March, 2023 | Breana's Blog

A Christian fantasy series based on adventure board games? Yes, please! Today I had the priveledge of talking to James R. Hannibal, author of the Lightraiders Academy trilogy. The second book in the series, Bear Knight, released in February of 2023 from Enclave.

How has your background contributed to the action scenes in Bear Knight?

I’m always aware of the physics when writing action, whether hand to hand combat or aerial battle.

Having studied multiple martial arts and having trained US troops in hand to hand combat certainly helps with the fight scenes. Having flown fighter and bomber aircraft also helps with visualizing the aerial scenes. Of course, everything must be adjusted for the physics of the fantasy realm.

Bear Knight has some awesome maps! How do you come up with the landscapes you invent?

I had a great foundation to start with. The Lightraiders Realm was first created by Navigators author and Christian counselor Dick Wulf back in the 80s. When he handed the world to me, I had a fairly detailed world map to start with and a few towns or locations that were created for the original game. That became my palette from which to build out other locations and fill in the map.

Read my interview with fantasy author Sara Ella

From there, I develop a landscape or village in my head and then work with fantastic artists and cartographers like James R. Brown and Jog Brogzin to bring them into visual reality for a reference.

What books or series inspired your love of fantasy?

This entire series is based on the original DragonRaid game by Dick Wulf. Our team is grateful he had the opportunity to write the forward for Wolf Soldier, the first book in the series, before he went on to be with the Lord. Both Dick and I have been inspired by Tolkien and Lewis primarily.

What do you hope readers will come away with after reading Bear Knight?

The theme in Bear Knight is courage in the face of our fears. We’re talking about fear of physical danger as well as less tangible but just as frightening fears. The characters deal with fear of being left behind by peers, fear of failure, fear of becoming someone they don’t want to be, etc.

I hope that readers learn that no matter what fears they face, they can always find peace and hope in Christ and His promises, and thus the courage to face those fears head-on.

While in Burundi, East Africa visiting family last summer, my sister-in-law Joy taught me how to screen print!

I’m not sure if Burundi has screen printing shops (I imagine they exist, but probably not many), but this undertaking is an example of the ingenuity embodied by expats (and immigrants) around the world who want to recreate things from their home countries.

The table was built from scratch for the purpose of screen printing, and the other tools were ordered online and brought over by friends. We brought the shirts and the ink in our suitcases, and I’m glad the ink didn’t explode all over our clothes in the plane! At least it’s washable before it sets…

Joy’s vision was to create matching t-shirts for our huge Johnson family reunion, which would take place in Tanzania soon after. So she created a custom t-shirt design and, along with me, her three boys, and some of her employees, spent a couple of days printing about 35 shirts.