C.K. Heartwing's Blog

Greetings, dear readers!

I’m so excited to share with you a recent interview I did with author and veterinarian, J. Aaron Gruben! I found his books last year when looking for books on the history of veterinary medicine. I had stumbled on his book A Theology of Beasts: Christians and Veterinary Medicine, which of course naturally led to me investigating his other books! Along with theological works, he also writes speculative historical fiction, and I thoroughly enjoyed his novel Crescent Tides. I don’t often find many other veterinarians who are also authors in more speculative genres, and even more, fellow followers of Christ, so I was quite excited when I had a chance to interview Dr. Gruben.

Without further ado, here is the interview!

What first drew you to veterinary medicine? Did you always want to be a vet?

I have had an interest in science and a love for animals for as long as I can remember, so the two naturally merged into an interest in veterinary medicine. As I thought more strategically about a career, I became convinced this was a noble calling that would let me play a part in fighting the curse on creation through medicine, and was a good calling for me to honor God. 

What’s your favorite aspect of veterinary medicine?

Honestly, my favorite aspect is the service-oriented nature of the field. I love being able to help people and their pets. My favorite cases are those I can see a patient’s suffering diminished, and/or help a client through a hard time.

When did you first starting writing? What drew you to it?

I first started writing in my last year of high school. An article in a magazine by medieval scholar Thomas Madden was my first nudge into writing. It was on the crusades and the many misconceptions about them in popular histories. I was oddly fascinated and wanted to learn more. So I started digging around libraries, back in the caveman days before there was much information readily available on the internet. I had the fun idea to learn by writing a novel about the First Crusade, which also felt like my chance to help correct the misconceptions Mr. Madden wrote about. In undergrad the next year I spent hours buried in obscure stacks of the New Mexico State campus library reading firsthand accounts of crusaders. I love the detective work of digging up information and sifting through the more dubious parts to piece together things close to what happened. This became a 6 year project, taking me halfway through vet school! And I haven’t stopped writing since.

What’s it like being a veterinarian and an author?

Busy. And sometimes confusing.

Sometimes the two mesh together well, but I certainly feel schizophrenic at other times. Writing has been a wonderful way for me to disconnect and unwind from emotionally traumatizing cases when I get off stressful shifts. I think it’s good to have an interest different from your main career. It’s helped keep me more well-rounded and a bit less crazy.

I’ve noticed historical accuracy is an important element in your stories (and I thoroughly enjoy your footnotes with fun and interesting historical facts!) Have you always been interested in history? What are some of your favorite eras?

Indeed! I try my best to make my writing close to the segment of history I’m writing about as I can. One thing that’s important to me is to marry historical accuracy with imagination (which I believe can help bridge the gaps between the facts we can know and those we will never know). I’ve been interested in history for a long, long time. My dad loves history and took us to local cowboy forts and reenactments, watched documentaries with us, and read us history stories. So I suspect my love for history has a lot to do with him. Thanks, Dad!

Favorite eras… That can be tough! My favorite is the Medieval era (especially the early Middle Ages through the 11th century). I also find the Victorian era fascinating, as well as the Great War (WWI) time, both the war itself and the changes in culture all around the world that preceded and followed it.

Christian history in particular is a big part of your writing. How did this become a passion of yours?

Christian history is a big part of my writing because I see it as the central thrust of history. I’m a Christian and try to be a consistent one. I believe in a sovereign God who actively works in history. So when we read in Romans 8:28 that He “works all things together for good” for those who love Him, the implication is that Christian history is the central theme of the story God is weaving through time. He loves his Bride (the church) more than anything, so I love to follow His dealings with and for her when I study history.

On a less philosophical and more practical note, I can relate more to Christians in the past than non-Christians. It’s easier for me to understand what they did or why they did it (even when they had misguided motives or bad actions).  

Are there any authors or books that have been influential for you in your writing?

Yes. Lots. Moving on…

Heheh… Here are a few:

Robert Louis Stevenson (especially Treasure Island!)Thomas Madden, crusade historian. (I’ve enjoyed his books on cities lately: he wrote one on Constantinople and one on Venice.)John France (particularly his book Victory in the East about the First Crusade).C. S. Lewis (all his books! The Abolition of Man is one of my favorites).Terry Pratchett (his books about the Night Watch are my favorite. I’m always amazed by his style of storytelling and quick wit, and hope to be able to write just a bit like that too.)Francis Schaeffer (his book The God Who is There has been especially influential).

