Homeschool Hints Podcast · Midwest Parent Educators - MPE

'Not Enough Christian Fiction': Author JA Webb

·21 min·1 clip

J.A. Webb says science and Sunday school felt "diametrically opposed" in grade school.

Shansi Amaniyi opens with a warm introduction to author J.A. Webb. The conversation is set around MPE’s March 6-7 conference at the KCI Expo Center, which Webb says he is excited to attend for the first time. Amaniyi asks about Webb’s background, and Webb starts with the long road from childhood unbelief to a settled Christian faith. He says he turned away from God while still in grade school, after coming through a church he remembers as liberal and lukewarm. Science pulled him in strongly. He wanted to be an astronaut, read whatever he could find, and naturally drifted into science fiction and fantasy. Back then, the world around him felt materialistic and humanistic, and he says it seemed to leave no real room for story. Later, he came to see that story carries real power, and he points to the way Christ taught through stories as part of that conviction. Webb says a call from radio host Steve Days, urging Christians to engage culture through story, helped him finally sit down and write. After years of trying and getting nowhere, the work suddenly started flowing. He says it has not stopped since. He wishes he had more time, because notebooks are already waiting with more books in them. The discussion then turns to his publishing run, which began only months before the interview. Fragments came out last November, Inheritance followed in May, and two more books are planned for later this year and next year. Webb says he was still new to the public side of writing when he began appearing at homeschool conferences in the Midwest, which is how he heard about MPE. Other authors kept telling him he had to come, and he says he signed up right away. He also speaks warmly about homeschool readers, whom he describes as reading above their grade level, and they also are incredibly. Near the end, he shares a small delight: Stefan Rudnicki, a narrator he has admired for years, is set to narrate his audiobook. He says the audiobook pre-order will be out in November, and the project matters to him because Rudnicki is one of those performers who lifts a book to another level. The conversation closes with practical contact notes for listeners who want to keep going on the website or social media.

As heard by us

A faith-centered author conversation about story, writing, and a path into homeschool audiences.

Homeschool Hints centers on author J.A. Webb, who describes a long turn from atheism, a break from God in grade school, and a later conviction that story can reach culture in a useful way.

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Why you'd press play

You want a reflective conversation about a former atheist's path to faith, story as witness, and a homeschool podcast interview with an author who is still early in publication.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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