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I've started experimenting with Speechelo Pro in relation to marketing my books. Speechelo is a software that lets you customize realistic-sounding Artificial Intelligence voices to read whatever text you give them.

The second test is for Jordan's Arrow, Book 2 in the Jordan of Algoran Series. Please give me your feedback. Thanks!
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I've started experimenting with Speechelo Pro in relation to marketing my books. Speechelo is a software that lets you customize realistic-sounding Artificial Intelligence voices to read whatever text you give them.

This first test is for Jordan's World, Book 1 in my Jordan of Algoran Series. The ebook is currently selling for $0.99 on Amazon.

Please give me your feedback. Thanks!
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I consider myself blessed to be a Christian fiction author. It may not be my "day job" yet, but it has led to the publishing of four of my books, with more in the works. Just as important, I find it extremely rewarding. Writing stories to entertain, encourage and point people towards Christ is more wonderful than I could ever have imagined.

Recently, I was asked if I was willing to write something for friend and fellow Ambassador International author Joanna White. She is putting together an anthology of short stories that take place in the same universe as her books Hunter, Shifter, and Dark Magi.

I volunteered to be part of the project. Joanna basically gave me free reign (within reason) to write my own kind of story in the genre of my choice. My only limitations were that it take place within the star systems and races she has already established. Even so, Joanna had already mapped out most of a galaxy and established around forty races. That gave me a lot to work with.

After a bit of prayer and brainstorming, I knew the genre and type of story I wanted to write. I conferred with Joanna to learn more about the races I wanted to use and establish some specific locations.

Before long, I had decided to write a Space Western. That's a genre I had never written before. Think Firefly and Serenity with no big government as the antagonist. My short story will definitely be Christian, with a redemption element.

It's kind of taken on a life of its own. I wrote a large chunk of it within about ten days, but I'm not quite finished. It's been filled with humor, love, and adventure. It features a number of races, including humans, and has male and female protagonists. Some are young adults, some are more mature. And it's all fun, already at over 11000 words. As always, my friends: Expect twists!

This will be a part of Joanna White's Republic Chronicles Anthology, which will be permafree (permanently free) to the public. It should be released some time next year. I'll keep you apprised, of course. There are some incredible authors participating in this. You should check it out. You won't be disappointed!
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A month ago, I wrote a blog entry about Christian themes that are present in all my books. As things continue to change from day to day in this world, I feel compelled to take a stand for those same themes in real life: things that matter and can offer hope to others.

By "take a stand," I do not mean literally, as in hold up signs and protesting, getting in people's faces and shouting "my truths." That is not who I am and it is not how I want to behave. I also don't think it accomplishes anything positive. People don't want to be treated that way — and they shouldn't be.

I found the below quote and found it to be so true:


"Violence as a way of achieving racial justice is both impractical and immoral. I am not unmindful of the fact that violence often brings about momentary results. Nations have frequently won their independence in battle. But in spite of temporary victories, violence never brings permanent peace. It solves no social problem: it merely creates new and more complicated ones.

Violence is impractical because it is a descending spiral ending in destruction for all. It is immoral because it seeks to humiliate the opponent rather than win his understanding: it seeks to annihilate rather than convert. Violence is immoral because it thrives on hatred rather than love. It destroys community and makes brotherhood impossible. It leaves society in monologue rather than dialogue.

Violence ends up defeating itself. It creates bitterness in the survivors and brutality in the destroyers."

- Excerpt from "The Quest for Peace and Justice" - Martin Luther King Jr. Nobel Lecture -- December 11, 1964


I am an author. The best way I can convey my thoughts, beliefs, and compel others is through my writing and my spoken words. I am still relatively new. I have no illusions about my place in society. I am not famous, and I don't need to be. I am one man among billions of people.

Even so, I have been blessed to be used by the Lord in times past. Through Him, I know I have made a difference in this world. So, if it is God's will, then my words will reach people. I will continue to write and I will do what I can.

And while I do not fear censorship or so-called Cancel Culture, I have no desire to deliberately provoke anyone, either. I do not hate. I do not carry grudges or wish ill-will on anyone.

That said, I know that my Christian beliefs will eventually provoke people, simply by my believing and living those principles. Even so, the Lord compels Christians to be at peace with everyone if at all possible.


