by J.A. Webb | Nov 3, 2025 | Blog post

Last week I was honored to be invited to appear as a panelist for the 2025 Faith and Fellowship Book Festival- and was even more honored . . . and shocked . . . to learn that Inheritance was awarded honorable mention for the 2025 Angel Awards in the Mystery/Thriller/Suspense category.
Thanks so much to FFBF for the privilege, and congratulations to all the winners of the 2025 Angel Book Awards!
Here is the FFBF official announcement for the 2025 Angel Book Awards:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 1, 2025
The Faith & Fellowship Book Festival Announces the Winners of this year’s Angel Book Awards.
Nonfiction
Honorable Mention – A Trustworthy Anchor: God’s Hope & Encouragement in the Storms of Life by Shirley Quiring Mozena
Third place – 25 Symbols of Christmas: Finding Jesus—A Devotional by Annie Yorty
Second place – Reclaimed: A Course to Guide You Through Betrayal & Infidelity Trauma by Stephanie Broersma
First place – Stitching Your Story Piece by Peace: A 13 Week Devotional Pursuing the Peace of God by Naomi Fata
Children’s ages 2-8
Honorable Mention – Little Sprout Says Yes! by Jennifer E. Terrell, Illustrated by Lissette Blanco
Third place – Phooey Kerflooey vs. The Fancy, Fancy Teacup: Phooey Tales, Spring #1 by Kristin Joy Wilks
Second place – I Don’t Like Kindness (Picking the Fruit (of the Spirit)) Book #3 by Dawn Caldwell De Wulf, Illustrated by Jen Grafton
First place – When I Talk to God, I Talk about Feelings
by Chrissy Metz & Bradley Collins, Illustrated by Lisa Fields
Children’s ages 8-12
Honorable Mention – Just a Piece of Stone by Mary Ann Hake
Third Place – Disaster! Around the Bend by P. Lynn Halliday
Second Place – Road Trip Redemption, Book 3 in Road Trip Rescue, by Becca Wierwille
First Place – Paws-itive Inspirations: 90 Devotions for Kids and Dog Lovers by Michelle Medlock Adams & Wendy Hinote Lanier
Young Adult
Third Place – The Painted Fairytale by Lara d’Entremont, Illustrated by Ellie Tran
Second Place – Ride a Summer Wind by Ann Cavera
First Place – The Revelation of Emery Audubon by Ann Roecker
Historical Fiction
Honorable Mention – Heidi’s Faith, Rugged Cross Ranch, Book 4 by Jill Dewhurst
Third place – Whatever it Takes: A Split-Time Sisters in Arms Novel by Sarah Hanks
Second place – A Song of Deliverance, The Singing Silver Mine, Book 1 by Donna Wichelman
First place – What I Left For You, Echoes of the Past, Book 3 by Liz Tolsma
Mystery/Thriller/Suspense
Honorable Mention – Inheritance, The Seekers Series, Book 2 by J.A. Webb
Third place – Waterfall, The Waterfall Mysteries by Linda K. Rodante
Second place – Death Under the Ice, Trouble in Pleasant Valley, Book 4 by Deborah Sprinkle
First place – Lethal Standoff by DiAnn Mills
Contemporary
Honorable Mention – Every Life Filled with Purpose, A Weldon Novel, Book 3 by Shelia Stovall
Honorable Mention – Take My Hand by Ane Mulligan
Honorable Mention – Love’s True Home, True Calling, Book 2 by Lori DeJong
Third place – Escape to Whispering Creek by Barbara M. Britton
Second place – Love’s True Measure, True Calling, Book 3 by Lori DeJong
First place – New Creations by Sarah Hanks
Speculative
Third place – Bronze Circle by Becky A. Little
Second place – Starry Starry Night, Time Passengers Novel by D.K. Till
First place – The Root of the Matter, The American Puritans, Book 1 by Lynne Basham Tagawa
Novella
Third place – Heart of Honor, Hearts of the West, Book 3 by Patience O’Brien
Second place – Nazar’s Journey, Time Passengers Novel by Paul T. Mascia
First place – Jingle Bell Matchmakers, from A Match Made at Christmas by Lori DeJong
The purpose of the awards is to promote excellent books with a Christian worldview. The fees help support the Faith & Fellowship Book Festival, whose purpose is to connect readers with Christian authors. The judges are independent avid readers and not affiliated with the Faith & Fellowship Book Festival. FFBF is an activity within the Mordecai Brown Legacy Foundation, a registered 501c3 charity.
