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As The World Burns follows a 15-year-old boy who is confined seventy-five miles underground after a catastrophic experiment links his body to the planet’s destruction. What inspired you to write a science fiction thriller around a teenager whose very existence threatens the survival of Earth?
As with most of my novels, I’m inspired by a title that I see – or a wordplay on a familiar line – and then I get inspiration visually for a cover. I know I’m a bit of an anomaly in that regard (book cover first) but I’m very visually inspired, so I design an alluring cover and title first, and then that greatly motivates me to sculpt an alluring story to match it. I let the visuals tell me what the story is about. And then, in true pantser fashion, I plunge in having no idea where I’m going to go with it other than a basic premise. I let the chips fall where they may, let the characters bumble around and knock their heads against walls, and then finally, before I know it, I’m typing the words “The End.” And oh what an adventure it always is. 🙂
How did you develop Cooper’s personality, particularly his combination of sarcasm, intelligence, vulnerability, and longing for a normal teenage life?
I think I wanted someone who was worthy of rising above the doldrums of a life lived in captivity. His existence transcends his fate. I myself am fascinated with words, though I’m no verbal raconteur (OK, based on that, maybe I am, ha!) but I wanted a good dose of smarts, cynicism, optimism, frustration, longing, and growth. I don’t know anybody who embodies that better than someone going through one of the most vulnerable stages of their life, the teenage years.
How does the conflict between Cooper and Xandrius reflect the challenges of communication, trust, and protection within ordinary parent-child relationships?
I’m very fond of father-son relationships (I have two boys, 10 and 7) and I really enjoy exploring that dynamic. They aren’t altogether different, but their sameness sort of repels them at times, and they have to work through that. Xandrius carries guilt; Cooper carries angst. Xandrius carries a huge burden as the President of the United Countries of America amidst a global crisis, and he knows, deep down in his core, that deep down in the core of the Earth sits his son, whose predicament is Xandrius’ own fault. There’s tremendous guilt there. And there are demands and expectations placed upon him by the entire planet once they find out that his own son is tied to the Earth’s fate. He has to reconcile balancing their needs with his son’s. In the end, I think I wanted him to really rise to the challenge, shoulder the blame, and sacrifice himself (spoiler, sort of) in order to ensure that his son’s name could be cleared. Sort of making himself the bigger target. That reveals to Cooper his father’s incredible love and honor.
What do you hope readers, particularly those who enjoy Christian speculative fiction, take away from the novel?
A father’s relationship with his son is tremendously powerful. It’s either polarizing, or affirming beyond belief. Also, the notion that grief and regret can be swallowed up in redemption. In a way, As The World Burns mirrors the greatest story ever told: a father sacrificing his son so that humanity could survive. I desperately wanted that parallel to be evident in my novel, because it’s the most beautiful story ever told as well.
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A father. A dying planet. A sacrifice that mirrors the greatest story ever told. As The World Burns weaves faith, prayer, and biblical allegory into a gripping sci-fi catastrophe.
In 2557, 15-year-old Cooper Calloway lives 75 miles underground in a sealed plastic habitat because metal clings to his irradiated skin. Every heartbeat steals momentum from the planet, shortening the days and setting continents on fire. It is a lean, emotionally-direct Christian dystopia: an android guard named Valente, a girl who whispers Cooper’s name across a lava gulf, a first love written clean. In the end, what will one father give out of love?
For readers who want their theology embedded in genuine human stakes, this one delivers. Fans of Away by Megan E. Freeman and The Choosing by Rachelle Dekker will devour this book!
As The World Burns
Aaron Ryan’s As The World Burns takes a frightening idea and gives it a painfully personal center: what happens when a teenager’s continued existence threatens the planet he calls home? Set in 2557, this Christian science fiction thriller follows fifteen-year-old Cooper Calloway, whose body has become linked to Earth’s instability after a disastrous experiment. The days are shortening, temperatures are climbing, and Cooper lives in an underground enclosure while his father, the president, searches for answers. It’s a premise that creates immediate tension, but the strongest hook is Cooper himself. Beneath the extraordinary circumstances, he’s a lonely kid who wants books, company, affection, and the chance to have a future. That combination gives the book’s apocalyptic fiction setting a clear emotional purpose.
