Into the Fire

Researching . . . The Witch Tree

 

   

                                  
                                      

Since I got my Kindle for Christmas, I've ordered and read two e-books. One shall remain anonymous. The other is Karin Kaufman's first novel The Witch Tree, the initial Anna Denning Mystery and a bargain for suspense readers. If you've ever entertained the prospect of doing your family tree or have delved into ancestral investigations, this novel will entice your interests in geneaology. Written very well for a first effort, The Witch Tree, self-published by Karin Kaufman, is worth the read.

Anna Denning has been a young widow for two years, surviving by her geneaology business. Her loneliness and sorrow almost overwhelm her, but with her dog Jackson, her friend Liz, and various others in the small tourist mountain town of Elk Park, Colorado, she gets by. A few days before Christmas, after completing a work order from a young woman for the female ancestry of a prominent City Councilman's wife, she's asked to deliver it in person. When she arrives at the house, someone beckons her to come in but no one appears. Her curiosity leads her to the dead body of the woman whose ancestry she's just researched.

The City Councilman (Tom Muncy) accuses Anna of murdering his wife and threatens to ruin her, but the detective in charge believes Anna had nothing to do with it. When Anna must confront the occult store owner (Darlene) and her young employees about the work order, she finds a domineering, fear-mongering woman who fancies herself a powerful witch with disdain for the wicca preferences of her young and vulnerable female clerk (Jazmin) and contempt for the Druid leanings of her young male helper (Rowan). After using them to harass Anna in an attempt to derail her efforts to expose the dead woman's killer, their combined efforts go too far. Drawing upon personal past history and her astute research capabilities, Anna perseveres in her investigation, discovering the significance of the ancestry she found.

Anna's faith has been weakened by her loss, but this trial forces her to recognize who holds the true power. Her characterization is well done, giving her just enough spunk to hold steady when she's confronted with contempt from the Councilman and pure evil from the witch and enough intelligence to see through smokescreens and to know when she needs help. The climactic scene near the end works very well.

The Witch Tree is very well-written for a first effort with only a few missed copy-editing errors, certainly no more than most novels these days. If I had to fault it, I would only say the geneaology confused me at times as I tried to follow who was who and how they intersected and affected the present, but not every reader might've found this to be the case. Also, under the circumstances, I think Anna's compassion allowed her to become a bit too trusting of Jazmin after watching her time and time again fall under the "spell" of manipulation by her boss. Minor "problems" all. The Witch Tree is definitely worth more than the asking price of only $2.99 on Kindle and available for the Nook as well. A solid effort by Karin Kaufman with a great cover and clever title. 

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-witch-tree-karin-kaufman/1104309714

http://www.amazon.com/Witch-Tree-Denning-Mystery-ebook/dp/B005CSNGQK/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1328643522&sr=1-1

http://karin-kaufman.blogspot.com/

 

*Tomorrow I will feature some background to Karin's story and her reasons for going the e-publishing route.*

 

 

 

Father, please continue to bless and encourage Karin with more stories, your helpful leading, your wonderful grace. Give her what she needs to do as you instruct. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.

A visit to . . . Blue Moon Bay

 

 

 

                  

 

Up this week in the CFBA Tour is Lisa Wingate's Blue Moon Bay published by Bethany House. Blue Moon Bay is the second novel centered on Moses Lake, Texas, following Larkspur Cove which I haven't read. I've also read Lisa's Word Gets Around which was the second novel in the Daily Texas Trilogy.

 

Blue Moon Bay with its attractive cover gives us the relocated, uptight, cynical, self-absorbed, ambitious career-climbing workaholic architect Heather Hampton who now lives and works for a high-pressure firm in Seattle. When the possibility for the expansion and design of the plant where her father worked arrives at her firm, Heather decides to contact her estranged mother to secure the sale of the family properties back in Moses Lake, Texas, for this project.

 

Raised with her little brother Clay, a move back to her father's hometown (Moses Lake) in her senior year of high school elicited nothing but sullen wrath and a Gothic transformation to this previously devoted Daddy's girl. Told primarily from Heather's first person account, we witness firsthand her motives and flaws and learn why she's estranged from her family which includes her elderly uncles Herbert and Charley, her mother and brother.

