Guest Post- Christian Fantasy Author Joanna White

Today on the blog, I'm sharing a post by Joanna White, author of the novel Hunter, which releases April 30. She's here to tell us about her book and shed some light on the Christian Fantasy genre.

Joanna:
"Hunter is more than just a fantasy book. It’s more than an epic, action-packed, intense, dramatic story, and the characters represent more than who they are. As a Christian author, I’ve always tried to include Christian themes in my stories. Before Hunter, all I wrote were stories that were - what I like to call - Christian dramas. So when I wrote my first fantasy novel, which was Hunter, I tried to include God and my beliefs in it as much as possible. When I finished, Hunter had become a story about redemption and survival, about terrible things that happen and overcoming those things.

What I hadn’t realized was just how Biblical it was.

Later, as I continued writing the series it’s a part of, The Valiant Series, I realized that it paralleled to the story of Moses. People oppressed by a government and rules greater than themselves. A person chosen to set them free who only knew the life as their enemy and that same person being someone to doubt themselves and why they were chosen in the first place. I added a special scene to really bring out this theme that had been imbued inside Hunter without me realizing it.

Most people either don’t know that Christian fiction exists, let alone Christian fantasy, or they think it’s just like listening to a sermon at church - not that there is anything wrong with that. But Christian fantasy isn’t. Hunter isn’t.

Christian fantasy for me especially, is something that makes me smile. You wanna know why? Because as I’m reading or watching Christian fantasy, I know - really know - that it’s clean and filled with truths that I believe in. I don’t have to be afraid of what I’m reading or watching. As a Christian fantasy author, it’s my chance to give people - all people, not just Christians - an epic tale that they can really delve into and become a part of and still show them that it doesn’t have to include cussing or sex scenes or anything else that’s bad in order to be a really good book. You can love books that are decent and clean and at the same time, share themes and beliefs that can hopefully inspire and encourage you whether you’re a Christian or not. And maybe, just maybe, it can teach you about the God who loves you more than you will ever know."

About Hunter:

A reckless young woman named Averella does what no woman has ever done.

She disguises herself as a man and purposefully gets herself arrested and thrown into Zagerah. Her brother Gabriel was taken, and with his disease, he will not survive on his own. She has no idea what to expect inside the prison; all she knows is that once men get taken, they never come back.

The Hunters will find her.

Genetically altered to be faster and stronger than humans, the Hunters use their powers to find and kill every prisoner who enters Zagerah. The only ones who can defeat them, are in fact, themselves.
Jared is a Hunter. It’s all he’s known, all he remembers. He kills ruthlessly and without regret, one prisoner after another. When a new prisoner Dalex shows up, everything begins to change. Jared goes undercover to make Dalex and the other prisoners believe he is one of them, a prisoner himself.

No one knows the truth.
He will trick them.
Toy with them.
Then, he will kill them.

To pre-order Hunter from Amazon, click here. To enter Joanna's giveaway of a DVD with bonus content about Hunter, a poster, and a magnet, click here.

About Joanna: 
Joanna White earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Creative Writing for Entertainment at Full Sail University. The Valiant series is her first published work, which first started off being updated on a website called Wattpad. She lives in the country of Missouri with her husband, where she continues to work on her other upcoming books. Writing has been a passion since she was ten, when she wrote her first book. Ever since then, writing has become her life outside of her family, God, and being a nerd.