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.

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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.

MY REVIEW

Old world meets new world in this unique look at division from two view points. One side believes this place called the Mojave was where evil existed. Now someone has escaped and not everyone is sure he can be trusted.

I believe that God does test us and wants to see if we are obedient to Him. Arcon knew that God was telling him to leave what he has always known as home and go to where a new beginning was waiting for him. I loved following his journey and the trials he faced. The room where old artifacts are stored was a treasure of items we know well. Arcon finds a way to reach out to someone far away. There he begins a long eight year friendship with Elaina. Their bond grows strong and Arcon is ready to take the leap of faith to meet her.

The adventure takes us through jungles with thorns that eat into flesh and animals that are dangerous and ready to attack. It did take awhile for Arcon to to finally take his journey. It must have been hard for him to say goodbye to people he has known all his life. I liked that he trusted God and was determined to leave everything behind to follow the call on his life. God wants us to love each other but also be cautious of evil trying to take over.

Elaina was very dedicated to getting Arcon to come to her but at times I wasn’t sure if it was safe for either one of them. The author shows us how Elaina was driven by God to help Arcon escape and never had any thoughts of this stranger being a threat. It seems that Elaina’s dad has put safety measures in place when Arcon comes to stay with him and Elaina .

The story does take place in 2165 and the author uses his writing style to give us a viewpoint of what may have occurred when Jesus returned after tribulation. We can draw our own conclusions of what we think may happen so I appreciate the authors illustration of loving others, giving grace and trusting God. I’m not sure I agree with everything in the book but what is important is that we can be assured that He is coming back. What will the earth look like then we can only imagine as the author has in this story.

“I think He tests us to see how we’ll react to someone breaking the rules.”

I received a copy of this book from Celebrate Lit. The review is my own opinion.