learning and what the Lord was showing us in the Word and fleshed out the idea.
Julie: The funny thing is that when we first got together and started working on this series it was going to be seven books. It was supposed to go all the way through the Bible. Our first book was supposed to go to the flood and here we are on book four in the series and we are still not to the flood!
Cam: Another reason we wanted to do this series was because of the confusion surrounding biblical truths because of some of the popular series at the time such as The Twilight Series, Harry Potter Series and many others that were bringing in young adult readers. We wanted something that would provide similar adventure stories, but that would be grounded in Biblical truth. And being able to take the Word, and as we like to say, “weaving fact through fiction”, we were able to weave these biblical facts, these patterns, into a story form that can be enjoyed by any age reader. This, of course, was all by the hand of God.
Q: Talk about some of the concepts that you hope readers learn from the series.
A: Cam: There are patterns to the universe and God’s time doesn’t work in a linear fashion. It is cyclical. When we started to recognize those repeating patterns, we come to an understanding of why things work in a day, a week, a month, a year. We want people to see that life moves in cycles as it moves forward through time. For example, Genesis 1:14 introduces the heavenly bodies used to establish the “seasons” or Moedim, which in Hebrew means God’s appointed times. One of these well known appointed times is Passover. There are several places that hint to a type of Passover but the most common are with Abraham (Gen. 18), the Israelites leaving Egypt ( Ex. 12), Messiah on the cross (Matthew 27), and the future event found in Jeremiah 16:14-15. Another concept we hope our readers see is that there are levels of learning. That is one of the great things about these books, if you don’t have much background in the Bible you can still read the story and get something out of it. But if you are well versed in the Bible then when you read the story, you will recognize situations and hints that might be overlooked by others.
Julie: That is so right. We purposely wrote it this way so the story would appeal to a larger audience.
Cam: That is how the Word of God is too. It is written on levels which the Lord will allow us to see things as we learn.
Julie: So precept upon precept. That is how God operates. I know that some of the most impactful books that I personally read were the Frank Peretti books because he helps us to see what is happening in the natural and the supernatural. That is another concept we put in the books. We have both playing out at the same time. What is great about that is you can start to see and understand why things happen the way they do and how we play a role in it. While the natural and supernatural are separated between dimensions, we have the ability to invite them to merge. For example, the music one chooses to listen to can have an effect on us. Music is something that can permeate into your very being and can be a spiritual gateway into the Godly or ungodly. To me it is the mercy of God that we are only in four dimensions, which is height, width, depth and time (Eph. 3:18). So we don’t have to be aware of all the other activity around us. If we just focus on Him, then we don’t have to worry about what is happening in those other dimensions.
Cam: I would say that another concept we want people to see is the mercy of God far outweighs our understanding. We often miss many of these aspects because we, as a society, have defined mercy by our own cultural terms instead of Biblical terms. For example, we see in Exodus 21:24 the famous “eye for eye and tooth for tooth” command and in our society we view it as a vengeance command. But a closer examination of the context reveals the Lord’s desire to financially protect the wounded. Our Messiah quotes this scripture to reiterate our responsibility to err on the side of caution when showing mercy to others. So we want to try to help show mercy as it is defined by God instead of man.
A: Julie: Well back in 2007, I was attending a church where I met Cam (Catherine). We started doing an online study program of biblically-based classes. That helped build a passion in me about the Word. When you have a deeper understanding about the Creator, your relationship becomes more personal. Just like with a friend or your spouse. The deeper, more intimate relationships come from a deeper understanding of one another. It makes the relationship far more special. It actually makes you want to please that person and vice-versa. So, since we really felt we were better off because of these nuggets, we thought others would be as well.
Cam: Julie had been doing a lot of in depth study on her own and had also just published her own book. She came to me and said “Hey, I have this great idea for a book. Would you like to write a fictional novel with me?” After much prayer on both our parts, her original idea for a storyline grew exponentially and that is when we really took what we were learning and what the Lord was showing us in the Word and fleshed out the idea.
