The Countdown Begins

The Boston Red Sox won the World Series in 2004. Before that, they hadn’t done it since 1918. During that drought of 86 years, the perennial hope of Sox fans was expressed in the the phrase “wait ’til next year.” I feel like I’ve been living that experience as Kindred Spirits, book two of my Solid Rock Survivor series, has inched its way toward publication. And now, after more years than I care to admit, it’s almost ready. The timeline is now measured in weeks, not months.

I recently got the draft back from my excellent editor. She liked it. She raved about parts of it, and has observed that my writing has improved since the release of book one. I’ve worked through her zillions of suggested edits, accepting this one, rejecting that one, adding some clarifying material here, going for deeper point-of-view there. I’m confident that Kindred Spirits is now a stronger book than the version I sent to my beta readers. Next step is getting it typeset. That is happening as you read this. I’ll be releasing it both as a paperback and an E-book. No exact publication date yet, but it will be soon. Very soon.

While I count down the days to publication, I thought I’d give you a preview to help you decide if you might like to add it to your library. As you may know, my genre is Christian fiction. But please set aside any preconceptions you may have, because this book (indeed, the whole series) is not stereotypical of the genre. It’s different. Really. Over the next several blog posts, I’ll release the top ten reasons why this is true. I’m hoping the list will help you decide whether to give the book a try. Ready? Here goes:

Reason #10: It’s Not Too Sweet. Shout out to anyone old enough to remember when that was the marketing pitch for Canada Dry ginger ale. http://bit.ly/3DFvQeE

Some Christian fiction tales feature characters and situations so sweet, so precious, that they cross over from “clean” to cloying. I’m skeptical when the butcher, the baker, the candlestick maker, and everyone else I meet on the page is conveniently Christian. When characters never say, do, or think anything that would not be pastor-approved. When there is a bad guy doing very bad things, but he is so far offstage you couldn’t see him even with binoculars. I understand the attraction; it would be nice to live in a world like that. But my characters inhabit the same messy world we do. It’s not always pretty, and the perils are real. I wrote the story to be inspirational and uplifting, but not at the expense of realism. Like its predecessor, Kindred Spirits deals with thorny issues, and you’ll see the world (and the church) as it is, warts and all.

Reason #9: You are now free to move around the country. I took pains not to set my stories in generic Anytown, USA. I think it was Abraham Verghese who famously opined “Geography is destiny.” Ever since I heard that, I’ve wanted the settings of my stories to matter. I develop these places as much as I do the human characters. I want the setting to have an impact on the plot and/or the character development.

For example, in Fighting Back (book one of this series) I learned of the historical connection between pre-Revolutionary Plymouth, Salem, and Framingham, Massachusetts. [Minor plot spoiler for book one here.] When I learned that Salem was founded by religious refugees from Plymouth, and that Framingham’s Salem End neighborhood was in turn settled by religious refugees from the Salem witch trials, I just had to set my story in Framingham. Because protagonist Eddie is himself a refugee of sorts, and I could think of no more logical starting place to begin his journey. His adventures eventually take him all up and down the east coast. To quote the old Amtrak slogan, readers get to “see America from see level.”

Likewise, Kindred Spirits begins in Framingham. But protagonist Roz takes a significant detour to Beaver County, PA. Readers who live in that area (or who used to) will see a lot they recognize. And one character’s take on growing up in Roz’s home town will have a profound impact on how Roz deals with her problems back home in the Bay State. I’ll admit that I’m curious to see how my Beaver County readers will react to this.

Reason #8: Man’s best friend. Did I mention that readers will get to meet this little guy? He might not be a differentiator, but you have to admit he’s cute. I’m pretty sure he’d want you to read all about him.:-)