 

Just before the signing date of the contract, Heather's corporate real estate boyfriend Richard tells her he hasn't heard from her mother and time is of the essence or the offer will be withdrawn. This news facillitates a quick trip to Moses Lake to insure the signing of the contract before its impending due date. Heather's logic for getting the papers signed overrides any other concerns in spite of her dread of returning to this place of great tragedy, loss, and emotional upheaval. Upon arriving, no one will engage her concerns, there is the seemingly endless tension and conflict between her and her mother, and her brother is supposedly going to take over the restaurant and cabins of one of her elderly uncles while her Berkeley-based literature-teaching mother plans to turn her other uncle's funeral home into a bed and breakfast.

 

As she suspects, nothing is as it seems and no one is willing to enlighten her which builds fuel for her short fuse. The truly bright spot in the whole ordeal is connecting with her high school secret crush who now shows an undeniable interest in her. When he takes her on a romantic visit to Blue Moon Bay, she almost forgets her loathing of her previous home - plus everything else she thought mattered to her.

 

Although the underlying evidence of something going on behind Heather's back permeates her time in Moses Lake, it's so well hidden that it almost comes as too much of a surprise toward the last few chapters of the novel when the shift in the story makes it feel like two different but merging plots. By focusing the entire story on Heather's perceptions -skewed as they are - and written in her POV, the reader stumbles into the suspenseful conclusion along with Heather, but it doesn't feel quite cohesive. At least to me. Focused more on the internal struggles of discovering who Heather has become - or really is - the story then takes a different direction toward the end.

 

Lisa Wingate is a talented writer with well-established characters and some great prose. Heather Hampton is a mess and could be an unlikeable protagonist if Lisa hadn't given her a witty, sardonic, flighty but vulnerable personality. Her faith journey is understated throughout and contrasted to the beloved Mennonite housekeeper Ruth, the only one she thought truly cared about her in her youthful rebellious state of mind. Ruth is now dying of cancer. Heather's epiphany is worth the wait although the final page and a half seem more like a mini-lecture than the character's conclusion.

 

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_0_16?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=blue+moon+bay+by+lisa+wingate&sprefix=Blue+Moon+Bay+by%2Cstripbooks%2C261

 

Father, please continue to inspire Lisa's stories and provide what she needs to do as you ask. Bless all of her efforts to honor you in all she does. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.

 

   

 

 

Live Like You Mean It. (Mike Dellosso)

 

It is my pleasure to present a guest post by Mike (I call him Michael) Dellosso, one of Christian Fiction's nice guys who, up to this point, has written Christian Horror, the term some feel is an oxymoron and the label at which CBA publishers shrink and twitch. Mike's novel Frantic reviewed here, releases today (February 7th). If you leave a comment here and Like Mike on Facebook, you will be eligible to win a copy of Frantic, a unique and compelling story with a little less of the horror niche and leaning toward thriller-esque. Some very good writing from Mike.    

 

                    

 

http://mikedellosso.wordpress.com/   https://www.facebook.com/MikeDellosso

 

With my full-time job in homecare physical therapy, I see patients every day who have had terrible things happen to them. Auto accidents that left them with multiple injuries and unable to walk for months; work accidents that shatter legs and destroy any hope of walking “normally” again; strokes; heart attacks; amputations; cancer; Parkinson’s that robs muscles of control and the brain of cogent thoughts. And you know what? Not one of them planned for it to happen.

Not one scheduled their accident or episode or onset of disease.

Tragedy isn’t something you plan for. Heartache isn’t scheduled on anyone’s calendar.

This gets me thinking from time to time and I have to step back and take inventory of my life, of what’s important, of what I fight and live for. Things can change in an instant. One misjudgment, one lapse in attention, one rogue cell, one determined virus. And everything changes.

It happens, really. I see it every day and deal with the consequences, both physically and emotionally. I also deal with death on an almost daily basis. The worst phone call I receive is when a nurse announces that another patient has "expired," especially if it's someone I've grown close to.

