“Warsafe” poster.

Courtesy | Amazon

In addition to graduating in May, senior Lauren Smyth will be releasing her fourth sci-fi novel.

Smyth’s book, “Warsafe”  explores the parallel existence of a video game and the real life beta-tester. Smyth said the story was developed from an idea that she had originally hoped to turn into a video game.

“I actually had a dream when I was about 13, and then I was like, ‘That would actually make a cool video game,’” Smyth said. “I was into programming video games when I started writing ‘Warsafe,’ but that’s way too complicated of a game for me to code, so I thought ‘maybe I’ll just write it into a book instead.’” 

General Manager of the Hillsdale College Radio Station Scot Bertram said he has high expectations for the plot of this book based on his experience with her past writings.

“She’s done a great job of protecting the plot for the reveal and release of the book,” Bertram said. “What I’ve seen from her other works indicates we should expect sci-fi/fantasy packed with adventure, action, and intrigue.”

According to Smyth, the book is set in Seattle and is full of mystery and action. It aims to bring readers into the suspense of discovering the real intent behind a seemingly harmless video game. According to Enclave Publishing, with both the characters inside the game and in the outside world being forced to come together, the book asks, “Could Warsafe’s mission be critical enough to justify its cruelty?”

According to Smyth, the process of publishing this book was full of ups and downs, although having already published three books prior to coming to college and discovering Enclave Publishing helped her navigate the process. 

“I found them on Instagram. And they just have gorgeous book covers,” Smyth said. “I was looking at their social media posts, and I was just like ‘Well that would be a cool company to work with someday!’”

Smyth said she sent in her manuscript to Enclave and had to wait two full years to hear back that her book had been accepted. The importance of getting this Christian novel out into the book space, dominated by secular fiction, helped Smyth to have confidence even when the waiting phase was longer than expected and when the book got mixed up with another at Enclave, delaying the experience even longer!

“There was a lot of spiritual protection on it, but there was also a lot of attack on it,” Smyth said.

Smyth’s publicist at Enclave, Trissina Kear, said working with Smyth has been a positive experience.

“As a Christian publisher, seeing her heart on fire for God and keeping with the values we have as a company has been great,” Kear said. “Always makes us excited to see what a young author like this will do in the many years of a career ahead of them.”

Smyth has been writing her entire life. She laughingly recalled how, even at the beach, her parents would find it nearly impossible to keep her from typing away on her laptop.

“I don’t remember a time when I wasn’t writing,” Smyth said. “I remember taking sheets of printer paper and I would fold them in half and draw a cover on it and write like three sentences in the middle with marker and illustrate it and call that a book. And I would make my parents buy this for a quarter all the time.”

According to Smyth she fell in love with the idea of writing intense action novels at a young age after working on set for a Christian “end times” film, “The Reliant.” There, she met the screenwriter of the movie, which was based on his own book. Smyth said she knew then that she wanted to write a sci-fi novel. 

“I always found that I couldn’t find the level of intense action that I wanted in a book without it being completely not age appropriate in other ways,” Smyth said. “I think a lot of times what we think of as Christian fiction tends to just avoid dealing with hard topics, instead of addressing it in ways that aren’t focusing on the evils of the detriment.”

After signing the contract for her first book with Ambassador International at 13 years old, Smyth has continued to expand on her portfolio. In addition to publishing three books prior to “Warsafe,” she has created several video games and hosts the award-winning podcast “The Grammar Minute.” 

“She’s been a stalwart at the radio station from her first year on campus and continues to produce incredible content,” Bertram said.

Smyth said she plans to continue writing forever and to move to Nashville and work at Post Hill Press immediately upon graduating. 

“I think if I tried to stop writing, I probably couldn’t,” Smyth said. “Somehow I’ve managed to write books alongside writing papers, and I also work as a journalist. I’m writing articles and writing scripts for podcasts. I just love to write, and I do it all the time.”

When “Warsafe” comes out this spring, the books will be available for purchase at all typical book stores: such as Barnes & Noble and Amazon. In the meantime, Enclave Publishing said they can be pre-ordered for 20% off on their website:   https://www.enclavepublishingstore.com/warsafe-hardcover. 

“Lauren is unstoppable,” Bertram said. “Her drive to succeed and be the best version of herself possible is a trait that will serve her well no matter what direction she pursues in the future. We’re just seeing the tip of what she’s capable of accomplishing.”