ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Cinematic, faith -driven thrillers for the believing adventurer
Writing books was never on my to do list growing up or even had a thought I could be good at it.On the other hand, I always had a great imagination for extraordinary adventurous and thrilling stories I knew would not only be great books but movies as well. Many of my stories originated when I frequently spent most of my free time in the wilderness backpacking, hunting or climbing tall mountains that allowed my mind, body and soul to be free from busy and demanding city life that has never ending schedules. I finally began putting together my years of ideas and notes to formulate complete story lines that eventually led to publishing my first book in 2020.
To me everyone can write a story if they put effort into it,but what truly pressed me to write was to make a difference in other people’s lives. The majority of writers write to entertain, that’s ordinary, and totally not me. I wanted to go so much further to be extraordinary. To do that, you must help others grow in their soul for the good with true life lessons. When we change people’s hearts and open their minds specifically to the greatness of God, lives are changed, even if they are reading fictional stories.
Another main reason for me writing the way and what I do, is from seeing the types of books and the distasteful and harmful content teenagers are reading. I see this first hand because my wife Dr. Shelly Crager is a principal of one of the largest private Christian Schools in the northwest of the United States, and I blame the lack of Christian authors and realistic uplifting story lines that forces people, especially our youth to read garbage as entertainment and/or for school projects.
Where D.L Crager Came From
I grew up outside of Denver Colorado, at the base of the majestic Colorado Rocky Mountains. Everyday I was inspired by seeing the magnificence of our Creator God looking up at mountain peaks soaring over fourteen thousand feet. For the past three decade my family and I have been living in Idaho where vast wilderness areas tease the eyes and ears with mind blowing sights and sounds.
I write most of the time from home sitting at our island between the kitchen and dining room facing our large picture windows the are giving me wonderous views of inspiration. I also love to write early in the mornings while eating breakfast in my favorite restaurant. I go to the same place so much they give me the same quiet booth and do not have to take my order because they all have it memorized.
I chose to have a pen name for a couple reasons. First, the way my first name is spelled, D a r r a n with an a, there has never been anyone in all my life that ever spelled it correctly or had troubles pronouncing it. My parents wanted to be different with the name they gave me and they unfortunately accomplished that.
They other reason I wanted to us initials in front of my last name for a pen name was that I thought it looked and sounded impressive and would be easy to remember and stick out in the crowd of all the other authors.
The "Why" Behind the Books
I have always had a mission to help other people to have a powerful and close relationship with Jesus Christ like I have with Him. Just knowing of Jesus is not a goal, but to have a personal relationship with Him elevates the human life to extraordinary heights.
While writing exciting and interesting stories that caresses the mind is good, growing the heart, soul and character of others is overwhelmingly the most satisfying blessing one person can do for another. I want readers to be inspired that God is so much bigger than humanity leads Him to be. And to know that Jesus loves them no matter their situations and circumstance. If a reader can gain this from reading an awesome fiction story that changes their lives, I have accomplished my mission.
Why biblical history and archaeology as the backbone of your thrillers?
There are thousands upon thousands of books that discuss history and much of which are theory or speculation driven at best. Yet, there are a few out there that are accurate delivering historical facts. One specific book - The Bible - is and has been proven over and over to be the most accurate historical book of all times pertaining to time periods, dates, societies, geography, and individual people. The Bible is filled with exciting and mind-blowing events and prominent people that changed the course of life. With that being said I love to connect the dots of events and people and come up with fictional faith-based stories that could possibly fill the gaps.
One area that I write about and am very passionate and have extreme conviction is pertaining to the conception of life. In this area everyone, I mean everyone can only have faith in what they believe is true, because no one was there at the beginning. You can have all the equipment and scientific data you want but we will never ever prove, what, how, where and when all things came about. The only data we have to prove the beginning of time and what happened was written down over three thousand five hundred years ago in the Bible. Again, proven to be the most accurate history book of all times, from all walks of life.
Many people use science as a religion and call evolution god (their faith) and do not realize it. You believe what you want but your soul will always be empty of real life. You will never find fulfilling purpose, reason for living or for that matter why even exist if there is no future for you after you’re dead. You will have never mattered for being born or with anything you have done and worked so hard for. Sadly, you will always be striving for happiness (what the world tells humanity is its driving force), which is never caught and always fleeting.