As is common for most of us, talk of illness, injury, and death spurs thoughts of life. We live once. It’s a gift given us and there’s no exchanging it or returning it. Once used it’s in the realm of history, written into the pages of eternity. The focus of life is not only the tape at the finish line, it’s how we run the race. And I want to run with no regrets.

This has been on my mind a lot lately, no regrets. I work with people every day who are at the end of life and some voice very openly the regrets they’ll carry to the grave. I can see the sorrow in the lines of their face, the cloud in their eyes. They wish their life would have turned out differently. They wish they would have loved more and hated less, listened to that advice they ignored, been more honest, paid more attention to their children.

Last year I worked with a woman who lived alone in a trailer with her elderly dog. She had no family, no friends, and, as far as she was concerned, no reason for living. After telling me all the mistakes she’d made in life she said, “I think about just ending it. All I have in the world is this trailer and my stupid dog.” I left her with tears in my eyes and a heavy lump in my throat.

There’s a Matthew West song I love called “The Motions.” Here are a few lines from the chorus:

"I don’t want to spend my whole life asking
What if I had given everything
Instead of going through the motions?"

So where do we go from here, from the determination and declaration that we will make the most of what we have now and not end our life asking "What if . . .?" I think it means we have to make some changes right now.

With that in mind, here are some thoughts, in no particular order:

* Be in good standing with everyone you come in contact with; live in peace with everyone.
* Be the parent your kids need.
* Be the spouse your husband/wife deserves.
* Work hard and do your best at whatever your hands find to do.
* Never stop learning.
* Make a difference in the lives of the people you know.
* Never be ashamed of your faith and take every opportunity to talk about it, to defend it, and to encourage someone else with it.
* Be quick to apologize and quicker to forgive.
* Give people the benefit of the doubt and assume the best.
* Take risks and spend some time on limbs.
* Recognize opportunities and seize them.
* Love others as you have been loved.
* Pursue humility and live by the rule of honesty.

When I was on the track and field team in high school, I ran the 400 meter dash. At the end of the race I was spent, exhausted, and ready to vomit. I had run my best and left everything on the track. Wouldn't it be great to do the same with this race of life, leave it all on the track?

 

                  

 

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=frantic+by+mike+dellosso&x=14&y=33

 

Leave a comment and Like Mike on Facebook to win a copy of Frantic by Mike Dellosso.

 

Father, you know Mike's desires to live like he means it, to follow you with his whole heart, to lead his family, to work hard, to do what you have for him to do. Please continue to give him stories, bless the work of his hands, watch over him and his family and keep them safe from all harm. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.

 

                         

 

I can say this . . .

 

I'm not going to tell you how to write. I will tell you what works for me. I'm not going to give you ultimatums and start capitulating all the writing rules. I will say that if you do certain things which I have done in the beginning of this novel writing business, your writing will appear to be unprofessional and unready to attract those who hold the keys to publication.

And I can say this much: if you decide to go the ebook route and don't put your best effort forward, you will be contributing to the poor reputation that self-published authors desperately fight to overcome. It's a reputation that had its foundation in truthful analysis. Sloppy, poor writing with unintentional grammatical errors and proofreading failures. Sure, you put a book out, but it's hardly something to find satisfaction in if it's full of mistakes. Just being a storyteller isn't enough.

I can also say you can do it all right, well, even very well and not find the right door that opens to publication - at least not right away. It might come down to the decision to go ahead and self-publish a trade paper book or an e-book. It might. If it does, do it right. Do it well. Yes, even very well. Because all you have in the end is what you put out with your name on it. And that matters. As a Christian, it should matter a lot. Give your best to honor the Lord.

Father, we need your help, your inspiration, your direction, and your encouragement and prodding. We need it all. Help us to give our best for you. In the Name of Jesus, Amen. 

Sunday's Offerings

 

When Jesus came into Peter's house, he saw Peter's mother-in-law lying in bed with a fever. He touched her hand and the fever left her, and she got up and began to wait on him.

