My well of interviews had finally run dry and so I sent out some inquiries to various individuals to see if anyone wanted to raise my interview well to past 40 interviews. One of the requests I sent out was to L. Jagi Lamplighter Wright, a person whom I see in various writing groups on Facebook. She said she would be happy to do one.
She asked about sending the questions to her husband John. John is an award winning more mainstream Science Fiction writer who converted to being Catholic from Atheism. John had been on my long list of authors I’ve wanted to read for years so I asked her to send it along to him. This was on Tuesday July 14 (The day I was going with Kristin to see Weird Al’s Bigger and Weirder Tour at PPAC) at 12:47 PM. Checking my email later on in the day I noticed a new submission from John in my inbox at 4:15 PM. It took him about 3 and a 1/2 hours to get all the answers back to me.
Sir, allow me to take advantage of your most generous offer.
I told him I was amazed on how fast he got the answers back to me. He replied..
You have met the famous John Wright same-day service. Editors express surprise when I return their marked up manuscripts within 24 hours with new chapters written.
So here it is interview #40 from an Hugo award nominated sci-fi author. He gave me his interview fast and this is the fastest I’ve ever got and interview out after receiving one. Just so you know…
The Hugo Award is an annual literary award for the best science fiction or fantasy works and achievements of the previous year, given at the World Science Fiction Convention (Worldcon) and chosen by its members. The award is administered by the World Science Fiction Society. It is named after Hugo Gernsback, the founder of the pioneering science fiction magazine Amazing Stories. Hugos were first given in 1953, at the 11th World Science Fiction Convention, and have been awarded every year since 1955. -Wikipedia
John has a lot to say about the art of being a Catholic writer of Sci-Fi boyish adventure stories and also tells about how he was once on the run from the law as newspaper reporter. So without further adieu it’s time to…
Meet Catholic Hugo Nominated Writer John C Wright
- Tell something interesting about yourself.
Let me save this question until last. See below.
- What makes a good Catholic writer?
It is said that when God gave Man in Eden the gift of speech, the Devil taught fallen Man the art of falsehood, to pervert that gift.
But God sent divine muses to instruct man in the art of poetry, which is the art of using fiction, that is, using seeming falsehoods, to tell deeper truth than unadorned words could convey. This turns the wickedness of false speech into the glory of poem and psalm, and the devil is confounded.
A good writer is one who listens to his muse as well as to his editors and paying customers, writing stories to entertain, not to lecture, keeping within his deadline and his word-count.
All fiction makes an implicit bargain with the audience to tell the tale as it should be told, surprises and all, and the author must keep his side of it.
Let poets be as poetical as we must be, but let us be craftsman first and foremost, as a cobbler makes an unslipshod shoe or a carpenter a sturdy chair, and do our work in a workmanlike fashion.
A good Catholic writer uses his talents to glorify God and portray the joys and woes of life faithfully and fully. This means telling the tale as it should be told, violating no known truths about this world nor the next: a trick harder than its seems.
For examples of this trick done well, please see Tim Powers, Gene Wolfe, RA Lafferty, JRR Tolkien and CS Lewis.
- What do you like about being a Catholic/Christian Writer?
Catholicism is deeper than secular philosophies, which have no answers, or only very shallow ones, to life’s deep questions.
Even what seems to be a trivial story of adventure or romance cannot help but touch on deeper theme, and involve central truths of the human heart, man’s soul and his proper place in the universe, if the writer is willing to be bold, insightful and honest about his subject matter, whatever that is.
If Ayn Rand, an atheist, can pen a paean praising the moral virtue of capitalism, denouncing the evils of communism, while telling a railroad story, or if Tim Powers, a faithful Catholic, can upbraid the unholy lust for endless life on earth while writing a spooky pirate adventure story, there is no genre of story unsuited to saying deep things about life.
It does not matter if the author himself is baptized, as long as his muse is.
One of the best (and most Catholic) works ever written was LES MISERABLES by Victor Hugo, which, or so I am told, was written when his faith had lapsed into disbelief.
Being a Catholic writer, of course, allows one to agree with the muse when venturing into the dangerous deep waters of life.
- What is the Main focus of your particular Writing or what do you like to write about?
I am a science fiction writer. I write about the wonder and horror of the far future and the final fate of man.
- How does your Catholic Faith influence your writing?
Catholicism is the truth about man and the world, and is a very sober and level-headed view, and yet, at the same time, more full of magic and awe than any fairy-story.