The alternating first-person chapters let us experience both Cooper’s confinement and his father’s struggle with responsibility. Cooper’s sarcasm and enthusiasm for unusual vocabulary bring some welcome humor into a grim situation. He can be impatient, defensive, and funny within the same conversation, which makes his need for reassurance feel especially believable. His father, Xandrius, carries a different burden: protecting his son while answering to a frightened population. Their exchanges are the book’s most compelling material because affection and frustration keep colliding. Ryan understands how a promise can sound comforting to a parent and hollow to a child who’s heard it before. Cooper’s mother, Eliza, and sister, Brooke, add fierce loyalty to that family dynamic, giving the arguments an emotional urgency that extends beyond presidential decision-making.
The disaster setting has plenty of physical presence. Heat, turbulent air, unstable ground, and the constant threat of fire make this dystopian science fiction world feel exhausting to inhabit. The Atrium, Cooper’s carefully constructed underground home, is particularly effective: its artificial views and controlled comforts sharpen the ache of his isolation. Ryan also spends considerable time explaining the planetary crisis and the technology surrounding it. Those passages establish the scale of the danger, though repeated explanations and recurring arguments slow some stretches of the story. The prose favors intensity, with emphatic internal commentary, vivid descriptions, and frequent reminders of what’s at stake. Cooper’s vocabulary asides occasionally interrupt that momentum, too. Still, the quieter conversations give the escalating action something personal to threaten, and that’s where the suspense earns its force.
Christian faith is central to the novel’s voice and concerns. Prayer, Scripture, and conversations about God’s character shape how the characters understand suffering, love, and their obligations to one another. Readers drawn to Christian speculative fiction will find a story that engages those beliefs openly and emotionally. I found the questions about fatherhood especially interesting: how do you protect someone you love, and what does protection require when every available choice carries a cost? The book keeps returning to that tension through both intimate conversations and public conflict. Its strongest appeal lies in the connection between enormous danger and ordinary human needs. If you enjoy faith-based science fiction with an intense family focus, As The World Burns offers plenty to consider about trust, responsibility, and the difficult work of loving someone through fear.
Pages: 336 | ASIN : B0HJJMWTB7
God’s Gracious Killer: God’s Conquering of a Dark Heart
Dwight David Croy’s God’s Gracious Killer takes the account of Naaman in 2 Kings and builds a Christian historical fiction novel around the people, pressures, and beliefs surrounding him. Naaman is a respected military commander whose position depends on strength, skill, and the fear he inspires. Leprosy threatens all of that, bringing an intensely personal crisis into a household organized around his authority. Croy develops this biblical story through imagined conversations, domestic routines, and the expectations of a society shaped by warfare. The book’s central questions concern pride, dependence, and the possibility of trusting a God whose ways challenge everything Naaman understands about power. It’s an earnest setup with emotional stakes that are easy to grasp.
Naaman’s wife, Inanna, brings practical intelligence and affection to a home living under the strain of illness. Eliora, the young Hebrew girl enslaved in his household, has a faith rooted in the stories and songs she remembers from childhood. Croy pays close attention to how those remembered teachings become part of ordinary conversation and work. Then there are Albazi, Nukh, and Zayno, three friends whose enthusiasm for soldiering adds a coming-of-age thread to this biblical fiction. Their teasing, family responsibilities, and eagerness to impress older men make them engaging companions. Nukh’s awareness of his mother’s precarious circumstances is especially affecting. Through these relationships, the novel explores how people teach one another through patience, example, and the simple act of paying attention.
Croy also enjoys the practical business of his ancient setting. Food preparation, textile production, weapons, wagons, animal care, and travel supplies receive considerable attention. Those details give the characters a working world, and the recurring gatherings around firepits offer a natural place for humor, instruction, and shared memories. The soldiers’ different personalities bring welcome variety to these exchanges, particularly when a talkative storyteller meets a man who prefers action and silence. The pacing is leisurely, though, and repeated explanations of social rank, loyalty, and religious belief can make some sections feel longer than they need to be. Croy often spells out the significance of a gesture or conversation after the scene has already conveyed it. The prose is most effective when it stays close to a concrete moment, such as a shared meal or an anxious exchange between husband and wife.
As inspirational fiction, God’s Gracious Killer has a clear devotional purpose. Faith shapes the plot, the dialogue, and the way the narrator understands human worth. The recurring distinction between powerful people and those with little social standing gives the book a consistent concern: whose voice gets heard, and where wisdom might come from. Its descriptions of disease and the lasting burden of warfare also give weight to the characters’ vulnerability. The postscript makes Croy’s invitation to personal reflection explicit, so readers who enjoy Christian fiction as a companion to Bible reading will find plenty to consider. The novel’s appeal lies in its affectionate attention to households, friendships, and the transmission of faith across generations. Its strongest moments come when those concerns take shape in the everyday work of caring for someone, listening to a younger person, or sharing a story around a fire.
