An Eerie Read...

Halloween. Time for ghosts, goblins, princesses, pirates, witches, warlocks, and…demons? From a Christian novelist?

Author Tosca Lee says, yes, demons exist. “On the earth. In the air. In the heavens.” It’s that belief that caused Lee to pen the sleeper hit, Demon: A Memoir, an appropriate read for the spooky season.

The book’s Amazon rank across all Christian fiction recently hit the top 25 and her writing has drawn comparisons to the great C.S. Lewis work The Screwtape Letters as well as Anne Rice’s work Interview with the Vampire. The Smith College graduate has criss-crossed the country on a whirlwind book tour in such cities as Boston, Denver, Atlanta, Los Angeles, Omaha, Detroit, and her home city of Lincoln.

But, just as the holiday itself draws criticism from Christians, Lee has had to handle critical response from the faith-based community questioning her beliefs. One church deemed the book “inappropriate” reading. Some even wondered if she’d communed with demons to write the eerie manuscript.

“No, I’ve never had a direct personal experience with an angel or demon,” Lee laughs. “Not in the visceral way that others describe. Thank God. I think I would have a heart attack.” She did, however, endure some strange encounters.

“Things broke down in my brand new house. Mice infested it. The water turned blue. Smoke came out of my dishwasher. Granted, these were petty and stupid happenings that made me roll my eyes.”

Then, it got even more strange.

“My computer’s motherboard fried—I could smell it burning. I became more prone to anxiety attacks. My new laptop began to blank out in the middle of working on the story before I had saved anything. I was constantly distracted. While all of these events have practical explanations, it was the timing of all of them that made them a bit weird.”

Then came the fear.

“As the things that happened became both more subtle and distracting, I had moments where I actually began to worry about the safety of those around me and, at times, for myself. Yes, I know it may sound superstitious at best to anyone who doesn’t believe in the supernatural. For me, though, I believe I was peering into a realm that should be understood to the best of our ability, but one that consists of opposing forces that may not want exposure.”

Whether coincidence or demonic activity, one thing is certain. Tosca Lee is happy to be writing about something else while Demon hits the shelves for Halloween. Her second novel is the story of Eve.

“At the heart of these books is my desire to more deeply understand this idea of God, of good and evil,” Tosca says. “And of the struggle of the first people to grasp these concepts and deal with their implications. I write foremost to fill in the gaps in my own conceptual understanding of my faith. When a reader writes to me and says, ‘You made me see something in a whole new way,’ or ‘I never thought of that before,’ that is the greatest compliment.”

Special thanks to Glass Roads for this article. Leave a comment for a chance to win a copy of Tosca's fabulous book.