Books With Bite: For Such a Time (Sneak Peek)

Working in publishing I see a lot of books, and I tend to see them a long time before they are actually published.  Sometimes so far ahead that when the actual, physical (sorry, I'm an old fashioned sort of girl) book lands on my desk I think 'but hasn't that been out for ages already'?  In general, I try not to talk about things too early but every now and then something comes along which I just have to shout about early.

And this week, something has.

The 'something' in question is For Such a Time, a wonderfully engaging and compelling novel from an author with a bookselling background.

It turns out that I am not the only one who is already loving this book.  Here's a review from Debbie Macomber.  Someone with a bit of a wider audience than myself!

"I absolutely loved this book.  For such a Time kept me up at night, flipping the pages and holding my breath wanting to know what would happen next.  Based on the biblical book of Esther, the story takes the reader to a concentration camp inside World War II Czechoslovakia, where a young Jewish woman has captured the attention of the Kommandant and has the opportunity to save her people, much as Esther did in the biblical account.  The story is gripping, compelling, and I dare anyone to close the cover before the last suspenseful page."

There are lots of re-tellings of Bible stories, and some work better than others.  Being an old fashioned kind of reader, I like my novels to just tell a great story which hooks me in.  My favourite books are those you read in so completely engaged a way that when you close the covers you have to pull yourself back to the day to day reality from the world you've been engrossed in with an almost physical effort.

This is one of those books.


ISBN: 9780764211607
Price: £9.99
Publication Date: May 2014 (UK)
You will be able to order this book in the UK via your local Christian bookshop, or any other bricks and mortar or online bookshop.
It will also be available as an ebook.

And the Winners Are....

Three novels from Bethany House!  Once again, Bethany books have come up trumps at the Christy Awards, winning the Historical Romance, Suspense and Contemporary Romance categories.

 

The Christy Awards were first awarded in 2000, and honour excellence in Christian fiction in several categories.  You can find out more about them here.

Against the Tide, winner in the Historical Romance category, tells the story of Lydia, a young lady living in Boston, and working as a translator for the US Navy.  Lydia's language skills bring her to Alexander Banebridge, a mysterious man working to end the opium trade.  When his enemies gain ground, Alexander is forced to turn to Lydia for help...

The Suspense Category Winner, Rare Earth, features Marc Royce, who we first met in Lion of Babylon. In this story, Marc is sent to audit a relief organisation working in Kenyan refugee camps. However, his true mission is to focus on the area's reserves of minerals essential to high tech industry.  These elements, known as 'rare earths' have inflamed tensions worldwide, and stoked tribal rivalries.  Can Marc do anything to help restore justice?

Finally, in The Breath of Dawn, winner of the Contemporary Romance Award, two people with traumatic pasts must confront them in order to build a future - if they survive!

As well as these three prize-winners the author Lynn Austin, who has written a number of successful novels for Bethany House and who is an eight-times Christy Award winner, was inducted into the Christy Awards Hall of Fame.  Karen Hancock, who is also a Bethany author and the winner of four Christy Awards, was also inducted into the Hall of Fame.

Well done to all the authors, and well done to Bethany House's staff, who clearly know a good book when they see it!

You can order any or all of these books in the UK via your local Christian bookshop, or any other bricks and mortar or online bookshop.
All three are also available as ebooks.

Sneak Peek for Anne Elisabeth Stengl Fans!

Here it is - the cover for the fourth book in the Tales of Goldstone Wood series: Starflower.

You can find out a little more about the story on Anne's blog.

Quite a few authors write blogs, and I love reading them.  (Especially those by our Baker Publishing Group authors of course!) They're a fantastic way to find out all sorts of things about the author themselves, and what motivates or influences them and their writing.  On blogs like Anne's, you also get to discover a whole lot more about the characters you meet in her books!  Plus she's good at tantalising sneaky peek posts to keep you coming back...

So, dear reader, do you read author blogs, and if so, do you have a particular favourite you can recommend?  If so, PLEASE leave a comment.  (OK, that sounded a bit like a desperate plea, but if it works...!)

Just a reminder to those who've already discovered Goldstone Wood, Moonblood is out in the UK in May, which gives a nice amount of time for those still to venture into the tales to read Heartless and Veiled Rose! 

