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FICTION
BOOK INDEX |
Written by Angela, Karina and Randy Alcorn
Four friends enter a new year with idealistic goals for the
future, unaware the next twelve months will mark the biggest
changes of their lives. As they rejoice together and struggle
through tragedy, Jillian, Brittany, Ian, and Rob are not
alone. A battle rages and they're in the middle of it. With
cosmic stakes, two armies fight over them-one seeks their
victory, the other their destruction.
Jillian is picture-perfect on the outside, but on the inside
is terrified of losing control. Brittany is a brilliant tough
girl who trusts no one. Ian is a successful athlete who
dabbles in the occult. And Rob is a former gang-banger who
struggles with guilt, pain, and a newfound faith in God.
During one unforgettable year, these four college students
find themselves in a series of battles between light and
darkness. Threatened by competing worldviews and the lures of
a culture of death—including the occult—they must take drastic
steps to resist and survive.
As spiritual warfare rages around them, a demonic
correspondence takes place. Readers eavesdrop on the enemy,
overhearing his strategies to deceive and destroy the youth
culture in general, and these four in particular.
Readers of all ages (this isn't just a "youth novel") will be
fascinated by a story that unveils the longings, confusions,
and battles of the younger generation. They'll see how dark
spiritual forces target young people for destruction and how
their Creator draws them to himself. |
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An exciting sequel (or
stand-alone) for fans of
Lord Foulgrin's Letters
- Readers who loved C. S. Lewis's Screwtape Letters
will appreciate Ishbane's contemporary setting and
story line, with succinct high-powered letters
- Readers of all ages will be fascinated by a story that
unveils the private longings, confusions, and battles of the
younger generation, and shows how dark spiritual forces
target them for destruction—and how their Maker draws them
to Himself
- Conveys a realistic but hopeful picture of the
Millennial generation, helping readers—parents,
grandparents, and students themselves—understand and
appreciate the unique spiritual and moral challenges they
face, and the help we can offer them
- Offers unusual but biblical insight into strategies of
spiritual warfare
- Novelist Randy Alcorn is the author of the bestsellers
Deadline (220,000 copies in print)
Dominion
(110,000 copies in print) and
Lord Foulgrin's Letters
(75,000 in print).
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Some of the major components of The Ishbane Conspiracy |
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Kids longing, yearning for
something greater to give them meaning
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Dead-end streets—the world's
unfulfilled promises
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Generation gap
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Communication with family and
peers
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Assumed salvation (Jill
thinks she's a Christian, but isn't) vGoth, dark, occult
(Ouija board, tarot cards, Halloween)
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Music
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Internet
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Eating disorders
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Depression, despair, Suicide
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Dating
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Sexual immorality, sexual
purity (secondary virginity)
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Abortion
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School classroom issues
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Cynicism, frustration
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Anger
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Hopelessness
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School violence
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Choosing a college
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Peer pressure—negative and
positive
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Body of Christ—impact of
church and youth group
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Radical
Christianity—following Christ with abandonment
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Courage: speaking up for
Christ, even when it's unpopular
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Adults learning to raise the
bar rather than lower it for kids
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Encouragement and hope for
Millennial generation—there's a better way than the world
offers; that way's in King Jesus
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Not a dark despairing book, but an
honest hopeful eye-opening book that deals head-on with the
kingdom of darkness. The Ishbane Conspiracy integrates
some hot areas, including fiction, youth, and spiritual
warfare. It's a book parents can give to kids and kids can
give to parents, as well as each other. We think it will
stimulate some great discussion, starting with "is this really
how it is?" |
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Note from the Author |
The main characters in The Ishbane
Conspiracy are eighteen, nineteen and twenty years old. It's a
book about young people and the struggles thrust upon them by
their culture and the enemies of their souls. But while it's a
book about youth (and their families), it's not just a book
for youth. This isn't a "youth novel." It's an adult novel
with main characters who happen to be young. It's as much for
people in their thirties, fifties and seventies as for people
in their teens and twenties.
How can adults and teenagers enjoy the same book? The same way
both enjoy many of the same movies. "October Sky" was about
kids. Remember the Titans was about high-schoolers. Yet most
adults loved both movies. The central characters in The
Chronicles of Narnia are children, but countless adults read
them over and over. Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer have
teenage main characters. Yet grandfathers enjoy them as much
as grandchildren, and often more. No one thinks of them as
"teen novels." Likewise, Lord of the Flies is a story of boys,
but it's not just a story for boys.
Of course, we're not foolish enough to consider The Ishbane
Conspiracy a classic, but the point is valid—a story can have
main characters who are young without being exclusively or
even primarily a book for the young.
I receive many letters from teens and
even preteens who have read my "adult" novels,
Deadline,
Dominion,
Edge of Eternity and
Lord
Foulgrin's Letters. Interestingly, when they write, these
young readers rarely talk about the teenagers in those books
(such as Carly in
Deadline, and Ty or Gangster Cool in
Dominion). Rather, they connect with the main
characters, who are adults. Often their favorite character in
Deadline is a young boy, Little Finn. Their favorite in
Dominion is an old man, Obadiah Abernathy.
Similarly, Dominion is centered on the lives of African
Americans, but is not "an African American novel." Most of its
readers aren't black. The primary characters in my novels tend
to be men. But women read them as much as men do.
Just as the young can enjoy reading about the old, and whites
about blacks, and women about men, the older can enjoy reading
about the younger. This is one of the great benefits of
reading a good story-entering into another person's world and
coming away with a better understanding of real people. My
daughters and I hope parents and grandparents and uncles and
aunts will gain from The Ishbane Conspiracy a greater
understanding and appreciation of today's young people, the
battles they fight, and the joy they seek. I expect even more
young people will read this novel than my previous ones. But I
hope no fewer older people will read it, because it is for
them as much as any book I've ever written.
 My
daughters Angela and Karina helped me write this book. It was
my first collaboration since writing a book with my wife Nanci
fifteen years ago, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I can't think
of two people more qualified and skilled, in both the
spiritual and artistic senses, I could have worked with. We
read and discussed books on fiction writing, brainstormed
characters and plots, stimulated each other's thinking, prayed
together, had lots of fun and shared the frustrations and
mind-numbing hard work of disciplined writing. Angela and
Karina are true co-authors, not token ones. This is their book
as much as it's mine, and they have my deepest respect.
Angela, Karina and I—along with their mom Nanci—are pleased to
offer this book to our Lord Jesus. We pray He'll use it to
make readers of all ages aware of the spiritual battles we
face. May our eyes be opened to the strategies our accursed
enemies are using to sabotage the lives of young people. And
may they also see in a new light the King's joyful
alternative.
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"Sometimes the best
way to see a thing is to look at its opposite."
A.W. Tozer, The Pursuit of God |
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Reader Responses |
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"I thoroughly enjoyed The Ishbane Conspiracy. The authors did a great job, and the story gives so much food for thought. I wish this book was required reading for student and parents across our nation."
- Francine Rivers, best-selling author of Redeeming Love |
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Click here for all the reader reviews. |
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...more reader's reviews |
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Available Language Editions |
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Related Resources |
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