Romans 12: 17-21 (King James Version) reads:

Recompense to no man evil for evil. Provide things honest in the sight of all men.

If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men.

Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.

Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head.

Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.


A few years ago, I made the decision to be openly Christian on Facebook, then on all social media. It was somewhat difficult to make that choice. I had concerns I might alienate longtime friends, acquaintances and perhaps even family.

But I went forward with it, because I am not ashamed of my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, nor of His Father, God. I could not be happier with the changes He has made in me since I accepted Him into my heart. In return, He blessed me. Only one friend was hostile to me, to the point that I had to block them. Virtually everyone else accepted and even encouraged me, either as a Christian or as an author. I've always been grateful for that.

I have written boldly since then, and I will continue to. If the Lord wills it, I will be even more bold. I will say the things He inspires me to say, though they will be tempered in His love. People will either receive it or reject it. We all have free will.

In uncertain times, it is important to lean on what is reliable. Many believe that the only one you can rely on is yourself. I understand the reasoning behind that, but I do not agree. We are human and therefore fallible. We can mean well and still make mistakes. That is why I believe that God and His Son, Jesus Christ, are the only ones to rely on. They are eternal, Holy, and true. They have never failed. And they never will.


Psalms 27: 13-14 (King James Version) reads:

I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living.

Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD.
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Jordan's World is now available from Audible as an unabridged audiobook! Narrated by Andrea Koss, the audiobook has a running time of 8 hours and 44 minutes.

LINK: Jordan's World audiobook on Audible

Synopsis: Jordan Lewis and her mother have been abducted and marooned on an alien world.

Taken in by a friendly tribe of natives, Jordan tries her best to adapt to living on this strange planet called Algoran. Jordan becomes a respectable huntress, but she still longs for the life she once knew on Earth.

When she learns the beings who took her may be on the other side of Algoran, she sets out for answers. Joined by three of her fellow hunters, Jordan crosses dangerous terrain, facing perilous creatures and people.

Will Jordan risk death for a chance to return to Earth?

What is God's will for her life on Algoran?

Exploring the life of an ordinary young woman torn from all she's ever known, Jordan's World shows that God reigns over the whole universe, and that consequences can sometimes span solar systems.
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America, we do have a race problem...and it’s not what you might think it is.

Last year, I thoroughly covered my understanding about past injustices stemming the country’s slavery and post-slavery days. I stated my support for the non-violent efforts that led to the success of the Civil Rights movement. I shared my perspective as a Caucasian man happily married for nearly twenty-six years to a wonderful African-American woman, and my pride in being the father of three mixed-race children.

I have watched over the last year as the United States has grappled with renewed racial tensions, too many times leading to violence, destruction, and spilled blood. I have seen all kinds of viewpoints, ranging from measured and calm to violent extremism, and everything in-between. I have seen and heard racist rhetoric from surprising sources, some nationally and some closer to home.

I have looked into Critical Race Theory and read or listened to the words of people calling themselves “anti-racists.” And I have seen some disturbing trends with one thing in common: racism is passing itself off as anti-racism.

It’s easy to see.

What am I talking about? We’ll start with anti-Caucasian (or anti-white) sentiment. And while there has been anti-white sentiment in various social circles for decades, it was mostly harmless, just people’s opinions. But then the 2020 race riots happened and anti-white rhetoric jumped to new highs (or lows, depending on your point of view). Books like White Fragility and How To Be An Anti-Racist became best sellers nationwide. People took renewed interest in Critical Race Theory, which not only makes some questionable assumptions, but by its very design does not allow reasoned discussion about its contents. If you question Critical Race Theory’s validity or usefulness, that very action is assumed to be based in racism.

Here’s the problem with that: Critical Race Theory is just that — a theory. Let’s look at the definition of theory, according to the Cambridge Dictionary: “a formal statement of the rules on which a subject of study is based or of ideas that are suggested to explain a fact or event or, more generally, an opinion or explanation.” Theories are ideas. They can be proven, disproven, or even revised later when more data is acquired. No theory is perfect or foolproof. And no theories are beyond question, even if they are designed to be that way. A theory that refuses to be examined is a theory that its authors are trying to protect, acting as if that theory is not strong enough to stand up to scrutiny or debate. That is dishonest intellectualism at its worst.

