Moody Fiction

Thank You for Your Time and Hard Work Stephanie!

2011-05-27T14:01:00.000-07:00

Dear readers, I've had a blast here with you all on the Moody Fiction blog since we opened its doors in November 2009! From critiquing book covers, swapping new titles, and sharing book reviews, this blog has been a warm and welcoming community for readers, and we're looking forward to growing even more from here! I want to let you know that I will be transitioning out of my role as Managing Editor, and welcoming Deb Keiser on board, our Acquisitions Editor for fiction novels. I won't be blogging with Moody Fiction anymore, but you can catch me on some of our other blogs by Moody Publishers, which if you don't know about them yet, now is a good time for me to introduce you:

www.startmarriageright.com is a resource center for building strong relationships, whether you are single, dating, engaged, or newlyweds. They offer new articles every week and interviews with special guests such as Gary Chapman, author of The 5 Love Languages, and former Miss America Lauren Nelson.

www.insidepages.net is the official blog for all things Moody Publishers, and here we focus on "faith, publishing, and literacy culture." Ever wonder how we choose a book cover or what the editing process looks like? Come get a behind-the-scenes look here!

www.biblestudyforyou.com is a free online resource to help you delve into God's Word with devotions, Bible study tools, sermon prep help, and book studies. This blog is sponsored by the Ryrie Study Bible.

Keep reading! And hope to see you around!
--
Stephanie S. Smith
(In)dialogue Communications
www.stephaniessmith.com

Another Option

2011-05-20T08:47:00.000-07:00

Hello Fiction Fans!

Here is one more option for you to choose from. Let us know what you think! Option 4:

RiverNorth Publishing Logo

2011-05-18T14:00:00.000-07:00

OPTION 1

OPTION 2

OPTION 3

Hello Moody Fiction fans! We want your opinion! Moody Fiction is transitioning into RiverNorth Fiction. We want to know, love, and serve our audience, starting with you helping us pick our new logo! Please let us know what you think by responding with your favorite numbered option.

Thank you, Team!

Day 4 Winner

2011-05-11T13:06:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the delay in response, Lauri Khodabandehloo is our winner. Please email me with your address at acquisitions@moody.edu and I will send you your copy of Missional Mom. I hope you all had a lovely Mother's Day and were appreciated!

Day 4 of Honoring Moms Week

2011-05-06T07:18:00.000-07:00

Congratulations Denise! Winner of a complementary copy of Pearl in the Sand by Tessa Afshar, recently named "New author of the Year" in the 2011 Readers Choice Awards sponsored by Family Fiction.

Today's question, what are the three things you admire most about your mother?

Post your thoughts and enter to win a free copy of The Mission Mom by Helen Lee.

Day 3 of Honoring Moms week

2011-05-05T07:31:00.001-07:00

No winner to announce so let's move on to today's question.

Women have been blessed with the instinctive ability to nurture. In Titus 2 women are exhorted to use that nurturing gift to encourage other women as they seek to live for God's glory. What is the best thing you have experienced in being a spiritual mother?

The random winner will receive a copy of Tending the Soul: 90 Days of Spiritual Nourishment by our friends at Midday Connection.

Day 2 of Honoring Moms Week

2011-05-03T06:40:00.000-07:00

Congratulations to Wenshan! She is the winner of last night's drawing. Thank you all for your comments, we enjoyed reading them and gave us some ideas.

Now today's question...

Being a mom is a worthwhile and exciting adventure, but one thing for sure it is not an easy task. As a mom, what is your biggest challenge?

Tonight's winner will receive a complimentary copy of Pearl in the Sand by Tessa Afshar.

Check back tomorrow for Day 3 of Honoring Moms Week question of the day!

Mom, what do you long to hear?

2011-05-02T06:35:00.000-07:00

In honor of all mothers, this week we will be posting questions relating to motherhood. Post your answer and a daily random name will be drawn to win a complimentary book.

Depending on your season of motherhood, today's winner can choose between Growing Grateful Kids by Susie Larson or How to Really Love Your Adult Child by Gary Chapman & Ross Campbell, M.D.

There are many studies and articles that talk to parents about what their children need to hear from them. In the process of trying to nurture and love their children to the best of their abilities, the longings of many mothers' hearts get pushed to the side or neglected. What do you long to hear from your child or children?

Winner will be randomly pulled and announced 9 pm Central tonight. Come back for tomorrow's question for another chance at winning.

Your Life Story in Six Words?

2011-04-22T11:20:00.000-07:00

By: Stephanie S. Smith, Moody Fiction Managing Editor

As a freelance book publicist, I spend a lot of time using social media to get the word out about new titles, but I have to say: I am not a fan of Twitter. I'm the kind of person who loves thick novels like Jane Eyre, excuses run-on sentences, and had to be taught the meaning of "succinct" by my 9th grade English teacher. So 140 character "tweets" are just not my thing.

Twitter offers a wealth of information for those who wish to seek it out, but to me it feels like an overwhelming sea of data, a roar of white noise. I also can't help but feel like it's a "short-cut", a way to cut creative corners and at the same time cater to our distracted attention spans. 140 characters is just long enough to snag our interest and just short enough to amuse us but not commit us.

But this past week I discovered a project in succinctness that impressed me. Instead of 140 characters, try six words! The Six-Word Memoir, an initiative of SMITH Magazine, challenges writers to publish their abbreviated life story on their website. Inspired by the belief that everyone has a story and deserves a forum in which to tell it, SMITH editors created the Six-Word Memoir Project to give people that opportunity. With a click, anyone can publish their memoir on the website. I found myself fascinated with some of their entries...

"Never really finished anything, expect cake." -Carletta Perkins

"I still make coffee for two." -Zak Nelson

"Asked to quiet down, spoke louder." -Wendy Lee

In just six words, people all over the world are telling stories with their own unique voice. I spent half an hour reading through these memoirs and was amazed that such creativity could be condensed into so small a space. Some are profound, some humorous, some confessional or bittersweet, but all of them possess a genre and a plot of their own as intricate as any novel.

It takes enough skill to be able to articulate your life story, drawing out significant themes and symbols, but to boil it down to six words and still give the reader a lasting impression? It seems to me that is a craft in its own right. Perhaps Twitter, a cousin endeavor in brevity, is a higher art than I imagined.

Stephanie S. Smith graduated from Moody Bible Institute with a degree in Communications and Women’s Ministry, which she now puts to work freelancing as a book publicist and writer through her business, (In)dialogue Communications, at www.stephaniessmith.com. After living in Chicago for four years, traveling to Amsterdam for a spell, and then moving back home to Baltimore to plan a wedding, she now lives with her husband in Upstate New York where they make novice attempts at home renovation in their 1930s bungalow. She is a member of the Young Professionals of the Southern Tier and blogs for Moody Publishers at www.insidepages.net and www.moodyfiction.com

Living in the Pink: New April Fiction!

2011-04-04T08:11:00.000-07:00

Some people are in the red. Some are in the black. And some are...in the pink!

Sharon Tubbs' new book is a series of short stories centered on this question: "Are your sins red like scarlet, are you seeking God so that He can make them white as snow… or are you satisfied somewhere in between—living in the pink?" Through these stories, Sharon hopes to lead women "out of the pink and into God's marvelous light." Sharon's book released April 1st, and you can read the first chapter here, and meet Sister Pinky herself! Also visit www.livinginthepink.com.

About the Book

Living in the Pink is a series of humorous and insightful short stories with Christian underpinnings. Through the eyes of the wise “Sister Pinky” and Believers Ministries International Church, these stories highlight issues that women grapple with but that often remain unspoken in religious circles. The characters are everyday wives, mothers, and singles. They develop and gain a spiritual perspective in dealing with romantic relationships, wayward children, jealousy, church traditions, Christian hypocrisy, and self-righteous judgment, among other themes.

Discussion questions help readers connect with the storylines and urge them to look within—and up—to reach their highest potential in life.

New Spring Fiction!

2011-03-15T12:55:00.000-07:00

You may remember hearing about or reading Linda Chaikin's book released last year, The Spoils of Eden, the first in the "Dawn of Hawaii" trilogy. Coming May 1st, the saga continues in Hawaiin Crosswinds...

About the Book

Amid the looming spiritual and political crisis in Hawaii, Rafe Easton and Eden Derrington are thrust into a conflict that will forever change their beloved Hawaii. Hawaii, home of the early missionaries, becomes an empire of sugar and pineapple built by their children and grandchildren. By 1892 the Treasure of the Pacific is caught in a political revolution between those supporting Queen Liliuokalani, and the new Hawaiians determined to see the Stars and Stripes waving over Iolani Palace.

Rafe Easton hears the dark news that Townsend Derrington is in San Francisco prowling about the house on Nob Hill belonging to Parker Judson, Rafe’s partner in the pineapple plantation. Rafe’s mother, Celestine, is keeping out of sight with baby Kip inside the house. The news is dire enough to convince Rafe to alter his near-term plans in Honolulu. Having come to an agreement with his fiancée, Eden Derrington, to allow her to work for a year on Molokai at her father’s medical clinic while meeting her dying mother, a leper, Rafe makes swift plans to take a steamer to San Francisco to hunt down Townsend who is guilty of Rafe’s father’s death, and now stalking Celestine and Kip.

Pictures from "Steppin' Into the Good Life" Launch Party!

2011-03-01T09:02:00.000-08:00

Pictures of some of the highlights from this event at The LOFT in Atlanta, where Tia's book is set! It was a day of good eating (shrimp and grits!), fierce shoes modeled in a fashion show, and a discussion with the author, Tia McCollors, about what it means to be living "the good life."

Are you living the good life? Enter the Shoe Talk Contestant and tell us about it. Go to the I Am Living the Good Life facebook page and post a picture of your fiercest shoes. Write 2-3 sentences telling us what your shoes would say about who you are (your personality, your desires, your life’s journey). The contest will run through March 31, 2011. April 1st we will announce the winner of the Chocolate Shoe Award, a copy of Steppin Into the Good Life by Tia McCollors and a $25 Amazon gift card. The second place winner will receive a $10 gift card.

Pearl in the Sand Audio Version!

2011-02-24T08:20:00.000-08:00

If you like audio books, check out this sample for Tessa Afshar's Pearl in the Sand novel, read by actress Laura Merlington. She's mastered her character voices and accents!

About the Book

Striking beauty... comes at a price.

Rahab paid it when at the age of fifteen she was sold into prostitution by the one man she loved and trusted—her father. With her keen mind and careful planning she turned heartache into success, achieving independence while still young. And she vowed never again to trust a man. Any man.

God had other plans.

Into the emotional turmoil of her world walked Salmone, a prominent leader of Judah, held in high esteem by all Israel. A man of faith, honor, and pride. An enemy. What is a woman with a wrecked past to do when she wants to be loved, yet no longer believes it possible?

The walls of Jericho are only the beginning. The real battle for Rahab will be one of the heart.

The Ideal Writing Spot

2011-02-15T08:04:00.000-08:00

By: Stephanie S. Smith, Managing Blog Editor

It seems that most famous writers create a certain habitat for their genius, a custom-made space where their creativity can flow forth uninhibited. Virginia Woolf had A Room of One’s Own, J. K. Rowling has her European café, and Kurt Vonnegut has his hardwood floor where he worked out of his lap. So what are the basic requirements for a writing spot?

A desk, of course, is essential (except, apparently, if you’re Vonnegut). Preferably, a mahogany, stylishly-distressed desk that just looks like classics have been written all over it. A desk in the tradition of Tolkien’s and C. S. Lewis’, which you can actually see on display (including the wardrobe that inspired Narnia) at the Marion E. Wade Center at Wheaton College. Extra points if your desk has a secret compartment.

Next, coffee. Every writer needs an energy boost now and then. And if you’re self-employed, your caffeine addiction might even count as a tax deduction (don’t quote me on that…)! But don’t try to outdo French novelist Balzac, who was known to drink 50-300 cups of coffee per day.

Your writing space should also host somewhat of a cozy mess. Creative minds aren’t known for their organizational skills, you know.

Surround yourself with inspirational literary quotes. These will remind you not only how much you love, live, and breath writing, but how fun it is! Motivational catchphrases such as, “My stories run up and bite me on the leg” –Ray Bradbury, and, “Writing is…like a long bout of some painful illness.” -George Orwell, should get you off to a good start!

You should also have something to fidget with as you wrestle your brilliant ideas down onto paper. Stress balls, those cool moldable erasers, etc. Now is the perfect time to develop a bad habit such as cracking your knuckles or chewing your hair. All for the sake of art, of course.

A muse: whether it’s a picture of your sweetheart, your cat, or your Edgar Allan Poe bobble-head, you should have something to attribute your strokes of genius to. And someone to take your frustration out on when writer’s block hits.

What’s your writing environment? Where do you hammer out your thoughts, poems, and stories?

15 Things You Never Knew About Dickens

2011-02-03T09:30:00.000-08:00

If you consider yourself to be a well-read individual — at least of the classics — you’ve probably read a lot of Dickens. Even non-English majors have most likely stumbled across Dickens’ greatest characters in college classes and of course, in iconic films remakes, like A Christmas Carol. And just as you’d expect, the writer behind Tiny Tim, Oliver Twist and Pip was just as complex as his famous characters. Here are 15 things you may not have known about Charles Dickens (professors and total Dickens freaks aside).

He was a control freak: Although he was never diagnosed, and it’s impossible to posthumously diagnose someone, scientists and doctors believe that Dickens may have had OCD. He was supposedly a control freak and had many rituals involving repetitive behavior, like rearranging furniture and religiously inspecting his children’s bedrooms for tidiness and order.
He had ten children: Between 1837 and 1852, Dickens’ wife Catherine gave birth to 10 children. Dora Annie died when she was an infant, and the youngest, Edward, died at 10 years old.
He took on factory work at age 12: You may already know that Dickens’ father was taken to prison because of financial problems, but you may not have known that 12-year-old Charles went to work wrapping shoe-black bottles at Warren’s Blacking Factory to help support his family during that time.
Dickens spoke out against slavery: A long-time, committed supporter of social justice issues, Dickens also disapproved of slavery. He reportedly spoke out against it when visiting friends in America, which did not go over well.
He was a leader of social justice and reform until his death: Dickens was an advocate for all kinds of social justice issues, including educating the poor, parliamentary reform, public health, the legal system, the workhouse system, and others.
He was a realistic recorder of epilepsy and seizures: Dickens wrote about epileptic fits and seizures (characters like Guster from Bleak House, Monks from Oliver Twist, and Bradley Headstone from Our Mutual Friend had them) with such accuracy that today’s doctors believe he may have suffered from them himself.
Dickens wrote 5 Christmas books: While he’s best known for A Christmas Carol, Dickens actually wrote five books about Christmastime: The Chimes, The Cricket on the Hearth, The Battle of Life, and The Haunted Man and the Ghost’s Bargain, as well as A Christmas Carol. They were all published between 1843-1848.
He practiced mesmerism: Dickens was introduced to mesmerism — an early form of hypnosis — by Professor Joseph Elliotson at University College, London. Dickens supposedly became a master at mesmerism was fascinated at its power to control minds.
A Christmas Carol has never been out of print: A Christmas Carol was published for the first time in 1843, and since then, it has never been out of print.
His nickname was "Boz": Dickens’ younger brother Augustus supposedly used to pronounce his nickname in a way that sounded like "Boz," and Dickens adopted that name as his own pseudonym.
Dickens nicknamed his kids, too: A fan of using nicknames with siblings and in his work, Dickens also gave his kids nicknames, like Skittles.
He often based characters on people he knew in real life: Dickensian characters are so memorable, it’s no wonder Dickens actually modeled some of them on real-life people he knew. And David Copperfield is said to be mostly autobiographical.
He worked as a court reporter and parliamentary reporter: Before becoming a fiction writer, Dickens worked for a lawyer but then switched professions to focus on writing and journalism. He first worked as a court reporter and then as a parliamentary reporter, before publishing his first story in 1833.
The Pickwick Papers started as a series of sketches: The Pickwick Papers is Dickens’ first novel, but it actually started out as a series of sketches and caricatures of Cockneys, drawn by Robert Seymour. Seymour’s publishers recruited Dickens to write bits of text to accompany the sketches, but Dickens ended up taking over the project.
He died working on a novel: Dickens’ last novel was just a work in progress when he died. The Mystery of Edwin Drood is still unfinished, but some installments were published, and two films were even made based on the work.

This post is a guest post from Accredited Online Colleges, contributed by Emma Taylor.

Peek into These Celebrity Libraries!

2011-01-25T10:53:00.000-08:00

We all remember that scene in Beauty and the Beast where the beast makes Belle close her eyes, leads her into a dark room, opens the shades, and gives her the library of our dreams. Floor-to-ceiling shelves, windows pouring light onto bright bindings, and one of those fun ladders on wheels so you can reach whatever book catches your eye!

Well, it's not an enchanted palace, but here are some photos of libraries of people you may have heard of...you can check out more pictures on Flavorwire, where these pictures were originally hosted.


Diane Keaton's library


Michael Jackson's library

Oprah's library

Joan Rivers' library

New Moody Publishers' Blog!

2011-01-15T08:25:00.000-08:00

It's a new year and we're turning the page with Moody Publishers' new blog, Inside Pages! To celebrate, we're hosting a launch party at www.InsidePages.net from January 17th-29th! For these two weeks, we will be having daily giveaways, for prizes including a Kindle, iPod Touch, books, Bibles, and more!

Inside Pages will serve as Moody Publisher’s online forum on faith, publishing, and literary culture, offering readers a behind-the-scenes look at publishing and creating a digital community for dialogue about the book industry. Inside Pages will regularly feature new book releases, author interviews and articles, reading/writing resources, and employee commentaries on the publishing process and the changing literary landscape. And of course, you can still find us here at the Moody Fiction blog!

We hope to see you there!

P.S. Did we mention giveaways?

Red Pick-up Trucks

2011-01-13T09:22:00.000-08:00

By: Tia McCollor, author of February release Steppin' Into the Good Life

For the past year God has had a sense of humor in how He speaks to me. I do most of my deep thinking and brainstorming while I’m in the car, so maybe that’s why He’s been speaking to me through bumper stickers. Yes, strange as it may sound, bumper stickers have caused me to do some serious reflecting over the past eight months or so.

The most recent occurrence happened three weeks ago while I was weaving in and out of traffic (carefully, of course) so that I could make it to my son’s school in time to pick him up. My invisible companions were with me, Mr. Agitated, riding shotgun, and Ms. Impatient, in the back seat.

I was going nowhere fast. Then I saw it -- the bumper sticker on the back of that red pick-up truck that was probably driving 30 MPH on a 55 MPH stretch of road. “I hope you follow God this close,” it read.

Makes you say…..hmmm. I must admit there have been times when I felt like I was waving to God from afar. If I’ve remembered correctly, in her book, He Speaks to Me, Priscilla Shirer refers to a GPS as God’s Positioning System. The great thing about God is that if you have the desire to draw closer to Him, He’ll let you tailgate! You can park right in His presence for as long as you like.

As the February 1st release of my fifth novel approaches, I’ve reflected on my writing career and the personal journey that’s come along with it. My novels – and this calling that God has put on my life as an wife, mother and author -- keeps me close to Him. I write stories about imperfect people and a perfect God.

Sheila Rushmore, the protagonist in my upcoming release, Steppin’ Into The Good Life, is one of those imperfect people. She’s been chasing the good life since high school, and that chase has left her with no home, no man, and no money. But now that she’s decided to live for God…things will get easier, be better…right? At least that’s what she thinks.

Sheila’s definition of the “good life” is not what it used to be. Neither is mine. But God wants us to have life abundantly (John 10:10). And we can. If we follow Him as closely as we follow red pick-up trucks.

ABOUT THE BOOK
Shelia Rushmore thought she'd be the last woman standing when it was time to fight for her man. Instead Ace, her boyfriend of two years, chose to reunite with his ex-wife, leaving Shelia emotionally devastated. It's a year later when Sheila is convinced that sneaking into their wedding ceremony will put closure on the gaping hole in her heart. But it's on the back pew of the church where a new relationship begins for Shelia. She can't explain the touch she received from God on that day, but she's determined to be a better woman-a woman of faith. Since high school, Shelia has been chasing her definition of the good life - it's left her with no home, no man, and no money. But now that's she's living life for God, things should get better, right?

Shelia learns that living a faith-filled life isn't always easy. With faith, tough love, and some tough decisions, Shelia realizes that the life she'd been praying for she could have for herself is actually attainable. Being wrapped in God's arms, she decided, was by far the safest place she'd ever been.

