How did you come up with all of that?
I get that question a lot. I'm never sure if people mean it in a complimentary way or not. I guess the short answer is, I read a lot of sci-fi and I like to let my imagination run wild.
All stories start with a "What If." With sci-fi and fantasy those "what ifs" are usually questions outside of our known reality.
I first came up with the idea for Defenders of the Covenant while pondering the question of how far I would go to keep the covenants I have made. I take those covenants very seriously. What might I be asked to sacrifice? My life? Something harder? My mind churned up a worst case scenario of an alien invasion and a mother asked to give up her child to save the human race. That led to the short story which eventually became the novella, Consecrated.
I was fascinated with the "what if" behind that story. What if aliens invaded Earth? How would my church react? That was the basic grain of the novel. Then I added in a bunch of stuff I love: fighter jets, Native Americans, aliens, space battles, the gospel, etc. As with everything I have written, I wanted the book to be entertaining and uplifting. I wanted the characters to share my world view and act in ways that were normal for them given their upbringing and beliefs.
I had a blast writing Defenders of the Covenant, and I hope you have just as much fun reading it!