Meet the Makers: JBJ (Julius Benjamin Jonker) and Timo Whistler (Timo Fluitsma)

In this Meet the Makers event (a collaboration with the MA Literature Today), we welcome two writers and UU alumni, JBJ (Julius Benjamin Jonker) and Timo Whistler (Timo Fluitsma), who have recently self-published their debut fantasy novels. JBJ’s Echoes of the Past centers on two twins, heirs to the monarchy of Weckenstone, who must reconcile with their family’s dark history, their own magical powers, and each other. Timo’s The Way of the World is set in the Arcanum, a magical university, where a boy named Cinder seeks mastery over transmutation.

JBJ and Timo will read from their novels, as well as discuss their inspirations (including those connected to their studies and research at UU), their writing processes, the benefits and challenges of self-publishing, the various ways they find and connect to readers, and the function and value of reviews, whether on Goodreads or in established publications.

About the speakers

JBJ (Julius Benjamin Jonker) is a fantasy author living in Rotterdam, Netherlands. His debut, Echoes of the Past, launches the King’s Pride Saga, an epic fantasy series built on a simple philosophy: write the books he’d most want to read himself.

Having graduated in Politics, Philosophy, Economics, and History to understand the real world, he soon decided fantasy was a better way to talk about it. The genre lets readers step far enough outside reality to look honestly at morality, identity, and the messy business of how we live together. He hasn’t entirely detached from the real world, though, as conversations about politics and how to build a fairer, more conscious society still pull him in, probably for the same reasons he ended up writing fantasy in the first place.

Off the page, JBJ is what happens when that same obsession never clocks out: he reads compulsively, plays D&D, dabbles in theatre, games, cosplays, collects medieval weaponry with more enthusiasm than storage space, and shows up at bookstores & RenFaires whenever the calendar allows (especially if he’s allowed to promote his book there).

Learn more about JBJ at www.jbjwriter.com or follow him on Instagram @jbj_writes.

Echoes of the Past‘s Book Blurb

“Even if I had gone in with sky-high expectations, I think this still would have blown me away. Somehow, Echoes of the Past feels like the best mash-up of Brandon Sanderson, Joe Abercrombie and Michael J. Sullivan, while also being completely its own unique thing.” – Esmay Rosalyne, Grimdark Magazine.

Weckenstone has always revered the royal Tallmight line as divine. Yet when an enemy force invades, driven by a history Weckenstone tried to forget, the capital burns, and the Tallmight dynasty shatters. Tiber, heir to the throne, dreams of becoming the hero who saves everyone. But war leaves little room for heroes, only monsters in gilded armour. And after losing control, Tiber’s own destructive magic terrifies him more than his enemies ever could.

Gwynn, Tiber’s twin, knows no such comforts. Scraping by in the lawless underground of a beautiful city, angry at the world, he searches for something—anything—to be proud of. Yet his abrasive nature pushes most away, except for his young tutor, the one person he dares to care for. Reclaimer Aella, an officer and magic-user in the Phylondras army, has spent years carrying her family’s betrayal. But fighting Weckenstone and the Tallmights is perilous. The higher she climbs, the more she realises that rising above her treacherous past might require becoming something far worse. The Tallmights never had a clean past. Their enemies haven’t forgotten how it was rewritten by the victors. With the war dragging on, Weckenstone’s proud ideals rot into corruption. Now, the twins must decide who to become, how they’ll lead—and whether their name is a legacy, or a curse buried in the echoes of the past.

“These are the moments I live for on Bookstagram, finding indie authors who write absolute masterpieces. Echoes of the past was simply brilliant, giving me all the fantasy energy I needed.” – Kieran Devereux.

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Since childhood, Timo Whistler has been captivated by fantasy. He devoured stories like Gone, De Macht van het Zwaard, The Lord of the Rings, and Harry Potter, even sneaking books under his pillow so his parents wouldn’t notice. After they said goodnight, he would switch on the small lamp beside his bed and lose himself in endless worlds.

Years later, his father revealed that he had known all along—the light was clearly visible beneath the door. He smiled and said, “If I tricked you into reading because you thought it was forbidden, I did a great job.” He was right.

Today, Timo is a writer and has completed his first novel. The Way of the World is a 430-page fantasy about power, belief, and the search for meaning.

The book began with one simple question. If you had a superpower, what would it be? An incredible answer grew into this medieval fantasy world.

The Way of the World’s Blurb

“The past shapes our choices, but it does not teach us how to live with them.”

Raised by the soldier who killed his parents, Cinder has learned to expect little from the world beyond survival. When a chance encounter leads him to the Arcanum, an academy where the rare art of transmutation is studied, he seizes the opportunity to leave his past behind.

Within its walls, Cinder finds friendship, purpose, and a world governed by competing beliefs about what transmutation is and what it should become. Yet beneath the lessons and rivalries lies something the Arcanum would rather leave forgotten, and Cinder cannot shake the growing sense that he is not merely uncovering its secrets, but somehow connected to them.

As war closes in and the academy begins to fracture, Cinder uncovers a truth its founders buried a century ago. The discovery awakens a form of transmutation unlike anything the world has ever seen, placing him at the centre of a conflict that reaches far beyond kingdoms or faith.

Some believe he is humanity’s last hope.

Others fear he is the one who will bring about its end.

Because the greatest secret hidden within transmutation was never how to change the world.

It was why.

Meet the Makers is a series by The Creative Humanities Academy, a platform that fosters collaboration and knowledge exchange between cultural and creative professionals and academic researchers and students.

Here you will find the full Meet the Makers programme and archive.