Pages: 138 | ASIN : B0C2JQYPRD
Chanumas: One Boy, Two Holidays and a Very Big Wish
Readers are introduced to a unique and heartfelt story about a little boy celebrating Chanukah with his family. His evening is filled with familiar traditions: food, dancing, and the warm glow of the menorah. But when Christmas Eve falls on the same night, he begins to wonder whether something extra might be possible. He wants to honor Chanukah, yet he also feels curious about the magic of Christmas Eve. Hoping for a small surprise, he hangs a sock on the kitchen wall and wonders who might deliver a gift or whether one will arrive at all.
Chanumas by Irv Brand is a creative, thoughtful, and engaging story that many young readers will enjoy. I appreciated the way the little boy’s parents found a meaningful solution that allowed him to experience the excitement of Christmas Eve while remaining true to their family’s beliefs. The story handles this balance with warmth and care. Small gestures, such as hanging a sock, leaving out food for the gift-giver, and receiving kisses even without mistletoe, add charm and humor to the celebration.
The rhyming text gives the story a playful rhythm and makes it especially appealing for young readers. It also offers a fun opportunity for children to recognize and practice rhyming words. The illustrations are bright, colorful, and expressive, with plenty of details to explore on each page. They add depth to the story and help readers better understand the family’s celebration without needing extra explanation.
This is a wonderful book for children learning about Chanukah, as well as for those who celebrate Chanukah and are curious about Christmas Eve. By blending both holidays into the joyful idea of “Chanumas,” the story celebrates family, tradition, love, and the meaningful ways people come together.
Pages: 34 | ASIN : B0GX83FKVG
Weighing a Miracle
Weighing a Miracle retells the raising of Lazarus from John 11, but it does so from the ground level rather than the halo. Author Steven Nimocks centers the story on Caleb, a merchant whose life is built on weights, ledgers, contracts, and whatever can be proved, then sets that temperament against Lazarus, Mary, Martha, and the gathering rumor of Jesus moving through Bethany. The result is a biblical novel that begins in commerce, friendship, and illness, then tightens into death, waiting, and the unbearable strain between measurable reality and divine interruption.
I admired that the book does not treat faith as a decorative glow laid over the narrative. It treats faith as friction. Caleb is not a cardboard skeptic; he is a wounded, disciplined man whose need for order feels earned, even poignant. That gives the book its real voltage. Again and again, Nimocks returns to the language of scales, seals, balances, and records, and instead of becoming repetitive, that imagery acquires moral density. I felt the novel’s emotional pressure not in its largest miracle, but in its quieter humiliations: the way grief narrows a room, the way practicality can become both mercy and armor, the way a friend’s hope can irritate you precisely because you fear it may be true.
The prose has a clean biblical-historical surface, but underneath that surface is a distinctly modern psychological intelligence. Nimocks writes with tactile specificity, the dust of the Jericho road, the heft of bronze weights, the smell of sickness, the faint trace of burial myrrh, and those details keep the book from floating away into pious mist. I would not call it flashy prose, and that is to its credit. It’s steady, exact, and occasionally luminous. The novel’s seriousness can make it feel over-deliberate in places; it advances by moral accumulation rather than narrative speed. But even there, the patience suits the subject. This is a book about a man learning that his categories are too small for what is happening in front of him.
I would recommend this to readers of biblical fiction, Christian historical fiction, faith-based literary fiction, and Scripture-centered retellings, especially those who prefer interior conflict over spectacle. Readers who appreciate authors like Francine Rivers, or who responded to the scriptural intimacy of The Chosen, will probably find this book congenial, though Nimocks feels quieter, sterner, and more merchant-eyed in his sensibility. For readers who want reverence without blandness, and devotion without soft focus, this is a strong fit. Weighing a Miracle is a novel about resurrection, but even more, it’s a novel about what happens when a man’s scales can no longer hold the truth.
