Mom’s Choice Awards is excited to announce another post in our interview series where we chat with the inventors, designers, publishers, and others behind some of our favorite family-friendly products.
Hello, Mom’s Choice readers! Thank you so much for joining us today for another interview in our ongoing series. For this interview, we sat down with multi-award-winning author Allen Brokken to talk about his book, Wellspring of Life, book 5 in the Towers of Light Series! Wellspring of Life picks up where book 4, Armor of God, left off. Lauren, Aiden, and Ethan rescued their dying father. To save him, they must find the lost Wellspring of Life before it’s too late!
Allen Brokken is a Christian, husband, father, storyteller, and leader. He spent much of the last decade running youth programs that his children participated in as a volunteer while he was working full-time in technology leadership. He has since branched out into a number of different things, with writing being the main thing, but he also developing resources for homeschooling families. He also has a heart for encouraging fathers to connect with their families & puts out the dad joke of the day on his Twitter! Keep reading to find out more about Allen and his award-winning book, Wellspring of Life!
MCA: Hi Allen, thank you for joining us again! It is always so nice to catch up with you and get the latest news on what you have been up to, including updates on your successful Towers of Light Series! Can we start the interview off by having you tell our readers a little bit about yourself, including what you’ve been up to since we last spoke to you in December?
Allen: I am a husband and father who works full-time and keeps busy pursuing my career as a Christian author on the side. All of my children are in college now, so the house is a bit different. I’m working on several projects right now for Towers of Light that are super exciting including expanding the homeschool curriculum that goes with the series and producing audiobook versions.
MCA: What was your path to becoming a writer like? What inspired you?
Allen: As a kid, I always had an active imagination and took to writing as soon as I learned how. I began the Towers of Light Series as a story for my kids. I was traveling for work 4 days a week and spent a lot of lonely nights in hotels across the country. I started writing a story about them in a fantastic setting and then shared it on the weekends. They loved it.
MCA: What was your inspiration for writing Wellspring of Life?
Allen: My wife was a founder of Wellspring Community, which was the name of the Homeschool co-op that my kids went to from a very young age until they graduated. Through that co-op many friendships were formed, and lessons were learned. I introduced a couple of new characters in this story that were real friends of my kids growing up from this co-op. It was fun to be able to weave this element into my series.
MCA: It is always so much fun when you can add elements of real life into writing! What are some of the key lessons found in Wellspring of Life?
Allen: There are several lessons in this story, but probably the biggest one is keeping your faith in the face of what seems to be insurmountable odds.
Proverbs 4:23 says “Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.” This book helps illustrate the importance of that proverb.
MCA: What kind of response from readers have you received?
Allen: I am humbled and so happy to be receiving such positive reviews for Wellspring of Life. I recently completed a tour with Celebrate Lit and the book got really great reviews from that! Here’s a review from a fellow author that I’m particularly proud of:
“Allen Brokken has a talent for weaving beautiful, heart-wrenching themes of family and friendship into a world full of peril and uncertainty. I was instantly captivated by this beautiful adventure. Young readers will especially love the sibling trio at the heart of this tale, as they struggle to hold fast against the Darkness and strain to keep their family together against all the foes bent on their destruction. The new friendships that were formed in this installment of the story were beautiful to behold. This epic adventure would be fantastic as a family read-aloud. Reminiscent of The Spirit Flyer series and The Wingfeather Saga, this up-and-coming series is a fun time for all ages.” Jenelle Leanne Schmidt – Realm Award-Winning Author of An Echo of the Fae
MCA: That is so exciting, congratulations! A compliment from a fellow author is the highest of praises. Can you tell us about the research that goes into each of your stories?
Allen: I was really inspired by the wilderness stories by Jack London as a child and I try to bring as much realism to my fantasy world as possible. For this series I did a bunch of research on the technology of the 1700-1800 in America. A lot of it was research from trips to places like the Little House on the Prairie Museum and the Midwest Old Threshers Reunion. A trip to the Peoria Riverboat a few years back informed much of what I know about 1800’s river navigation. Specifically for Wellspring of Life, I did some in-depth research on prairie animals such as bison, coyotes, and prairie dogs. I also looked into some of the dangers of the prairie like dehydration, sunburn, and prairie fires.
MCA: You really get a sense of your extensive research when reading Wellspring of Life, fantastic job! With your ongoing success with the Towers of Light Series, I have to ask, what can we expect to see next from you in your writing career?
Allen: I am currently working on the sixth book in the series called Demolishing the Stronghold. My other project includes new set of picture books based on the animal friends in the Towers of Light Series, Meow Meow, Daddy Duck and Sparkle Frog.
MCA: We cannot wait to read them all!
You can learn more about Yvonne M Morgan and her award-winning book, The Sad Little Wildflower by visiting her MCA Shop pages.