The faithful Catholic can be more pessimistic than the darkest German scholar preaching nihilism, and more optimistic than the sunniest progressive who sees utopia around the next turn of the calendar. Christian hell is darker than the abyss of the Nihilist, and the earthly paradise of the Utopian is absurd compared to the reality of the Beatific Vision awaiting the faithful.
Meaning no disrespect, certain denominations dismiss emotionless logic as vanity. Other denominations dismiss human emotion, dismissing ritual, pageantry, tradition, the color of stained glass and the beauty of statues and icons, leaving nothing but emotionless logic.
The Catholic worldview contains both high and low, rational and mystic, and to an ultimate degree.
In my writing, my faith allows both of these contrary impulses from the head and from the heart their fullest and freest expression, and I am unashamed to touch on mystic things I do not understand, but not hindered from using human reason to sharpen things I do understand into clear and crystal sharpness, bright as diamond.
- What’s your favorite article/Post/book/story you have written?
As well ask a father which is his favorite child. All of them are my favorite.
There is, however, one short story, later expanded into a novella, which is the sole work of mine I thought worthy of an award: “One Bright Star to Guide Them.” It is a tale of four children who fell into a Narnia like adventure, who, upon growing up, when the call comes again, only some can answer.
Ironically, I wrote the short story when I was an avowed atheist, despite that rather Christian theme.
Even more ironically, I had converted by the time the novella was a candidate for the prestigious Hugo Award, but as a Christian, I was the subject of unfathomable hatred, contempt, scorn, slander and ridicule. I would have won the award, but the voting was rigged: everything was voting ‘No Award’ that year, to ensure that no white males, and no Christians, could ever win awards again.
- What is your favorite topic/subject to write about?
I write simple boyish adventure stories, but they turn into philosophical tracts about the nature of life and the universe without my noticing.
- Favorite scripture verse.
For God made not death: neither hath he pleasure in the destruction of the living. Wisdom of Solomon 1:13
I fear I find a lingering and unchristian hatred of the heretics would felt it was wise to remove this book of the Bible from the English speaking world. I have never heard it quoted, nor referenced, in any literature, book, film or story, even though it contains what I regard as the most clear and cutting autopsy of the mind of the unjust ever put to pen, and shows how a fear of death and a love of the good things in life leads men to hate the faithful and harass them.
- What are you currently working on?
STARQUEST is a twelve volume series meant to redo and rewrite everything Disney did wrong with Space Opera from THE LAST JEDI onward.
This is an example of a writer putting his money where his mouth is: rather than complain about what another did wrong, I wrote my own version of a space adventure tale done right.
Unapologetically, the inspiration comes from pulp magazine and good old fashioned epics from the earliest days of science fiction: space princesses, space pirates, shadowy spymasters, bold star patrolman, svelte catburglars, dark overlords with unholy mind-powers, an golden order of mystic knighthood, and evil Empire returning from the dead, aided by the supernal darkness older than the stars … this series has everything.
- Name a favorite saint or Catholic or some other figure who inspires you in your life.
My name saint is Justin-martyr, the patron of philosophy. However, I spend more time reading and pondering the writings of Thomas Aquinas, whom I take to be the wisest philosopher history has birthed.
- Who is your favorite Living Writer?
I wish you have asked me this a few years ago, when Gene Wolfe was still alive.
- If you could have lunch with any deceased writer who would it be, what would you eat and what would you talk about?
C.S. Lewis. I would honestly ask him why, having departed from the ranks of atheists and theosophists (worshipping Hegel’s Absolute..? Really…?) he did not complete the follow the road on which JRR Tolkien set his feet, and come all the way home?
- Name a favorite movie/tv show or music you find worth sharing with others.
THE CHOSEN by Angel studios manages the very difficult task of telling the story of Christ in a fashion that is dramatic, true to the source material, without offending any but the most ardent of partisans.
Of non-Christian works, ONE PIECE by Eiichiro Oda. It is the best crafted adventure tale I have ever seen.
THE EXPANSE by Daniel Abraham (writing as James S.A. Corey) is the best hard science fiction brought to film.
- Can you see one of your books being made into a movie or tv series? Who would you want to star or direct?
I think any number of my books or stories could be made into a film or miniseries. They are all rather cinematic and exciting.
But, to be honest, I would rather see one of my wife’s books made into a movie. She writes under her maiden name L Jagi Lamplighter: PROSPERO LOST is an urban fantasy starring Miranda, the daughter of Prospero, whose magic allows her to survive into the modern day, and whose task is to prevent demons from harming an unwary mankind. Humphrey Bogart should play Mab, the company gumshoe.