The instructions in the Bible tells humanity that God is the Creator of all things. No one can deny there is something or someone greater than ourselves to have created all things that simply causes everything in our world to be relational with one another. The details from microscopic to universally giant can only exist by design and purpose, there are no reasonable or qualifying explanations beyond that. Why would anyone what to deny that they are loved by a heavenly Father and meant to spend eternity in paradise with Him is beyond me.
With that being said I write from the exciting truths of the Bible. In some of my books I connect the dots of life with things like dinosaurs, angels, heroes of old, and the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.
How does your faith show up in your life and your writing without being preachy?
The last thing anyone wants to read is a boring book that is preachy. Even the Bible is not preachy but filled with powerful and loving instructions, mostly through situations and circumstances. And that’s what I try my best to do in my stories is gently intertwin biblical truths through adventurous human interactions and situations. I learned long ago that we unknowingly try to be the holy spirit in other people’s lives, that’s being preachy! In my books I prayerfully do my best to have the Holy Spirit work through the stories to touch and draw people closer to Him, not me!
Is there any background that lends you authority for these stories
My life has been filled with a plethora of grand experiences that has help catapult me to having a deep and broad mindset to thoroughly be elevated as an interesting and worthy author. One that can captivate an audience with realistic but exciting adventures that keeps the readers yearning for more.
Every since I can remember I was always in the Rocky Mountains, hunting, fishing, hiking, mountain climbing and snow skiing. I have spent endless amount of time being miles away from civilization with what was only in my backpack and the knowledge and experiences trained and learned along the way to be able to survive with practically nothing but my wits.
During my college years I took a month-long survival trek one hundred and fifty miles above the arctic circle through Brooks Range of Alaska. One of the largest wilderness areas in the world. I was flown in on a float plane to a small lake and dropped off. I backpacked for a couple weeks with no trails and only a topographical map to a canoe stashed at another lake next to the Northfork of the Koyukuk River. From there I canoed for almost 2 weeks to the main channel of the Koyukuk River, ending back at Bettles Alaska. In this trek I had so many incredible experiences I don’t know where to begin. Perhaps, waking up to a thick layer of frost only to find out that a large grizzly bear had stepped about 8 inches from my head during the night, leaving the evidence with its paw prints in the frost and I never knew it was there. Or running into a native family living in the middle of nowhere who panned for gold. To which they showed me what they were doing then emptied one small jar out of dozens piling a mound of golden nuggets in my hand. One of my books, “Hiding in the Cloud” is based on this trek. The story line is fiction but the time, place, some characters, and many of the epic situations I experienced I was able to bring to life and weave into this action-packed adventure.
I always excelled in athletics, especially playing soccer. I received a scholarship out of high school to play at the collegiate level, which led to playing in other countries. Giving me an incredible opportunity to see first hand different cultures.
After my college years I worked very had at starting my own business, not wanting to work for someone else and driven to make more money than the average person. I had my ups and downs then finally turned the corner being persistent and having gained powerful knowledge my entrepreneur heart kicked in and over the years I have owned many small businesses in three different states.
After getting my second company off the ground I let my employees run the businesses as I ventured out to do something I always thought would be fun and exciting; being a police officer. The experiences I had are mind blowing. Almost five years in I resigned from this profession. I got my training and experiences I was seeking, but knew this was going to be short lived and not a lifetime career.
Since I was young, I have always had a close relationship with Jesus. I never went or did anything without Him. I definitely was not or ever will be perfect. But my faith in Jesus and guidance by the Holy Spirit, has led me through many tough times. Without hard times, painful situations and being in the valley of life we will never appreciate the mountain tops and peaceful times of plenty. It is because of my faith is why I write what I do.
For several decades my incredible wife and I have been very involved within the church, specifically in leadership positions. Our calling is to come along sides the leaders and support them to be the best they can in what they do and who they are. And to guide the younger generation to level up in wisdom and relationships so we can guide the next generation to thrive not just survive.
