Full Name: Jonathon David Svendsen Birthdate: September 25, 1984 Birthplace: St. Paul, MN Hometown: Maplewood, MN Hair Color: Dark Blonde Eye Color: Blue High School: North St. Paul High School. North St. Paul, MN College: Bethel University. Arden Hills, MN Degree: Literature and Creative writing 16 Favorite Movies (in no particular order): Apollo 13, Forrest Gump, Narnia, Star Wars I-VI, Lord of the Rings, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Jurassic Park, ET, Superman: The Movie, Batman Begins. Favorite Books (Besides the Bible): Due to the fact I majored in literature I have many favorite books. Favorite Authors: John Bunyan, CS Lewis, JRR Tolkien, Madeline L’Engle, Ray Bradburry, Isaac Asimov, Jules Verne, Charles Dickens, Mark Twain, TS Eliot, Emily Dickenson, Walt Whitman, Ted Dekker, Frank Peretti and Randy Alcorn. Favorite Film Makers: Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, Peter Jackson, Jim Henson, Tim Burton, Andrew Adamson, Richard Donner, and Chris Nolan. Favorite websites (besides NarniaFans): TheOneRing.Net, TheForce.Net, TheRaider.Net, SupermanHomepage.com, and Batman-on-Film.com. Interests: Reading, writing, film making, music. E-mail: jdsven AT narniafans DOT com
Biography: I was raised in a devout Christian home all my life and baptized as an infant. I realized growing up that I did not completely understand the ramifications of Baptism as an infant and wanted to show my own personal commitment to Christ. At age 9 I rededicated my life to Christ and was rebaptized. I make a point to read through the entire Bible in a year. I have also gone through various hymnals, the works of St. Thomas Aquinas, Thomas Merton, and CS Lewis to find deeper aspects to my faith than are presented in typical American Evengelical Christianity, which tends to favor the emotion and disregard the mind. I have learned that mental growth is just as critical in ones spiritual journey as my emotional and spiritual growth as we are called to have the mind of Christ.
I had always possessed an understanding of deeper abstract concepts since a young age. When I was around 3 ½ years old I saw the film ET for the first time with my parents. I was not frightened at all by the alien like most of my peers were and was enchanted by Spielberg's' film. Then came that memorable ending where ET's finger light started glowing, pointed to Elliot's chest and told, "I'll be right here." I watched as ET got in his ship and flew away leaving rainbow behind him. At that moment I yelled out loud, "That's like God's promise to Noah!" Having heard the story of the Flood many times and recognizing the Rainbow as a symbol of a promise, I quickly made the connection between them. This continues on to this day with many other films and stories. Above all of course, I make a point to have fun and enjoy the show!
The first time I heard the Narnian Chronicles was in forth grade. My mother ordered the books for me from a school book order. They'd go on to become the most important books she'd ever order and probably one of her greatest investments. At the time I was adjusting to Attention Deficit Disorder, a minor case of Cerebral Palsy and sever Learning Disability in Math. I had been put on antidepressants for my ADD, which caused me to have sleeping problems and sever chest pains. My parents took me off the medication and tried to find other ways to help to adjust. My mom's solutionw as to read a chapter from all seven books in the Chronicles of Narnia. Nothing could have been better. I loved the books instantly and understood the imaginary Lewis created and the "Deeper Magic" within them. Narnia also became one of many safe havens for me to go to when classmates were bullying me. I read the copies my mom ordered so much that the bindings are now cracked and broken and pages are on the verge of falling out.
It was Lewis's Narnian Chronicles, along with Tolkien's Lord of the Rings be a writer. As I have now completed the drafts for a science fiction trilogy, a seven book novella series on the life of Christ, more than a year and a half worth of stories for my own original superhero comic book( sans illustrations) and over 100 poems. I am also working on some prewriting for a fantasy series.
Story with NarniaFans.com:
I had visited the NarniaFans site since it first went on-line to find out what was going on with the Narnia film. It was one of the sites my friend Dean and I visited to get ideas for what to do for costumes for the opening night of The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe. ( I went as King Peter.)
I like to think of how I came to the site being some what similar to the children discovering the land of Narnia itself. It was completely on accident. I had been working on one of my many writing projects and came down with a case of writers block. If you think writers block is bad, try having it with three projects!
In order to cure what ailed me I decided to surf around on-line. As usual I came to NarniaFans to see if there was any news about the second Narnia film. That’s’ when I caught something on my screen in the corner of my eye. Near the top of the menu was a section marked JOB OPPORTUNITIES. My eyes lit up. I clicked the link and saw that NarniaFans was looking for writers.
Having just graduated from college with a degree in literature and creative writing I was earnestly seeking away to put my degree to use as well as get my name out more. It also happened to be a website I visited frequently and dealt with an author who’s writings have influenced by own. Best of all the site adhered to a Christian worldview.
I e-mailed the webmaster and sent in my application along with my resume, writing samples and credentials. From there the rest as they say is history. On the day I got the job my friend Virginia said, “Wait to go, Jonathon! I’m so happy for you! Only God could think up something like that.” You know what, she was right.
I now serve as the book reviewer and started the section called “Tumnus’s Bookshelf.” and conducted an interview series with Douglas Gresham.
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