A Valley of Betrayal

This week the Christian Fiction Blog Alliance is featuring A Valley of Betrayal by Tricia Goyer. Though I've not read it yet, I've read other books by Tricia and loved them, so be sure to check it out! (And visit the other blogs in the link box on the sidebar for more about the book!)

About the author:

Tricia is a members of the Christian Fiction Blog Alliance. She also has a blog, It's Real Life and a parenting blog Generation NeXt. Tricia is the author of five novels, two nonfiction books and one children's book. She also was named Mount Hermon Christian Writers Conference Writer of the Year in 2003. In 2005, her novel Night Song, the second title in Tricia’s World War II series, won ACFW's Book of the Year for Best Long Historical Romance. In 2006, her novel Dawn of A Thousand Nights also won book of the Year for Long Historical Romance. Tricia and her husband, John, live with their family in northwestern Montana.

About the book:

For reasons beyond her control, Sophie finds herself alone in the war-torn Spanish countryside, searching for her beloved Michael. His work as a news photographer has taken him deep into the country wracked by civil war. What was once a thriving paradise has become a battleground for Nazi-backed Franco fascist soldiers and Spanish patriots. She is caught up in the escalating events when the route to safety is blocked and fighting surrounds her.

Secrets abound in the ruined Spain. Michael is loving but elusive, especially about beautiful maria. The American who helped Sophie sneak into Spain turns up in odd places. Michael's friend Jose knows more than he tells. When reports of Michael's disappearance reach her, Sophie is devastaed. What are her feelings for Philip, an American soldier who comes to her rescue?

Sophie must sift truth from lies as she becomes more embroiled in the war that threatens her life and breaks her heart. On her darkest night, Sophie takes refuge with a brigade of international compatriots. Among these volunteers, she pledges to make the plight of the Spanish people known around the world through the power of art.

More Prayer

From Deidre Knight, Cec Murphey's agent....

Hi, friends:

I just had some very serious news from Cec Murphey. His home burned down to the ground this morning and his son-in-law was killed in the fire. He sounded shaken, but okay - he was so grateful that he was able to get his flash drive out, saving much of his work. I told him that I would spread the word for prayer support, and without inundating Cec with emails (which he won't get) or calls (which he doesn't need right now) could y'all get folks mobilized into some serious prayer action?

I've spoken with Cec and have his permission to put together a gift certificate to Target for immediate / short term essentials. We want to do one for Cec and Shirley, and also his daughter. If you would like to participate, please send a check to:

Deidre Knight
The Knight Agency
577 South Main St
Madison, Georgia 30650

Make sure the memo line of the check reads "for Cec Murphey."

Thanks so much. I just spoke with him and relayed the huge outpouring of love you are all expressing. He was incredibly grateful and moved.

Let's all pray hard! And please spread this word among Cec's friends and supporters.

Deidre

Books and Thanks

I still have dozens of books (at least 100) available for $5 each! Books by Lawana Blackwell, Stephanie Grace Whitson, Michael Phillips, and many, many more. I'll begin listing the titles once the stack becomes less overwhelming.

A few of you have ordered books or plan to soon - thanks! I've had about 1/3 of the novels people have requested on their wish lists, so keep asking away. For more details about how you can get wonderful Christian novels I'm running out of room to keep (and if you want to help me earn a car and computer), click here.

I really want to thank those who posted about my book sale for a free book - or simply just to help me out. Thanks so much!

C.J., co-founder of the awesome Christian books and music site, Title Trakk, posted about it on her blog.

Jason coined the phrase Books'R'Katie on his blog.

Mir made me laugh with her tale of bibliochaos.

And Deborah laments not knowing about this sooner before spending her money on more expensive books.

If I missed anyone, let me know. And happy reading!

Prayer for Stephen Lawhead - Updated

Mir posted this:

I don't know if you've heard out there--I only found out cause I was alerted to it a couple days ago on the Christian Fandom listserv--but Stephen Lawhead, multi-published author of Christian fantasy, is very ill.

He has cancer. He is not doing well. His family is heartsick.

Please remember Stephen in your prayers. Let's believe for a miracle. The God who hears is still Yahweh Rapha: The LORD who heals.

I plead with my fellow bloggers to post and pass the word, so that we may have many prayer warriors battling for Stephen's good.

I originally planned to blog today about my book sale and those who were promoting it. But I think I'll wait for Monday for that.

