Into the Fire

Although this sign is a bit dramatic, I wanted to use it to make a point. As Christians, we want to do our best to represent Jesus Christ. As humans, we are sometimes noted for botching up a good witness.

As fiction writers who are Christians, we want to write stories which illuminate and/or incorporate our Savior, faith issues, the human condition, and somehow make sin realistic without kowtowing to the relativity of wrong as the world likes to preach. It's a tall order.

Many Christian authors hope their work will reach the lost or at least those who are searching for something to believe in. As Christians, we also realize and must face up to our inability to save a soul. Yes, God can use us to be a starting, in between, or ending point to the salvation process. No, it isn't up to us when or who He chooses to do this. Or who He calls upon to hear the Gospel.

I know the hearts of many authors hope their novels will reach the lost. And it's not that they can't or won't, it's that God is in charge of that. If you've ever read the mean-spirited, unkind, critical reviews at Amazon – and I imagine elsewhere - from readers who resent and have the nerve to say they were offended at the Christian "message", "agenda", or "dogma" in a book by a Christian author, you know those who aren't interested in God can be bitter, cruel, and totally unappreciative of anything representing what they comprehend as "religious" propaganda.

After spending some time reading in the ABA, it's easy to determine the focus of many of their authors – certainly not all. The dependence on the human intellect and innate strength of will overrule any divine supernatural assistance unless of course the use of ghosts and demonic creatures are used. And there seems to be a fair amount of anger toward the perception of God as they see Him. Any reliance on God is either portrayed as weak, crazy, inane, or foolish. Until a life or death situation occurs. Maybe then a protagonist or heroine offers up a quick prayer, never to be addressed again once safe. Or acknowledged.

It's our love for Jesus which makes us need to share the Gospel. I just don't think we can count on it happening effectively for the unbeliever through our stories unless it is our specific charge from the Lord. The world is lost and each individual needs The Savior, but no one comes to Him unless they're called. If the Holy Spirit uses a novel to reach them, they can make an informed decision through His leading. What a privilege if something we write is what He chooses to draw them near.

We must write the stories He gives us and let Him take it from there.

Father, we desire to be a faithful witness when we write and in everything we do, always hoping to honor you with our words and actions. No one knows our failures better than you. And yet you love us still. Amazing God. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.

First of all, my sincere thanks to Heather for her generous offer to give away a copy of Miranda Warning, either print or ebook, and for her informative post on indie publishing. Miranda Warning is a good novel and an enjoyable springboard for the A Murder in the Mountains Series.

I also want to thank each one of you who took the time to stop by, read my review, and post a comment to be eligible for the drawing. I appreciate you all: Jenni, Heidi, Keri-Elizabeth, bn100, Debra, and Brenda.

And the winner is DEBRA! Look for my email to make arrangements for your copy of Heather Day Gilbert's Miranda Warning.

Father, please continue to bless Heather in all of her endeavors and also each one who took the time to bless me by entering this giveaway. Heap your love upon them, Lord. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.

An interesting mystery accompanying graphic sex scenes. Not sure which gets more attention.

Since I'm an adult, married, have had two sons, I read through the sexual episodes for one reason: to know what to expect from this author, to realize and confirm the graphic nature of sex in the general market – and from this novel, as explicit as these scenes were, I'm fairly sure there are far worse in both the romance category and other genres. Which, for me, is a sad commentary on the state of literature and the romance-reading world. Because this wasn't romance to me. It was raw lust – and identified as such to Anderson's credit – and if these scenes had been portrayed visually, they would certainly be pornographic which might explain why some women are addicted to secular romance novels.

Included in the story were insults to God, as referenced by a small "g" when mentioned, with "Christ" and "Jesus" basically used as expletives. Lots of other cuss words present too. 