When evening came many who were demon-possessed were brought to him, and he drove out the spirits with a word and healed all the sick. This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah:

"He took up our infirmities, and carried our diseases."

Matthew 8:14-17 (NIV)

****Political Update****

 

Senator Marco Rubio tells it like it truly is. He's straightforward, reasonable, and intelligent.

http://www.newsmax.com/Headline/Rubio-Obama-election-Republican/2012/02/02/id/428365?s=al&promo_code=E18A-1

 

Father, we're desperate for you. Please forgive our nation for its ongoing sins and intervene on your people's behalf. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.

The Learning Curve

 

 

           

Knowing what you do when you write is a boon to your composure. Knowing who you are after your first novels are under your pen or tucked away in the docs folder, can be comforting. Although not always because writers seem automatically wired with different kinds of angst. Whether we're insecure or overconfident, it helps to realize how exactly we progress. There's a learning curve to finding out who we are as writers.

Some trip and zoom through that first draft. Never take a reasonable break. Others edit as they go. Some take frequent breaks - some of those intentional and others of them not so much. In the beginning of the creative journey those breaks can scare a writer into a deep-freeze. Will I ever write again?! Does this mean I'm just playing at this writing gig?

Of course writing under the pressures of deadlines is a whole other mishmash. What if the necessity for a break beckons to you  when you can't realistically take one? Do you just write trash-filler while your mind attempts to regroup?

Do you know yourself well enough to understand how you write, what you need to do it well, and what your "normal" is? What you become after writing a couple novels is generally different from who you are for that first one and possibly even the second one. Get a couple under your belt and then you'll learn who you are as a writer of stories.

Father, you create amazing writers of all kinds. Help all of us to follow your lead in creating. Help us to recognize the desire and the ability come directly from you. Apart from you, I can do nothing. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.

The road to . . .

 

                           

Utopia or Nirvana for the unbelievers in the Christian God. It's heaven for the Christian.

It's the decision that humankind can make everthing perfect given enough time. Is it noticeable to those who believe this that the "evolution" of humanity simply invents new ways to compromise and pronounce those things once considered evil as good? This is in order to validate man's "positive" growth into acceptance of what we are in our hearts. Ri-ight. We're evil with black sin staining our souls, inherited, and potentially eternal.

We long for the perfect because back in the once upon a time day, it existed for us. The human race created by a perfect God and given a perfect existence in an ideal, lovely, perfect garden . . . forfeited. Not by global warming/climate change nor by non-green energy but by the desire of our wicked hearts to surpass what we'd been given. To attain creator-ship, the sublime knowledge to do what only One could do.

And since that critical point in time, we have two kinds of human beings. The ones who want to believe in Someone greater than themselves and the ones who want to believe we are the superior examples of evolving existence - only superior in our abilities to out-think our animal origins and extending the evolution chain to include other species from planets far far away who for some reason always turn out to have more intelligence than us yet come to earth to conquer, dominate, or steal from it. Within the sub-frame of that phenomenon are those who prefer man-made religions that blur the existence of sin, convolute destinations, and suggest degrees of separation for those who don't comply with the doctrines, or advocate that eventually everyone will reach the perfect place.

The road we choose for eternity deserves the utmost consideration. Do humans hold the answers to our existence and futures? As time marches on we see only more of the same: wars, poverty, sexual exploitation and perversion, the detestable murders of the unborn. What we also see are those - even in the Christian community - who adopt the philosophy that wars and death and all of the evidence of sin can be eliminated by some diplomatic, peaceful resolutions. Really? The Prince of Peace says true peace comes only in Him. It makes no mention of the world somehow finding its way into getting along. On the contrary, there is only One who will rule the earth in Peace: Jesus Christ. And then, guess what? Armageddon. The elimination of this earth and the heavens above will be replaced by a sinless substitute.

Humans can't find or invent or create Utopia nor can they reach what they describe as Nirvana. They can go to hell. Or they can go to Heaven. One way. Through Jesus. Their choice. 

Lord Jesus, we're desperate for you. You are the way, the truth, the life. The only way to the Father. Help us to deliver the message as you direct to the lost in our lives. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.