A Bold Retelling of an Ancient Legacy
In Joshua and the Chosen People, Ben Garrido steps into sacred history with the confidence of a seasoned storyteller and the curiosity of a philosopher. The novel, available in paperback and ebook on Amazon, offers a fictional retelling of the conquest of the Holy Land, centering on Joshua as he inherits leadership of the Israelites and the divine charge to secure a homeland for his people.
At the outset, Garrido introduces Joshua at a pivotal moment. Moses is gone. The wilderness years have ended. Ahead lies Jericho and the fortified nations of Canaan, brimming with power, wealth, and deeply rooted traditions. The Israelites stand at the threshold of promise, yet the promise carries a cost. Joshua must guide a people shaped by suffering into a future shaped by conquest.
The premise is familiar to many readers of biblical history, yet Garrido approaches it with fresh urgency. The narrative does not rest on spectacle alone. Instead, it probes the emotional and moral weight of leadership. Joshua is portrayed as soft-hearted, thoughtful, and burdened by the gravity of his task. He is no simple warrior. He is a man wrestling with destiny.
From the opening chapters, readers sense the tension between faith and fear. The Israelites are chosen, yet they are human. They tremble. They doubt. They long for certainty. Joshua carries their hopes while questioning his own strength. This emotional layering sets the tone for a story that feels intimate even amid epic events.
Humanity on Both Sides of the Wall
One of the most compelling aspects of Joshua and the Chosen People is Garrido’s commitment to portraying the humanity of both conquerors and conquered. Jericho is not reduced to a faceless enemy. The nations of Canaan are not painted as shadows waiting to fall. They are people with histories, families, and convictions of their own.
Through this balanced lens, Garrido invites readers to look beyond the simplicity of inherited narratives. The novel asks difficult questions. Can a virtuous man remain pure while leading a campaign of destruction? Can a nation retain its goodness while believing itself uniquely favored? These questions ripple through the story and linger long after the final page.
Joshua’s internal conflict becomes the heart of the novel. He believes in the divine imperative. He trusts that the land has been promised. Yet he sees the faces of those who will suffer. His compassion does not vanish when the trumpets sound. It grows heavier. Each decision feels personal.
Garrido does not offer easy answers. Instead, he creates space for reflection. The value of “proud heritage” comes under scrutiny. What does it mean to be chosen? Does chosenness elevate moral responsibility, or does it tempt a people toward self-righteousness? These themes elevate the novel beyond a simple retelling of ancient warfare.
The pacing mirrors this complexity. Action sequences are vivid and immediate, yet they are balanced by quiet moments of introspection. Conversations carry weight. Silence speaks. Readers move from battlefield tension to philosophical depth without feeling jarred. The transitions feel organic, as though history itself is breathing.
A Scholar’s Voice in a Storyteller’s Craft
Ben Garrido brings a distinctive background to his fiction. He is the lead author of the Enclave Series, known for its thrilling journeys through a vividly imagined town, and the Old Heroes Series, which offers modern retellings of myths and legends from Greece, the Bible, Babylon, and Egypt. His range is impressive. He navigates ancient myth and modern imagination with equal confidence.
Beyond fiction, Garrido is a professor of educational philosophy at Shimonoseki City University in Southern Japan. He has written textbooks, essays, and academic papers on philosophy and education. That scholarly foundation is evident in the moral architecture of Joshua and the Chosen People. The narrative wrestles with ethical dilemmas in a way that feels informed yet accessible.
Still, the novel never feels like a lecture. Garrido’s prose remains approachable and fluid. He uses varied sentence rhythms that keep the pages turning. Short, sharp lines heighten tension during moments of conflict. Longer reflections slow the pace and draw readers inward. The effect is immersive.
Joshua himself emerges as a deeply human figure. He doubts. He prays. He listens. His strength lies not in flawless certainty but in persistent faithfulness. Readers may find themselves empathizing with his struggle even if they question his mission. That emotional connection is one of the novel’s greatest strengths.
The supporting characters enrich the narrative as well. The Israelites are not a monolithic crowd. They are fearful, hopeful, stubborn, and brave in uneven measure. Their reactions to Joshua’s leadership feel authentic. The conquered peoples are equally textured. Their resistance is understandable. Their losses are real.
A Story That Invites Reflection
Joshua and the Chosen People stands out in the realm of historical fiction because it refuses to simplify its subject. Garrido respects the source material while allowing room for imaginative depth. He does not shy away from violence or moral ambiguity. He also does not abandon compassion.
