About the Book

Book: Masa Chronicles: The Copper Scroll Author: Nicholas Teeguarden Genre: Christian Fiction Action/Suspense Release Date: October 7, 2025

When American grad student and Veteran Joshua Bennett lands in Amman, Jordan, he thinks he’s chasing academic glory. What he finds instead is a centuries-old mystery that’s been waiting for someone reckless or desperate enough to uncover it. At the center of it all is the Copper Scroll, a cryptic Dead Sea artifact rumored to hold clues to an ancient treasure buried deep in the Judean desert. But Joshua soon learns it’s no ordinary scroll. Hidden symbols, coded phrases, and whispers of a “shepherd’s path” point to something far more significant and far more dangerous. As the clues mount, so do the warnings. A silent observer in the library. A cryptic priest with a knowing smile. A message slipped into Joshua’s backpack: The shepherd’s path is not for the faint-hearted. A cryptic priest and a rabbi jump in to help understand uncovered information. As Mossad agents, Templar knights, and ISIS operatives close in, Joshua and his allies race to unravel the truth. But who seeks to unearth it, and who will kill to keep it buried?

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About the Author

Nicholas Teeguarden writes faith-fueled thrillers that explore the intersection of history, belief, and discovery. His debut, The Copper Scroll: Masa Chronicles, follows archaeologist Joshua “Masa” Bennett across the Middle East in a race to uncover one of history’s most enigmatic biblical relics. Praised for its vivid realism and clean storytelling, the novel has been honored with a ChristLit Award, a Readers’ Favorite 5-star review, and recognition at the Paris Book Festival. A veteran whose global service inspires his storytelling, Teeguarden aims to create cinematic fiction that uplifts while it thrills. He is currently developing the next installment in The Masa Chronicles alongside The Teeguarden Writing Room, a growing creative community where readers and writers explore faith, art, and story together.

More from Nicholas

Whenever I think of telling a story, I have Indiana Jones swapping the bag of sand with the golden idol. The spirits swirling around the Nazis and the uncanny escapes from the clutches of death. I spent my early adult years stomping through biblical lands with the military, experiencing life that seemed to represent many stages of evolution. Seeing the differences in how people value life, faith, and each other. I experienced the heart-pounding adrenaline of adventure, the edge of life moments, and the strange stillness that follows them. The sights, sounds, and smells of those places stay with you forever. When I finally retired, I walked to the altar, a different kind of battlefield, and realized that all those years of chasing survival were really leading me to understand purpose. That moment changed how I responded to almost everything that came after, and it’s what shaped The Copper Scroll. Like me, Joshua “Masa” Bennett isn’t just searching for an ancient artifact; he’s looking for proof that faith still matters, that truth can survive the centuries, and that even when everything feels lost, redemption can still be found buried beneath the dust. Writing this book was my way of reconnecting with those memories, with the lands I once marched through, and with the faith that anchored me through it all. It’s a story of mystery, courage, and belief. The kind of adventure that begins in the desert but ends in the heart.

Interview with the Author

1. Reading in this genre Yes, very much. The shelves lean heavily toward historical and speculative thrillers—writers who mix real history, faith questions, and high-stakes plots, the same blend aimed for in Masa Chronicles: The Copper Scroll.

2. “What author are you like?” The easy answer is that Masa Chronicles has a footprint somewhere between an archaeological thriller and a faith-driven suspense novel, think of a cleaner, more overtly Christian take on the kind of puzzle-and-history storytelling Dan Brown popularized. Readers who enjoy fast-paced treasure hunts with theological weight tend to feel at home here.

3. What helps you write? Writing usually happens with some kind of background noise, often a show or movie playing softly, so the story in the head stays front and center while the rest of the brain, the other personalities if being genuine, are distracted. Snacks are optional; what matters most is staying immersed long enough that the scene starts to feel like a film unspooling behind the eyes.

4. Time period to visit If time travel were on the table, the first stop would be the first-century world around Jesus and the early church. Seeing places like Jerusalem, Capernaum, and the roads Paul walked, without the layers of later history, would answer a lifetime’s worth of research questions in a single trip.

5. Favorite book Naming a single favorite is tough, but Ready Player One by Ernest Cline ranks high for the way it builds a fully immersive, nostalgia-soaked world and still manages to talk about identity, escape, and what actually matters in real life. It sparked a fresh appreciation for how much fun a story can be while still nudging the reader to think.

6. Favorite hymn So this is a new one. But Skillet just covered Oh Come emmanuel and I loved it.

7. One surprising thing One thing that might surprise readers is how introverted the process behind an action-heavy book can be. For every explosive or high-stakes scene on the page, there are hours of quiet, over-caffeinated staring at a wall, trying to make sure a single conversation feels truthful.

8. What inspired this book? Masa Chronicles: The Copper Scroll grew out of a fascination with the real Copper Scroll among the Dead Sea Scrolls and the question, “What if someone today tried to follow its clues for real?” From there, military experience, time in the Middle East, and a desire to wrestle honestly with faith and evidence all fed into the story.

9. A few favorite things A few favorites: ● Pumpkin Pie ● Dogs ● Alaska

10. One question you wish readers would ask A question loved from readers is, “How did your faith change while you were writing this story?” The honest answer is that every draft of The Copper Scroll forced deeper wrestling with doubt, proof, and trust, much like Joshua and his team, and by the end, there was a stronger conviction that God is not threatened by hard questions or careful research.