Too many of the recent “anti-racism” sentiments have been combative, one-sided, and now have evolved a perspective that White People must be trained (or re-educated, a concept disturbingly reminiscent of certain communist regimes throughout the last century) to think or be less of themselves. This is perceived to to somehow balance the scales for past racism, whether theirs or their ancestors or other White people and their ancestors.

Coca-Cola recently received a public backlash for a whistleblower exposing slides from a training session for its employees called “Confronting Racism, with Robin D’Angelo (the author of White Fragility).” The training suggested the white employees should be “less white, less arrogant, less certain, less defensive, less ignorant and more humble.” The training also included “Research shows that by age 3 to 4, children understand that it is better to be white” with no citation to back it up. 

Here’s a simple way to debunk this: replace “white” with any other race or ethnicity. It  instantly becomes racist as can be. Just because Caucasians are the focus does not negate the racism. Whether of European or any other light-pigmented descent, focusing on Caucasians as a race makes this racist. It is painting with the broadest strokes using colossal assumptions...and it’s wrong.

Anyone can be a racist. There is no “reverse discrimination” or “reverse racism,” there is only racism. Thinking of any race as superior or inferior is racist and wrong. Trying to make anyone of any race think they are superior or inferior to any other race is racist and wrong.

Coca-Cola issued a statement to clarify their position on this training: “Our Better Together global learning curriculum is part of a learning plan to help build an inclusive workplace. It is comprised of a number of short vignettes, each a few minutes long. The training includes access to LinkedIn Learning on a variety of topics, including on diversity, equity and inclusion.”

This disturbed me more than Coca-Cola giving racist training to its employees. LinkedIn is partnering with racists to spread racist ideology to Corporate America and anyone who wants to view it. All in the name of diversity, inclusion, and “combating racism.”

At this point, let me make something crystal clear. There are some tried and true ways to experience diversity, inclusion, and to ultimately defeat racism and prejudice:

  1. Be open and friendly to EVERYONE.
  2. Show love and compassion to EVERYONE.
  3. DON’T segregate yourself. In other words, make friends and develop relationships with people of all races, whether at your job, on your commute, at school or university, at church, or in general
  4. DON'T judge others, especially based on something visual like skin color or appearance

When people do the things I just stated above, they don’t ignore someone’s skin color or heritage. They accept and embrace those elements. It becomes part of their world and who they are. No one loses anything — and everyone wins!

These simple truths may sound naive, but they work. I have lived them for over half my life. I don’t see my children as half-black and half-white, I see them as an amazing blend of me and my wife, everything including ethnicity, race, culture and so much more. I didn’t fall in love with my wife because of the color of her skin, but I think she looks amazing. I accept and love all of who she is.

So yes, the United States of America does have a race problem:

  1. People are finding reasons to segregate themselves into various race and ethnic groups; 
  2. People are learning new reasons to hate and devalue others simply because of their race, ethnicity, or the color of their skin;
  3. People think they can correct old injustices by inflicting new ones, using racism in the supposed name of anti-racism; and
  4. America is moving further and further away from Martin Luther King Jr.’s dream.

Even so, we have the opportunity to change things.

We can choose:
  • love over hate;
  • inclusion over exclusion; and
  • defeat ignorance by learning about one another and understanding the differences of others while striving to improve ourselves.

That’s not limited to one race or ethnicity.

We can all do better, every one of us.
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Six-inch snow in our area on February 15, 2021


Last week, Texas experienced weather unlike any it had seen in the last century. Certainly, it was different from any I'd seen in my lifetime. The entire state, the second largest in the United States, was enveloped by five winter storms in a row — within seven days!

Temperatures which had been in the eighties the week before dropped into single digits, with wind chills below zero. Ice and snow fell as fast as the thermometer readings and then that mess stuck around all week. In fact, we got second and third rounds of ice and snow. Driving became treacherous, then all but impossible.

Worse still, the State's electrical grid, not properly weatherized, was put under tremendous strain. Rolling blackouts became long-lasting power outages happening at the most abysmal time: during sub-freezing temperatures with wind chills so low that they warranted their own weather warnings (even the weather forecasters had never seen a Wind Chill Warning in South Central Texas).
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Our area was blacked out on Monday night, February 15, 2021

A lot of people lost water, too. Water treatment plants shut off during the power outages, causing some to have to boil their water (if they had the means to do so). Some people had to boil snow to get water.

