Ask the author: Bob Hamer

Next release: Targets Down (June).

Publisher: B&H Books (B&H Publishing Group).

As a Marine veteran and retired FBI undercover agent, you have a lot of material from which to draw, don't you? 

Besides an overactive imagination, most of what I write comes from cases which have already been litigated, and in many cases, I've testified to the facts in court. Twenty-six years on the street, many of those years undercover, provide more than enough experiences.

Special Agent Matt Hogan goes into some dark places in Targets Down. Were you attempting to bring some of the reality you lived into its plot?

Yes. Although no one ever accused me of being Billy Graham, I maintained my faith throughout my career. I don't believe I would have been as successful as I was without my faith and my family. But I've been in dark places, some darker than where Matt Hogan travels. Yet even in the darkest times, I felt God's protective arms around me.

What kind of character is Hogan? 

I joke that he has more hair, is better looking and is a younger Bob Hamer. He's a warrior, a patriot and a devoted husband. Marine Corps General James Mattis popularized the Marine slogan, "No better friend, no worse enemy." I think that sums up Matt Hogan.

Aside from your debut novel, Enemies Among Us, you wrote your life story. How do you like writing fiction?

Writing the memoir was easy since the stories were mine and I had just enough notes, news accounts and court documents to fill in the details. I'm not sure I would like to write a nonfiction account of a life or event in which I did not have a direct involvement. I like fiction because you can adjust the facts to fit the plot. Although several defense attorneys accused me of doing just that in my various court documents, I always told the truth in my affidavits and testimony. Now I can lie and get paid for it!

You have consulted for shows like Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. Does your TV work feed off of your fiction and vice-versa? 

When consulting, I stick to the truth. I help the writers in developing realistic plot lines and dialogue. I have several TV writing credits and clearly those ideas came from my life experiences with enough "Hollywoodizing" to make the scripts marketable.

How would you encourage Christian retailers to promote Targets Down?

A Hollywood producer says Targets Down is "pedal to the metal, red lining in every gear." It's fast-paced fiction, truer to life than you might imagine. Too many times as Christians we want to avoid focusing on the evil around us, but at times we must. Targets Down is written by someone who has been there, by an author who brings a Christian worldview to a dark side of society few will ever see.

ECPA Fiction Top 10

1. Vicious Cycle, Terri Blackstock (Zondervan)

Author Note: During her years working in prison ministry, Blackstock got to know several drug addicts who came from homes where everyone was using, and many had abandoned their children for drugs. She patterned the character of Jordan after some of those women.

2. Leaving, Karen Kingsbury (Zondervan) 

3. Unlocked, Karen Kingsbury (Zondervan)

4. A Heart for Home, Lauraine Snelling (Bethany House/Baker Publishing Group)

Author Note: In her research for A Heart for Home, Snelling was having trouble finding information about the Rosebud Indian reservation, so she posted her need on Facebook. Several people from South Dakota responded and were able to provide the needed facts.

5. Redeeming Love, Francine Rivers (Multnomah Books)

6. Crossing Oceans, Gina Holmes (Tyndale House Publishers)

7. Hearts Aglow, Tracie Peterson (Bethany House/Baker Publishing Group)

8. Almost Heaven, Chris Fabry (Tyndale House Publishers)

9. Breach of Trust, DiAnn Mills (Tyndale House Publishers)

10. The Shack, William P. Young (Windblown Media/Hachette Book Group)

The ECPA list is compiled from sales of Christian books in hundreds of Christian retail outlets nationwide, collected using Pubtrack Christian (www.ptchristian.com). April best-sellers are for the four-week cycle ending March 19, 2011. All rights reserved. © 2010 ECPA. www.ecpa.org.

New fiction releases coming next month:

Canary Island Song, Robin Jones Gunn (Howard Books)

Fallen Angel, Major Jeff Struecker and Alton Gansky (B&H Books)

Lion of Babylon, Davis Bunn (Bethany House/Baker Publishing Group)

Love by the Book, Cara Lynn James (Thomas Nelson)

Perfectly Invisible, Kristin Billerbeck (Revell/Baker Publishing Group)

Restless in Carolina, Tamara Leigh (Multnomah Books)

Shadows on the Sand, Gayle Roper (Multnomah Books)

The Blessed, Ann H. Gabhart (Revell/Baker Publishing Group)

The Muir House, Mary DeMuth (Zondervan)

Veiled Rose, Anne Elisabeth Stengl (Bethany House/Baker Publishing Group)

Wolfsbane, Ronie Kendig (Barbour Publishing)

FICTION FILE

Ask the author

Brandilyn Collins

Next release: Over the Edge (May).

Publisher: B&H Books

This book is based on your experience with Lyme Disease. What was that like?

Terrifying. I went from being a five-miles-a-day runner to crippled. I could only shuffle short distances with a cane and stand for a few minutes. My mind became trapped in the "brain fog" of Lyme. I stuttered when I spoke. My body hurt so much I didn't want to be touched. I was weak and constantly exhausted. In time I lost the ability to write my novels and even read. And—God was with me! Boy, did He teach me a lot during that time.

You received a miraculous healing in 2003. Did you wait to write this book on purpose?

Not really. I had other contracts to fulfill. Then in 2009 I was re-infected with Lyme. ("God, what in the world are you doing?") After about six months of high-level antibiotics, I recovered from that bout (much less severe than the first episode). I then remembered that great idea for a novel about Lyme that I'd gotten while sitting in the waiting room of my doctor in 2003.

Tell us about how you drew the characters in this book.

