Hello and welcome to my first blog post and I'm excited to be intervewing Paeter Frandson creator of Spirit Blade productions. Who has just relesed Spirit Blade: Special edition
Christian Ent.: For those of my readers who don’t know, what is Spirit Blade?
Paeter Fransdon: Well, first off, it's an audio drama, which is different from an audio book in that it is performed by a full cast of actors and is completely fleshed out with sound effects and a musical score. In fact, its very much like a movie, except without the picture. Ideal entertainment for when you're driving, exercising or doing mindless work.
The Spirit Blade Trilogy takes place in the distant future, when the government has decided that all spiritual belief systems that make absolute truth claims are illegal. The ensemble cast centers on Merikk, a "has been" musician looking for meaning in life. Merikk discovers that he has a very important role to play in The Underground Liberation, a group of men secretly trying to put the concept of absolute truth and the quest for answers about God back in mainstream circulation.
The stakes are very high and the journey is a wild one. Characters travel in and out of the spirit realm, battling demons, while also struggling in a conflict with humans in the physical world. Aliens, cyborgs, science-fiction and the supernatural all collide in an extremely genre-bending experience.
CE: Where did the idea for Spirit Blade come from?
PF: Spirit Blade is really a mix and mash of inspirations. Comic books, sci-fi movies, fantasy novels and video games. It's hard to pinpoint an exact origin for the story. I first wrote it out as a novella that I never published (but will be releasing soon as a free enhanced audiobook). The novella was converted into a script which was then used to record the audio drama.
CE: How did the idea to include singing in Spirit Blade come about?
PF: I just wanted to experiment. I figured, if I'm limited to audio, why not try taking further advantage of the audio medium and use songs to tell some of this story? I'm not doing the same thing in our other projects, but Merikk is a musician and sees the world through the interpretive lens of his art. So that provides a bit of a bridge for the involvement of the songs. It's definitely a bit experimental, but my hope is that my audience is open and imaginative enough to give it a shot. Plus, it's not a "musical" in the sense of "kick lines" and "jazz hands". Most of these songs are hard, industrial electronic, which blends well with the sci-fi and supernatural elements.
CE: What made you want to make a Special edition of Spirit Blade?
PF: I learned so much while making the original mix and noticed a big leap in my production quality immediately afterward. I haven't seen that kind of leap since, so I think I've hit my stride for now. But in order to provide a consistant listening experience for the entire Spirit Blade Trilogy, I decided to go back and bring the production quality of the first one up to match that of the second. I figure that since our little company's name is "Spirit Blade Productions", Spirit Blade is probably one of the first things people will check out at our site. And I like to try and put my best foot forward.
CE: What was the response to Spirit Blade from the Christian Community?
PF: Mostly I only hear from those who have become listeners, and those responses are very positive almost across the board. Now and then as I'm trying to place it in the ears of folks who might help with publicity or distribution, the reaction is one of hesitation. It's a pretty violent story with flawed characters. And it's far from "family friendly", which is unfortunately what many Christians believe they have to limit themselves to these days. However the people I'm passionate about creating material for are the ones that don't fit into that mainstream Christian mold, and who maybe like to think a little deeper about some things.
Many of my efforts online are designed to provide a digital home and community for Christian Geeks like me. I host a weekly podcast covering movies, tv shows and all kinds of geek stuff, all from a biblical perspective. There are also two blogs, forums, tons of free behind the scenes audio content and even a creative community where anyone interested can be a part of creating audio drama that we then make available for free. It's a ton of fun and I have a blast interacting with the community there. You can check it all out by going to www.spiritblade.net and exploring the site. That's also the quickest way to hear the trailer for Spirit Blade, which starts playing as soon as you arrive.
CE: Spirit Blade is part one of a three part story. Was a trilogy always planned?
PF: Not a trilogy specifically, but certainly an ongoing story. (That's the comic book influence in me.) It wasn't until just before the release of the original mix of Spirit Blade that I mentally committed to a trilogy format.
CE: Is there anything you’d like to tell my readers about the other two parts of the Spirit Blade trilogy: Dark Ritual and the yet to be titled Spirit Blade 3?
PF: The second part of the trilogy was released in 2008 and titled "Spirit Blade: Dark Ritual". As you can imagine, it has a darker tone and story to match the title. If "Spirit Blade" is a story about all of these characters on a rough day, "Dark Ritual" is a story about these characters on a day straight from hell. A promotional tag-line for this story was "no one is safe". Couldn't be more true.
I'm currently outlining and preparing to write the script for the third and final part of this trilogy, which will answer some lingering questions and bring the story to a close on an insanely epic scale. We're going out with a seriously big bang.
CE: The other day I was at Christianbook.com and I saw that they have around eight hundred Sci-Fi and Fantasy novels but they have over 2000 Romance novels. Why do you think that is?
Honestly, I can only guess. It's likely that many more women shop those stores than men. It may also be that most mainstream Christians are not interested in discerning. By that I mean that they say to themselves, "if something looks weird, better just stay away from it." If this is the case, it would explain why hardcore sci-fi and fantasy have not been openly embraced by the mainstream Christian community.
PF: Listening to your radio dramas and Podcasts it is very obvious that truth is a big deal too you. But what is truth, and why is it important to “seek it” out?
Truth, according to Webster, is: "conformity with fact or reality". It's what's really real. Not what you or I believe is real. There is no such thing as "true for you" or "true for me".
The problem is that this means some people are wrong about some things. And we don't like to think about this. Especially when it comes to beliefs about God, which have eternal ramifications. So instead of learning to calmly discuss our differing viewponts, we choose to sweep the topic under the rug. But denying you have cancer won't make it go away. You've got to face the truth and go see that doctor if you want to be treated.
In general, we like to believe what makes us feel good. But the consequences in this life and in eternity are devastating. Whether we're dealing with human relationships, our thoughts of ourselves or our thoughts of God, prioritizing truth is vital. It's the only way we can move forward in any area of life.
CE: With three big Sci-Fi and fantasy movies coming out in a few weeks. Which one are you most excited to see? Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows part 1, Chronicles Of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, or Tron: Legacy?
PF: I've gotta go with "Tron". Apart from the somewhat plastic looking digital Jeff Bridges, the trailers look amazing and have the dark tone that many of us 30 to 40-somethings who saw the original as kids are ready for. I'm hoping that we'll see a trilogy out of this that will scratch the itch of "Matrix" fans in a whole new way.
CE: You’re a big fan of the DC Universe. So who would win in a fight Batman or Superman?
PF: That would be a crazy epic battle! Massive destruction. But honestly, neither. As galactic peacekeeper for the entire space sector, Green Lantern would show up to that Clash of Titans and put them both down for the safety of civilians. GL is the bomb.
CE: Any last words for the readers?
PF: In addition to all the stuff going on that I mentioned before, we're running a cool promotional offer right now for "Spirit Blade: Special Edition" and will be starting another one for the Christmas season. And for those buying physical product from us, shipping is always free!
Lastly, I'd love to hear from you. What I'm doing is really about the people I'm doing it for. I love interacting with listeners and would love to get reactions from anybody who visits the site. And tell you what, from now to the end of November, shoot me an e-mail (you can find it on the site) and say that "Ricky sent me" and I'll send you a free download of the "Spirit Blade Song Bundle". I hope to hear from you soon!
Thanks Paeter and thank you for reading my blog I hope to have another interveiw for you guys real soon
