Crafting an interesting story is more difficult than simply pulling something from today\u2019s headlines. However, in the hands of a gifted storyteller, current events can be an inspiration for profoundly interesting and edifying stories.<\/p>\n
David Pinault is such a storyteller. Pinault is an emeritus professor of Religious Studies at Santa Clara University, and is the author of several books, including\u00a0Providence Blue: A Fantasy Quest<\/em><\/a>\u00a0(Ignatius Press, 2021),\u00a0The Crucifix on Mecca\u2019s Front Porch: A Christian\u2019s Companion for the Study of Islam<\/em><\/a>\u00a0(Ignatius Press, 2018), and\u00a0Museum of Seraphs in Torment: An Egyptological Fantasy Thriller<\/em>.<\/p>\n Pinault\u2019s new book is Earth Dragon Run: A Spiritual Entertainment<\/em><\/a> (Ignatius Press, 2025), a story of faith and international intrigue. Protagonist Daniel Quirk finds himself flung around the world, from San Francisco to the African bushveld, from Hong Kong to Vietnam, evading the Communist Party in China, and helping his friend, her priest uncle, and a pangolin to escape the clutches of the authorities.<\/p>\n Pinault recently spoke with\u00a0Catholic World Report<\/em> about his new book, the role of literature as social commentary, how his faith affects his work as an author, and how Cardinal Zen provided some inspiration.<\/p>\n Catholic World Report:\u00a0<\/strong>How did the book come about?<\/p>\n David Pinault:\u00a0<\/strong>Since 2006, Jody (my wife) and I have served whenever we can as volunteers at wildlife rescue centers and animal shelters in Africa and Southeast Asia. Our work has included rehabilitation for injured animals, anti-poaching patrols in the jungle, removing illegal snares (strangulation wires, a very cruel form of killing) that are rigged to trap protected species in the bushveld, and working alongside rangers and conservation officials on the frontline of combating international wildlife trafficking.<\/p>\n In the course of our work, we learned that the primary market for smuggled animals from throughout Africa and Asia is Communist China. For many years, I have had the growing conviction that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is by far the greatest global threat to confront the free world and the Christian faith since the end of the Second World War.<\/p>\n Our animal rescue work gave additional emotional force to this conviction and also served as one source of inspiration for Earth Dragon Run<\/em>.<\/p>\n CWR:<\/strong>\u00a0The novel seems to be a commentary, of sorts, on current events. Is it a challenge to write such a fictional commentary, making it not too<\/em>\u00a0\u201con the nose\u201d and at the same time not diluting the point?<\/p>\n Pinault:\u00a0<\/strong>It wasn\u2019t hard at all to make\u00a0Earth Dragon Run<\/em>\u00a0a commentary on current events.\u00a0I very much want this work of fiction to be precisely \u201con the nose.\u201d<\/p>\n Readers will see that in this story, I name names and assign blame where it\u2019s due. The advantage to conveying this information as a fictional story instead of as nonfiction journalism is that it allowed me to create characters who face challenges and get into trouble, characters who will draw readers into the narrative and make readers care about what happens to them.<\/p>\n CWR:\u00a0<\/strong>You mention journalism. In fact, you\u2019ve published many nonfiction articles as a freelance writer reporting on developments in various overseas settings.<\/p>\n Pinault:\u00a0<\/strong>That\u2019s right. In recent years, I\u2019ve written pieces on CCP influence operations ranging from Southeast Asia (in countries such as Cambodia) to the Solomon Islands.<\/p>\n For me, the most compelling and urgently timely piece I\u2019ve written as a freelance journalist was drawn from my work in Hong Kong, where Jody and I had the privilege of being invited to dinner with His Eminence Joseph Cardinal Zen. He\u2019s the most courageous man I\u2019ve ever met: fearless in his opposition to the Chinese Communist Party, tireless in speaking up for the countless Chinese Christians who are being so brutally persecuted by the CCP.<\/p>\n In fact, that evening with Cardinal Zen inspired the creation of one of the characters that appear in Earth Dragon Run<\/em>\u2014an individual named Father Jacob Chen, who exposes how the Chinese government under Xi Jinping is suppressing Catholic faith communities.<\/p>\n CWR:\u00a0<\/strong>Can you tell us a bit more about some of the other characters in Earth Dragon Run<\/em>, and what kind of adventures they get into?<\/p>\n Pinault:\u00a0<\/strong>Certainly. The protagonist is a reclusive librarian named Danny Quirk. He gets into trouble at work (a college campus in California) and finds himself suddenly jobless, friendless, restless, and adrift. He\u2019s not sure what to do with himself now, but knows he needs a change. Off-again, on-again (at best) in his Catholic faith, he makes an impulse-stop at a church that leads to a flash decision: leave the States and make a new life overseas.<\/p>\n CWR:\u00a0<\/strong>What does that \u201cnew life\u201d consist of?<\/p>\n Pinault:\u00a0<\/strong>He finds work at an animal refuge in South Africa, where he meets fellow volunteer Zhang \u201cMinnie\u201d Meixing, who\u2019s devoted to protecting the endangered \u201cearth dragon\u201d pangolins that are her special love. But Quirk slowly discovers Minnie is hiding from her past. The Chinese Communist Party has announced a cash bounty for her capture.<\/p>\n CWR:\u00a0<\/strong>Why is arresting Minnie so important to the CCP?<\/p>\n Pinault:\u00a0<\/strong>Because her animal rescue efforts threaten to reveal the Party\u2019s involvement in a network of clandestine enterprises\u2014from wildlife poaching to human trafficking to cyber scams. So the authorities in Beijing decide to do what\u2019s needed to keep all this secret: abduct Minnie and the pangolin she loves best.