This week I am thrilled to have J. A. Webb back on my blog for another author spotlight!
J. A. Webb is a former atheist and now a devoted follower of Christ, military veteran, husband, father, small business owner, and Genesis award-winning author of thrilling Christian fiction, writing from his four acre farmstead located on the rolling plains of the upper Midwest, USA.
First off, welcome to my blog. It’s so great to have you here!
Thanks so much for having me, and by the way- congratulations on winning the International Impact Book awards this year!
Thank you!
What first sparked your passion for storytelling, and how has your journey as a writer evolved over time?
As a kid during a time when there was no cable TV, and in a place where our- antique-even-then black and white TV got only two stations- there weren’t the plethora of distractions available to current kids. We played outside when it was nice . . . and we read.
What a blessing that was! It gave me the opportunity at a very young age to discover the magic of books and the fantastic new worlds stories opened to me. I’ve been an avid reader ever since.
But, when finally saved well into adulthood, that passion for reading ran straight into a new conundrum. The speculative fiction I’d once so loved now lost much of it’s enjoyment- because of the anti-God worldview so prevalent in the genre. And to find Christian-made Speculative fiction written for-and-to men was really, really difficult. There’s not much out there.
That, combined with what became a strong call to enter the battle for our culture through the Power of Story, started me on my current obsession to write.
And though I’d made several abortive attempts to write multiple times in the past. This time the story just flowed, as if God had placed a story on my heart that I just had to tell. What fun!
What unique aspects of your faith influence your storytelling style or the themes you explore?
I’d been an adamant atheist for several decades into adult life, so it’s impossible to overstate the thrill I experienced when the light of God shone into that darkness that had, for so long, overwhelmed my life.
When, as a new believer and reading the Bible for the first time, I experienced another thrill when discovering the miracles of God as portrayed in the Old Testament.
Oh, I’d heard those stories before. I did grow up in a church, though unfortunately one which had long before fallen to the lie of liberal theology, and that church did present those old Bible stories in Sunday School classes.
I’d been told the tales of the Parting of the Red Sea, of the Pillar of Fire by Night, of Jonah and the Great Fish . . . but the telling possessed no power, the recital tepid and rote, the majesty and glory of those stories lost to an over-familiar and boring presentation, no more than fairy tales, mythology with no real connection to reality . . . or to the lives of the teachers or the students.
But when reading the Old Testament with the eyes of a new believer, those stories pierced my newly remodeled heart, brought a thrill to course through my soul. How fantastic, how marvelous the workings of God, the epic revelation of Himself to mankind!
And I set out to portray not only the darkness of a life lived without the Knowledge of God- and that same thrill I felt when I found my Creator for the very first time- but also the indescribable awe I felt when first reading, with those new eyes, the Old Testament stories of God’s supernatural workings He used in His Revelation of Himself to us.
I hope, that when readers discover The Seekers Series, that they feel that same thrill when they experience, through the Power of Story, Light overcoming Darkness, that same awe as they experience God’s wondrous power as, in my stories, He once again reveals Himself to a world which has forgotten Him.
It’s my prayer that readers find the series to be an epic, thrilling, and miraculous tale of God working in the life of ordinary, lost men in a future world where the Bible has been lost to living memory, where to seek Truth is a capital offense.
And as one last note- I’d like readers to know that based on a number of requests, both Fragments: Book One of the series and Inheritance: Book Two of the series, are available on Kindle Unlimited for a short time.
Do you have a favorite Bible verse or passage that has guided your writing or life journey?
Psalm 96:1-3
Oh sing to the LORD a new song;
sing to the LORD, all the earth!
Sing to the LORD, bless his name;
tell of his salvation from day to day.
Declare his glory among the nations,
his marvelous works among all the peoples!
This verse reminds me not only of the call to “go out and make disciples of all the nations”, the call we all answer when we create thrilling tales that share His story, but the gladness of my heart at having found Him, after many years searching for truth and meaning in all the wrong places.
Who are some of your favorite Christian authors, and how have they influenced your work?
I love the work of Jerry Jenkins, especially the Left Behind Series, which I read at a time that I had not yet found the Lord, but was seeking Him, and those stories were one of the catalysts which caused me to begin seeking the truth in earnest.
And I also have to include Frank Peretti, because he is one of the few Christian writers who attempted to portray in story the reality of the unseen battle happening all around us, every day. A hard thing to illustrate, and a calling I strive to meet in my own writing.
If you could collaborate with any Christian author, living or deceased, who would it be and why?
There are several I’d love to work with, but I’d have to choose Jerry Jenkins, in part because of the impact his books have had on my life, and in part because his online courses were so incredibly helpful when, as a new writer, I began the painful process of learning craft, at a time when I didn’t even know what I didn’t know- much less where to go to begin learning.
What’s your favorite scene or moment in the book, and why does it hold special meaning for you?
As I already mentioned earlier, I have a particular love for the way God works His will in the affairs of men, and sometimes miraculously. And I think we, with our modern sensibilities, undervalue and under-appreciate the power of those moments in His story.