In fact, let's try a little prize draw:

If you'd like your name entered to win free copies of Heartless AND Veiled Rose just leave a link to one of your favourite author or book related blogs in the comments section below.  As this is a UK-based draw, please also confirm that you live in the UK.  The winner will be announced on the 29 February - purely because it's fun to have something to look out for on such a rare day!

A family. A farm. A heart. All in need of repair.

Suzanne Woods Fisher’s book The Keeper tells the story of a young Amish girl struggling to keep her family’s farm going after her father develops heart problems. Dreaming of her wedding to her fiancé Paul, she is devastated and angry when he calls off the wedding – for the second time. And she’s sure she knows whose fault it is that Paul has got cold feet.

I loved this book. It’s full of interesting (and sometimes infuriating!) characters, who are all really well evolved people. This isn’t a book which has a few central roles, with the rest of the ‘cast’ merely cameos. It tells an involving and entertaining story with energy and a good side dose of fun. I especially liked the character of Fern, and enjoyed wondering about the significance of ‘the man with the panama hat’. M.K. and Menno were both super characters too. By this you can see that the book is more than simply ‘Julia’s love story’, and for me this makes it a much more interesting read.

I read a lot of books, but not all that many of them keep me reading far too late into the night. This one did.

Highly recommended – I’m looking forward to the next already.

Price: £8.99
UK Publication Date: February 2012
Video trailer

Thoughts on Winning a Christy Award...

...and growing up in England.

"You can't cry while wearing a pink dress, or you'll never be taken seriously again as long as you live."

So writes Anne Elisabeth Stengl on her reaction to winning the 2011 Christy Award for Best First Novel. Her thoughts on her Christy Award experience can be read in full in her very entertaining blog post.

It takes a long time for a book to come to publication, and there are often many influencing factors along the way. It turns out that the Goldstone Woods of Anne Elisabeth's books were strongly influenced by the English common on which she used to play as a child when her father was stationed at Lakenheath in Suffolk with the USAF. Her family went exploring on this local common almost every day and it seems her parents and brothers encouraged her sense of imagination:

There was a dragon on the Common. We saw it a few times, though it was disguised as a mean tabby cat at the time. "Just because a dragon is disguised doesn't mean it's any less a dragon," Papa said.
So dragons clearly had an early influence on Anne Elisabeth!

As well as dragons, there were elves, which the 8-year-old Anne Elisabeth was certain were living in the ancient hollow oak trees. The trees themselves became sailing ships and castles as the Stengl children played in them.

So it was that a small-ish, wild-ish, open English space became to a young child an enchanted forest, and perhaps it was from one of the acorns from an ancient English oak tree in that 'real' yet magical place that Goldstone Wood grew...

For more on Anne Elisabeth's English childhood, and much more on Goldstone Wood, see her blog post W is for Wood.

Read a sample chapter of Heartless here.

Anne Elisabeth's next book Veiled Rose is out in the UK in August.

Sneak Previews from Revell!

You've seen a couple of 'on the horizon' titles from Bethany. Now it's Revell's turn! Biblical fiction has been gaining momentum, and we have two new stories coming from Revell early next year.

Jill Eileen Smith is the author of the Wives of King David series, the latest of which is Bathsheba. Now she turns her attention to some more strong women - the wives of the patriarchs, beginning with Sarai, Abram's wife.

Sarai, the last child of her aged father, is beautiful, spoiled, and used to getting her own way. When she marries Abram she promises to give him a son and heir. But as the years go by without the promised and longed for child, Sarai becomes desperate...

Jill Eileen Smith once again brings to life a key biblical character, with great commitment to the accuracy of the historical data.

"I thought I might find you here."
Abram's voice and his touch on her shoulder made her turn into his comforting embrace. "What's wrong, dear one?"
Sarai released a troubled sigh and leaned back to better see his face. "Milcah."
He nodded, but at his quizzical look, she knew he did not understand.
"She is flaunting her swollen belly, and I have no patience for her criticisms."
"Ahh," he said, pulling her close again. "Milcah is jealous of your beauty, dear wife. She has nothing else to flaunt." He patted her back, but the action did not soothe.
"I would rather have a child than beauty." The words were a mere breath against his chest, but when his hands stilled, she knew he'd heard.
"And I would rather have you just as you are." He held her at arm's length, his gaze searching. "Do not trouble yourself or deny joy to others. You have nothing to fear."
She looked into his handsome face and cupped his bearded cheek with her hand. He still carried the vigor of one much younger, and she rested in his strength as he held her. "But I do fear, dear husband. I fear I have failed to give you what you most deserve."
"I deserve nothing. What I possess is only a gift. Adonai will give what he will." He tipped her chin to look into his face. "Trust me in this, Sarai."

