About the Book

Book: Masa Chronicles: The Copper Scroll

Author: Nicholas Teeguarden

Genre: Christian Fiction Action/Suspense

Release Date: October 7, 2025

When American grad student and Veteran Joshua Bennett lands in Amman, Jordan, he thinks he’s chasing academic glory. What he finds instead is a centuries-old mystery that’s been waiting for someone reckless or desperate enough to uncover it.

At the center of it all is the Copper Scroll, a cryptic Dead Sea artifact rumored to hold clues to an ancient treasure buried deep in the Judean desert. But Joshua soon learns it’s no ordinary scroll.

Hidden symbols, coded phrases, and whispers of a “shepherd’s path” point to something far more significant and far more dangerous.

As the clues mount, so do the warnings. A silent observer in the library. A cryptic priest with a knowing smile. A message slipped into Joshua’s backpack: The shepherd’s path is not for the faint-hearted.

A cryptic priest and a rabbi jump in to help understand uncovered information. As Mossad agents, Templar knights, and ISIS operatives close in, Joshua and his allies race to unravel the truth. But who seeks to unearth it, and who will kill to keep it buried?

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About the Author

Nicholas Teeguarden writes faith-fueled thrillers that explore the intersection of history, belief, and discovery. His debut, The Copper Scroll: Masa Chronicles, follows archaeologist Joshua “Masa” Bennett across the Middle East in a race to uncover one of history’s most enigmatic biblical relics. Praised for its vivid realism and clean storytelling, the novel has been honored with a ChristLit Award, a Readers’ Favorite 5-star review, and recognition at the Paris Book Festival.

A veteran whose global service inspires his storytelling, Teeguarden aims to create cinematic fiction that uplifts while it thrills. He is currently developing the next installment in The Masa Chronicles alongside The Teeguarden Writing Room, a growing creative community where readers and writers explore faith, art, and story together.

More from Nicholas

Whenever I think of telling a story, I have Indiana Jones swapping the bag of sand with the golden idol. The spirits swirling around the Nazis and the uncanny escapes from the clutches of death.

I spent my early adult years stomping through biblical lands with the military, experiencing life that seemed to represent many stages of evolution. Seeing the differences in how people value life, faith, and each other.

I experienced the heart-pounding adrenaline of adventure, the edge of life moments, and the strange stillness that follows them. The sights, sounds, and smells of those places stay with you forever.

When I finally retired, I walked to the altar, a different kind of battlefield, and realized that all those years of chasing survival were really leading me to understand purpose.

That moment changed how I responded to almost everything that came after, and it’s what shaped The Copper Scroll.

Like me, Joshua “Masa” Bennett isn’t just searching for an ancient artifact; he’s looking for proof that faith still matters, that truth can survive the centuries, and that even when everything feels lost, redemption can still be found buried beneath the dust.

Writing this book was my way of reconnecting with those memories, with the lands I once marched through, and with the faith that anchored me through it all.
It’s a story of mystery, courage, and belief. The kind of adventure that begins in the desert but ends in the heart.

Interview with the Author

1) What does success as an author look like to you?
Success has been a moving target. At first, it looked like simply finishing a manuscript and having even a
few readers who genuinely enjoyed the story. As Masa Chronicles: The Copper Scroll began reaching
more readers and landed on Christlit Book of the Year finalist lists, success started to look more like
sustained excellence: crafting stories that both entertain and spiritually challenge readers, while building a
body of work that outlives the initial hype and continues to point people toward hope in Christ.

2) Which character did you connect to best in this book?
The character connected with most deeply is Masa, because his mixture of stubbornness, woundedness,
and longing for something true mirrors a lot of real-world wrestling with faith and purpose. His drive to
chase the secrets of the Copper Scroll—sometimes at great personal cost—reflects how easily calling and
obsession can blur, and how God has to realign both.

3) Which part of the book was the most difficult to write?
The hardest sections to write were the moments where faith meets failure—scenes where characters face
the consequences of their own compromises under pressure. Balancing historical detail, thriller pacing,
and honest spiritual struggle without turning any of them into clichés required a lot of revising and
prayerful reflection.

4) What inspired this book?
The story grew out of a fascination with the real Copper Scroll, one of the Dead Sea Scrolls that actually
reads like a treasure inventory, and the question, “What if someone took it seriously enough to risk
everything?” From there, the First Jewish–Roman War, the tension between empire and faith, and modern
archaeological intrigue all converged into a single narrative about treasure, loyalty, and the cost of belief.

5) Which author influenced you most?
From the time I was a kid, my imagination was shaped by a mix of storytellers: watching George Lucas
films, reading Mark Twain’s Tom Sawyer, and then meeting Oklahoma author Bill Wallace, who told the
story Danger on Panther Peak about a boy named Tom facing down a blizzard, an injured grandfather,
and a panther-haunted ride for help through the mountains. Those kinds of adventure stories, where a
young person finds courage and identity through real danger and struggle, have stayed with me and still shape the way I write character, risk, and redemption today.

6) What is your favorite Bible verse or life verse?
My favorite passage is in Acts 9, where the Lord calls Ananias to go to the house on Straight Street and
lay hands on Saul so he can regain his sight. Ananias hesitates because of Saul’s violent reputation, but
God not only corrects him, calling Saul a ‘chosen instrument.’ He also gives Ananias the grace and
courage to go anyway, which is a powerful reminder that God’s call often stretches past fear and prejudice
into obedience and unexpected redemption.

7) What is your vacation spot?
Italy is the one place outside the U.S. where it truly feels like I made more than the “vacation”
connection. A decade ago, there was a six‑month stretch living in Rozzano, just outside Milan, where the
locals were understandably a bit standoffish toward “the American” at first, but that slowly changed as
real effort went into learning the language, the customs, and the neighborhood rhythm. Once the nearby
shops—and especially Snoopy’s Pizza on Via Aspromonte, which still serves some of the best pizza you
can find—saw that the goal was to learn from them rather than act like a passing tourist, they opened up
and pulled this outsider into the fold in a way that made Italy feel like family.

8) What are you reading right now?
I just finished Churchill’s Secret Messenger by Alan Hlad, which follows Rose Teasdale, a British typist
turned SOE agent who risks everything alongside the French Resistance. I loved how it wove real
operations like the bombing of Amiens Prison into a personal story of sacrifice and courage, which is
exactly the kind of historically grounded, emotionally intense fiction that fuels my own writing in Masa
Chronicles.

9) Describe your view as you’re sitting in your writing chair.
From the writing chair, I’m basically sitting in my wife’s old school office, surrounded by all of her decor
and personality. The only thing I’ve really added is the worn leather chair behind me, which my dogs
have completely claimed as their spot, so most writing sessions happen with at least one dog snoring over
my shoulder.

10) If you could have one book or piece of art or music on a deserted
island, what would it be and why?
If only one thing could be chosen, it would be Scripture, because it holds not just stories and wisdom but
the living center of hope, identity, and direction. On a deserted island, more than cleverness or
entertainment would be needed; there would be a need for the kind of truth that can sustain the heart when
there is no audience, no platform, and no plan but God’s.