Author of Slaying Leviathan: The Moral Case for Tax Reform
By: Kelvin Oliver
T4JYM: How has this book been received by the general public? Has there been positive feedback? Any negative feedback?
LC: I am still seeking a publisher for my book, Slaying Leviathan: The Moral Case for Tax Reform. A number of people have reviewed the manuscipt, and their feedback has been very positive. Jack Kemp, for example, called it “a devastating indictment of the absurdity that has masqueraded as tax policy for the last century”.
T4JYM: What are your next plans for writing? Do you plan to do any more books along the same lines as this book? Will you move on to new writing?
LC: I have several non-fiction book subjects in mind, including: the politics of marriage; work; demagoguery; vision; poltical rhetoric; the politicization of higher education; the legacy of Ronald Reagan; the life of John Glover, and feminism.
I also continue my essay and column writing. Many of my articles are available via my Web site.
T4JYM: What is generally your target audience? Do you write specifically to ministry workers or have you written other books targeted at other audiences? How do you decide on what audience to focus your writing on?
LC: My work is for anyone who wants to think!
T4JYM: Have you written any other books? Do you have any ideas for books you would like to write?
LC: I am co-editor, with Teresa R. Wagner, of Fifty Years After the Declaration: The United Nations’ Record on Human Rights.
In addition to books the non-fiction topics listed above, I have ideas for a few novels in mind.
T4JYM: Who were the biggest influences in your life generally speaking, and who were the biggest influences since you decided to write?
LC: I’ve been writing for most of my life, so I find it virtually impossible to separate the two.
Naturally, my parents have had probably the biggest influence on my life. The unconditional love of my grandmother has given me much-need encouragement over the years. Also a few good friends and teachers have taught me important life lessons.
An orphaned baby I held in San Salvador deeply touched my heart, as did many of the children, soldiers, and others whose optimistic outlook was nothing short of remarkable in that war-torn land.
I’m grateful to the late Reed Irvine, founder and chairman of Accuracy In Media and Accuracy In Academia. I was quite young when he made me Executive Director of AIA, and that was an extraordinary opportunity to lead an organization, edit and write for a newspaper, travel the country speaking publicly, and appear on television. During the four years that I ran AIA, I gained experience in just about everything I enjoy doing in my work life: lead, write, speak.
T4JYM: How do you find time to write? Life is busy and time management is hard to do sometimes. When do you do your best writing and where?
LC: Well, writing is my job, so I have to have time for it. The real challenge for me is finding time for everything else!
Time to think is critical to my writing. And that requires an environment that’s quiet and free from distractions. And that means my home. Once I’ve thought something through, though, I can write pretty much anywhere I have to. I usually prefer writing at home, but sometimes my local bookstore is a welcome change of scene. I don’t like to write at the office, but I have to, so I do.
As for when, well, I’m a morning person, so early in the morning to mid-afternoon are my best writing times. I tend to be my most creative early in the morning. I’m also fresher early in the week, mostly, I think, because I do not work on Sunday.
T4JYM: Who are some of the authors you read? Why do you like their works?
LC: Whittaker Chambers’ masterpiece Witness had a profound impact on my thinking, as did St. Augustine’s City of God. Corrie ten Boom has also influenced me, especially through The Hiding Place.
For fiction, Alexandre Dumas, Victor Hugo, Charles Dickens, and Colleen McCullough are masters of story and style.
T4JYM: When and how did you accept Christ into your heart?
LC: In 1995, through studying the Bible.
T4JYM: Do you ever feel fear when you approach someone with the Gospel?
LC: I’ve been subjected to a lot of vicious vitriol for some of my work, especially my writing about homosexuality and the gay political agenda. After that, very little intimidates me!
T4JYM: Are you involved in your own home church? What role do you have there?
LC: I am a member of a church near my home.
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