By Christian Miles, 16 for NovelTeen.com

Have you ever toured a bookstore and saw a saw a cover that stopped you dead in your tracks? Something that screamed mystery, excitement, and suspense before you’ve even picked it up? That’s what it felt like when I first laid eyes on the Dreamhouse Kings books. And let me tell you, they didn’t disappoint.

Recently I had the pleasure of getting to interview the author of those books.

Best-selling novelist Robert Liparulo is a former journalist, with over a thousand articles and multiple writing awards to his name. His first two critically acclaimed thrillers—Comes a Horseman and Germ—were optioned by Hollywood producers. His Dreamhouse Kings series has been read by thousands of teens nationwide.

Welcome, Robert! What was your favorite subject in high school? Your least favorite?

English—no surprise there. I’d known since third grade that I would be a writer, and sold my first published article when I was in fifth grade, so it comes naturally. By that, of course, I mean it comes from God. For a time, I was editor of my high school newspaper. I used to enjoy writing the essays that most of my classmates hated doing. But I wasn’t a geek about it. I played several sports and had my share of detentions for pulling practical jokes like wedging a VW Bug in the front entrance alcove and setting off the fire alarms. Naturally, I’d write about those things later.

I couldn’t stand math—you know, calculus, trigonometry, those insanely impractical mathematics. Maybe it’s a left-brain/right-brain thing. Unfortunately, my math teacher was also my football and swimming coach. Every poor test score meant a tougher practice. I was dumb as a stone when it came to math, but I could have competed in any Iron Man competition that came along.

It’s interesting that I was ambivalent about history. When I dove back into history for the Dreamhouse Kings books, I realized that it wasn’t history that stopped me cold, it was the textbooks we used. I think one of the requirements of writing for history textbooks was the ability to make even fascinating events dull and lifeless. When I finally got around to finding my own books to learn about history, it all came alive to me. Now I love reading about the past. Too bad those school books couldn’t have been more dynamic; I might have written Dreamhouse a lot sooner.

If you could bring any character from one of your books to life, who would it be and why?

It may be cheating, but John Hutchinson—Hutch—from Deadfall and Deadlock already is alive for me. I modeled him after my best friend since high school, Mark Nelson. He’s the game warden for Cheyenne, and one of those guys who live to be outdoors. If you dropped Mark in any wilderness in the world with just the clothes on his back and maybe a paperclip, he’d find a way to survive and make it out. Along the way, he’d build a mansion out of tree bark and moss. He’s also a good Christian. He and I have a similar approach to the Scriptures. Like C.S. Lewis, we attack them logically and debate the finer points of theology. Ours is really an iron-sharpen-iron sort of relationship.

The story of Deadfall came about because I wondered what Mark would do in a hopeless situation, in which he was isolated from the outside world and facing a bad guy who was terrorizing a small town with vastly more powerful weaponry than Mark had. Yeah, that’s the way my mind works. He would have to tap into both his survival skills and his sense of right and wrong. When I was writing about Hutch, I was really writing about Mark.

Your question is a tough one, because I think all writers fall in love with their characters. It’s hard to choose a favorite. If I could pick one to hang around with for a while, I think it would be David from Dreamhouse, but you’d have to throw in his brother Xander too. Not only do these kids help me remember my own youth, I’d love to talk about their adventures through time, and how they managed to be so brave in the face of all those dangers. They have an internal strength and a love for people that startles me. I’d ask them about that.

You have the chance to spend the day with any character from one of your favorite books. Who would you choose and why?

It’s have to be Robert Neville from I Am Legend by Richard Matheson. It’s been my favorite book since I was twelve. None of the movies based on it has done it justice, but they’ve been good movies in their own right. Neville is a guy who’s learning to live in a world that’s violently different from the one he grew up in. He has no friends, no human companionship at all. He has to know himself really well, and he ponders all the things about mankind that is both glorious and awful. He has to survive attacks from the creatures that now inhabit the world—and the concept of survival, of finding skills and traits within yourself that you wouldn’t have known existed without an extreme situation drawing them out fascinates me. In a very real way, all of my stories explores this. Neville probably wouldn’t have very strong social skills—most likely, he’d be a downright drag, but I’d still to hang with the guy for a while.

A group of teens ask you the best way to become a published writer. How do you answer the question?

Read everything you can get your hands on and finish every writing project you start. Reading exposes you to people and things outside your own little world. It helps teach you about the way other people behave and think and talk. It gives you glimmers of other places and ideas—all things you can incorporate into your own stories. On top of that, you learn what works and what doesn’t in storytelling.

