Blog Archives
Historical Imagination
Survival Secrets is the second book in The Magi’s Encounters series and follows Akilah and the Wise Men on a layered journey through Egypt, politics, threats, family wounds, and spiritual uncertainty. How did the idea for Survival Secrets first take shape?
Survival Secrets is rooted in the final verse the Bible records about the Wise Men. Matthew 2:12 says, “And having been warned in a dream to not return to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.” What seems like a footnote to their story is really a beginning. They couldn’t return home on the Roman roads because Herod would have alerted those guards to watch for the Wise Men and drag them back to Jerusalem in chains. Roman roads were peppered with watchtowers every 10 miles, and their guards’ main job was to snag runaway slaves and other “illegals.” The Wise Men were added to that list as soon as Herod realized they wouldn’t return to him as he’d commanded. So where did they go? Without access to Roman roads, their choices were limited. Judea’s geography further narrowed their choices. By process of elimination, I mapped the most plausible route they might have taken. It was circuitous and dangerous. They had to hide their identity to protect themselves from Herod and other enemies. I believe their returning home “by another route” was also the first acid test of their newfound faith–and each Wise Man responded to that challenge differently.
How did you balance biblical tradition with historical imagination?
The Bible is my north star for writing the series. It’s infallible in recording what happened, but it doesn’t always say why things happened. For that, I dig into world history, using accounts by 1st-century historians and other reliable resources to understand how world politics, religions, and culture influenced people’s thoughts, motivations, and actions. The Wise Men were priest-scholars in Magi society, a powerful, influential entity in the Parthian Empire. They were duty-bound to uphold the empire’s official religion, plus officiate for other religions. What if they suddenly believed in something other than what their empire’s official religion espoused? That’s exactly what happened with the Wise Men when they found Yeshua/Jesus. Think of what conflict and danger that caused for them. History records a lot about Herod as well as how the Roman and Parthian empires treated Jews long before Jesus’ ministry started. That tension is the backdrop behind Matthew 2:12. That tension is where I judiciously exercise my historical imagination.
One of the book’s strengths is its patience with faith as a process rather than an instant transformation. Why was that important to you?
A common misconception is that a person can “grow” their own faith–but the Bible doesn’t say that. The apostles could have asked Jesus for many things, but they said, “Increase our faith!” (Luke 17:5), They inherently knew that faith didn’t come from them, but from God. In that verse, the Greek word “increase” is the root of our English word “prosthesis.” It literally means “to add or increase.” Its connotation is to make something stronger and more functional–which is exactly what a prosthetic (and faith) does. Put another way, when we let God work in our lives, He lays down more train tracks to guide our lives, which increases our faith and strengthens our resolve to trust Him more.
Can you give us a glimpse inside Book 3 of The Magi’s Encounters series? Where will it take readers?
Geographically, Book 3 will take readers to the northern fringes of the Parthian Empire, where small, semi-autonomous vassal states form a buffer zone that controls the tensions between the mighty Roman and Parthian Empires. Emotionally, Book 3 shows each Wise Man’s faith on trial. It differs for each of them, but taking center stage is our main character, Akilah, whose pursuit of the prophesied child-king (Yeshua/Jesus) lands him in prison. Now he must answer to allegations of civil and religious crimes against the Parthian Empire that could cost him his life.
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Hunted by Herod’s forces and others who fear what the Magi know about Yeshua, Akilah and his companions flee into the Wilderness of Paran—a land as merciless as the enemies pursuing them. To reach Egypt’s safety, his caravan must survive the elements and the strain of maintaining their anonymity while protecting the many secrets that jeopardize their lives.
But the greatest danger isn’t the wilderness.
Bound by their shared knowledge of Yeshua, the group carries a truth powerful enough to upend empires yet tenuous enough to fracture their resolve. When calamity tears one Wise Man away from the others, the group’s newfound faith start to crumble. Faith once sparked by wonder is now tested by hardship and the silence of unanswered prayers.