Pages: 147 | ASIN : B0DLWXN7C4
The 6th Heaven
The 6th Heaven by Monica Broussard follows Dr. Derek Hollinger, a plastic surgeon whose life is derailed when intricate tattoos suddenly appear all over his body. Struggling with depression and a past full of trauma, he leaves his wife, Kendal, and their Los Angeles home to trek into the Amazon jungle. He travels with a priest named Father Mike to find a shaman’s granddaughter who might hold the key to his curse. The journey is brutal. Derek faces venomous spiders and near-death experiences while Father Mike battles a jaguar. Eventually, through a mix of tribal rituals and a spiritual encounter with God, Derek undergoes a deep internal transformation that forces him to face his past and find true emotional freedom.
The writing feels deliberate and vivid. I like how the author uses the jungle as a mirror for Derek’s own mind. The descriptions of the rainforest are dense and humid. You can almost feel the dampness and the sting of the mosquitoes on every page. One of the author’s boldest choices is shifting the perspective between Derek’s physical struggle in the mud and Kendal’s emotional isolation back in California. It creates a tension that keeps you moving. I found myself curious about the tattoos and what they really meant. The way the ink is treated as both a physical burden and a spiritual map is a fascinating concept. The pacing is patient. It takes its time to let the characters sit with their thoughts, which makes the action scenes, like the jaguar attack, feel sudden and earned.
I spent a lot of time thinking about the ideas of identity and healing in this story. Derek is a man who builds physical beauty for a living, yet he feels hideous because of something he can’t control. The book explores the gap between how the world sees us and how we see ourselves. I liked the candid look at trauma. It doesn’t offer easy fixes. Even after the spiritual revelations, the characters still carry physical and emotional scars. The intersection of Christian faith and Indigenous shamanic traditions is an interesting choice. It makes for a unique spiritual landscape. It made me wonder about the nature of mercy and whether we can ever truly outrun our past. The idea that our life story is written on our skin is a heavy one, but it feels grounded here.
This is a stirring Christian fiction novel that uses magical realism elements in an interesting way, along with some supernatural elements. It’s a reflective story about redemption and the hard work of coming home to yourself. I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys stories about spiritual journeys or readers who like fiction that wrestles with deep psychological themes. It’s a solid choice for someone looking for a grounded adventure that is not afraid to get a little bit dark before finding the light.
Pages: 265 | ASIN : B0FHBZWMRS
A Christian Perspective
Blue Jeans and Lavender Gowns follows two teenagers growing up in different circumstances who, over the years, struggle with faith, failure, broken marriages, and small-town judgment, for a chance and at love. Where did the image of “blue jeans” and “lavender gowns” come from?
The inspiration for this story came from a combination of personal experience, observation, and imagination. Some of the events in the book are based on real-life experiences, particularly things like the study hall scenes. I have become increasingly aware of young girls who were physically abused by their fathers, and later, by their husbands. Some of them were close friends, and their stories were tragic. That gave the basis of the story and, to a certain extent, a what-if scenario of how I might have responded to them had I been aware of their circumstances.
How important was the 1970s Midwest setting to the heart of the story?
Having grown up in the 1970s, it was easier to place things in that time setting. The window dressing of 8 tracks, school dances, small town attitudes, etc., helped shape a story that is quite relevant to any time and place, but gives it a ring of authenticity.
The story includes abuse, infidelity, and divorce. Why was it important not to shy away from these?
I wrote to emphasize these issues. Far too often, they are swept under the rug or ignored. The goal was to address these issues from a Christian perspective without being preachy. How should a Christian address these issues in real life, not from some lofty theological perspective? That was the goal. I hope that, at least to some extent, I achieved it.
What do you hope readers take away about faithfulness in ordinary life?
Real life is filled with people who are hurting, sometimes in private and unseen. Christians should open their eyes and recognize those who are hiding their scars and bruises with blue jeans or whatever else they might find. Responding compassionately and with God’s love can transform that hurting person into the beautiful person in the lavender gown, reflecting the glory of Christ.
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Terry Deitz is fascinated with her the moment she walks into his life. She has dark-brown hair, and eyes—a beautiful smile and fair complexion. There is an artless grace about her. There’s only one problem; he has no idea who she is.
Debbie Douglas is bright, funny, and has a kind, quiet nature. But something is wrong, something Terry can’t quite put his finger on.
Debbie doesn’t understand Terry. Why is he determined to go to college to get a degree in history? Why does he insist on going to church four times a week? Does he look down on people like her?
Blue Jeans and Lavender Gowns promises laughter, tears and joy as it explores the relationship between two people who’ve grown up in different worlds. One world filled with love and happiness, the other with pain and suffering. Can their worlds ever come together?