Julie: The funny thing is that when we first got together and started working on this series it was going to be seven books. It was supposed to go all the way through the Bible. Our first book was supposed to go to the flood and here we are on book four in the series and we are still not to the flood!
Cam: Another reason we wanted to do this series was because of the confusion surrounding biblical truths because of some of the popular series at the time such as The Twilight Series, Harry Potter Series and many others that were bringing in young adult readers. We wanted something that would provide similar adventure stories, but that would be grounded in Biblical truth. And being able to take the Word, and as we like to say, “weaving fact through fiction”, we were able to weave these biblical facts, these patterns, into a story form that can be enjoyed by any age reader. This, of course, was all by the hand of God.
Q: Talk about some of the concepts that you hope readers learn from the series.
A: Cam: There are patterns to the universe and God’s time doesn’t work in a linear fashion. It is cyclical. When we started to recognize those repeating patterns, we come to an understanding of why things work in a day, a week, a month, a year. We want people to see that life moves in cycles as it moves forward through time. For example, Genesis 1:14 introduces the heavenly bodies used to establish the “seasons” or Moedim, which in Hebrew means God’s appointed times. One of these well known appointed times is Passover. There are several places that hint to a type of Passover but the most common are with Abraham (Gen. 18), the Israelites leaving Egypt ( Ex. 12), Messiah on the cross (Matthew 27), and the future event found in Jeremiah 16:14-15. Another concept we hope our readers see is that there are levels of learning. That is one of the great things about these books, if you don’t have much background in the Bible you can still read the story and get something out of it. But if you are well versed in the Bible then when you read the story, you will recognize situations and hints that might be overlooked by others.
Julie: That is so right. We purposely wrote it this way so the story would appeal to a larger audience.
Cam: That is how the Word of God is too. It is written on levels which the Lord will allow us to see things as we learn.
Julie: So precept upon precept. That is how God operates. I know that some of the most impactful books that I personally read were the Frank Peretti books because he helps us to see what is happening in the natural and the supernatural. That is another concept we put in the books. We have both playing out at the same time. What is great about that is you can start to see and understand why things happen the way they do and how we play a role in it. While the natural and supernatural are separated between dimensions, we have the ability to invite them to merge. For example, the music one chooses to listen to can have an effect on us. Music is something that can permeate into your very being and can be a spiritual gateway into the Godly or ungodly. To me it is the mercy of God that we are only in four dimensions, which is height, width, depth and time (Eph. 3:18). So we don’t have to be aware of all the other activity around us. If we just focus on Him, then we don’t have to worry about what is happening in those other dimensions.
Cam: I would say that another concept we want people to see is the mercy of God far outweighs our understanding. We often miss many of these aspects because we, as a society, have defined mercy by our own cultural terms instead of Biblical terms. For example, we see in Exodus 21:24 the famous “eye for eye and tooth for tooth” command and in our society we view it as a vengeance command. But a closer examination of the context reveals the Lord’s desire to financially protect the wounded. Our Messiah quotes this scripture to reiterate our responsibility to err on the side of caution when showing mercy to others. So we want to try to help show mercy as it is defined by God instead of man.
Q: Give us a sneak peek at the new book.
A: Cam: Rulers is the name of our fourth book in the Eternity’s Account series, but we need to explain the reason the series is called Eternity’s Account. In our series, we have three ages: the first age, the second age, and the third age. This book, Rulers, takes place in what we call the second age. The first and third ages are considered “eternities”: one of the past and one of the future. The chosen ones were taken back to the first age for a brief period in order to witness the dawning of the second age. When the series starts, this is the age the children are about to enter. So basically, its two eternities, and our story primarily takes place within the middle age. So, if you were to open up your Bible and say, “Hmm, where does this book, Rulers, fit within the bigger story?” It would be around the year 700 from creation.
