Gaylor pens ‘Seventh Trail’

Christian writer Mike Gaylor invites readers to walk “The Seventh Trail: Journey to the Well of Chayah.”

The Jacksonville pastor has contributed a religious column to the Record since 2016. His new self-published work is under the pen name MJ Gaylor. 

“It’s an allegory about the Christian life,” Gaylor said. 

The story centers on clockmaker Bisbee Saxton as he journeys to the Well of Chayah. 

Set in the 1880s, the tale includes Saxton’s battles with demons and conversations with talking forest animals that guide him along the way. It was important to show darkness through characters like Toe-Bleed and Spit-Yak and light through Marnin, who is a man, but who may also prove to be more than mortal, according to Gaylor. 

“I wanted the supernatural to collide with the natural because I think it does in many ways that we don’t see,” he said. “And so I wanted to introduce talking animals to introduce the idea of mystery; the idea of the intangible world that we don’t see that is very possible there. It all goes into the end when he discovers that Well of Chayah and that it’s something that he can’t tangibly grab onto, but it changes his life, so the animals are a vehicle to help the reader understand that there are mysteries that are real.” 

The 406-page novel is filled with symbolism similar to other works like C.S. Lewis’ “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe” or John Bunyan’s “The Pilgrim’s Progress.” 

“It’s a fun story,” Gaylor said. “It’s a story that will not only entertain, but if you carefully read it, you’ll see symbolism and you’ll see truths within the story. The story will take you to a place that maybe you didn’t expect. And that in the end, things are resolved and freedom’s found, but not without tension, loss and struggle.” 

Even with its Christian undertones, the author believes the story will appeal to a broad audience as Saxton works through inner and external conflicts. 

“There is a darkness,” Gaylor said. “There’s a beast within all of us. And no matter what we try to do, whether through education, through religion, through self-expression, psychology, through anything, we cannot be free apart from what I describe in the book as the Well of Chayah.”

He continued, “Chayah is joy. … I want the reader to discover that the darkness and beast within us is one that we all share, expressed in different ways, and that there is victory and freedom. ‘The Seventh Trail’ would be the trail of grace and the well is a picture of the cross and our co-crucifixion with Christ and the freedom of the resurrection power within us. That’s what I want to get to at the end.” 

Gaylor worked on the project for nearly four years. 

“About halfway through the process of writing, I’m what writers call a ‘pantser.’ I fly by the seat of my pants,” he said. “I’ve got a general idea where I want to go, but I’m making this thing up as I go and a lot of time with the book as I wrote, I’d come to a dead end and all of sudden just this story opened up.” 

The story’s setting is rural and in keeping with the topography that one might find in upstate New York, where Gaylor was raised. 

“So I grew up with a lot of that countryside, a lot of that rural,” he said.  “And I love the simpler time period where you have a clockmaker and where you have a small community. I just love that simpler time when it was rural and I guess that’s where it came from.” 

The book also contains colorful character names such as trapper Hezzy Hugabone. 

“There was an actual Hezzy Hugabone in my town who walked through the streets with an old grocery cart in Army fatigues,” Gaylor said. “Get the beginning of a character then get your pen and paper and follow him around and watch him and then let him develop.” 

The author plans to pen another book based on Saxton’s extended family. 

“The Seventh Trail” may be purchased online at www.bisbeesworld.org.