The Merchant’s Curse: Interview with author Antony Barone Kolenc

It excites me when I come across new and different clean books for middle schoolers that I feel comfortable recommending to parents, so I’m excited to introduce you to today’s guest! I had the good fortune of catching up with author Antony Barone Kolenc who just released The Merchant’s Curse, the fourth installment in the The Harwood Mysteries, an inspirational medieval fiction series for youth that has won eight major book awards! Tony is also the host of the youth-related radio show and podcast, The Shepherd’s Pie. He is a retired Air Force officer and teaches at Ave Maria School of Law.

Congratulations on the release of The Merchant’s Curse, book 4 in The Harwood Mysteries! I’m loving the characters and the setting you’ve created. You are amazingly creative! You mentioned the series is one continuous story. Tell us more about the books!

My series takes place in 12th century England and involves a boy (“Xan”) who is orphaned and comes to live at a Benedictine abbey, where he solves spooky mysteries and has adventures with his friends, Lucy and Christina. In Book 1, Xan loses his memory during an attack by bandits, and he must save the Benedictine abbey by solving the mystery of a shadowy figure that walks the abbey’s grounds at night. In Book 2, Xan is forced to journey with the bandit who murdered his family, and he hopes to communicate with his dead parents by capturing the ghost of a little girl rumored to haunt a cathedral. In Book 3, when a priceless ruby, known as Eden’s Fire, is stolen from a monk on the eve of his ordination, Xan races against time and a dark magician to catch the thief. And in Book 4, when a merchant appears to be cursed by a witch, Xan must save the man’s life while avoiding capture as a suspected traitor to King Henry II.  Each of the books combines suspense, adventure, and mystery with history, faith, and coming-of-age issues. It is an ongoing series that tells a continuing story, but I wrote the books so that they could also be read as stand-alone novels. (Then again, why do that? Start with Book 1!)

You’re an attorney, law professor, military retiree, podcaster, speaker, and author of several non-fiction books. What made you want to write children’s fiction?

I’ve always enjoyed reading, writing, and telling stories. I have reams of unfinished loose-leaf stories I attempted to write as a teenager, as well as unfinished word-processed stories I wrote as a young adult. I guess you can say that fiction writing has always been in my blood. Then, as an attorney and law school professor, I wrote a lot of non-fiction and legal scholarship, including as a co-author on an Evidence textbook and legal articles about the Constitution. I also write a legal column in Practical Homeschooling Magazine. While those writings do allow for some self-expression, they are very different from writing fiction, where the author can really unleash their full creative self and explore the world through the lens of a story where good and evil clash on the pages in way that just can’t happen in legal writing. I especially appreciate the idea that my writing can be used to entertain and help others, and even be a ministry to readers. As far as writing for young readers, as a father of five children, all of whom were homeschooled at least for a few years, I long ago recognized the need for strong, clean fiction that is compatible with Christian values. I decided to write a series for teens that would be suspenseful and engaging while also dealing with deeper issues that address these in a context of faith. Some of the themes include, “Who am I?” “What am I supposed to do with my life?” and “Why do bad things happen to good people?”

The Storyteller Squad agrees there is a need for strong, clean fiction compatible with Christian values! Tony, your faith is very important to you. How does this play out in The Harwood Mysteries series?

Our teenage years are so important in our development. It’s the time we start to discover who we want to be as adults, and this also includes what role God and religion will play in our lives. My series challenges its readers to seriously consider their faith; to question why God should play a role in their lives; and to figure out how it can be possible that God is present in this complicated world around us, in all the mystery and tragedy we encounter every day. The series focuses on themes such as hope, redemption, and forgiveness. I believe that it is important for us to realize that we don’t have to divorce faith from our lives. My characters are living during a time and in a place where the notion of faith permeated every aspect of life. They show us that we can integrate faith into our lives organically, as my characters do as they struggle with the age-old question for teens (and adults): “What does God want me to do with my life?”

The Harwood Mysteries has received eight awards across the series. What do you attribute this to?

I am so grateful to God and to Loyola Press for the success of the series thus far. The outpouring of awards has exceeded my wildest hopes. Each of the first three books have received at least one gold medal/first place finish in respected competitions. I think this is partly because Loyola Press dedicated many resources to make the series strong, including hiring outstanding artists for the cover and interior maps, and great editors to really make my writing and characters pop. I also think the stories themselves are compelling and original in how they combine the varied elements of adventure, faith, and history.

I do a lot of school visits, which I love because I get to connect with my readers. When you do school visits, what is the one piece of advice or theme you share with students?

I love speaking with young people about writing, faith, and life in general. I encourage them to discover who they are and to try to express themselves through art, including writing. I inspire them not to be discouraged as they learn how to write stories, and I encourage them to find others who can mentor and fellowship with them as they grow in their writing abilities.

If our readers want to get in touch with you, what’s the best way to connect?

You can contact me and find out more about my background, my writing, and my radio show at http://www.antonykolenc.com/. On that site, you can also fill out a Speaker Request Form if you want me to speak at your school or conference, or you can complete an Interview Request Form if you want to be a guest on my show. The Harwood Mysteries has its own exciting website at http://www.theharwoodmysteries.com/ And, of course, Loyola Press has my books on it, as well as many others, at https://www.loyolapress.com/authors/antony-barone-kolenc/

I hope you enjoyed this interview as much as I did. The Merchant’s Curse, as well as the first three installments in the series (Shadow in the Dark, The Haunted Cathedral, The Fire of Eden) are available everywhere books are sold!