by Fletcher Rhoden

“Stonecraft” author Jenni Frendswith’s canon is now being released for Amazon’s Kindle readers. The ebook-only publisher, Blujesto, plans for Frendswith’s work to be their flagship catalog, but have also acquired the rights to this author’s books and others as well.

I spoke to Jenni late last year upon the paperback release of her adventure/romance “Stonecraft’”s paperback release, and I’m eager to hear about her new novella series, “This Young Jesus”.

Q. Jenni, congratulations on the Kindle roll-out.
A. Thanks, I’m really excited. I think Kindle is definitely the future of publishing, and that’s where I wanna be. I mean, why would anybody buy, own or carry a book around when they could carry a Kindle and have access to (eventually) every book ever written? It’s better for the planet anyway, to stop manufacturing all that paper.
Q. Let’s talk about “This Young Jesus”.
A. Well, it’s my new novella series, an action/period/romance centered on the lost years of Jesus, when he is believed to have travelled across Europe with Joseph of Arimathea.
Q. And your series follows his fictional adventures.
A. Exactly. He’s joined by Annabelle, a plucky street thief who really supplies the POV of the series.
Q. It’s a second-person POV, since she’s not the titular character, the central character.
A. Yeah, and I know that’s not the most common POV in this day and age, but how many of us can imagine ourselves in the mind of Jesus himself? I can much more easily see myself as his traveling companion with my own special skills. And it gives it that romantic angle. The books are really great fun to write and, I hope, to read.
Q. They are, definitely. Jesus is so sexy.
A. A lot of people are going to think I went overboard on that, the sexy Jesus thing. But really I went with as much information as history and scripture give us. We know that Jesus was a firebrand as a child and for the first part of his ministry, so in the intervening years it stands to reason that he’d be hotblooded, bold, determined, pulsing with the energy of his youth.
Q. He and Annabelle have a strong sexual, um, tension...
A. Yeah, it’s a real will-they/won’t-they type thing. And there is a lot of evocative writing, even if there’s nothing graphic.. so far. That’s why I put them at the age I did (he’s 18, she’s 17) so that they’re near enough to adulthood to explain why they want to have sex, and to make it possible for them to do so; but near enough to youth to make the idea that they don’t have sex more reasonable.
Q. It’s still very steamy. You do everything you can to keep that romantic tension strong, that sexual vibe...
A. It’s a big part of the characters’ relationship to each other, and a big part of the series. Early on, I decided that every novella in the series would have certain elements: human drama, supernatural aspects, physical action, romance, suspense. But I also decided that different adventures would have differing proportions of those elements; some stories are much more supernatural, some only have a bit of that. Some have more action, some have more suspense. It depends on the particular story. But the central characters remain, and they bring certain things with them to every adventure.
Your other books, “Stonecraft” and “Tru Syndra Ella” are also out on Kindle.
A. And I’m so glad about that. I hope that, as people are drawn to the Jesus series, they pick up those other books too. “Stonecraft” is so thrilling and romantic, it would be such a great movie. And “Tru Syndra Ella” is really funny, charming, a classic story tradition but a truly unique telling. I don’t mean to toot my own horn, but I worked hard on those books and, having just read them, I can tell you that I think they came out very well, just as I imagined them. I think readers are really going to enjoy those two books.
Q. And “Stonecraft” leads up to a great sequel.
A. Yeah, I’m talking to Blujesto now about moving ahead on that.
Q. Even with your new series coming out? That’s a lot of writing.
A. That’s what they said. So, we’ll see. It would be a great book though. I don’t want to give anything away, but if you read “Stonecraft” you’ll see what’s coming up next. I think it’ll be even more exciting, adventurous and dangerous than the first. You know how the first superhero movie is an origin story? And that’s great. But the sequel is always better because the characters have been introduced and a new, exciting storyline can be established.
Q. Not that “Stonecraft” isn’t great on its own. Even without a sequel, I think the book wraps up nicely.
A. Good of you to say. By the way, congrats on having your own books picked up by Blujesto. Thanks for hosting me at your site, I guess that’s what did it.
Q. No problem, we all did well; Lucretia (Mars) too. I wonder if her book [“Gasping in the Shadows”] isn’t too racy for Kindle. Back to you though, your non-fiction book “A Progressive Christian Handbook” is also out.
A. I think more people are progressive Christians than they even realize.
Q. According to your book, a progressive Christian embraces the secular principles of history and science as well as the religious doctrines of scripture and prayer.
A. The opposition of science and religion is a false conflict, manufactured and sustained by people for their own reasons. There’s too much science and history to simply ignore, and there’s nothing in Christian scripture that requires the denial of historical fact. Timelines which have been created by dispensationalists based on biblical interpretation are generally bogus, but that doesn’t mean that the Bible is bogus, or that God is bogus; simply misunderstood, by people on both ends of the spectrum. There are also the political aspects of it. There’s way too much influence of Christianity on the political right wing Republican party in the United States, and way too much influence of the political right wing Republican party on Christianity. That’s not separation of Church and State! I say religion belongs on the community level and not at the national level. That’s the spirit of the U.S. Constitution, and that’s what works best for society as a whole.
Q. Sounds like you’re appealing to young Christians, with both this book and the new series.
A, Well, I think progressive Christianity is certainly the future of both Christian and secular thought; everything pulls them together. An optimal world view, I think, is one where those schools of thought converge. If “This Young Jesus” is the future of publishing, I don’t know...
Q. I think it’s gonna be huge. Good luck with the novels, and with the novella series “This Young Jesus”. The first book, DEMON, is available now?
A. Yes, and there are special deals if you subscribe to Kindle Prime. The next book, HOSTAGE, is coming out this week. The next two, ESCAPE and PANTHEON, will be out before summer. Just go to Amazon and google my name [Jenni Frendswith] the series title [This Young Jesus], or the publisher’s name [Blujesto Press] and they pop right up. There should be a new one every month.
Q. Sounds like you’ve got an amazing year coming up. Thanks for speaking with me, Jenni.
A. No problem, thank you!

blujestopress@yahoo.com

Fletcher Rhoden is the author of “Fifty Shades of Trailer Park Boys: TPB in the Great Comedic Traditions”, and other books due out soon for Kindle from Blujesto Press.