The following is a free excerpt from Book of Katherine and the Chinese Maze.
āStephen Baldwin became a Christian. Did you know that?ā
āOh⦠So thatās why you donāt hear about him,ā says my husband as he goes down the stairs to the bathroom. And I find myself sad, but not at the sentiment (which is totally true). Being a Christian today is like being a Jew in 1930ās Germany. But I am sad because Iām recording this now. And I donāt like to talk about this stuff.
This is the sort of thing I keep private. I donāt tell my readers. I donāt tell my students. I donāt tell my fans. Probably because itās like 1920ās Germany out there. Or 1930ās. Tragically, we are a large enough country that this goes unnoticed. For a variety of reasons. But being a socialist, a religion that forces atheism down the throats of its people, and killed, at minimum, one hundred million people in just one hundred years, and counting, second only to Sharia, which has killed two hundred and seventy million, and counting, in its fourteen hundred years⦠Well. Letās just say socialism has sharia beat.
But being a socialist today is way better than being a Christian. Noble even. Despite Christian founders making the very first society with Freedom of Expression and Freedom of Religion in its government. Youāre free to be an atheist here, but somehow, now, youāre sure as hell not allowed to be a Christian.
And by saying āhell,ā Iāve just deleted all Christians from this book. If you donāt think thatās the work of an outside force on the Christian communities, youād be dead wrong. Iāve got the research.
But thatās what makes me good at my job. Iād better get back to it. My husband is back and itās time to rollā¦
___
Now comes the hard part. Telling you what just occurred. I doubt youāll believe it. But even if you donāt, you probably wonāt even want to read it. I may be a writer, and I may have been compared to Steinbeck at one point for my ability to describe things, but⦠No. I have no descriptors for this part of my life.
So I guess ā just ā be prepared. Be a scout. Soldier. Whatever. And maybe try and have a little compassion for my nerves. (At the end of this, youāre going to think my pain is a direct result of my family life. Itās not. It was there before them. They, in fact, provide a glorious relief from the pain. They say distraction is a great technique for dealing with pain. Yes. What youāre about to read is distracting.
Thatās the perfect descriptor.