Blaming the Victim
The Soul’s Reckoning follows a woman as she passes through the Barrier into a vivid, confusing, and emotional afterlife where she is forced to confront former relationships and truths she had avoided in life. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?
After my brain injury, my relationships went into a downward spiral. I became acutely aware of the differences between communities and countries in how they handled social life with people who’d suffered catastrophic injuries or whose communication styles had changed. Some communities or countries focused on maintaining the relationship while adjusting to the challenging needs of the injured member. Others blamed the injured one and left. Yet Christianity, or the church, anyway, continually teaches that God will restore relationships.
Does that happen, I asked. I’d read the Book of Job years ago, which realistically portrays how friends mischaracterize suffering, blaming the victim. And it reveals what God thinks about all that. Several years ago, I wrote an ebook and a Psychology Today post on the Book of Job, including God’s perspective on Job’s friends. The book’s lessons remained in the back of my mind, and I married those lessons with my own and others’ experiences of relationships after brain injury.
I think too many put off trying to restore relationships, perhaps because they don’t want to confront the bad thoughts, bad words, and bad actions that had led them to abandoning their injured loved one. Then that person dies, and it’s too late. Or is it? And how do you reconcile with a dead person? That’s what I sought to answer.
Was there anything from your own life that you put into the characters in your novel?
As I was writing The Soul’s Reckoning, the character Shireen Anne popped up. It was rather surreal watching her name appear on the screen as I typed. It was like my past self, or a version of who I used to be, hopped into my story, declaring, “Here I am!” I wasn’t sure what to make of her appearance. But I couldn’t delete her. Turns out Charlotte Elisabeth, who isn’t anything like me, needed a friend and guide like Shireen Anne. She appears again in novel three.
What was one scene in the novel that you felt captured the morals and message you were trying to deliver to readers?
This is a tough question. My immediate inclination is to suggest the scene where Charlotte Elisabeth reconciles with her client. From the moment she decides that’s her next goal until she leaves.
Can you tell us where the book goes and where we’ll see the characters in the third book?
Book three of The Q’Zam’Ta Trilogy follows Revelation’s storyline from the time just before the cataclysm to just after the Book of Life. I’d originally intended to go to the end of Revelation, but there is so much to explore and unpack in those metaphorical thousand years without Satan, governments, and elites, that I realized I had to end it at the Book of Life. I’m thinking I’ll write another trilogy to cover the last part of Revelation.
In the third book, titled The Soul’s Turning, the characters leave Heaven and return to Earth, either as resurrected beings or, in Charlotte Elisabeth’s case, in a specially created new physical body. She doesn’t lose her memory of her experiences in Heaven, yet she no longer exists as an energy being.
In The Soul’s Turning, she must learn who she is.
Like so many of us, she equates her identity with her job. But in order to avoid second death, she must let go of that myth and face herself and learn and accept alien concepts in order to unearth her created identity.
And she must do all this in a far-future world that’s experienced eight degrees of warming, whose population is divided by economic systems, without governments, and with The Reigners, a Council led by Jesus that ensures no elites can rise.
As she’s becoming comfortable with what she believes about herself and the world, the Accuser-Adversary is released, and Charlotte Elisabeth faces a final, deadly challenge that requires her to grow courageous insight she’s never had before or be obliterated in a galactic Lake of Fire.
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In this powerful continuation of The Q’Zam’Ta Trilogy, the afterlife is not an ending but a crucible where souls are tested, relationships are stripped bare, and choices echo with eternal consequence.
The Soul’s Reckoning leads readers into a realm where mortality and eternity meet, where faith collides with doubt, and where the love that once brought comfort now demands sacrifice. Every step forward raises questions of loyalty, forgiveness, and the courage required to face the truth of one’s soul.
This Christian novel is more than a story of belief. It is a profound exploration of family dynamics, the complexities of Christian relationships, and the enduring power of friendship.
With lyrical prose and piercing insight, Shireen Anne Jeejeebhoy weaves the mystery of the afterlife with the raw struggles of human connection. The result is a moving book on the afterlife that illuminates the bonds that hold us together and the grace that can heal even the deepest wounds.
A novel for readers who seek Christian books that inspire, challenge, and linger in the heart, The Soul’s Reckoning invites you on a journey where every choice matters and redemption remains possible beyond this life.
Plunge into Charlotte Elisabeth’s reconciliation quest today.