MEET THE AUTHOR

Tia McCollors is a national bestselling author who secured her spot in the publishing industry with the release of her debut novel, Zora’s Cry. She received her B.A. in Journalism and Mass Communication from the University of North Carolina. After ten years as a public relations professional, Tia emerged as an inspirational speaker and author of faith-based novels. Her other titles include The Last Woman Standing, The Truth About Love, and A Heart of Devotion. In addition to being a novelist, Tia is a motivational speaker and instructor for writing workshops. Tia was voted as the Breakout Author of the Year by the Open Book Awards of the African American Literary Awards Show. Tia lives in the Atlanta, Georgia area with her husband and children. For more information, visit her online at www.TiaMcCollors.com.

Good Art is Good Religion

2011-01-10T18:05:00.000-08:00

By: Stephanie S. Smith, Managing Editor

This past weekend my family and I went to see Voyage of the Dawn Treader, the long-awaited sequel in C. S. Lewis' Narnia series on film. I've grown up on the books, cherish them as classics, and always love encountering Aslan again on the big screen, majestic in both strength and tenderness.

When the movie was over and the credits started scrolling, a little girl ran down the aisle until she was right in front of the big screen. She just stood there, staring up into it, transfixed, and I thought, She wants to jump into Narnia through the movie screen just like the children were swept up through the painting!

Maybe she wanted to rescue the seven lords, ride on Aslan's back, or fight bravely for the good. Sooner or later a parent called out to her, and she trudged reluctantly back to reality. But the scene impressed on me how important imagination is to faith. C. S. Lewis is well-known for his spiritual parallels woven into his literary works, and I believe that telling the gospel through stories is not only good for the creative life, it is also challenges the spiritual life.

Madeleine L'Engle was another such writer whose redemptive imagination shines through works such as the beloved A Wrinkle in Time series. In her nonfiction book, Walking on Water: Reflections on Faith and Art, she says, “Christian art? Art is art; painting is painting; music is music; a story is a story. If it’s bad art, it’s bad religion, no matter how pious the subject.”

But if it's good art, it stands to reason it is also "good religion." Perhaps this is why the Narnia epics are so well-loved, even by people who do not know Aslan "by another Name."

What do you think about Madeleine L'Engle's quote? Do you agree, or disagree?

Congratulations!

2011-01-02T13:01:00.000-08:00

Congratulations to our "Cozy Christmas Giveaway" Winners...

Carol M, Linda Henderson, Carol Wong & Trinity Rose!

We hope you enjoy your new read and take the chance to sit back, relax, and enjoy a cup of your favorite coffee or tea...something we all probably need at this point in the season! I will email you shortly to get your mailing addresses.

Thank you all for sharing the ways you and your family celebrate Christmas! I know Christmas can be both a joyful time with family and friends and it can also be a difficult time, as some you related, in the face of sickness, family tensions, or the loss of a loved one. So thank you for all honestly sharing where you are this Christmas season, and I pray that as we enter this New Year that as God gives us His grace and love, we will have reason to rejoice!

Here are a few encouraging words from Bill Thrasher, author of Putting God Back in the Holidays, on the New Year (you can read the full article here):

"Theologian Andrew Murray speaks of three stages in the Christian life. The first stage is characterized by making resolutions and determining to keep them in your strength. The failure that comes from this leads to the second stage of the Christian life. The first stage of “I can do it” is replaced by “I can’t”— when you feel that setting goals will only lead to failure and defeat. The third stage is characterized by the attitude of “I can’t, but I must and I am going to trust God to do it.” It is in the spirit of the third stage that one finds freedom in setting goals.

It is discouraging when we are stuck in the “I can’t” attitude of the second stage, perhaps the reason we avoid the tradition of “New Year’s Resolutions” in the first place. But we can remind ourselves and each other that our strength is found in Christ. Here is a list of truths I pass out to my family members each year as an encouragement as we form our goals:

Trust Jesus to enhance your relationship with Him.
Trust Jesus to give you rest and refresh you.

Trust Jesus to show you how to be a vessel of love.

Trust Jesus to keep a measure of discipline in your life.

Trust Jesus to prepare you for any special temptations.

Trust Jesus to give you His goals for the New Year."

Cozy Christmas Giveaway!

2010-12-23T10:20:00.000-08:00

With Christmas just around the corner, we want to send some holiday cheer to you and yours! Wintry nights like this are perfect for curling up with a blanket, something hot and sweet, (preferably in a Christmas mug!) and a good story.

So we'll be giving away just that -- a pound of Dunkin Donuts coffee, a cute vintage typewriter mug, and a novel -- to four winners who enter the Cozy Christmas Giveaway!

We know you're busy decking the halls and roasting chestnuts, so we're keeping it simple. The giveaway will be open for one week, from today until January 1st, and to enter just comment below and tell us how you and/or your family celebrate Christ for Christmas, and don't forget to include your email address. And for a bonus entry, just click the "follow" button on the left sidebar to follow our blog! We will randomly choose four winners and post the results on Jan. 2, 2011.

Have a Merry Christmas, and may you experience the rich love of Emmanuel -- God With Us -- this season!

Enter to win one of these novels:

Gun Lake is a thriller by Travis Thrasher, in which the lives of five escaped convicts become interwoven in this suspenseful tale

Pearl in the Sand is a narrative retelling of the biblical story of Rahab by Tessa Afshar

The Last Woman Standing is Tia McCollors' story of two women and one man who learn about reconciliation, second chances, and God's hand in our relationships

Raising Rain by Debbie Fuller Thomas tells the story of '70s child, Rain Rasmussen,who realizes her own self-sufficiency has severed her relationships and hope for a family

Coming in February!

2010-12-15T09:15:00.000-08:00

Tia McCollors introduces her new novel in February, the long-awaited sequel to The Last Woman Standing, in which Shelia Rushmore plays a role. But Steppin' Into the Good Life shifts the spotlight to Sheila as the main character, as she deals with the loss of everything she once thought she wanted.

Shelia Rushmore thought she'd be the last woman standing when it was time to fight for her man. Instead Ace, her boyfriend of two years, chose to reunite with his ex-wife, leaving Shelia emotionally devastated. It's a year later when Sheila is convinced that sneaking into their wedding ceremony will put closure on the gaping hole in her heart. But it's on the back pew of the church where a new relationship begins for Shelia. She can't explain the touch she received from God on that day, but she's determined to be a better woman-a woman of faith. Since high school, Shelia has been chasing her definition of the good life - it's left her with no home, no man, and no money. But now that's she's living life for God, things should get better, right? Shelia learns that living a faith-filled life isn't always easy.

With faith, tough love, and some tough decisions, Shelia realizes that the life she'd been praying for she could have for herself is actually attainable. Being wrapped in God's arms, she decided, was by far the safest place she'd ever been.

Sneak Peek: "Even from the back pew I could sense Ace's love washing over Lynette. He had never looked at me that way. The tears fell faster when I wondered if anyone would ever love me that unconditionally..."

TIA MCCOLLORS is a national bestselling author who secured her spot in the publishing industry with the release of her debut novel, Zora’s Cry. She received her B.A. in Journalism and Mass Communication from the University of North Carolina. After ten years as a public relations professional, Tia emerged as an inspirational speaker and author of faith-based novels. Her other titles include The Truth About Love and A Heart of Devotion. Tia lives in the Atlanta, Georgia area with her husband and two children. For more information, visit her online at http://www.tiamccollors.com/.

Happy Friday!

2010-12-10T12:50:00.000-08:00

Congratulations to Jessica, who won our Christmas giveaway contest this week and will be receiving her free copy of Putting God Back in the Holidays by Bill and Penny Thrasher. And thank you all for sharing your Christmas reading traditions!

If you're feeling brave, try your hand at Penguin Books' Christmas Classics quiz here, and maybe get inspired to cozy up with a holiday read and some peppermint tea!

We'll be hosting more giveaways as we approach Christmas, so keep checking back! In the meantime, The Blog Guidebook is giving away a beautiful free calendar just in time for the New Year. Enjoy and have a great weekend!

Christmas Giveaway!

2010-12-07T13:50:00.000-08:00

Christmas, in my family, has always been the time of year we read aloud the most. "Twas the Night Before Christmas..." was (and still is!) traditionally read by my grandfather on Christmas Eve, and we even have a few family favorites that I can recite entire passages from memory!

This week we are giving away a copy of Putting God Back in the Holidays by Bill and Penny Thrasher to one winner who knows their Christmas literature!

So here's the deal. Below I have listed 5 opening lines of Christmas stories, and the first person to match the most correct titles with the opening line wins! To enter the contest, comment below with 1) your email address 2) your answers and 3) any Christmas reading traditions your family might have or had growing up. The contest will close on Friday morning, and I will email the winner directly and post the results here. Good luck!!

1) "The Herdmans were absolutely the worst kids in the history of the world."

2) “'Christmas won’t be Christmas without any presents,' [she] grumbled, lying on the rug."

3) "One dollar and eighty-seven cents. That was all."

4) "The gate was packed with weary travelers, most of them standing and huddled along the walls because the meager allotment of plastic chairs had long since been taken."

5) "Marley was dead, to begin with."

ABOUT THE BOOK
Instead of the joy-filled celebrations that we build up in our minds, the holidays (pick one, any one) can often become stress-filled, money-draining, joy-less days of the year that we just "want to get through." And it is by our own volition that we have refused too many times to allow our holiday celebrations to be the spiritual experience they are meant to be.

This book has been conceived and designed over 30 years as Dr. Bill Thrasher has spoken to thousands of people, helping them realize the spiritual battle that surrounds their celebration of the holidays. Littered with practical thoughts, ideas, experiences, and stories, Putting God Back in the Holidays will help you and your family celebrate holidays and birthdays with biblical truth in mind.

140 Character Narratives

2010-12-03T08:01:00.000-08:00

I am one of those people that has begrudgingly accepted new forms of literature in technology, despite the fact that I belong to digitally literate "Generation Y". I've resisted and gradually come to peace with the e-book, online newspapers, and Twitter.

Twitter originally bothered me as a "short-cut" to both creativity and communication, I thought it used words in a utilitarian way more than a literary way. But since I've learned that Twitter is what you make it: it can either be idle noise, or it can be an exercise of condensed creativity. It can be either frivolous or meaningful, and you as the writer decide.

One of my favorite projects on Twitter is Creative Nonfiction's "Tiny Truths" contest; a daily competition that challengers tweeters to tell a story in 140 characters of less. Like a Haiku, it displays the twin talent of being both succint and significant. Read the best of Tiny Truths here and tell me what you think!

Here's a teaser!

Speaking of Feasting...

2010-11-24T05:43:00.000-08:00

Author Tracy Groot shares a holiday recipe with us today! Have a great Thanksgiving!

I've always been enchanted by holiday traditions. When I married, I decided to create a tradition of my own. Since Jack's side of the family celebrated Christmas the Saturday before and my side met on Christmas day, I invited anyone who wanted to come for a special Christmas Eve feast.

Jack's parents and Jack's sister, Rita, along with Rita's family, came to the very first Feast. I planned the menu weeks ahead. I scrubbed the house to a spit-shine and happily fretted over endless details incumbent upon a holiday hostess. It was important for that first Feast to go well, and it did. The guests were suitably impressed by the food, and the atmosphere was pleasant and festive.

One year I decided to serve prime rib. I investigated many methods of cooking it, and finally decided on the One True Way. With guests about to arrive, I prepared a final herb rub--and noticed a funny smell.

"Is that my roast?" I shrieked.

"Yes," Jack admitted, as if he'd noticed it for a while.

Turned out my prime rib was way past its prime--the meat was foul. Christmas Eve Feast was about to be a complete failure. Maybe my husband expected wails and groans--maybe I did. But many years of celebrating this Christmas Eve Feast taught me one thing: it isn't about food, though the food is nice. It isn't about the atmosphere, though atmosphere is important. It's about people. It will always be about people.

"Stoke up the grill!" I hollered. "Meijers is open for another twenty minutes!"

I flew to the store, grabbed an armload of steaks, and made it home just as the first guests arrived.

It wasn't prime rib, but the most important feature to adorn that table was there--family.

This is special to me for two reasons: It's my son Evan's favorite dessert, and always requested for his birthday "cake," and it came from a dear friend, Amy Strating, whose recipes compile about half of what is in my recipe box.

Whopper Dessert

35 Oreo cookies, crushed

6 T butter or margarine, melted

1 half-gallon vanilla ice cream, softened

1 12 oz. box of Whoppers candy, crushed

reserving 3/4 cup

1 jar of hot fudge topping (I use Mrs. Richardson's), very slightly warmed

1 8 oz. container of Cool Whip, thawed

Combine crushed Oreos and melted butter, and place in the bottom of a 9x13" pan. Mix ice cream with crushed Whoppers until well combined; then spread on Oreo layer. Freeze until firm. Spread with the jar of hot fudge topping, then the Cool Whip, and sprinkle with the reserved crushed Whoppers. Keep frozen until serving.

Taken from Come to Our Table, Moody Publishers, ©Moody Bible Institute, 2007

TRACY GROOT is a part-time writer, the mother of three young boys, and co-owner with her husband Jack of a popular coffee shop and juice bar in Holland, Michigan. The Brother's Keeper is based on her original play Consider It All Joy. Tracy enjoys reading, backpacking, and writing, which she does primarily in her own coffee shop. Visit Tracy at http://www.tracygroot.com/.

Required Reading for Pastors: Should They Be Reading More Than Scripture?

2010-11-16T11:10:00.000-08:00

Today I found an interesting post over at The Burnside Writers Collective that called into question the illiteracy of our clergy. Titled, "Does Your Pastor Read?", the author affirms the importance of literature in connection with faith, and laments the practice of quoting bumper stickers from the pulpit instead of poetry.

Here's a section from the article with a great quote from a well-read pastor. To read the rest of the article, visit here.

"John Wesley was an old preacher guy who lived a long time ago, back when “online” meant a person’s clothes were drying in the sun. Wesley thought reading was an important spiritual discipline: “It cannot be that the people should grow in grace unless they give themselves to reading. A reading people will always be a knowing people. ”

Can a pastor who doesn’t read really lead a people? Or is he more like a blind friend with a map? Pretty ineffective at giving clear direction."

What do you think? Does your pastor read or incorporate literature in his sermons? Do you think it's important to integrate stories with spirituality, why or why not?

Vintage Rejection

2010-11-09T06:32:00.000-08:00

Check out this vintage rejection slip from the Essanay Film Manufacturing Company (1907-1925), famous for their production of Charlie Chaplin movies. (Photo originally posted on NPR). Rejection always hurts, but Essanay seems particularly hard to please! Which "reason for rejection" do you find most amusing, appalling, or surprising?

But to keep you from getting too discouraged, here are a few excerpts from rejection letters of now beloved and classic works, from publishers who probably still have their foot stuck in their mouths!

Lord of the Flies by William Golding..."an absurd and uninteresting fantasy which was rubbish and dull."

The Deer Park by Norman Mailer..."This will set publishing back 25 years."

The Diary of Anne Frank..."The girl doesn’t, it seems to me, have a special perception or feeling which would lift that book above the 'curiosity' level."

On Writings by Anais Nin..."There is no commercial advantage in acquiring her, and, in my opinion, no artistic."

The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame..."an irresponsible holiday story."

Sneak Peek for Spring Fiction!

2010-11-04T11:00:00.000-07:00

Many of you may know of Wendy Lawton, who makes her living wearing many hats as an award-winning writer, literary agent, doll designer, and conference speaker. Wendy is the author of the historical fiction series called Daughters of Faith and I'm excited to tell you she is coming out with a new title for this collection this spring!

But first, I'll introduce you to the Daughters of Faith series, primarily for young readers ages ages 8-12. Each Daughters of Faith book, inspired by historial events and Christian characters, "features a heroine who solves a nearly insurmountable situation. In the process, she discovers or deepens her personal faith in God." And the newest title soon to be released in March, 2011 is Indian Paintbrush: A Story Based on the Life of Young Eliza Spalding Warren. Congrats Wendy!

Imagine growing up in a new country, far from family or familiar places. When Eliza Spalding Warren's parents crossed the continent as pioneer missionaries in the early 1800's, they broke so much new ground that young Eliza became the first white baby to be born in the Pacific Northwest.

Growing up in the Northwest was no hardship for Eliza who loved the Nez Perce Indians like family. Whether she was playing with the tribal children or fording swollen rivers with her father, Eliza lived a rich and wonderful life in her native surroundings. She even earned the deep respect of the Indians by learning their language. So great was their respect for her that, at ten years old, she served as translator during the massacre at the Whitman Mission where she attended school.

Like the Indian Paintbrush wildflower, Eliza Spalding Warren flourished in the untamed and rugged territory she knew only as "home."

Things You Never Knew About Dickens...

2010-10-28T12:10:00.000-07:00

Today is Thursday.

Which means we are MORE than ready for the weekend at this point and almost there, but maybe need a laugh, a shot of caffeine, or a pick-me-up to make it through the next work day. Which is why I bring you the following video featuring Nick Hornby, the English author of Fever Pitch and other award-winning books, who will enlighten you to a few quirky facts about the publishing world to the music of Ben Folds in partnership with the band Pomplamoose (which means "grapefruit" in French, of course).

You will learn how long it would take to read just the titles of every book ever written, the surprising literary feats of Dickens, and some other random facts, with a little tambourine and xylophone music thrown in for free. Happy Thursday!

A Ministry of Words

2010-10-20T10:17:00.000-07:00

Editor's Note: Today I am pleased to welcome Debbie, who blogs at http://genrereviews.blogspot.com/, as she writes about her ministry of literature with prison inmates. Thanks Debbie!

It all started when a woman came up to me in church and said, “I heard that you write to military personal in Iraq. Would you write to my nephew? He’s in prison.” I knew little about prisons and inmates, but I didn’t see why not. Before long, I was co-leading a new jail and prison ministry at my church and had become pen pals with Christian inmates from all over the state.

The inmates told me, “All I have is time. Even the jobs they give us don’t take long, so we’re sitting around bored out of our minds.” I love to read, so I asked if they’d like my church’s ministry to send them the books I was done reading. “Yes! Please!” was the eager response. Some inmates, especially those new in their faith, wanted Bible studies and Christian living books that would strengthen their faith. Others wanted fiction to pass the time.

One inmate was sent some books on how we know the Bible is true from the very first verse. He wrote back expressing his appreciation. About a month later, he wrote again to say that he’d been falsely accused of something and sent to solitary confinement as punishment. He said that because of the books I had sent, he knew the Bible was true. He hadn’t lost his faith. But he’d thought that once he became a Christian, things like this wouldn’t happen. We discussed the reasons why Christians still face conflict and crises, and I pointed out several people in the Bible (like Joseph in Genesis) that were falsely accused and suffered for a while. This inmate is steadily growing stronger in his faith.

Another inmate primarily requests Christian novels. He told me that he doesn’t read the Bible much because it’s "too convicting". However, several times he’s said that through reading literature he realizes that his view of God is sometimes wrong. Reading also fills his time in a positive way, so that he has less time to meditate on resentful or depressed thoughts that often lead to getting in trouble.

I was already thinking about starting a book blog when it occurred to me that becoming a book reviewer would enable me to provide more books to the inmates. I donate the review copies I receive to my church’s ministry, and they’re sent to the prisoners.

Novels like Pearl in the Sand by Tessa Afshar are popular with the inmates because the characters have realistic problems, difficult pasts, and come to understand and accept God’s forgiveness. I believe that every time we read a story where a character is transformed by truth, a part of us can be transformed right along side them. I can’t wait to see how God will use this novel and others in the inmate’s lives.

A New Way of Storytelling

2010-10-13T07:42:00.000-07:00

By: Stephanie S. Smith, Blog Editor

It is no secret that our American culture is visually-oriented; we gravitate towards graphics, the silver screen, special effects and web design. Our image-driven culture parades clever comics, print ads, and elaborate scenes before our eyes, sometimes moving us to inspiration and sometimes moving us to consumerism.

But visual art, which marks our postmodern age, is nothing new. The Church has been a patron of visual art for centuries, as gloriously displayed in the vaulted ceilings of cathedrals, the precision of a gold-tipped pen in illuminated manuscripts, and the story of Scripture as told through colored glass.

