ALTON GANSKY, NOVELIST

Welcome . . .

. . . to the website and blog for Alton Gansky, author of over 40 books. Here you can find the latest information on all of Alton Gansky's novels and non-fiction books. Find out more about his speaking and other writing as well.

Here Al shares his thoughts about creativity, writing, and more.

Over the last decade and half, Alton "Al" Gansky has produced numerous novels that have taken readers from underground bases to an orbiting space craft 200 miles above the earth; from a possessed WWII submarine to murder in small towns; from Antarctica to Ethiopia.

Al specializes in suspense and supernatural suspense novels, but has also written several nonfiction books dealing with biblical matters and biblical mysteries.

In addition to his own writing, Al, through his company GANSKY COMMUNICATIONS, provides writing services to publishers, agents, businesses, and other authors.

Al is a frequent speaker at writing conferences around the country.

Al is also the director of the Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writers Conference, an annual gathering of hundres of new and established writers. Click the tab above--"About Al's Writing Conference"--for more information.

Al has been a Christie Award finalist (A SHIP POSSESSED) and an Angel Award winner (TERMINAL JUSTICE). He holds a BA and MA in biblical studies. He lives in central California with his wife.

Feel free to linger and explore.

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Find Alton Gansky books online at:

Fact More Amazing than Fiction

On one of my bookshelves rests a signed baseball. Aficionados of the sport would not recognize the signature. The man who signed the horsehide may hold the record for the shortest major league career in history.

His name is Bobby D.

Many years ago, as a still-wet-behind-the-ears pastor, I met with Bobby and his fiancée. They had come to me to perform their wedding. Since they were not part of the church, I insisted on a series of meetings so that I could be sure of their spiritual standing and readiness for marriage. When Bobby entered the room, I immediately noticed something unusual about the man. He stood tall, had a quick smile, a keen sense of humor, and a positive outlook on life. At first, that surprised me.

It took no medical training on my part to see that he had been in an accident. His right arm hung crooked and bore a long, white scar. His right eye didn’t track with his left when he looked around the room. This man had been through the mill.

His fiancée was a dark haired beauty with keen eyes and spoke as a woman of high learning. I felt a little uncomfortable since they were older than my less than thirty years. After some small talk, I learned the story.

Bobby D. had been a baseball player. He was one of those rare people who are called “walk-ons.” The San Diego Padres held open tryouts one year and Bobby decided to give it a whirl. Turns out, he had a good right arm and became one of the pitching staff. The day came for his first outing. He took the mound, and for the first time pitched before tens of thousands. He lasted just four innings, but that’s not bad for a first go, and certainly not bad for a walk-on player.

That night, Bobby and a few of his friends went celebrating his debut in the major leagues. One auto accident later, Bobby lost the use of his right arm and right eye. Too much alcohol-lubricated celebrating had cost Bobby his career—a career of just four innings. Before him, lay surgeries and uncountable hours of frustrating and painful therapy. Thanks to the quick action of medical personnel and a very special doctor, Bobby got to keep his arm, although it would never pitch a fast ball or slider again.

The person responsible for saving his arm sat next to him in my office. Bobby D. was about to marry the neurosurgeon who had worked on him many months before. Patient and doctor where about to become man and wife.

I performed the wedding and the couple began to attend our church. One Sunday, I watched as the ushers came forward with the offering. Inside the plates, nestled among envelopes and paper money was a white orb—a baseball with Bobby D.’s signature. The ball has no value to collectors, but it means a great deal to me.

Novelists struggle to create scenarios that will be interesting, captivating and stretch the mind of the reader while remaining credible. The irony is that real life  is often more creative than fiction. Bobby D. and his wife are a great story of God’s plotting skills. A man thinks he has it, then looses it all, then finds faith and the love of a brilliant woman to be far more than he ever had before.

There’s a book in the tragic tale of Bobby D. In fact, there are many stories in the lives of the people around us. No matter how skilled the novelist, fiction often pales in the light of actual human experience.

Experienced any good stories lately?

Al

Do You Want a Drill Bit or a Hole?

Years ago Discover magazine ran an article about Amory Lovins (as told to Cal Fussman). Haven’t heard of him? Neither had I, but he’s made a name for himself by having innovative ideas about energy, oil, and the like. He’s a physicist, economist, inventor, automobile designer, and several other things to make mortals like me feel like gross underachievers. In the article he discusses ways to deal with the world’s energy problems, but that’s not why I mention him. Although I found his thoughts interesting, I found his way of thinking even more so.

He made a point by describing a man who walks into a hardware store to buy a drill bit. Lovins asks, “What does the man really want?” My knee-jerk response: Um, a drill bit? But no. The man wants a hole. Okay, that seems pretty basic but how many of us think that way? Much of creativity, innovation, and artistic endeavor comes from asking the right question.

Maybe another example.

At the turn of the last century one of the first (maybe the very first) woman business consultants, Mary Parker Follet, was working with a company that made lamp shades. She asked a question that at first stumped them. “What business are you in?” Like me they went for the obvious, “Um, lamp shades?”

“No, you’re in the light control business.” Seems too subtle to make a difference, but then the, well, light went on. “You mean we can make window shades, too?” The ideas began to flow. The failure to ask and properly answer this question almost doomed the railroads that had difficulty seeing that they were in the transportation business, not the railroad business (which meant they missed out on many opportunities).

Now, what business are writers in? Are novelists in the fiction business? Are periodical writers just in the magazine biz? Are editors in the word refining business? What about publishers? Are they just in the book business?

And what about our man in the hardware store? He’s there to buy a bit, not because he likes the design and feel of it, but because he needs a hole bored into something. What’s your real need; your real desire; your real goal? If everything worked perfectly, what would your writing business look like and how would you measure its success? The man with the drill bit measures his success by the holes that he drills. Those holes are evidence of achievement. What is the writer’s proof of accomplishment?

What business are you in? What is your real goal?

These are questions I ask myself. Life changes us, the industry changes, readers change; therefore we must be flexible. The answer to the question should never be chiseled in stone but allowed to adapt to our ever altering interests, skills, and world.

“What business are you in?” I am in the communication business. I peddle ideas, sell concepts, and market thoughts. Of course, as a Christian, most of what I communicate touches on faith and the way it is lived out.

Am I a novelist? Yes, but I write nonfiction as well. Am I then a writer of books? Sure, but I also write short pieces, blogs, articles, consult, and edit. Okay, then, that makes me a wordsmith. That’s true it does, but I also lecture, give interviews, teach classes. You get the idea.

We need to think wider and deeper. What do we really want to achieve? I asked, “What is your real goal?” Mine is this: I want to make people think. That’s it. Do I want to entertain? Of course, but entertainment isn’t the goal, it’s the means. I want people to say, “Wow,” “Great,” “Gripping,” but most of all I want them to go, “Hmmm.”

I feel most successful when I, through written or spoken words, reach into someone’s mind and tickle it with a new thought.

That’s how I measure success.

AG