One of the turning points in my creative career was having the good fortune of meeting my current partner, bestselling author, and  screenwriter of "Time Architects”: Gunner Alan Lindbloom. 

 

Before meeting Gunner, I had a very clear vision of who I was going to need to bring Time Architects to the Big Screen. Someone with an extraordinary destiny. This person had to have undergone a profound transformation in his life without breaking, truly discovering his true destiny—the reason for his existence in this world. I knew that the chance of finding someone like that was slim. A one in a million... Still, I had to search. I needed a spiritual writing brother who would understand how my mind works, as the Time Architects trilogy is multi-layered. I needed a writer who could understand these layers and inject them into the screenplay. That person was Gunner Alan Lindbloom. His presence in my life, his belief in "Time Architects," and in me, have strengthened my own faith immensely and provided a powerful impetus for the realization of this project. After reading his two bestselling TO BE A KING novels, I realized that my intuition about him was spot on. This man was a brilliant writer, the elite of the elite. He was the person I needed to write my script. Gunner is not just a writer (he wrote 9 novels while in prison for 13 years), he is a strategist and psychologist. He has the rare and very special gift of knowing how the minds of his audience think, better than even they know. More importantly, however, he is one of those rare writers who were born to be a writer. He has the gift of creativity that we all wish we had. Not writing (storytelling) for him is tantamount to death. It would break his soul. A documentary about his life has been filmed and is currently in post production. A true crime serial drama based on his life is also in development, starring four time Golden Globe nominated and Emmy Award winning Actor - Armand Assante.
 
Despite the differences in our life paths, Gunner and I have so much in common. First and foremost, we both have vulnerable hearts who see all things as possible. The second and equally important thing we share is the knowledge of a divinely prescribed path and endless faith in it. We both have a willingness to go all the way. The third factor is our scale of thought, independent of external circumstances. And lastly is our foundation: We are both obsessed about achieving our goals. We lack the doubt most people have. We know, without a doubt, our day is coming.

I believe these factors are what brought us so close as we spent months and months working on the script. Time Architects turned our collaboration into an incredible friendship and creative partnership for which there are no limits. Essentially, it made us Time Architects.

Below is Gunner's bio:

 

Alan Gunner Lindbloom grew up surrounded by the Detroit Mafia. His mother was mentally ill and his father was an abusive alcoholic. His parents divorced when he was four and he moved in with his grandparents. His grandfather, Peter Tocco Sr., was the cousin of Giacomo Tocco, reigning boss of the Detroit Mafia. Living with his grandparents, Gunner was exposed to high-level organized crime figures, infamous mobsters, and even killers. The closest thing he had to a role model was his uncle Peter Tocco Jr., an up-and-coming young hood who was only 12 years his senior. By age 14, Gunner, was expelled indefinitely from school. Crime and arrests became his life for the next 16 years. Wanting to be accepted by the bad men around him, he did whatever they asked, including violence. An FBI agent would later describe him as “a violent enforcer for the Detroit Mafia."

 

In 2003, at age 29, Gunner was arrested after a crime spree and indicted on 17 capital crimes, ranging from bank robbery to extortion. He was sentenced to 13-50 years in prison, where something miraculous happened. During a 19 month stretch in solitary confinement ("the hole"), he had a spiritual awakening and decided he'd had enough of being a bad guy. He wanted to be a good guy. That day, he committed his life to change. Not long after that day, he discovered he had a remarkable God-given talent for writing.

 

In prison, Gunner became a writing zealot, penning about one novel a year. But something miraculous happened in year six of his sentence. A woman named Maria, who worked for a New York publisher, discovered sample chapters of a book his friend had posted on Facebook. Impressed, this woman sent him a letter and asked to read his full manuscript. When she did, she wrote him a letter and called him a "unicorn," declaring his book the best book she ever read! After vowing to help him get the book published, they became pen-pals and wrote each other daily for months. Soon their friendship blossomed into a fairytale. Over the next year, they fell madly in love through literally hundreds of letters, and  became engaged to be married before they ever spoke a single word. Maria waited faithfully 7 years for his release in 2016. The day after his release, they married in a small town courthouse in northern Michigan. Twenty minutes later, both were baptized in Lake Huron by the same friend who posted the sample chapters that caused their fates to intersect 7 years earlier. 

 

A few months after his release, Gunner published his debut novels, TO BE A KING, Volumes 1 & 2. Within days, Volume #1 cracked the top #50 in the Mafia genre, peaking at #28. Volume 2 had even better results, peaking at #3. Fans began calling the series "the next Godfather," begging for a movie. Shortly after releasing his books, Gunner launched "OUR THING" Apparel, a line of urban and athletic clothing that now sells around the world. Gunner is the author of 10 novels, 9 of which he wrote in prison. He and his wife own White Pine Publishing and Consulting where he ghostwrites, coaches writers, works as a developmental editor, and helps aspiring authors publish amazing books.

 

Gunner's miraculous journey is currently being made into a Netflix-style documentary, as well as a scripted TV series starring 5x Golden Globe nominated actor, Armand Assante. Gunner also works as an inspirational speaker and personal development coach. Along with writing and helping people be their best selves, his passions are trout fishing, bow hunting, camping, and all facets of outdoor adventure--the things he dreamed of in prison. He and Maria remain blissfully married and have been a couple now for almost 15 years. They live on a remote 20-acre homestead in the wilderness of northern Michigan, their version of paradise. They have 4 cats, 5 chickens, and together they revel in domestic life. Gunner says the life he lives today is the life he dreamed of in prison. A life filled with purpose and peace and great aspirations. His miraculous life is proof that God is real, prayer has power, and dreams can come true. His mission today is simple: Inspire hope, change, and purpose. Everyone deserves love, peace, and a second chance. Nobody is beyond redemption. He's proven it.