Christianity's rich visual tradition is being carried on today in many ways, one of which I recently discovered is The Saint John's Bible, a beautiful, visual rendition of the Scriptures that takes the ancient illuminated manuscript tradition and applies it in a new way. The Smithsonian Magazine calls it, “One of the extraordinary undertakings of our time.”

An Ancient Scribe at Work

To give you an idea of the depth of this artistic work...

The book is actually seven volumes, completely hand-written with world-class calligraphy and illustration, and took over fifteen years in the making. The seven volumes all together weigh a total of 165 pounds!

Fellow artists Hilary Brand and Adrienne Chaplin say, "If ever art was made to point beyond itself it is the icon." (Art and Soul: Signposts for Christians in the Arts; p. 85). And perhaps this is the beauty of a visual retelling of the Divine Story as well, as its images guide our hearts to see beyond what it represented on the page, ushering us into the presence of God.

It All Began With a Picture...

2010-09-30T04:34:00.000-07:00

By: Stephanie S. Smith, Fiction Blog Editor

I have a question for all you writers out there: how do your stories begin?

Do they begin inside you, with a striking thought, image, or hope? Do you observe something in the world that makes you want to put in onto paper? Do you imagine your characters to life, or do you see them on the street, at the Farmer's Market, the corner coffee shop?

Many of my favorite authors, it seems, birth their stories like this: a curious image arises in their mind, an image they see and cannot forget, and they write to discover the story behind the image.

Beloved author C.S. Lewis says that his enchanted world of Narnia began with a picture of a faun carrying an umbrella in a snowy wood. "This picture had been in my mind since I was sixteen. Then one day, when I was about forty, I said to myself: ‘Let’s try to make a story about it'.”

Kate DiCamillo was lying in bed one morning, her life in a state of depression, when she suddenly saw a magician, joined by an elephant. The tale of these two characters entwine in what became The Magician's Elephant, a beautiful story about magic, homecoming, and belonging.

Sue Monk Kidd's award-winning novel, The Secret Life of Bees, began with an image of a girl going to sleep in her room amidst a swarm of hovering bees. Right now I'm reading Traveling with Pomegranates, the author's memoir which gives the reader the backstory behind the creation of her bee novel. I find myself fascinated with the way Sue Monk Kidd collects the smallest of details and finds a home for them in her book. Simple things like a pink house she saw in a magazine, a childhood memory of bees that hummed through the walls of her old house, and a story about a black Madonna struck something in her and she wove them into her novel.

As much as I love reading and writing, fiction has always been the hardest thing for me to write. Characters do not appear to me in dreams, or start talking to me in the shower, or hover over my bed in the form of elephants. But I do often see images in real life that I pause over and tuck away, and lately I've decided to brave a short story, weaving in bits and pieces of things that catch my attention and make me curious.

Here are some of them:

A man sitting on a porch that is covered with windchimes.

The way a book in my hand vibrates with the live music of a cello playing in a bookstore.

A newspaper clipping of an elderly man who was killed by a church steeple as it fell onto his parked car.

A verse in Exodus about the bells the priests of the tabernacle would wear on their robe, so that outsiders could know by the noise whether or not the priest was still alive in the holy presence of God.

An odd menagerie, I know! But if it works for Sue Monk Midd, hopefully I can tell a tale with these details, too. What works best for you? How do you translate an idea onto the page?

Reaching Lives Through Literature

2010-09-24T06:49:00.000-07:00

Good morning readers! I am proud to present to you today a guest post from our friend Kim Ford, who blogs at Window to My World. Have a great weekend!

“…Muriel told me our life is like a winding path with a deep ditch on either side…One ditch is our full-fisted rebellion. The other is our response to someone else’s rebellion. She told me, ‘The Devil couldn’t care less which ditch we fall into, he just wants us off the road.” (p. 353, Daisy Chain by Mary DeMuth)

The Devil has successfully driven the women of Hosanna Home into the ditch of addiction. Meanwhile, the Lord has drawn me to minister to these women through a very unlikely avenue – Christian Fiction. How can fiction reach out to women bound within the stronghold of life-controlling of drugs, alcohol and other hellish addictions? I’m glad you asked!

More than three years ago I followed my husband’s lead to minister to women in our local rehab facility. I couldn’t fathom what I had to offer these ladies, for they had lived a life so foreign to my own I couldn’t imagine what we could ever have in common. At the same time I began my to volunteer my time, I was exploring the burgeoning world of blogging book reviews. I guess my enthusiasm and excitement spilled over into my conversation and snagged the attention of some of my new acquaintances.

Many of these women hadn’t picked up a book for years on end, and at the time I was crossing their path they were in such a mental fog they couldn’t really comprehend the pleasure I gained from reading so many books. As time passed and their minds cleared some of the ladies approached me and began to ask about the books I was reading. As I began to share some of the stories, I realized that the same pleasure and encouragement I received through these stories could be theirs as well! I began to share some copies of the books I blogged about, and it wasn’t long before I was receiving requests: mysteries, romance, historical fiction, suspense…the world had opened up to these ladies once again, and they were discovering the pleasure of a well-told story!

The world of Christian Fiction has grown exponentially in the past twenty years. I’ve found several impressively realistic stories from both sides of the addiction nightmare that have blessed me and the women of Hosanna Home. Mary DeMuth’s Defiance Texas Trilogy, Terri Blackstock’s Intervention, and Christa Allan’s Walking on Broken Glass are just a few of the stories that I’ve shared with the ladies.

And while the stories about redemption for those struggling with addiction are very powerful, there are none as moving as the stories within the pages of the Bible itself. When an author is able to draw upon these biblical characters and bring their stories to life, it makes a lasting impact upon the hearts and minds of the reader. Francine River’s story Redeeming Love was already required reading for the women in the program, and I was thrilled when I found another biblically-based story to share with them!

Tessa Afshar’s book, Pearl in the Sand, centers around the life of Rahab, and I was quickly able to draw many parallels between the issues that Rahab wrestled with, and the women with whom I interacted at Hosanna Home. Forgiveness, insecurity, fear and the difficulty of dealing with other’s judgmental attitudes are just a few of the issues that I knew these ladies could relate to, and I was eager to share this story with them all.

There are times when a fictional story can reach into the heart and mind in a way nothing else can. I’ve seen the door of understanding and atonement open wide within the hearts of some of these women because of something that they read in a story. I’ve also witnessed a bridge of communication being built between a recovering addict and someone called to minister to them with nothing but a love of reading with which to draw them together. I’m anxious to see what the Lord has planned for Tessa Afshar’s book and the ladies of Hosanna Home. We will soon begin discussing this story, and I know that my life will be forever blessed by the things I will learn along the way.

P.S.! Moody Publishers helped set Kim up with multiple copies of Pearl in the Sand so she could use the book to minister to these women, and we know there are many other ministries like hers out there! If you work/volunteer at a ministry (or have one in mind) that you think might be blessed by Tessa's novel, please send me an email at steph.duncan.ssd@gmail.com telling me about the ministry and requesting a free copy. Ministry libraries, shelters, mentoring programs, support groups, are all great ideas for reaching lives through literature, so drop me a line with any suggestions!

The Story Behind the Novel

2010-09-23T09:01:00.000-07:00

Editor's Note: Meet Tricia Goyer! In today's post she talks about her novel, From Dust and Ashes, which Amazon will be giving away digitally from Sept. 20th-Oct. 4th! Starting Sept. 20th, just go right here and download it to your Kindle or ebook reader. Enjoy!

Hi! I'd like to start by introducing myself. My name is Tricia Goyer, and I'm an author of historical fiction books (among other kinds!), including four WWII novels. When I first starting writing, I never even considered writing historical novels (too much research!). I wrote articles, devotionals, and proposals for contemporary novels. And then, something changed all that . . . well, here's the story behind my first historical novel, From Dust and Ashes.

I can clearly remember when my interest was sparked by the liberation events that took place in St. Georgen, Austria during World War II. An Austrian historian had invited me and my friends into her home, serving up tea and bread, meat and cheeses. It was the end of a long day of travel, and I secretly desired a hot shower and a soft bed. But it wasn't long before our host had me intrigued with her true tales of villains, prisoners, and GI heroes.

I sat--eyes wide--as Marta described the twenty-three, American GIs who had stumbled upon the Gusen camps May 5, 1945. I imagined their horror as they witnessed prisoners reduced to skin and bones. Or worse, piles of corpses. But Marta also spoke of other things, such as the first help to enter the camp--a young Nazi wife with her children on tow.

Who was she? I wondered. Obviously, she had not believed in the Nazi persecution. What would it have been like to helplessly witness such horror? How was her life forever changed?

I also imagined those prisoners who were mere days from death. How did they go on after facing such hatred, such loss? Just the night before, on a dinner cruise in Prague, I had sat elbow to elbow with a young Jewish girl and her brother.

"Fifty years ago, they would have been killed," my friend whispered in my ear as we talked and laughed with our new friends. It was then that the horrors of WWII became real, and I knew I would never be the same.

After we left Marta's house that night, I turned to traveling companions--also fiction writers. "Are you going to write about this?" At that moment their "nos" became my "yes."

I went home with much excitement and began researching the events concerning the liberation of Gusen and Mauthausen death camps. But I soon realized no articles or fuzzy, black and white photos could ever take the place of speaking with those who were actually there. So in August 2001, I was invited to attend the 59th reunion of the 11th Armored Division.

In Kalamazoo, Michigan, I spoke to the brave men, now in their 70's and 80's who had liberated the death camps. Their bodies have aged, but in their hearts they are still the same brave, young soldiers who witnessed so much.

As the research progressed, I was also able to visit Austria a second time to participate in the memorial services celebrating liberation so many years prior. And while there, I spoke with others, including a man who was just twelve-years-old in 1945. I was awed as he led me through the streets where former SS houses still stand. And tears formed in my eyes as I stood before the guesthouse of the brave, Nazi wife, now gone.

So fueled by memoirs, oral histories and personal interviews, I began to write. And in my mind, the streets of St. Georgen and the events of 1945 soon became as real as life around me.

On that sunny day in October, my greatest concern had been resting after a long day of travel. It was only later, after months of writing, that I realized God's intentions were far greater. His plan was to have me share a story of liberation. A story inspired by true events . . . and true heroes.

To read some of the true stories behind the novel, go to: http://www.thegoyers.com/dustandashes and http://www.thegoyers.com/ww2stories. Also, from Sept. 20th-Oct. 4th, Amazon.com will be giving away this novel digitally for FREE! Starting Sept. 20 search Amazon.com for the title and download it for free to your Kindle.

Tricia Goyer
http://www.triciagoyer.com/

Talk with Author Tessa Afshar LIVE Today!

2010-09-10T10:07:00.000-07:00

TODAY several fiction facebook groups are hosting a facebook tour with Tessa Afshar, author of her debut novel, Pearl in the Sand. Visit the following pages to ask her your questions and read more about the story behind the book! Throughout the day, Tessa will be personally responding to all posts on these pages and there will also be opportunity to win free copies of the book. Enjoy!

Christian Fiction Gathering

ACFW American Christian Fiction Writers
Urban Christian Fiction Readers
What Kind of Christian Books Do You Like to Read?

Read the First 3 Chapters of Pearl in the Sand for Free!!

2010-08-24T08:58:00.000-07:00

Good Morning, Readers!

I have some exciting news: Tessa Afshar's debut novel, Pearl in the Sand, comes out September 1st and you can read the first 3 chapters for free starting then!

Here's what you need to do to take part in this special preview:

1) Go to Tessa's website under the "FREE DOWNLOADS" tab and sign up with your email. This will also give you access to some other exclusive features from Tessa.

2) Starting September 1st, you will receive an email with an excerpt from the book! Over the course of a few weeks, you will receive the first 3 chapters of Pearl in the Sand, delivered straight to your inbox.

If you don't know about Tessa's novel yet, read the description below. Hope you enjoy!!

Can a Canaanite harlot who has made her livelihood by looking desirable to men make a fitting wife for one of the leaders of Israel? Shockingly, the Bible’s answer is yes.

Pearl in the Sand tells Rahab’s untold story. Rahab lives in a wall; her house is built into the defensive walls of the City of Jericho. Other walls surround her as well—walls of fear, rejection, unworthiness.

A woman with a wrecked past; a man of success, of faith …of pride; a marriage only God would conceive! Through the heartaches of a stormy relationship, Rahab and Salmone learn the true source of one another’s worth and find healing in God.

Eat Pray Love: A Critique of the Memoir

2010-08-18T11:07:00.000-07:00

By: Stephanie S. Smith, blog editor

Last night my husband and I settled into a movie theatre, surrounding ourselves with middle-aged women, some by themselves, with a friend, or with a whole book club, to watch the film rendition of popular memoir, Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman's Search for Everything Across Italy, India, and Indonesia.

I was skeptical about the movie for the same reasons I am skeptical about the book, but looking forward to a sweeping visual tour of Italy, India, and Indonesia to which the main character travels throughout the story. I also banked on the fact that Julia Roberts (playing author Liz Gilbert) would show less of the self-focus that made the book distasteful to me. And it's true, the film omitted much of the self-saturated theme that Liz Gilbert infuses her manuscript with.

I cracked the cover on this one several months before, loving the concept of insightful living through travel and the introduction where author Elizabeth Gilbert masterfully structures her book around the beautiful overarching metaphor of prayer beads. I ate it up. But alas, it went downhill from there. Her writing is impressive and eloquent, her cultural observations are sharp and fascinating, but the personal journey of Gilbert through depression to self-actualization was hard to swallow.

Perhaps the most common critique of Gilbert's book is its obsession with the self. In and of itself, I do not think it is terribly self-centered to travel as a way of processing and healing, or to write a memoir about it. I think dedicating your year to the search of God and learning about yourself in the process is actually an admirable quest, but Gilbert blends the self and divinity in a way that I found disturbing. She allows incredible overlap between God and the self, two separate identities that she views as one.

Gilbert's idea of God is "an experience of supreme love", which sounds about right, but sounds plain creepy when applied to yourself since you and god are the same being. To love yourself, forgive yourself, and do what's best for yourself are the primary morals of the book, and God is portrayed as a tool or a resource in the process. Gilbert's god is so tangled with her inner world that she hears her own voice as divine communication. There are scenes where Gilbert gives her id a pep talk saying things like, "I will never leave you. I love you." In fact, she has a notebook where she writes two-party dialogue between....who knows? Gilbert writes, "Maybe the voice I am reaching for is God, or maybe it's my guru speaking through me, or maybe it's the angel who was assigned to my case, or maybe it's my Higher Self...." Whatever it is, Gilbert pinpoints its location as "within." She writes, to sum up the fruit of her spiritual experiences, "God dwells within you, as you."

This self-stuck focus reads more like therepy than spirituality. Not to mention that it dismantles any possibility for relationship, for community, and for intercommunication. If the Highest Being in the universe resides in your very chest, isolation would be the natural course for everyone. There would be little need for reaching out; our souls would become ingrown.

By the end of the book, Gilbert has transformed from a depressed, divorced, depleted woman into a self-actualized woman who has not only discovered who she is, recovered from all her losses, and learned to love life again, but she has found a new man as well who she eventually marries. After all this, she insists, "I was the administrator of my own rescure" and states that it was most likely her Higher Self, her enlightened self who had already made it through all these enriching experiences, who had been the voice of comfort and strength when she was falling apart. She would like to take the credit for whatever grace she has been given.

Probably the reason this strikes me as so conceited and presumptuous is because I so often do this myself, patting myself on the back for something I think I have earned and forgetting to thank God who is the Source of all the goodness in my life. As Christians, we know we are not able to pull ourselves up by our own bootstraps. Grace is essential for living, we are ever in need of rescue, and a dialogue with the Savior can truly save us in a way our self-soothing strategies never could.

What did you think about the book and/or the movie? What flaws did you find in it, and what redemption? I'd love to hear from you!

Interview with Tessa Afshar, author of Pearl in the Sand

2010-08-10T09:35:00.000-07:00

What are some of your favorite books?

Jane Eyre is hard to beat; it has everything—intrigue, romance, God, a critique of Christianity gone bad, and Mr. Rochester. Anything by Jane Austen. Most things by Dickens. The Narnia Chronicles; The Lord of the Rings Trilogy; Busman’s Honeymoon; The Princess and Curdie; To Kill a Mocking Bird. O my gosh, I think I’m running out of room; this is tragic. There’s so much more…

What’s your favorite food?

Steak and fries and anything my father makes. But don’t tell my mom; she’ll kill me.

What do you do for fun?

Hang out with close friends. Read. Read while hanging out with close friends. Watch DVDs, especially BBC period pieces. Did you know they cost around $25,000 a minute to produce? One feels obligated to watch just so the money isn’t wasted.

What’s your definition of close friends?

When you go to the bathroom, your stomach isn’t tied in knots in fear that they might hear something. That, and being able to share absolutely everything in your heart and knowing that you’ll be loved and accepted at the end of the conversation no matter what you say.

Did you always want to be a writer or is it a new desire?

I grew up in a culture that reveres poetry and literature. Living in that atmosphere, it was easy to fall in love with books. Enraptured by stories, I found myself writing them from an early age. What can be more fun than making up your own world?

What circumstances led you to write the story of Rahab?

This novel started as a short essay on the walls of Jericho. I was fascinated by the way this symbol of unassailable strength was in the end breached and vanquished. It seemed like such a sign of hope to me: a reminder that what may seem to be an impossible barrier can indeed be conquered with God.

Then during a visit to Florence, I noticed that Ponte Vecchio—the famed bridge straddling the Arno River for almost seven hundred years—had tiny shops built right into its walls. They bulged out of the sides of the bridge like odd-shaped barnacles sticking out of the hull of a ship. Walking over this bridge reminded me of the story of Rahab. The Bible tells us that she lived in the bowels of a wall too. Her house was built right into the defensive walls of Jericho. I wondered what it was like to live in a wall as I crossed Ponte Vecchio. Then I realized that we all know a little something about that. Most of us have to contend with walls in the interior places of our souls. Walls built on foundations of pride, fear, rejection, loss; walls that keep others at bay and shield us from drawing close enough to get hurt again. Suddenly I was hooked. I wanted to write about walls, about living in them, about pulling them down. I wanted to write about Rahab.

Were there any surprises as you started writing the novel?

Originally, I wrote the first three chapters of Pearl in the Sand in the first-person point of view. It wasn’t a deliberate strategy so much as a fortunate mistake! Later I was told that publishing houses preferred a third-person point of view novel from debut novelists and rewrote the POV accordingly. But writing those first chapters from the point of view of Rahab really helped me get into her psyche. As a writer, it is important for me to know my character’s motives; to know her wounds and strengths. To know the lies she believes about herself and the defenses she has erected because of those lies. So those three initial chapters were a perfect way of getting to know Rahab. She became real to me.

What type of research did you have to do in order to write a convincing novel?

Researching for historical novels can be tricky. Everything from language to customs to food and clothes has to be researched. There are so many things we don’t know about this period. For example, Rahab calls her father “Abba.” The truth is that we have no idea how a Canaanite child would informally address her parents. We have some ideas in terms of other ancient languages with the same root – like “Av” in Ugaritic or “Abba” in Aramaic. So I chose the more familiar Aramaic form, still used by Jewish children in Israel today.

We have literally no archaeological knowledge of Israel’s life during their wanderings. What information we have, comes from the Bible. But we do have archaeological evidence from Canaan and we think we know where Jericho was located. So I obtained information where I could, left it blank where possible, and made up the rest!

Did your background help with the writing of this book?

Having lived in the Middle East for the first thirteen years of my life, I had a first-hand sense of customs and topography, which I tried to weave into the atmosphere of the novel. It’s not that Twentieth Century Iran is the equivalent of life in Canaan at the time of its conquest. But there is an indefinable aura—a character to the region that I think surpasses time and cultural changes. I tired to capture that sense in the mood of the novel. For example, whenever we had guests in my childhood home, we walked them out part way at the end of the visit, and waited at the door until they were gone. Not doing so would have been considered very rude. I worked that custom into the storyline to show a glimpse of the importance of hospitality.

What do you hope your readers will take away from Pearl in the Sand?

Pearl in the Sand recounts the tale of a woman whose world was a mess, whose life was a mess, whose heart was a mess, but in encountering God, she found to her shock that her life was salvageable. More than that—it was valuable. She found that she was lovable. Having worked in women’s ministries for the past twelve years, I have become mindful that many of us need to hear that message.

