📚 A Bookish Chat with 'The Bronze Scroll' Co-Author Paul Donsbach #AuthorInterview #BlogTour #Interview

Co-author Paul Donsbach is a Texas native and a lawyer. Raised in an era when those working for social progress were rooted in religious faith, he believes that many of today’s problems likewise require a renewed commitment to spiritual ideals.

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Book website: https://www.knightsofthelosttemple.com/

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TWL: Welcome to The Writer's Life! How did you come up with the idea to write your book?

Paul Donsbach: My co-author and I wanted to write an adventure-romance novel with a spiritual angle, in which the characters work on an unsolvable mystery. We viewed an impossible mystery as symbolic of the discontents of modern life, when it seems that all the great adventures and discoveries are behind us. We chose an ancient treasure map known as the Copper Scroll (but actually made of bronze), which was found in a Dead Sea cave almost 70 years ago and which archaeologists and scholars have dismissed as an unsolvable enigma.

To our surprise, in the course of writing the book, our characters ended up deciphering this ancient scroll and figuring out where most of the treasure sites are located (in particular, treasure sites listing more than eight tons of gold and silver and a certain lost Ark). It wasn’t even that hard, as our main character ran word searches in the e-book version of the writings of an ancient historian named Flavius Josephus, using the key terms listed on the Copper Scroll. But the protagonist’s experiences with a rogue corporate villain and a secret knighthood are much more challenging.

TWL: Can you give us a short excerpt?

Paul: The protagonist, Sam Romero, is on a flight from Los Angeles to Rome for a work assignment. He has just explained to his seat mate, a distinguished old gentleman who said he’s a poet, that his hobby is solving mysteries. He told the old stranger that he’s currently working on deciphering the Copper Scroll, which he has just described to him as a supposedly unsolvable mystery.

“Now, here’s what I think,” Sam said, leaning toward Solomon. “It’s a story. It always is.”

“What do you mean?” asked the old man.

“It’s like you said in your poem,” Sam said, patting the old man’s shoulder. “Gold and silver aren’t really treasures. It’s in the eye of the beholder. A treasure is something you’d die for. An idea, a person, a moment. The scent of a lover,” he went on, noticing Elena walking back up the aisle toward the galley. “Gold and silver are like chasing the wind. Or whatever your poem said. Nice to have, but you can’t take them with you. I just have to figure out the story. This scroll—copper, bronze, or whatever—has a story to tell. I just need to know how to decipher it.”

TWL: What part of the book was the most fun to write?

Paul: Working with my co-author, Alia Sina, has been a great experience, and writing about our protagonist’s love interest, a beautiful reporter named Rebecca Schreiber, was the most fun. I had always imagined I had a good sense of what women were thinking and what guides their behavior. But was I wrong! Even what I thought were my strongest contributions on Rebecca’s story and dialogue had to be rewritten from scratch, as Alia patiently explained that women really don’t think or act like this. This was a humbling experience, but in the process I learned quite a bit about the feminine mind and behavior. Now, if I could just meet my own beautiful reporter, I’ll be able to put this into practice. All for a good cause, of course.

TWL: What’s one fact about your book that would surprise people?

Paul: This is a toss-up between finding the location of the legendary lost Ark or learning that Israelis are passionate about a chocolate-marshmallow snack known as Krembos. We really enjoyed writing about a far-off land that seems at once familiar and exotic. It was interesting to learn that the Copper Scroll lists the lost Ark as having been hidden in a specific location in Jerusalem that has never been excavated by archaeologists. But, pressed to choose, I would have to say that this Krembos discovery is even more surprising. As Americans, we really love toasting s’mores over a campfire, and it was great fun to learn that Israelis do much the same thing, except with an even more delicious marshmallow-and-graham-cracker-filled chocolate snack.

TWL: What other books are you working on and when will they be published?

Paul: Our first novel, The Bronze Scroll, is the first in a series entitled Knights of the Lost Temple. We are currently working on the second book, The Last Pharaoh, to be published in the late spring or early summer of 2022.

