Into the Fire

Passionate thoughts about the world of writing and the Power of God

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Passionate: right or wrong. Writes love stories with a passion. Raw Romantic Redemptive

  • Thursday Thoughts . . .

    You really do have to give credit to the marketing team at Broadman and Holman. They’re spending the big bucks on photo shoots and trailers to promote their new fiction authors—the authors certainly aren’t new and neither are they mediocre. Nope, they’re first class and deserve the attention. Kudos to Karen Ball for acquiring Brandilyn Collins and Tosca Lee. You go, Girls.

     

    Today I get my new crowns. On my teeth. Not tiaras. Last appointment they injected me with a numbing medicine that made me almost faint, then everything turned yellow. Yes, yellow. And then the symptoms dissipated, and I was normal—well, as normal as I was when I went in there—and the temporary crowns were fitted. However, my lower jaw and those extremities were numb until 11:30 that night. Not this time. No injections. Huh uh.  

     

    Coming soon: a review of Mike Dellosso’s newest release Darlington Woods. An interview with Mike and a special post from Mike. You’ll love the guy. And if you’re a fan of scary, supernatural stories, you’ll want to read his novels.

     

    I’m outta here.

     

    Father, I’m desperate for you. In the name of Jesus, Amen.

  • Our preferences . . .

    Okay. We all have them. We tolerate second best to our preferences in many things and have zero tolerance for anything but our preference(s) in other things.

     

    Take chocolate for example. I will not eat dark chocolate. I will go without rather than eating it. It tastes bitter to me. My husband will eat any kind of chocolate except white— which all real chocolate lovers drone on about it not being real chocolate. However, my husband’s absolute favorite is dark chocolate. And I buy him the darkest I can find. Of course, if any of it is good for us, it’s dark chocolate above the 60% cacao mark. No doubt that’s the reason I don’t like it—sometimes I wonder if anything I like is “good” for me . . .

     

    As you know, I not only prefer Coca Cola, I won’t drink anything else. As Sibella Giorello’s character FBI Special Agent Raleigh Harmon states, “Coke. Never, ever Pepsi.” Some things will not work with substitutes.

     

    I will once in a great while make exceptions to my genre reading rules. Not often. I chose to read Austin Boyd’s Mars Hill Trilogy which is basically Sci-fi, yet not really. Maybe that’s why I enjoyed it. I read Francine Rivers’ Redeeming Love which is historical—and you know I don’t often read historicals—and found it to be one of the all time best novels ever written. However, I do not read “Lits”, not Chick-lits, Mom-lits, not any lits. Not my thing. Nor is fantasy. At all.

     

    Do you have absolutes in your preferences? In reading, eating, or anything else?

     

    Thank you, Lord, for all the wonders of your creation, your artistic nature, your beauty. You’re amazing, and I love you. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.

  • Unknowingly . . . In Harm’s Way

    Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group, provided me with this final book in “The Heroes of Quantico” series by Irene Hannon, and like the two previous novels in this series (An Eye for an Eye; Against All Odds), In Harm's Way is aimed directly at those CBA readers who love romantic suspense.

     

    Rachel Sutton lives alone, teaches piano to children, plays piano at an elegant hotel “tea”, paints gorgeous murals for hire, and having grown up in the foster care system after a car accident left her mother dead and herself severely injured, she believes she has no family. After shopping, she discovers an old Raggedy Ann doll semi-buried in the remains of the St. Louis snow and ice outside her car in the parking lot. Compelled to dislodge the dirty doll, she finally frees it and picks it up only to have a terrifying reaction that fills her with dread and near shock. Unable to recover until she drops the doll, she takes it home anyway.

     

    Explaining the weird event to her teacher friend at school, she asks the woman if her friend would talk to her husband who’s a cop about the find, knowing he will undoubtedly think she’s a wacko but wondering if there could be anything significant about this lost doll. When her friend and her husband talk at a restaurant, a tabloid reporter overhears the conversation from the next booth and sets her sleuthing on who discovered the doll, eager to write an article on the psychic angle of the experience.

     

    Still feeling there is significance to this doll because of the potent power of her experience with it, she dares to take it to the FBI office. Enter the third hunky hero in this three part series: FBI Special Agent Nick Bradley, previous member of the specialized HRT. Attraction to each other and the humility of Rachel Sutton as she presents her odd tale fuel Nick’s interest in the woman who brings this crazy doll to the FBI. Asking her to pick up the doll out of the paper bag, he witnesses her uncontrolled and scary reaction to it the moment she touches it. Later at dinner with his friends, the other two heroes and their wives, he reluctantly explains the meeting with Rachel.

