Q and A with Author Davis Bunn

Yesterday, I told you about Davis Bunn's latest book, Unlimited. Today, I would like to tell you more about the author, and about the upcoming movie with the same title. 

About the Author

Davis Bunn is a four-time Christy Award-winning, best-selling author now serving as writer-in-residence at Regent's Park College, Oxford University in the United Kingdom. Defined by readers and reviewers as a “wise teacher,” “gentleman adventurer,” “consummate writer,” and “Renaissance man,” his work in business took him to over 40 countries around the world, and his books have sold more than seven million copies in sixteen languages.

Unlimited is Davis’s first screenplay to be released as a major motion picture. The book, Unlimited, is a novelization of the screenplay.

Q & A with Davis Bunn

The storyline in Unlimited is inspired by true events. What actual events inspired the story?

Harold Finch was formerly the founder and CEO of the first management-leadership consulting groups in the US. In the mid-seventies he sold the company to H&R Block for over a hundred million dollars—back when a hundred million actually meant something. Answering God’s call, he has spent the past three decades traveling the world, teaching his concepts for free and helping underprivileged children learn that they do indeed have both a purpose in God’s eyes, and the potential to succeed. His experiences form the basis for this story.

What ignited your idea for the characters to create a device that would convert raw wasted energy into useable power?

I actually wrote the screenplay for the film before writing the novel. This happens occasionally—Godfather and Love Story were both conceived in this order. While working on the film script, the producer and Harold and I were discussing what might work as a basis for the story’s suspense element. We were looking for something that had the means of revealing this ‘unlimited’ potential in people. I don’t actually remember who first came up with the idea of wasted energy, but soon as it was said, we all jumped on it.

Simon Orwell, the protagonist in Unlimited, is a brilliant, cynical electrical engineering student who finds danger irresistible. Did you model his character traits after yourself or anyone you know?

Alas, we all know a Simon. These days, this type of person is all too common. An individual with huge potential, who allows himself or herself to become distracted by the multitude of temptations that basically define modern life. And yes, I do know several such people. Some turn this into hugely productive directions, thank goodness. Usually to do so requires divine help, a clarification of focus, and strength they must reach out and ask to receive.

Many of the characters in the story are orphans. What parallels do you see between the orphans in the story and real-life spiritual orphans?

A beautiful question. While researching the core components of this story, orphanage leaders repeatedly stressed the need to teach orphans to believe in themselves and their natural abilities. Too often they see themselves as lost, without purpose, without a role to play, without chances, without love. What made this story work, I think, is how Simon Orwell shares these same feelings about himself. And how he comes to realize God is the only one to fill this need.

The title, Unlimited, has multiple layers of meaning. What does that title mean to you?

Unlimited was the title brought to me by the film’s producers. When I first began working on this story, it was just that, a title. But as I grew to know Harold, and heard him teach, and read his lesson plan, and then actually applied what he has come to call his ‘Dynamic Life Retreat’ (see Harold full teachings on his website, HaroldFinch.com) I have come to agree with them in their choice. Bringing God into the equation of life’s direction, success, and reaching full potential does reveal the true meaning of Unlimited.

Movie Trailer

Davis Bunn Releases New Book, 'Unlimited'

Where would you turn if you were stuck in Mexico without a passport, your car burned up, and the one person you knew is missing? In Unlimited by Davis Bunn, Simon Orwell crosses the border into Mexico to meet up with a professor he knows well, but a simple presentation on a new energy machine turns into a nightmare. With past regrets and a hit man both on his tail, Simon has to decide whom he can trust, and figure out how to get to the bottom of the death of his friend.

'Unlimited' the movie releases October 16, and after reading the book, I'd really like to see it! Check tomorrow's blog post for a movie trailer and an interview with Davis Bunn.

My Thoughts on the Book

The book is action-packed from beginning to end, and keeps the reader engaged. I like Davis Bunn’s writing style and I like the characters he creates. Even the “bad guys” have some redeeming qualities which I like. It keeps me connected to the story, and wondering who really are the good guys and bad guys. I like that the book has a lot of action, but it’s tastefully done in a way that keeps me hooked as a reader but not so freaked out that I can’t sleep at night. I also like the way the dialogue keeps the action moving forward.

Bunn’s characters are all multi-dimensional. Simon is processing some unfortunate circumstances from his past, as well as past indiscretions. The reader sees his journey and I felt his responses were realistic and not canned. Other characters are also processing emotional baggage: being orphaned, abandoned, afraid of the drug cartel, wounded and needing to forgive, trust issues, and more. I like that Bunn weaves in an element of faith without pasting in unrealistic conversions or preachy moments.

The book is well done, and I highly recommend it to both male and female readers who like a little action along with characters on a journey of self-discovery. My only drawback would be that about 3/4 of the way through, I figured out a significant part of the mystery.

I received a free review copy of the book from the publisher. I am not obligated to write a favorable review.

Synopsis

Simon Orwell is a brilliant student whose life has taken a series of wrong turns. At the point of giving up on his dreams, he gets a call from an old professor who has discovered a breakthrough in a device that would create unlimited energy. He needs Simon's help.

Upon crossing the border, nothing goes as the young man planned. The professor has been killed and Simon is assaulted and nearly killed by members of a powerful drug cartel.

Now he must take refuge in the only place that will help him, a local orphanage. There, Simon meets Harold Finch, the orphanage proprietor who walked away from a lucrative career with NASA and consulting Fortune 500 companies to serve a higher cause.

With Harold's help, Simon sets out on a quest to uncover who killed the professor and why. In due time, he will discover secrets to both the world-changing device and his own unlimited potential.

Want to read the first three chapters? Check Davis Bunn's facebook page for how you can get them free.

Sweepstakes / Giveaway

You could win a $50 Fandango gift card plus UNLIMITED, Davis Bunn's new suspense novel. Ten additional winners will receive a copy of UNLIMITED. Enter right now by clicking this link: http://woobox.com/mp5qew 

Note: Pinning is NOT required to enter (the pins are just for fun). Simply enter your name and e-mail address in the form on Davis Bunn’s Facebook page. You can enter once per email address per day.

Rack up lots of bonus entries each day by sharing the contest with your Facebook and Twitter friends!

Book Feature: When the Morning Glory Blooms

When can a mother’s nightmare also be her greatest blessing? When her teenage daughter gives birth to her first grandchild and continues being a teenager. In Cynthia Ruchti’s book, When the Morning Glory Blooms, readers walk through the journey of mom ‘Becky’ as she parents both her daughter Lauren and her grandson. It’s a heart-tugging story that draws the reader in, wondering, would I be as gracious as Becky? But that isn’t the only story in the book. Woven throughout the book are the stories of two other women, Anna, and Ivy. The stories take the reader through three different eras with the women, with an underlying thread that ties them all together.

That thread is what makes this book special. Each woman is affected in some way but premature motherhood. By this I mean mothers who are young, single, and striving to figure out what to do.

Ruchti artfully weaves a theme into the book without preaching at readers or bashing unwed mothers. Instead, she draws the reader in to explore the subject in a way that leaves them wondering what they would do in similar circumstances. Gone is the judging, replaced by a climate of grace that only comes from a writer who has lived it and understood the complexity of loving a young person through the process of stumbling and getting back up again.

A great read. I loved the blend of historical and contemporary. 

Want to know more about the author? Check out Hope that Glows in the Dark.