Dr. Patrick Kavanaugh’s first 10 books were non-fiction. Not so for his latest book, “Music of the Spheres”. It’s Kavanaugh’s first fiction book, though it started out like the other 10. In an interview Monday afternoon, Kavanaugh said book 11 began as a non-fiction book. Having studied music all his life, he wanted to write a book on the scientific study of what music would be like in heaven with no limitations. He put together several chapters, but it just wasn’t working as non-fiction. It was too technical, so he put it aside. Last summer, while in China, Kavanaugh began to think of how he could get the information across and decided to write his first fiction book. He decided the main character had to be a musician, so James Worthington was born. He’s not only a conductor and director, but also a violinist. Kavanaugh said he’s never had a near-death experience or vision about heaven. And he doesn’t know how much credence he should put in them, but all the people he talked to who have all said the music was beautiful. But they couldn’t clarify how it was beautiful. So Kavanaugh had to let his imagination run wild. “I hope it’s just a fun read for anyone who is not a musician,” said Kavanaugh. In the book, Worthington meets everyone from William Shakespeare to baseball players. “It’s done from a Christian point of view as that’s all I know,” Kavanaugh said. “It’s not done from a preachy kind of way though. I just thought it would be interesting to wonder what it would be like. I don’t think it’s a bad thing to think about these kind of things. We have so many limitations down here, we don’t think about it done any differently. I’m not an authority on what heaven is like, I just thought what it would be like.” For sake of a plot, all books have a conflict. Kavanaugh said coming up with a conflict in heaven was the trickiest aspect of the book. How do you write a novel in a place where there is no conflict? Kavanaugh said Worthington just shows up to heaven and he has to learn how to live there. That’s the struggle for Worthington. Everyone has a different idea of what heaven is like, he said. “There’s a million questions. You can read this and think of a million different questions,” Kavanaugh said. Do people breathe in heaven? Wear clothes? Eat, or just eat vegetarian? “The Scriptures don’t tell us what heaven is like, but we all agree it will be better than this, but not a lot of details are given in Scripture,” Kavanaugh said. “The way most people think about heaven sounds like a really boring place. But not to me,” Kavanaugh said. “I think it will be really exciting with no limitations.” Besides being his first fiction book, “Music of the Spheres” also is the first book published by Four Brothers Publishing. Four Brothers is Kavanaugh’s publishing company with his four sons, and is based out of Winona Lake.“Music of the Spheres” currently is available at Tree of Life Bookstore, 1104 Kings Highway, Winona Lake, 574-267-2006; The Next Chapter Bookstore, 116B S. Buffalo St., Warsaw, 574-267-7900; or on the Internet at www.FourBrothersPublishing.com or www.Amazon.com