Update: I visited Lawhead's reader forum and was given this additional information:

The most recent word I'm aware of is a message that seems to have gone into circulation on Feb 17 from his wife:

*****

Dear Friends and Family:

Steve is finished with his course of chemotherapy and radiation. The chemo was stopped a week early, as the doctors reckoned it had done its work, which was to make the radiation more effective. (In other words, he was plenty sick.) The full 30 radiation treatments were given, the last one on 23 January.

So, he is on the road to recovery, with the occasional detour along the way.

It's difficult to represent this situation well, not overstating the difficulties or glossing over them. We remain hopeful and determined; each day brings unexpected blessings, and in many ways life is unbearably sweet. However, Steve is still struggling with the physical impact of the cancer, the aggressive treatment, and the emotional impact of it all. Some days are better than others.

Aware that many of you have gone down this road yourselves, or with loved ones, we thank you for your messages of concern and support, and most of all your prayers - the thing we need, and value, most.

Love,

Alice

Wedgewood Gray

This week, the Christian Fiction Blog Alliance

is introducing
Wedgewood Grey
(Faith Words, February 2007) by John Aubrey Anderson.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:


John Aubrey Anderson

John was born five miles north of the setting for Abiding Darkness, a cotton country town within a rifle shot of two rivers, a bayou, a double handful of lakes, and endless acres of woods.

After graduating from Mississippi State, he flew six years in the Air Force then twenty-nine years for a major airline. And now he gets to write.

He and his wife have been married for forty some-odd years and live in Texas—about twenty miles south of the Red River. He spends the biggest part of his time writing; she’s immersed in leading a comprehensive, women’s Bible study.

They like greasy hamburgers and Dr. Peppers, most species of warm-blooded creatures (the kind that don’t normally bite), and spending July in the mountains.

ABOUT THE BOOK:

Wedgewood Grey is the second book in the Black and White Chronicles. The first was Abiding Darkness (August, 2006).

Mississippi cotton country . . . in the spring of 1960.

The War At Cat Lake is fifteen years in the fading past . . . but the demonic beings who launched that first battle, are alive and well at Cat Lake. Waiting.

Late on a Friday night, on a muddy little road a mile east of Cat Lake, a ten-year-old black child is forced to watch while a gang of white men beat his mother to death. Aided by Mose Washington, an old black man, the boy exacts a measure of his own revenge. When the sun comes up on Saturday morning, Mose and the boy are fugitives.

Missy Parker Patterson, who as a child stood at the epicenter of the first war, is married and living in Texas. In the aftermath that follows Mose Washington’s disappearance, she goes back to Cat Lake to discover that the demonic beings have been anticipating her return . . . and so begins the second battle of The War At Cat Lake.

In 1962, an old black man and his grandson move into the country near Pilot Hill, Texas. The people in the local area are told that the old gentleman’s name is Mose Mann—his grandson introduces himself as Bill.

However, the lives of the new arrivals are not as peaceful as they seem. The unassuming old black man and his grandson are being pursued by a triad of formidable and unrelenting adversaries . . . a ruthless political leader, an enduring lie, and an invisible army allied beneath the banner of a hatred for God.

Wedgewood Grey is a story about the impact of choices that real people—people like you and me—are sometimes forced to make.

The Author's Website: http://www.johnaubreyanderson.com/

Amazon Link: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0446579505

Where the Map Ends

I love the title of Jeff Gerke's site for the ultimate Christian science fiction and fantasy fan: Where the Map Ends. I love its sense of adventure and mystery. Everytime I visit Where the Map Ends I feel a longing to explore the outer reaches. That may be why everytime I visit I end up clicking an external link that takes me on a cyberspace adventure.

It follows that while I've been off traipsing through the internet, the site I launched from has sat largely unexplored. Even this week - I stopped by the site to prepare for this CSFF blog tour, and ended up in Shadow of the Woods. After I finished viewing the artwork and imagining the picture I'd commission if I had spare cash, it was too late to go back to Where the Map Ends.

So if you want to know more about the site, I'd suggest checking out the blogs below, especially Mirathon. But if you want the joy of getting lost and then getting unlost (as one of the characters in my WIP fantasy likes to do), you'll want to visit Where the Map Ends yourself.


