I think in life we labor over things, put our heart into them, works of art, etc. And when you do something like that, like write a book or ten, and you stay true to who you are and what you do, you never know if the people seeing your work will actually “get it”. Today, I received news that I was awarded something special. Not just for one of my books, but for the trilogy. If you have a few minutes, I’d like to explain the last several years.
Quite a while ago, I noticed a gentleman who wrote a blog. I found him on Facebook. His name is Peter. The cool thing about his blog was that he was doing good things for independent authors. His reviews were good, well written, and seemed very honest. And he wasn’t afraid to give honor to God. I liked all of that. Eventually, I reached out to him and let him know I had a book. The Prophecy of the Seventh Elizabeth, The Battle Between Light and Dark, Book 1. It was a long time ago, so I may have a few details off a little. But the main point was that for some reason, he didn’t have time to read it at the time. But said he would eventually. I thought, well, that sounds good. Later, I came out with book 2 and also an Acts of the Dragon’s book, The Art of Eten Chu. I think at that time I reached out again and Peter was nice enough to do an author interview with Isabella, my daughter, and co-writer on the book. That, to me, was amazing. But he let me know that he still didn’t have time to read and was probably going to wait until the third book in the series came out. Then as the years rolled on, every time I came out with a short story, he’d ask, is this the one? Number 3?
I say that to say, a lot of people would not have cared that much to follow up. I mean, people have lives and what I didn’t mention is that he lives in Australia. I know right? So, when I finally released Enoch, book three of the Prophecy of the Seventh Elizabeth, I noticed that he marked it “to read” on Goodreads. And I thought “that’s really cool!” Come to find out that he not only read the trilogy, but he also read all of the side stories as well. But that’s not the end of the story, and although that is certainly reason enough to cry, it is not what made me break down into tears in the middle of the night.
I’ve gotten good reviews before. Won a few awards. And God has blessed what I’ve tried to do. But while people may tell you that your book, your art, your craft is good, not a lot of people take the time to pinpoint exactly why. Those of you who know me, know that I say that the Prophecy of the Seventh Elizabeth was given to me by God. Placed as a movie in my head, and all I’m doing is writing down what I see in my head. When I get to read it or listen to it, sometimes it’s like hearing it for the first time. I often wonder “what will happen next?” I know that’s odd. But when someone else says to the world, this is what Jarrod Edge has done with the E7 Universe, and what that person says is exactly what you set out to do, well, it’s worth crying about. And I really needed to hear it at that moment.
It’s like God said to Peter, don’t read it yet, all those years ago. And then said “game on” a short time ago. I’m not saying that’s what happened, but who knows. I just know that I needed to hear it. So much that when I did, I wept with tears of joy. Couldn’t go to sleep after that.
To top all of that off, when I got to the bottom of the review, which can be found here, I read that I had been awarded The Reality Calling Spirit-filled Fiction Award for The Prophecy of the Seventh Elizabeth trilogy. And when you read about what that award means, you will know why this award means far more to me than any other award I’ve received so far.
Thank you Peter Younghusband and David Bergsland for this honor. God Bless you both.
The E7 Prophecy Universe 