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Local author, Barrie Thomson (88) from Jeffreys Bay, recently published his latest novel titled The Man Who Bought a Kingdom, a biblical fiction book which answers many fascinating questions while taking the reader on a journey filled with descriptive scenery of biblical times.
As a writer who has over 50 years of experience, Barrie, who moved to Jeffreys Bay with his wife, Doreen, 30 years ago, has enjoyed a career which has allowed him to travel all over the globe.
Before moving to Jeffreys Bay, he mostly wrote on computer-related subjects, which included topics such as databases, data, and systems analysis.
Barrie said writing on computer-related subjects has seen him joining the British Computer Society as a Fellow, joining the British Computer company ICL as a lecturer and joining Unilever on their International Management Training programme where he lectured in Holland, Netherlands and at their systems training programme in the United Kingdom.
Finally, about 20 years ago, he wrote and published his first novel To War With Love which was unrelated to computer science, but was instead a biblical fiction novel focused on angels and how they appear to humans.
In the book Barrie elaborates on descriptions the Bible’s book of Ezekiel gave of the appearance of angels.
“To War With Love is available on the Free eBooks platform and has received a five-star rating,” said Barrie.
After 20 years, he said that he is currently rewriting To War With Love as a science fiction novel, with reference to various biblical gospel stories. To further expand on his love for writing biblical fiction, a few years after writing To War With Love, Barrie put together a “unified” gospel titled, The gospel of John Marmatlu, which is a compilation of information from the Bible’s books of John, Mark, Matthew and Luke.
To educate and answer the many questions that are not usually asked, his most recent book titled The Man Who Bought a Kingdom, which has been published by Austin Macauley in the United Kingdom, elaborates on many interesting questions.
He said that the book is largely based on the four biblical gospels and a few chapters from the Bible’s book of Acts, but also contains material from other contemporary sources where the material has a sound basis of truth. Barrie said that the book begins with the wrecking of a drifting boat containing the Lazarus family on the coast of France, for which there is evidence in local traditions of today.
“The book then elaborates on biblical text and includes body language, more detailed conversations, physical descriptions of the locations and weather conditions.”
He further said that the book answers many questions that are not usually asked, such as what was eaten at feasts, why Jesus’ parents took so long to find him when he was at the temple as a young boy, who the disciple was that Jesus is said to love, and what influence the powerful personality of Jesus had on those who knew him, including Pontius Pilate and his wife.
Barrie said that the book, which is available from Takealot in South Africa, can also be accessed in various countries such as the United Kingdom, America, and the Middle East.
In addition to writing biblical fiction stories, he said that he also produces crossword puzzles which have been sold to magazines, with his most recent puzzle published in Jet Club magazine.
Barrie said that a book of his crossword puzzles, which incorporates his cartoon drawings as clues, is currently awaiting publication by Austin Macauley.