What does your research and writing process look like when starting work on a new book?
The details depend on the project. In general, I’ll use internet resources for broad strokes, though I have to double-check accuracy even with basic facts like dates and names. Then I narrow things down by digging into published books. I scour library catalogs (interlibrary loans are wonderful!) and talk to librarians when my searches aren’t working. It’s important to me to get as close to the time of the topic as I can. I’ll read all the firsthand accounts I can find, or whatever is closest. And bearing in mind potential bias: they may have been written to make a point and will certainly be written with very different perspectives than we have today. But that latter distinctive makes them really useful. It’s easy to get boxed in by current research and never see the events as people who lived through them (or whose great-grandads lived through them) saw them.

I run over hours and hours of rabbit trails when I’m researching, finding odd topics I’d never thought about while researching something else. Often my writing comes out a paragraph or two at a time as I read something else interesting.

Your latest book you’ve published is called Kristmenn and is about the conversion of the Vikings. Could you tell us more about that and how you got into writing it?

Kristmenn is a project I’m super excited about! It started with a question: What happened to the Vikings? I suspected they converted and melded into medieval Christendom, but wanted to find out. For me, the best way to find something out is to write about it. I told my wife it would be a quick, fun project. And three years later we completed it! (We’re also finishing a children’s school study on the same topic that will be out soon.)

The conversion era of Scandinavian history is fascinating and filled with bigger-than-life characters I had never heard about. Many are awful villains, while some are out-and-out heroes. But most of them were something in between – men and women with good motives who sometimes did terrible things. It was such a different era that it’s been a journey “getting inside the heads” of the people who lived through it. I wanted to avoid making the mistake of projecting our biases onto the Christians who worked to make conversion happen. The most wonderful thing I found in my research was the result: pagan Scandinavia converted and enfolded into the arms of the medieval church. I realize some see this as a bad thing. But if you look at their pre-conversion history, it seems a miracle that these brutal murderers and (in many cases) haters of Christ would take the first step of transformation to the Christian faith. The fascinating conversion of Viking society was a long process. Baptism and acceptance of the faith was only a very first step, and the story moves on as rough men in a rough age (both Pagans and Christians) slowly became more chivalrous and directed their strength to better things as the light of Jesus affected generations. I tried to focus on individual conversions and individual mission efforts, while also discussing some of the cultural changes that developed eventually from those people’s decisions.    

What book of yours would you recommend readers to start with?

That’s a tough one because I write about very disparate things.

If you’re looking for a good fiction, I’d recommend Crescent Tides. It’s an alternate history with time travel, involving terrorists who are trying to shape the present world by changing the past. And the man standing in their way is a brave veterinarian-adventurer with a penchant for medieval history. I had lots of fun with the action scenes in this story! And if you like it, there are more in the Tangled Eons series it starts.

If you’re looking for something more academic, Kristmenn would be good, or my study Chivalry: An Ancient Code for Our Time. (The chivalry book includes projects and discussion questions, formatted as a self-study – there is also an elementary student version.)

If you’re looking for veterinary medicine topics, start with Fuzzy Logic. It’s fun, interactive, and I’m confident anyone can enjoy it.

Do you have a favorite of the books you’ve written?
Whatever I wrote latest is my favorite! But if I had to pick, probably it’d be Crescent Tides. I wove elements of most of my interests into that story: history, Christian perspectives of the crusades, humor, and vet medicine.

If there’s one thing you could have readers take away from your writing, what would that be?

That Jesus is magnificent, the Central Character of history, and is working everything toward his good, good designs. The biggest privilege a Christian can have is to work with Him toward those designs in any way he can find.  

Going off of that, in a world that is very much against Christ, do you have any tips for Christian writers?

Keep your focus on bringing Christ honor through whatever you write. Remember you are serving your readers by your writing: think about them while you shape your work. Keep at it! It’s always easy to start a project, and difficult to follow it to the end. It’s even more difficult to edit it again and again and again. But that polish is what makes it shine. Work hard to make your writing shine for Jesus!

Similarly, do you have any tips for Christian veterinarians coming into the field? Especially as more ethical and moral dilemmas seem to come into our field?

Good question. Just as in writing, keep your focus on honoring Christ and serving others. Study what God says about animals, and keep in mind the balance of the importance of human life over animal life and the responsibility humans have to care for animals. Try to think as a professional whose job is to help pet owners fulfill their God-given responsibilities toward animals.

For me, these principles clear up a lot of ethical dilemmas on their own. They tell me to advise against purely cosmetic procedures that can hurt an animal. They tell me I can help an animal patient end suffering through euthanasia without moral qualms. They tell me I can negotiate the financial piece of a case to help maximize what an owner can do without feeling guilty that they aren’t doing enough for a pet.