God started the most significant part of Rahab’s life by literally pulling down the walls of her home around her. As traumatic as that moment must have been for Rahab, she could not have moved on to the future God had planned for her without it. In a parallel pursuit of healing for her broken soul, Pearl in the Sand portrays a God who just as determinedly set out to ruin the walls surrounding Rahab’s heart. I think women today need to know God as the wooer and pursuer of their hearts. They need to know that sometimes the most glorious breakthroughs of life come through a vector of God-ordained pain. More than anything I hope the reader of this story will come away with a deeper glimpse into her own soul, and a more profound understanding of God the Father. Rahab learned to cling to God in the midst of her sorrows, to believe in Him more than she believed in fear. For me, that is one of the most crucial components of faith: becoming a person who gives God full access to every part of one’s soul, even if that access sometimes hurts because it involves the demolition of one’s defensive walls.

This is your debut novel. What are you thinking for the future?

I am currently researching for a novel set in Persia during the time of Nehemiah. The two central characters are fictional, but Nehemiah and several other biblical characters will play important roles in the story. Like Pearl in the Sand, this is a love story that asks some deeper questions about life. I’ve been having a lot fun working on this novel. I’ll tell you where I am stuck: I haven’t been able to find the perfect names for my central characters: a Jewish girl and a Persian nobleman. The Achaemenid Persians had some really long and hard to pronounce names!

Visit Tessa at http://www.tessaafshar.com/ or her facebook page

Father to Son: One Father's Journey from Adopting to Adopted

2010-08-02T10:14:00.000-07:00

By: Stephanie S. Smith *Here is my review of Hello, I Love You, as originally published on crosswalk.com!*

The year I graduated high school my parents decided to follow in the growing evangelical trend of foster care, and for the first time I had “brothers”. DJ and Ozley (as whimsical as the wizard he is named for) quickly settled into our hearts and home which they tore through daily with the little-boy thunder of a pair of tumbleweeds. If need be, we would have adopted them in a heartbeat.

Many families in our circle of friends have adopted: a single mother who adopted a disabled child from Kyrgyzstan, a couple who suffered through a miscarriage and later adopted a boy and a girl from South Korea, a crisis pregnancy of a local teenager that turned into one of the biggest blessings a young couple could ever receive. The church is beginning to tell more and more of such stories. Ministries such as Focus on the Family and Family Life Today are championing the need for Christian adoption, driven by the conviction that to bring an otherwise estranged child into a family is to reenact the gospel. To adopt is to practically live out the metaphor of the new birth we have in Christ in our own homes.

My family desired to open our home as such, but with foster car there is always the inevitable fear of letting go. And that summer, this fear hit me head on in the form of a compact vehicle that plowed into my rear passenger door at 50 mph.

DJ could have been in the care that day, joking with me about how funny it would be to have strawberries for noses. Ozley could have been singing in his car seat, “Oh the Lord is good to me…”; his “oh”s like the Fruit Loops he had for breakfast: small and enthusiastic.

But In God’s great mercy, I drove alone. The impact was a tangle of sounds, airbags, smoke. After it hit, I saw that I was generally unharmed and stumbled shaking out of my car. The other driver was young, she gnawed at the tip of her hair. On my way to a wedding, she said. Late for a wedding, her boyfriend said. Her dress was funeral black.

“Can I ask you something?” She ventured, measuring out her syllables as if they were fragile, “Do you have kids? Because I saw the car seats and I…” She did not finish; I felt ready to punch her if she tried. The airbags began to wilt, and between them I saw it: two car seats, vaulted against the wall of the front seats, forced to the floor by the crunched-in passenger door. Hauntingly and blessedly empty, like the third day tomb. This is when I start to cry, broken by relief.

Reading Hello, I Love You: Adventures in Adoptive Fatherhood, I am reminded of the way a child under your care can make your heart skip hourly through cycles of tremendous love, frustration, defeat, and relief. Author Ted Kluck is a sports aficionado and looks the part, yet even a rock like him couldn’t write this true-life narrative without admitting, “There’s nothing like adoption to make a grown man cry. Repeatedly.”

Hello, I Love You is a story about making a family. In Kluck’s own words, “[It] is the story of two Ukrainian adoptions, told from the perspective of a father who desperately wanted children, who felt called to adopt orphans, but who struggled to enjoy the process.” Ted and his wife, Kristen, navigated through foreign customs and culture shock, the painful reality of infertility, and even a few near-death experiences to bring Tristan home with them. Even to their Christian adoption agency, it was the most turbulent adoption process they had ever seen. Then, a few years later, the Klucks went through it all over again to welcome Dima into their family. Yet in all of this, God’s faithfulness marks every turn, threading the events together with the grace of One who risked everything to adopt His church.

Hello, I Love You is not a theological treatise by any means, but throughout his story Kluck unearths parallels between the Father’s love for His children and his own role as a father in his earthly family. In the midst of Ukrainian water outages, foreign cop encounters, and orphanage waiting rooms, Kluck translates this cosmic concept of adoption into terms any father, mother, son or daughter can understand. The result is a heartwarming story that highlights several spiritual truths about adoption.

Adoption Requires a Cost

Kluck’s first chapter is aptly titled “The Price of Love”. Not only would adoption cost Ted and Kristen at the bank, but it would also cost them emotionally. The Klucks were broken time and again by phone calls bearing bad news, thorny government procedures, and the strain of procuring a five-figure sum, but most of all by the fear of losing a child. “I feel like Kristin and I have been to hell and back, twice, through all of this,” Kluck writes; and while this comment sounds tongue-in-cheek, the truth is this is exactly what Christ did to secure our heavenly adoption. Galatians 4:4-6 teaches that God’s Son came “to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive adoption as sons.” The cost of the cross culminated in our spiritual adoption, and like the Kluck’s journey to bring home their sons, the cost is far outweighed by the relationship.

Adoption Requires Fatherly Discipline

Ted Kluck is the first to admit that his numerous trips abroad trained him to be a world-class complainer, yet it was his son’s misbehavior that revealed to Kluck his own need for discipline at the hands of His Heavenly Father. “If [Tristan] has been whiny and petulant, I’ve been the same…And God, thankfully, has gotten my attention and forced me into a closer, more sanctified, more joyful relationship with Him as a result.” Scripture affirms this, “The Lord disciplines those He loves, and He punishes those He accepts as His children” (Hebrews 12:6). The Father’s punishment is not without purpose, rather it is intended for us to “share in His holiness” (Hebrews 12:10). And for Kluck, who would not have known the deep faithfulness of God without faith-testing times, this purpose was mercifully achieved.

Adoption Requires New Identity

When the Klucks left the orphanage with little Dima in the stroller, their new son experienced the world outside for the first time. He was spellbound by the city sights, and his delight in buses and street vendors reminded his father of the joy experienced by a person who has been reborn in Christ. No longer bound to a history of abandonment, child illness, and estrangement, Dima now knew love and care from those who called him their own. “As my boys climb on me, smiling and laughing, I’m reminded of the fact that the difficult circumstances in their past…are washed away in light of the new life they have with our family,” Kluck says. Like Tristan and Dima, we have been pulled from darkness and are sensitized to a new world of being in which we are no longer slaves but sons (Galatians 4:7).

The joy of bringing a family together is deep, perhaps because it gives us a glimpse of the glory of the King who went to hell and back to make us His own. Just ask Ted Kluck: “…It was these adoptions, more than any other event or events in our lives, that truly taught us to find our peace, comfort, and identity in Christ.”

Author Christina Berry's Take on ICRS 2010

2010-07-21T07:56:00.000-07:00

Today we welcome Christina Berry, author of The Familiar Stranger, in the following guest post. Congratulations Christina for winning a Christy Awards nomination in the debut novel category, and becoming a finalist for the Carol Awards in the long comtemporary fiction category! Check out her book synopsis at the bottom of this post!

Having never been to ICRS (International Christian Retail Show), I had no idea what to expect in the opening gathering and PaceSetter ceremony. What a treat! Worship led by Jeremy Camp and The Museum, a Q&A with Randy Alcorn, quartets in abundance, and a moving speech by Facing the Giants co-writer and producer, Stephen Kendrick.

A secretive appearance by Mosab Hassan Yousef, author of Son of Hamas, quickened the audience’s collective breath as he shared about being a double agent, seeming to work for the terrorist group Hamas, while really feeding information to the Israeli Shin Bet. As he spoke about turning to Christ, being disinherited, abandoning fortune and status, and fighting US deportation, I was not the only one to feel I was seeing a Saul-to-Paul transformed man. (Yousef has since been granted political asylum.)

With such a historic, important presentation captured at a retail show, it seemed that this was not an ICRS of years past.

How right my feelings were. Out of all the speakers that evening, it is the wisdom uttered by Bob the Tomato that sticks with me most. Okay, perhaps it was Phil Vischer in a Bob-like voice. He painted the picture of conventions in the 90s, money rolling into the Christian market, everyone wanting a piece of the profit, excessive parties (alcohol-free), and wooing of major Hollywood players. And then came Big Ideas Productions bankruptcy and Phil’s soul searching, his decision to return to the roots of teaching children about God’s Word.

Once home, verses from Proverbs (30:7-9, NIV) jumped out at me:

"Two things I ask of you, O Lord; do not refuse me before I die: keep falsehood and lies far from me; give me neither poverty nor riches, but give me only my daily bread. Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you and say, 'Who is the Lord?' Or I may become poor and steal, and so dishonor the name of my God."

Phil commented, and the audience agreed, that God’s Spirit could clearly be felt in the theater that night. Without the clamor and chaos of parties and starlets, God could be heard more clearly. Business might be conducted with more focus on accomplishing His purposes.

Sure, the show might be smaller, some publishing houses no longer attending, but the feel on the floor was respectful, excited, and anticipatory of what God might do.

Our own lives perhaps mirror ICRS. A smaller gathering. Less money spent. Less business done. Yet perhaps a greater sense of God’s purpose. A calm devotion to following Him. An assurance that despite unprecedented change, the best is still ahead of us.

“Better one handful with tranquility than two handfuls with toil and chasing after the wind.” (Eccl. 4:6)

Maybe less really is more.

A mother and foster parent, Christina Berry carves time out of her busy schedule to write about the heart and soul of life. The Familiar Stranger is her first novel. She lives with her family in rural Oregon. You can visit her at http://authorchristinaberry.blogspot.com/ .

Craig Littleton's decision to end his marriage would shock his wife, Denise...if she knew what he was up to. When an accident lands Craig in the ICU, badly burned, with fuzzy memories of his own life and plans, Denise rushes to his side, ready to care for him. They embark on a quest to help Craig remember who he is and, in the process, they discover dark secrets. An affair? An emptied bank account? A hidden identity? An illegitimate child? But what will she do when she realizes he's not the man she thought he was? Is this trauma a blessing in disguise, a chance for a fresh start? Or will his secrets destroy the life they built together?

My Life as a Bookworm

2010-07-15T07:08:00.000-07:00

By: Stephanie S. Smith, blog editor

As a work-at-home freelancer, I spend a lot of time haunting bookstores. Barnes and Noble, the little independent shop on the corner, Borders, the local Christian bookstore with overstuffed chairs, the city library. And if they serve coffee, all the better.

Last Saturday my husband kidnapped me by taking me to the nearest bookstore and forcing me to pick out a book to buy--which turns out, in my mind, to be an A-rate date. We browsed the shelves, brought our selections to the cafe where we read on tall bistro stools, and then amused ourselves people-watching.

Random observations of a bookstore...

*****

An elderly man holds up a book so his wife walking up the table can read the cover. With a million dollar grin, he shows it to her: How to Retire in Europe. I am charmed and jealous :)

*****

There seems to be a new trend of "re-writing" old classics, some of which I am sorry to say I cannot take seriously. Not when Anna Karenina is suddenly a cyborg, or Jo March from Little Women romps through the night as a werewolf. I kid you not: Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters promises "romance, heartbreak, and tentacled mayhem" from its back cover.

*****

Speaking of monsters...vampirism has launched an epidemic in the Young Adult section, with every other book cover featuring a surly-looking, red-lipped youth retreating into shadows.

*****

A few weeks ago I visited Panera to be greeted by a new policy: only 30 minute free wi-fi intervals during their "peak period". Meanwhile, Starbucks is putting out little notices on their tables saying, "We no offer free wi-fi!" Barnes and Noble has now followed suit. Back at Panera this week, the new policy has gone out the window. Thank goodness.

*****

At libraries, people respect the silence. At bookstores, people talk on their cell phones, laugh loudly, order cappucinnos and even read books aloud sitting in the middle of the stacks. Why is that?

Christy Awards

2010-07-13T09:45:00.000-07:00

Last month the Christy Award ceremony took place in St. Louis, where readers and their beloved authors gathered to celebrate high-quality fiction and the minds that created it. Books are divided into different categories, and can receive a winning award or a nomination.

The purpose of the Christy Awards, according to their website, is to:

"Nurture and encourage creativity and quality in the writing and publishing of fiction written from a Christian worldview.

Bring a new awareness of the breadth and depth of fiction choices available, helping to broaden the readership.

Provide opportunity to recognize novelists whose work may not have reached bestseller status."

Here's a peek at where Moody Fiction has showed up in the Christy Awards:

2010 Christy Awards

Christina Berry, author of The Familiar Stranger, received a nomation for the "First Book" category

Craig Littleton's decision to end his marriage would shock his wife, Denise...if she knew what he was up to. When an accident lands Craig in the ICU, badly burned, with fuzzy memories of his own life and plans, Denise rushes to his side, ready to care for him. They embark on a quest to help Craig remember who he is and, in the process, they discover dark secrets. An affair? An emptied bank account? A hidden identity? An illegitimate child? But what will she do when she realizes he's not the man she thought he was? Is this trauma a blessing in disguise, a chance for a fresh start? Or will his secrets destroy the life they built together?

2009 Christy Awards

Cathy Gohlke, author of I Have Seen Him in the Watchfires, won the award for the "Young Adult" category

Robert Glover, who first appeared in the Christy Award-winning William Henry is a Fine Name, is now seventeen years old and the Civil War has begun. When Robert’s father leaves to help the Union, Robert reluctantly promises not to enlist until he turns eighteen. But soon his cousin Emily asks him in a letter to help his estranged, ailing mother, as well as Emily’s father Albert, who has been wounded and imprisoned at Fort Delaware. In his attempt to help Albert, Robert unwittingly becomes a pawn of a Confederate escape plan. Angry and ashamed, he works his way south to his mother and Emily, only to discover that his mother has become mentally unstable. But time is short as Sherman’s march of destruction through the Carolinas promises to bring Union troops directly to their door. As Robert leads the group toward safety, the bonds between Emily and himself are strengthened. Robert must come to terms with his mother and his own responsibilities before God.

2008 Christy Awards

Lisa McKay, author of My Hands Came Away Red, received a nomination for her book in the "Suspense" category

Cori signs up for a mission trip to Indonesia during the summer after her senior year of high school. Inspired by happy visions of building churches and seeing beautiful beaches, she gladly escapes her complicated love life back home. Six weeks into the trip, a conflict that has been simmering for years flames to deadly life on the nearby island of Ambon. Before they can leave, Cori and her teammates find themselves caught up in the destructive wave of violence washing over the Christian and Muslim villages in the area. Within days the church they helped build is a smoldering pile of ashes, its pastor and many of the villagers are dead, and the six teenagers are forced to flee into the hazardous refuge of the jungle with only the pastor's son to guide them.

Hollow: An Unpolished Tale

2010-07-07T06:22:00.000-07:00

By: Stephanie S. Smith, blog editor

As for now and the foreseeable future, I will never tire of memoirs. People tell their own stories best, and I cherish the opportunity to peek into their lives and learn from their experiences. Hello, I Love You was a great memoir about an adoption story, I am currently reading Mary Karr's The Liar's Club (Penguin Books,1995), and I can't wait to start reading this one...

Twenty nine years, 7 months, 14 days and the battle still rages…

Jena Morrow has an eating disorder. It can kill her. Jena Morrow has a Savior. He came to give her abundant life.

This is not a polished tale of victory but an honest, true story of fragility. Hollow recounts Jena’s daily struggle with anorexia and the God who is able and willing to reach down into the dirt. A central theme of Hollow is the surrender of control to Jesus Christ. His Word is interwoven throughout the story as rebuttals to the lies that besiege those engaged in any addiction.

In addition to her point of view, Jena includes those of her friends, family, and former therapists providing an undercurrent of hope.
Written in an easy conversational voice, Hollow will resonate with those in the midst of a struggle and those who stand beside them.

Click here to read an excerpt!

Jena Morrow chronicles her journey with an eating disorder in her debut book, Hollow (May 2010). She studied music education at North Central College in Naperville, Illinois, and currently makes her home in Crest Hill, Illinois with her son. For more information, visit jenamorrow.blogspot.com.

Giveaway Winners!

2010-07-02T08:42:00.000-07:00

I just want to thank everyone who posted on the giveaway contest for Hello, I Love You. I am encouraged to hear the stories of those who are in the process of adoption, have adopted, rejoice in their adopted status because of their Heavenly Father...truly thank you for sharing! It is a rich spiritual concept as well and check back here on the blog soon for my own review of this memoir.

Now for the winners!

1) Christi
2) Ashley
3) EJ
4) Kristen

Thank you all again! Check back this summer for more giveaways!

Stephanie S. Smith
Moody Publishers

Hello, I Love You Giveaway!

2010-06-30T10:14:00.000-07:00

Hello Readers! Today and tomorrow the Moody Fiction Blog is hosting a giveaway for the June release Hello, I Love You: Adventures in Adoptive Fatherhood by Ted Kluck! Comment below with your email address for your chance to win 1 of 4 free copies! Winners will be chosen and posted Friday on the blog and emailed for their mailing address. Good luck!

When the Future of Your Family is at the Mercy of Strangers...

There is perhaps no feeling lonelier than that of being a stranger in a strange land -- an experience many adoptive parents know well. Touching down in a crowded airport, with tens of thousands of dollars in cash strapped around your waist, to pay people you've never met for a baby you've never seen . . . . You might have prayed for months, even years, about that moment, but it still often feels like the foreign country is a region God has forgotten, and that He has sent you there in vain.

For the young Christian couple, perhaps the only feeling more paralyzing and lonely than the one just described is that of infertility. There are pregnancy announcements nearly every week in the church bulletin, and not wanting to "rain on your friends' parade," you suffer and grieve together in silence.

Hello, I Love You tells one couple's story dealing with these feelings of loneliness, as well as the long-time fulfillment that can come from adopting internationally. Through narrative and letters written to each of his children-to-be, Ted Kluck takes readers through the many phases, decisions, and experiences that adoptive couples make.

From trekking across the globe with piles for cash, to airport con-men, electrocution, and Ukrainian cops on the doorstep with guns, it's all part of the wild ride that is international adoption. But so is God's faithfulness taking new forms each day through the love of friends, the support of family, the comfort of Scripture, and the fellowship of a new church family in a foreign land. And so is the joy of meeting two boys who will soon become part of your family -- the sensation of walking down narrow hallways through dark orphanages to say "hello" to your children for the first time.

TED KLUCK is co-author of Why We're Not Emergent and author of Facing Tyson, 15 Stories, Paper Tiger and Game Time. His award-winning writing has also appeared in ESPN Magazine, Sports Spectrum Magazine and on ESPN.com's Page 2. An avid sports fan, he has played professional indoor football, coached high school football, trained as a professional wrestler, served as a missionary, and has also taught writing courses at the college level. He currently lives in Michigan with his wife and two sons.

Laughing Out Loud!

2010-06-29T09:57:00.000-07:00

By: Stephanie S. Smith, staff writer for the Moody Fiction Blog

I recently finished reading Hello, I Love You: Adventures in Adoptive Fatherhood by Ted Kluck and one of his marks of writing, I was pleased to discover, is humor. Kluck has professional wrestling and indoor football on his resume, and looks the part! Yet in his true story of the adoption process he openly admits, “There’s nothing like adoption to make a grown man cry. Repeatedly."

His story, of he and his wife's journey to the Ukraine to bring home two boys, is peppered with laughable one-liners and amusing incidents. In his introduction he writes, "[In this book] you'll also notice lots of frank, often sarcastic prose about cultural differences--usually with the author as the punch line, as it was my inability to deal with these differences that provided a lot of humor (in retrospect) and anger (at the time)."

I suppose that humor is a good way to cope with an adoption process so complicted and full of setbacks even the agency had never seen anything like it. (P.S. Check back at the blog later in the week for giveaways of this book!)