So often in the Old Testament (not to mention the New Testament), God used miracles to protect His chosen vessels and to move His plan forward. In my most recent novel, Inheritance, I wrote a scene in which God does the same.
In this scene, the protagonists find themselves in an impossible position, their destruction all but assured.
And the God moves—powerfully! (If you are going to include the excerpt at the bottom of the document- insert this next sentence) I’ve included an excerpt of this scene at the end of this blog.
It gives me chills to read this scene, even today, just as it does to read similar scenes in the Bible.
I hope this chapter brings the same chills to the hearts of believers who read it, and inspires any unbeliever who reads this book to seek out the the even more fantastic true miracles to be found in God’s word.
How do you incorporate prayer or spiritual reflection into your writing routine?
In my stories, I try to represent the Biblical truths that have so blessed my own life, all the more identifiable to me, having lived decades lacking such.
And I try to express the joy I’ve felt discovering these truths, and the awe I’ve felt when reading His story.
For me, writing these stories are a kind of worship, my way of praising God and His word by expressing these things in new ways for others to enjoy.
I think this is just one example of how, as Allen Arnold puts it, we as Christian authors invite our Creator into our lives and into our writing, and “co-create with God”.
What do you enjoy most about connecting with readers, and what feedback has resonated deeply with you?
As an author, there are few things so precious as a note from a reader telling you how much they loved your stories. Writing is like giving a gift, but a gift we rarely have the opportunity to deliver in person, so to learn that your gift touched the heart of another- well, there’s nothing better than that.
How do you celebrate the completion of a book, and what does that milestone mean to you?
LOL. Finishing a book means I get to work on that next book that’s been burning in my imagination and filling my Notes app with all the exciting scenes that have been playing themselves out in my imagination . . . and now I get to start putting them on the page! Woo-hoo!!
What advice would you give to aspiring authors who are just starting out?
Learn craft. Write every day. Write short stories and share them in online magazines, fan fiction sites, and in contests like the ACFW First Impressions, so you can learn from that immediate feedback.
Don’t let your stories sit in a drawer, worrying they’re “not good enough. There they will do no good for you or for the world.
Lose your bashfulness and put your stories out there!
Lastly, before you go…Can you talk about any upcoming projects or books you’re working on?
As we speak I’m in the process of finalizing the third book in The Seekers Series, Interregnum, and it’s been such a joy.
And for those of you who’ve read Fragments and Inheritance, I have but one thing to say. If you thought the tension ramped up in Inheritance, buckle your seatbelt, cause you’ve seen nothing yet!
Now for his book, Fragments.
A people enslaved.
A band of heroes on an epic quest to uncover a lost truth.
An ancient secret waiting to set them free . . .
An Epic Thriller of Deception, Faith, and the Fight for Truth
The Order has been betrayed. The hunters have been loosed.
Father Curtis has forsaken his vows. He has left the Order and joined the Seekers, a hidden rebellion dedicated to uncovering the truth long buried by the global church. But walking away from the Order does not mean escaping its reach.
When word spreads that a copy of the True Text — the original thirty-nine books of the Creator — has surfaced on the far side of the world, Curtis, Professor Reuel, and Phillip embark on a desperate mission. If they can retrieve the artifact, it could change everything. If they fail, the truth will be lost forever.
But the Eye of the Eternal, the secret police of the Order, has already mobilized. Their assassins are relentless. Their power is absolute. And they will stop at nothing to silence the truth.
Outnumbered and hunted, Curtis and his allies must risk everything to defy an empire built on deception. But against such overwhelming darkness, is faith enough? Or will their inheritance — humanity’s true past — be erased from history once and for all?
And J. A. Webb has teased us with a snippet from his book:
For the first time, Phillip knew true terror. His knees jellied, his throat closed, his mind dithered—all conscious thought lost, smoth-red in this blackout, this psychic overload.
And then, there it was again, that shining form, that man out there on the water. But now, it was not the form of a man, but of a great desert lion, terrible in its power. It charged toward the approaching darkness, then opened its maw with a deafening roar, vibrating the molecules of the air, of Phillip’s being.
Time stopped.
Nothing moved, not the boat, the wind, or the water. The roiling clouds hung stationary inches from the bow, an oily black glacier. The appendages advancing from that darkness held frozen like the trunks of mammoths caught in sudden ice, reaching for a last gasp of air.
Then time surged ahead. The radiating blast wave of something—not force or even energy, but of intention—pulsed from where the lion had been. It flashed outward in an expanding sphere, not seen but sensed as it passed over the boat, over Phillip.
The dark beings, the greasy clouds, the sound and wind, rolled up like a scroll, receded, fled as if sucked into another dimension, moving at a ninety-degree angle from everything that could be felt and seen.
And then it was gone. The water was again glassy, the sun bright in a heart-achingly blue sky.
Make sure to check out J. A. Webb's Website and Newsletter Sign-up: https://jawebbauthor.com/