Religious Undertones

As I enter the marketing phase of authorpreneurship, one of the concepts I struggle with is how to communicate that Mormonism is an influence on the book’s protagonist (Brig), but it is not a religious book by any stretch of the imagination. In fact, I also worry about the opposite… that friends/family will be displeased by some of the more salacious sections of the book (rape, S&M, prostitution).

Suicide By Everest is fiction, but I draw heavily from my own life and experiences.  I was born and raised in Salt Lake City, UT, baptized in the Mormon Church when I turned eight and served a church mission in Hong Kong.  I no longer consider myself a Mormon, but I am not anti.  If anything, I’m anti-organized religion.   I hope that readers will be pleasantly surprised by the twists and turns of Brig’s journey.

This picture was painted by my wife, Jackie Chang.  It’s a picture of the Angel Moroni.  For non-Mormons, Moroni was the last ancient American prophet to write his story in the Book of Mormon and buried the golden plates in a hill where Joseph Smith would find them hundreds of years later.  The image of the angel Moroni blowing a trumpet is commonly used as an unofficial symbol of the LDS Church. Moroni appears on the cover of some editions of the Book of Mormon. Statues of the angel stand atop many LDS temples with most statues facing eastward.

(Reference: Wikipedia – Angel Moroni)