About G. Edward Martin, Award-Winning Author

I did not grow up believing I would be a writer. In fact, it took me so long to learn how to read that my teachers held a special conference with my parents to discuss whether I might need an IEP.

Throughout school, although I was always a decent student, my true love and passion was being outside—catching fish and frogs, playing sports, exploring, building things, and getting my hands dirty in the world. Even though I always enjoyed writing, it wasn’t until I was nineteen years old, while attending school in Columbia, Missouri, that the seed was truly planted.

Living in Missouri, I slowly began to realize that I was becoming an adult—that there was a whole future ahead of me, and that every good and bad decision carried real consequences. Around that time, some strange things began happening.

In the spring of 2011, I began being followed by owls. Before that year, I had only ever seen a few up close, usually for brief moments as they flew overhead in the night. But in 2011, they began appearing everywhere—on power lines, road signs, and even sitting on the roof as I pulled into the driveway. My brother Aric and I estimate that we saw nearly one hundred owls that year, and we couldn’t explain it.

This may resonate with you, or it may not—but I’ve come to believe that owls are only seen when they choose to be. They live all over the world, and while you’ve likely heard many throughout your life, they rely on invisibility and stealth to survive. You never sneak up on an owl. I can only conclude that every owl you’ve ever seen made a choice—to approach you, or to allow you to approach it.

Alongside the owls, there were other strange happenings in Missouri: my attempts to infiltrate and dismantle a psychedelic cult that was preying on local college students; traffic lights behaving unpredictably and leading me to be the first on scene at several accidents where I could help; and herds of feral horses crossing the road from one side of the forest to the other—appearing and disappearing like ghosts in the night.

Through these events, my mind was opened to a profound realization: there are entire worlds existing all around us, and they want to speak to us. There is good and evil whispering to every human heart, and the greatest lie is not only that God does not exist, but that you are separate from Him.

These experiences—and my desire to understand and express them—planted the belief that I could write. Although I have not yet written the story about the owls, I have been led to write many others. Most of them center on the eternal nature of human beings, our need for purpose, the tension between good and evil, and the pursuit of truth and beauty in this life.

Whether you ever read my stories or not, I want you to know this: you matter. You are an extraordinary being on an extraordinary journey, and the world needs you.

Sincerely,
G. Edward Martin