Breaking News ~ Susan Page Davis ~ Giveaway

Breaking News

by Susan Page Davis

Image courtesy pixabay.com

 What inspired this book?

In the 1920s, Judge Joseph Crater owned a summer cottage in Belgrade, Maine, my hometown. Judge Crater’s disappearance in 1930 was considered the missing persons case of the century.

After reading about Judge Crater’s case, I considered writing a book about it. Instead, after much thought, I decided to write a novel instead. The story is not about Judge Crater but was inspired by his story.

Writing about fictional characters is always easier than writing about real people. You can make them act and speak any way you wish. And you can resolve a mystery in any of several ways, rather than sticking to history.

Rather than confine myself to the facts of the judge’s true case, I decided to place a later disappearance in the same location, this time making the person who vanished a senator.

By moving the event to 1968, I was able to tell the story in a contemporary setting through the eyes of middle-aged people who remembered the event. I created a family, the Fairmonts, who lived near the senator’s cottage, and a pair of kind neighbors—news editor Kurt Borden and his wife, Janet—to get involved.

Kurt sees the mystery unfold from the official perspective when his reporter, Mick Tyler, goes to write a story about the senator and ends up missing, too. Kurt deals with the police and the news staff covering the story. Janet sees it from a more personal angle. She gets to know the elderly neighbor’s children—adults now, but boys and girls when the senator vanished. Piece by piece, Kurt and Janet solve the mystery of the two disappearances.

My main characters in this book have deep faith in God. Because of this, I was able to bring the story to a much more satisfying conclusion, in my opinion, that Judge Crater’s story.

In real life, we don’t always see the solution to mysteries we encounter. I hope you will enjoy Breaking News and the ways Kurt and Janet find to help their friends, neighbors, and coworkers with the problems they suffer because of an old crime.

When news editor Kurt Borden sends his star reporter out to do a story on a senator who disappeared more than 40 years ago, the reporter goes missing too. 

Kurt’s wife, Janet, finds an elderly neighbor ill in his home. The old man begs her to give a cryptic message to his grown children. Could the two mysterious events in small-town Maine be connected? 

To help unravel the mystery, Kurt and Janet must rely on their faith and use all their wits and diplomatic skills.

Susan Page Davis is the author of more than 80 books, in the mystery, suspense, and historical romance categories. She is a past winner of the Carol Award, the Faith, Hope, two Love Readers’ Choice Awards, and two Will Rogers Medallions. A Maine native, she now lives in western Kentucky with her husband Jim.

Contact Info/Social Media Links:

·       Website: www.susanpagedavis.com

·       Twitter: @SusanPageDavis

·       Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/susanpagedavisauthor

Giveaway: Susan will give either a paperback (US only, please) or an ebook copy of Breaking News. To Enter, simply leave a comment below with your contact information. Giveaway ends one week from today on Thursday, September 6, 2018, at Midnight Central Time.

Peg here: For an extra chance to win, simply become a follower of this blog (see left sidebar) and mention it in your comment. 

Behind the Story: USAF ~ Carrie Daws ~ Giveaway

Story Behind the Story: USAF

by Carrie Daws

Image courtesy pixabay.com

About four years ago, I had a new book idea: God speaking hope into desperation. Okay, so I didn't say it was a unique idea.

At first, it intrigued me. I had a couple of real-life stories from two families that were willing to share them with the world. They had drama and tension perfect for good fiction. As I thought about the details, I was filled with an incredible awe of what God was willing to do to rescue His own. I thought the stories would inspire, encourage. Challenge.

God and I talked, He fine-tuned the idea like only He can. In other words, He made it bigger. Much bigger. Slowly, my not-so-unique idea turned into, well, somewhat of a unique idea. After all, I agree with Solomon that there is nothing new under the sun (Ecclesiastes 1:9, NIV).

