The Tale of the Orphan Magician follows a gifted but emotionally scarred orphan, caught in the swirl of political chaos and ancient conflict across the magical continent of Amaratzim. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?

In all of my Kingdom Quest series books, I’ve sought to address the societal, emotional, sexual, and theological struggles young adolescents face today. According to the CDC, 42% of adolescents report persistent feelings of sadness and hopelessness—a 50% increase since 2011. Additionally, 46% of teens aged 13–17 say social media makes them feel worse about their body image.

In The Tale of the Unlikely Prince, I explored themes of identity, the longing for approval, and the pain of failure. In The Storyteller’s Tale, we confronted identity confusion, abusive parenting, depression, and the challenge of forgiveness. The Garden Tale turned its focus to addiction—particularly the insidious effects of social media addiction. Each of these stories wrapped weighty, core-level emotional struggles in the trappings of fantasy—quests, dragons, the clash between good and evil—all grounded in hope.

I’ve long admired the fantasy philosophies of C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien. They wrote their stories to offer hope to a generation of teens scarred by the trauma of World War II. Their tales drew clear distinctions between good and evil and hinted at a hidden, benevolent force guiding events toward a just and redemptive end. Consolation was key: in their worlds, good ultimately triumphed over evil. They believed such stories, absorbed into the hearts of young readers, could nurture hope, security, and joy.

I agree deeply. And I am troubled by how many modern fantasies seem to do the opposite—amplifying anxiety, loneliness, and insecurity rather than offering relief from them.

There was a lot of time spent crafting the character traits in this novel. What was the most important factor for you to get right in your characters?

I tried to make my characters very relatable to today’s teens. Teens can smell a fake. The characters in my book should be dealing with the very same issues today’s teens are. That makes it easier for teens to enter the sandals of my characters and walk with them as they find resolution, hope and consolation.

What were some themes that were important for you to explore in this book?

All of us, and in particular teens, are subconsciously jonesing for that relationship, that embrace, that look, that hug and kiss that communicates to them that they are adored as they are. This is our core ‘search for father’ that we mention in the book. Per child psychologist Urie Bronfenbrenner, “Every child needs at least one adult who is irrationally crazy about him or her.” Adults too. Theologically, I believe that is the ultimate message of Christianity, which believes that there is a God who innately loves the unlovable, the unloved, and the unlovely, and that’s all of us on any given day, if we were just a little bit honest. Whether one believes that or not, it seems obvious that all of us are longing for such a relationship.

Here’s how I like to describe it to young teens. When you enter a room, there is part of you that longs for people to notice your presence and then stand and applaud you—not because of what you have done, but just because you are who you are and you deserve such an honor. On the other hand, there is another part of you that would be scared to death such a thing might happen.

Will there be a follow-up novel to this story? If so, what aspects of the story will the next book cover?

The Tale of the Orphan Magician is the fourth book in my Kingdom Quest Series. The next installment is Shadowbound. Reggie, the main character of The Tale of the Orphan Magician is caught up in a seven-part Job-like trial to test his faithfulness to the Great King—at least that is what is happening on the surface. Is he faithful to the King because of the King’s ongoing favor? Or is his faithfulness made of higher stuff. For readers, what do we do when all hell unjustly breaks loose in our lives? How do we process things when all is falling apart and there seems to be nothing we can do about it? Teens who have suffered great loss in their lives will be greatly encouraged.

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