About the Book

Book: Jake Rogers’ Planet

Author: Philip Wilder

Genre: Christian YA Science Fiction

Release date: February, 2025

Jake is about to embark on a perilous adventure through an alien wilderness filled with hidden wonders and hazards.

While backpacking with his father, Jake Rogers discovers a mysterious portal and accidentally plunges headfirst into an alien world. Stranded on this bizarre planet, he must evade predators, adapt to the strange elements, and navigate the ever-changing landscape to return home. However, as Jake stumbles upon technologically advanced alien ruins, a chilling question arises: Are the aliens still alive?

Even on this terrifying journey, God reminds Jake of the profound verse: “Do not fear, for I am with you.”

Click here to get your copy!

About the Author

Philip Wilder has been writing since the age of seven. He’s authored two nonfiction books, is a ACFW Genesis Contest finalist, and is currently a Realm Makers Aurora Contest double finalist. He’s spent two years as an undercover missionary in the Middle East, gone sky-diving, and traveled to 35 countries. Philip works with the Great Commission Alliance to train and equip believers around the world. He’s passionate about using fiction to inspire believers to live adventurous lives of faith.

More from Philip

Fear is a dangerous enemy.

At the age of 22, I felt God calling me to become a missionary in the Middle East—not for a week or a month, but a year (that eventually became two). Having never traveled outside the US or moved away from my home city of Denver, I was overwhelmed by fear. I’d be moving to a foreign land where I didn’t know a single person and doing work that wasn’t widely accepted there. I spent many sleepless nights wrestling with God’s gentle prompting.

Fear is inevitable in a Christian’s walk, but its power diminishes as we learn to lean into God and trust Him with the unknown. No matter where a believer is on their faith journey, God always guides us to step outside our comfort zones.

The inspiration for this novel came in 2016 while I was living in the Middle East. While watching The Martian, I realized that even if I were stranded on Mars, millions of miles from humanity, God would still call me to trust Him and not fear. That realization was life-changing: no matter what we face, God assures us nothing is worth fearing if we walk in joyful obedience.

Moving to the Middle East was terrifying and far from easy, but God was always present when I needed Him. In following God to take this step, I realized another beautiful truth: God knows what we need, love, and desire more than we do.

My firm belief is that God has wired each of us to love and enjoy different things because He wants to lead us down a unique path, where He desires to see the deepest parts of our hearts come alive. Walking this path is hard and full of fear. It requires letting go of dreams and trusting God will fulfill the right desires at the right time.

This is the journey Jake faces in Jake Rogers’ Planet. The fears he wrestles with are the same ones I had to navigate to declutter my mind and follow God.

I hope this book will help believers overcome their own fears and follow God. My prayer is that everyone reading this novel will be inspired by Jake’s story to take wild steps of faith to follow God on the wondrous adventure he has in store for them.

Interview with Philip

When did you first realize you wanted to be a writer?

What a great question. I can’t explain it, but I’ve always known. Before I could spell my name, my Sunday school teacher gave us some spiral-bound papers and asked us to write a story about forgiveness using pictures. So I did, and I went around telling everyone about it. I asked the teacher to make me more of these books so I could draw more stories. I hand-wrote my first novel at the age of thirteen and finished typing out my first 100,000-word book at the age of 16.

In my sophomore year of high school, my track coach asked me if I believed in God-given talents, and was trying to tell me I had a gift for running. I told him I did, but that the talent I felt confident God wanted me to invest my time into was writing.

No matter where I went or what season I was in, I couldn’t stop writing. I don’t know what God will do through my writing, but I know this is the path he has for me, and I love walking down it with him.

How long does it take you to write a book?

It takes a long time. Every book has an original inspiration moment and concept I can point back to. I then let that idea tumble around in my head as I work on other books until the concept is polished enough to warrant my attention. For Jake Rogers’ Planet, the original inspiration came to me in March of 2016, but I didn’t start writing it until 2020. I finished it in 2023, then spent the next two years refining it. The fastest I wrote a book was my first semester in college when I finished a 95,000-word book in three months. Sometimes I can finish a book in a year. It all depends on my season of life.

What would you say is the most difficult part of writing a book?