     

    In Harm’s Way develops from the discovery of the doll and the romance between Nick and Rachel. I don’t want to tell you the early event involving an infant because it’s a vital part of the story you need to read in order to participate in the full suspense of the story. There is more suspense than sheer romance, a nice twist, and an expected conclusion. Cleanly written with a prominent faith element, this is easily appealing commercial romantic suspense for a primarily CBA female audience just like the previous two books in “The Heroes of Quantico” series. Mission accomplished once again by Irene Hannon.

     

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    Available April 2010 at your favorite bookseller from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group.

     

    Father, continue to provide the inspiration for Irene Hannon’s writing. Give her what she needs to do what you’ve asked of her. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.

  • Sunday’s Offerings

    The Lord will grant that the enemies who rise up against you will be defeated before you. They will come at you from one direction but flee from you in seven.

    Deuteronomy 28:7 (NIV)

  • Just a tad hypocritical?

    Backstory. How can a novel exist without it? Thrust into present tense, first person POV, backstory must still be revealed. Second person POV, though rarely used, must recall something from the past to allow the voice of the character to clue us in to the quandary of his dialogue. Third person POVs give us history of their characters one way or another.

     

    The current trend found in Susan Meissner’s award winning novel The Shape of Mercy and recently controversial Lost Mission by Athol Dickson is to alternate back and forth between historical situations and characters pulling those histories into the significance of the present. That takes “backstory” to new heights—or depths—depending on how you see it used. Yet, even in the “current” aspect of these stories, the author must still provide snippets of the contemporary backstory.

     

    So it seems just a tad hypocritical for professionals to degrade how backstory is included within a story. Once again it seems to be a matter of preference. Some would argue that backstory should be provided in snippets through dialogue or a character’s observation. Others find it perfectly fine to begin with backstory and proceed to the present. Others like it slipped in almost invisibly with whatever method seems least intrusive to the present.

     

    How can there be a “rule”? Some professionals claim that when authors make the backstory the real story, or that it takes too much away from the “real” story, it’s unacceptable. I would agree that an author needs to recognize what the “real” story is in order to present their story effectively in their query or proposal.

     

    As you know, my main complaint with "the rules" is they’re usually stated as if poured in concrete. Backstory is just another means to provide information, and, like the rest of creating fiction, it seems to land smack dab in the middle of subjectivity rather than on firm literary substance.

     

    Your thoughts?  

     

    Lord, thank you that creativity is a gift from you, the Most High Creator of all. Help us not to put everyone’s efforts into tight boxes that don’t fit your expansive designs. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.

  • Offensive?

    In our politically correct society I have found there are innumerable people looking for ways to be offended. And in the blogosphere—yes, sadly, even in the travels of visiting Christians who blog—people find ways to be offended.

     

    Examples are as follows: I’ve written a handful of what I admit qualify as “bad” reviews. The particular novels in question did not appeal to me for the reasons given in those reviews. I didn’t tear down the authors, and I did point out there would no doubt be those who enjoyed the books. However, I certainly did not and I expressed exactly why I felt that way. A couple of people decided I had done the wrong thing by telling the truth about how the novels rated in my world. They were offended by my feelings, my review, and apparently they were offended for the author.

     

    The second example is a commenter on various political blog posts of mine who felt the need to write lonnnnggg comments about the other candidate back before election time. After several of them, I emailed the person that if the commenter continued to use my blog for propaganda for the candidate of his choice, I would delete those comments. I didn’t censor what had already been posted, but I made it clear this blog wasn’t going to be used as a campaign post for the candidate I detested. This person told me my blog was now off limits forever. Well . . . okay. I sent another email to inform the person I wasn’t banishing or censoring his posts—just that it was my blog and I couldn’t give space to those particular political opinions.

     

    That choice resulted in this person posting on two different blogs that I was “stiff-necked”, questioned my Christianity, and stated he’d been “banished” from this blog. Amazing reactions.

     

    Sometimes the raw truth of Christianity can’t be displayed in purple-y velvet. The truth can sting when applied to the wound of conviction of sin. Ouch! We’ve all felt it. Sometimes a not so happy reaction accompanies that sting, and people get offended. They rant, accuse, justify, and rationalize. Sometimes they yell without a sound. Their fingers do the talking. I’ve been yelled at on the internet.