You see, I was born into an active duty Air Force family. Dad retired, entered the seminary, and then served bi-vocationally as a pastor of small churches and a civil servant with the Air Force, which continued to keep us moving around a lot. I grew up, married, and my husband soon joined the Air Force. From those early days with our young daughter on my hip, I experienced the sacrifices of a military wife and family. Over the years, I've listened to a lot of military spouses tell stories of their own sacrifices ranging from similar to mine to very, very different.

The stories I've heard piled in my heart. They became a part of who I was, what the American flag and the Star Spangled Banner represented to me. And the deeper I plunged into writing, the more some of these stories clamored to be told. Home Front Heroines was born.

The books are really quite simple: How God loved five desperate families, one from each branch of the Department of Defense, through some of the roughest days of their lives. Spiritual growth, emotional healing, and deep heart change. What could be more inspiring?

Home Front Heroines: More Than Meets the Eye.

Deployment changed him, and she doesn’t know if she can live with it. After her husband returns from a deployment to Saudi Arabia, Lori Braxton begins noticing little differences in his behavior. He’s withdrawn, moody, and can’t sleep. Could it be the stress of military life after the 9/11 attack on New York? Maybe it’s the new assignment in Montana or the financial problems he ignores. Perhaps it’s forces she can’t see and doesn’t know how to fight, or maybe she’s a bigger part of the problem than she wants to admit.

Lori tries to attend church and do what God asks, but the truth is she doesn’t really hear Him speak. Between money strains, pregnancy hormones, and young ones underfoot, Lori spirals into depression. What good could God possibly bring from the mess surrounding her?

Home Front Heroines: Not My Ways.

The long-awaited first grandchild is born, yet it quickly becomes clear that she may not survive more than a few hours. When she does, further tests reveal that she will require life-long care. The young family adapts, but the husband soon understands God wants him to go back into the military career that he left when he got married. How can the family thrive in the face of multiple hospital visits and long deployments?

Home Front Heroines: United States Army, Marines, and Coast Guard.

While the titles are still to be determined, the stories are no less heart-wrenching and life-changing than the situations above. Pornography and infidelity. Miscarriage. Severe PTSD. Isolation from family.

The good news is that all these stories have a happy ending—not because that's how I write them but because in each circumstance the family allowed God to intervene. They worked with the Holy Spirit to change them, to correct their attitudes, to heal their hearts, to look for God's perspective.

They are beautiful stories of hope and redemption, even in the midst of terrible loss. I hope you'll join me for this up close, personal look into the lives of some of our American military families. 

More Than Meets the Eye: United States Air Force (Home Front Heroines book 1)

Deployment changed him, and she doesn’t know if she can live with it.

After her husband returns from a deployment to Saudi Arabia, Lori Braxton begins noticing little differences in his behavior. He’s withdrawn, moody, and can’t sleep. Could it be the stress of military life after the 9/11 attack on New York? Maybe it’s the new assignment in Montana or the financial problems he ignores. Perhaps it’s forces she can’t see and doesn’t know how to fight, or maybe she’s a bigger part of the problem than she wants to admit

What is God doing? Is He even paying attention?

Lori tries to attend church and do what God asks, but the truth is she doesn’t really hear Him speak. Between money strains, pregnancy hormones, and young ones underfoot, Lori spirals into depression.

What good could God possibly bring from the mess surrounding her?

Options to Buy: http://carriedaws.com/my-books/fiction/home-front-heroines-book-1/

AUTHOR BIO:

God rewrote Carrie’s dreams to include being an author. With a background in weekly devotions, a mentor and several friends encouraged her to try fiction. The writing monster that she now barely keeps contained was born. Since then, she’s completed several books including her new romantic suspense, The Embers series. 

To learn more about her books, click HERE. 

Website: http://carriedaws.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CarrieDaws/

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/carriedaws/

ABOUT THE GIVEAWAY:

Carrie is offering copies of More Than Meets the Eye to TWO of this blog’s readers. To enter, just leave a comment and your contact information in the section below. Giveaway will run one week from today, ending at midnight on Wednesday, September 5, 2018, Central Time.