The mystery/suspense tells the story of a murder in a small town on Vancouver Island (west of British Columbia). The lead RCMP investigator, Sergeant Holly Rudd, must find the murderer of a man found in the depths of an old unidentified ship wreckage. The two local divers who discover the corpse, Thomas Edgefield, head of the Marine Lab, and Finn Carver, former Special Forces and self-assigned protector of Thomas Edgefield, recognize the knife stuck through the guy's chest but don't mention it to the Sergeant. Thomas Edgefield with Finn present faints when Holly visits his office to interview him. She learns she presents an amazing resemblance to Edgefield's murdered wife, an old local Cold Case. 

The small town is not receptive to cops, and suspects and leads seem to dissolve. A threat on Holly's life occurs with no real clues as to who's responsible. Until there is another murder.

Now in itself, the mystery is a good one with one hint or clue after another frustrating the investigation but eventually leading to a climactic discovery. But I'm afraid the author seemed more concerned with the physical climaxes shared by the co-protagonists Finn and Holly. And these explicit scenes bog down the story and turn it into a bodice ripping tale that morphs into "love" which I addressed in my post here. 

Here's the thing: after reading one of the sex scenes, the additional ones were boring. As I said, I'm an adult,  wife, and mother. I get it. I'm also a die-hard romantic who doesn't read most CBA – and now for sure not ABA - romances. The CBA hides sexual tension well and mostly fails to address the sexual attraction between male and female protagonists. The ABA takes sexual attraction to another level, acts on it, and leaves zero to the imagination. Both are unsatisfying to this author and reader.

So. I can't recommend Dangerous Waters by Toni Anderson, but I could have if she'd eliminated the graphic sex scenes. She took a good mystery and ruined it with over-the-top lusty components, overshadowing the suspense with raw sex for no good reason.

Father, you're the only source for decency. Left to the world's view of sex, we're all worthless pawns in a satanic vision. Please minister to those to whom you've given the talent to use words. Help them to see what's of true value and what is a waste of time on earth. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.   

For a man's ways are in full view of the Lord,

  and he examines all his paths.

The evil deeds of a wicked man ensnare him;

  the cords of his sin hold him fast.

He will die for lack of discipline,

  led astray by his own great folly.

Proverbs 5:21-23 (NIV)

Today is your opportunity to win either an ebook or soft cover of Miranda Warning. Your choice! Leave a comment through Sunday and make sure I have an email address. Random selection will determine a winner to be announced on June 23rd.

Miranda Warning by Heather Day Gilbert is the first in the A Murder in the Mountains Series.

Miranda Warning begins with a stunning paragraph penned in first person much  like a journal or diary entry. The entries continue throughout the story from past to present and reveal a character who is deeply troubled.  

Miranda is the 69 year old best friend of a young-married woman named Tess Spencer. Tess and her up-and-coming lawyer husband Thomas are still paying off student loans, live in Thomas' parents' small cottage across the driveway from their house, and have just discovered Tess is pregnant. After two years of marriage and so many financial difficulties, Tess can't imagine being ready for a baby but is simultaneously excited and nervous.

Tess's ties to Miranda go back to when Tess was a young teen whose dad was long gone and whose mother was in and out of trouble with the law over drugs. Miranda rescued the young Tess, showed her love and commitment, introduced her to God, and became her best friend. Miranda, now a widow, has suffered both a heart attack and a stroke which has left her in a wheel chair where she resides in the plush assisted living "resort" called The Haven. Still sharp in her insights and resolute in her faith, Miranda receives a threatening letter from what appears to be a long-dead friend.

Enter Tess to the rescue. To return the unsoliticed favor to Miranda, Tess is compelled to investigate this haunting warning to her friend. In the process of her desire to help, Tess receives some personal warnings, gets followed, has ghostly stalkers appear on her in-law's property, receives flowers with hidden meanings delivered by an old college acquaintance, and manages to rile up her husband and family who want to protect her.

