Craig McDonald

I live in Wellford, SC, with Karen, my wife of forty-five years, and our cat, Winter. Our daughter, Kate, lives Tiberias, Israel, where she pastors a church under the auspices of the Church of Scotland. Our son, Seth, his wife, Kristine Johnson, and our grandson, Will, live in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Until I retired in December 2017, I taught in the English Department at King University. My hobbies are reading, writing, and home repair/improvement.

Besides four novels, my writing consists of a trilogy of verse dramas on the life of St. Columba, and poetry, largely pieces centered on events from the Gospels. A short cycle of these poems was set to music by the composer Kenton Coe, and another piece was published in Sojourners Magazine. For the sesquicentennial of First Presbyterian Church in Bristol, TN, I was commissioned to write a hymn, set to music by composer Ann Holler; and in 2016 I joined with Ann to write a piece to commemorate King's sesquicentennial.

The novels I write are historical fiction. Simply put, I enjoy thinking about these periods in history—medieval Scotland and first-century Palestine—the interests of the people, the challenges they faced, the joys that they experienced because of their historical circumstances. It will not take long to discover, too, that I am interested in the motivations of the characters I write about, where their hearts lie. The Reverend Maurice Houston, in a review of "An Early Fall," had this to say:

"I enjoyed the historical setting not just because he is good at giving the mood of people in a rural community in feudal times (the local lord calling the people to fight with him and feeling responsible for them) but because of the Christian undertone and setting.

"This is by no means a religious book, but it is clear that these were religious people. So at a surface level there are priests in the battle line, the place of prayer before conflict, the importance of the Priory at Coldstream and an accepted awareness of the life hereafter. But, more than that, underlying the story is the deep-held faith of some of the characters, their day-to-day struggle with their beliefs, and themes of betrayal and forgiveness and mercy."

I can think of no finer tribute. If all of my books could be described in this fashion, I would be satisfied.

You may write me at calum0609@icloud.com.