Before we wrap up, do you have any new upcoming projects you want readers to know about?

I’m currently writing the next installment of the Tangled Eons series. Cal and his friends find themselves on the other side of the coin in this story: someone sinister has warped their present in all kinds of ways, and they must travel into the colorful world of the 1940s to unravel it all. I’m excited to ramp up the story to shape the entire series into an epic story arc that folds in the Supinator (my veterinarian superhero from Washington, DC).

I’m also close to publishing an elementary age study on the Viking conversion era, and two fun young adult stories that grew out of my Kristmenn project. One story is about Brom Belcher (a minor character in Juvament!) who travels through Kievan Rus (early Viking Russia) and has some crazy adventures in Constantinople. The other is a time travel tale about a boy who meets King Knut in England, solves one of history’s great murder mysteries, and gets to wield a sword in battle and learn some things about himself.

I may also have written one chapter of the next Fuzzy Logic book… Stay tuned…

One last question that I just must ask, what is your favorite animal and why?
Cows. Cows are my favorite animal. They are huge and have goopy tongues that make me laugh. They’re often friendly, and I love it when I get to rub one on the shoulders or scratch her head. But they’re also big and deadly enough to be cool. They have an incredible physiological design, and the amazing super power of converting grass into protein through complex chemistry built into their fuzzy stomachs. They taste great too (but don’t tell them I said so).

About J. Aaron Gruben:

J. Aaron Gruben grew up in the Southwest and currently lives in Texas with his wife and six children. He works full time as a veterinarian. He has been writing over 20 years and is the author of works of varied genres. An article about the Crusades inspired him to start writing historically accurate stories – especially on topics that have become either distorted by political or social bias or have been forgotten by today’s general public. The major goals of his writing are to bring honor to Christ and to edify, to entertain, and to educate readers.

One of J. Aaron Gruben’s major motivations in writing is to help demonstrate that a careful search through the dusty pages of history (augmented by a vivid imagination confined to the framework of real facts) can be every bit as exciting as the perusal of the most riveting fantasy novel. Truth, as they say, is indeed stranger than fiction. And by combining careful scholarship with imaginative storytelling, Aaron hopes to make truth much more interesting than pure fiction.

When not writing or repairing sick animals, Aaron enjoys reading, hiking, dancing with toddlers, yodeling, playing board games, and playing a variety of musical instruments. He travels to conventions with his publishing company, Post Tenebras Lux Books, which strives to improve lives and revitalize old truths through quality Christian stories and studies.

Thank you for reading! You can find out more about Dr. Gruben and his novels and upcoming projects at his website, nmgrubens.com!

God bless,

C. K. Heartwing

Hello, dear readers!

I have once more been quite neglectful of my blog, but I hope to amend that soon (including with a few fun author interviews coming up so be sure to watch for those!). To break my unintentional hiatus, I’m excited to (belatedly) share that A Noble Life released at the end of January as an ebook! To add to the exciting news, the paperback is now available on Amazon as well!

It’s been both exciting and surreal that A Noble Life has now been published for a month, and I am so excited to now be able to share the paperback with you all. You can find it here!

A prince in search of his missing brother. Two sisters tucked away in a snowy wood trying to live in peace. When their paths cross, they find not all in the wood is as it seems.

When their father the king is assassinated in the palace courtyard, Frederick Belvare can do nothing to stop his older brother Matthias from plunging into the Blackwald forest after their father’s assassins to bring justice and to retrieve his stolen crown. Only the Crown Prince does not return, and Prince Frederick must go to the Blackwald to bring his brother back. He enlists the help of his father’s knights and sets off into the Blackwald, but rumors lurk of strange men and monstrous bear tracks in the snow.

Rosalind Everwright and her mother and sister only want peace. Secluded in their little cottage in the Blackwald, they’ve found for themselves a refuge from the painful past, that is until Rosalind finds a man wounded in the snow. The Everwrights take him in to their care. The huntsman seems to be more than he’s letting on, and with his arrival what little peace they’ve found is shattered.

Neither Prince Frederick or Rosalind know who to trust in the snowy wood, but one misstep may cost them their lives, for not all in the wood is as it seems.


A Noble Life is a NA Christian fantasy of Snow White and Rose Red retelling and is Book #14 in the Cornerstone Series. Each book can be read as a standalone.

God bless,

C. K. Heartwing

Hey everyone!