<\/p>\n CWR:\u00a0<\/strong>You mentioned that Cardinal Zen inspired the creation of a character in Earth Dragon Run<\/em>, someone named Father Jacob Chen.\u00a0What role does Father Chen play in the story?<\/p>\n Pinault:\u00a0<\/strong>He\u2019s Minnie\u2019s uncle, a missionary Catholic priest who is himself on the run from the CCP.\u00a0He has a plan to free both his niece and her pangolin.\u00a0But he\u2019ll need the help of Danny Quirk\u2014who\u2019s not so sure he has the strength, or the faith, to help spring prisoners from a Chinese jail cell.<\/p>\n CWR:\u00a0<\/strong>Why is a pangolin so important to the story, if the novel takes its name from the pangolin\u2019s nickname (\u201cEarth dragon\u201d)? Why isn\u2019t Minnie attached to (and protective of) another endangered species? In other words, is there something about pangolins that makes them particularly the right animal for this story?<\/p>\n Pinault:\u00a0<\/strong>A great question!<\/p>\n One reason pangolins play such a big role in Earth Dragon Run<\/em> is that I\u2019ve worked with them quite a bit at rescue centers in both Southeast Asia and South Africa. I feel that they\u2019re wonderful and mysterious creatures in their own right, well worth knowing about. Also known as \u201cscaly anteaters,\u201d they\u2019re covered with protective scaly armor, and they roll up into a ball when predators try to attack them. People mistake them for reptiles, but they\u2019re actually mammals with furry underbellies\u2014and surprisingly personable.<\/p>\n They also happen to be the most heavily trafficked mammal in the world because of a longstanding Chinese belief that pangolin scales and pangolin flesh are supposedly a cure for a variety of ailments. And the Chinese syndicates that are involved in smuggling pangolins also use their networks for other illegal operations as well\u2014as readers will discover when they read Earth Dragon Run<\/em>.<\/p>\n CWR:\u00a0<\/strong>Tell us about the subtitle: \u201cA Spiritual Entertainment\u201d. What exactly do you mean by that?<\/p>\n Pinault:\u00a0<\/strong>The archaic meaning of \u2018entertainment\u2019 (derived from the French word \u2018entretien<\/em>\u2019) was originally \u2018sustenance,\u2019 \u2018support\u2019 or \u2018maintenance,\u2019 as in providing food and a place to sleep for guests or military troops on the march. Over time,\u00a0it also acquired the sense of offering amusement or providing a convivial ambience for one\u2019s guests.<\/p>\n My hope is that\u00a0Earth Dragon Run<\/em> will amuse readers (as they turn the pages to follow Danny and Minnie and Father Chen in their adventures) and also provide sustenance for anyone looking to strengthen and pursue their own spiritual development.<\/p>\n CWR:\u00a0<\/strong>Broadly, to what extent (and in what ways) does your faith influence your writing? And specifically with this book, how big a part did your faith play in the process?<\/p>\n Pinault:\u00a0<\/strong>In general, my faith as a Catholic shapes everything I write. In this book in particular, I wanted to explore the spiritual development of the protagonist Danny Quirk, who\u2014as noted earlier\u2014starts as very much on-again, off-again in his faith. He\u2019s challenged to grow as he loses his job and then finds himself in stressful new situations: surrounded by strangers in a foreign country, trying to help animals that have been traumatized by smugglers, feeling baffled as he tries to help a young woman (Minnie Meixing) who\u2019s not sure she can trust him.<\/p>\n What Danny faces is difficult, even dangerous, and at first, he\u2019s tempted to quit and retreat to his familiar and solitary old life back in the States. But what diffident and reclusive Catholics like Danny often forget (and I plead guilty to this too!) is that Christ has promised us: wherever two or three are gathered in His name, there He is in the midst of them.<\/p>\n Slowly, Danny discovers: if he finds the courage to interact with others, he can serve as Christ\u2019s hands, engaging actively in this messy world in which God has placed us on assignment.<\/p>\n And of course\u2014as noted earlier\u2014my Catholic orientation to this story was also inspired by the Chinese Christians I met in the course of fieldwork I did for Earth Dragon Run<\/em>, including both Cardinal Zen and the courageous Catholic communities I met in Hong Kong and mainland China.<\/p>\n CWR:\u00a0<\/strong>Is this book just for Catholics, or would it be beneficial for anyone to read? And would you say there is a\u00a0target audience<\/em>\u00a0you were particularly trying to reach?<\/p>\n Pinault:\u00a0<\/strong>Catholics will enjoy Earth Dragon Run<\/em>, but so will anyone who likes international suspense thrillers, travel tales in exotic settings, or adventures to rescue captives held in nasty prisons.\u00a0(\u2018Operation Jungle Crash-Out\u2019 is what Danny\u2019s new friends call the plot to spring Minnie and her pangolin from a Chinese jail cell.)<\/p>\n But if I had to name one target audience in particular, I\u2019d say: readers who are attracted to the prospect of good literary company as they ponder new ways to grow spiritually and feel God\u2019s presence in our world.<\/p>\n If you value the news and views Catholic World Report provides, please consider donating<\/a> to support our efforts. Your contribution will help us continue to make CWR available to all readers worldwide for free, without a subscription. Thank you for your generosity!<\/p>\n Click here<\/a> for more information on donating to CWR. Click here<\/a> to sign up for our newsletter.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/files.catholicworldreport.com\/2026\/01\/earthdragonrun_cover.jpg\")
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