Capturing a Man ~ Carole Brown

Capturing a Man 

by Carole Brown

The way to a man's heart is through his stomach.

Or so it's said.

In Toby's Troubles, the fourth book in the Appleton, WV Romantic Mystery series, Amy Sanderson, next door business neighbor of Toby Gibson, has loved him forever. But being declared “like a sister” or a “best friend” doesn't cut it. At all.

He's just not interested.

But when she joins forces with him to capture the “ghost” that is breaking into his shop, she has this one chance to prove to him she's worth loving.

What can a woman do?

Let me list some ways that she can help herself in “capturing” a man:

1.     Be true to herself. Don't let down your standards in behavior and belief regardless of the consequences.

2.     Follow God's leading. Once you know God's will for your life, follow how, what and when as God leads in those areas.

3.     Be positive. Be friendly. Be loyal. Be confident. Your value in these areas are important.

4.     Don't be too available. A little competition never hurts, and it might just open a man's eyes to your value, what he's missing, and what God wants.

Example from the book: Toby's Troubles:

1.     In some of the scenes in the book, Amy goes with Toby to auctions and outbids him on certain items he is interested in. Of course, he doesn't like it, but she has a very special reason besides capturing his attention. 

2.     A casual date with others sometimes shows the other person that she is desirable in others' eyes. That's not a bad thing, and it worked on Toby.

3.     Although I don't bring in a lot of spiritual scenes in this book, I do allude

to the fact that they both are faithful and loyal Christians. When Toby allows himself to get carried away with denouncing interest in Amy, the hurt on her face convicts him that he's done wrong. This not only helps in showing him he was being unkind and thoughtless, but pulls out hidden emotions about Amy that he wanted no one, including himself, to see. It was a decided turning point in opening his eyes.

Be steadfast in your pursuit. Or as I've written in Toby's Troubles about Amy:

She can be just as stubborn as the man who's determined to ignore her love.

Whatever you want to call it, follow the suggestions above, then go for it.

Happy hunting!

About the Book:

Everyone loves Toby Gibson. A co-owner of Undiscovered Treasures, a unique shop of antiques, collectibles, and junk, Toby is friendly, generous to a fault, the director of the local plays in Appleton and supports his church's youth functions. But the minute his sister, Caroline and her new husband, take off for their honeymoon, a “ghost” begins to haunt the shop—or maybe it's just an intruder. If so, Toby has no idea for what the thing is looking. To add to his troubles, he suspects Amy, not only is bidding for the property he's wanted forever but is in love with him. And he's not interested.

Amy Sanderson who owns the only flower shop in Appleton—Bloomin' Life—is drawn into capturing Toby's “ghost” when her own business is damaged by a destructive intruder. Having loved Toby since a teenager, she's more than willing to join forces with him. But she has no interest in being his best friend or a sister to him. And if she has to resort to schemes of outbidding him at his frequent auction attendances to get his attention, then so be it. She can be just as stubborn as the man who's determined to ignore her love.

In between the break-ins, destruction of property, thefts and personal competitions against each other, Amy and Toby work together to find the thief who seems so determined to find a valuable item, he'll stop at nothing.

  

Buy link:

https://www.amazon.com/Carole-Brown/e/B00EZV4RFY/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1?qid=1492661357&sr=1-1

About Carole:

 Besides being a member and active participant of many writing groups, Carole Brown enjoys mentoring beginning writers. An author of ten books, she loves to weave suspense and tough topics into her books, along with a touch of romance and whimsy, and is always on the lookout for outstanding titles and catchy ideas. She and her husband reside in SE Ohio but have ministered and counseled nationally and internationally. Together, they enjoy their grandsons, traveling, gardening, good food, the simple life, and did she mention their grandsons?

