About the Book

Book: Mojave Rift

Author: J.W. Gilbert

Genre: Christian Fiction – Action/Adventure

Release Date: March, 2021

Mojave Rift follows a young man, Arcon, as he attempts to leave an isolated community called ArcPoint. He seeks an outsider, Elaina, a young woman with the skills to help him cross the treacherous CalNeva Rift. For eight years they’ve violated the law restricting all contact with those known as the Mojave People. Jesus himself made that restriction, after he returned to rule earth from Jerusalem over a hundred years ago. Ranger Dan is the man in charge of upholding that law, and has no idea what he’s getting roped into.

Click here to get your copy

About the Author

John Gilbert Wozniak (JW Gilbert) grew up in an Oregon farm town. He retired in 2016 as an international data center cooling expert. Around the turn of the century, he began writing as a hobby. After years of expert guidance and a lot of editing, his ArcPoint trilogy is complete. His intent is to write books that are enjoyed by all ages—biblically accurate—with a touch of adventure, romance, and humor. JW has been married to his best friend Darlene since 1980. They are both retired and enjoy the hobby of creating lapidary jewelry. He is a member of Oregon Christian Writers, Mensa, ALLi, and the Tualatin Valley Gem Club.

More from JW

I became an avid fan of Christian fiction, especially after reading This Present Darkness by Frank Peretti. I was working 12-hour night shifts as a data center technician and had ample time on my hands. At one point I was devouring a book per night but my favorite genre, action/adventure, was almost non-existent in Christian fiction. So, as is the case with many would-be authors, I decided to write the book I wanted to read. The setting? The future when Jesus is ruling the world, as told in Revelation chapter 20. My protagonist? Arcon, an adventurous young man from an isolated tribe of people. The premise? The people of ArcPoint don’t know that the outside world is safe and that Jesus has returned.

My first attempt at writing went well. I wrote my first draft in three weeks, edited it for six months, and landed a hybrid publisher with the final manuscript. The book garnered four- and five-star reviews, so I was pleased. (Not bad for someone who’d flunked English three times.) I was glad the reviews showed that the writing was good, but my readers were missing the message. I pulled it off the market.

For the past few years I’ve been honing my skills as a writer and reworking my ArcPoint story. There have been a few challenges. While researching, I found over a thousand verses in the Bible that sparked ideas for the time period I was writing about. Now the original book has become a trilogy, plus a prequel. However, traditional Christian publishers were not in the market for adventure stories, so I had to learn about self-publishing. And then, like a page right out of my prequel, the unexpected happened—a pandemic. I decided it would be best to put off publicizing until the entire trilogy was available. Now it is.

To see if the first book was ready to be self-published, I sent copies of Mojave Rift to Reader’s Favorite for professional reviews. It got five stars across the board. Then I entered Mojave Rift in their contest and won a silver medal. All the reviewers seemed to appreciate my inclusion of action, romance, and humor in a squeaky clean, fast-paced, futuristic novel.

I hope my ArcPoint series receives high scores from English teachers, but since I still don’t know a passive voice from a hole in the plot, we’ll see. Writing likable characters and adventure stories that run deep and inspire is something I enjoy. I’ve worked hard and it’s a thrill to get high audience scores.

BTW, did I mention the world-building for the isolated tribe in my story is set in America? Now that was a challenge.

Interview with J.W. Gilbert

What does success as an author look like to you?

Selling a lot of books, more so than making money. I worked hard to make my books enjoyable to any age or gender, with a message so uplifting it couldn’t be ignored.

Which part of the book was the most difficult to write?

In Mojave Rift, it was the escape chapters. I did mountains of research and rewrites to make it as believable as possible.

What inspired this book?

A little conversation I had with God. I’m a lapidary artist, finding incredible beauty within rocks. At one point I was blessed with literally tons of rocks, some of the best available. God’s provision was inescapable. I asked Him why. He said, “When tribulation times happen, just go hide in your shop and play with your rocks.” That gave me the idea for a group of people who decide to hide from the chaos in the world until Jesus returns. For a twist, they hid so well, they weren’t aware when He did. Over a century later they were still hiding, until one of them decides to investigate the outside world.

Which author influenced the you most?

Frank Peretti for the story telling. Taylor Caldwell for doing the research.

What is your favorite Bible verse or life verse?

It’s a little different than most: If anyone supposes that he knows anything, he has not yet known as he ought to know; but if anyone loves God, he is known by Him. 1Cor. 8:2-3 NASB. I was an atheist and thought I knew it all. When I realized God was real, I understood I was wrong about everything. I have since approached life in search of the truth (and a little more humbly).

Thank you for letting us get to know you better!