Julie: Around the time of Enoch.
Cam: Yes. We have basically been following Cain’s line and Adam’s line or as some would say, Seth’s line. These two lines are in two different kingdoms and are developing their own rulers in our story. These two rulers set the precedent for all rulers to come, for each of the kingdoms.
Julie: That’s right! Even Cain’s line is setting up patterns that will spiritually continue after the flood.
Cam: With each book, we have more and more of the “behind the scenes” happening, I guess you would say on the spiritual side. In this book especially, we have a lot of that working. We are seeing where the fallen angels are really working behind the scenes to manipulate those who are willing to entertain such things. In our series, the creator of all is named Owr, which in Hebrew means pure light. Also, in this book we have two women, very pivotal characters. While we have the two younger men who are vying for overall power, we also have these two women who are fighting for the position of being the greatest of all women.
Q: Is this a series that non-Christians would enjoy and if so, why?
A: Julie: I believe this is absolutely the kind of series that can be enjoyed by all. We present so many facets of life between the characters’ relationships and movement between the dimensions that there is something for everyone. The supernatural tends to draw both readers of a suspicious nature as well as spiritual nature. Our intent has always been to reveal the good and expose the evil. Sometimes that exposure can be misunderstood as promotion. But, I assure you our intent is to expose and not promote.
Cam: Right. To be honest, it is difficult to understand good without seeing the evil that it contrasts. We show the entry of evil, how it is fed, how it is strengthened, and how it is starved. We also show the good in the same degree.
Julie: The premise of this book is twelve children from the very end of days, who have never been purvey to Satan and his ways because he has been bound for a thousand years. They’re going back to the beginning of time in order to learn how to defeat the enemy in the end. They have to know how their enemy operates. We believe that the generation of our children coming up are in the same position. In order for them to stand and defeat the enemy, they have to know how this thing operates.
Cam: Another reason these books might appeal to other types of readers is the number of strong characters we have weaved through the series. While some last through the entire series, others fade into the history of the story. Readers that enjoy strong character developments will be able to get to know the players and identify their favorite personalities among the characters.
Q: This series was put on hold during some difficult times in your lives, talk about that.
A: Cam: In 2009 is when the journey really started. We had just finished book two and were moving onto book three, when Julie and I both found out that our fathers were diagnosed with cancer. Julie’s dad had colon cancer, and my father had throat cancer.
Julie: Let me give a brief history of the series’ progression. In 2008, we wrote and published our first book. Our second book was published in the fall of 2009, we were on schedule to do the same thing with book three when our parents took a turn for the worse and our fathers were put in hospice.
Cam: Now remember, we are not sisters so we are talking about two different sets of parents with entirely separate families. It might be hard to believe but in Oct of 2010 both of our fathers were put in hospice just before we left for an annual conference we attended in Idaho. I remember this because my father called me at the airport to ask if the kids had funeral clothes in case he died while we were gone.
Julie: He was a real character.
Cam: Yes, he was! So anyway, that year at the conference we met a gentleman who was very interested in our Eternity’s Account book series.
Julie: At the conference, he had decided to take a chance on us. We went home very excited. We talked to our husbands and both of them agreed that it was time to invest in the book series and make a big push to get them out in front of people. Now, this was in November of 2010.
Cam: A week after we had agreed to move forward, but before the money had been spent, both of us were informed that our parents would be moving into our family homes due to their hospice status and our mothers’ inability to care for them. So, basically our investment in the book, became an investment in our parents. We both took on the sole responsibility of caring for our parents. In the late winter of 2011, Julie’s father passed away and in the fall my father passed away. At that point, the third book was sent off for publication.
Julie: And while it might seem that we were back on track to begin book four, it wasn’t that easy. Book four took the longest for us to write, due to the aftermath of our father’s deaths because we both now had the responsibility of caring for our mothers. We also had high school age children very involved in competitive sports. Those things together forced us to take a step back, re-evaluate, spend our time pouring into our families and the book series was put on hold.