Personal blog: http://sunnebnkwrtr.blogspot.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CaroleBrown.author

Amazon Author Page:  http://www.amazon.com/Carole-Brown/e/B00EZV4RFY/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1?qid=1427898838&sr=8-1

Twitter:  https://twitter.com/browncarole212

BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/carole-brown

Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/sunnywrtr/boards/

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/5237997-carole-brown

Linkedin:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/carole-brown-79b6951a/

Google+:    https://plus.google.com/u/0/113068871986311965415/posts

Stitches in Time:  http://stitchesthrutime.blogspot.com/

God's Waiting Room by Alexis A. Goring

God’s Waiting Room

A devotional by Alexis A. Goring

Image from Pixabay.com

I’ve been waiting for my creative career dreams to come true for some time now and lately I realize that God has me in what I like to call “God’s Waiting Room”. No, it’s not a physical waiting room located in a hospital. It is more of a spiritual one where I’m waiting on my dreams to come true.

These last several years have been filled with highs and lows. After being laid-off from my last day job, I have not been hired by a new boss. So thinking that maybe I need to be my own boss, I started my own business (an editorial service). The clients that I’ve had are happy with my work but I don’t have enough clients to make a solid living financially, which is why I’ve been applying for another day job. However, the rejection letters keep rolling in. I’ve told some of my author friends that I’ve received more rejection letters from potential employers than I have from literary agents.

Recently, I was sinking into despair but then in the midst of my worrying, God encouraged my heart when He led me to this song by Lincoln Brewster called “While I Wait.” The song is essentially about waiting on the Lord and trusting Him with the outcome.

It’s also about trusting God in the process as you wait on Him to take you to where He wants you to be in life. This song taught me a few very important life lessons. Allow me to explain the lessons I’m learning while seated in God’s Waiting Room.

If you’re a human on planet Earth, you will have seasons of waiting. It varies from person to person. Some are waiting to graduate from school and enter the workforce. Some are waiting to marry their soul mate. Some newlyweds are waiting to purchase or build their dream home. Some married couples are waiting on a baby of their own. Some professionals are waiting on the job of their dreams. Some are waiting on peace to prevail in their land. Some are waiting on God to answer their prayers. We’re all waiting on something or someone. While you’re waiting, I want to encourage you to listen to this song (“While I Wait” by Lincoln Brewster).

Here’s what I’ve learned from the song and from my own experience of being in God’s Waiting Room: Though I don’t have the answers, I will trust God all the same. In his song “While I Wait”, Lincoln Brewster says that sometimes miracles take time. I’m determined to worship God while I wait and will continue trusting Him. He makes miracles every day. It’s only a matter of time before He makes one for me. I know this because God is faithful every day. His promises are permanent and He is faithful to fulfill each one. I don’t understand the wait but I know that God is with me. I do not have all the answers but I serve a God who is sovereign, faithful and in control of my life story. He has the answers that I need. I’m trusting Him to reveal His will for my life in His perfect time.

So here’s to everyone who’s waiting on a dream of his or her heart to come true: Be encouraged. God loves you. He is Faithful to keep all of His promises that are found in His Word (The Holy Bible). If He made a promise to you then you can trust Him to keep it. It’s like my Grandma says, “God may not come when you want Him to but He’s always on time!”

 God bless you.

Love,

Alexis

Alexis A. Goring is a passionate writer with a degree in Print Journalism and an MFA in Creative Writing. She loves the art of storytelling and hopes that her stories will connect readers with the enduring, forever love of Jesus Christ.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AuthorAlexisAGoring/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/PennedbyAlex

Website: https://alexisagoring.jimdo.com

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/capturingidea/

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7260528.Alexis_A_Goring

“God is Love” blog: http://capturingtheidea.blogspot.com

Beginnings, Middle, and Endings ~ Sally Chambers ` #Giveaway

Beginnings, Middles, and Endings

by Sally Chambers

(with a giveaway - details below)

My prayer as I begin to write this for Peg’s blog—a prayer close to the one I whispered when I began to write in earnest many years ago. "Lord, help me share a little of my writing story. May Your words flow through Your mind and heart into mine that You may be lifted up."

Nothing like retiring from a long, wonderful career in insurance and deciding that the writing you so dearly love doing for fun is suddenly free to become a passion!

