INTERVIEW | Ginger Garrett
By editor on Sep 8, 2008 in Interviews
Ginger, describe yourself for our visitors.
Hmmm….that’s a question that stumps me! 
Let’s see….I read all the time. Every room has to have at least 3 books I’m working on finishing. I am a hot/cold person: I’m either passionate about something or I detest it. I’m passionate in my love for animals, especially dogs, so I let my kids have lots of pets, including 2 dogs, 1 bearded dragon lizard, 2 crabs, and fish. I’m crazy about the smell of puppies and Puppy Chow. I could open a bag and stick my head in it and just inhale for hours. If they made a perfume called Puppy Chow, I would wear it.
I also love doing triathlons although I don’t have an athlete’s build. I always worry I’ll be the last person to finish. Thankfully, in the race last weekend, I ran past a 76-year old woman and beat her by 20 minutes. And she was using a walker.
I like to support a variety of ministries, especially those who work to free children from human trafficking, feed the hungry, crisis pregnancy centers, and caring for children in Africa . It’s cool to think someone can take my dollars and carry them around the world to save a child. Can you imagine? In a global world, we are responsible for every child.
I also love shopping at Goodwill. It’s a weird fascination with old stuff.
How do you find time to connect with God?
My husband brings me coffee in bed and I read the Bible while I drink my coffee. I like to read the Bible from cover to cover, although everyone seems to have the same name in the Old Testament. I need very strong coffee to keep everyone straight when I get to 1 and 2 Kings! I also love to pray and keep a detailed prayer journal. Praying for others is one of my spiritual callings.
Who are your favorite authors? Favorite books?
Siri Mitchell, Tamara Leigh, Sandra Byrd: all modern Christian novelists. I also love Micheal Chabald, Michael Chrichton, Maeve Binchy. All my other favorite authors are dead, but I can account for my whereabouts. I love CS Lewis, Chesterton, Shakespeare, Flannery O’Connor, JRR Tolkien, Mary Shelley, Bram Stoker, Jack London.
Tell us about your journey to publication.
I began as a nonfiction writer. My first stop was Barnes & Noble to read everything they had on how to get into publishing. I gave myself a year to learn what I needed to know. About a year later, I had an agent and a deal.
Tell us about your current book, In the Shadow of Lions?
It’s the untold story of Anne Boleyn and the court of Henry VIII, and the angels who watched over them. I present a very, very different idea about Anne: that she was martyred for bringing the English Bible to the people, a radical act of rebellion against the Church. I also touch on the controversial secrets of Thomas More, who persecuted Christians. His dark side is well-documented in both his own writings and by historians, but my first editor was so outraged that I wrote about them that she quit the project. I think I was gentle with More because I see him as a tragic hero or a well-intentioned villian. But the Catholic Church made More a saint which I think is wrong. We have to admit our mistakes as Christians, and killing people in the name of Jesus Christ is a perversion of His love. Today more than ever we should all agree on that. Killing is not an acceptable method of conversion.
How did you come up with ideas for this book?
Sitting in a hotel room in Denver , Colorado . I was leaving one publishing house and going to another, and I needed a new idea–fast. I prayed! In the back of my mind an idea began to form that night, of a huge angel who was the Scribe, as described in Ezekiel. I decided he would tell the tales of the most influential women in history and the angels who watched over them.
In the end, I had a historical novel with a real twist: I peel back reality so we can see what might be going on around us spiritually. I don’t focus on demons, though. They don’t interest or frighten me. I love the angels, big, bold, scary angels who can squash any one of us, but choose to love and protect us. As a woman, I found it almost romantic in the best way, a pure and selfless love.
List your most recent books.
- Beauty Secrets of the Bible
- Dark Hour
- Chosen: The Lost Diaries of Queen Esther
What’s next for you?
I wish I could say: a long day of sleeping in, eating chocolate chip cookies for breakfast, and watching TV while my 3 kids played quietly and didn’t fight. Then we would go to a matinee and out to a Japanese steak house, (with a quick stop at Target for a chocolate bar) and finally, we’d head over to the pound and I would adopt another dog.
But here’s how it will really go: I’ll finish the next book and tell myself I will rest. But then I’ll volunteer in my kid’s classrooms and spend days gluing felt beards to puppets and stringing macaroni. Then I’ll remember that my family likes to eat and I’ll have to rush to the store before everything in the fridge rots and we have to throw the fridge away. Again. But while I’m at the store, I’ll start reading labels and advertising claims and will get stuck on one aisle for an hour, before a manager asks me if anything is wrong. I’ll be so embarrassed that I’ll throw a ten-pound Italian sausage in my basket, along with a bag of gummy worms, and I’ll go home and try to make a meal from that. Eventually I’ll give up and send the kids to the neighbors for dinner so I can finish reading another book.
Where can visitors find you online?
Come and visit! I give lots of stuff away.
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