by J.A. Webb | Sep 21, 2025 | Blog post

The above photo is the view from one of our pastures, and this is the exact place where Fragments: Book One of the Seekers Series was born. It was this very spot I had in mind, that I was in fact looking at, when I wrote Lars’s first solo scene in that book.
And do you want a behind-the-scenes tidbit? This was originally the opening scene of what was going to be a much different story . . . but as I wrote this passage something happened that completely blew me away . . . and forever changed the entire trajectory of the book.
And yes, before you ask, I’m the most discovery of discovery writers. It’s such a thrill to watch a story take shape as I write it- because, like you, when you’re reading the book for the first time, I, too, am seeing it for the first time as I write it, and have no idea what’s about to happen, what God has in mind for me.
What incredible fun!
So here it is- that very scene, excerpted From Fragments: Book One of the Seekers Series
Lars looked out over the farm, sighing with the satisfaction of a productive day’s work. The green hillsides shone verdant in the late summer sun while sweet, clean air filled his lungs, his heart swelling along with his chest.
It was such a joy to come here, soaking up the peace and the wide-open spaces, spending the day with his grandparents and soaking up the love, there, too. Besides, Not much he could do at the mill, shut down for inspection as it was.
He stood over Grandpa’s garden beds, holding Grandma’s vegetable basket in one hand while with the other he was just about to pick the reddest, juiciest tomato when a convulsion, something like a shiver, but deeper and more disturbing, shook him. A shadow passed over the sun.
Shading his eyes, he tilted his face upward, but the sky spread out as bright as ever, no cloud in sight. Not even a bird.
He rubbed those goose-pimpling shivers from his bare arms. From somewhere yet distant, there came the bark of tires on pavement. Beyond the eastern fence and far down the hill, a line of three official vehicles sped bullet-like toward the farm. At their passage, the tall grasses bordering the road shuddered in a long, rippling wave which reached even past the field fences, the crops there bowing beneath the blast.
The basket forgotten and left to fall bouncing among the bordering marigolds, he sprinted toward the house and slammed through the front door . . .
Want to read more? Fragments is on sale until Monday 9/22/25, or free to read on Kindle Unlimited, at least for a short time. Don’t miss out!
by J.A. Webb | Aug 10, 2025 | Blog post
I have some exciting news about both Fragments:Book One of the Seekers Series and Interregnum: Book Three of The Seekers Series
But first- recently, my wife took this photo overlooking one of our pastures. It so reminded me of a passage from my upcoming book, Interregnum, that I just had to share the photo with you . . . and that passage.

Well, to be perfectly truthful, this is two passages, both happening simultaneously but in two locations, and in both our intrepid Seekers are in grave peril, under siege, and harried by unseen, unnatural forces.
Now- these are both from the original rough, unedited draft- so no fair critiquing the small details!
So here they are, and I hope you enjoy reading them a much as I enjoyed writing them:
Robinson tread soft and silent through the dark, still forest.
The sole source of light overhead flickered in and out of sight as the skeletal fingers of bare branches clawed their way across the thinnest sliver of a moon-face, that illusory motion keeping pace with his progress through these unnaturally silent woods.
Ahead, the open forest floor spread out, striped with silver light and moonshadow. The black tree trunks marched into the distance until they merged, became one, a solid wall of darkness that neither moonlight nor vision could penetrate.
He raised one hand in signal to his team, then stopped to listen. Phillip and Thaddeus’s training had been good, and his team moved nearly as silently as those lads could. Nearly.
But not as silently as whatever were those things ahead.
It had been just a feeling, a glimmer of something out there, just beyond sight. The barest hint of a form melding from one shadow into the next. But it had been no illusion. There was something there.
