My name is Jeff W. Horton, and I am a novelist. I say I am a novelist and not an author because an author can be someone that writes about anything including novels, historical biographies, travel guides, etc., while a novelist is an artist, a painter if you will. Imagination is the paint and the keyboard the paintbrush.
I enjoy writing because for me it is pure creativity. From my imagination proceeds people, places, sights, sounds, and events which have never really existed. For me, writing a novel is sort of like watching a movie. I start writing with an idea of what I’m after, but the story truly takes on a life of its own as I write, often taking me in a direction I never could have imagined it going in before. The end result is that I have no idea how the story is going to end myself until I have finished the first draft. Even then, the story can morph as I make my way through a series of inevitable revisions where the rough stone is cut and chipped away at, before being polished into what I consider to be a work of art.
When I write, I strive to create storylines that are meaningful on many levels. I like to explore and understand the emotions, the struggles and the pain that we feel as human beings, as well as the joy. It is also important that there is a message in the story, a warning, a message of hope, etc. I want readers to always come away having learned something new, something valuable, and something important. These are ambitious goals, of course, and unfortunately, I’m never as successful as I would like to be at meeting these goals.
Another thing that is important to me as a novelist is that the characters, the events, and the setting all feel very real to the reader. This then is a key, in my opinion, to drawing the reader more deeply into the story. People are complex creatures and rarely (if ever) do we really know anyone. It is unfair therefore to suggest to readers that a character is a cardboard figure. While I may not spend as much time on every character as I would like in the interest of brevity, I do try and ensure that at least the key players are well-developed, and that they also change and grow as the story progresses.
My first three books were mostly futuristic, apocalyptic thrillers, all written for the masses but from a Christian worldview. My faith in God makes up a big part of who I am and what I do, and I’m sure it comes through in my writing. One of my books that reflects that faith is different than the first three because it’s more of a YA/juvenile novel entitled, The Way of Nacor. My goal (always lofty!) with The Way of Nacor was to create a well-blended recipe of a little Chronicles of Narnia and a little Pilgrims Progress, with a pinch of science-fiction thrown in as well. In The Way of Nacor, a family of children is stranded on another world, where they face many obstacles as they try to find their way home. My most recently published novel is a techno-thriller entitled Cybersp@ce, the first in the Cybersp@ce Series. I like to think of Cybersp@ce as Tom Clancy meets Michael Crichton (two of my favorite authors). The next two in the series are Frontiers and New Beginnings, and they chronicle humanity’s emergence from where we are today, to an interstellar, space-faring species.
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Books and Blurbs
New Beginnings
Available in 2014
The Universe. For the first time in human history humanity now has the technology to leave Earth and traverse the galaxy. The Earth Space Alliance has decided to select a world suitable to human colonization, and attempt to settle the first planet outside of the Sol system, which has been the cradle of human civilization since the dawn of creation.
When Nicole Reynolds is selected to lead the search for a new world, and to establish Earth’s first interstellar colony there, she soon discovers the challenge to be far greater than she’d ever imagined. After an extremely rare resource is discovered on the new world, she must risk everything, including her life, to establish a foothold for humanity on a strange, alien planet.
Frontiers
Now Available (May 2014)
FRONTIERS: BOOK TWO IN THE CYBERS@CE SERIES
*A Dream to Unite Humanity…*/p>
Scientists discover the technology to successfully construct Earth’s first interstellar spacecraft, code named Frontier. Hank Reynolds, a gifted and courageous test pilot for the United States Air Force, is assigned to test
pilot humanity’s first interstellar spacecraft on a historic flight to Alpha Centauri. Under the command of the fledgling Earth Space Alliance the spacecraft will carry human beings to the stars, and beyond./p>
*A Plot to see it Fail*
Someone doesn’t want to see this happen and will stop at nothing to see it fail–including murder… When Frontier is sabotaged, it leaves Hank stranded and alone to die in the Alpha Centauri system. With their dreams crumbling around them, will they be able to discover who is behind the plot to steal the alien technology, and to murder those closest to it?
Frontier, Earth’s first starship built on alien tech, is on it’s maiden voyage to Alpha Centauri. Someone wants him to fail, someone wants him dead. /p>
Some Plot Elements & Facts Related to Frontiers:
In Frontiers, scientists build humanity’s first spacecraft capable of interstellar flight, which a craft that can travel faster than the speed of light
Fact: While Einstein’s theory of relativity suggested Faster than Light travel (FTL) is not possible, many theories have been put forth as to how we might get around this galactic speed limit. Just think warp drive or wormholes.
In Frontiers, the development of the interstellar spacecraft also results in the creation of an alternative energy source, helping to stave off a rapidly dwindling world supply of crude oil.
Fact: HSBC estimates the world will run out of crude oil with 40-50 years.
In Frontiers, several principal characters discuss how critical it is that the advanced technology be unveiled carefully and methodically to the world, or else the world could suffer catastrophic consequences.
Fact: The Drake Equation, as it has become known, which was first presented by Drake in 1961, is a probabilistic argument used to estimate the number of active, communicative extraterrestrial civilizations in the Milky Way galaxy. Drake’s equation takes into account that a number of such civilizations will end up destroying themselves with their own technology.
