Announcing the First 13 Authors Whose Books We're Publishing
Announcing the First 13 Authors Whose Books We're Publishing
These gifted writers constitute the first wave joining the God of the Desert creative community.
While I announced the formation and launch of God of the Desert Books on July 4 of 2022, it has taken us since then to plan out and make the necessary structural steps before being ready to announce the authors who have chosen to join us. We needed to negotiate and sign a deal with our distributor, develop a brand-new business plan based on that plan, create a new author contract reflecting both which our group of authors supported, and then get everyone signed up under it.
It’s been many often onerous, difficult tasks to accomplish before we can start “the fun stuff” of beginning production and promotions. Given my very negative experiences with previous independent publishers I worked with, which were run in an irresponsibly slapdash, unprofessional manner, I wanted to make sure to get all our ducks in a row before making any public announcements.
And, of course, I needed to continue my recovery from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. While I am not yet 100% recovered — an attack of hyper-arousal can still hit in mornings and evenings — I am now well enough to work two jobs writing and editing for Zionist publications as well as to do the work to finish launching this Zionist book publishing company.
For those of you new to following our developing book company — especially those who may have joined us recently, likely in response to my angry arguments against antisemites — I suppose an explanation is in order. While some of our titles will have overt Zionist themes, most will not. Below I’ll name the first authors we intend to publish in nonfiction, genre adventures, mysteries, literature, and women’s memoirs. Our goal here is simple: to bring together creative people of diverse backgrounds and faiths who embrace Zionist values. We want to unite Jews, Christians, Muslims, and those of other religions from all around the world to collaborate together in peace and loving inter-faith fellowship.
As much as I embrace the “warmonger” title and will continue to argue for a robust, aggressive defense of both Israel and the United States, I am also an advocate for peace. There is a time for each, as one of
’s and my favorite hippie songs famously proclaimed:A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace. — Ecclesiastes 3:8
Something else to note: while we’re naming all of our authors now, there are only five books whose titles we are ready to announce now. We have working titles for everything else, but until we complete the editorial process, we’re not going to know with absolute certainty what most of these books will end up being called. So no announcements about them yet. When we get each of them sent to our distributor and have approximate release dates, then we’ll announce those.
For this initial launch, we have five categories of titles, each which will have its own imprint, Substack publication, and unique marketing plans. We’ll be announcing each imprint’s name and inviting you to subscribe to the corresponding Substack this month. Each author will also have their own solo Substack we hope you will enjoy.
Zionist Nonfiction
The first title we will publish is
’s memoir Israel Odyssey, describing his decision to make Aliyah and what he found in the Jewish state when he got there. He has updated it to include an afterword describing the aftermath of 10/7. I’ve worked with David for about 10 years now, and deeply enjoyed editing his articles in a time that seems so long ago now. He’s a skilled writer who works across mediums, both fiction and nonfiction. I hope that in the coming years we’ll have an opportunity to publish some of his literary work, too — having read a fair amount of it, I assure you he’s deeply gifted.I am currently working on two nonfiction titles with strong Zionist themes which we will publish through our nonfiction imprint. The first is The Joy of Political Sects, the book laying out what I have learned about ideologies over the last 20 years and my tumultuous journey through them. The book will offer an A-Z guide of the ideas and movements fighting for dominance in the world, and will also seek to explain how and why I’ve come to my admittedly eccentric blending of concepts from across and beyond the political spectrum. It will begin with A for the anarchism I came to sympathize with in college, and will end with Z for the Zionism I fight for today.
Second, I have begun compiling a book based on the last year of my Zionist writings — both the analytical essays that I’ve published here and also the journalism I’ve done for JNS. One of the things that has most frustrated me in the last year of journalistic work: I get so much great material from interviews, but only a small fraction of it can make it into an article of 800-1200 words. So I have hours and hours of interviews with lots of fantastic observations from world-class thinkers and activists that I’d like to utilize. Right now the working title I’m leaning toward for this volume is Psychedelic Zionism Rising, but we’ll see if it evolves into something else as I’m writing it.
Genre Fiction - Science Fiction, Fantasy, Thrillers
I’m excited that we’ll be publishing fun novels that run across types. The first one will be
’s Perdicion: The Other Blue Planet, first in a trilogy of science fiction novels set in a solar system much like our own. Alec’s series is what I’d characterize as “1980s space opera.” It brings to mind a “Star Wars” and “Battlestar Galactica” tradition of conflicts between spaceships and clashes between very different cultures. This style of more “classic” science fiction is what we’re most interested in publishing: science fiction evoking what writers were doing from the 1910s (yes, I’m game for some John Carter of Mars-style books!) through the 1980s. After that, much of the genre just starts getting a bit too postmodern for my tastes.Perhaps now is a good place to emphasize: here and in our other imprints, we’re largely fairly “traditional” in what we want to do. We're looking for three-act structure, hero’s journey, and stories drawing on the conventions which sustained each style of book for decades, if not centuries. We’re really not all that interested in overly “experimental” work. There’s self-publishing available for that.