On a broader note, I think humor can indeed play a redemptive role in story. I will not call it "holy humor" which sounds too hoky to me, like Christian pick-up lines or church bulletin typos. Neither am I talking about "holy laughter", which I just learned via GoogleSearch today refers to a Charismatic phenemonen.

I am talking about laughter as a sign of triumph.

In Genesis, Sarah names her child Isaac, meaning "Laughter", rejoicing in an occassion that was as joyous as it was ridiculous: a post-menopausal woman bearing a son that would become the father of many. It was, in other words, a miracle. Holy hilarity. The Old Testament frequently demonstrates laughter as the response of the saved, and the New Testament links comedy to eschatological victory. The great joke is this: the grave that swallowed its victims (Ps. 55:15; 69:15; Prov. 1:12) is now "swallowed in victory" (1 Cor. 15:54)!

Dante developed this theme imaginatively in The Divine Comedy. After he has risen from his agonizing experience in hell and approaches the heavenly realm he hears a glorious sound, "It sounded like the laughter of the universe."

May we rejoice in the Victory of Christ with sincerity, but also revelry, as we rejoice in the Resurrection as the Last Laugh in our fallen world.

From Our Bookshelf...

2010-06-25T08:33:00.001-07:00

From Shelfari...hover over the cover image to read a summary of the novel or check out a review!

Shelfari: Book reviews on your book blog

What's in a Word?

2010-06-21T13:26:00.000-07:00

By: Stephanie S. Smith, staff writer for Moody Fiction Blog

Here is something that has been knocking around in my head lately: How can a Christian writer be authentic while not appearing sanitized?

Christian writers, publishers, and readers alike all run into this dilemma at some point or another: the balance between gritty, real-to-the-raw literature and clean, family-friendly reading. It goes without saying that while the redemption in Graham Greene's The End of the Affair may be profound, it would never be read in a children's classroom because of its adult themes. On the other hand, some Christian novels go to the extreme to be "above reproach", yet the story falls flat because it does not resonate with the tragedies and bitterness of our real life experiences.

There are some issues we experience in life that are very real to us, but they may or may not make their way into a Christian novel. This is not to say that Christians are not writing about these topics, but usually they are more implied than depicted. I find two things typically at the top of this list: sexuality and profanity. Is the depiction of these things in literature desecration or authentication?

I'd like to take a look at the stewardship of language in Christian fiction. The Incarnation of our Lord in the Word made flesh sets the paradigm for all Christian writers: we must understand that words have the power to grow into action, and as such we have a weight of responsibility with our work. We want to be true to the story, the reality of human nature, yet our words have the power to uplift or make others stumble. It's a fine line to tread.

There are various approaches. One thing I admire about Moody Publishers is their policy to always capitolize the name of God in their books, including personal pronouns such as "He" or "His." This carries a reverence, I think, to the readers and demonstrates an understanding of the weight of language for better or for worse.

Some other examples: Anne Lammott, in her memoir Traveling Mercies, colors her salvation prayer with the "f" word, while some publishers substitute dashes for letters in swear words or omit them altogether. Christa Parish, in her novel Home Another Way, makes sexual promiscuity central to her main character's story, though there is never an objectionable scene in the book. Devoted Catholic Mary Karr peppers her prose in The Liars' Club with expletives, and author Ted Dekker sparks controversy in the Christian realm over his dark thrillers.

I'd love to hear your thoughts! What do you think: is redemption in fiction more real or felt when the author openly addresses some of life's more difficult issues or does this taint the novel with questionable content? Where do we, as Christians, draw the line?

The Missionary: A Book Review

2010-06-13T07:42:00.000-07:00

Thanks to everyone who participated in the giveaway contest for Tessa Afshar's Pearl in the Sand! Congratulations to Karen Lange, the winner of this new novel :) Check back with us for new giveaways throughout the summer and thank you all for sharing your summer reading picks! ~Stephanie S. Smith, MP

By: Christy Lockstein, originally posted at http://www.cafelibri.com/

Christy blogs at http://www.christysbookblog.com/ and reviews books for Amazon, Christianbook.com, Barnes & Noble, Lunch.com, Shelfari, GoodReads, and more.

The Missionary

Yesterday David Eller was an American missionary serving the poor in Venezuela. Today he is an international fugitive.

Synopsis

David Eller rescues impoverished children in Caracas, Venezuela, with his wife, Christie. But for David, that isn’t enough. The supply of homeless children is endless because of the massive poverty and the oppressive policies of the Venezuelan government. When the CIA gives David an opportunity to do something more—to heal the disease rather than working on the symptoms—he decides to go for it. But little by little, he falls into an unimaginable nightmare of espionage, ending in a desperate, life-or-death gamble to flee the country with his wife and son.

Christy's Review

The Missionary by William Carmichael & David Lambert is a pulse-pounding thriller about how an innocent man's actions can shake an entire nation.

David Eller loves his job as a missionary at the Hope Village in Caracas, Venezuela working alongside his wife Christie and their young son Davy. But he's angered by the children who are devastated by poverty and neglect on the city's streets, and he doesn't always keep his comments quiet in a country run by a megalomaniacal dictator.

His political views bring him to the attention of a man who asks David to do just a couple of small, simple tasks, but when the country suddenly faces an attempted coup and David can't contact the mystery man, he and his family are on a race to save their lives.

The authors really keep the pages turning through shady alliances and non-stop action. The reader wants to shake David repeatedly as he acts without thinking, but it's an integral part of the character and a vital plot element.

My only complaint is with the character of Davy. Early in the story, he is described as having ADHD; David even calls him a hummingbird on steroids, but never once in the story do we see Davy showing any symptoms of ADHD. Not through running for his life, capture for the government, and other traumas does he display any of those characteristics. If the writers had left out that description at the beginning, Davy would be portrayed well. If they had thrown in a few scenes of him acting out to his mother's terror, it would have been powerfully moving, but as it is, that part just doesn't work. Davy is, however, only a minor character, so this small flaw does not detract from the thrilling action.

Win a Copy of Pearl in the Sand !

2010-06-11T04:15:00.000-07:00

Anyone remember this friendly feline? Sneaks, the mascot of the public library summer reading program, was essential to my childhood summers. Sneaks motivated me (via unbeatable prizes such as frog-green silly putty and clown noses) to spend my summer in stories.

Alas, I have no magic erasers or squirt gun prizes for you marathon readers.

BUT...I have something even better.

Tell me what is on your summer reading list for your chance to win a FREE ADVANCE COPY of Pearl in the Sand, Tessa Afshar's new novel coming out in September 2010. The presses have only just begun to print this book, so I only have ONE copy to give away to someone very lucky!

WARNING: Pearl in the Sand is a pageturner! And as such, may not be advisable for leisurely beach reading...unless the reader wants sunburn.

It's simple to enter to win:

1) Comment below with a book on your summer reading list and please include your EMAIL

2) I will contact the winner (selected at random) via email tomorrow!

Watch the Trailer!

Book Description: Can a Canaanite harlot who has made her livelihood by looking desirable to men make a fitting wife for one of the leaders of Israel? Shockingly, the Bible’s answer is yes. Pearl in the Sand tells Rahab’s untold story. Rahab lives in a wall; her house is built into the defensive walls of the City of Jericho. Other walls surround her as well—walls of fear, rejection, unworthiness. A woman with a wrecked past; a man of success, of faith …of pride; a marriage only God would conceive! Through the heartaches of a stormy relationship, Rahab and Salmone learn the true source of one another’s worth and find healing in God.

Narrative Retellings of Bible Stories

2010-06-07T09:31:00.000-07:00

By: Stephanie Duncan

Recently here on the Moody Fiction Blog, I've been telling you about Tessa Afshar's upcoming novel Pearl in the Sand, released this September. This book falls into an intriguing genre, merging creative fiction and biblical history as Afshar tells the story of Rahab through a narrative lens. Think Prince of Egypt: the popular film which entranced audiences with its drama of Moses and the Israelites. Francine Rivers has also written a series titled The Lineage of Grace in which she elaborates on the lives of Bathsheba, Ruth, Tamar, and more.

We've heard these Bible stories before...why then do we gravitate towards them yet again when they get new cover art? It seems dangerous, too..."re-writing" Scripture and filling in details that are not in the text. How does an author, thousands of years after the character actually lived, write about their words, motives, and actions with integrity?

Yet I believe these stories stir our imaginations, offering fresh perspective and personalizing the saints of the past. Narrative retellings of Scripture can bring life to the Old Story, brightening and bringing color to the events that seemed perhaps distant before. New dynamics are introduced. Fictional description can give Jonah a face, translate the culture of the days of David, and illuminate the mannerisms of Rachel.

A few other titles of note in this genre:

The Brother's Keeper by Tracy Groot

His name is James. He was the brother of Jesus Christ. The Brother's Keeper is a story imagined from the few known facts of the life of a real man. The book tells the story of the latter part of Jesus' ministry, up through his death and resurrection, as seen through the eyes of His own family. Tracy Groot takes readers, with James, on a journey from unbelief to belief as James grapples with the question of who Jesus is.

A Tale of Three Kings: A Study in Brokenness by Gene Edwards

This best-selling tale is based on the biblical figures of David, Saul, and Absalom. For the many Christians who have experienced pain, loss, and heartache at the hands of other believers, this compelling story offers comfort, healing, and hope.

I would like to hear from you! Does this type of literature appeal to you? Why or why not? Do you have a favorite novel based on biblical events?

Your Heartache, Your Story

2010-06-01T14:02:00.001-07:00

By: Author Tricia Goyer

The themes for my novels have a common thread. They center around ordinary people plopped into extraordinary situations (mostly centered around war), and with the guidance of God these people rise above ... and help and save others in the process.

Also, all my novels have some level of abandonment by a parent that leads to internal struggles. I never planned this, but looking back it's in all my books! Even my third (and final) novel in my Spanish Civil War series.

As I was writing book #3 a light clicked on and suddenly every element of the story came together as it was revealed to me that one of my main characters was abandoned by a parent ... and WHO he really is.

I didn't plan that in Book #1, but it seems as if I did. It makes the whole story work and takes the whole series to a deeper level than I anticipated.

Hmmm ... as someone who didn't meet my biological dad until my late 20s and who got pregnant and was abandoned by my boyfriend as a teen I WONDER why I keep writing about this issue?!

This reminds me about something I read this morning from the book Loving God by Chuck Colson:

One Easter morning, as I sat in the chapel at the Delaware State Prison waiting to preach, my mind drifted back in time ... to scholarships and honors earned, cases argued and won, great decisions made from lofty government offices. My life had been the perfect success story, the great American dream fulfilled.

But all at once I realized that it was not my success God had used to enable me to help those in this prison, or in hundreds others like it. My life of success was not what made this morning so glorious--all my achievements meant nothing in God's economy. No, the real legacy of my life was my biggest failure--that I was an ex-convict. My greatest humiliation--being sent to prison--was the beginning of God's greatest use of my life; he chose the one experience in which I could not glory for his glory.

Confronted with this staggering truth, I understood with a jolt that I had been looking at life backward. But now I could see: Only when I lost everything that I thought made Charles Colson a great guy had I found the true self God intended me to be and the true purpose of my life.

It is not what we do that matters, but what a sovereign God chooses to do through us.

Consider this in your own writing. Do your historical novels have elements of your greatest loss and humiliation? If not, my suggestion is that you prayerfully mine those areas, because it is there you can write with passion, pain and conviction. It is from those hurt places that you will touch the soul of a reader in ways you never expected.

Tricia Goyer

http://www.triciagoyer.com/

The Creation of Characters

2010-05-23T18:28:00.000-07:00

By: Linda Leigh Hargrove

I can't remember a time that I didn't make up characters. As a small child, I drew my characters in my margins of the family dictionary. When I got older, I graduated to drawing them on blank sheets of paper my father brought home from his job at the paper plant. I studied people, committing facial details and mannerisms to memory. Then later, in the seclusion of my room, I would draw all my impressions into one face. I was like a little squirrel, stealing bits and pieces from all over the place and storing them away in my makeshift sketchbook. Crafting stories to go along with my juvenile drawings was a natural progression.

When I create characters for my current novels, I still start with a picture. These days, I rarely draw the characters. Most of the time the picture is a clipping from a magazine or a printout from a website. It's quicker that way. There's just so much more that goes into a full-fledged character outline. Recording all their aspirations, goals, motivations, likes, and dislikes. Before long, my characters and I are talking scenes out (and arguing about plot points). For me, creating characters is half the crazy fun of writing. Although my stories are plot driven, it is the interdependence of the characters that makes the story come alive for me.

I sometimes base characters on real people. But never on just a single person. My characters are more like a tossed salad of a bunch of people that I've known or read about. That's another fun part of creating characters—remixing reality to create the characters I need in order to move the story along. It's very godlike and addictive.

A book that brought more depth to character creation for me was Christopher Vogler's The Writer's Journey: Mythic Structure for Writers. It introduced me to the notion of archetypes, the familiar character types in mythical stories. By studying those character types, I realized that there were patterns to follow and avoid. The Writer's Journey opened my eyes to the possibilities for drawing the reader deeper into the story with characters.

I am an introvert. As such, I enjoy scripting everything out. Life isn't scripted. It's real. There are no do-overs. Once you've said or done a stupid thing, it's said or done. But in writing, I can go back later and edit it, until it sounds very insightful and valuable. Or nerdy and anal, but only if I intended it to be. Characters help me explore and expose the humanness (and sometimes the godlikeness) of the world. Truth be told, I sometimes envy my characters. They are much more memorable than I've ever been.

Linda Leigh Hargrove blends suspense, humor, and faith into compelling stories about race and class in America. Her writings include two novels: The Making of Isaac Hunt (June 2007) and Loving Cee Cee Johnson (September 2008). The former environmental engineer currently resides in North Carolina with her husband and three sons where she designs Web sites when she’s not writing. She blogs at 17seeds.org and UrbanFaith.com.

The Growlery

2010-05-14T18:13:00.000-07:00

By: Tessa Afshar, author of Pearl in the Sand, to be released in September 2010

While welcoming a friend into his special room, the mild-mannered Mr. Jarndyce, a character in Charles Dickens’ Bleak House, says, “This, you must know, is the Growlery. When I am out of humour, I come and growl here.”

I should like to own a Growlery. Modern architects are very remiss, in my opinion, for not including such a room in every house. The world would be a lot more civilized if we all had a place of refuge in which to growl privately. Otherwise, we end up growling at innocent bystanders.

Take the example of the squire’s conversation with Mr. Gibson in Elizabeth Gaskell’s Wives and Daughters: “… your wife and I didn’t hit it off the only time I ever saw her. I won’t say she was silly, but I think one of us was silly, and it wasn’t me.” This is what I would call a thoughtfully-sensitive growl, which essentially happens when people say something mean (though perhaps true) with a smile.

Some people manage to make you want to growl, not by their mistakes or failures, but by their strengths. Dickens depicts Mrs. Joe in Great Expectations as such a person, who “was a very clean housekeeper, but had an exquisite art of making her cleanliness more uncomfortable and unacceptable than dirt itself.” I have been to a few homes whose mistress was a Mrs. Joe, and I found myself wanting to growl by the third hour of my visit.

Sometimes it’s not other people that make you want to growl. It’s the condition of your own heart. When Jane Bennet of Pride and Prejudice says that she wished her sister Elizabeth could find the same happiness she has found with Mr. Bingley, Elizabeth pertly replies, “If you were to give me forty such men, I never could be so happy as you. Till I have your disposition, your goodness, I never can have your happiness.”

Sometimes other people’s growls in our direction reduce us to shame and self-condemnation. Estella manages to do this to Pip with very few words in Great Expectations. After a particularly demeaning blast, Pip says, “Her contempt for me was so strong that it became infectious, and I caught it.” There are few things as unpleasant as growling at yourself with other people’s words.

I hope that with the help of these friends from some of my favorite books I have made a case for building a private Growlery in every home. I expect that if you are an architect or interior designer reading this, you are already taking my scientific evidence into account and planning a complete restructuring of your upcoming projects.

In the meantime, perhaps it would be well for me to remember that there is a place of safety for our deepest growls as well as our silliest. As Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre recounts during some of the worst moments of her life: “One idea only still throbbed lifelike within me—a remembrance of God… Be not far from me, for trouble is near.”

We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. (Romans 8:26, NIV) Oh yes, far better than a Growlery!

Can a Canaanite harlot who has made her livelihood by looking desirable to men make a fitting wife for one of the leaders of Israel? Shockingly, the Bible’s answer is yes. Pearl in the Sand tells Rahab’s untold story. Rahab lives in a wall; her house is built into the defensive walls of the City of Jericho. Other walls surround her as well—walls of fear, rejection, unworthiness. A woman with a wrecked past; a man of success, of faith …of pride; a marriage only God would conceive! Through the heartaches of a stormy relationship, Rahab and Salmone learn the true source of one another’s worth and find healing in God.

The Spoils of Eden: A Book Review and Sample Chapter

2010-05-07T09:36:00.000-07:00

This review is by Harriet Klausner who agreed to let us post her review of The Spoils of Eden here on our blog. Harriet was rated Amazon.com's #1 book reviewer, perhaps due to the fact that, as she says herself, "I am a speed reader( a gift I was born with) and read two books a day." You can find her original Amazon review here.

"In 1891, the Hawaiian Board of Health at Kalihi Leper Hospital sends nurse Eden Derrington to the coffee plantation owned by her fiancé Rafe Easton. This is not a social call, as someone informed the Hawaiian Board of Heath that the baby Kip was a resident of the Kalawo leper colony before Rafe found him. Eden is to pick up and bring Kip back to the colony where he will be quarantined as the law forbids the adoption of leper offspring.

Still Rafe wants to adopt Kip and he and his fiancé argue heatedly over the infant and her work involving lepers. They end their engagement and she goes to assists her research scientist father Jerome who at Kalawo runs a clinic while seeking a medical cure for the disease.

Showing moxie by writing about Hawaii after James Michener`s epic, Linda Lee Chaikin's first Dawn of Hawaii saga provides readers with a deep look at the archipelago less than a decade before the kingdom joins the United States. The story line is driven by the lead couple whose disagreement over her work with lepers threatens their relationship. Although the key support cast is never developed beyond thin role representation in conjunction with either of the two prime players, readers will relish this fine inspirational historical."

Click here to read the first chapter of this book!

An Interview with Author Linda Lee Chaikin

2010-05-03T12:00:00.000-07:00

The following interview is with Linda Lee Chaikin author of The Spoils of Eden which was just released for May 2010! This will be the first book of three in what Linda Lee is calling "The Dawn of Hawaii Series". You can find this interview as well as a free download of the first chapter at http://www.spoilsofedenbook.com/

Question: Why did you write THE SPOILS OF EDEN?

Linda Chaikin: I was a teenager when Hawaii became a state. At the time, the publicity awakened a curiosity about the Islands. Around that same time a Hollywood movie based on a best-selling novel came out. I read the much publicized novel, and only later after I became a Christian did I realize the injustice to the early missionaries who were portrayed as dour, unsmiling people who went to Hawaii to put clothes on the Hawaiians. As I did my own research I’m convinced the early missionaries were wonderful Christians who suffered a great deal for their work to honor Christ and the Bible. I always wanted to write about Hawaii.

Question: What message did you want to convey in THE SPOILS OF EDEN?

Linda Chaikin: Choosing just one was difficult. The Christian history is stirring and challenging. But the plight of the lepers, and the children in particular, is key. And so I developed Baby Kip’s plight. Also, Eden Derrington is seeking a relationship with her earthly father, one long denied because of her father’s zeal in seeking an answer for Rebecca his wife, Eden’s mother. In the series, Eden will learn that the cry of her heart for a daughter-father relationship is answered in the precious Fatherhood of God through Jesus Christ. Christ. He said: “I ascend unto my God and your God, My Father and (now, because of His death for our sins and His resurrection) our Father! That moves my heart just as it moves Eden’s. It’s awesome.

Question: How did research for THE SPOILS OF EDEN compare to your other novels?

Linda Chaikin: I had already visited the historical places in Hawaii for my 1999 novel, FOR WHOM THE STARS SHINE, which was the runner up for the Christy award that year, and introduced Eden and Rafe in their early youth. I had already collected an abundance of information on the old history and returning to the subject now in 2010 makes it all the more memorable and enjoyable to me.

Question: Did you learn anything from writing THE SPOILS OF EDEN and what was it?