In Frontiers, a public announcement confirming the existence of sentient alien life causes quite a stir among some segments of the world’s population.
Fact: Studies like one by Paolo Musso, a member of the SETI Permanent Study Group of the International Academy of Astronautics (IAA) and the Pontifical Academy of Sciences studies, and others, see no conflict between Christianity and the existence of extraterrestrial intelligence.
Cybersp@ce (January-2013)
CYBERSP@CE is a fast-paced, sci-fi espionage story, with ingredients of international intrigue, artificial intelligence, action, suspense, and romance. Set mostly in the Nevada desert, Cybersp@ce includes cyber warfare between nation states, the fantastic virtual world of an alien computer, and the hunt for one of the world’s greatest spies.
From inside their home located outside the small town of Corona, New Mexico in 1947, a young boy and his parents, while watching a freak lightning storm, hear a loud crash, after young Henry Summers witnesses an alien spacecraft falling from the sky.
Many years later, Nick Reynolds is appointed as the head of a Cyber Command taskforce established to deal with the increasing cyber warfare threat from China. Soon afterwards a new, disturbing type of cyber attack emerges, just as Nick learns that an imminent massive Chinese cyber attack against the United States infrastructure might be imminent. When the evidence suggests that the threat is real and that the attack will kill millions of people, Nick discovers that his team will not have enough time or the technical resources to stop the incredibly advanced attack when it comes.
Nick soon learns of another top-secret project, however, one which might offer a way to stop the attack and spare the lives of hundreds of millions of people.
Dr. Henry Summers works with his scientist daughter, Kate, inside Area 51 at Groom Lake, Nevada. After years of trying to reverse-engineer an alien spacecraft, the team has a breakthrough when they discover how to interface with an alien ship’s computer, by using a cybernetic helmet to enter a fantastic, virtual world.
The Way of Nacor: Tales of Eden (2012)
How can four stranded children survive and get back home after finding themselves transported to an alien planet in a distant part of the galaxy?
Following a family tragedy, the Seekers children find themselves transported to a strange, alien world named Zantura, where a powerful, evil being named Sarin has either murdered or enslaved nearly everyone. The siblings must face and survive a series of seven deadly trials on the journey to find a long-lost ancient relic, which has the power to save Zantura from Sarin, and to send the children home.
The Last Prophet (2011)
Would you believe it if someone told you that you were one of the last two prophets mentioned in the book of Revelation? It is the End of Days. The power of the Antichrist and his grip on humanity grows stronger with each passing day, enabling him to deceive the world and entice humanity into joining him in his corruption, and in his eternal punishment. With the help of the False Prophet, the Beast persuades many to fall down and worship him, also forcing them to take his mark. When someone tells John March that he has been chosen by God to become the last of the two prophets mentioned in the book of Revelation, he doesn’t believe it. After a visitation by an angel followed by a miraculous sign however, he becomes convinced that it is true and decides to embrace his calling, despite learning that doing so will lead to his untimely death. March begins his mission by proclaiming God’s message: that the End of Days is at hand, to beware the growing power and influence of the Beast, and to know that the Second Coming of Jesus Christ is imminent. Supernatural disasters, including a worldwide drought, rivers of blood, massive earthquakes, and a devastating asteroid, testify that the end of the world is at hand. Join John March on his journey to becoming, The Last Prophet.
The Dark Age- Survivors of the Pulse (2011)
Suppose you learned that an ancient prophecy about an artifact, said to be powerful enough to dramatically change the world, was true. Would you risk everything to find it? It has been five-hundred years since the Pulse caused the Great Collapse, ending the Golden Age, and civilization on planet Earth. Humanity has waited ever since for a long-anticipated sign from God, which has finally appeared in the night sky. The time has come for Ferrell Young, the Warrior Clan, and the Church to risk everything in an effort to restore civilization, and bring hope to a world full of despair. Alex Montgomery is an archaeologist who has spent many years looking for a mysterious book on behalf of the Holy Christian Church. The book is said to contain the location of the Great Oracle which, according to legend, can endow the one who finds it with great power and wealth. Of much greater importance to the Clan and the Church however, is the fact that it may also enable the world to emerge from five centuries of darkness and suffering. When a powerful, intelligent, but sadistic barbarian leader named Kraken learns of the Oracle, he plans to destroy the Warrior Clan and the Church, take the Oracle for himself, and enslave the rest of humanity. Join Ferrell and his companions as they set out on a desperate journey to find the Great Oracle, and rescue humanity from The Dark Age.
The Great Collapse-Survivors of the Pulse (2010)
While scientists prepare for a massive solar flare heading towards the earth, a hostile foreign government steals a top-secret, experimental weapon. When they use the EMP weapon to attack America however, the result is the immediate and catastrophic loss of modern technology all over the planet. The president calls upon Dr. James White to lead a group of scientists and theologians in an effort to develop a plan that will offer humanity a second chance at civilization. When societies begin to unravel, refugees flee the anarchy in the cities as people learn how to survive in a world without technology, a world for which they are not prepared. Will humanity survive this catastrophic event? Join author Jeff Horton for a journey into the chaotic and perilous new world of The Great Collapse.
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