TWL: Finally, what message are you trying to get across with your book?

Paul: Alia and I come from different backgrounds, but share a strong belief in the power of spirituality to guide our lives and our connections with others. Alia believes in new-age Islam and the power of miracles and seems to have read every supernatural thriller ever written. I am a believer in science and logic from a Christian background, and my favorite books are those which question or beliefs or whether we can really know anything at all. Despite our differences as co-authors, working together was a harmonious, and even transformative, experience, as we learned how powerful different perspectives can be in the search for truth.

TWL: Do you have any final words?

Paul: Although the characters in our book seem to have solved virtually all of the Copper Scroll’s mysteries, we’re still wondering about those scroll jars in a Dead Sea cave with a warning: Do not break! Why would the high priest who commissioned the Copper Scroll have been so worried about someone breaking those scroll jars? What was in them? An ancient version of Krembos? We may have something more to say about this in our second book in the series.

Title: KNIGHTS OF THE LOST TEMPLE: THE BRONZE SCROLL (BOOK 1)
Author: Paul Donsbach and Alia Sina
Publisher: Knights of the Lost Temple
Pages: 300
Genre: Adventure/Romance

BOOK BLURB:

The authors of The Bronze Scroll are excited to announce the publication of their first book in the Knights of the Lost Temple adventure-romance series. This groundbreaking novel, co-authored by Paul Donsbach and Alia Sina, tells the story of Sam Romero, an investigative attorney who has uncovered and solved hundreds of high-profile corporate crimes and scandals. But nothing has prepared Sam for the mysteries of his latest investigation—an ancient treasure map stolen by corporate thieves, an Israeli land-permitting official murdered, and a local reporter kidnapped and held hostage by a rogue executive, Roy Griffin III. Racing against the clock to rescue the beautiful reporter, Rebecca Schreiber, Sam has only hours to prove that he can solve the mysteries of an ancient bronze scroll and find the Temple treasures hidden during a time of war.

“We want to surprise our readers with stories of making the ‘impossible’ become real,” said co-author Mr. Donsbach. “The world is truly ours to remake with a vision of unity, diversity, and inclusion. Through our fictional characters, we will work to show that “ordinary” people can accomplish seemingly miraculous feats through friendship, inspiration, and love. In fact, history teaches that this is the only way that positive change happens. “

Remarked co-author Alia Sina on creating their book: “While on our own separate journeys, we found ourselves working on a story that flowed with ease given each of our strengths that complimented one another in the world of fiction. We each were working on our own novel and, at the suggestion of our moderator for our writers’ workshop, we began working with each other. What was intended to simply be an “experiment/project/let’s see what happens” turned into a commitment we both developed to the characters and their story. As a fan of supernatural suspense novels, and now as an author, it never ceases to amaze me how real the characters could become. Having written my first novel with Paul, I feel the characters waiting to continue their story.”

A New-Age Journey of Discovery: For their first novel in the Knights of the Lost Temple series, co-authors Paul and Alia chose the so-called Copper Scroll (which is actually made of bronze) as a central element in the characters’ story. One of the Dead Sea Scrolls found in a desert cave in the 1950s, this artifact is a treasure map listing tons of gold and silver hidden at vaguely described locations that scholars had given up on deciphering. As a supposedly “unsolvable” mystery, the Copper Scroll would serve a symbol of the discontents of modern life, in which the great, achievable dreams seem to have already been accomplished.

There was just one problem. The Copper Scroll wasn’t unsolvable after all. As Sam and his friends work to decipher this ancient treasure map, its mysteries unravel one by one. By searching for the listed treasure descriptions in the e-book version of the ancient historian Flavius Josephus’ writings, Sam and his friends discover that most of the treasure sites involve metaphors or legends important to the leaders of the Judean provisional government at the outbreak of the Great Revolt in 66 CE. They realize that this treasure map must have been made for a peace speech before the Bronze Gate to the Jerusalem Temple in May of that year, in which one of the leaders (probably the chief high priest) urged negotiations with the Romans to end the revolt.

