Fantasy Friday – Introducing Brock D. Eastman

As a child Brock D. Eastman, author of Taken, the first in a five-book middle grade science fantasy series, Quest for Truth, wanted to become a paleontologist. His toys and books related to dinosaurs, and undoubtedly he knew the difference between a stegosaurus, Brachiosaurus, and Tyrannosaurus. Dinosaurs filled his room and his imagination.

While such an interest may not be typical among writers, picturing the world populated by creatures we know today only by their bones might explain why Brock gravitated toward speculative literature.

However, “gravitating toward literature” might be a stretch. Brock didn’t do much reading until college, and then the books that awoke his interest were J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series. At that point he realized he’d been missing out. Since then he’s become a voracious reader. His favorites include Lord of the Rings, the Eragon trilogy (Inheritance Cycle) by Christopher Paolini, Guy Kawasaki’s Enchantment, and Narnia.

Though Brock didn’t initially pursue writing as a career, he nevertheless became involved with making and making available stories. His day job is with Focus on the Family where he is the Product Marketing Manager working with the long-running children’s series Adventures in Odyssey.

He’s also had the opportunity to play several cameo roles in various episodes, and he wrote The Imagination Station series’ Book 5, Showdown with the Shepherd.

His own fiction was not something he intended for the public, however. Exploring the possibility of writing a story that “dealt with life and death and what that really means,” he wrote the first two books of the Quest for Truth series as one volume, primarily for family and friends and as a result of a conversation with a co-worker.

We got to talking about how death is portrayed so lightly these days on television and in other media, so I set out to write a book where no one would die, or if someone did, it would not be taken lightly. As a Christian, I recognize that death should not be glossed over. [from “Brock Eastman: Futuristic Animation” by Katie Hart]

Family is important to Brock. At 27 he is married to Ashley, the girl with whom he read those Harry Potter books back in college, and he is the father of two daughters. They live happily in Colorado where Brock can enjoy the outdoors and quality time with his family.

At the urging of those who read his work, Brock decided to explore publication. Ultimately he secured a five book contract with P&R Publishing. Taken, a kind of Indiana Jones meets City of Ember story, is the culmination of six years of work.

In this volume, set in the future, Mr. and Mrs. Wikk, archeologist-explorers, are taken captive by a secret society. Their four children embark on a quest into space to find their parents, but they discover that the world is not what they once thought. If they hope to rescue their parents, they must take up their quest for truth, starting with the forbidden planet on the edge of the galaxy and the mysterious blue people who inhabit it.

While the series is written for younger readers, Brock hopes teens and parents will enjoy the story as well.

You can learn more about Brock at his web site. You can also find him on Facebook.