Our household went without power or heat for twenty-eight hours straight, right when temperatures were dipping to their lowest. We had water, thankfully, even if we didn't have hot water.

It was the uncertainty that was the most stressful. At first, it seemed like we'd only have a couple of days to get through. Power was only supposed to be out from fifteen to sixty minutes, which was way beyond optimistic. We had no idea when power and heat would return.

We had the kids with us and we were all safe. But we had to keep warm, layering our clothes, and covering the living room window with a blanket to keep the cold out. We put perishable food from the freezer and refrigerator into thick bags that we packed in snow on our porch.

Truthfully, there were some tense moments. Conditions worsened outside more than once and we did start to get low on provisions, but we never ran out.

My wife and I had to pray for guidance. And the Lord provided through the kindness of family, friends, and even strangers. Our neighbor even lent us a cooler to help out with keeping our perishables cold. And since the outside temperatures were colder than the freezer anyway, it was the one advantage to the wintery conditions.

My sister-in-law shared an idea with my wife to make a tent in the living room. We didn't have an actual tent, but we pulled all of our chairs and taped brooms and other objects to act as "stakes" and covered them with blankets and sheets (held together by bobby pins). Putting more blankets inside and adding some battery-powered lights, the tent held in heat and provided a cozy space to tell stories, play Uno, chill out or sleep. Our facemasks came in handy when things got really cold, whether inside or outside.

We ate cold sandwiches, cereal, fruit. snacks, and even did some rudimentary heating of already cooked items using an improvised oil lamp and a metal pie pan.

My wife and I went out daily to start up the car to keep it functional. We knew we weren't going anywhere until the ice started melting, but we wanted to make sure the car was available for any emergency if we needed it. Thankfully, we didn't.

Though power and regular internet were out, we used our phones to keep track of the forecast, news, and stay in touch with the outside world. I even did some editing of The Former Things on my laptop, using its fully charged battery while also recharging my phone.

Every day, we prayed. We prayed individually and we prayed together as a family. We appreciated everyone who prayed for us on social media (especially our Facebook friends). So many people were praying for us and the people of Texas, all over the world. It was heartwarming and inspiring.

By Wednesday, the power was back for good and by Thursday, some of the snow and ice had started to melt in places. I risked driving to the local grocery store (H.E.B.) with my oldest son. We had to wait in line in the snow, but it wasn't bad. We made it inside in about forty-five minutes, as H.E.B. was letting fifty people in at a time. There was no produce, little beef and no chicken. But there was turkey and pork, so I got some of that. We found other things we needed by getting off-brand or store brand items. We restocked, for all intents and purposes, and we got back home safely.

Friday night was the last hard freeze, dipping below thirty degrees. Saturday, high temperatures reached into the low sixties and were expected to stay above freezing for the foreseeable future.

The worst may be over, but there are many people still in need and the Texas recovery is just beginning. At least twenty people died from the extreme cold. Tragically, some died or were hospitalized from unintentional carbon monoxide poisoning in efforts to stay warm using cars and stoves. There were many dozens of car collisions due to ice and snow. One hundred and thirty-three of those happened in one pile up in Dallas. Another twenty-six car collision happened just a few miles from where we live. And all across the state, there were injuries from slips and falls.

Schools, businesses and residences have suffered tremendous damage from burst pipes, collapsed structures from built up ice and snow, and more.Some people are still without power or water. A lot of us were unable to work and had no paid leave to cover the time we were out. And people who work from home couldn't do so without power. There will be short-term and long-term hurtles ahead.

Please continue praying for the people of Texas. We need your prayers. They already made a real difference this week and they surely will in the days and months to come.

Thank you.


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"The Fate of Transport 80-14" by Allen Steadham is a short story which is part of INTO THE UNKNOWN: An Ambassador International Science Fiction Anthology. The anthology is scheduled for release later in 2021.
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This is a book trailer for my Christian dystopian science fiction short story called "Singularity of Purpose." I wrote this in January 2019. It is the introduction to a future series.

About the author

Allen Steadham is a nondenominational Christian. Happily interracially married since 1995 and the proud father of two sons and a daughter. He and his wife have been in the same Christian band since 1997. He plays electric bass, she plays strings, they both sing. It's all good.

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