It was a very rainy day last Saturday. The house was empty. My youngest son returned to Valparaiso University the Thursday before and my husband had a meeting all day about adjunct work he planned for the fall semester.

Perfect day to snuggle up on our feather cushioned sofa with my cat on my lap, and Daisy on the floor next to me, and enjoy the end of the book I was reading, Night Song by Tricia Goyer.

Set during WWII, the author weaves together the lives of her three main characters around love—love of: music, each other, and the Lord of all creation. As the ever-present evil threatens to destroy their lives the female protagonist, Evie, is forced to return to Austria with her family—leaving her American boyfriend, Nick, just as he is called to serve in the war effort. Halfway around the world a young Jewish musician Jakub, watches as his father is dragged off by the SS men who soon return for Jakub and his mother and brother. They are sent off to a concentration camp in Czechoslovakia and separated from each other when they arrive. Their most prized possession, a very valuable violin, was secure in the hands of a friend. Or was it?

In order to live the comfortable life she is accustomed to in Austria, Evie finds herself forced to ignore the evil presence of the Nazis. Her dearest friend has joined the Resistance and loses her life, catapulting Evie into a life underground. Continue reading / Leave a comment…

Hello Fiction Fans,

Our acquisitions Editor Deb Keiser interviewed Texas Trails author Vickie McDonough. She wrote Long Trail Home, book 3 of the 6 book series, and you can look for it in November.

Tell us about yourself. Who is Vickie McDonough?

I’m a wife of almost thirty-six years, mother of four grown sons (one married) and grandma to a smart, feisty five-year-old girl. I’ve lived in Oklahoma all of my life except for a year when I was newly married and my husband and I lived on a kibbutz in Israel. I’ve always been a reader and loved Christian fiction when it came on the scene back in the 1980s. I never dreamed then that I’d one day write a book, especially since English was one of my least favorite classes way back when I was in school.
Besides reading, I love traveling, watching movies (especially romance and adventure ones), and gardening. I am currently serving as the national treasure for the American Christian Fiction Writers group.

You’ve had 23 books published. How do you come up with new and fresh ideas after writing so many books?

Ideas come from everywhere—a line in a movie, something I read in a book, a newspaper article, asking “what if?” question.
Coming up with the initial story idea isn’t usually too hard, but fleshing it out and developing it so that it’s different from my other books can be challenging. That’s where brainstorming with my critique partners is a huge help. Each person sees situations from a different angle and offers a different perspective, which helps me come up with new predicaments for my characters. Continue reading / Leave a comment…