James Rubart's "Soul's Gate"

Title: SOUL’S GATE: A Well Spring Novel
Publisher: Thomas Nelson

Cover blurb: Reece stood and faced the group. “Every now and then we get a break from reality. A glimpse into the other world that is more real than the reality we live in 99 percent of our days. The Bible is about a world of demons and angels and great evil and even greater glory. A world the prophets saw; the world Enoch, and Elijah, and Paul, and John the apostle all saw. A world that is all around us in every moment if we would have eyes to see and ears to hear.”

What if you could travel inside another person’s soul? To battle for them. To be part of Jesus healing their deepest wounds.

Thirty years ago that’s exactly what Reece Roth did. Until tragedy shattered his life and ripped away his destiny.

Now God has drawn Reece out of the shadows to fulfill a prophecy spoken over him three decades ago. A prophecy about four warriors with the potential to change the world . . . if Reece will face his deepest regret and train them.

They gather at a secluded and mysterious ranch deep in the mountains of Colorado, where they will learn to see the spiritual world around them with stunning clarity. And how to step into the supernatural as powerfully as anyone in the Bible did.

The four have a destiny to battle for a freedom even Reece doesn’t fully fathom. But they have an enemy hell-bent on destroying them as well and he'll stop at nothing to keep them from their quest for true freedom and the coming battle of souls.

1) How did this story come to you?
When I was writing my first novel, ROOMS, I thought about what would be the next step after someone went into the rooms of their own soul and came up with the idea of someone going into other people’s souls. So while Soul’s Gate isn’t a sequel to ROOMS (which I plan to write someday) it did inspire the concept of Soul’s Gate

2) Tell us about the journey to getting this book published.
This is my first novel with Thomas Nelson. I had a wonderful experience with B&H, who published my first three novels, ROOMS, BOOK OF DAYS, and THE CHAIR, but when Allen Arnold (former Publisher at Thomas Nelson) and I developed a friendship, it was natural that he would approach me at some point with the idea of publishing with him. He did and in early summer 2011 I signed a five-book contract with them.

3) Tell me three things about yourself that would surprise your readers.
• I used to do voiceover work in radio commercials (which helped me tremendously in voicing my novels in audio form.)
• I can juggle
• When I was 1 ½ three fingers on my right hand were smashed when a table saw fell over on me. The growth plates were destroyed and the doctors said although they wouldn’t have to amputate, the fingers would never grow. Thankfully God intervened.

4) What are you working on now and what's next for you?
SOUL’S GATE is the first book of a trilogy, so I just turned in the first draft of the second book, tentatively called MEMORY’S DOOR (June 2013) and edits on it will start soon.

5) Parting comments?
It’s so cliché to say it, but true regardless, I love my readers. They make this all possible. You’re great and your support means so much to me.

6) Where can fans find you on the internet?
Web site: www.jameslrubart.com
Twitter: @jimrubart
Facebook: http://tinyurl.com/8wchjt4