Article: Author finds wiggle room for his book based on Fatima prophecy.(Knight Ridder Newspapers)

Fiction writing often starts with a simple question, a question that begins with the words "What if ...?"

Such a question occurred to John R. VanBuskirk three years ago. He's a local guy _ married with four kids and a job at Sprint _ and, at the time, an aspiring novelist.

"What if," he thought, "somebody stole the secret of Fatima?"

A tantalizing premise. In 1917, three shepherd children in Fatima, Portugal, reported seeing visions of the mother of Jesus. Two of the visions were revealed years ago. The Vatican has kept the third vision a secret for decades. Five popes chose not to reveal it.

Book jacket blurbs leapt easily to mind: "A ...

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