Because now more movement appeared, flickering, rippling in the far distance, a line of march moving this way, as wide left and right as he could see. The advancing front was so massive it had to be dozens. Hundreds, even.
But hundreds of what?
With one raised finger, he again signaled. Presaged only by a barely felt air current, stirred by unseen movement, one of his men appeared to his right.
“Chief?” came the barely audible whisper.
He put his hand to the man’s ear. “Take a gander forward. Tell me if you see anything.”
“Don’t have to take a gander. I saw ‘em , too.”
“Yeah,” Robinson peered ahead, his eyes beginning to ache as he strained to focus on something that simply refused to reveal any definable form. “But what, exactly is it you see?”
Before his scout could answer, one of the tree shadows directly ahead, not two paces distant, began to unfold. Something massive pounced. Whatever was wrapped in that flowing shadow, it was so big and so heavy, moving so incredibly fast that it knocked him off his feet, airborne and whiplashed, then landing to skid backward a dozen feet on the leaf-strewn forest floor.
Where only a moment before he’d been standing, darkness thrashed and there came a gurgling cry.
[…] attempt to swim across would leave huge vee-shaped ripples in their wake, easily seen on such a glassy surface, so strangely still, as was the air. So still and heavy it made the hairs on the back of his neck rise, as if disturbed by the building electrical charge of some impending storm.
Far to the north, there came a kind of roaring rumble, as if that very storm was birthed in answer to that thought.
A storm wouldn’t be a bad thing, right now. Uncomfortable, certainly, and cold. But a bank of clouds to blot out the thin light of the moon, rain masking any movement in the resulting deeper darkness, would be well to their advantage. And would likely make the patrols all the less diligent.
Phillip searched for the source of that rolling thunder, echoing anew even now. But the sky above, and to the far horizon, was clear of any storm clouds, the stars sharing the deep, black expanse with only a handful of nearly motionless, scudding vapor trails, thin wisps of shadow across the face of the sharp-edged moonsliver.
Strange. From where could such thunder arise? Now with it this shuddering vibration in the air, just below the threshold of the senses?
And then began the whispers, trailing through the sky above like those vaporous clouds, swirling, searching, carving great racing circles through the heavens. And growing louder.
He shot a look at Thaddeus, whose own eyes had grown wide in alarm. “We must go now, no time.”
He waved Thaddeus to follow and began running, bent low, toward the trestle. It was the only way, the only place they had any chance of passing without being detected.
Though a thin chance that was.
No for the news. It’s midsummer and work is progressing well on Interregnum, scheduled to be available for pre-order by November of this year. It’s been such fun writing this series, and if you think the stakes ramped up in Book Two, Inheritance, then you have a real treat coming in Book Three.
But I don’t want to ignore the first book of the series, Fragments, an installment in the story near and dear to my heart, and to many of yours, judging by your emails.
So now I have two announcements about Fragments.
First, we’ve gotten a ton of market feedback, and a great deal, as well, from all of you. The current series covers, created by Jenneth Leed of Inkmarker Design, are gorgeous, and I truly love them . . . so dark and mysterious.

But that feedback has reinforced my own initial reaction to that design- that the icon evoked a sense of the occult. As you might imagine, that’s not a good thing for a Christian book. And because of it, people looking for a Christian-made story often get the wrong impression of mine.
So we’ve decided to do something about it.
I’ve put out a call for new cover concepts, and for the next few months, I’ll be giving the most likely candidates a trial run.
The first of these is currently up on my website, and also graces the ebook on Amazon. A sneak peek can be seen below.

Let me know what you think.
The other big news is also related to feedback I’ve gotten from you.
It’s probably no surprise to you when I tell you I’m no fan of big tech in general, or of big online platforms. In my stories, I do write about a freedom-killing worldwide tyranny in my stories, after all.
Many of you who read print books or listen to audiobooks (like me), prefer to support a variety of independent platforms, like Downpour.com, as do I, and print and audio will remain available wide- anywhere you buy books.
But I’ve learned that’s not true of those of you who prefer ebooks. Well over 90% of the ebooks I’ve sold are are purchased through Amazon (you really love your Kindles, don’t you!), and many of you have reached out to me, requesting that I make the books available through Kindle Unlimited.