     

    My objective is never to offend, but doesn’t it just happen sometimes? I’m a faceless voice trying to state my views, opinions, struggles, or joys. Am I harsh? Not usually. At least I try not to be. I’ve been known to utter sarcasm once in awhile. Tease. Rant a bit. But, geez, purposely create conflict? Not me.

     

    Speak up? Speak out? Yes. But intend to offend? No. Yet it happens. People not taking the time to get the big picture of who a person is and making a judgment based on one post or one opinion . . . I know most of us who’ve been at this blogging gig for awhile have opened our hearts to those who read here. It’s fairly easy to get a general feel for us, whoever we are. That is if people want to know. It might be worthwhile to do that before deciding to be offended . . .

     

    Father, help me to communicate your love, your truth, your ways, even in my struggles. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.    

  • What if . . . ?

    One of the questions some authors, professionals, and instructors suggest for writers is this one: “What if . . .?” This question is supposed to be the catalyst for the next big conflict in a story. This question is supposed to spur a reaction unique to the protagonist or heroine or peripheral character which will drive the story into even deeper conflict which is supposed to keep the reader involved and be the fundamental reason for reading a story. I guess.

     

    But don’t we all ask this question of ourselves innumerable times daily? Isn’t this the unspoken question at the root of our fears? Yet isn’t this also the question that forces contingency planning?

     

    Perhaps those who outline and plot their novels before they write them must ask this question outright to further the storyline. Those who write by the seat of their pants stumble into the series of circumstances which might fall under the “What if?” line of questioning. And isn’t it much easier to formulate possibilities for this question if writing a thriller, a mystery, or a suspense novel? It seems there would be limited occurrences for asking this question if writing a romance.

     

    Sitting around at a writers’ gathering strictly for plotting purposes, this question stirs up imaginations. It also reveals how diverse minds work and interpret different stimuli. But the question is only useful if our minds respond to it with workable plot points.

     

    This question could be the genesis of any story, but for me it’s not a question I consciously ask. How does your novel begin and travel down its road to completion?

     

    Lord, you never fail to surprise me. I’m amazed at what you do through writers who’ve given their all to you. You are all I’m livin’ for . . . In the Name of Jesus, Amen.  

  • Way . . . Too Close to Home

    Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group, provided me with Lynette Eason’s latest novel Too Close to Home, a suspense novel with a dab of romance entwined with catching a serial teen girl kidnapper and eventual killer.

     

    Those of us who write and read can echo Solomon’s declaration of “There’s nothing new under the sun.” It’s all been done in the writing world, the stories told a thousand different ways, and really all we’ve got to separate us from others is our voice, an occasional unique plot element, and characters who engage our readers. The reason I say this is because if you’re an avid reader like I am, sometimes the plots run together and the character situations overlap to the point where the lines blur between stories. In Too Close to Home the first few chapters reminded me of a nearly identical father-daughter relationship occurring in Steven James’ thriller series where FBI Special Agent Patrick Bower has lost his wife and is on rocky ground with his teen step-daughter Tessa.

     

    In Too Close to Home Homicide Detective Connor Wolfe is joined by FBI Special Agent computer whiz Samantha Cash to help find the killer of teen girls who first go missing and several months later wind up dead. The one similarity between the girls is that they’ve all given birth. Samantha attempts to discover how the teens are being lured into the killer’s trap by dissecting their hard drives. Together the task force learns of a fake modeling agency and a man who goes by “Danny” who communicates via various email addresses and then somehow manages to clear their computers and maintain contact through cell phones.

     

    The attraction between Connor and Samantha reluctantly flares for both of them as they work this case. Samantha somewhat resembles Connor’s deceased wife and connects with Jenna, Connor’s estranged and unhappy daughter who is also being stalked by “Danny”.

     

    Christians surround Connor, including his partner Andrew, Connor’s parents, and Samantha, but he’s at odds with God, choosing to play the blame game.

     

    Lynette’s voice came through well in Too Close to Home, but the novel’s predictability offered little surprise early and throughout the story. Please understand I’m not criticizing Lynette’s writing, but the plot lacked innovation. Of all the characters Samantha Cash was the most interesting. Her sister Jamie, a peripheral character in the story who’d endured a severe trauma in the past, clinches the final clue to the killer’s identity and is used as a set-up for the next book in the Women of Justice series.