Nissa Annakindt
Wayne Thomas Batson
Jim Black
Grace Bridges
Jackie Castle
Valerie Comer
Karri Compton
CSFF Blog Tour
Gene Curtis
D.G.D. Davidson
Chris Deanne
Janey DeMeo
Tessa Edwards
April Erwin
Kameron M. Franklin
Linda Gilmore
Beth Goddard
Marcus Goodyear
Andrea Graham
Todd Michael Greene
Leathel Grody
Katie Hart
Sherrie Hibbs
Sharon Hinck
Christopher Hopper
Jason Joyner
Kait
Karen
K. D. Kragen
Tina Kulesa
Kevin Lucia and The Bookshelf Reviews 2.0 - The Compendium
Rachel Marks
Shannon McNear
Rebecca LuElla Miller
Eve Nielsen
John W. Otte
John Ottinger
Robin Parrish
Rachelle
Cheryl Russel
Hanna Sandvig
Mirtika Schultz
James Somers
Steve Trower
Speculative Faith
Daniel I. Weaver
Timothy Wise

Christian Writer's Market Guide

This week, the Christian Fiction Blog Alliance

is introducing

Christian Writer's Market Guide

by

Sally Stuart.
WaterBrook Press; Pap/CDR edition (January 16, 2007)

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Sally E. Stuart is the author of thirty-four books and has sold more than one thousand articles and columns. Her long-term involvement with the Christian Writers' Market Guide as well as her marketing columns for the Christian Communicator, Oregon Christian Writers, and The Advanced Christian Writer, make her a sought-after speaker and a leading authority on Christian markets and the business of writing. Stuart is the mother of three and grandmother of eight.

ABOUT THE BOOK

For more than twenty years, the Christian Writers’ Market Guide has offered indispensable help to Christian writers. This year, for the first time, this valuable resource comes with a CD-ROM of the full text, so you can search with ease for topics, publishers, and other specific names.

The 2007 edition also includes up-to-date listings of more than 1,200 markets for books, articles, stories, poetry, and greeting cards, including information on forty new book publishers, eighty-three new periodicals, and thirty-four new literary agents. Perfect for writers in every phase, this is the resource to get noticed–and get published.

It contains listings for: 695 periodicals, 228 poetry markets, 355 book publishers, 133 online publications, 29 print-on-demand publishers, 1185 markets for the written word, 321 photography markets, 31 e-book publishers, 122 foriegn markets, 112 literary agents,and 59 newspapers.

It also gives you comprehensive lists of contests, writers groups and conferences, search engines, pay rates and submission guidelines, editorial services and websites.

Christian Writers’ Market Guide is a "must have" for any serious Christian writer that is looking to get published!


The book link is: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1400071259

Sally's website is: http://www.stuartmarket.com/

Books, Books, and More Books

I have finally come to the place where I realize I have too many books (huge GASP from blog readership). Seriously - 8 packed boxes, 50 feet of shelf space, and still I have stacks of books around my room.

I also need money. I'm working part time at a Christian bookstore, and while I'm sharing shifts at the moment with a fellow employee who lives a few minutes away, I need a car ASAP. As well as a computer (my family's getting tired of me hogging theirs).

Amazon and eBay pay diddly-squat for books. Besides, I don't have time to list them. I spend the current time I get online responding to emails, doing database and other online work, chatting with a few friends who live far away, writing reviews, reading blogs, and blogging.

So I have a proposition for you all. While Amazon charges so many seller fees that amatuer sellers only make a little, they charge their buyers $3.49 shipping for every used book they purchase. I have a better deal.

How would you like to buy great Christian novels for only $5.00 each, including shipping? Sound great? Keep reading.

While I don't have time right now to list all the titles I have, why would you want to read through a whole long list anyway? You already know what books you want to read, and if you're looking for more, a quick browse through ChristianBook.com should yield a large wish list.

Send me your wish list - theloneislands at yahoo.com. I'll go through my books and zap you back a list of what titles I have from your list. Chose them all or just some, and I'll confirm that I have them reserved for you (first come, first serve!) and send you your total. Pay me via PayPal, and I'll mail them out!

Buy ten books and get your 11th one free!

Post about this offer on your blog and tell me about it while placing any order, and I'll send along a free book! Even if you don't order anything, but still post about this offer, email me and I'll post a link to your blog!

The $5.00 offer is only for US addresses. If you live in Canada, email me and I'll figure out your rates. For other countries, it likely won't be as great of a deal, but if you really want to order I'll send you the total once the titles are confirmed.

I try to keep my books nice but a few are more worn. I'll only charge $3.00 for those (less than Amazon shipping!). Also a few titles may only be available as ARCs - those will also be $3.00. Of course, you have the option of passing on those.

So, send me your wish lists! I have hundreds of Christian novels to chose from, including many complete sets!