Even while running my office, I’d been writing occasional articles for small magazines and a local newspaper, devotionals for The Upper Room, and fiction for KidzChat, Sunday school lessons, even attending the Florida Writers Conference. Maybe I could try writing a novel.

A few years later, I’d been working on my nearly-finished first book, The Stonekeepers, and was already looking forward to doing something new and different. But before beginning something new shouldn’t I complete what I started? Was I jumping ahead of the Lord’s plans for me?

“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future” (Jeremiah 29:11 NIV).

On a cool, sunny Florida morning in December, I walked into the mall to pick up our favorite brand of coffee. I’d been thinking and praying over the second novel taking shape in my mind. Characters evolved. Settings imagined became final. The story would launch from Solvang, California, move to Sao Paulo, Brazil, then Manaus, Brazil and the beautiful Amazon rainforest. I’d been doing tons of research, mind-wandering through ideas and looking for confirmation, wondering if all this work was within the Lord’s will.

I passed a small travel agency. Beside the open doorway, a display table sat laden with slick, full-color brochures. Sensing a firm nudge that there was something on that table I needed to see, I stopped, retracing my steps.

I had to smile, standing there studying those brochures. In the center of the display, a pamphlet on South America all but invited me to pick it up. I flipped through the pages amazed at descriptions and offers of tours in Brazil—with featured visits to both Manaus and Sao Paulo. No, I wouldn’t be taking a tour, but to me, this was vivid assurance I was on the right track.  

Thanks, Lord! How could I not accept such sweet confirmation? I’ll pray and think about it.

Not only did I pray and think, I received more confirmation. Like friends who knew a missionary couple who’d served in both Manaus and in the Amazon rainforest. Could I interview them? I could, and I did. ☺

I’ve had so much encouragement in the time between then and now. I’m grateful for friends and family, for workshops and critiques courses, and more as the story grew into the 300 plus page novel it is today. Out of the Shadows, was released by my publisher, Deb Haggerty’s Elk Lake Publishing, Inc., last month.

I enjoy taking my time to write my contemporary inspirational suspense with its heartwarming thread of romance. I like doing the research, am challenged with brainstorming over what happens next. My novels are woven through time. As I did when I had a career, I write around and through life as it happens. Not the way to become a prolific writer, but I wouldn’t change a thing. Writing has increased my faith and kept me closer than breath to my heavenly Father.

“To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven” (Ecclesiastes 3:1 NKJV)

Some final thoughts. You’re never too old to begin something new. When you aren’t sure what to do next, lay out everything before the Lord, ask, listen and expect then wait and watch and receive. He is with you in your walk, always. No one loves you more. 

View the video book trailer of Out of the Shadows.

About Sally:

My husband, Jerry, and I live in sunny, sub-tropical Florida. Happy to have our two married children living within driving distance, our grandchildren and great grandchildren visit from the UK and Colorado. Since retiring from my career in insurance, I’ve focused on my love of writing.

An author of Christian fiction, I enjoy writing for women of all ages, creating suspenseful, faith-filled stories with a dash of romance. I was thrilled to be a finalist in the American Christian Fiction Writer’s inaugural First Impressions Contest and have won awards for poetry and short stories.

One of my favorite things to do is to walk on the beach and anywhere there’s a trail. I love reading to children, writing, reviewing and editing for writer friends, having fun taking photos with my iPhone, and reading, especially mystery, suspense, adventure.

Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/2vNOxtZ 

Giveaway info:

If there are ten or more comments, Sally will give away TWO Kindle eBooks – Out of the Shadows. If less than ten comments, she’ll give away one Kindle eBook copy.
Optional question for fun: A reply to the following question:

Have you ever used a bow and arrow or paddled a canoe?

(Not answering the question won’t affect your eligibility to win.)
Leave your comment below with your name and contact information (so we can contact you if you're the winner) to enter.
Giveaway ends one week from today on August 23 at Midnight CDT.
Note: If you follow this blog (see sidebar) and make note of it in your comments, you'll get an extra entry in the giveaway.