I’m back again today to share the last group of covers for the winter novellas for the Cornerstone series… and a surprise! The authors for the winter novellas are K. R. Mattson, C. K. Heartwing (yours truly), Kendra E. Ardnek, and Katja H. Labonté!

I’m so excited to share with you the cover for A Noble Life!

16 Christian fantasy fairy tale retellings filled with faith, clean romance, danger, and courage from authors Laurie Lucking, Kirsten Fichter, E. G. Bella, Jewel Windall, Saraina Whitney, Rachel Kovaciny, Abigail Kay Harris, Madisyn Carlin, Lucy Peterson, Anna Augustine, Olivia Godfrey, Kendall Hoxsey, K. R. Mattson, C. K. Heartwing, Kendra E. Ardnek, Katja H. Labonté.

The gorgeous covers were designed by Mountain Peak Edits & Design! The publisher is Bellator de Lux Publishing. You can find the preorder links for these novellas here!

And now for that surprise I promised!

The Cornerstone novellas will also be available as hardcovers, and there will be special editions for some of the books!

It’s been so exciting to share all of these covers with you all! Do you have a favorite? Is there a retelling in particular you’re looking forward to?

Thank you so much for joining me on these cover reveals!

God bless,

C. K. Heartwing

Greetings, dear travelers!

Today I’m excited to share with you my post for the A Fairytale Summer blog event! I found out about this event back in May, and I was so excited to take part! I’ve long loved fairy tales, and the timing of this event is especially fun because I’m currently writing a fairy tale retelling!

For the blog event, you can begin your adventure here with the first post: ! Stay tuned for more details about the event schedule at the end of my post!

For my post today, I’ll be sharing with you a moodboard for one of my favorite fairy tales, and it happens to be the one I’m writing a retelling for! I first found out about this fairy tale when my mom surprised me with a retelling of it when I was in middle school. That retelling was The Shadow of the Bear by Regina Doman. I fell in love with the story and set out to find the original fairy tale, and from there it’s become a dear favorite! I’m sure you’re wondering what fairy tale it is, so without further ado, the moodboard!

Since I was making a moodboard for Snow White and Rose Red, I couldn’t help myself and had to make one for my retelling of it too! My novella, A Noble Life, is part of the Cornerstone series I’ve been posting about with cover reveals. The cover will be posted on Monday so keep your eyes out for that!

Here’s the moodboard!

Thank you so much for reading! Have you read Snow White and Rose Red? If so, what do you think of it? I’ve always thought the woodland cottage of the sisters and their mother sounds so wonderfully cozy!

If you want to see more fun fairy tale posts, be sure to check out the posts from the other bloggers taking part too!

A Fairytale Summer Schedule:

Previous post: Favorite Fairytale Movies ~ Katherine Perry

Next post: Favorite Fairytale Books ~ Virginia Henderson

God bless!

C. K. Heartwing

Hey everyone!

I’m once again back to show you the next four covers for the Autumn Cornerstone novellas! The authors for books 9-12 are Anna Augustine, Lucy Peterson, Olivia Godfrey, and Kendall Hoxsey. Without further ado, here are the gorgeous covers!

16 Christian fantasy fairy tale retellings filled with faith, clean romance, danger, and courage from authors Laurie Lucking, Kirsten Fichter, E. G. Bella, Jewel Windall, Saraina Whitney, Rachel Kovaciny, Abigail Kay Harris, Madisyn Carlin, Lucy Peterson, Anna Augustine, Olivia Godfrey, Kendall Hoxsey, K. R. Mattson, C. K. Heartwing, Kendra E. Ardnek, Katja H. Labonté.

The gorgeous covers were designed by Mountain Peak Edits & Design! The publisher is Bellator de Lux Publishing. You can find the preorder links for these novellas here!

Next week will be the cover reveal for the last group of novellas in the series, which will be the winter themed ones! My own novella’s cover is part of the winter novellas, and so I can’t wait to share it with you guys!

Have a great week!

God bless,

C. K. Heartwing

Hey everyone!

I’m back this week to share with you the next four covers in the Cornerstone series, this time with the summer novellas! The summer authors are Saraina Whitney, Rachel Kovaciny, Abigail Kay Harris, and Madisyn Carlin. I’m so excited to share these gorgeous covers with you all!

16 Christian fantasy fairy tale retellings filled with faith, clean romance, danger, and courage from authors Laurie Lucking, Kirsten Fichter, E. G. Bella, Jewel Windall, Saraina Whitney, Rachel Kovaciny, Abigail Kay Harris, Madisyn Carlin, Lucy Peterson, Anna Augustine, Olivia Godfrey, Kendall Hoxsey, K. R. Mattson, C. K. Heartwing, Kendra E. Ardnek, Katja H. Labonté.