Farther from their goal of returning to Persia than ever before, Akilah encounters Yeshua’s family again. Its ramifications raise the stakes for the Magi’s cost of belief in the Hebrew God.
Meanwhile, two thousand miles away, Akilah’s estranged cousin Farzaneh begins her own dangerous search for truth, uncovering secrets her husband carried to the grave after embracing the Hebrew faith.
Survival Secrets is a gripping continuation of the Magi’s journey. As they struggle to return home while facing an uncertain future, costly obedience replaces the early awe of their belief—underscoring that faith doesn’t travel in a straight line, endurance is often learned in the wilderness, and trust rests with an unfathomable, sovereign God.
Perfect for fans of biblical fiction rich in tension, clean adventure, and faith journeys shaped by doubt, hardship, and quiet courage.
Follow belief into dangerous territory.
Survival Secrets
Survival Secrets, by Lana Christian, follows Akilah and the Wise Men after their encounter with Yeshua, as their obedience to a warning sends them away from Herod and into a far more dangerous route home. What begins as an escape through the Wilderness of Paran becomes a layered journey through Egypt, Parthian politics, Nabataean threats, family wounds, and spiritual uncertainty. The title proves apt: nearly every character carries something hidden, and the novel keeps asking which secrets preserve life and which ones must be brought into the light.
I enjoyed how Christian turns a brief biblical afterthought, “they returned another way,” into a full-bodied adventure with grit under its fingernails. The desert is not decorative here; it presses on the caravan with hunger, fear, suspicion, and heat. Akilah’s leadership especially held my attention because he is not a polished saint but a learned man trying to shepherd people while his own convictions are still taking shape. His half-truths, hesitations, and burdens make him feel human, and the tension around Tallis adds a bracing current of danger.
What surprised me most was the novel’s patience with faith. The story doesn’t treat belief as an instant transformation but as something tested by thirst, politics, old grief, and the uneasy cost of knowing too much. Farzaneh’s storyline brings a welcome emotional counterweight to the caravan’s physical peril, and the historical texture, maps, customs, names, power struggles, and gives the book a pleasing density without smothering the plot. I found myself appreciating the way Christian lets scholarship and suspense share the same road.
This book is for readers who enjoy biblical fiction, historical fiction, adventure, and suspense with political intrigue and a reflective heart. Readers who like Angela Hunt’s biblical novels or the immersive historical sweep of Francine Rivers will likely feel at home here, though Christian’s focus on the Magi gives the story its own uncommon constellation. Survival Secrets is a thoughtful, sand-swept sequel that turns hidden knowledge into visible courage.
Pages: 338 | ISBN : 978-1649175021
Counterintuitive and Countercultural
New Star follows a Persian Magus as he risks everything to uncover the truth behind a mysterious celestial sign, blending biblical intrigue, spiritual longing, and historical peril in a richly imagined post-Nativity world. Why was this an important book for you to write?
Most of what we think we know about the Wise Men is tradition, not truth. Even when we read about them in the Gospel of Matthew, we skim over the verses because we think we already know their story. Those 2D, stained-glass figures deserve to be seen as 3D real people. Their story is compelling, and I wanted to convey it in a way that aligned with Scripture, culture, and world events of that time.
What inspired you to reimagine the story of the Magi, especially from such an emotionally intimate perspective?
The Parthian Empire tolerated many religions but had a national religion that the Magi society upheld and practiced. What would happen to the religious fabric of the empire if some Magi started to believe and practice something else? I feel that’s what happened to the Magi in real life. They went way out on a limb to believe something that was counterintuitive and countercultural. They risked their reputations, their careers, and more to pursue finding the prophesied Christ child. They had to weigh the risk and cost of their newfound belief.
How did you balance historical accuracy with creative storytelling when reconstructing the world of ancient Persia and Judea?