Progressing from the typical young wife, who only knows what guys are like in her perceived notions of them, to the increasingly hormonal pregnant woman, Tess is sometimes a super sleuth, sometimes an over-protective jealous child, and sometimes just a carelessly obsessed friend on the hunt for whoever is threatening her friend and her. She's usually armed with her knife because she can't carry the Glock without a permit, but this doesn't always reassure her or her husband that she's safe as the threatening incidents increase.

There are many more details and characters in this well-written story of betrayal, resentment, revenge, friendship, forgiveness, loyalty, and love, but I'll let readers investigate along with Tess's first person account of her adventurous pursuits in solving the mystery of the Miranda Warning.

Heather Day Gilbert has written an enticing tale to begin her series, endearing us to many of the characters, creating a credible mystery with snapshots of truly humorous quips of internal dialogue, behaviors, and circumstances. A good first  novel in A Murder in the Mountains Series. 

Father, please continue to keep Heather in your care, diagramming her writing journey, filling her with stories you have just for her to tell. Watch over her and keep her safe from all harm. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.    

Today I have the pleasure of introducing you to Heather Day Gilbert, indie author of two very different novels God's Daughter and Miranda Warning. Tomorrow on the release date of Miranda Warning I will present my review and offer you an opportunity to win a copy of the book in e-form or softcover. So . . . here's Heather!

Five Top Reasons I'm Thankful to be an Indie Author

By: Heather Day Gilbert

Thank you so much for letting me visit your blog, Nicole. And thank you for being an early reader for my mystery, Miranda Warning.

Despite the strides indie authors have made over the past several years, I think most indies have run into at least a few less-than-stellar reactions, even in the Christian community. Reviewers who refuse to read self-published novels. Award contests that won't accept indie nominees. Agents who say they support indies but have no clue how to promote them.

Today, I want to focus on why I'm HAPPY to be an indie author. Yes, it took me a while to get past that dream of being traditionally published. But now, seven months after my novel debut, I spend most of my time counting my indie blessings. I'm going to name them, one by one…

1) Books go out on my own schedule. After spending over a year and a half on submission in the traditional publishing world, I can say that I'm so thankful my first book didn't get picked up then. It would've taken another year to get it into production, and I wanted to get my novel (God's Daughter) out when Vikings were trending. Thanks to that, I've had some opportunities I wouldn't have had otherwise, such as my book being carried in the Royal BC Museum in Canada for their Vikings exhibition–going on now through September.

2) I control when my books are free or discounted, and I have immediate feedback on the sales fluctuations that occur after this. I don't have to wait months to know how my books are selling or if my marketing strategies are working. I can be hands-on and responsive to what readers are looking for.

3) I can set up my own early reader pool. As an indie author, I try to hunt down readers in my genre, who enjoy my writing style. It doesn't mean I always get five stars. But it means those first reviews are thoughtful and thorough for Goodreads and Amazon, and that's critical since those are the first ones people will see. Often, traditionally published authors can't offer ARCs to readers until about a month pre-launch. I try to make sure I give readers at least 2 to 3 months, so they can have plenty of time to read and formulate reviews/endorsements. Not to mention, it builds buzz if they like your book.

4) I can be responsive to my readers. My readers have offered input on varying aspects of publication, from series titles to book blurbs. If not for my readers, I wouldn't know that they rarely read endorsements for non-debut books, because they already "know" that author. This gave me freedom on my second book, so I didn't focus so heavily on endorsements.

Not to mention readers have an unerring sense of what will sell. Time and time again, I see the majority veer toward the most marketable choice. It is tremendously helpful to me as an author, and I express my appreciation for my readers every chance I get.

5) The indie community is one of the most well-informed, most supportive communities out there. Yes, I have many traditionally published friends, too, and I love them! But indies have to stay abreast of the latest marketing strategies/formatting tools/cover trends, and the list goes on. Not to mention we are all fairly independent-minded. We might occasionally disagree, but we also learn from each other. We develop our own strategies of writing and marketing. We grow together and lend support.