Cam: It wasn’t until late 2016, after my mother’s death, that we were really able to return to writing. It took us all of 2017 and the beginning of 2018 for us to complete the book, Rulers. While some might look back on the 7 years with frustration, we are thankful and rejoice in the journey that has brought us to this point today.
Q: What have you learned about yourselves, each other and God during the making of this series?
Cam: We do not control our time! I cannot tell you how many times Julie and I will have a plan of what our day is going to look like and then it gets derailed and none of it got done! Not because we are being neglectful but because sometimes we just cannot control our time! It’s great to have a plan, but you have to be flexible. In that flexibility, we learned to be thankful in all things.
Julie: Yes, I think of Jesus as the greatest example. He came for the purpose of dying on the cross for us but it was thirty some odd years before that final and ultimate goal was reached. In His life he had several stops that might have felt like distractions but every one of them were necessary.
Cam: Like Israel in the wilderness, it was about the journey.
A: Cam: Rulers is the name of our fourth book in the Eternity’s Account series, but we need to explain the reason the series is called Eternity’s Account. In our series, we have three ages: the first age, the second age, and the third age. This book, Rulers, takes place in what we call the second age. The first and third ages are considered “eternities”: one of the past and one of the future. The chosen ones were taken back to the first age for a brief period in order to witness the dawning of the second age. When the series starts, this is the age the children are about to enter. So basically, its two eternities, and our story primarily takes place within the middle age. So, if you were to open up your Bible and say, “Hmm, where does this book, Rulers, fit within the bigger story?” It would be around the year 700 from creation.
Julie: Around the time of Enoch.
Cam: Yes. We have basically been following Cain’s line and Adam’s line or as some would say, Seth’s line. These two lines are in two different kingdoms and are developing their own rulers in our story. These two rulers set the precedent for all rulers to come, for each of the kingdoms.
Julie: That’s right! Even Cain’s line is setting up patterns that will spiritually continue after the flood.
Cam: With each book, we have more and more of the “behind the scenes” happening, I guess you would say on the spiritual side. In this book especially, we have a lot of that working. We are seeing where the fallen angels are really working behind the scenes to manipulate those who are willing to entertain such things. In our series, the creator of all is named Owr, which in Hebrew means pure light. Also, in this book we have two women, very pivotal characters. While we have the two younger men who are vying for overall power, we also have these two women who are fighting for the position of being the greatest of all women.
Q: Is this a series that non-Christians would enjoy and if so, why?
A: Julie: I believe this is absolutely the kind of series that can be enjoyed by all. We present so many facets of life between the characters’ relationships and movement between the dimensions that there is something for everyone. The supernatural tends to draw both readers of a suspicious nature as well as spiritual nature. Our intent has always been to reveal the good and expose the evil. Sometimes that exposure can be misunderstood as promotion. But, I assure you our intent is to expose and not promote.
Cam: Right. To be honest, it is difficult to understand good without seeing the evil that it contrasts. We show the entry of evil, how it is fed, how it is strengthened, and how it is starved. We also show the good in the same degree.
Julie: The premise of this book is twelve children from the very end of days, who have never been purvey to Satan and his ways because he has been bound for a thousand years. They’re going back to the beginning of time in order to learn how to defeat the enemy in the end. They have to know how their enemy operates. We believe that the generation of our children coming up are in the same position. In order for them to stand and defeat the enemy, they have to know how this thing operates.
Cam: Another reason these books might appeal to other types of readers is the number of strong characters we have weaved through the series. While some last through the entire series, others fade into the history of the story. Readers that enjoy strong character developments will be able to get to know the players and identify their favorite personalities among the characters.
Q: This series was put on hold during some difficult times in your lives, talk about that.
