Try Dying by James Scott Bell, Reviewed
November 16, 2007
James Scott Bell is a former trial lawyer who now writes full time. He is also the fiction columnist for Writers Digest magazine and adjunct professor of writing at Pepperdine University.
His book on writing, Plot and Structure is one of the most popular writing books available today. The national bestselling author of several novels of suspense, he grew up and still lives in Los Angeles, where he is at work on his next Buchanan thriller.
ABOUT THE BOOK:
On a wet Tuesday morning in December, Ernesto Bonilla, twenty-eight, shot his twenty-three-year-old wife, Alejandra, in the backyard of their West 45th Street home in South Los Angeles. As Alejandra lay bleeding to death, Ernesto drove their Ford Explorer to the westbound Century Freeway connector where it crossed over the Harbor Freeway and pulled to a stop on the shoulder.
Bonilla stepped around the back of the SUV, ignoring the rain and the afternoon drivers on their way to LAX and the west side, placed the barrel of his .38 caliber pistol into his mouth, and fired.
His body fell over the shoulder and plunged one hundred feet, hitting the roof of a Toyota Camry heading northbound on the harbor Freeway. The impact crushed the roof of the Camry. The driver, Jacqueline Dwyer, twenty-seven, an elementary schoolteacher from Reseda, died at the scene.
This would have been simply another dark and strange coincidence, the sort of thing that shows up for a two-minute report on the local news–with live remote from the scene–and maybe gets a follow-up the next day. Eventually the story would go away, fading from the city’s collective memory.
But this story did not go away. Not for me. Because Jacqueline Dwyer was the woman I was going to marry.
In Try Dying, this fast-paced thriller, lawyer Ty Buchanan must enter a world of evil to uncover the cause of his fiancee’s death–even if hie has to kill for the truth.
“Bell is one of the best writers out there…he creates characters readers care about…a story worth telling.”
~Library Review~
Sally Says: This isn’t your ordinary Christian fiction novel. In fact, it isn’t Christian fiction at all, which is a departure from what Bell usuallly writes. At the ACFW conference, Bell talked about being tired of the disturbingly graphic nature that the general market suspense and mystery books were taking. He was sure there were others like him out there, people who just wanted a good clean read without the filth.
So he decided to write one.
Try Dying is that book. It’s a great book for anyone, Christian or not, who wants a good clean read. If you’re particular about reading books specifically Christian, this isn’t it. But it’s still a great story about an interesting character. I look forward to reading more books about the hero, Ty Buchanan.
Congrats to a Friend!
November 12, 2007
Jill Eileen Smith is a name that you will soon find on the cover of a new novel.
I met Jill via American Christian Fiction Writers almost two years ago. She offered me her time to look over part of a proposal, and the feedback she gave me was instrumental in my finding an agent. This past fall I met her in person at the ACFW conference in Dallas. We were able to talk over dinner before the awards ceremony and then on our way to the airport the next day. I knew then that there was a potential publisher interested in her series on the wives of David.
Jill’s story is one of patience. She’s been writing for over twenty years, waiting for God’s “yes” for a very long time. She’s quite an example to the rest of us who are still waiting and longing. As a fellow writer, I am so excited for her. Click here for the news in her own words.
David is one of my favorite Bible characters, and I look forward to reading the stories of Micah, Abigail, and Bathsheba once they come out. Congrats again, Jill!
Did I Mention the Birds?
November 8, 2007
Driving home from work today, I saw a cloud of birds that reminded me that I had failed to mention the, um, gathering of fowl here in the fall.
Let’s just say Alfred Hitchcock’s movie The Birds comes to mind. You drive by a field and suddenly there’s a black cloud flying up into the sky. The road ahead is covered in black until a car approaches. Honestly, I’ve never seen flocks of birds this big.
But I did see the coolest thing last week. I was, again, driving home from work, and in the distance I could see a black cloud of birds together in the sky. But they weren’t flying anywhere. Instead, they were shifting within the same space, and their shifting caused variations in the shading of their bird cloud. Different shapes as more birds flew to one side and then moved down and up. Reminded me of the fish in Finding Nemo, the ones that formed into shapes for Dorie to guess at and mocked Marlin for being whiney.
