A Christian Story Lab Bonus — Subscriber Exclusive
Here's the thing about courage: you don't tend to write a book about it unless you're working something out.
I was working something out.
A few years ago, I started noticing a pattern. I liked comfort. I liked my bubble. I liked knowing what to expect and having a plan for it. And I told myself that was just my personality—thoughtful, careful, deliberate.
(It turned out to be a deliberate avoidance of fear)
Then early 2025 I started pushing against it.
i’m a late bloomer
Took a new job in a field I hadn't been trained in, just because I believed I could figure it out. Dove headfirst into AI while most people around me are still skeptical. Started things I didn't know how to finish.
And somewhere in all of that, I realized: courage isn't the absence of fear. It's…something else.
I picked up Courage Is Calling by Ryan Holiday around that time. Loved the principles. But I also knew most people don't read that kind of book. They read stories.
I'd already written one. A Story on Purpose is a narrative approach to finding purpose—principles woven into a plot, so readers absorb them without realizing it.
I thought: what if I did the same thing with courage?
That's how Bernie was born.
Bernie (that's what he goes by) is a half-barbarian living in a world where magic has faded. No more skybeasts or spells, just lawn mowers and alarm clocks and a daily commute to a job called The Factory. He's got the barbarian frame, the bloodline, the name.
He doesn't have the spirit.
He prefers knowing things about his neighbors more than knowing them. His bubble has clean air. He'd like to keep it that way.