So . . . your wish is granted!
Fragments is now available in Kindle Unlimited, and you can read it FREE with your subscription.
Be sure to let me know if you like it, and leave a review!
And keep your eyes peeled, watching this newsletter for the announcement when the other books in the series become available on KU, as they certainly will be.
by J.A. Webb | Jul 27, 2025 | Blog post

Acid trips or Aplogetics? How to reach the modern Seeker through the Power of Story.
My professional life remains in the middle of the summer crunch- and so my own blog posts are still on hiatus- though rest assured, the work on Interregnum, Book Three of The Seekers Series, continues apace- and the book is still slated for release by the end of the year. So I’m taking this opportunity to share with you something interesting that recently blessed me. A man I know and who I consider a friend, Thomas Umstadtt Jr., just published the latest episode of The Christian Publishing Show- in which he explores the question: “Acid trips or Apologetics? How to reach he modern Seeker through the Power of Story.”
The content was so fantastic I had to feature it here.
As you may know, I spent a great deal of my adult life as an atheist before- thanks to the workings of our Creator God- I eventually came to the truth and was saved.
My choice (at a very young age) to reject God and to embrace a materialistic/atheist world view was largely driven by the 20st century scientific arguments of “billions of years” and “the Proven Science of Evolution”, the watering down of the Christian faith in the main-line church where I grew up in, the disdain for Christianity which the culture had adopted in general, and the particularly rabid strain of that disdain- or more accurately contempt- which prevailed in the halls of education . . . and most of all in the Speculative Fiction I so loved.
Yes, there is great Power in Story.
So, you would think that it would have been arguments along the very same lines which would have led to my eventual choice to seek God. But in fact, it wasn’t. Modern apologetics helped reinforce that choice, once I was already seeking Him. But logical arguments did not precipitate that Search for Truth.
This month, Thomas Umstattd, Jr. digs deeper into the state of the culture and the difficulties of reaching the current generations with that same Truth, given the Post Modern world in which we now live. And he’s done so with what some may consider some controversial ideas, such as:
Christianity has always been under attack. The current weapon of choice is “deconstruction.”
Recent generations that were raised on pornography now reject Christian morality and then deconstruct their faith altogether. As a Christian writer in the 21st century, you’re not fighting a theological battle over truth but an emotional battle over morality.
Or:
But the political question today is very different. It’s moral. It’s spiritual . . .
One party that advocates for killing babies and “transitioning” children.
At the last political protest I attended, the Democrats were chanting, “Hail Satan,” and the Republicans were singing “Amazing Grace.”
This is 21st-century politics.
Read the full article- or listen to the podcast– and let me know what you think!:
by J.A. Webb | Jun 1, 2025 | Blog post
The Crusade to find thrilling fiction for Christian men continues

Disheartened and broken, haunted by the still echoing horror of my recent safari into the wilds of my local Christian bookstore’s Fantasy aisle (in my never-ending crusade to find thrilling fiction for Christian men). . . and still lacking anything new to read, I took a risk.
Yes. That risk.
I went to the bookstore-which-shall-remain-nameless across the street, closed my eyes, and dipped one hand into a bin of secular speculative fiction books, drawing a few at random. Several looked interesting. Very interesting. No surprise there, though- they always do.
It’s what’s inside the cover that’ll get you.
Oh, it’s not that they’re poorly written. Secular spec fiction still enjoys the robust support of the publishing industry, and traditionally published books are, for the most part, reliably well written.
The risk, the fear that keeps me at the edge of my seat, picking up first one, then setting it aside for another, indecision writ clear on my sweating brow, tempted yet tremulous, is the fear of the unknown.
Oh, I have no fear of the obvious stinkers, the thinly disguised ideological screeds. Those authors can’t help themselves and give away the game somewhere around the second scene. Easily avoided are any hooks any such story might throw in my path, hoping to entangle me in a pointless tale, helpless captive to their heavy-handed preaching (We’re all going to die. Next week! Unless selfish and banal Western women quit shaving their underarm hair!) or the like.