     

    The epilogue to this story felt totally out of place. Many publishers today include the first chapters of their author’s next novel at the end of a story, and in my opinion this final element should have occurred in that format.

     

    For those readers who enjoy romantic suspense and don’t mind figuring out key players early in the story, this novel will entertain you.

     

    Available April 2010 at your favorite bookseller from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group.

     

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    Lord, you know the plans you have for Lynette, the stories you’ve given her to tell, and the desires of her heart. Please guide her and direct her steps according to your perfect plan. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.

  • Sunday’s Offerings

    In the way of righteousness there is life;

    along that path is immortality.

     

    Proverbs 12:28 (NIV)

  • When . . . The Clouds Roll Away

    Sibella Giorello was no amateur when she wrote The Stones Cry Out, her first novel in this FBI Special Agent Raleigh Harmon series. She followed it with The Rivers Run Dry, and now those of you who’ve invested in this author’s enticing writing and plot lines can enjoy her latest The Clouds Roll Away.

     

    In The Rivers Run Dry Raleigh was cast out of her home state of Virginia into the hinterlands of my home state of Washington which is where Sibella and her family now reside. After experiencing a decline in her mother’s mental state and enduring the amusing weirdness of her Aunt Charlotte while in Washington, not to mention catching the bad guy in a harrowing tale of kidnapping and high stakes gambling, Raleigh gratefully returns to Virginia. However, it’s difficult to sustain her gratitude under the command of her old boss whose objective seems bent on destroying Raleigh’s career while upgrading her own. Dispatched to an office she literally must duck into, assigned her old K-car in the dead of winter with no heater and plastic-covered seats, Raleigh is thrust into a case of cross-burning on the expansive historic and highly secured estate of smooth-talking, cello-playing, grammar-aware, celebrity rapper RPM.

     

    In this story we’re reunited with Raleigh’s mentally fragile mother Nadine who manages to bake cookies which taste like sand and their boarder Wally who rents a room in the main house. Wally’s changed somehow while developing his photography skills and being hired by RPM, but Raleigh has little time to investigate her suspicions about him until Christmas Eve.

     

    Delegated to a task force but limited to listening to telephone conversations with a bizarre woman who calls herself Beezus, the police detective on the case gets sick and asks Raleigh to drive his informant to a drug buy. The second time she’s called to assist with this, she leaves a swanky party in her freezing car to deliver the informant for another drug buy and winds up threatening to expose him to the drug lords for cheating in the buys. Things go terribly wrong for them, and they’re hauled into the gang leader’s house as he’s cooking up the dope.

     

    Add to this the insinuations of a KKK hate crime, diamonds in the rough, Russians, people intersecting where no connection seems to exist, and Raleigh’s investigative radar and meddle are challenged on all levels.

     

    Simmering, or sizzling, in the background is her old high school boyfriend, the rich and gorgeous DeMott Fielding who can’t seem to let go of this one girl, no matter how elusive she proves to be. Sibella is determined to leave romance a distant threat—er, thread—in this novel, but at least there’s a sniff of reciprocation from Raleigh when her work is finally done. I do think one minor plot point which caused a real argument between Raleigh and DeMott was left dangling, causing a question as to where the history of the visit and confrontation with these rather obscure characters fit in other than to throw a curve, but it seemed to warrant resolution.

     

    Writing-wise, Sibella’s novels are a treasure trove of clever humor, lovely metaphors, the raw beauty of geological references, and truly creative descriptions of clouds and people quirks which reveal so much about the characters in a tight but beautiful prose. That crystalline moment when Sibella slips the meaning of the title into the story is priceless.

     

    If you’re prone to love scintillating writing shaped around a good mystery, The Clouds Roll Away won’t disappoint you. Another quick and well-written read from Sibella Giorello.

     

    To read my reviews of the two previous novels in this series, you can go here:

     

    http://http://hopeofglory.typepad.com/into_the_fire/2008/10/if-we-dont-the.html

     

    And here:

     

    http://hopeofglory.typepad.com/into_the_fire/2009/03/after-the-stones-cry-out-comes-the-rivers-run-dry.html

     

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    Father, you know Sibella’s passionate heart after you. Please continue to direct and order her steps, blessing her efforts to glorify you in her writing and all that she does. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.