“Finish things” is simple to say, but not so simple to do. Discipline is essential to all writers, but as creative people, we’re easily distracted, often by other stories we want to tell. But if we get in the habit of finishing things, then we have products to show agents, editors, and publishers when the opportunity comes up. The ability to finish is a big question people in the publishing business has for wannabe writers. They’ve seen so many people with great ideas who either can’t finish a story or can’t execute it well. Prove you can right off the bat. It’s the first topic I wrote about on my website of tips for writers, getitonthepage.com.

What is the one book you wish you had written and why?

Is Lord of the Rings too obvious? Besides the adventure, characters, and Christian allegory, I love the way Tolkien structured the story. It takes a while to really get into it, and the level of detail is almost painful to trudge through, but it mirrors real life so that before long, the fantasy world he created feels as real as our own. By weaving real emotions and bits of things we can relate to, he makes us forget we’re not only reading fiction, but pure fantasy. The amount of made-up detail Tolkien put into this story—from the languages to the outfits each race wears—amazes me. I wish I could spend years crafting a story the way he did. Maybe someday.

If that one’s too obvious, then I’d go for Jaws. It’s a great thriller that struck a chord in almost every reader. It changed the way we think of sharks and being in the ocean. It’s permeated our culture for decades; how cool would that be? Peter Benchley said Jaws being his first novel was both a blessing and a curse. The curse was that he spent the rest of his life trying to top himself, and he never could. But I think that’s a problem I could live with.

Do you have any pets? If so, what kind. If not, why?

Logan—named after Wolverine—is a border collie/sheltie mix. He’s a great dog. I’ve taken to calling him B.S. I like the look people give me when I call him that, but it stands for “Bear Slayer,” because he chased a bear off my property. I wish I’d gotten a picture of him nipping at this huge bear’s legs while it was scrambling to get away and snapping at him. David and Goliath of the animal kingdom. I finally pulled Logan back and the bear lumbered away, pretty ticked off.

We also have two ball pythons and a turtle. The turtle doesn’t do much more than eat, poop, and swim. But the snakes are great for ridding ourselves of guests who stay too long. Neither of them has bitten anyone, but we don’t tell people that.

Robert, can you tell us about how you came to know Jesus?

I was raised Catholic—even went to a parochial middle school—and during one short time when I was about eleven I considered being a priest. I had a falling out with Catholicism in my teens and wasn’t sure what to do about God. A few years into my marriage, my wife and I weren’t getting along, and I felt terrible about it. For the first time in years, I prayed, and I asked God why this woman who I loved so much seemed like a stranger to me. God answered in a way that I can only describe as an audible voice. To this day, I believed I hear Him with my ears as well as my heart. He said, “The reason this has happened is because I’m not part of your life.”

I immediately went to my wife, who was raised agnostic, and told her what had happened. I said I wanted to bring God into our lives, into our marriage. She responded like someone who’d been holding her breath forever and was just told that it was ok to breathe. We went to a Presbyterian church, had a meeting with the pastor, and have walked with Christ ever since. I wish I had been smarter and more faithful to Him in my late-teens and early-twenties, but I’m sure glad He shook up my life and got my attention again.

If you had the chance to change a scene from one of your previous releases, what book would you choose, what scene would you change, and how would you change it?

In Germ, there’s a scene in which a compound that makes biological weapons is bombed in an air strike. If I were to write that scene today, instead of an air strike, I think I’d have the compound attacked by an elite fighting force, a special ops team. It would be cool to have these guys stealthily infiltrate the compound, setting explosives all around, and slowly working their way to the heart of the operation. It was also allow me to have more human/character contact, between them and the good guys who are already in the compound and the bad guys. More now than ever, I’m always looking for ways to build character, to make the characters propel the story forward. By putting more characters on the page instead of anonymous airplanes, I could have done that better.

A few people I’ve told that to argue that the air strike worked because it put the good guys on the ground at risk and it was exciting to see if they’d be able to get out in time. But I think I could have created the same sort of stakes, the same suspense by giving the special ops team the order to kill everyone they encountered.

I’ve talked to the producer who’s making Germ into a movie and he likes the idea. And it doesn’t hurt that shooting a bunch of guys breaking into the compound is a lot cheaper to film than an air strike. So maybe I’ll be able to have it both ways—one for the book and one for the movie.

You get the chance to star in an upcoming film release. What genre of movie would you star in and who would you pick as your costar?

