By Sidney St. James’ writing career began in the University Library at Texas A&M University. It was there while working behind the main desk in the Reserve Reading Room he discovered a massive collection of microfilm. Not only did this time, while attending the University in College Station, Texas, start his genealogy studies, it also began his first novel in the Faith Chronicles, ADVERSITY – Keeping the Faith. It was written in the creative nonfiction genre and follows a family member from Oldenburg, Germany as they uproot from over 500 years of generation after generation farming and came to Texas in 1845. It follows the family and the many adversities they faced on their journey to find three brothers who came over in 1841 and settled in Frelsburg, Texas. Another family traveled with them to find his brother, Wm Frels, the German immigrant of which the town got its name, Frelsburg.
Although the novel had its beginning after walking through many cemeteries scattered throughout Austin, Colorado, and Fayette Counties, the story attached to the dates and places never made it to the inside of James’ first novel until 2012. It followed the story of The ROSE of Brays Bayou, a novel about the Runaway Scrape and a third novel, Faith – Seventy Times Seven a true story of the hardships of a woman, the Reverend Ada Caston Slaton Bonds and her calling from God to be the first ordained minister in the Cumberland Presbyterian Church in 1920.
Following these three novels in the FAITH CHRONICLES BOX SETS, are Genesis and Hallelujah, both novels which were added to the Faith Chronicles from the Sunday School Bible Study Series. The last book in the series, SEEING THE POWER OF GOD, is historical fiction but based on true stories. Many questions came up during the writing of the first five novels that led to the author asking, “Does one have to believe in the Bible to be a Christian?” In this novel, a young man who had read only about Hinduism and throughout the novel asks questions of God in all sorts of ways beginning with the word, “Why?” There is no better way to end the Faith Chronicles Series than by the writing of this story. The ending is capturing, to say the least!
THE SIDNEY ST. JAMES SHOW 