What if the fictional worlds we escape into can actually help us understand the world we live in?
In this episode of Thought Atlas, I sit down with Terrence L. Rotering, a retired U.S. Air Force officer, author, and storyteller whose massive fiction project brings together fantasy, science fiction, and spiritual warfare.
Terrence grew up in Wisconsin and attended the United States Air Force Academy before spending 20 years in the Air Force as a weapon systems officer. He later spent another 15 years serving at NORAD and Northcom. After retiring to Colorado with his wife and two dogs, he found himself asking what his next purpose could be.
The answer was writing.
Terrence’s journey began decades earlier when he wrote a short story for his two young sons because he wanted them to understand that they, too, could have a voice and someday write books. Years later, that story expanded. In 2024, he returned to it with the intention of creating a trilogy. That eventually became the beginning of what he describes as four trilogies, with more planned.
Today, he says the universe has grown to more than 5,000 pages, 10,000 years, and seven dimensions.
But this isn’t simply an exercise in world-building.
Terrence explains how he uses fantasy, science fiction, and spiritual warfare to explore purpose, sacrifice, good and evil, faith, courage, and humanity’s place within a much larger reality. His stories move across different worlds and periods, from dragons and swords to tactical aircraft, spacecraft, artificial intelligence, wormholes, and time travel.
One of the central ideas behind the series is what Terrence calls “unfencing the fiction.” Rather than allowing the story to remain safely contained inside a fictional universe, he wants to connect its themes back to the reader’s own reality.
We discuss why he believes stories can teach us through the experiences of characters, allowing readers to encounter ideas and perspectives they might otherwise never experience themselves.
Terrence also shares several experiences he calls “Godwinks”—unexpected coincidences that he says convinced him that there was something beyond his own imagination influencing the development of his stories. He recounts one particularly striking example involving the name of an ancient location that he says emerged from the initials of fictional locations he had created years earlier.
We also explore how his military background influences his writing. His experience with aircraft, strategy, tactics, combat, courage, and the sacrifices he witnessed has helped him incorporate those elements into the battles and characters throughout his fictional universe.
For Terrence, spiritual warfare represents an ongoing struggle between good and evil, expressed differently across different worlds, eras, and technologies. His Christian beliefs are central to that framework.
Perhaps the most personal lesson comes from writing itself.
At 63, Terrence says the experience taught him that life isn’t over simply because you’ve moved through previous careers or decided that you didn’t like something in the past. He encourages people to revisit old interests, try new things, and remain open to discovering something that could become one of the most important things they’ve ever done.
His message is ultimately one of purpose and possibility:
Don’t be afraid to try different things.
Listeners can connect with Terrence, learn more about his books, and send him questions through his website, Chronicles of Trinian. He also says his books are available through Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and other retailers, and that he shares music videos connected to his stories on YouTube under Terrence Rotering.
Listen to Thought Atlas: joinpodmatch.com/thoughtatlas
Food for thought: You are uniquely shaped. Don’t try to be a piece of the puzzle that you’re not.