Mesu Andrews is the author of Love Amid the Ashes, a novel about the life of Job. Now she turns her attention to one of the Old Testament's best-loved kings: Solomon. In Love's Sacred Song, Mesu expertly weaves the words of the Song of Solomon into a touching story of the power of love.

Standing in the massive shadow of his famous father, young King Solomon wavers between fear and bravado, wisdom and folly. In the uncertain world of alliances and treachery, Solomon longs for peace and a love that is true and pure.
A shepherdess in the northern city of Shunem, Arielah remembers the first time she laid eyes on Solomon in Jerusalem when she was just seven years old. Her destiny is to be a 'treaty bride' to help unite the kingdom.
But can a shepherdess live as part of Solomon's harem? Can Solomon set aside his distractions to give himself fully to one woman? Or will duty, deception and daily routine divide his heart?

The Bishop

Suspense Magazine has just named The Bishop one of its Books of the Year for 2010.

Take a look at this excerpt from The Bishop to find out why!

For your chance to win a free copy of The Bishop, scroll down to the bottom of the excerpt.

* * * *

Craig opened the screen door and rapped on the wooden one. “Mr Styles.” He made sure he called loud enough so that anyone in the house would be able to hear. “Sir, open the door. It’s the police.”
“Is that him?” the man inside the house shouted. “That the guy you’ve been –“
“Stop it!” Her voice was shrill, frantic, filled with fear. “Get away from me!”
Craig shouted, louder this time. “Mr. Styles, open the door!”
The man: “Put that down, you-“
Craig Walker unsnapped the leather holster holding his weapon and gave one final warning. “Open the door or we’re coming in!”
The man: “Gimme that thing.”
“Stop!”
And then.
A shotgun blast.
Splitting open the night.
Craig yelled for Trevor to cover the back of the house, cover it now! But then the words were mist and memory and he was only aware of the doorknob in one hand and the familiar feel of his Glock in the other as he threw open the door and swung his gun in front of him.
Stepped inside.
No overhead light, one lamp in the corner. A smouldering fireplace. A plaid couch, a green recliner.
And a woman on the other side of the room, trembling, shaking. A Stoeger 12-guage over-under shotgun in her hands.
Craig levelled his weapon at her. “Put down the gun!”
A man was lying on the floor six feet from her, his chest soaked with blood, his feet twitching sporadically. He coughed and then tried to speak, but the words were garbled and moist and Craig knew what that meant.
“Ma’am! Put down the shotgun!” Craig had never drawn on a woman before and felt his hands shake slightly.
She wore a pink housecoat. Her face was smeared with tears. She did not lower the gun.
“He was gonna kill me.” They were frantic, breathless words. “I know he was this time – he said he was gonna kill me.”
The man on the floor sputtered something unintelligible and then stopped making sounds altogether.
Where’s Trevor!
“Put it on the floor, Mrs. Styles. Slowly. Do it now.”
At last, staring at the man she’d shot, she began to lower the shotgun. He hit me. He was gonna kill me.”
“Okay,” Craig said, “now set down the gun.”
She bent over , a shiver running through her. “This wasn’t the first time.” She let the gun slip from her hands. It dropped with an uneven thud onto the brown, threadbare carpet. “He liked to hit me. He said he was gonna kill me this time. I know…” Her words seemed to come from someplace far away. Shock. Already washing through her.
“Ma’am, you need to step away from the gun.”
“The gun went off.” She stood slowly. “ I didn’t want to hurt him, but it just went off.” She took two unsteady steps backward.
“Is there anyone else in the house?”
She shook her head.
As she backed up, Craig, weapon still drawn, carefully approached the gunshot victim to see if the man still had a pulse.
But as he bent down, the woman shrieked and he glanced at her for a fraction of a second, only that much – a tiny instant- but that was all it took.
By the time he’d looked back at the body, the man had rolled toward the shotgun, snatched it from the floor, and aimed it at his chest.
And fired.
The impact of the bird shot sent Craig reeling, tumbling against the couch. He tried to raise his hand to fire his own weapon, but his arm wouldn’t obey. The room dimmed, and for one thin moment he was aware of all of his dreams and memories, running together, merging, collecting, descending into one final regret for all the things that he would leave forever undone.
And then, all of his thoughts folded in on themselves, dropping into a deep and final oblivion, and Officer Craig Walker crumpled motionless and dead onto the tattered carpet beside the plaid sofa in Philip and Jeanne Styles’s living room.