So it was very cool to see birds doing almost the same thing in real life. And much more comforting than thinking about The Birds.
Deadfall by Robert Liparulo
November 8, 2007
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Robert is an award-winning author of over a thousand published articles and short stories. He is currently a contributing editor for New Man magazine. His work has appeared in Reader’s Digest, Travel & Leisure, Modern Bride, Consumers Digest, Chief Executive, and The Arizona Daily Star, among other publications. In addition, he previously worked as a celebrity journalist, interviewing Stephen King, Tom Clancy, Charlton Heston, and others for magazines such as Rocky Road, Preview, and L.A. Weekly.
Robert is an avid scuba diver, swimmer, reader, traveler, and a law enforcement and military enthusiast. He lives in Colorado with his wife and four children.
Robert’s first novel painted a scenario so frighteningly real that six Hollywood producers were bidding on movie rights before the novel was completed. His acclaimed debut novel, Comes A Horseman, is being made into a major motion picture by producer Mace Neufeld and his short story “Kill Zone” was featured in the anthology Thriller, edited by James Patterson.
Bob has sold the film rights to his second book, GERM. And he is writing the screenplay for a yet-to-be-written political thriller, which sold to Phoenix Pictures, for Andrew Davis (The Fugitive, The Guardian) to direct!
He is currently working on his fourth novel.
ABOUT THE BOOK:
Deep in the isolated Northwest Territories, four friends are on the trip of a lifetime. Dropped by helicopter into the Canadian wilderness, Hutch, Terry, Phil, and David are looking to escape the events of a tumultuous year for two weeks of hunting, fishing, and camping.
Armes with only a bow and arrow and the basics for survival, they’ve chosen a place far from civilization, a retreat from their turbulent lives. But they quickly discover that another group has targeted the remote region and the secluded hamlet of Fiddler Falls for a more menacing purpose: to field test the ultimate weapon.
With more than a week before the helicopter rendezvous and no satellite phone, Hutch, a skilled bow-hunter and outdoor-survivalist must help his friend elude their seemingly inescapable foes, as well as decide whether to run for their lives…or risk everything to help the townspeople who are being held hostage and terrorized.
An intense novel of character forged in the midst of struggle, survival, and sacrifice. Deadfall is highly-aclaimed author Robert Liparulo’s latest rivetingly smart thriller.
Get Downloads and EXCERPTS at www.LIPARULO.com
“DEADFALL is drop-dead great!”
-In The Library Reviews“What if Mad Max, Rambo, and the Wild Bunch showed up-all packing Star Wars type weapons? You’d have Robert Liparulo’s thrilling new adventure Deadfall.”
-Katherine Neville, best selling author of The Eight
“A brilliantly crafted thriller with flawless execution. I loved it!”
-Michael Palmer, best selling author of The Fifth Vial“In Deadfall, Robert Liparulo gives us a fresh fast paced novel that instills a well founded fear of the villians and an admiration for the people who refuse to be victims. It truly deserves the name thriller.
-Thomas Perry, best selling author of The Butcher’s Boy and Silence“Another brilliantly conceived premise from Robert Liparulo. Deadfall will leave you looking over your shoulder and begging for more.”
-DAve Dun, best selling author of The Black Silent
A NOTE from Bob: I’d like to give away five signed copies of Deadfall to readers of CFBA blogs during my tour. All they have to do is sign up for my e-mailing list (they won’t be inundated!) by going to my website (www.robertliparulo.com) and going to the “Mailing List” page. Or email me with “CFBA giveaway” in the subject line.
And a second NOTE from Bob: I wanted to let you know that I’m holding a contest on my site:
**one winner a week till the end of the year for a signed Deadfall
**one winner a week till the end of the year for an unabridged audio MP3-CD of Deadfall
***and on Dec. 31, I’m giving away an iPod Nano, pre-loaded with an unabridged audio recording of Deadfall
Winners are selected from my e-mailing list—sign up at my site. If a winner has already purchased what he/she wins, I will reimburse them for the purchase price (or give them another—whichever they choose), so they don’t need to wait to see if they win before buying Deadfall.