I want to finish with one of the greatest experiences I have been blessed to have for almost forty years; being married to the most wonderful woman and friend any man could ever desire; Dr. Shelly Crager. The roller coaster of life definitely has its ups and down. But when you are equally yoked in faith, and the direction, goals and passions you have in life are the same, the downs in life are just as exciting as the ups. Thank you, my love, for always supporting me to be the best man, husband, and father I can be.
In the spring of 2026 I won two awards, with two different books, both through The Bookfest contest. “Battle in the Bedroom”, written with my wife Dr. Shelly Crager won honorable mention for marriage and sexual health and relationships. “Guarding the Past” Revised Edition won third place in the Christian Fiction category.
Do you have a favorite reader reaction, review, or message that captures why your books matter to people?
Shortly after my first book Guarding the Past came out in the fall of 2020, I received one of the most complimentary, sincere and lifechanging letters that an author could ever get from someone that just read their book. A young Christian man finishing high school and heading to college to study paleontology was deeply struggling with his belief in creation and how evolution fit into the picture that we all are forced to learn in school and what society is telling everyone is the (false) truth.
The email he wrote was very long, so I will quote highlights of a few sections that sums up his review and message to me.
“…I have just read the book you wrote, Guarding the Past. I was astonished at how captivated I was with the story, yet that was not what made me write this email. I wrote this because I believe Benaiah” (the main character) “was me! I am an amateur paleontologist and read about archeology semi-regularly. I believe in God but was not fully renewed in His love. I was in the middle of a tug of war knowing God was real in my heart yet, knowing all the knowledge and details of the paleontologist timeline saying life is constantly adapting and creating new ideas on its own. I was in constant turmoil with my life because of the world flooding my mind with sewage knowledge.”
“I was hooked intensely invested in this relatable love that was unexpected to me as well. When Benaiah” (the main character) “was hearing God speaking, I started weeping. After that, me and Benaiah both changed with me hearing God and speaking wisdom beyond my years as did Benaiah. I believe that book was made for me because God wanted his child back. Think about the chances of you thinking about adding dinosaurs to gain my interest. Making the plot interesting to all my likings.”
“I plead with you to make a sequel to this book showing how humanity responds to this known evidence.”
Sincerely
M.J.
1/12/2021
By the way, how this book got into this young man’s hands as he mentions in his letter, was by a teacher in his high school who knew he was struggling in his search for the truth. Had an idea that an adventurous and action-packed Christian book like Guarding the Past that had key components that interested her student -even if it was a fiction book- believed God could speak to him through it, and God faithfully showed up!
Personal & Relatable
I was born and raised in Colorado and did all the outdoor hobbies it provided; hiking, fishing, hunting, snow skiing. My wife of almost 40 years of marriage went to the same middle and high school as I did. We both grew up knowing that Jesus was our Savoir and continue to this day to reflect Christ and share Him all the time. We have 2 adult children and 3 grandchildren. We all know live in Idaho and have for the past twenty-five years.
My wife Dr. Shelly Crager has been a principal for over twenty-five years with a PhD in Educational Leadership and leads in one of the largest private Christian schools in the northwest of the United States. We also serve on the pastoral counsel and as Elders in our church. Shelly and I have another ministry called Crager Ministries (cragerministries.com) to which we counsel and mentor individuals, marriages, and parents through private sessions, seminars and our podcast called Simply Relational.
What is next for the series or your writing, and how can readers stay connected with you
I presently have for 4 adventurous thrilling novels; Guarding the Past Revised Edition, In a Warrior’s Quiver Revised Edition – Prequel to Guarding the Past, Journey of the Hidden Revised Edition and Hiding in the Cloud. I also have 2 nonfiction books written with my wife Dr. Shelly Crager that are about marriage and relationship growth. We both are working on several more marriage and parenting books. As I am in the middle of two more fiction faith-based novels.
I would love to here from you with reviews, feedback or questions about faith from my books. You can go to either DLCrager.com for my fiction books or Cragerministries.com for our relationship books. I am giving away my latest book Hiding in the Cloud. Please enter to win a copy of this book by going to DLCrager.com, I look forward to hearing from you. Straight Ahead with Christ!