Linda Chaikin: First, I learned anew that God was, and therefore is also today, at work in history. His Providence provides for His future purposes. I’m pleased Hawaii is part of the United States. Secondly. I learned afresh how the sufferings of the earliest missionaries will outlast the secular criticism of their labors. Lastly, I discovered that the materialistic grandchildren of the missionaries became bogged down in building an empire of sugar and politics instead of building the Body of Christ. This, I believe, is the strongest message from Hawaii’s missionary past to the Christians of America in our decaying culture.

Question: What were the challenges in bringing THE SPOILS OF EDEN to life?

Linda Chaikin: I have very frequent headaches due to sensitivities to food and other allergies. After one of these bouts, trying to pick up the fervency in the story where I left off two to three days earlier is always a challenge. Even so, God has allowed me to write over thirty books since the first one came out in 1991, and I’m thankful. The Lord said, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my strength is made perfect in weakness.” As long as He continues to gives me an open door to write—I’ll keep doing what I love to do.. Even now, I’m thinking, “what do I want to write after the Dawn of Hawaii series is completed?”

Texas Library Association 2010

2010-04-27T16:50:00.000-07:00

By: Duane Sherman, Fiction Marketing Manager at Moody Publishers

We had a great time this year at the Texas Library Show in San Antonio (April 14-17th). John Matsuoka, marketing manager for Moody Video, and I staffed the Moody Publishers booth for this three-day show. We had some great traffic with over 1,000 librarians stopping by to say ‘hi’.

We saw some enthusiastic interest in our fiction products, especially books for children and teens. Folks really gravitated towards our urban fiction (designed to be 'clean') from our African American line, Lift Every Voice Books. Especially popular was the Yasmin Peace Series with librarians stating a hole in the market for good, clean, yet “real” youth fiction.

Another highly requested product was fiction for High School age students. While we haven’t done something just for this age range in a while, several adult fiction books were well received including William Henry is a Fine Name, I Have Seen Him in the Watchfires, and The Missionary.

After show hours John and I had some good times visiting the Alamo, the beautiful Riverwalk (don’t miss this if in the area!) and dining on some of Texas’ finest cuisine (octopus is chewier than I expected).

Writing is Like...

2010-04-20T12:06:00.000-07:00

By: Stephanie Duncan

At the Festival, I am always interested in hearing authors desrcibe their own writing process. Sometimes it is like a battle, fought until the last word, or like the struggle then joy in having a baby, or once I heard an author explain that his writing is like making his way through a mud swamp. Because writers are (of course) so good with words, it is interesting to learn from them how they understand the journey of writing a poem, story, or book.

So here are some 'writing metaphors' I've collected below...

Leslie Leyland Fields, author of 6 books and professor at Seattle Pacific University, compared writing to a more painful process in her session titled, "The Art of Bloodletting: Translating Suffering to the Shared Page." Her basis is that writing can be a painful, though holy, activity, as we honestly struggle to face the reality around us with our pen.

Kate DiCamillo, children's author of Because of Winn Dixie and other books, said her writing is like building a ladder as she's climbing it, "as I rest my full weight on the rung only just built, and prepare to take yet another step."

These next few quotes do not come from Festival speakers, but some speakers quoted these classic writers:

Dorothy Sayers, after finishing a novel, said, "I feel like God on the seventh day."

"Writing a book is a horrible, exhausting struggle, like a long bout of some painful illness." -George Orwell

"An idea in the head is like a rock in the shoe; I just can't wait to get it out." -Phyllis Reynolds Naylor

"Writing is like walking through a dense forest in the dead of night with a pencil flashlight between your teeth..." -Kurt Vonnegut

"There's nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and open a vein." -Red Smith

“My stories run up and bite me on the leg-I respond by writing down everything that goes on during the bite. When I finish, the idea lets go and runs off.” -Ray Bradbury

Many of these quotes, if not outright violent, imply something of a risk. It is a risk for authors to pour themselves into a work they know they will have to share with the world. It is a risk to be vulnerable to the story and let it take you where it may. It is a risk to invest so much in a manuscript that readers may either adore or critique.

I'd like to hear your thoughts:

Do you have a particular 'writing metaphor'? What does writing feel like to you?

And why do you think writers feel so much violence or risk in the writing process?

Why Writers Think Backwards

2010-04-17T10:50:00.000-07:00

By: Stephanie Duncan, MP publicity assistant, writing from The Festival of Faith and Writing

Apparently, writers think backwards.

Countless authors this weekend have said that they write not what they know, but in order to know. As professor and poet Jeanne Murray Walker put it, “My writing is a feedback loop, in that, by writing, I discover, I am able to name what I feel.” Author Scott Russell Sanders said similarly, "I write into confusion, in the hope that I will end up in a higher degree of clarity."

But what about all those story maps we did for homework in second grade? What about sequence and plot and three-point essays? It seems almost nonsensical to understand through writing, instead of writing what we already understand.

Yet, this seemingly backwards writing method has won the very authors who use it Newberry medals, so we’ll give them a chance.

Jeanne Murray Walker, a professor at the University of Delaware whom I quoted above, gave us an example from her writing life. She described an image she saw once that haunted her, and she did not know why until she spilled her thoughts onto the open page. One day she watched a nursery truck transporting six Maple saplings, off to where she supposed they would be transplanted into new landscapes. The image struck her as almost savage: here these trees had grown together in the nursery, in some sort of community she imagined, and now they were being uprooted and separated forever!

She went home and wrote a poem about it. Her agent told her that to be so dramatically empathic with twigs she was either crazy, or resonating with a deeper theme of which the saplings were only a symbol.

So she thought. She did not know at first why the injustice of the scene shook her so, but knew that the theme of being uprooted disturbed her. It was not until years later that she connected the fact of the moment with another significant happening in her life: her daughter and family had just moved a thousand miles away, and Jeanne was adjusting to, though grieving, the distance.

Fresh from the Festival!

2010-04-16T10:44:00.000-07:00

If you haven't heard about the Festival of Faith and Writing (see my previous post), it is a conference hosted by Calvin College in Michigan where authors, readers, writers, librarians, publishers, and more gather in community for three days to celebrate the art of language. It is a biennial conference, so the last time I attended was two years ago. And you would think, with a two-year head-start, that I would have been all read up on the authors and their books speaking this year. Well...you know how that goes. But as I listened to the lectures of Tim Stafford, the senior writer of Christianity Today, Wally Lamb, novelist of the bestseller She's Come Undone, and Lisa Samson, author of over twenty Christian Fiction novels, I cannot help but put them on my never-ending list of things to read.

Some fun things that have happened so far:

First, remember what I said about rubbing elbows with literary luminaries? Well, it happened. My sister and I walked into the first session with an older couple twenty minutes early, who joked with us about the crazy 80s-styled carpet of the meeting hall. Later in the session, the speaker referred to the man by his name: Eugene Peterson. The man who translated The Message, pastoring and authoring other books since. We had no idea.

We also heard from Wally Lamb, author of She's Come Undone (featured on Oprah's Book Club) and three other novels. He informed us that when he was a boy, he once told the nun who taught his catechism class a tall tale that began with a truth and ended with a completely fabricated story including a volcano and the Pope. "And that," he said, "is when I knew that I wanted to write fiction."

How does this author get his inspiration for new books? His characters start talking to him while he's in the shower. And then, because he wants to get to know them and find out more about them, he writes. He confessed that he also feels somewhat "parental" toward his characters, saying, "I write about my characters because I worry about them."

This afternoon, I heard from Kate DiCamillo, the children's author who has penned The Tale of Desperaux, The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane, and The Magician's Elephant. Kate explained that she wound up writing children's books because she worked at a book warehouse on the 3rd floor where they packed and shipped the Children's Books (and she spent a large part of her time there reading on the job!).

She also told a story of her friend who picked up E. B. White's Charlotte's Web and read it over and over again. Kate finally asked, "Why do you keep reading? Are you hoping that if you read it again, Charlotte won't actually die?" "No," Tracy answered, "I read it because it feels like someone is telling me the truth. And I read it not because I believe Charlotte might not die this time, but because I know that she will, but in reading I find that I can bear that." Kate told us this to illustrate that, "Stories help us to bear life." Her parting words to all the aspiring writers in her audience were, "It is not easy [to be a writer] and it is a privilege and words do not fail."

Festival of Faith and Writing!

2010-04-15T06:02:00.000-07:00

By: Stephanie Duncan, Publicity Asisstant at Moody Publishers

You have to understand one thing upront: for a reader, for a writer, for anyone who loves the written word, Calvin College's biennial Festival is magical.

This is a place crawling with ideas, where you might just bump into a literary luminary any second while taking a coffee break in between sessions. It is a place where Luci Shaw (dear friend of A Wrinkle in Time's Madaleine L'engle) reads poetry and after the last line, the whole room ripples with gasps of awe. This is a place where opening lines of greeting are not, "Hi! How are you?" but "You know, you look just like the washer woman in a Dutch 18th century painting." (True story--two years ago I was just sitting under a tree eating lunch when author Nikki Grimes hit me with this one). It is the place where authors are constantly making the my-writing-process-is-just-like-birthing-a-baby metaphor, which either deeply resonates with you (like it does me) or makes you never want to read again (like it does my fiance)!

The festival is held at Calvin College's campus in Grand Rapids, Michigan, with the purpose of "provid[ing] a vibrant community where people come together to discuss, celebrate, and explore the ways in which faith is represented in literature and how it plays out in our world today. Check out the website here at http://www.calvin.edu/academic/engl/festival/ and make sure you find their recommended reading list!

So while I am in the midst of all these brilliant minds for four days (this year features Mary Karr, Avi, Kate DiCamillo, Tim Stafford, Eugene Peterson, and many, many more) I will be blogging each day about what goes on here. Check back for stories, updates, happenings and more and I hope you enjoy! :)

The Public Library Association "Smorgasbord" Part II

2010-04-06T14:48:00.000-07:00

By: Christina Berry, author of The Familiar Stranger

Continued from Part I...

I loved it all, a veritable smorgasbord for the senses. Booths doled out wine, cheese, crackers, candy, cookies, popcorn, lemonade, grapes, and more. I enjoyed meeting so many incredible people who were excited to take my baby home with them. And the books! Aisle after aisle celebrating the written word.

(The low moment might have been when my daughter, who thinks I’m ready to find a husband, pointed out a book about how to find your perfect match online and the man at that booth shared all his horror stories of online dating. In front of my mother. And my kids.)

Braving the cold rain and longest possible waits between trains and trolleys, we six made our way across downtown Portland to PF Chang’s. Duane informed the children of the one rule set down by Moody: that they order absolutely anything they wanted.

And so began the veritable smorgasbord of appetizers (calamari, egg rolls, and ribs), entrees (duck, chicken, and beef), and desserts (The Great Wall of Chocolate, Flourless Chocolate Cake, Strawberry Shortcake, and Fried Bananas with Pineapple-coconut ice cream).

It’s sad, really. My kids are only 11 and 8, and they’ve eaten the best meal of their life already. Though my son was slightly disappointed that an eggroll was NOT a bun with an egg cooked in it.

Deuteronomy 16:14 says, “Be joyful at your Feast—you, your sons and daughters, your menservants and maidservants, and the Levites, the aliens, the fatherless and the widows who live in your towns.” I’m quite sure we ordered food for all of them, goaded on by Duane’s repetitive line, “Does that look like enough? I think we might need one more appetizer/entrée/dessert.”

An author spends many hours with a laptop, typing words, creating stories, portraying emotions. It can be a lonely endeavor. To be treated to such a lovely evening by my publisher, to be able to include my family who have given up so much time with me in support of my writing, felt like a piece of heaven.

Think of the fun and feasting that awaits us there, where our Father God says again and again, “Are you sure that’s enough? I think you might want more.” Where our loneliness and hunger exist no longer. A veritable smorgasbord of Love!

Craig Littleton's decision to end his marriage would shock his wife, Denise...if she knew what he was up to. When an accident lands Craig in the ICU, badly burned, with fuzzy memories of his own life and plans, Denise rushes to his side, ready to care for him.

They embark on a quest to help Craig remember who he is and, in the process, they discover dark secrets. An affair? An emptied bank account? A hidden identity? An illegitimate child?

But what will she do when she realizes he's not the man she thought he was? Is this trauma a blessing in disguise, a chance for a fresh start? Or will his secrets destroy the life they built together?

The Public Library Association "Smorgasbord" Part I

2010-04-06T14:36:00.000-07:00

By: Christina Berry, author of The Familiar Stranger

When I think of a LOT of food, I can’t help hearing Templeton the Rat from Charlotte’s Web sing, “It’s a veritable smorgasbord, smorgasbord!” I felt like a rat at the fair after the crowds were gone, but, instead, I was an author at a library convention.

In God’s gracious planning, He scheduled the biennial Public Library Association’s convention in Portland this year. The year after my debut book released. Six thousand librarians gathering a mere forty-five minutes from my house? Could there be anything cooler?

To me, librarians are the Godfathers of the writing world. They hold all the power. Patrons read what librarians tell them to read. Or they end up with concrete shoes. Or wrapped in carpets. Or, worse yet, have their library privileges revoked.

Getting librarians excited about your book is the best kind of marketing.

When Moody offered to let me sign 100 copies of The Familiar Stranger at their booth, my heart leapt within me. (Far better than leaping without.) My mother and eldest daughter wanted to come as well. My son only seized the opportunity once he found out there would be—in his opinion, spy-worthy—security badges.

So a rainy Spring Break day found the four of us wandering through the Oregon Convention Center in search of booth #732. Yes, my children chose to spend Spring Break at a library convention!

A line awaited my appearance. Seriously. I met Roger and Duane from Moody Publishers, then started signing books before I even laid my purse down or got the candy out. What fun we all had. Joshua loved asking, “May I swipe your card, please?” and using a (spy-worthy) machine that kept track of who stopped by the booth. Andrea’s favorite part was after the signing when we took in as much of the show as we could get through in two hours. I’m willing to bet my mother’s highlight was joining the conga line behind a life-sized robot...(continue reading in part II)

I CAN LOSE ANYTHING

2010-03-31T11:38:00.000-07:00

By: Tessa Afshar, author of the upcoming novel, Pearl in the Sand, released in September 2010

I have an impressive talent. I can lose anything. Sometimes, it’s unimportant things like the shopping list I spent twenty minutes getting exactly right, disappearing just before I go shopping. Other times, I manage to lose precious things, like the gorgeous, wafer-thin watch my brother gave me for graduation. I am capable of making things vanish with more alacrity than a bar of dark chocolate would disappear in the hands of a jilted woman. My latest work of genius involves losing my favorite FILA workout clothes. I have no clue where they could be. It’s not as if I have the kind of life style that could remotely explain losing one’s clothes. If misplacing things was a talent the world appreciated, I could make a decent living out of it.

Once Os Guinness was speaking at our church and I was assigned to act as his hostess. After seeing me in action for a couple of days, he told me the story of his Oxford professor who one day, standing in the middle of a rotunda, looked with puzzlement at Os. “From which door did I just exit?” he asked.

Os pointed behind him. “That one, Sir.”

The Oxford don nodded sagely. “That means I’ve already eaten lunch.”

Os told me that professor reminded him of me. I smiled in agreement. No use getting defensive when faced with truth.

So when I was working on my novel Pearl in the Sand and the pages started mounting, I realized that my thumb drive was in clear and present danger. Where could I put this more-precious-than-gold item of technology housing every word of (to me) irreplaceable manuscript? I knew this was too important to handle alone. I had to ask a friend for help. Fortunately Jane was very willing to humbly stoop from the heights of genius and give me a hand. The fact that she is an action figure is beside the point. Nobody’s perfect.

Part of this forgetfulness is essentially the way I am made. It’s in my genes. My mom, for example, lost her children in public places. Fortunately someone honest always found and returned us safely. But it’s not merely a matter of heredity. It’s also my life. There’s simply too much in it. Work, family, friends, chores, bills, housework: it all adds up to a monumental pile – a veritable mountain. My brain cannot hold it all in. I make lists to make myself remember, only to misplace the list. And lose my workout clothes.

I don’t think I was designed for this pace, even though our culture venerates this unreasonable rhythm and calls it a good work ethic. So this Lent I decided to take God seriously about a Sabbath. I have committed to taking one Sabbath day off each week. I use the day to be still before God, to meditate and pray and rest. I do nothing that feels to my heart like work. I fulfill no expectations. I write no lists. I chase after no chores. And it’s amazing how good my memory becomes on those days. Sort of like the thumb drive of Pearl in the Sand sitting so securely in Jane’s hands, once a week, my memory rests in the hands of a God who covers my gaps and rests my soul.

Photo by:
Christine Richenburg
Dovetail Design
dovetaildesign@gmail.com

When Books are Burned

2010-03-29T10:49:00.001-07:00

By: Stephanie Duncan, marketing assistant at MP

In 1933, in one of the first steps leading to the Holocaust, the Nazi regime ordered that any and all books deemed “subversive” to Hitler’s rule must be burned. There were book-burnings in the streets, carried out by university students and Nazi supporters, who collected all censored literary works and threw them into the flames.

Surprisingly, among the books sentenced to burning were works by what we now view as classics, works by Helen Keller, Albert Einstein, Jack London, Upton Sinclair, and H.G. Wells. Philosophical and political works were designated for destruction, but also children’s literature, theatrical works, and stories.

It is something of a wonder that one of the most powerful political movements of its day would feel so threatened by a story.

Perhaps the books were burned because even Nazis knew the insurmountable power of words. Perhaps they were burned because language is so strong, so potentially dangerous, that the Germans only knew one way to address it: to treat it as an enemy. Hitler himself attested to the importance of words as he used prophetic voice, persuasive rhetoric, and euphemism as some of his primary weapons for his Nazi cause.

While Hitler exploited language for evil during the Holocaust, other words were uttered, at great personal risk, for the sake of truth. Dietrich Bonheoffer was one such voice; a Lutheran pastor who actively opposed Hitler, Bonheoffer urged his congregations not to conform to Nazi ideas up until his execution shortly before the end of the war. Irene Harand, an Austrian human rights activist, wrote a public response to Hitler’s Mein Kampf, or “My Struggle”, which she titled, “His Struggle: An Answer to Hitler”. Martin Niemoller organized the Confessional Church, a Christian group that resisted the Nazi movement, and avowed in the last sermon before his arrest, “No more are we ready to keep silent at man’s behest when God commands us to speak…”

These voices and many more spoke out against the deafening tide of propaganda, and they were heard. Helen Keller, whose own books were publicly burned including The Story of My Life, responded to the censorship by saying, “History has taught you nothing if you think you can kill ideas. Tyrants have tried to do that often before, and the ideas have risen up in their might and destroyed them.”

From the Desk of Acquisitions Editor, Randall Payleitner

2010-03-05T06:52:00.000-08:00

On this side of the desk, where the potential manuscripts sometimes pile as high as the midway point of my computer monitor, things can seem rather hectic. Recognizing each possible book as pieces of an individual’s heart is a tall task when there are so many pieces of so many hearts lined up one after the other. But it is a great task—never have I been more reminded of this than last weekend…

With my pile-pocked desk behind me, I boarded a 737 headed for Denver and the Jerry Jenkins Christian Writer’s Guild Writing for the Soul Conference. Before you get too jealous, my snowboard stayed at home and I only caught one brief glimpse of the snowy Rocky Mountain peaks between the clouds.

While there, myself and 350 other lovers of the written word heard wisdom on delivering the bread from Max Lucado; creativity and God’s 5-year-plan from Phil Vischer; the importance of editing from Jerry Jenkins; and the joy of story-telling from many others. In between these main floor sessions I met with somewhere in the ballpark of 80 people about their individual book ideas. Half of these proposals were fiction.

I love a good story. I am enthralled by well-thought-out character development. And I am a sucker for a well-timed (non-cheap) plot twist. As I sat across the table from so many people (whose names I couldn’t even begin to remember—but who were all very, very nice), I couldn’t help but get grabbed by their plotlines. One woman had written her novel over the course of 15 years and she just decided to edit it one more time. Another potential author had written his work in 6 weeks—all 120,000 words of it.

Who knows if any of these stories will become books someday? That is for fiction teams, acquisitions editors, and publishing boards across the country to figure out… but I know that the best of these stories, and the best of all stories, pulled me in like a tractor beam.

Max Lucado put it best on the first night in Denver: “If there’s anything greater than writing… it’s when writing connects.” As writers we want to connect to that one reader in our mind, and as readers we want to feel as if this book was written for us.