[Wo]Man Vs. Wild — Kansas
November 5, 2007
The new season of Man vs. Wild has started, and as I’ve watched the commercials showing where Bear Grylls will go next, I must say I’m very disappointed to see that he’s not chosen to try to survive here in eastern Kansas.
Really. For this suburbanite, Kansas is not the safe urban environment I’d expected.
Where do I begin?
First of all, there are bugs here. No kidding. Lots of bugs. This was a shock to me as I had not realized how much Chicago had mastered the art of destroying bugs. (Except for those 17-year cicadas this past summer.) Yes, Chicago has ants and some bees and wasps. But seriously, the city and suburbs are bug free compared to here.
Here two massive spiderwebs appeared overnight outside our front door and our garage door. Massively massive spider webs. Complete with thumbnail-size spider keeping watch from the web’s center. Sheesh, it looked like we were decorating from Halloween.
And then of course, there’s the issue of going out in the evening and leaving your porch light on. Which is worse? Fumbling for the right key in the dark or letting the hordes of bugs drawn to your light enter the house with you? We quickly decided to fumble in the dark.
There are even bugs in busy areas, right outside shopping malls where cars and people are coming and going constantly. I’ve almost stepped on a praying mantis, a moth the size of my palm, a numer of grasshoppers and crickets (too many to count), and even a walking stick. I tell you, this place is a bug collector’s paradise.
And then there are the snakes.
You heard me. On my first day in my back yard, I walked out the door, looked down at my feet, and saw that I’d almost stepped on a snake.
So what if it was a garter snake? I’d never even seen one before. Man, am I sorry to have that thirty-some year streak ruined. I tried to act calm (my daughter was right next to me). And before long the thing flew through the grass and left. But frankly its speed freaked me out too.
Lest you find yourself laughing at me, let me really scare you. There are copperheads in them thar woods.
There’s a couple in our church who have some land and live off a gravel road. Evidently copperheads like rocks. They’ve seen copperheads on that road and have run them over and killed them. (Our friend says you drive back and forth over them until you’re sure they’re dead. Just so you know.)
Another man in our church was visiting this family. He was driving down their road on his motorcycle and saw a copperhead up ahead in the road. So he decided to peal out on the bike and kill it. (Again, should you ever find yourself on a bike with a copperhead in front of you, you HAVE to peal out on the snake to kill it. File that one away, okay?)
But sadly, after he pealed out on the bike, he looked behind himself and didn’t see the snake lying dead in the road.
Or slithering off to the side.
He jumped off the bike to see if it had gotten somehow wrapped up in the bike and was about to bite him. Thankfully, it hadn’t
But it gets better. There are rattlesnakes here, too.
Another family in church was cleaning out their window wells a few years ago. Their son, not realizing what it was, picked up a baby rattler by the tale. He found it all cozy in their window well. Thank goodness we don’t have window wells. They’d never get cleaned.
Lastly, there’s the sky. I’ve never given all the ozone theories a thought, but here there are little holes all over the sky. You can see them best at night. Little white dots all over. Kinda pretty, if it weren’t so scary.
I tell ya, Bear Grylls has nothing on me.
Surrender Bay by Denise Hunter
November 2, 2007
by
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Denise lives in Indiana with her husband Kevin and their three sons. In 1996, Denise began her first book, a Christian romance novel, writing while her children napped.
Two years later it was published, and she’s been writing ever since. Her books often contain a strong romantic element, and her husband Kevin says he provides all her romantic material, but Denise insists a good imagination helps too!
In addition to Surrender Bay, the second Nantucket book releases in April 2008. The title is The Convenient Groom and features Kate Lawrence, a relationship advice columnist, whose groom dumps her on her wedding day. Denise is currently at work on the third Nantucket book (Oct 2008) which is untitled so far.