Immediately recognizing the peril and with the grace of a born dancer, I dodge, weave, and execute a deft overhanded throw- perhaps even a hook shot, if I’m feeling lucky- and those tomes describe a perfect arc into the trash bin.
I’ve even, in the most egregious cases, been known to refuse to return such to the library. Upon receipt of those inevitable and sternly worded letters about legal consequences, I fire back equally smarmy responses, informing the head librarian what a service I’ve done for society, destroying said offending book, public property or not.
More devious is another type of story. Deceptively promising stories, great in both concept and execution, which are yet riddled with underlying unstated assumptions. You know what I mean. Maybe a veiled reference to the absolute validity of the Theory (Yes, they really called it a theory, once upon a time.) of Evolution. Or perhaps some chap drops comment in dialogue about how “. . . the Bible was corrupted centuries ago and is now untrustworthy. Every fool knows that.”
Such flaws, for the sake of an otherwise enjoyable story, I can grit my teeth and ignore. (Though wouldn’t it be nice if there was so much great Christian Spec Fiction for guys that I didn’t need to? According to my dentist- that would be a very good thing.)
No, none of these fill me with the trepidation that has even now (as I clutch one volume in my left hand, one in my right, and two more balanced on my thighs, palms sweaty) left me unable to commit to any one of them for fear of the unmentionable.
Namely, that once I’ve become captivated by the story, pulled so deeply into the irresistible current of a fantastic tale, that I’ll (long after it’s too late) find some twisted world view, buried deep in those oh-so-attractive pages. One which will eventually seep from said pages, staining the foolscap, coalescing into some fiendishly, cunningly crafted, gotcha, upside-down and inside-out monstrous deconstruction of all that is right and Holy. Completely spoiling what had promised to be such a great book, turning the final climatic scenes into a grotesquery. A shocking surprise.
Like that one I got in college, when, for months I’d proudly displayed the cover of the great Alan Parsons Project album, Eve, center stage on my plank-and-cinderblock shelves. After which time a guy walked in, pointed a half-empty beer bottle at the album, and remarked, “Funny how they trick you into not seeing that funky fungus, or whatever it is, on those girl’s faces.”
I looked, then looked again. Then suddenly saw that which I’d never realized before. And have never really been okay since.
And just as I was never able to see that album the same again, or ever see those faces as pure and lovely as I once had, these treacherous stories likewise leave me able neither to forget that which I’ve read, nor mourn that which could have been, if only.
It’s these books. The ones with such promise, the ones that trick me into believing that maybe, just maybe, I’ve found the one . . . it’s these that hurt the worst.
And I’ve decided it’s time to do something about it.
If no one else will feature great fiction for Christian men, making it easier for guys like me to find great stories, then I guess it’s time I did.
So this blog post is my announcement, my declaration of a new crusade to find thrilling fiction for Christian men. My call to all the Christian Warrior-Priest authors out there. Gather near, prepare to go forth and do battle for our culture, using the Word of God and the Power of Story to reclaim our culture!
And that battle cry has been heard. A worthy band of Christian writers has already begun to answer that call. Have gathered for the assault, pens at the ready and notebooks thrust defiantly skyward as they link arms and prepare for the final charge.
Keep your eyes on this blog as the campaign gains momentum and battle plans are finalized. It’s going to be an exciting year!
In the meantime, check out the initial offering of a new writer in the field and a friend of mine, Daniel Lewczuk, chosen from the front ranks of our hardy band. And now you can sample the first fruits of what promises to be an incredibly exciting career. And it’s available in AUDIO! FREE!!
Daniel is an ex-cop who left his life of crime—not his, other’s—to spend more time with his wife and three sons. Since then he’s become an award-winning sci-fi and fantasy author, small business owner, and the creator of stunning wood pieces that inspire Muggles all over the country to ponder the worlds beyond this one. Daniel lives in southern Ontario and still wonders, “What Would John Carter Do?”
Learn more at http://www.authordaniellewczuk.com/ . . . and stay tuned. A great wave of new Christian authors remains to follow.
* * *