A: Cam: In 2009 is when the journey really started. We had just finished book two and were moving onto book three, when Julie and I both found out that our fathers were diagnosed with cancer. Julie’s dad had colon cancer, and my father had throat cancer.
Julie: Let me give a brief history of the series’ progression. In 2008, we wrote and published our first book. Our second book was published in the fall of 2009, we were on schedule to do the same thing with book three when our parents took a turn for the worse and our fathers were put in hospice.
Cam: Now remember, we are not sisters so we are talking about two different sets of parents with entirely separate families. It might be hard to believe but in Oct of 2010 both of our fathers were put in hospice just before we left for an annual conference we attended in Idaho. I remember this because my father called me at the airport to ask if the kids had funeral clothes in case he died while we were gone.
Julie: He was a real character.
Cam: Yes, he was! So anyway, that year at the conference we met a gentleman who was very interested in our Eternity’s Account book series.
Julie: At the conference, he had decided to take a chance on us. We went home very excited. We talked to our husbands and both of them agreed that it was time to invest in the book series and make a big push to get them out in front of people. Now, this was in November of 2010.
Cam: A week after we had agreed to move forward, but before the money had been spent, both of us were informed that our parents would be moving into our family homes due to their hospice status and our mothers’ inability to care for them. So, basically our investment in the book, became an investment in our parents. We both took on the sole responsibility of caring for our parents. In the late winter of 2011, Julie’s father passed away and in the fall my father passed away. At that point, the third book was sent off for publication.
Julie: And while it might seem that we were back on track to begin book four, it wasn’t that easy. Book four took the longest for us to write, due to the aftermath of our father’s deaths because we both now had the responsibility of caring for our mothers. We also had high school age children very involved in competitive sports. Those things together forced us to take a step back, re-evaluate, spend our time pouring into our families and the book series was put on hold.
Cam: It wasn’t until late 2016, after my mother’s death, that we were really able to return to writing. It took us all of 2017 and the beginning of 2018 for us to complete the book, Rulers. While some might look back on the 7 years with frustration, we are thankful and rejoice in the journey that has brought us to this point today.
Q: What have you learned about yourselves, each other and God during the making of this series?
Cam: We do not control our time! I cannot tell you how many times Julie and I will have a plan of what our day is going to look like and then it gets derailed and none of it got done! Not because we are being neglectful but because sometimes we just cannot control our time! It’s great to have a plan, but you have to be flexible. In that flexibility, we learned to be thankful in all things.
Julie: Yes, I think of Jesus as the greatest example. He came for the purpose of dying on the cross for us but it was thirty some odd years before that final and ultimate goal was reached. In His life he had several stops that might have felt like distractions but every one of them were necessary.
Cam: Like Israel in the wilderness, it was about the journey.
About the Authors:
Catherine (Cam) Sharpe:
Catherine Sharpe graduated from New Mexico Military Institute, achieved a Master’s degree from California State University Northridge, and earned her doctorate in Language and Culture from the University of Texas Austin and Strassford University. She has three boys and has been married to her husband Larry for over 20 years. They reside in Louisiana.
Julie Bryson:
Julie Bryson authored the book “Out of the Ashes: How Autism Changed My Life” after her youngest of three daughters was diagnosed as autistic. She is a cosmetologist and fitness instructor. She has been married to her husband Chris since 1994, and they live next door to Catherine.
For more information visit www.eternitysaccount.com.
Catherine Sharpe graduated from New Mexico Military Institute, achieved a Master’s degree from California State University Northridge, and earned her doctorate in Language and Culture from the University of Texas Austin and Strassford University. She has three boys and has been married to her husband Larry for over 20 years. They reside in Louisiana.
Julie Bryson:
Julie Bryson authored the book “Out of the Ashes: How Autism Changed My Life” after her youngest of three daughters was diagnosed as autistic. She is a cosmetologist and fitness instructor. She has been married to her husband Chris since 1994, and they live next door to Catherine.
For more information visit www.eternitysaccount.com.