The gorgeous covers were designed by Mountain Peak Edits & Design! The publisher is Bellator de Lux Publishing. You can find the preorder links for these novellas here!

Next week will be the cover reveal for the autumn Cornerstone novellas so keep an eye out for that!

God bless,

C. K. Heartwing

Hey everyone!

I am so excited to finally share with you the first four covers of the Cornerstone Series! The novellas in the series are centered around different seasons, and so here are the ones for spring!

16 Christian fantasy fairy tale retellings filled with faith, clean romance, danger, and courage from authors Laurie Lucking, Kirsten Fichter, E. G. Bella, Jewel Windall, Saraina Whitney, Rachel Kovaciny, Abigail Kay Harris, Madisyn Carlin, Lucy Peterson, Anna Augustine, Olivia Godfrey, Kendall Hoxsey, K. R. Mattson, C. K. Heartwing,  Kendra E. Ardnek, Katja H. Labonté

The gorgeous covers were designed by Mountain Peak Edits & Design! The publisher is Bellator de Lux Publishing. The novellas are now up for pre-order, and you can find them here!

The cover reveal for the rest of the books in the series will be coming soon so be sure to look for that!

God bless,

C. K. Heartwing

Hey everyone! I am so excited to share with you today the cover for Lucy Peterson’s upcoming release, When the Stars Shine Again! It is a Christian allegorical fantasy, and it is set to release on January 10th, 2024. Without further ado, here is the gorgeous cover!

About the Book:

At the dawn of time, there was said to be nothing but darkness. 

The same could be told of Ailnirha centuries later, now shrouded by the same Black Mist that has haunted the Countries since the beginning of time.

One of many cursed by the Mist, Wren has always been an outcast. Scorned. Abandoned. Unwanted. But when she encounters a strange Man, who acts more like a lord than the pauper He appears, her life is forever changed. 

She isn’t the only one altered by the Man. Soon all of Ailnirha is feeling His touch, and light begins to break into the darkest of shadows. 

But the Mist doesn’t give up its hold on the elves that easily.

How can one hold out hope when darkness threatens to overtake them all?

About the Author:

Lucy Peterson is a young North Dakota Prairie girl with an unquenchable fountain of stories flowing through her head. She’s convinced she was born into the wrong world; and will dig through every wardrobe and try on every golden ring she meets. She is an Imagineer, Elf Maiden, and Narnian queen at heart, and strives in all her writing to bring glory to the One True King.

Connect with Lucy at: luluslibrary.com.

You can find When the Stars Shine Again here on Goodreads!

God bless,

C. K. Heartwing

Hey everyone!

I am so excited to announce that the final installment of the Seize the World anthology series, Seize the Moment, released today! My short story “Mercy’s Ride” is included in the anthology, and I am so excited for you all to read it! I am very grateful and blessed to have been a part of this anthology series, and I have really enjoyed the journey. Without further ado, here’s the book blurb!

Honoring the Mercy of the Savior

Mercy. Forgiveness. Hope.

In the conclusion of the Seize the World collection of anthologies.

Bringing you stories of mercy, forgiveness, hope, and pointing toward the One who offers them all, Seize the Moment is a tender and warm anthology meant to bring you a happy escape to a bookish world.

Luke 1:49-51

For he that is mighty hath done to me great things; and holy is his name.

And his mercy is on them that fear him from generation to generation.

He hath shewed strength with his arm; he hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.

You can find Seize the Moment on Amazon and the Beyond the Bookery website!

God bless,

C. K. Heartwing

I am so excited to announce that Seize the Fight releases today!! I am so blessed to have my short story “Where He Leads” featured in this anthology alongside the fantastic stories from the other authors!

Honoring the Freedom of the Savior

Freedom. Liberty. Independence.

All forms of freedom have a cost. Seize the Fight pulls readers into an anthology of stories all showing freedom. An Army veteran crashing at his sister’s with hidden pain, a lieutenant returning home from overseas, siblings celebrating the Fourth even in the midst of turmoil, and many more stories all show a form of freedom and the fight it represents in some way.

Freedom can mean many things as is shown in this anthology with tales of finding freedom from the past, freedom from slavery, and freedom from sin through Christ who saves…

Galatians 5:1

Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.

You can find Seize the Fight on Goodreads and you can purchase it here! There’s also a giveaway to win a paperback copy of Seize the Fight along with some bookish goodies in honor of the anthology’s release. You can enter the giveaway here!

God bless,

C. K. Heartwing