By the final chapters, readers may find themselves reconsidering familiar assumptions. The novel gently challenges the idea that being chosen guarantees moral clarity. It suggests that goodness requires continual effort, especially when power is involved. Joshua’s journey becomes a mirror for anyone who has wrestled with responsibility and doubt.
For readers who enjoy historical fiction that engages both heart and mind, Garrido’s work offers a rewarding experience. It is thoughtful without being dense. It is dramatic without losing nuance. Above all, it is human.
In revisiting an ancient conquest, Ben opens a conversation about destiny, virtue, and the fragile nature of goodness. That conversation feels timely. It feels necessary. And it lingers long after the book is closed.
We had the privilege of interviewing the author. Here are excerpts from the interview:
Hi, thank you so much for joining us today! Please share about yourself with our readers.
My name is Ben Garrido, and I’m a professor of educational philosophy at Shimonoseki City University in Southern Japan. I’m also the author of several novels, two textbooks, and a couple more book projects coming out soon.
I read and enjoy a very wide variety of literature, particularly the classics. Cervantes made me laugh until it hurt, the poetry of Hafiz is the perfect way to enjoy a quiet afternoon, Homer hit me hard enough that I’m still mad at Paris and Helen, etc. Among more modern writers, I tend to enjoy writers who address complex and contentious topics without judgment or editorialization. Cormac McCarthy’s “The Road,” Thomas Savage’s “The Power of the Dog,” Mohsin Hamid’s “Reluctant Fundamentalist,” and Carlos Fuentes’ “Gringo Viejo” are some recent novels I’ve really enjoyed, while in the field of non-fiction, I absolutely adored Alice Dreger’s “Galileo’s Middle Finger,” Candace Millard’s “The River of Doubt,” and Lee McIntyre’s “Post-Truth.”
If I’m allowed to mention some Korean authors not currently translated into English, I would also like to recognize Kim Yong-kyu’s excellent “Era of Thought” (김용규, 생각의 시대), and Park Jae-hee’s wonderful “One Lesson Per Day Guide to Lao Tzu’s Book of Morality” (박재희, 1일 1강 도덕경 강독) as works I’ve learn much from, and authors I admire.
Please tell us about your journey.
I’m originally from Reno, Nevada. I’d planned to finish my degree at UNR, get a job in journalism, and work as a reporter. Unfortunately, things timed out just perfectly that I graduated into the deepest part of the Great Recession. The entry-level reporter jobs I found paid around 1300 dollars a month and required me to move to very expensive cities.
Instead, I found a job in South Korea paying about double that, with a much lower cost of living. I soon discovered that South Korean grad schools are also about 10% as expensive as US grad schools, and that the education was both high quality and impressive on the resume. It also gave me the opportunity to learn the Korean language, to get involved with big academic publishers, and to learn the incredibly rich tradition of Confucian, Taoist, and Legalist philosophy.
There is absolutely no way in hell I’d have been able to afford an MA or PhD in the US, so my academic career really does exist thanks to the excellent South Korean system.
I was offered a tenure-track professorship in 2024 in Southern Japan. I accepted this offer, and now live in Yamaguchi Prefecture. The move was quite sudden, and I didn’t have any opportunity to learn Japanese before I arrived, so, to my great shame, I’m not able to recommend any untranslated Japanese writers at this time.
What are the strategies that helped you become successful in your journey?
I worked hard to identify the things my peers were bad at or afraid to do. When I was still living in the US, the greatest weakness I noticed in my peers was a tendency to be overly opinionated and inflexible. I responded to this by learning to hide my opinions and adapt to the beliefs and customs of the people around me.
When I moved to Korea, the biggest weakness I noticed in my peers was an unwillingness to learn the language, and a tendency to frame East Asian problems in the terms of Western morality. I adapted to these weaknesses by studying Korean and learning to judge problems from a Korean moral perspective.
When I began to work in academia, the biggest weakness I found was risk-aversion. Many of my peers were afraid to stray too far from the dominant schools of thought, too far from the methods prescribed in the biggest textbooks, too afraid to take research in new directions. I adapted to these weaknesses by both taking risks and learning how to encourage others to perceive those risks as not-so-scary. To put this more succinctly, this was the time in my life when I started seriously learning how to engineer my social environment.
Any message for our readers?
There’s no greater sign of intellectual and artistic integrity than to deeply understand the feelings, thoughts, and passions of your enemies. This does not make you soft, it does not make you a wimp, it does not make you a traitor to your own causes. On the contrary, it makes you the most powerful and useful version of yourself.
Thank you so much, Ben, for giving us your precious time! We wish you all the best for your journey ahead!
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