Today we’d like to introduce you to Jason Phillip Scott Stalder.
Hi Jason Phillip Scott, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I grew up in a single parent home in the Los Angeles area, and my mother worked hard, long hours to take care of me and my sister. In our younger years, we spent summers in the care of family members, which, because of our economic situation, meant frequent trips to libraries. I fell in love with stories when I was very young – Choose Your Own Adventure books, Treasure Island, C. S. Lewis, and Louis L’Amour were some of my favorites. In high school, I was absolutely crazy for Hemmingway, Shakespeare, Poe, and Frost. I discovered Frank Herbert late in high school, and I think my mind exploded; that was about the time I was also reading Bradbury and Orwell.
My relationship with my father was complicated. I remember my senior year of high school, when I told him I had been accepted to Azusa Pacific University. He simply said that I wasn’t smart enough to go to college, and I should think about getting a real job. Thanks to grants, scholarships, and some loans, I graduated from APU in 2004 with a degree in rhetoric in cognate with political science. I studied a lot of history, philosophy, psychology, art, world religions – a really diverse scope of thinking about thinking. I’m naturally enamored with people and culture, but college brought out more of that curiosity. APU is also where I met my wife, who has been a stalwart supporter of my writing and a vitally important part of my journey as an author.
Just after college, in my first real job, I was working the graveyard shift and started writing a novel. It was spontaneous; I just wanted to prove to myself I could do it. “Rain in the City of Angels” (unpublished) was edgy and raw, and after three rejection letters, I decided fictional writing probably wasn’t for me. But professionally, I excelled in technical writing; it’s where I could really stand out in the workplace.
Fast-forward to 2020. COVID is tearing the world apart, and we are living in Placerville, California, on a piece of land out in the foothills. Our neighbors had a daughter a few years younger, and we would barbeque and converse as they played together. My neighbor Scott is also an author, and in discussing writing and that first novel, he gave me some really blunt advice: “Stop worrying about writing shit. Just write shit. Write it. You can make pretty later.” That advice lingered.
In October 2020, my wife was assaulted by a woman who had been released from prison because of COVID while setting up for a craft fair where she was intending to sell soap she made. I pulled up to the parking lot just after it happened, and I found her with a hand full of blood, holding her head as she said, “That woman hit me!” We left California in June 2021, headed for Kansas City.
In June 2023, my father passed away from g-junction cancer. In the few months before he passed, I asked him if I could interview him and make a video for his granddaughters that would tell his story – what he had learned about life, death, his history – all of it. He couldn’t bring himself to do it; he was too afraid to be that vulnerable. In the short time between leaving California and his passing, we lost four grandparents and a good a friend of mine. It felt like we were surrounded by death so much that my daughter at one point told me she didn’t think she could go to anymore funerals.
Shortly after his passing, I inherited a box of his keepsakes. It was filled with meticulously wrapped pocketknives, union pins, belt buckles, and broken watches. None of them were labeled, and I had no idea what any of it meant; I only knew that it was important to him, somehow. There was nothing to tell that story.
One day, while my wife and I were walking around our neighborhood, I told her I’d been thinking about my father’s passing and what it meant. I told her I wanted to start writing again. I want to leave behind something that matters. Some have called that legacy; I’m not sure it is. I just realize we have a limited amount of time to do something meaningful with our lives. I’ve chosen to use that time to write. A few months after our discussion, I finished the “Sentinels in the Oakwood” (released 6/20/25, Austin Macauley Publishing) and immediately began work on the sequel. I then wrote “BLINK-BLINK: a dystopian love story” (released 4/12/25).
There are more stories coming – I only hope I have enough time to write them all down. Given the journey so far, I’m far more concerned with my stories being authentic and meaningful to readers than I am selling millions of copies. I’m an independent author because I refused to compromise my voice. I’m not interested in writing something entertaining that the big five publishing companies think is marketable. But I am interested in writing something entertaining that also resonates with real people, who are ready for authenticity and a deeper conversation.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Nothing about writing these days is smooth. There are predatory companies and marketers promising the world to debut authors, and it’s mostly a scam. Fortunately, it’s never been easier to publish your own work, but marketing and establishing credibility as an author is an enormous challenge. Unfortunately, that challenge is complicated by the introduction of people self-publishing AI written stories, a flood of self-published books (many of which are honestly not great in my opinion), and fewer people reading. I’ve been told there are 60 million books on Amazon; it’s difficult to stand out in that crowd.
Writing as an art is the same struggle it has always been, and given my past history with rejection, overcoming self-doubt and negative thinking has been a huge hurdle. I, obviously, take my work seriously, and so it’s challenging to keep it fun. I have to remind myself constantly of why I’m doing what I’m doing – it’s not about “Likes” or validation from social media; my ranking on Amazon doesn’t make my books any better or worse. But every time I get an email from another author or a reader who says they read one of my books and it meant something to them, it reminds of the purpose in it.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
From the reviews of my first two books, “BLINK-BLINK: a dystopian love story” and “Sentinels in the Oakwood” I’ve started noticing common threads in reviews. These are very different stories, but what readers get to them appears to be common in both: Bold. Heartfelt. Thought provoking. Emotional, but still light enough to be entertaining. Subtly rebellious.
Story-wise, my writing is mostly dystopian. It is a term that gets thrown around a lot these days, and I get the feeling some people just think it means “dark” or that it has some elements of abusive power. Those can both be true, but the real purpose of a dystopian tale is to show a juxtaposition between a perception of utopian and the perhaps inevitable effect of human behavior. While it’s impossible to categorize my writing as something other than dystopian, I try to approach it with a thoughtful, layered approach designed to be thought provoking and communicate subtle truths that most of us remember we learned but haven’t actively considered.
I’m proud that my art has resonated with so many. After explaining how BLINK-BLINK had affected her personally, I had one early reader say simply, “I’m just glad I read it.” That kind of validation is worth more to me than any prize or publicity. What sets me apart from other authors is that I’m laser focused on trying to tell original stories, or at least an original take on a concept. I refuse to recycle successful plot lines and formulas – it’s boring! That may mean my stories aren’t for every, and that’s fine by me. Like what you like, but I will not bend the knee for sales.
Can you talk to us a bit about happiness and what makes you happy?
Human connection is profound – I think happiness is rooted in meaningful connections with people you care about. When you share experiences and struggles with people close to you, that connection becomes stronger. I think life should be an adventure and a learning journey. When you take that journey with people you care about, focusing on the experience and being present in each beautiful, ugly, awkward, or precarious moment you start finding gratitude for the simple things.
Also art. And tacos – I love tacos.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: @j.p.s.stalder
- Facebook: JPS Stalder
- Other: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/54990778.J_P_S_Stalder
