Dr. James Dobson Launches His Fiction Writing Career

After writing more than 80 books and advocating for strong families as a counselor, broadcaster and advisor to U.S. presidents, Dr. James Dobson has launched his fiction writing career with the recent release of Fatherless, the first book in a three-part series.

Fatherless has been described as a relentlessly-paced, faith-based thriller set in the future but torn from today's headlines. In the dystopian tradition of books like 1984, Brave New World, and The Hunger Games, Fatherless vividly imagines a future in which present-day trends come to sinister fruition. According to the book’s publisher, the story’s fictional future is based upon the real-world trajectory of current demographic, economic, legal and cultural trends.

Set in the year 2042, Fatherless presents readers with a world where, for the first time in human history, the economic pyramid has flipped. The feeble old now outnumber the vigorous young, and this untenable situation is intensifying a battle between competing cultural agendas.

How will a debt-crippled nation pay for the health care needs of a growing number of seniors living longer?

As laws change, the elderly are allowed to end their lives, and they become viewed as financial liabilities, as do the disabled. Jaundiced eyes turn toward any couple with more than two children, making the problem worse.

Reporter Julia Davidson – a former award-winning journalist seeking to revive a flagging career – is investigating the growing crisis, unaware that her activity makes her a pawn in an ominous conspiracy. Plagued by nightmares about her absent father, Julia finds herself drawn to the quiet strength of a man she meets at a friend's church. As the engrossing plot of Fatherless unfolds, Julia will face choices that pit professional success against personal survival in an increasingly uncertain and dangerous world.

Fatherless was released January 15 by FaithWords, an imprint of Hachette Book Group. It is co-authored by Kurt Bruner, who serves as Pastor of Spiritual Formation at Lake Pointe Church in Rockwall, TX, and on the adjunct faculty of Dallas Theological Seminary.

The second and third books in the series, Childless and Godless, will follow at eight-month intervals.

Published: January 24, 2013