Heirs of Destiny series by Carolyn L. Beck

Author Carolyn Beck graciously offered to send me the first two novels in her young adult space opera series to review.

Star Twins tells of royal siblings Jason and Kayla who were stolen away as newborns and raised on different planets. Now as teens, they've been discovered and taken to a world they know nothing about. Can they bring peace to chaos in Iaitha by fulfilling an ancient prophecy?

Generations later in Destinies Collide, Iaitha's women are plagued by barrenness. Another world's overpopulation offers a solution, but it comes with one little hitch - the Chancellor's son, Dillan, must marry the princess of Metplex to seal the contract. In a bizarre series of events, Dillan, the princess's maid Andra, and two youngsters from Metplex's streets, end up on a runaway shuttle-craft and on distant Keetor.

Aimed at younger teens, the Heirs of Destiny series offers fast action and a moderately engaging plot. Its drawbacks come in the form of two-dimensional characters, telling rather than showing, poor editing, a few confusing sequences, and lackluster prose. The author presents the gospel in an interesting format for younger teens, though it may be too blatant for some unbelievers. As a Star Wars fan, I'm intrigued by the idea behind the series, and look forward to seeing how this author's craft improves.

Also, this week the CFBA has been featuring The Longing Season by Christine Schaub. I haven't had a chance to read the book yet, but be sure to visit the other blogs in the Alliance to find out more!

Germ by Robert Liparulo

If you breathe, it will find you.

What if a germ could kill with the precision of a sniper? Imagine a virus so advanced it targets one DNA match. While others pass along a common cold, when the virus reaches its victim it mutates to Ebola, a disease that liquifies organs as the victim dies a slow and painful death.

That's the premise of Robert Liparulo's latest, Germ, which plunges readers into a frightening, realistic world of bioterrorism. A brilliant scientist bent on revenge has created a list of 10,000 targets: a complete spectrum of Americans from politicians and leaders to stay-at-home moms and children. The defection from his own team of scientists is squelched without mercy. Now only a few loose ends remain - Special Agent Julia Matheson, whose partner met with the defector; Allen Parker, the doctor who heard a few whispered words from a dying man; and Stephen Parker, Allen's brother. Are the three of them enough to stop a madman?

With deep characters and surprising plot twists, Liparulo creates an edge-of-your-seat thriller that's sure to please suspense fans. Although several scenes are a bit gruesome, I highly recommend this action-packed novel for older teens and adults.

Abiding Darkness

It is February 1st, time for the FIRST Day Blog Tour! (Join our alliance! Click the button!) The FIRST day of every month we will feature an author and their latest book's FIRST chapter!

This month's feature author is:

John Aubrey Anderson

and his book:

Abiding Darkness

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

John was born five miles north of the setting for Abiding Darkness, a cotton country town within a rifle shot of two rivers, a bayou, a double handful of lakes, and endless acres of woods.

After graduating from Mississippi State, he flew six years in the Air Force then twenty-nine years for a major airline. And now he gets to write.

He and his wife have been married for forty some-odd years and live in Texas—about twenty miles south of the Red River. He spends the biggest part of his time writing; she’s immersed in leading a comprehensive, women’s Bible study.

They like greasy hamburgers and Dr. Peppers, most species of warm-blooded creatures (the kind that don’t normally bite), and spending July in the mountains.

ABOUT THE BOOK:

Abiding Darkness is the first book in the Black and White Chronicles.

It initially anchors itself in the relationship between two children.

Junior Washington is an eleven-year-old black child. He lives in a small cabin out on Cat Lake; his parents work for the Parker family. He’s loyal, he’s compliant beyond what would normally be expected of an eleven-year-old boy, and he’s a committed Christian.

Missy Parker, who lives on the other side of the lake, is the crown princess of the Parker family. At seven years of age she’s beautiful, wealthy, willful, and tough as a tractor tire. And—in the midst of the most defined segregation in our nation’s recent history—this little white girl and Junior Washington are best friends.

Only one thing stands between these two children and a storybook childhood . . . they are destined to encounter a faithful servant of the Author of Evil.

Abiding Darkness starts almost gently. The first sentence offers doubt, but readers may not see any real trouble surface until a few sentences later, and that’s mostly kid stuff, almost cute. From there through the second chapter readers are given a little more to think about . . . an opportunity to imagine what might happen to the children . . . especially the girl.

By the end of the second chapter intuitive readers will be taking a deep breath . . . they’re going to need the oxygen.

Click the FIRST button above to read the first chapter.