These are just a few reasons why I'm so thankful God led me to be an independent publisher. There are so many more–from controlling your cover art to choosing your editors–but I won't get into those now. I just hope this encourages writers who might feel traditional is not the ideal route for them. There are options nowadays, and though indie publishing is a lot of work (like a full-time job!), the rewards can be rich.

AUTHOR BIO:

HEATHER DAY GILBERT enjoys writing stories about authentic, believable marriages. Seventeen years of marriage to her sweet Yankee husband have given her some perspective, as well as ten years spent homeschooling. Heather regularly posts on Novel Rocket about self-publishing.

You can find Heather at her website, Heather Day Gilbert–Author, and at her Facebook Author Page, as well as Twitter, Pinterest, YouTube, and Goodreads. Her Viking novel, God's Daughter, is an Amazon bestseller. You can find it on Amazon and Audible.com. Her Appalachian mystery, Miranda Warning, releases June 20th.

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_gw?url=search-alias=aps&field-keywords=God's%20Daughter%20by%20Heather%20Day%20Gilbert

            http://www.amazon.com/Miranda-Warning-Murder-Mountains-Book-ebook/dp/B00L0N6N7U/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1403023746&sr=8-1&keywords=Miranda+Warning+by+Heather+Day+Gilbert

Father, please continue to bless Heather's hard work and good writing. Meet her needs and supply your inspiration. Be her champion and counselor in all she does for you. In the Name of Jesus, Amen. 

Disregard the date on this promotional picture. This summer's new episodes begin on June 24th (2014) at 7 PM PDT.

Tomorrow you will be introduced to author Heather Day Gilbert if you haven't already had the pleasure. And on Friday I will post a review of her latest novel Miranda Warning.

Father, continue to bless those who offer their talents to you and lead those who don't know the origin of those talents to you, the source. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.

Recently I've warily delved into a few general market books, mostly suspense and mystery novels. I'm a third of the way into my last one for a while. Guess what I've discovered?

In Christian fiction sex is taboo. At least anything past "longing looks" and "deep kisses" and occasional thoughts of "possibilities" related to those longing looks and sensual kisses. Not only is sex left to the imagination, real sexual attraction lags somewhere in no man's land – or perhaps I should revise that to say no woman's land. Mention a slang term for breast ("boob") or even the real word for breast: breast, and nope, nada, and don't-you-dare use those words in a Christian novel! 

In the general market, as expected, sex is mostly detailed, slang terms are used for just about everything, men and women lust after each other, and sex appeal is often prominently displayed and acted upon.

So. What's wrong with this picture? Making love is a God thing. Having sex is a worldly thing. The difference between two individuals becoming one under the marriage banner (and those individuals aren't of the same sex) and those who randomly select partners to indulge the flesh present a huge gap. Big. Definitive. Separated in every possible way except in the way their bodies function.

Why am I bringing this up again? Because there's no escaping sex. It's everywhere. The enemy of our souls has taken something beautiful and perverted it into something meaningless, inconsequential, or depraved, lying about the effects of fornication, homosexuality, pedophilia, rape, and every other derelict use of bodies to provide sexual content. It doesn't matter that rape is about control and dominance – there is a sexual trigger.

Of all the different kinds of romance novels – and there are probably millions - in Christian fiction shouldn't sex be presented in honesty and beauty the way it was intended? I don't mean explicitly or with graphic descriptions, but there is much to be said for portraying the sexual attraction between a man and a woman. It's not just about longing looks and deep kisses. There isn't anything wrong with honest magnetism. And why shouldn't it be contrasted to the lusty version the world uses?