It’d have to be a thriller—a cops and robbers or bank heist story. I love those. My dream co-stars would be Robert DeNiro and Al Pacino, but I’d love to work with Leonardo DiCaprio and Matt Damon as well. I’ve met DiCaprio and Damon, but not DeNiro or Pacino. For some reason, when I get totally burnt out after a long day of writing, I find myself watching the same films over and over: Heat, Ronin, and Bourne Identity. I think the crazy action of those films lets me sort of check out mentally. I also like horror films—smart horror films—but I’m afraid if I were to star in one, they’d want to cast me as the monster.

You’re invited to a White House function, and you have the chance to give a 10-minute speech to the President and the country watching on TV. What do you talk about?

I love what former Australian prime minister John Howard said: “Most Australians believe in God. This is not some Christian, right wing, political push, but a fact, because Christian men and women, on Christian principles, founded this nation, and this is clearly documented. It is certainly appropriate to display it on the walls of our schools. If God offends you, then I suggest you consider another part of the world as your new home, because God is part of our culture.” (Unfortunately the country’s new PM, Julia Gillard, has proclaimed, “I don’t believe in God.”) I would appeal to our president to take a similar stance as Mr. Howard. We are a Christian country, founded on Christian principles, and anyone who doesn’t like that can leave. That doesn’t mean we don’t have tolerance for other religions, but taking God off our coins and out of our schools is just ridiculous. We can honor God and keep reminders of His presence in public places without violating the rights of people with differing beliefs. We need a president who believes that.

Do you have a favorite Christian band? If so, who is it and what’s your favorite song by them?

I’m partial to Third Day. Mac Powell’s voice floors me, it’s so emotive. I had a chance to hang out with him and the band backstage once, and it was great experience, seeing that they aren’t just talents, but Godly men and fun guys. I like a lot of Third Day songs, but I guess my favorite for now is “Call My Name.”

I also like David Crowder, Randy Stonehill, Casting Crowns, Skillet, Thousand Foot Krutch, Jars of Clay, tobyMac. Dreamhouse Kings was a co-sponsor of one of tobyMac’s concert tours last year, which as totally cool.

If you would meet any celebrity, dead or alive, who would you choose and what would you ask him or her?

Well, I’d love to have a conversation with C.S. Lewis, but I’ve read so many of his books and biographies that I feel I already know him. So for the sake of diversity, I’d choose someone else. There are so many people I admire: Winston Churchill, Teddy Roosevelt, Michelangelo. But in the end, I’d love to go through a Dreamhouse portal and meet Martin Luther, who started the Protestant Reformation. The foundation of his Ninety-Five Theses was that God’s grace could not be earned or purchase, but is a free gift. The theme of my next thriller, The 13th Tribe, is exactly this, so maybe right now I’m especially sensitive to Luther’s teaching.

I can just imagine the two of us discussing theology for hours—days. I think he would do most of the talking, but I’d love to ask him about the nuances of free grace: Is it possible to accept the gift and live by God’s word solely out of gratitude, without ever once thinking, “Doing this makes me a good person; this will bring me closer to God”? Is accepting the gift really all we have to do? I’ve heard that Luther enjoyed a fermented beverage now and then, so maybe we could have this great conversation over a couple pints of ale.

What world issue are you passionate about? Why?

It drives me crazy that there are hungry people in the world. Food isn’t a privilege; it’s a necessity and a basic human right. That there are children, even here in America , who go to bed hungry—I mean with a pain in the gut most of us have never felt—is one of the saddest tragedies I can think of. My family helps out at food kitchens, and I donate to organizations like Feeding America, Freedom from Hunger, and Global Hunger Project. But it’s all just a drop in the bucket. As long as there’s a single starving person in the world, we’re not doing enough.

God tells you that you’ll never publish another book. Do you still keep writing?

I wouldn’t know what else to do. I believe God wired me to write, but if for some reason He says I won’t ever be published again, of course I’d abide by that, but it wouldn’t keep me from doing what I was born to do. Maybe He has other plans for my words—through oration or some other medium, I don’t know.

I believe God wouldn’t give you a gift and desire to do something without also giving you the opportunities to fulfill that desire. That’s why I tell new writers that every one of them could be published and make a career out of writing. They have a strong, God-given desire, and God will be faithful to that desire. They just have to be faithful to it as well. My favorite verse is 2 Chronicles 31:21: “In everything that he undertook . . . he sought his God and worked wholeheartedly. And so he prospered.” To me, this verse unites human endeavor with God’s sovereignty and providence. Seek God and work hard. Often, we forget one side of that equation.

You can visit Robert online at: www.DreamhouseKings.com.