Author Spotlight: James Moser, on Chasing Prophecy
I have always wanted to build a story around someone or something like Boo Radley, my all-time favorite literary character. I love how he dominates that book while remaining largely off-stage. I looked around the Seattle area and the closest thing I could think of was our local legend of Bigfoot. Once I had my own version of Nathan Arthur Radley in place, I started thinking a lot about monsters, especially monsters we make bigger in our imagination. I also thought about Boo living in society without being a part of it, which made me think of different separatist groups turned into cults. My young characters are based on bits and pieces of hundreds of former students.
The setting of Boulder Creek, Washington, like everything else in the book, is based on bits and pieces of lots of things. There is no town called that. Boulder Creek is where my wife and I hiked for our first date, in the foothills of the north Cascade Mountains. The mountains in my book look like the ones around Darrington, in Snohomish County. The main street is like Arlington (where I had my first teaching job). The log bridge is something I remember from a family trip to Yellowstone National Park, 1,000 miles away. People who have read Twilight will think Boulder Creek feels like Forks, which it does, because that’s what every small town in Washington feels like. The Bethlehem compound is the Boy Scout camp I attended in northern Idaho, complete with the same wood carvings on the fireplace.
My mission in writing this is to entertain adults and inspire young adults. Teenagers inspire the heck out of me, which is why I’ve been a high school teacher for so long. I wanted characters who transform themselves to overcome obstacles, which is what I watch them do, every day!
Publication date: January 2nd 2014
Genres: Paranormal, Thriller, Young Adult
Mo is a shy teen just trying to survive high school. He has secretly fallen in love with a girl named Prophecy. Some people call her family a harmless hippie community. Others call them a cult. Desperate to keep their land, Prophecy’s family turns to the drug trade and tricks Mo into smuggling. Prophecy flees the compound. She agrees to testify but disappears. Mo is devastated. When he is called to trial, the Family threatens to reveal his own drug trafficking. Mo commits to speaking out, though doing so will destroy his future. Prophecy returns to help Mo kill the monster that her family has become.
The author works with high school students because young adults inspire him. As such, he wanted to write about teenagers transforming themselves to overcome obstacles, which is what he watches them do every day. This book’s mission is to entertain adults while inspiring teens. The result is “Chasing Prophecy,” a story about love, loss, redemption, and monsters.
Boo Radley is the author’s all-time favorite literary character, which is how the Seattle-area legend of Bigfoot entered “Chasing Prophecy”.
The author lives in Seattle with his beautiful wife and lively eight year old son. When he’s not reading and writing, or talking about reading and writing, he’s watching too much television and snacking on frozen treats from Trader Joe’s. Man, those things are good.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
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This site looks fantastic! Thanks for such a great presentation of my book. To all Becky’s followers–Chasing Prophecy is 99 cents on Amazon until tonight! Good luck in the raffles and thanks for your support! Jim (the author)
Thank you! Good luck with your new book from a fellow (junior high, though–just as fun!) teacher 🙂
I did 3 years Jr. High. Loved it! Reading = passion at that level which is what I miss most. You = Hunger Games and True Diary. Me = A Farewell to ARms. YUCK!!! 🙂
True…but save me from the rampant hormones bouncing off the walls and the “but my child was never like that before” comments (7th graders–they’re not quite human there for a while ;))
I do love it when they connect with books. They do it with such enthusiasm!