Nick Chamberlain
Walk into the world of Papillon, the smiley-faced clown, Jingles, his elf "forever friend," Ann, the sweet-faced doll, Kippi and Kuppu, the monkeys, and all the other "Stuffies" who live in Stuffyland. They have so much fun together...you’ll see.
Somehow, each of them can tell in their Stuffy head and in their Stuffy heart just when a child like you needs them...and they know just how to give a hug and make you laugh. After all, that's what Stuffies do best. Seventeen warm and whimsical tales to help children learn how to make new friends, handle their fears, deal with loneliness and difficult times, and look forward with joy to growing up.
From the instant the cell door clanged shut behind him, Peter, a disciple of Jesus of Nazareth, knew his life would end. When was the only question remaining. There would be no mercy from the brutal Roman guard Canisius—only insult and pain. Now, on the eve of his crucifixion, Peter sits in the dark, remembering…searching longingly through the mists of time for fresh glimpses of the One he had first met by the Jordan River so many years ago.
Meanwhile, young John Mark shivers in fear as he approaches the dread Tullianum, the dungeon where his friend and teacher has been imprisoned for nine long months. But once inside, Mark’s fears slowly retreat as Peter speaks with hope and peace of the nights and days on the shores of Lake Galilee…spent with the other disciples in the company of the One who changed him—and can change us too—for all eternity.
After receiving a strange, garbled phone message from his friend, Lawrence—minister, mercenary, and teacher—Johnny drives through the night and pelting rain to his friend’s mountain home, a converted church, high in the Rockies. He finds a note: They’ve come. And I am going with them. This is it. The “great adventure.” Maybe the last one. Time to find my faith again. Second chance. But what do the cryptic words mean?
The next spring Lawrence’s notebook appears on the old altar in the cabin. As Johnny turns the pages, the fallen world of Naphal comes to life, a world in which even the light is darkness, and terror, and temptation, and beings of night fill the land. To this world Lawrence has come, to receive the stone of light. And in this world, at the Tor of Skull, where the worm Shamir guards the gateway, is found the great test of faith.
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Nick Chamberlain
Nick Chamberlain, author of Galilean Nights, The Worm Within the Skull, and The Adventures of Papillon the Clown, is a minister in the Congregational Church. He earned an M.Th. degree from Dallas Seminary and an M.A. in literature from the University of Texas, Arlington. He has taught college English, writing, and journalism classes. His articles have appeared in magazines such as Christianity Today, and his play, The Savior of the World, was published in an anthology by CSS Publishing Company.
The Adventures of Papillon the Clown stories were first told, lived, and acted out with the Chamberlains' three daughters, Jennifer, Tabitha, and Emily, before at last finding their way into print. Nick and his wife, Rosana, are trained and certified family teachers through Father Flanagan's Boys' and Girls' town in Nebraska and worked for several years with Presbyterian Children's Services in Waxahachie, Texas.
www.nickchamberlain.net