, like Hornik, possesses a broad range as a writer, and I’m excited to explore with him which styles of books he’s going to want to do in the future. First, though, we’re going to get out the entirety of his Cricket Hastings thriller series. The 5-book collection focuses on one family and the young woman leading them as they navigate through the chaos of an America recovering from an EMP attack, which has knocked out most of the country’s modern technology. We previously published the first three titles in this series at GOTD’s predecessor publisher. However, in re-releasing these and the two final, unpublished books, we’re planning a massive change in marketing direction, including the covers we’ll be creating.Finally, in launching this imprint we are also including a nonfiction title.
has drafted a delightful book about how to apply political science principles for writers doing world-building on their fantasy and science fiction titles. It’s just a tremendously fascinating book which could be very useful to aspiring fiction writers. I know I’ll be consulting it - and the future installments in the series Oren has planned - when I shift gears and start writing fiction again.Given this book’s clear genre themes, we thought it best to include it here, and in turn, to open up this imprint for nonfiction titles, too, with themes that relate to the novels we’re publishing. If you have a book analyzing science fiction, fantasy, movies, or pop culture more broadly, then we’ll be interested in considering it.
Likewise, given this imprint’s pop culture theme and openness to nonfiction, it’s here where we’ll be publishing the combination memoir/art collection by
GOTD’s co-founder, vice president, and art director. This book will tell Mike’s life story, present his takes on the numerous pop culture properties he adores, and compile the best of his artwork, much of it pop culture-themed.As you may be beginning to note, memoir is one of the types of books we’re most interested in publishing.
Literary Works
The most elegantly written title we’ll be publishing is Howard Foster’s Miranda’s War, which was previously published through GOTD’s predecessor but, shamefully, did not receive the promotions and cover which it warranted. Howard’s novel is a wicked satire of elite New Englanders, featuring one hell of a disruptor in the character of Miranda Dalton. The book is tremendously funny, and Howard has written it with such skill. I’m excited to try again at getting it out to the right readers who will appreciate it and then encourage Howard on his future writings.
has composed an extraordinary work of historical fiction, the first in a planned series. Set in the 1860s, following the conclusion of the Civil War, and inspired by the true story of her ancestors, Barb’s novel honors the journey of Lizzie and Mary Jane, two Quaker sisters from Indiana who traveled down to the Reconstruction South to teach the recently-freed former enslaved people.While
and I had originally planned for the book to be part of a line of historical fiction primarily targeting women, as Barb has aggressively revised and deepened the story, we came to see it not just as a light historical novel, but as serious literature. While the book will still likely most be of interest to women, this man here will encourage everyone to check out the great story, immersive historical details, and engaging characters of the book. is another writer in the group who I’ve known, edited, and counted as a friend for over a decade. Initially we had planned for him to be our poetry editor — and that was his role when we attempted to relaunch GOTD’s predecessor. And while he still may plan the role of finding and editing poetry when he so chooses, I’ve decided to instead encourage him to primarily focus on his own poetry, and for us to make him the first and primary poet we will publish. So we’ve got a new chapbook by him that will be the first poetry book we publish.Jon’s a wonderful poet - I love his work. I’m sure he’ll inspire more of my own poetry, too.
Mysteries
’s The Secret of Fatima is a delightful mystery set in the Vatican and the broader world of the Catholic Church. This book was also originally published by our predecessor. Based around prophetic revelations allegedly given to children in 1917 and then hidden by the church for decades, the book creates wonderful characters and a twisting, exciting plot. I hope Peter will write more books like this, but even if he wants to shift toward other styles, I’ll be eager to work with him.What Peter has created here is also very much the type of mystery or genre book we’re interested in - those that draw from the religious worlds. I hope in the future we can acquire more titles like this one.
Bill Walsh also has a fun, mysterious novel. This one is based around a hidden government agency tasked with handling supernatural threats.
Finally,
is working on a short story collection inspired by the work of Shirley Jackson. She’s crafted a number of spooky tales with wild twist endings. While novels and nonfiction are the primary types of books we’re looking for, we will consider short story collections too.
Women’s Memoirs
is also leading an imprint designed to tell women’s stories for women readers. Many of you are likely already familiar with this imprint’s name and Substack, which we launched last year: 
The first title we’ll offer is by Amanda Rhodes, who will tell the story of raising a medically complex child. On their first child's birthday, Amanda and her husband were shocked to learn that their baby daughter was critically ill with CHARGE syndrome, which had gone undetected in utero. Little Sophia required a care team right away. She was airlifted to a better-equipped hospital before her mother could even hold her, thus setting her whole family's course on an odyssey they never expected to travel.
Between the chaos of constant trips to the hospital and the stress of learning about CHARGE syndrome, Amanda kept terrified friends and family apprised of nearly every step. But she nearly buckled under the pressure she felt to keep everything positive and moving along a familiar, plot-like trajectory, when real life behaves in no such way.
Now that Sophia’s condition has stabilized, Amanda writes a powerful account of those early years. She shares not only what happened to Sophia and her little family, but also the concerns and fears she wishes she'd had the opportunity to voice at the time. It's a must-read for anyone with a loved one going through something difficult - and a revelation for anyone wondering how best to support a child with complex medical needs.
Sally is also working on her own memoir, centered around 13 terrible dates, each symbolizing a different part of her life and the lessons learned from that time and those experiences. Here are early drafts of some of the stories she’ll tell.
If you have any questions about our upcoming imprints, authors, or books, then please leave them in the comments, reply to this email, or hit me up on Substack Notes.
Also, one last note: while we are not actively soliciting new titles or new members of our creative community, if you are a subscriber to our Substack and have a book you’d like to see published, then you are more than welcome to get in touch with us. Just reply to one of our emails and provide us with a brief query describing your book and your aspirations as an author. If it sounds like a potential fit for us, then we’ll ask you to submit the manuscript and we will review it.
And likewise, if you have a shorter work which you would like to submit for potential publication on our Substack, then you’re welcome to get in touch, too. As you’ve seen in the range of books we’re publishing, we’re open to a broad variety of writing and art.