Not as a novel, but as a favorite Christmas Story told by my father to his children, first in Sudan,
and later in the United States, continuing the tradition of sharing stories with the children of the churches he pastored.
"The Ruby Heart — A Christmas Story" is the tale of the young son of one of the Wise Men who stows away on his father’s caravan as he
goes in search of the Baby King who will change the world forever.
Though the Christmas Story ended, the memory never truly left me.
Years later, while walking our dog, Rascal, something unexpected happened. I began to see the story unfold in musical form, woven together with the old Christmas hymns our
family loved to sing. As I mused over the beauty and joy I'd just witnessed, I began to get the distinct impression I was to write it down.
But I hadn't a clue how to write a musical!
The answer that followed was equally simple:
“Learn.”
With a completely blank slate, I began the journey and created the story in a musical format, stage directions and all.
I should not have been surprised that, as I closed the musical's folder, another thought raised its head: An adult version of the legend. A heavy tome, indeed.
But I wasn't done with the story even then, for it began to exapand, reform, even reshape itself into a whole series of stories over hundreds of years — growing into something far larger
than that first Christmas Story imagined long ago.
As I began writing the adult book, I had already lived with Ruby for several years in which she had become much more than a simple red glass Valentine heart pendant. I considered the timing of her creation, and wondered, what sort of shape would she take on five hundred years before Christ? What if it were more of an elongated human heart shape? Rubies are crystalline which means that even if their surface is cut into refracting planes, the crystalline forms within bend and reshape the light as it passes through, hinting at images not immediately understood.
HOUSE OF EUPHAINO — What happens to the Kidnapped Boy and his son?
THE FIND IN THE LAKE — Ruby is rediscovered
BASIL'S BYWAYS — Basil saves the life of the son of the Kidnapped Boy
A KING IS BORN — A journey of rescue and learning
JEOPARDY AND JUSTICE — Taking back the city — and its distruction
TO THE CROSS AND BEYOND — Meeting Jesus and saving a soul
CATACLYSM — The eruption of Mount Vesuvius and those who surive
DANSE MACABRE — An insane ruler and lost love found
TIME IS NO MORE — — —