First and foremost, I remain true to the biblical narrative. That’s my north star for writing biblical fiction. Scriptures tell us what the Magi did, but not the reasons for their choices. To discern the “why” behind their story, I dug into historical records of that time to learn about the world they lived in. When Christ was born, the Roman and Parthian empires were the world’s biggest superpowers. They were often at odds with each other, and they ruled in dramatically different ways. Against that backdrop is the rich history of Magi society, an elite group of Persian priest-scholars that massively influenced the Parthian Empire’s religion, science, and government. The Magi served multiple religions while upholding their empire’s official religion. Understanding the world in which the Magi lived enabled me to write authentic scenes with believable reactions to the pressures they would have faced in pursuing a controversial study of a star linked to some foreign religious writings.
Akilah’s inner journey is so compelling—was his character influenced by any real historical figures or personal experiences?
Thank you for that high compliment. Akilah is not based on a specific person, but I think he universally reflects people’s experience when they question what they previously thought was true. New Star provides a safe space in which to do that.
New Star is the first book in the series The Magi’s Encounters. We know the Magi’s story didn’t end when they tried to circumvent Herod. Survival Secrets, which will release Sept. 24 of this year, is all about the Magi’s struggles to return home.
Author Links: GoodReads | New Star | X (Twitter) | Facebook | Website | Amazon
When he and his colleagues uncover a few Jewish prophecies linking the star to an eternal king, Akilah becomes the target of Persia’s religious and governmental conflicts. Jailed for crimes he didn’t commit, Akilah must rely on questionable resources to free himself and reach Jerusalem.
Persia’s purists aren’t the only ones bent on keeping their country free of Jewish influences. As dangers at home and abroad plunge Akilah and his colleagues into three countries’ religious conflicts and circumstances beyond their imagining, Akilah realizes his knowledge of Jesus could potentially destroy Magi society and its power over Persia’s official religion and government. Untrusting of his Council, a thousand miles from aid, and bound in a potentially career-ending contract, Akilah must decide how far he will go to protect what he knows of Jesus—and whether the cost of his belief is worth the risk.
New Star
Lana Christian’s New Star is a deeply immersive and imaginatively told journey into the world of the Magi, the ancient priest-scholars of Persia. Set one year after the birth of Jesus, the story follows Akilah and his fellow Magi as they risk careers, reputations, and lives to investigate a mysterious star that could fulfill ancient Hebrew prophecies. Intertwining historical intrigue, political tension, and spiritual longing, the novel reimagines what led the Wise Men to embark on their fabled journey to Bethlehem. With richly detailed settings and layered characters, Christian blends biblical history and scholarly imagination into a fast-paced, thought-provoking narrative.
Reading New Star felt like stepping into a world I thought I already understood, only to discover how much more there was beneath the surface. I was surprised by how invested I became in Akilah’s pursuit. Not just of the star, but of meaning, legacy, and truth. The writing is clean and poetic without trying too hard, and the dialogue feels genuine. What stood out most to me was how Christian managed to make the inner world of ancient scholars, research, prayer, doubt, and conviction so emotionally engaging. The religious themes unfold naturally through the characters’ inner struggles and choices, making the journey feel as much spiritual as it is historical.
What I liked most was the courage these characters showed in a time when even asking questions could cost everything. The book is full of quiet moments that land like thunderclaps. There’s beauty in the smallest scenes. An old scroll, a firelit conversation, a whispered prayer. The novel doesn’t rely on action to drive tension, though there are plenty of intense scenes. It’s the emotional stakes that carry the weight. The book made me reflect on the cost of conviction and the bravery it takes to search for something bigger than yourself when the world says “stop.” Christian doesn’t shy away from that tension, and I admire that.
New Star is for anyone who enjoys historical fiction with heart and depth. It’s especially for readers who’ve ever wondered what really drove the Magi to leave everything behind. I’d recommend it to lovers of biblical fiction, of course, but also to skeptics and history buffs, anyone open to a story about risk, faith, and finding light in the dark.
Pages: 376 | ASIN: B0D9T1PW9W
