Last week was a busy week here at Spec Faith, what with the announcement of the Realm Award winners, along with our usual posts. Among the flurry was an excellent article on Friday by author Nathan Lumbatis, and I hope that one did not slide past our visitors without notice.

As it happens, Nathan just released the third book in his Sons and Daughters series, Daniel and the Serpent’s Abyss. Release date was last Friday, the day Nathan’s article appeared here. While Nathan did reference the book and give an example from it through an excerpt, many may not know a lot about Nathan or his work. Consequently, a follow up article seems important. One of the goals of Spec Faith has always been to raise the profile of speculative works written from a Christian worldview, and of course, their authors. Certainly that describes Nathan.

First, a description of the latest in the series:

Fifteen-year-old Daniel never believed he’d have a normal family, much less become a part of God’s. Now, after two quests to find the Weapons of Power, he’s met God face-to-face and fought the Enemy in various guises. There’s little Daniel wouldn’t believe at this point. His next quest will take him to the British Isles, where he and his companions hope to save their friend, Raylin, and find the Abyssal Staff. There’s just one problem: saving her will require a descent into the Abyss itself—the Enemy’s lair. How can they hope for Raylin’s salvation when the Enemy has control of her mind and they are in his home territory? Daniel has no idea, but he trusts his faith in God will not prove vain. Surely, after all the divine intervention during the last two quests, God wouldn’t abandon the companions without help. Right?

As I’m sure you can tell from the above, the series is young adult, Christian fantasy. The novels explore themes such as forgiveness, faith, spiritual warfare, and the reality of divine sonship.

But who is Nathan Lumbatis? I mean, has he been writing long? Published other works? What’s he done in his life?

It turns out that Nathan is fairly new to the writing scene when it comes to novels. The Sons and Daughters series is his first. You can learn more about the stories through the book trailers available at his site.

As far as Nathan himself, his bio says he “grew up in the woods of Alabama, where he spent his time exploring, hiking, and dreaming up stories. Now, as a child/adolescent therapist and author, he’s teaching kids and teens how to redeem their stories using Biblical principles. He still lives in Alabama, where you will find him with his wife and three kids every chance he gets.”

He graduated from college, then earned his Masters Degree from the University of Alabama-Birmingham. He then began working as a counselor with the Alabama Baptist Children’s Home and Family Ministries, after which he began his private practice.

So by occupation, Nathan works with young people. No surprise then that his books are written for that audience. Here’s a little more info about his writing journey:

I’ve been writing fantasy since I was in high school. For one of my first “books,” I actually created a scroll by taping computer paper together and then attaching them to two wooden dowels I’d made. It was to be called (drum roll please), The Scrolls of Brenna, and would detail the adventures of a young enchantress, etc. etc. At that point, I figured the novelty of reading a story on a scroll would make it sell big time. Obviously I was wrong, but that, and similar writing experiences, were formative for me if for no other reason than to teach me to never give up and keep writing. The rest of my endeavors until the Sons and Daughters series were similar: learning through failure. It’s not a very elegant journey to being an author, but it is a way. Hopefully some aspiring authors can be encouraged by this. (You, too, can be a failure like me!)

I quick peek at Nathan’s website bookshelf gives a hint at some of the authors he admires. Among them is one of my favorites: Lloyd Alexander, author of the Chronicles of Prydain series.

If you’d like to learn more about Nathan and his writing or activities (he had a cool release party in his home state of Alabama over the weekend), you can find him in the usual online places: his website, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.