A “spiritual entertainment” inspired by faith, international intrigue, and Cardinal Zen

Crafting an interesting story is more difficult than simply pulling something from today’s headlines. However, in the hands of a gifted storyteller, current events can be an inspiration for profoundly interesting and edifying stories.

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 Providence Blue: A Fantasy Quest (Ignatius Press, 2021), The Crucifix on Mecca’s Front Porch: A Christian’s Companion for the Study of Islam (Ignatius Press, 2018), and Museum of Seraphs in Torment: An Egyptological Fantasy Thriller.

Pinault’s new book is Earth Dragon Run: A Spiritual Entertainment (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.

Pinault recently spoke with Catholic World Report 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.

Catholic World Report: How did the book come about?

David Pinault: 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.

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.

Our animal rescue work gave additional emotional force to this conviction and also served as one source of inspiration for Earth Dragon Run.

CWR: The 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 “on the nose” and at the same time not diluting the point?

Pinault: It wasn’t hard at all to make Earth Dragon Run a commentary on current events. I very much want this work of fiction to be precisely “on the nose.”

Readers will see that in this story, I name names and assign blame where it’s 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.

CWR: You mention journalism. In fact, you’ve published many nonfiction articles as a freelance writer reporting on developments in various overseas settings.

Pinault: That’s right. In recent years, I’ve written pieces on CCP influence operations ranging from Southeast Asia (in countries such as Cambodia) to the Solomon Islands.

For me, the most compelling and urgently timely piece I’ve 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’s the most courageous man I’ve 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.

In fact, that evening with Cardinal Zen inspired the creation of one of the characters that appear in Earth Dragon Run—an individual named Father Jacob Chen, who exposes how the Chinese government under Xi Jinping is suppressing Catholic faith communities.

CWR: Can you tell us a bit more about some of the other characters in Earth Dragon Run, and what kind of adventures they get into?

Pinault: 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’s 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.

CWR: What does that “new life” consist of?

Pinault: He finds work at an animal refuge in South Africa, where he meets fellow volunteer Zhang “Minnie” Meixing, who’s devoted to protecting the endangered “earth dragon” 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.

CWR: Why is arresting Minnie so important to the CCP?

Pinault: Because her animal rescue efforts threaten to reveal the Party’s involvement in a network of clandestine enterprises—from wildlife poaching to human trafficking to cyber scams. So the authorities in Beijing decide to do what’s needed to keep all this secret: abduct Minnie and the pangolin she loves best.

CWR: You mentioned that Cardinal Zen inspired the creation of a character in Earth Dragon Run, someone named Father Jacob Chen. What role does Father Chen play in the story?

Pinault: He’s Minnie’s uncle, a missionary Catholic priest who is himself on the run from the CCP. He has a plan to free both his niece and her pangolin. But he’ll need the help of Danny Quirk—who’s not so sure he has the strength, or the faith, to help spring prisoners from a Chinese jail cell.

CWR: Why is a pangolin so important to the story, if the novel takes its name from the pangolin’s nickname (“Earth dragon”)? Why isn’t 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?

Pinault: A great question!

One reason pangolins play such a big role in Earth Dragon Run is that I’ve worked with them quite a bit at rescue centers in both Southeast Asia and South Africa. I feel that they’re wonderful and mysterious creatures in their own right, well worth knowing about. Also known as “scaly anteaters,” they’re 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’re actually mammals with furry underbellies—and surprisingly personable.

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—as readers will discover when they read Earth Dragon Run.

CWR: Tell us about the subtitle: “A Spiritual Entertainment”. What exactly do you mean by that?

Pinault: The archaic meaning of ‘entertainment’ (derived from the French word ‘entretien’) was originally ‘sustenance,’ ‘support’ or ‘maintenance,’ as in providing food and a place to sleep for guests or military troops on the march. Over time, it also acquired the sense of offering amusement or providing a convivial ambience for one’s guests.

My hope is that Earth Dragon Run 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.

CWR: 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?

Pinault: 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—as noted earlier—starts as very much on-again, off-again in his faith. He’s 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’s not sure she can trust him.

What Danny faces is difficult, even dangerous, and at first, he’s 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.

Slowly, Danny discovers: if he finds the courage to interact with others, he can serve as Christ’s hands, engaging actively in this messy world in which God has placed us on assignment.

And of course—as noted earlier—my 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, including both Cardinal Zen and the courageous Catholic communities I met in Hong Kong and mainland China.

CWR: Is this book just for Catholics, or would it be beneficial for anyone to read? And would you say there is a target audience you were particularly trying to reach?

Pinault: Catholics will enjoy Earth Dragon Run, but so will anyone who likes international suspense thrillers, travel tales in exotic settings, or adventures to rescue captives held in nasty prisons. (‘Operation Jungle Crash-Out’ is what Danny’s new friends call the plot to spring Minnie and her pangolin from a Chinese jail cell.)

But if I had to name one target audience in particular, I’d say: readers who are attracted to the prospect of good literary company as they ponder new ways to grow spiritually and feel God’s presence in our world.

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