ABOUT THE BOOK:
When Sam’s estranged step-father dies, she inherits his ocean-front cottage in Nantucket–not because he kindly bequeathed it to her, but because he neglected to ever create a will. Sam returns to the island she left 11 years ago with her daughter Caden to fix up the house and sell it, but she isn’t counting on is the fact that Landon Reed still lives two doors down from her childhood home.
As their long-dormant romance begins to bud again, Sam must face the fact that Landon still doesn’t know why she really left the island. Will the secrets she’s hidden all these years tear them apart? Or is Landon’s love really as unconditional as he claims?
“I’ve always thought Denise Hunter was an amazing writer but this wonderful story sets her firmly at the forefront of compelling love stories. How Landon breaks down Samantha’s determination that she is unworthy of love kept me glued to the pages. An amazing story!”
–Colleen Coble, author of Fire Dancer (Smoke Jumper Series)
Sally Says: I haven’t read this book, but I have read one of Denise’s earlier books and really enjoyed it. Let’s just say that this title is on my TBR list!
Interview with Nicole Baart
November 1, 2007
Today I have an interview with debut novelist Nicole Baart. Her book After the Leaves Fall has just released from Tyndale House Publishers — which means it’s got to be a good read.
Here’s the info:
For anyone who’s ever wanted to start over . . .
Julia DeSmit’s life has been marked by loss. After her mother leaves and her father dies when she’s just sixteen, Julia is determined to escape the confines of her gossipy, conservative Christian town.
When her best friend and first love, Thomas, breaks her heart, Julia leaves for college—the perfect place to reinvent herself. But one wrong decision changes her forever, and she returns to her grandmother’s farm, weary and defeated.
Yet hope takes root in unexpected places, and Julia discovers that starting over looks nothing like she imagined.
Endorsements
“Beautifully and sensitively written, Nicole Baart’s debut novel, After the Leaves Fall, is a breathtaking peek into a young girl’s soul. If you are a daughter, a mother, or a grandmother, this book will touch your heart.”–Angela Hunt, best-selling author of Doesn’t She Look Natural?
“In her promising debut novel, Baart writes compellingly about a young girl’s struggle with loss, love, identity and faith… Sparkling prose makes this new novel a welcome addition to inspirational fiction.” –Publisher’s Weekly
Bio
Nicole Baart was born and raised in Iowa, where she and her family now live. She taught high school English for several years in Canada but is now the full-time mother of two young sons and the wife of a pastor. After the Leaves Fall and its sequel Summer Snow are Nicole’s first two novels. Visit her website at www.nicolebaart.com.
SB: Nicole, I heard you were able to visit your publisher, Tyndale House. How did that go, visiting as a first-time novelist?
NB: It was so incredibly much fun! Tyndale treated me like a princess. I was, of course, terribly nervous, but everyone was so gracious, warm, and welcoming. Tyndale has an entire department dedicated to author relations, and they really took me under their wing. I had a wonderful time getting to know them.
Since I know virtually nothing about the industry, I thought that the trip would be a very difficult crash course in everything publishing-related. That wasn’t the case at all. Though we did spend lots of time in meetings, everyone from my publicist to my editor to my marketing manager was helpful and encouraging. They made me feel like an old pro instead of a total rookie! One of the most nerve-wracking parts of my time at Tyndale was a taped interview to be used in the marketing of After the Leaves Fall. I was absolutely petrified at first, but it ended up being a ton of fun. A short segment of the interview is linked to my website under the Bio tab.
SB: I saw that on your site — it turned out great. Was there anything interesting that happened along the way to publication?
NB: The title is always the most difficult part of writing a book for me, and After the Leaves Fall was called “Untitled Manuscript” for a long time! The first title we tossed around was Until Now. But then Karen Kingsbury released a book called Even Now. Obviously, the titles were way too similar. Then, I really wanted to name the book after the first line: A Complicated Longing. Tyndale thought that might be too literary. We almost named the book A Promise of Light, but I got cold feet at the last minute and begged them to give me a bit more time to think about it. We didn’t nail down After the Leaves Fall until right before the endorser copies came out. I’m so happy with the title now.