****

To celebrate the success of the The Bishop, we have three free copies to giveaway. The first three people who send us the titles of two other books in the Bowers Files series with their postal address to bpg@lionhudson.com will receive a copy of The Bishop. If you need a clue, click here

Author Interview: Anne Elisabth Stengl on Heartless

I don't know about you, but I always enjoy hearing authors talk about their books. So our first blog post is an author interview with the author of the young adult fantasy novel Heartless.

1.Where did the idea for Heartless come from?
I started out writing Heartless as a short story which I posted in small parts on my blog. I was surprised at the reader-response to the plot... a lot of enthusiasm and curiosity about where I was taking it. Intrigued by the general reaction to the storyline, I decided to not finish the short version but started to work on a full-length novel.

2. Did you encounter any interesting challenges while writing/researching for Heartless?
There is a surprising amount of research that goes into writing a fairy tale, even though it is set in my own invented world. I already had a strong working knowledge of fairy tales, but while writing this novel I kept my volumes of Shakespeare and Edmund Spenser close for reference. Many of the classic symbols and themes found in Heartless are derived from these sources rather than Grimm’s Fairy Tales.

I also had fun researching fencing for certain scenes involving the character of Felix, my heroine’s brother. At first I simply read manuals on fencing and a few classic swashbuckler novels such as Scaramouch. Later on I started taking fencing classes myself, which has turned into an exciting hobby! I met my soon-to-be husband at fencing class. He is an excellent fencer, truly skilled... though I have beaten him in our only “official” bout thus far!

3. Is there an underlying message to the novel?
Heartless is, on the surface, a simple fairy tale: it’s about a silly young princess who simply wants to marry a handsome prince. But when her dream is stolen — along with her heart — the story takes a much darker turn. This is a book about succumbing to despair through disappointment. It is about the death of dreams which kills the spirit. It is also a story about letting go of the dream and the bitterness, both of which are chains on the spirit.

4. Almost every author puts a little of themselves into their stories — what did you put of yourself into this one?
I think a little of myself went into each one of the characters, but particularly my heroine. Una is a silly, day-dreaming, cat-loving girl who stutters when she’s nervous, spats with her brother, and writes very bad poetry... which is basically me. But she is simultaneously an “everyman” type of character that many girls will find very relatable. Several of the characters are lightly based on people I know...or they are based on my perspective of people I know, which ultimately makes them more a part me than anybody else.

5. What stands out about your characters? Do any of them embody unusual personality or physical traits?
My characters are very real people, despite living in an other-worldly setting. Some of them are intriguing in appearance — Monster the cat has no eyes; Sir Oeric is as ugly as a goblin though he is a noble knight — while others are quite plain looking. Prince Aethelbald, my hero, is described as the most unnoticeable man my heroine remembers ever meeting . . . though she may have met others without noticing. Prince Gervais, one of Una’s suitors, is distinctly “not handsome,” but is so charming that no one realizes the fact.

For the most part, however, I don’t spend time describing the physical appearances of my characters, but let their personalities create distinct images of them in my readers’ minds. Felix is a snarky tease who loves his family and is embarrassed to show it. Leonard the jester is all laughs, jokes, and self-deprecation but these are masks to cover a deep-rooted pride. It is these kinds of characteristics that make the people of my novel distinct.

Heartless (Tales of Goldstone Wood)
Anne Elisabeth Stengl
ISBN: 9780764207808
Price: £7.99
Publishing August 2010
Available via all good bookshops or online at: http://tiny.cc/bk-heartless