Humor and the Beholder ~ Thomas Albaugh ~ Giveaway

Humor and the Beholder

by Thomas Albaugh

(#Giveaway details below)

Brief Synopsis of Book

When a reality TV scout “discovers” Walter in a diner near the hospice where his father has been placed, his life has reached a low point. His father is dying, his college teaching career is under threat, and his life is adrift. The scout wants him for a reality show about religion. In a more self-assured period of his life, Walter would have rejected her offer, but now he wavers and allows himself to be drawn in. Maybe this is the jolt of energy his life needs. Maybe, if the show succeeds, his university will be so impressed that they’ll finally treat him with respect. Maybe the show will even be what the producers promise it will be, a serious inquiry into faith. Maybe he’ll become famous.

The show brings Walter attention, but for all the wrong reasons. He is misquoted, misinterpreted, misunderstood, and then shot after he has been dragged across the country in an increasingly frustrating and absurd series of challenges. Will his career and reputation survive the publish protests? Will his marriage survive the hints of affairs on the road? Will any kind of “reality” emerge to restore his self-respect?

Thomas here: 

One of my favorite teachers once pointed out that comedians never laugh. The next time I watched a comedy sketch, I realized he was right. The audience was laughing. The host was laughing. But the comedian appeared to be suffering.

“Comedy is serious business,” they say. Comedians may lead lives of pain or they may not. But they do find out what makes others laugh.

So I hesitate to call Apocalypse TV, my first novel, comedic, or even funny. In fact, I’ve long learned as a writer to stop “trying to be funny.” I’ve found it best to simply write my way into a scene, and if I stay awake to what one friend calls “life’s little ironies,” sometimes the humor surfaces. But even then, not everyone is going to “get it.” Everything depends on the reader.

I have noticed also that the best comedy dwells very close to the tragic. Readers of Shakespeare have long noticed that what sometimes separates his tragedies from his comedies is the ending. My favorite comedic novels often have a serious side. People still die in them or have bad things happen to them. But it is the seriousness that leads us to recognize the grounds for what is humorous.

For the most part, I can claim that my novel, Apocalypse TV, is comedic for some people. My book begins seriously enough with the death of the narrative character’s father. In this shadow, the action takes place on a reality show that is low comedy, even as it takes place in the setting of some serious American history, like the Plymouth Colony replica, a setting and subtext meant to show how the first pilgrims to this continent lived. So the puzzle game played by the reality show contestants happens on ground that might have raised questions about grace, the end of the world, and how the pilgrims saw their “red” neighbors. In this situation, of a religious reality show being played out on the American continent, the trivial and the momentous are never far from each other.

I don’t know that anyone ever just sets out to write humor any more than anyone can intentionally write something that is holy. We can provide the story and the forms, but everything depends on our audience. For example, when I’ve read in public a line on the first page of my novel, it has sometimes elicited laughs. Sometimes it hasn’t. I’m not sure why either reaction has happened.

My hope, finally, is that my readers will enjoy the story. Laughter is always welcome.

Thomas Allbaugh is an associate professor of English at Azusa Pacific University, where he has taught Composition and Creative Writing since 2001. Currently, he lives in Southern California with his wife and their three surviving children.  Apocalypse TV is his first novel.

Purchase Apocalypse TV on Amazon, at  https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_2?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=Thomas+Allbaugh

 Social Media Presence:

My website: www.thomasallbaugh.com Sign up here for my email newsletter

 Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/PretextsForWriting/ 

Twitter: @tallbaugh1

About the Giveaway:

Thomas is offering a free print copy of Apocalypse TV to one of this blog's readers. Entering is easy. Just leave a comment below with your contact information and your name goes in the hat. Giveaway ends one week from today on Wednesday, August 22, at Midnight CDT. 
Note: If you follow this blog (see sidebar) and make note of it in your comment, you'll get an extra entry in this giveaway.