If nothing else, reading two of the three secular novels reminds me of the messes people create for themselves with their misguided pursuit of the male/female dynamic culminating in sexual favors, episodes, experiences. There's nothing there to hold onto. Not that a kind of human love can't develop, but without the stabilizing beauty of God's idea of lovemaking, people are reduced to mere physical beings. This provides temporary satisfaction, but that's all. It's an act. Like eating a meal. After a while, you're hungry again. Appetites flare. Dissatisfaction with the menu. An ongoing pursuit begins. Or continues.

And that, my friends, is the trouble with sex . . .   

Father, you made the act of love a holy experience. You created beauty in the two becoming one. You made all things good. I'm so sorry for the perversion and corruption of what the world calls sex. We're all desperate for you, whether we know it or not. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.

Now this escape into the secular market held a bit more of what is expected from general market fiction. There were language issues, one fairly graphic sex scene, and a gay Nigerian artist. Add to that the hopelessness of the dying P. I. Jimmy Booker, and you have a sad, borderline depressing, novel about Jimmy's last case. The caveat is this story was well-written in first-person POV.

If you've never experienced the deterioration of a cancer patient, J. R. Rain helps you to personally feel what Jimmy's enduring in his heterosexually acquired AIDS-related cancer. Jimmy spent time with many women, but the one woman who didn't realize her condition passed it along to Jimmy. His caretaker, Numi, the gay Nigerian artist, sees to Jimmy's every need, monitors his rest and natural cleanse tonics, and generally refuses to believe the man he addresses as "Cowboy" and "Kemosabe" among other terms, is going to die.

When an old friend finally musters the courage to meet Jimmy at his usual morning coffee stop, the friend Eddie reveals that his wife Olivia, who Jimmy once loved and who is estranged from Eddie, has been missing for 48 hours and is there any way Jimmy can try to find her. Jimmy can't imagine finding the strength to conduct an investigation, but he demands every last resource of his determination to do so, much to Numi's concern for his health.

The silent echo from Jimmy's past pulsates through his dying flesh, remembering how an attraction to, and the distraction of, a couple of girls in his youth resulted in the death of his little brother in the park where they played catch before the baseball game they were scheduled to watch. 

Jimmy seeks the help of a police detective he knows, and the search for Olivia begins. Jimmy learns quickly that every effort he makes is more of a demand on his quickly fading body. His determination might not be enough, that is until Olivia is discovered, and the relation to his brother's death so many years ago can't be a coincidence.

Silent Echo is not a cheery story, equally focused on a dying man's hopeless condition and mental state and the mystery of finally solving Olivia's disappearance and potentially his brother's murder. Deemed a mystery, philosophically it's about the anger of an adult man toward God over the death of his brother and how the resulting self-loathing produced by feeling totally responsible for it have left him incapable of sustaining relationships, filled with a silent rage, and struggling between wanting death and fearing it. **SLIGHT SPOILERS** Subtle issues/problems address homosexuality, making Numi a saint and Jimmy's only real friend, finding what feels like real love when it's too late, finally receiving reconciliation with his mother who blamed him for his brother's death, and an inconclusive opinion on life after death. **END SPOILERS**

Jimmy's last case gives him the release to leave his life behind.

As a Christian, of course this is not the total ending I would desire, but for this particular work, it's plausible and expected. While there is some satisfaction in the conclusion, secular fiction addresses the aftermath of death in vague and overused opinions. 

Written very well with a fitting and consistent voice, the weaknesses for me appeared in these areas: a bit of a stretch regarding the romantic/sexual encounter/relationship with Mary, deciding whether or not the author intended an agenda with his character Numi, and the somewhat implausible fight scene with Eddie. The mystery itself was tipped off early, but the "getting there" proved interesting.

J. R. Rain's Silent Echo presents another quick and interesting summer read if you can take the first paragraph's warnings in this review.

Lord, only you know hearts. Only you change hearts. Praying your insights to be revealed to J. R. Rain. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.  

Trust in him at all times, O people;

  pour out your hearts to him,

  for God is our refuge.

Psalm 62:8 (NIV)