Randall Payleitner

Acquisitions Editor, Spiritual Growth
Moody Publishers
Follow on Twitter: @Payleitner

Ponte Vecchio and Rahab: The Power of Walls

2010-02-25T11:45:00.000-08:00

Meet Tessa Afshar! Tessa is the author of Pearl in the Sand, a new fiction novel coming in Fall 2010 that creatively narrates the dynamic biblical story of Rahab.

By: Tessa Afshar

Ponte Vecchio is the most famous bridge in Florence, straddling the Arno River with tenacity for almost seven hundred years. According to legend, during WWII when the Germans bombed all the bridges of Florence with meticulous precision, Hitler expressly ordered that this iconic landmark should not be destroyed. Whether it really was Hitler’s artistic sensibilities, or the fact that access to both sides of the bridge was blocked by too much debris at the time, the world remains blessed with an unforgettable structure. The most fascinating feature of Ponte Vecchio is the curious fact that little shops are built right into its stone walls. They bulge out of the sides of the bridge like odd-shaped barnacles sticking out of the hull of a ship. As you cross the bridge, you can walk into these diminutive places of business and do your jewelry and leather shopping. It boggles the mind that a wall could hold so much.

Walking over Ponte Vecchio a couple of years ago made me think of the story of Rahab. The Bible tells us that she lived in the bowels of a wall too. Her house was built right into the defensive walls of Jericho. I wondered what it was like to live in a wall as I crossed the bridge. Then I realized that we all know a little something about that. Most of us have to contend with walls in the interior places of our souls. Walls built on foundations of pride, fear, rejection, loss; walls that keep others at bay and shield us from drawing close enough to get hurt again. Suddenly, I was hooked. I wanted to write about walls, about living in them, about pulling them down. I wanted to write about Rahab.

Rahab was a harlot, according to the Bible. I don’t suppose you can live through that and not build furious walls around your heart. And yet, out of a whole bustling city filled with people, God chose to save Rahab, and for her sake, her family. Not satisfied with that salvation, God chose this woman whose life was scarred by a thousand sins and even more wounds to be in the lineage of His Son. Some of Rahab’s genes were swimming in Jesus’ bloodstream. Think about that!

My novel, Pearl in the Sand, tells this story. It recounts the tale of a woman whose world was a mess, whose life was a mess, whose heart was a mess, but in encountering God, she found to her shock that her life was salvageable. More than that—it was valuable. She found that she was lovable.

God started the most significant part of Rahab’s life by literally pulling down the walls of her home around her. As traumatic as that moment must have been for her, she could not have moved on to the future God had planned for her without it. In a parallel pursuit of healing for her broken soul, Pearl in the Sand portrays a God who just as determinedly set out to ruin the walls surrounding Rahab’s heart.

I wanted to tell this story because I think God sometimes calls us to experience similar assaults on the defunct interior defenses of our souls. Like the warriors of Israel, He single-mindedly pursues us until the walls around our hearts come down and we become more accessible to His love. Like the priests of Israel who walked persistently around the perimeter of Jericho, He surrounds us, not giving up, not giving in, until He opens our souls to the healing assault of His grace.

God’s love cannot always be divorced from pain. But He destroys what destroys us. Rahab learned to cling to God in the midst of her sorrows: to believe in the Lord more than she feared pain. For me, that is one of the most crucial components of faith. Like Rahab, I want to be a person who gives God full access to every part of my soul, even if that access sometimes hurts because it involves the demolition of my walls.

Can a Canaanite harlot who has made her livelihood by looking desirable in bed make a fitting wife for one of the leaders of Israel? Shockingly, the Bible’s answer is yes. At the age of fifteen Rahab is forced into prostitution by her beloved father. In her years as a courtesan, she learns to mistrust men and hate herself. Into the emotional turmoil of her world walks Salmone, a respected leader of Judah. Through the tribulations of a stormy relationship, Rahab and Salmone learn the true source of one another’s worth in God and find healing from fear and rejection.

Kicking Writer's Block! (Or a Few Laughs from Authors Who Fight It!)

2010-02-19T10:39:00.000-08:00

By: Christina Berry, author of The Familiar Stranger

During your writing journey along Lonely-Misunderstood Highway—commonly known to be paved with rejection—your focus is on reaching its intersection with Published Avenue. Occasionally, however, you must pass through the maligned neighborhood of Writers’ Block. In this section of town, people wander aimlessly, circling, blank or frustrated looks on their face.

You might hit this detour at the start of your journey, though most trips start off with great excitement. A full tank of gas, goodie bag, sweet tunes on the radio, and the open road ahead—writing is good!

We’re not yet sick of our traveling companions (characters), the scenery (setting), the purpose of the trip (theme), and we’re not discouraged by how far there is still to go (word count).

Imagine this: you’re cruising along at just over the speed limit, impressed with what good time you’re making, when a pendulous, glaring, red eye of a stoplight appears over the roadway.

Screech!

Suddenly your companions have gone silent, the setting is stagnant, you’re not sure why or where you are headed where you are, and wherever it is … it’s too far away.

U-turn and go back to your existence as a happy non-writer, clueless as to the pain of Writers’ Block, untouched by literary angst? Never! Try some of these things to get, in the timeless words of Willie Nelson, on the road again.

1) Pray! This is the answer to everything, so a great place to start, no doubt.

2) Play a game with yourself. Sometimes I make a list of my chores, and a list of my word count in 100-word increments. After crossing off a chunk of words, I can start a load of laundry or shower or grab a handful of M&Ms.

3) Read a great book to inspire you, or a horrible book to remind you that even bad books get finished eventually. Some even are published.

4) Take a walk. The exercise will stimulate the blood flow to your brain, creating instant genius fixes to whatever plagues your manuscript.

5) Open up a new document or grab a notebook and let your mind go in a stream of consciousness monologue from one of your characters. After ten minutes, reread what poured on to the screen/page. Is there a new conflict you didn’t even know about before that can be explored? What worries does your character reveal?

6) Vent. Call a friend. If you call a fellow writer, you might get a bit of sympathy, but she won’t let you whine for long. Choose a non-writer. You’ll have an aura of mystic creativity, which allows for a longer whine.

7) I know I already mentioned M&Ms, but snacking is always a good thing. Just make wise choices. Carrots, raisins, and a cup of dry Cinnamon Life might allow you to maintain a better lap for your laptop to rest upon than chocolate, ice cream, and cappuccinos.

8) Have your character do a normal thing, but with a crazy twist. I thought my daughter was building a snowman after the last good accumulation of white stuff. She called me out a few hours later to show off her snowseal, complete with ball on its nose. Those little details, if you’ve stuck in a needed scene that’s been done too many times before, could get your story moving again.

9) Grab the newspaper. Find the craziest story, then work some aspect of it into your novel. The fresh direction should give you a “novel” wind.

10) Introduce a new character and see how the dynamic of the novel shifts.

11) Skip ahead a few chapters, see what’s going on, then go back and connect the dots.

12) Ask yourself, “If I don’t want to write this, is it because it’s boring and I know nobody wants to read it?” Maybe it’s a scene that can be cut.

(These final two are courtesy of Stephen Bly’s keynotes during the 2008 OCW Summer Conference)

13) Put some characters together and write only the conversation. NO actions, or dialogue tags, or description—only conversation. Go back and fill in the blanks.

14) My favorite piece of Steve’s advice? If the scene is dragging, or you seem to be riding a dead horse, shoot somebody. This is especially plot-changing in gentle women’s fiction and Amish.

I hope these strategies work for you. Do me a favor, will you? Give me a little wave when you zoom past and I’m still stuck wandering the block?

Read more from Christina and her fiction novel, The Familiar Stranger, at her blog, http://authorchristinaberry.blogspot.com/

Keeping the Warmth This Midwinter

2010-02-17T09:14:00.000-08:00

By: Stephanie Duncan, marketing assistant at Moody Publishers

If you are like me, spring fever is about at breaking point in this winter weather! On the East Coast where I live we have lost power, internet, school days, and for some of us, our sanity in all this snow! But one advantage of being snowed in is that you have more time for other times that maybe you've wanted to do but life just wouldn't allow before. I decided inclement weather is a good excuse to start a new habit: poetry reading. This is a list of suggestions from Dr. Rosalie De Rosset at Moody Bible Institute, who leads a book club on Midday Connection. Cozy up and enjoy!

CHRISTIAN CLASSIC POETRY.
Donne, John. Holy Sonnets
Eliot, T.S. The Wasteland; The Hollow Man (pre-conversion); The Four Quartets (post-conversion)
Herbert, George. The Temple
Hopkins, Gerard Manley.
L’Engle Madeleine. The Weather of the Heart
Lewis, C.S. Poems
MacDonald, George. The Diary of an Old Soul
Merton, Thomas. Strange Islands
Milton, John. Paradise Lost; Paradise Regained
Shaw, Luci. Listen to the Green; etc.

What Monsters Know about Life Stories

2010-02-04T18:07:00.000-08:00

By: non-fiction author Christine Jeske

When my daughter was two years old, she went through a season of cutting teeth that was more miserable than anything we had yet experienced as parents. Some days she would begin crying in the middle of a meal and not stop for an hour. We tried everything—pain reliever, rocking, singing, even leaving her alone to “cry it out.” But the little creature seemed incapable of calming her own sobbing.

Finally one day I stumbled upon something that worked. We had just returned the famous children’s storybook Where the Wild Things Are to the library, and in between sobs, she requested to read it. Knowing her crying would hit new decibels when I told her we no longer had the book, I scooped her into my arms, sat down in our rocking chair, and began telling the story, embellished with enough details to last until her body finally forgot it’s grief.

In the following days I told her more stories, until they became a family habit. Sometimes we told fairy tales, sometimes true stories from our lives. Her favorite were the stories she challenged me to make up on the fly. Some she begged for again and again, like the story of the girl who built a tree house for her animal friends. Others became epics that continued for weeks, like the story of our family on a mystical journey through Silly Putty forests and Pillow Mountains in search of a backpack stolen by a witch who later became our friend. As the stories unfolded, they surprised even me. I found ways to work in life lessons, and many characters lived out our own struggles and dreams.

This was the first time I had made up stories since fifth grade, and I had forgotten how therapeutic the process was. Telling true stories was nothing new though. I had chosen English as a college major in part because there was nothing I enjoyed more than soaking up stories and mulling over their meanings.

Later in South Africa, aiming for the heart of people’s life stories in conversation became a way of life. Not only did the stories I heard people tell of their lives inform my work, they grew into a book of stories (Into the Mud: Inspiration for Everyday Activists) through which God can challenge people serving anywhere in the world.

I am convinced that there is no boring person, although I have interviewed quite a few people who start their responses with insistence that they are, in fact, boring. They are wrong. I am not bored by their stories, and God is definitely not bored by their stories.

A good story does not just describe another person’s life as a passing phenomenon; it forces us to crawl into the minds of people completely unlike ourselves. In the introduction to his classic book of Zulu stories, Vusamazulu Credo Mutwa explains that part of his reason for writing these stories is to build peace across cultures: "There can be no real understanding between [races] so long as neither has a clear picture of the other: what it really things, believes in, hopes for, and why… Only by being presented with a full, clear and unvarnished picture of the African—seen from his worst as well as his best side—can the White man hope to avoid repeating the incredible mistakes he made in the past."

The most significant and the most challenging lessons of life, I believe, deserve stories. History has shown that we are tragically prone to damage and destroy people we do not understand. People of other cultures deserve to be understood through more than graphs or comparisons to ourselves, and there is not better way than through watching their own lives, and hearing them tell about those lives.

Christine's love of stories inspired her to compile a written collection of true life stories of people she met while living in South Africa. Into The Mud takes readers behind the headlines, into real stories of real people living neck-deep in some of Africa’s most difficult issues — but with hands, minds, and hearts rooted in God’s kingdom. Each of its interwoven stories and related discussion questions addresses a broader issue of missions and development, including: evangelism, literacy and education, microfinance, health services, urbanization and refugee assistance, and more. Reflection questions at the end of each chapter help readers to apply lessons from the chapters to their own ministry contexts.

2010-01-30T08:34:00.003-08:00

Click here to read the first chapter of Debbie Fuller Thomas's Tuesday Night at the Blue Moon, a book about family, trust, and healing.

Tuesday Night at the Blue Moon Discussion Questions
1. How does Andie’s physical description of the Blue Moon Drive-in reflect the spiritual lives of Marty and Andie as the story begins?

2. Marty says the drive-in is ‘family friendly’? Do you find this ironic, and why or why not? What are the comparisons between the future of drive-in theaters and the traditional family unit?

3. Marty seems eager to ‘replace’ Ginger but Andie isn’t eager to ‘replace’ her parents with Marty. What is the difference? In what ways does Marty make Andie feel that she wants her to replace Ginger?

4. Why was it so important to Marty to open a bakery? What does it represent to her, and how does it compare to her father’s desire to be an artist? What do Coconut Dandies represent to Winnie, and how does Marty’s baking contribute to her need for constant grazing?

5. How would you rate Marty’s parenting skills with respect to Deja? Compare it to the relationship between her father and her brother. How do you think Deja will ultimately turn out, and what will she be doing after high school (assuming she graduates)?

6. Marty has a mini-breakdown and ends up many miles from home. Contrast the reasons she left with the reasons she went back. What was the outcome? Did anything change for Marty?

7. At one point, Andie says her ‘heart-shape is plugged.’ What specific instances help to loosen the debris inside of Andie in regard to both the family and to God? In what ways is Marty’s heart-shape plugged?

8. After several years, Marty is still mourning her broken marriage. At what point does she begin to feel the need for closure?

9. When Marty ‘dropped’ the cake at Julian’s feet at the farmer’s market, would you say it was more accident or more subconsciously intentional? Who or what did he represent to her at that moment?

10. In what ways does Andie gradually accept that she is really part of the family? On what points does she feel a kinship with Ginger?

11. When Marty finds Ginger’s hospital bracelet, she reflects that we are all switched at birth and that God wants to reclaim us. What do you think she means? What would have eventually happened to Andie if Marty hadn’t ‘claimed’ her?

Making the Past Understandable

2010-01-21T13:02:00.000-08:00

By Author Tricia Goyer

As a writer of historical fiction, I like to consider myself a translator of sorts. It's my job to take the events of the past and make them understandable to today's reader. No ... more than that ... to make history come alive and make the past an enjoyable place to visit.

As a translator I must balance the core values and beliefs of a people in the past with the felt needs of today's reader.

If you write historical fiction you too are a translator. The question is ... how much will you compromise the past to connect today?

Compromise
The compromise doesn't mean changing the facts, but rather it means making sure our writing style and delivery appeals to today's reader.

Of course, we must also look at our "facts" and consider them from two different points of view.

For example, consider the Communists and Nazi regimes. The readers today, who have had even a basic history education, understand these two systems. Yet, how we see both is very different than someone who lived in countries influenced by both.

In my Spanish Civil War books I balanced the way communism was viewed by an unemployed American in 1936 with how readers look at it today. To a man in 1936, communism looked ideal. It gave a voice to common man and provided food and honor to men out of work. Still, I also created scenes that showed some of its many weaknesses—as known by today’s reader.

Resolution
Each author must come to his/her own resolution—"How much will I compromise to make my book interesting and exciting to today’s reader?" Will you change...

Word choices?
Patterns of speech?
Lengthy descriptions?
Pace?

Personally, my resolution is to bring history to life. To make it as true-to-life as possible … but to write it in a way that will interest today’s reader. I flavor my dialogue in a way that will not slow the story or confuse the reader. I write in dramatic scenes and weave description into the flow.

Yet because I’m representing previous generations, I am also diligent in my research. I put in the extra time it takes to “get it right."

In our market it's clear that the favored writing style of today’s reader mimics television/movies. Persia Woolley, author of How to Write and Sell Historical Fiction says:

"Television has created a visually oriented society, used to seeing things happen in the comfort of their own living rooms. The result is that those who still read are always, at least subconsciously, looking for a physical description of a person and place so they can see it in their minds’ eyes. Reading a book is such an internal process, it helps to give your audience a means of visualizing your characters and locations.” p. 102

That makes complete sense to me ... as a writer and a reader. Because we live in a different society than 100 or even 50 years ago, our books should look different too.

It's compromise, yes. We write about history, far different than historical books are written. But writing words to connect with a visually oriented society is also a way to connect the past with today's reader. Have at it, translator!

Tricia Goyer
www.triciagoyer.com

Check out her WWII Liberator series

"Fictionography": Finding Ourselves Through Our Fiction

2010-01-12T10:53:00.000-08:00

By Lisa McKay, author of My Hands Came Away Red

There is one question I get asked more than any other by people who’ve read my first novel, my hands came away red – “how much of it is true, how much of this is your story?”

In the beginning I tried to be very precise in my answer.

“I did go on a short-term mission trip during high school,” I’d tell people, “and pretty much everything about Boot Camp was true to life, but I went to the Philippines, not Indonesia. And we didn’t get caught up in a massacre, thankfully. And the narrator, Cori, is braver and more robust than I think I would have been under those circumstances.”

But I soon gave up on precision and owned the novel as fictionography.

Fictionography is a word I came up with (though I may not be the first) to capture what the book was to me as I was writing it – a good deal of autobiography unfettered by fiction.

When I decided at eighteen to write a book about a mission team gone horribly wrong, I knew some of what would happen to these characters. What I didn't know was how they would react and cope when the world they thought they understood was rocked so violently. How do you begin to find hope again after something like that? And how has hope changed?

I never dreamed that it would take me twelve years to begin to answer those questions, or that the story would be so profoundly influenced by my own life during that time – for the book wasn't the only place I encountered these issues. After training as a forensic psychologist, my various jobs have included counseling murderers, debriefing police officers after they were unable to save babies trapped in burning cars, reviewing hundreds of case files on children's deaths, conducting risk assessments of child sex offenders, and running workshops on traumatic stress for humanitarian workers on the front-lines of disaster and conflict all over the world. Among other things, my career so far has been a whirlwind tour of some of the worst experiences life has to offer.

Many people say you should write what you know, but I felt driven to write Hands more by what I didn't know than what I did, and the story itself became a fictional vehicle for me to search for some sort of peace with my very autobiographical struggles around understanding suffering and violence. Along the way, writing my way into this story when I couldn't see the way out was sometimes exhilarating, sometimes terrifying, and always difficult. I did sometimes wonder whether my personal sanity wouldn't have been better served by writing romance novels instead of a story set in the middle of a virtual civil war in Indonesia. But looking back now, I think that as I labored to write Hands while grappling with professional roles that mandated me to help those profoundly challenged by their own traumas, several life lessons were being ingrained.

I learned some about sitting with tough questions in life, staring them down honestly, and respecting the fact that there are no easy answers that satisfy, and sometimes no answers at all that satisfy completely.

I learned a lot about the temptation to let the magnitude of suffering and evil apparent in this world overwhelm, and ultimately paralyze.

I learned a little about the responsibility we have to choose hope in the face of all that – even when it doesn't seem to make any earthly sense.

And I was wowed by the power of writing fiction to grant me entrée into different voices and perspectives and allow me to get down and dirty with tough questions about life – to voice my own frustrations, doubts, struggles, and hopes.

I wish that I could say that with the completion of the novel came the completion of the questions. But alas, no. My life seems to be very much a work in progress. The questions continue. The learning continues. The writing continues – although sometimes slowly. Truth be told, it sometimes seems that the living of the “ography” is getting in the way of the writing the “fiction”. But when I’ve found myself this past year getting tied up in knots about the difficulties juggling a full time job, traveling around the world, getting married, and trying to write a new book I’ve had to pause and remind myself that in this season of my life the “ography” is really sort of the main point. And, God willing, that “ography” will lead to some more fiction a little further down this track.

Lisa McKay is an Australian forensic psychologist. She is currently living in Los Angeles and working as the Director of Training and Education Services for the Headington Institute, which provides psychological and spiritual support services to humanitarian workers around the world. You can visit her website at: www.lisamckaywriting.com

The Violence of Story

2010-01-10T08:10:00.001-08:00

In my favorite novels, it seems that the characters come to the moment of illumination only after being confronted with great violence. When Jane Eyre finds her former home and master have suffered a fire in her absence, the agony of separation inspires her to the realization that she loves Mr. Rochester. In The Lord of the Flies, it takes the death of a comrade for Ralph to understand that the boys on the island have lost their childhood innocence. And it is not until author Annie Dillard wrestles with the life-altering plane accident of a small girl (in Holy the Firm) that she sees God’s goodness in a crazy world.