One other thing that was very interesting to me was the creation of the cover of the book. Jessie, the graphic artist who designed the cover, had come up with two completely different covers and we had to decide which one to go with. The first cover was very beautiful and more traditional. It featured the face of a young woman with her eyes closed, lying in the snow. Her hair was matted with snow and in the background there were evergreen trees shot through with light. It was so gorgeous. It made me think of the Narnia movies or some lovely fairytale. Although I loved that cover, I also adored the quirkiness of the cover that Tyndale decided to go with: the upside down chick on a robin’s egg blue background. It’s not as pretty as the other cover, but it is more me and I think it perfectly captures the essence and symbolism of the book. It’s very evocative and fun. I’m crazy about it and I can’t wait to see what Jessie comes up with for the sequel, Summer Snow!
SB: How did you react when you got the news that Tyndale had said yes to publishing your book?
NB: Oh my goodness, I jumped up and down, I cried a bit, I think I went a little crazy. My family immediately took me out for a fabulous dinner and gave me all sorts of silly, “authorly” gifts. I got a pair of really funky, cheap-o reading glasses with a beaded chain just like the little old ladies wear, a ream of paper, an eccentric scarf… My dad teases me that authors are all a little wacky and now I have to act the part. I’m just great with that!
SB: Sadly, your dad’s probably right. And to prove it, here’s a wacky question. I’m a huge Dr. Seuss fan. Which Seuss title would be the most similar to your book?
NB: I think this is the hardest question anyone has ever asked me! I love it.
Hmmm… I guess After the Leaves Fall would be most like McElligot’s Pool, my favorite Dr. Seuss book. In the book, Marco insists on fishing in pond no bigger than a bucket of water that is smack dab in the middle of a farmer’s field. Though the farmer tells him he’s “sort of a fool, you’ll never catch fish in McElligot’s pool,” Marco imagines that the pool is connected to an underground brook–one that flows all the way to the sea! A whole parade of eccentric and beautiful fish flow out of Marco’s creative mind as he fantasizes about what he could catch in this dinky little puddle of water.
The reason why I think this book is like After the Leaves Fall is because Marco is such a tenacious character. He believes anything is possible, and his optimism is inspiring to me. Julia, the main character in After the Leaves Fall, reminds me of a slightly more jaded Marco. She wants so desperately to carve out a beautiful, meaningful life for herself. She has big dreams and she throws her heart and soul into making them come true. Though things don’t turn out the way she had planned, she clings to hope even until the very end.
SB: Wow. Good answer. Now that After the Leaves Fall is out, what’s next for you?
NB: Well, I’m already done with the sequel to After the Leaves Fall. It’s titled Summer Snow, and it’s set to release in the spring of 2008. I am so excited about this book because I like it even better than After the Leaves Fall. There’s more action, more surprises, and hopefully, a beautiful conclusion to Julia’s story. This book was incredibly fun for me to write–I felt more confident as I wrote it and I was a bit more willing to try new things.
Right now, I’m working on a third, unrelated book. It’s an absolute blast to write because it is such a departure from my first two. It’s part mystery, part suspense, and part drama. My agent said that it reminded her of a Jodi Picoult book. I can’t wait to see what happens with it!
SB: That’s pretty high praise! Anything you’d like to add?
NB: First off, I’d like to thank you for having me, Sally! I’m so grateful for your willingness to be a part of my blog tour. I’ve enjoyed getting to know you through your blog and through our correspondence. Many blessings in all your endeavors!
Also, I’d love to meet more of you! Stop by my website and check out my blog. I’m in the process of articulating my understanding of what it means for me to be a Christian who is also an author. I’d love to hear your feedback and continue this discussion. And finally, I’d like send out an invitation to any book clubs out there: I’d love to join your group for a day! I will pop in via chat room, telephone, or even in person (if you live within 60 miles) for the first ten book clubs that commit to reading After the Leaves Fall. I’ll answer your questions, take in your feedback, and just hang out with you. Email me if you would like to take part in this fun opportunity.
Website: www.nicolebaart.com
Email: nicolebaart@yahoo.com
Thanks for stopping by, Nicole!
- Coming next week — the dangers of living in Kansas!