The high priest’s speech would have begun with treasure site 1—seventeen talents (about 900 pounds) of gold and silver hidden in the Valley of Achor. This matches the seventeen talents of gold and silver that Josephus recorded as being stolen from the Temple by the Roman governor, triggering the revolt. As the high priest would explain to his audience, the Valley of Achor was a biblical location where a thief was executed for stealing gold and silver from the Temple. Having condemned the Roman governor in this manner at the beginning of his speech, the high priest would move on to the other metaphors in the treasure sites listed on the Copper Scroll, including the 900 talents (sites 3, 56 and 58) that Josephus identified as the annual taxes paid to Rome by Judea and the other Jewish client states, and the 300 talents of gold (site 47) that Josephus described as being allocated by King David for his son Solomon’s use in building and furnishing the inner sanctuary of the Temple.

A Sacred Relic of the Exodus from Egypt: As they decipher this ancient treasure map, Sam and his friends realize that the 300 talents of gold that site 47 says were hidden underground on the west side of the Pool of Siloam match another legend of hidden Temple treasures being recorded on a bronze scroll. They learn of a legendary account in the so-called Treatise of the Vessels of a bronze scroll being made during a time of crisis, as a permanent record of King Hezekiah, or one of the other listed leaders, hiding the Ark and the gold from Solomon’s Temple in an underground cistern near the Gihon Spring (the water source adjoining the Pool of Siloam), to be revealed at the time of the Messiah, son of David.

But, the characters wonder, is this what treasure site 60 means when it says that the Book of Kohelet (Ecclesiastes) is the “deciphering scroll” explaining each of the hidden treasures? After all, its famously enigmatic epilogue (chapter 12) cryptically refers to the Exodus story (almond blossoms and locusts), the Tabernacle (a silver cord and a golden pitcher), a spring and a cistern, and “every hidden thing,” to be revealed at the time of judgment. Could this be a secret biblical code recording that the lost Ark and the gold from Solomon’s Temple were hidden in a underground cistern by the Pool of Siloam near the Gihon Spring?

A Time for Peace: As the adventurous Bronze Scroll novel moves toward its surprise ending, the characters decipher more of the Copper Scroll’s metaphorical treasure descriptions (including the cursed son of King David at site 48, the Samaritans’ version of the lost Ark legend at site 57, and the bronze sacrificial altar at site 59). Using mysterious spiritual powers that he has long resisted, and the protection of a secret knighthood that he discovers, Sam must learn the scroll’s remaining mysteries before Roy makes good on his threats. He must learn the explosive truth needed to save Rebecca and, in the process, uncover the true spiritual meaning of this ancient bronze scroll.

But what could that be? Is it Kohelet’s message about a “time for peace”? Or does an ancient scroll found soon after modern Israel’s independence tell us something about the time of judgment? As the Knights of the Lost Temple series begins with this first novel, Sam and his friends start an exciting journey of discovery in search of this hidden truth.

The authors of this new adventure-romance series invite you to join them on this voyage. Currently working on the second book in the series, the authors believe that the world’s diverse spiritual traditions hold answers for our troubled times. Paul, who identifies as “spiritual but not religious,” and Alia, a “new-age Muslim” from an Afghan American family (writing under her pen name), believe that greater understanding among the world’s different faiths and beliefs is essential to solving the world’s current problems. Recognizing that even the smallest miracles—like an ancient treasure map found in a desert cave—can make a big difference, the authors welcome you to share this journey together.

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Publication date: August 11, 2021, 291 pages; an independent publication of Knights of the Lost Temple, LLC.

E-book: $9.99; 978-1-7373978-0-9

Paperback: $19.99; 978-1-7373978-1-6

Hardback: $29.99; 978-1-7373978-2-3

Book website: https://www.knightsofthelosttemple.com/

Rebecca’s blog (under pen name): https://veilsofdesire.com/

Amazon Selling Page: https://amzn.to/3BcelQr

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