Writing the middle part. The first third is always fun because it’s a new world and a new concept. The last third is awesome because I get to pull all the plotlines and character arcs together. But, that middle third is my worst enemy. It’s not that the story gets boring, it’s my self-doubt. I start wondering if my writing is any good, or if anyone will like or read my book. The three things that keep me going through this middle section are:

1. Prayer
2. Reminding myself that if the original idea was good enough for me to start writing, then it must still be good—even if I’m caught in the trenches and can’t see it
3. Realizing that I always feel this way in the middle and never regret it when I push through and finish the book.

What do you like to do when you’re not writing?

I enjoy classic guy activities like board games, ultimate frisbee, running, hiking, camping, snowboarding, and adventuring, but a unique thing I enjoy doing is discovering the tapestry of God’s creation. This could be researching random intricate concepts like “Why do raindrops create a rainbow?” or exploring little pockets of this world that others overlook.

Fun fact, I once took a girl exploring storm drains for a first date. Here’s an even crazier fact, she agreed to go on a second date with me!

I love finding spots in the wilderness and sitting still so nature can come alive around me. I like stargazing and lifting my legs into the sky while imagining I’m dangling from Earth and the vast universe is below me. I enjoy watching the sunset over the Colorado mountains and marveling at all the natural laws, elements, objects, and weather phenomena God needed to create for me to witness that one fleeting masterpiece. I especially love joining my little nine-month-old boy as he discovers things like reflections, his hand, and dust floating wistfully in the morning sunlight.

What was one of the most surprising things you learned in creating your books?

Okay, this is trippy. I realized that every word I write has my fingerprints all over it. How I describe things, the things I focus on, the plots I create, the characters that fill my books, it’s all a reflection of myself. If that’s the case with me, I wondered if God’s creation was covered with his fingerprints. AND IT IS! The more I look, the more I find.

Seeds enter the ground and die to themselves so that new life can be born, just as Christ died to himself and entered the ground so that we may have life. We also die to ourselves so that Christ might come in and create a new creation within us.

Branches draw their sustenance from the trunk, just as we draw upon God.

Rocks are sturdy and have a strong foundation, just as Christ is our cornerstone.

The sun is unchanging and the source of all life, just as God is for us.

Water moves within all organisms, fueling and filling them with life just as the Holy Spirit fills us.

The ozone layer sacrifices itself to block the sun’s harmful radiation, while letting the life-giving light through so we can thrive, just as Jesus dies to absorb God’s wrath so we might dwell in his love.

And there’s so much more. Everywhere we look, the gospel is displayed. God’s fingerprints are all over his creation.

How many books have you written? Which is your favorite?

This is always a hard question to answer as it’s hard to define a book. If you define a book as a complete story with more than 15,000 words, then I’m at eleven. As far as full-length books, I’m at eight. Four of these will never see the light of day, and I count them as practice. For the others, I’m still trusting God with the right timing.

My favorite book is either Jake Rogers’ Planet or my dystopian novel about Christians trying to share their faith while the government is hunting them down. Both are so fun and rich with meaning. It’s hard to pick a favorite between the two because they are so different. Jake Rogers’ Planet was a wonderful world to explore, while my dystopian novel feels so rugged and raw.

Blog Stops

Book Reviews From an Avid Reader, March 7

Simple Harvest Reads, March 8 (Author Interview)

Texas Book-aholic, March 9

Tell Tale Book Reviews, March 10 (Author Interview)

Library Lady’s Kid Lit, March 11

Blossoms and Blessings, March 12 (Author Interview)

The Lofty Pages, March 13

Artistic Nobody, March 14 (Author Interview)

Locks, Hooks and Books, March 15

Debbie’s Dusty Deliberations, March 16 (Spotlight)

Happily Managing a Household of Boys, March 16

Stories By Gina, March 17 (Author Interview)

cecereadsandsings, March 17

Truth and Grace Homeschool Academy, March 18

Guild Master, March 19 (Author Interview)

Little Homeschool on the Prairie , March 20

Giveaway

To celebrate his tour, Philip is giving away the grand prize of a $50 Amazon gift card, plus a signed hardcover copy of the book, a bookmark, and a vinyl sticker!!

Be sure to comment on the blog stops for extra entries into the giveaway! Click the link below to enter.

http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/00adcf54168