It seems to be human nature to have thick heads that only extreme circumstances can penetrate. In a state of comfort, we are sometimes too relaxed, too unmindful to learn what our lives actually depend on. But if our child unexpectedly gets sick, our husband is laid off, or our friend is going through a messy divorce, suddenly our senses are awakened and sharpened in a way that lets us experience life a little clearer.

In the face of violence or tragedy, our daily concerns rearrange themselves according to an eternal reality. When something goes suddenly wrong, the urgency of the situation mercifully clears away any petty anxieties that once occupied us. And that is some small grace. Coming home from a funeral last month of a friend I’d known from elementary school, I found myself suddenly careless about the work I needed to catch up on and the wedding planning I had been stressing over. Instead I wondered whether or not I spent enough time with the people I loved, and then hurried home so I would make it in time for family dinner.

I heard Shauna Niequist, author of Cold Tangerines, say once, “You pray for honest, gritty, and tender stories, and then you pray to live through them.” The price of epiphany is often violence, and any prayer beginning with, “God, change me…” is a dangerous one. Anyone who has ever prayed to know our Father better knows. But with the violence we are ushered into grace, just as there is grace in the story of the Light of the World who had to suffer death and darkness before mankind could see.

Exercising Your Reading Muscle!

2010-01-09T05:51:00.000-08:00

By Stephanie Duncan, Marketing Assistant at Moody Publishers

Welcome back to the new Moody Fiction Blog! Today we are continuing in the final day of our launch contest from Jan. 5-9th, and as our last day, we will be giving away 20 free copies of Latter-Day Cipher (fiction) and The Mormon Mirage (non-fiction) by Latayne C. Scott! Each of 10 winners today will receive a copy of each book. Read on for details...

I once saw award-winning author Mary Gordon speak, and came away challenged by her statement, “Exercise your reading muscle!” While at this time of year, many are implementing new health and fitness programs as New Years resolutions, it may also be a good time to get your literary intake in shape. Here are a few ideas to kick off your reading routine this year!

1) In Living By Fiction, Annie Dillard writes “the writer is interested in knowing the world in order to make honest sense of it.” Challenge yourself to pause and collect the details of God’s glorious world around you in a journal.

2) Finish that book you picked up last spring but only got through the third chapter!

3) Read Scripture with an eye for literary technique, looking for the Divine Author’s use of theme, foreshadowing, and character development. Start with biblical narratives such as Genesis, Esther, the gospels, and Jesus’s parables. Also check out A Tale of Three Kings by Gene Edwards, a masterful storyteller who retells the drama of King David, Saul, and Absolom with devotional insight.

4) Enroll in an elementary education course just so you can teach The Tiger Rising by Kate DiCamillo to a room full of imaginative, impressionable second-graders. Yes, the book is just that good.

5) Read-aloud to your kids. Try old classics like The Princess and the Goblin by George MacDonald, The Secret Garden by Francis Hodgsen Burnett, or The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien. And if you really want to be brave this year, give all your characters voices.

6) Spend a day in a library; come with no agenda.

7) Balance your reading list by unearthing old classics and discovering new titles. Follow this advice from C.S. Lewis, “It is a good rule, after reading a new book, never to allow yourself another new one till you have read an old one in between. If that is too much for you, you should at least read one old one to every three new ones. Every age has its own outlook. It is specially good at seeing certain truths and specially liable to make certain mistakes. We all, therefore, need the books that will correct the characteristic mistakes of our own period. And that means the old books.”

8) Check out books on tape or CD from your library, or order them discounted online, to listen to on your commute to work or while you’re cleaning around the house.

9) Use fiction to connect with others: join a book club, read through a novel with your spouse, make a book recommendation to friends. Fiction is not an escape from reality, rather, it teaches us how to live reality better by showing us the interconnectedness of the stories of humanity. As C.S. Lewis said, “We read to know we are not alone.”

10) Try your hand at a piece of creative non-fiction. Author Vivian Gornick says that to write one's own story is "to lift from the raw material of life a tale that will shape experience, transform event, deliver wisdom." You could start by writing your testimony in a creative narrative account, jotting down an anecdote from family life, or starting a journal.

To enter to win a copy of Latter-Day Cipher (fiction) and The Mormon Mirage (non-fiction), all you have to do is leave your comment below (along with your email--important for us to contact you if you are a winner!) answering the following question or responding to this post, and you will be entered into the contest. Winners will be selected at random and will be notified the day after their comment is posted. 10 winners will each receive their own copy of both titles. Good luck!

Today's Question: What hopes, goals, or challenges do you have for yourself this year regarding reading and writing?

When rebellious Utah socialite Kirsten Young is found murdered in Provo Canyon with strange markings carved into her flesh and a note written in 19th century code, questions arise about the old laws of the Mormon Church. Journalist Selonnah Zee is assigned the story—which quickly takes on a life of its own. Even before the first murder is solved several more victims appear, each one more mysterious than the last.

Adding to a slew of other distractions, Selonnah’s cousin Roger has recently converted and is now a public spokesperson for the Mormon faith. But paradoxically, Roger’s wife, Eliza, is struggling to hold on to the Mormon beliefs of her childhood. If something is really from God, she wonders, why does it need to be constantly revised? And could the murderer be asking the same questions?

In the first edition of The Mormon Mirage, Latayne C. Scott shared her remarkable journey out of Mormonism as she uncovered shocking inaccuracies, inconsistencies, and contradictions in the faith she had loved and lived. Thirty years later, Mormonism and Mormon scholarship have evolved with the times. In this third, revised and updated edition of her well-known book, Scott keeps pace with changes and advances in Mormonism, and reveals formidable new challenges to its claims and teachings. The Mormon Mirage provides fascinating, carefully documented insights into • DNA research’s withering implications for the Book of Mormon • the impact of new “revelations” on Latter-day Saint (LDS) race relations • new findings about Mormon history • increasing publicity about LDS splinter groups, particularly polygamous ones • recent disavowals of long-held doctrines by church leadership • the rise of Mormon apologetics on the Internet

Crossroads and Periscopes: How Stories Teach Us to Live

2010-01-07T21:59:00.001-08:00

By Stephanie Duncan, Marketing Assistant at Moody Publishers

Welcome back to the new Moody Fiction Blog! Today we are continuing in the fourth day of our launch contest from Jan. 5-9th, and will be giving away 10 free copies of Miss Match by Sara Mills! Read on for details...

The Incarnation of Christ, as one of the core Christian beliefs, is composed of the Word given skin, of theology given a body, lungs, hands, and eyes. John 1 speaks of the Incarnation beginning with creation, stating that “all things were made through Him” (John 1:3). In this divine creative process, all things that were brought into existence began with the Living Word, and as humans made in the image of God, our words are intended to function similarly.

Our words are not intended to stay stagnant or shelved, but to grow into our very doing, to become incarnate in the tangible outworking of our lives, and this applies particularly to the arts. A biblical view of creative writing unfolds out of an understanding of the Incarnation, which teaches that just as the Word became flesh in the Son of God, language is intended to become manifest in life.

As writers, we are entrusted with the work of reminding a broken people of this wholeness, of picking up the pieces through story, metaphor and creative word, and so returning the minds of men to the Incarnation.

Stories also help us to interpret our lives in light of the greater, eternal context. Madeleine L’engle comments in Walking on Water, “Stories are able to help us to become more whole, to become Named. And Naming is one of the impulses behind all art; to give a name to the cosmos we see despite all the chaos.”[1] Stories are powerful in their ability to inspire connectedness between daily life and heavenly glory. Words can be for us anchors and footholds, able to tie down the majesty of idea to our level of living.

Michael Malone, a contemporary novelist, compares reading literature in one of his books to peering through a periscope: both enable us to “see around corners” and expand our vision.[2] Stories give us the incredible gift of perspective: offering us a glimpse of eternal reality, showing us the connectedness of life, and assuring us that the glory we read of in Scripture and the daily cycle of our lives do, in fact, operate in the same sphere.

Flannery O’Connor suggests this as well, “The writer operates at a peculiar crossroads where time and place and eternity somehow meet. His problem is to find that location.”[3] Good writing connects the regular details of our lives with the glory of our souls and puts them on the same plane.

The best stories are those that realize their sanctifying power in the word of truth of the Author of Life. The glorious task given to the Christian writer, then, is to fashion words in the manner of the Incarnation: words that point men to wholeness, and language that teaches us how to live.

To enter to win a copy of Miss Match, all you have to do is leave your comment below (along with your email--important for us to contact you if you are a winner!) answering the following question or responding to this post, and you will be entered into the contest. Winners will be selected at random and will be notified the day after their comment is posted. Good luck!

Today's Question: In your experience, how has either writing or reading sharpened your eternal perspective? How have stories reminded you of God’s unfolding drama of redemption?

FBI agent Jack O’Connor receives a letter from Maggie, a woman he used to love, saying she’s in trouble in Berlin. The FBI refuses to get involved, so Jack asks Allie Fortune to help him investigate. Allie and Jack pose as a missionary couple who want to bring orphans back to the United States.

A child finds important documents that everyone in the city — Soviets and allies alike — want for themselves. Maggie refuses to tell Jack what the documents are, saying if things go wrong, they are better off not knowing.

Through the course of the search, Allie’s past is brought back to her, half a world away from home.

Find Sara Mills at:

www.saramillsbooks.com

[1] L’engle, Madeleine. Walking on Water: Reflections on Faith and Art. Wheaton, Illinois: Harold Shaw Publishers, 1980. Pg. 46.

[2] McCullough, Donald W. “What Does Literature Have to do With Ministry?” Theology, News and Notes. December 1991. Pg. 3.

[3] O’Connor, Flannery. “Novelist and Believer.” The Christian Imagination: Essays on Literature and the Arts. Ed. Leland, Ryken. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1981. Pg. 315.

Where Has All the Ink Gone?

2010-01-07T02:02:00.000-08:00

By Stephanie Duncan, Marketing Assistant at Moody Publishers

Welcome back to the new Moody Fiction Blog! Today we are continuing in the third day of our launch contest from Jan. 5-9th, and will be giving away 10 free copies of The Missionary by William Carmichael and David Lambert! Read on for details...

Every morning, I become an anthropologist for about 30 minutes for my commute on the public “EL” train in Chicago. There are few other social circumstances that offer me anything as interesting as watching complete strangers cram themselves in close quarters with other complete strangers in a box speeding along at 55 miles per hour. It’s always entertaining to see the many ways with which people occupy themselves in this social context. There was a time before I was engaged that I would always catch myself noticing the rocks on women’s hands as they hold the pole, and now I play another game: I like to see what people are reading. And my recent favorite sighting is the Kindle, Amazon’s new digital reading device.

Kindle is a lightweight, portable device that makes books available for reading on a handheld screen. This product has wireless that enables users to purchase books which are delivered in less than 60 seconds and can store thousands of documents. Kindle users praise this invention for the convenience of being able to put their library in their pocket and instant access to manuscripts. Needless to say, when I saw my first Kindle on the EL, I was curious.

But as I looked into this new technology, I began to feel conflicted. What about the printed page? What about underlining your favorite part of your novel? What about the satisfaction of watching your bookmark migrate from one side of the binding to the other or hearing the hushed sound of a page being turned?

When I purchased a magazine once at a writing conference, I asked the editor if her magazine was also available online, following the trend of many publishers in this web-savvy age. The look on her face told me immediately I might as well have asked her if she wanted to go out of business. “Oh no,” she said, “We believe in the sacrament of print.”

Well. She put her finger on it. Call me an elitist, but I also value the sacrament of print. There’s something enchanting about holding a book in my hands and knowing another world is hiding just under the cover.

But I’m not closing any doors. Technology definitely has advantages in this age, and we are just seeing the beginning of it. So I would like to hear from you:

How do you feel about electronic reading devices versus reading from the printed page? Do you think the reading format of a story also changes the dynamic of the story?

To enter to win a copy of The Missionary, all you have to do is leave your comment below (along with your email--important for us to contact you if you are a winner!) answering the question above or responding to this post, and you will be entered into the contest. Winners will be selected at random and will be notified the day after their comment is posted. Good luck!

David Eller is an American missionary in Venezuela, married to missionary nurse Christie. Together they rescue homeless children in Caracas. But for David, that isn’t enough. The supply of homeless children is endless because of massive poverty and the oppressive policies of the Venezuelan government, led by the Hugo Chavez– like Armando Guzman.

In a moment of anger, David publicly rails against the government, unaware that someone dangerous might be listening—a revolutionary looking for recruits. David falls into an unimaginable nightmare of espionage, ending in a desperate, life-or-death gamble to flee the country with his wife and son, with all the resources of a corrupt dictatorship at their heels.

Watch the Trailer...

The Theme that Made A Novel...And a Way of Living

2010-01-05T21:20:00.000-08:00

By Christina Berry, author of The Familiar Stranger

Welcome back to the new Moody Fiction Blog! Today we are continuing in the second day of our launch contest from Jan. 5-9th, and will be giving away 10 free copies of The Familiar Stranger by Christina Berry! Read on for details...

Love keeps no record of wrongs, according to 1 Corinthians 13: 5b. This is probably the easiest verse to live out in the whole Bible. All of our relationships look like this, don’t they?

Or maybe not. Seems like forgiveness is one of the biggest struggles of mankind. Sure, God can forgive and remove our sins as far as the east is from the west, but we humans like to tally up points in a notebook of Wrongs Done to Us.

Lied to. Hash.

Cheated on. Hash.

Broken promise. Hash.

And the reason we keep track of all the pain is for a grand and noble purpose: to throw it back in the other person’s face when we have a disagreement. Or, gasp, when we mess up ourselves and need to justify our actions.

The Familiar Stranger, my debut novel from Moody, examines a marriage that is falling apart. Unbeknownst to Denise, Craig plans to leave his family, but when a life-threatening accident lands him in the hospital with a faulty memory, the two explore how to work through secrets that come up from the past. Denise especially must decide how to act/feel/think/pray after a grievous wrong is exposed and she has every right to end the relationship. The theme of the book—and the calling of my life—is to Live Transparently; Forgive Extravagantly!

Denise is a compilation of many strong women who I’ve seen give mercy where judgment and condemnation were deserved. However, many of her weaknesses and emotional battles come from my own struggle with forgiving painful, marriage-ending wrongs done to me. Again and again, those who are close enough to see the freedom from bitterness, the joy of forgiveness I enjoy in my life today ask how it is possible. Denise became my chance to show what God can do with a willing heart.

An interviewer asked why Denise tries to stand by Craig’s side when so many would urge her to ditch him at the first opportunity. I think it’s because she knew that obedience to God, despite gut-wrenching pain, would bring unthinkable rewards. There are Biblical reasons to leave a marriage. Denise had them, but in her heart she felt God calling her to something difficult and frustrating and holy and Christ-like.

Is every marriage called to this? Yes and no. There are times when a marriage truly dies. God will give a husband or wife peace about the decision when that is the case. In no way do I want to come across as judgmentally, across-the-board saying every issue in marriage must be covered by grace. But I do think we have a huge issue with trying to control others. When we give up that sinful instinct, our spouse truly rests in God's hands, and grace is a much easier option.

To enter to win a copy of The Familiar Stranger, all you have to do is leave your comment below (along with your email--important for us to contact you if you are a winner!) answering the following question or responding to this post, and you will be entered into the contest. Winners will be selected at random and will be notified the day after their comment is posted. Good luck!

Today's question: What fiction books have convicted you to live differently? What themes in literature have challenged you to change your lifestyle?

Craig Littleton's decision to end his marriage would shock his wife, Denise...if she knew what he was up to. When an accident lands Craig in the ICU, badly burned, with fuzzy memories of his own life and plans, Denise rushes to his side, ready to care for him.

They embark on a quest to help Craig remember who he is and, in the process, they discover dark secrets. An affair? An emptied bank account? A hidden identity? An illegitimate child?

But what will she do when she realizes he's not the man she thought he was? Is this trauma a blessing in disguise, a chance for a fresh start? Or will his secrets destroy the life they built together?

Visit Christina at:
www.authorchristinaberry.blogspot.com
www.christinaberry.net
www.ashberrylane.net

Welcome to our Blog Launch!

2010-01-05T00:04:00.000-08:00

Hi and welcome to our new blog! My name is Duane Sherman and I’m the marketing guy here at Moody Fiction. One thing we believe at Moody is that times change but the Message remains the same.

In 1894 when Moody Publishers first got started, we got the word out one dusty street at a time using the only hottest technology- horse drawn wagons! If you told D.L. Moody that someday a future innovation called a “blog” would replace his wagon, and that instead of dusty streets the message would travel instead through an online landscape, I’m sure he would have tipped his hat politely but wondered if you were ill.

Times change, but the redemptive Message of the Gospel remains the same. That’s our commitment to you, our reader, and our underlying passion here at Moody Publishers.

Our primary hope for this blog is that it will serve you as an enjoyable way to stay connected with your favorite fiction authors and their books. We want you to get a look into their worlds and connect with them personally. We’ll do this through author posts, interviews, and news.

And just to have a little fun we’ll throw a contest in the mix from time to time. We’ll also give you sneak peeks at upcoming titles and a behind the scenes look into the world of Christian publishing.

More than that, we want this blog to be a place for conversation and for your opinions to be heard. Besides answering your questions to us, we’d like to ask you a few questions as well. Your opinions through surveys and polls will help us stay in touch with what interests you. Any particular authors you’d like to see us publish? Got a great story idea? Which book covers do you like best? What bonus material would you like to see us include the book?

To celebrate the arrival of our new blog, today and every day this week we’ll be giving away free books and prizes. Pass on the word to your friends and follow us on Twitter and Facebook as well.

Each day of the contest, we will feature a new title and give away 10 free copies per day. Today’s winners will receive a free copy of Raising Rain by Debbie Fuller Thomas. All you have to do is leave your comment below (along with your email--important for us to contact you if you are a winner!) answering the following question or responding to this post, and you will be entered into the contest. Winners will be selected at random and will be notified the day after their comment is posted. Good luck!

So let’s kick things off with a simple question today:

What kind of fiction books do you enjoy the most? Do you prefer reading a certain genre, author, time period, or writing style?

Raised to be a "new woman" by her mother and three college roommates in the 70s amid anti-war protests, feminist rallies, and finals, Rain Rasmussen discovers that putting her career first has left her overdrawn at the egg-bank, and her baby fever has now driven off her significant other. When her terminally ill mother demands a Celebration of Life before she dies, they all confront ghosts from the past on a stormy weekend in Monterey. Bebe, the roommate closest to Rain's heart, revisits choices that have impacted Rain the most, raising doubts about God's - and her own - willingness to forgive and to be forgiven.

You can find Debbie Fuller Thomas at:
http://www.debbiefullerthomas.com/
http://www.novelmatters.blogspot.com/

In Step with the Ancient Story

2009-12-29T13:05:00.003-08:00

By Stephanie Duncan, Moody Publishers Marketing Assistant

I am celebrating Christmas backwards this year. For in all the festivities, traveling, and inclement weather, I missed two Sundays and therefore Advent slipped past me, much to my disappointment.

I love Advent. I have always wanted to be one of those elect families who cluster around the Advent wreath to light the next candle. I am a sucker for those calendars people buy with the little doors you open each day with perhaps a candy inside if you’re lucky. And I always look forward to the Christmas Eve service where the final candle is lit and the sanctuary is filled with choruses of Silent Night. There’s just something about the anticipation, the coming promise, and the culmination of what the world has waited for in so small a child.

So, because this season is special to me, I am making up for it now. I am going through an Advent devotional and reading the prayers in the Anglican Book of Common Prayer, a beautiful collection of prayers that appeals to the poet in me.

The “Prefaces for Seasons” in this book contains prayers that go through the whole church calendar. The year starts with the season of Advent, moves to the season of the Incarnation, then on to the season of Epiphany, and so on. I read it this morning, and thought, Would that my life glide as gracefully through these sacred cycles! Would that my life arrange itself from Sabbath to Sabbath, moving to the rhythm of the ancient story.

How different would our lives become if we choreographed them to Christ’s: anticipating His advent, singing with the angels at His birth, mourning at His sacrifice, praising “Hallelujah” at the news, “He is risen!” Surely, we will be blessed as we remember the story of salvation and try to live it faithfully.

This is the prayer for the “First Sunday after Christmas Day”

Almighty God, who has poured upon us the new light of thine Incarnate Word: Grant that the same light, enkindled in our hearts, may shine forth in our lives; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.