Brianna & Matthew Penfold Interview

Today, I am pleased to welcome Brianna & Matthew Penfold to Interviews & Reviews. Brianna and Matthew are a wife-and-husband writing team. The Intrepid Three: Animus Revealed is their debut book. This work is a labor of love enlightened by their lifelong faith journeys and diverse experiences in medicine, law, victim advocacy, crisis intervention, research, and children and youth mentorship. By day, and sometimes by night, Brianna is an attorney, and Matthew is a pediatrician. They currently reside in Virginia where they are having a blast raising their energetic toddler.

Today, they are going to talk about their book and are giving away one print copy to anyone in the U.S. and one eBook to those outside the U.S.!

Brianna and Matthew, welcome to I & R!

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How long have you been writing?

We are a wife-and-husband writing team, and The Intrepid Three: Animus Revealed is our debut book! We started writing this book in 2020, a few months into the pandemic. Before The Intrepid Three series, we had never written anything together. Separately, in our profession, we write lots of legal documents and medical notes, but we find writing fiction is much more exciting. 

What is the hardest thing about writing for you?

While we believe two heads are better than one for writing this series, it does come with some unique challenges. When we first started writing together, it was difficult to figure out even the simplest details. For instance, it took a few weeks to even decide who would be the primary typist. At every step of the process, we had to combine our individual writing styles, which were rarely the same. Ultimately, we are different people with the same goal, so we continue to refine our creative process. 

What inspired you to write this book?

We were at the beginning of the pandemic and our society appeared to be divided on every front. We felt downtrodden and discouraged. Churches were closed, Christians seemed to be fighting as much as the rest of the country, and we felt isolated. This book was our outlet to pen our frustrations, but more importantly, the beginning of penning our hopes. We wanted to write a Christian allegorical book that reflected the struggles in our society but also presented the redemption found in Christ. 

Is there a message in your book that you want your readers to grasp?

Absolutely. The following passage from our book, The Intrepid Three: Animus Revealed, helps to summarize our message: 

“Be assured, light may seem fickle when it flickers and flutters, but oh, it is much more powerful than dark when it is freed. It adapts, it changes, and it grows. Darkness stays stagnant and depends on the absence of light. Light always has the potential to overcome darkness, if only we allow it.”

We want readers to see reflected in this fictional work some of the flaws in society and ourselves but also see that none of these vices are too big to overcome with Christ and each other. 

Do you have any other books in the works?

Of course! We’ve been bitten by the writing bug. We are currently working on book two of The Intrepid Three series. It is fun to continue to develop our characters and their storylines. We have big things planned for book two.  

What do you do when you aren’t writing?

Aside from our professional careers in law and medicine, we spend much of our day chasing after our toddler. He’s a ball of energy, talks a mile a minute, and is such a hoot. We enjoy playing board games, exercising, and traveling. For instance, for the past thirteen years, we’ve been visiting Major League Baseball stadiums trying to see them all. We are about two-thirds of the way to our goal. 

What is your favorite Scripture verse, and why?

We really like Psalm 33:5 (NIV), “The Lord loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of his unfailing love.” It is hard to pick a favorite Bible verse, and our favorite changes over time, but this one is especially poignant to us right now. It is a good reminder that God prevails even when our world is struggling. 

Is there anything you would like to say to your readers?

Thank you! We appreciate Interviews and Reviews interviewing us, and we appreciate you for taking the time to read our responses. We hope you enjoy our book and feel connected to its message. We wrote this book with a very diverse cast, so we also hope you will see yourself reflected in the pages. Please reach out to us or connect with us. You can find us on our website at  www.briannamatthewpenfold.com,  on Facebook at www.facebook.com/briannamatthewpenfold.com and on Instagram @briannamatthewpenfold.   

Thank you both for stopping by! And now if you would like to win a copy of The Intrepid Three, just fill out the form below! One print copy will go to one person in the U.S. and one eBook will go to someone outside the U.S. 

RULES: This giveaway runs until Thursday, October 22, 2023. Winners will be notified by email and announced here and on Facebook. Failure to respond within one week will result in someone else being chosen. 

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Congratulations to Natalya Lakhno! You have won a copy of
The Intrepid Three.
​Watch for our email!

​Dez, Arabella, and Walter are seemingly ordinary teenagers from different worlds. Dez is a dejected coder living in Euporia under the oppressive conglomerate E-Corp. Arabella skates through life in an Aurelian aristocratic family. And Walter treads a typical path in the technology-obsessed society of Immerxia.

In a day's time, their lives are turned upside down when they meet Author, the writer of the universe, and discover they have gifts to heal the past, alter the present, and foresee the future. Author implores the three teens to restore their broken worlds. Complicating the kids' decision are supernatural forces working to end humanity and free a dark army from their prison known as Animus.

Can Dez, Arabella, and Walter save their worlds? Jump into The Intrepid Three: Animus Revealed to find out.

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