Artificial Messiah

"One of the most meaningful reads I've ever had..."- Goodreads ARC Reader "Stalder skillfully keeps the twists and turns coming, always keeping one step ahead of the reader. Artificial Messiah probes urgent questions about the present and future. Stalder excels both at capturing a world that's come unglued and at imagining where it all could be heading, and the characters will win readers' hearts..." - BookLife by Publisher's Weekly 5 stars Gold Book Award - "Artificial Messiah ultimately works as both a suspenseful story and a sincere examination of spiritual injury. It's interested in the reasons people believe, the pain that makes certainty attractive, and the difference between goodness and obedience. The novel doesn't treat technology as the only source of danger. Human vanity, grief, ambition, fear, and the desire to be chosen all help Potentia become what she is." - LiteraryTitan Manny's dad is dying. Sunny's dad is... complicated. Elsie just wants to find true love, but what will it cost? Three worlds collide in Taos, New Mexico. Backpackers, hippies, and cowboys converge in the shadows of the Tiwa Nation's ancient pueblo. Their story unfolds beneath the data-driven eyes of an AI led church and the lingering question: what is worth worshipping? "Artificial Messiah" is a spiritual-psycho-philosophical punk rock novel, wrapping honey-soaked bandages around our technology-inundated culture in the backseat of a rusty four-by-four. It is a spirit quest journeying through a southwestern consciousness - a dilapidated Americana prayer at the crossroads of our technology, our future, our planet, and our humanity. Remember to breathe.

J.P.S. Stalder's fiction is a conversation wrapped in social critiques and speculative world-building grounded in near-future Americana. His Gold Book award-winning novel, "Artificial Messiah: Legacy of a Fallen Prophet" is scheduled for release in September 2026. Author of two novels, "BLINK-BLINK: a dystopian love story" (2025) and "Sentinels in the Oakwood" (Austin Macauley, 20025), Stalder's writing has been characterized as heartfelt, sometimes provocative, and often ambitious in its use of Science Fiction, Speculative Fiction, and Dystopian genres as a sandbox to explore modern dilemas.Winner of 2024 Something Or Other Publishing short story in Historical Fiction for his work, "Kansas, Ever Bleeding", Stalder crosses genres and bends conventions, revealing poignant messaging through authentic narrative that modern readers can relate to and blurring the lines between reality and fiction. A California native, Stalder relocated to the Kansas City area in July of 2021. A writer and avid reader from a young age, his passion for language, people, culture, and philosophy led to a degree studying rhetoric and political science. For more than twenty years, he has worked in the government sector, specializing in grant writing, proposal development, and award administration. After the passing of his father in 2023, Stalder rededicated himself to writing fiction in order to leave behind something beautiful for the next generation. "I looked at the small cardboard box my father left for me. Inside was a collection of carefully wrapped trinkets - belt buckles, pocketknives, broken watches, and coins. It was most of what I inherited, and I wondered about the stories behind these items that were precious to him. Stories that would never be told; stories that mattered. I spent a year wondering what I should do. Writing has always been my breathing and my heartbeat. It is what has carried me through every difficult time, and what I went back to when he passed. I determined to write down what mattered to me - something that would last. Not to tell my story, but to share meaning with those who will follow. I write because I want to put something beautiful and thoughtful into the world. My stories won't be for everyone, but they will make you think and feel. In a world where everything around us is digital and demanding of our instant attention, I write for the resistance that begs readers to think and feel something authentic and real."On Insta: @j.p.s.stalder