- Favorite Historical event.
It is July of 2026 when I write this answer, America’s 250th anniversary for the signing of the Declaration of Independence. My favorite historical even is the success of that revolution, because it was impossible without the favor and direction of divine providence.
This interview was published on July 15, 2026
The day these other historical Trivia events happened.
1099 – First Crusade: Christian soldiers take the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem after the final assault of a difficult siege.
1799 – The Rosetta Stone is found in the Egyptian village of Rosetta by French Captain Pierre-François Bouchard during Napoleon‘s Egyptian Campaign.
1983 – Nintendo and Sega enter the console market with the respective releases of the Famicom and SG-1000 in Japan.
1988- The Christmas Classic Die Hard opens in theaters in the summertime.
2006 – Twitter, later one of the largest social media platforms in the world, is launched.
- What else do you want people to know about anything.
Back issues of a weekly political/apologetic podcast I once did with Jason Rennie is available here: Superversive.net – Home of Against the Mountains of Madness
He lives in Australia, and discontinued the podcast when the censorship laws grew too strict. It has been removed from Youtube, Apple, and Podbay.
That said, let me return to the first question, and tell a story about myself.
John C Wright: The Fugitive
I have only once been on the run from the law.
I was a newspaperman for a small local paper. The staff consisted of a writer (me), the editor, the editor’s aged mother, and the photographer. It had been a “fun and fishing” paper serving a small rural community in southern Maryland, until the editor’s brother was killed in drunk driving accident.
Thereafter, he would listen to the police scanner until he heard of a DUI (driving under the influence) or DWI (driving while intoxicated) stop, drive out to the scene, snap of photo of the drunk behind the wheel, and post it on the front page.
Well, most of those drivers were going to and from local bars were illegal drugs were being sold, and some local cops were on the take to let the sales go through. Fishing boats from our local tourist marinas would sail down to the Caribbean to smuggle it in. One thing led to another, and my editor started doing hard hitting investigative journalism on local political corruption.
My editor started getting death threats from drug dealers, and, yes, from the wife of the local deputy sheriff. So he started wearing a flack jacket to the print shop, and toting a shotgun. But he never lost his southern courtesy, so that when drug dealers or corrupt politicians could come in to threaten or berate him, he would smile and ask to interview them.
This made him enemies among the county commissioners and local sheriff’s office.
The editor would send me to the courthouse to get a list of each week’s traffic tickets for DUI and DWI. I was always polite and courteous to our local courthouse clerk ladies, who, frankly, were more efficient and organized than the clerk ladies in our neighboring counties. I said as much in one of my columns for the newspaper.
Well, I once lost my temper with a petty bureaucrat in the planning and zoning office who would not release public information to me that I had asked for. I waxed dramatic and raised my voice in looked ridiculous.
But after storming out, the police visited the bureaucrat, and, in her name, filled out a complaint for assault and battery, absurdly claiming I had swung a fist at the person. (Normally, the victim swears out the complaint, not the investigating officer). I had done nothing illegal, merely rude, but my newspaper was unpopular, and they wanted to harass us.
The court scheduled a preliminary hearing for me to enter a plea, but did not do me the courtesy of serving process. The prosecutor’s office falsely swore they had given me a summons, and, when I did not show (for I had received no summons), the judge swore out a bench warrant for my arrest.
This was on a Friday, the idea being that I would spend an evening in jail, before the circuit judge on Monday would quash the process.
My editor appeared at the door of the hovel where I then lived, and asked gently, “Isn’t there a place you were supposed to be this morning?” And when I said no, he told me of the trick the prosecutor’s office had played.
So the cops were looking for me! I went to my mother’s house, for we lived in the same town, and hid out there all weekend, peering fearfully out from the blinds of my childhood bedroom window, cowering and snarling like James Cagney in WHITE HEAT.
Surprise ending: the cops did not find me. The ladies at the clerk’s office, remembering my courtesy toward them, and my compliments in print, saw the bench warrant, and surreptitiously placed it at the bottom of the stack, so that the police did not get to it that day, nor the next.
By Monday, the process was quashed, and I was in no danger of arrest.
I did end up paying for my making an emotional public scene, however, doing two days of public service (with a gang of convicts helping with road repairs) but nothing on my record.
Moral of the story: a newspaperman should be polite to clerks, tell the truth, and keep his temper.
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