My "Seatbelt Suspense" brand promises fast-paced, character-driven suspense with myriad twists and an interwoven thread of faith. I work hard to make my characters multilayered in order to fulfill that promise—and to raise the stakes. I knew my protagonist, Jannie, would be the wife of a doctor who insists chronic Lyme doesn't exist. The antagonist would be an embittered man who's lost a loved one to Lyme and is intent on giving such a doctor a taste of his own denied disease. From there I deepened these characters. Jannie is the child of an alcoholic father. Her marriage is falling apart, and she desperately wants to fix it. When the antagonist purposely infects her with Lyme, she turns to her doctor husband for help. But when he denies she has Lyme, if she pursues her own treatment and testing, she will be defying him, and thus hurting her marriage even more.

Why is Lyme Disease such a hot-button issue?

The "Lyme wars" are a huge ongoing medical battle between very sick patients fighting chronic Lyme and their doctors who treat them with long-term antibiotics versus a powerful group of doctor-researchers who insist that all the bacteria that cause Lyme are killed by a 10- to 20-day round of antibiotics. Therefore, says this latter group, which has the ear of the Centers for Disease Control and has set nationwide policies for the treatment of Lyme, chronic Lyme doesn't even exist. Unfortunately many with Lyme are not well after that short round of antibiotics and need further treatment—but they're denied it. They have to find a Lyme—literate doctor willing to treat—and those doctors are rare.

Have you written "medical fiction" before?

No, but I was sure ready to write Over the Edge. I used my personal experience plus researched a lot. In the back of the book is an extended Author's Note with information on the disease.

What do you hope readers will glean from this novel?

A better understanding of Lyme and the challenges Lyme patients face in battling the disease and the medical community. And, as Jannie learns, I want to remind readers that God is worthy of praise—no matter what's going on in our lives.

ECPA Fiction Top 10

1. The Amish Midwife, Mindy Starns Clark and Leslie Gould (Harvest House Publishers) Note: The authors of this adoption-related novel have both experienced adoption firsthand. One of Gould's daughters was adopted, as was Clark's younger brother.

2. Crossing Oceans, Gina Holmes
(Tyndale House Publishers)

3. Breach of Trust, DiAnn Mills
(Tyndale House Publishers)

4. Whispers on the Wind, Maureen Lang (Tyndale House Publishers)

5. Almost Heaven, Chris Fabry
(Tyndale House Publishers)

6. Unlocked, Karen Kingsbury
(Zondervan)

7. Redeeming Love, Francine Rivers (Multnomah Books)

8. Vanish, Tom Pawlik (Tyndale House Publishers) Note: Pawlik's initial proposal was rejected by numerous publishers before winning the 2006 Christian Writers Guild's Operation First Novel Contest. He finished it in just over a month, shipping it overnight to arrive on the day of the contest deadline.

9. The Brotherhood, Jerry B. Jenkins (Tyndale House Publishers)

10. The Shack, William P. Young
(Windblown Media/Hachette Book Group)

The ECPA list is compiled from sales of Christian books in hundreds of Christian retail outlets nationwide, collected using Pubtrack Christian (www.ptchristian.com). December best-sellers are for the four-week cycle ending February 12, 2011. All rights reserved. © 2010 ECPA. www.ecpa.org.

New fiction releases coming in June:

Beyond All Measure, Dorothy Love (Thomas Nelson)

Breath of Angel, Karyn Henley
(WaterBrook Press) 

Broken Wings, Carla Stewart
(FaithWords)

Chasing Sunsets, Eva Marie Everson (Revell/Baker Publishing Group)

Desert Gift, Sally John (Tyndale House Publishers)

Double Take, Melody Carlson (Revell/Baker Publishing Group)

Lion of Babylon, Davis Bunn (Bethany House/Baker Publishing Group)

Pompeii: City on Fire, T.L. Higley (B&H Books)

Summer Dream, Martha Rogers (Realms/Charisma House)

Targets Down, Bob Hamer (B&H
Books)

The Canary List, Sigmund Brouwer (WaterBrook Press)

Latest project: Renovation of the Church: What Happens When a Seeker Church Discovers Spiritual Formation (Formatio/IVP Books, May).

How would you describe your church before its renovation? 

Carlson (pictured left): Probably very similar to many larger entrepreneurial, attractional, seeker-model churches that had much of their heyday in the 1990s and early 2000s, so there was a high expectation of leadership and excellence, very influenced, of course, by Willow Creek. ... There was the assumption that success always would be reflected by increased attendance and a bigger and bigger buzz.

Lueken (pictured right): The services themselves had a high-performance quotient. … I think the other piece is we always made attempts to emphasize spiritual formation and discipleship, but in those days in the culture we had, discipleship and formation was more in a silo, as a department, for those who were interested.

How were you led to believe you were doing church the wrong way?

Lueken: The turning point for us really was a summer retreat. … We came back from that with the belief that God wanted us to begin to make some changes—we didn't know what those changes were—but begin to turn the church in a direction of genuine experiences with Jesus, which gradually became turn the church toward being a place that teaches people and trains them in how to live in the reality of God's kingdom.

Carlson: We began to talk much more and plan much more and be much more interested in the internal journey that a person has to take if they want to reorient their lives around the teachings of Christ. 

What is your vision for this book?

Carlson: There is a belief in many people that something is very seriously wrong with the church, and we've lost our ability to present the very attractive claims of Christ in a way that is engaging and calls people to some kind of conversion. If this book in any way helps that dialogue as another signpost on the way, then we're thrilled with that.

With more than 20,000 users daily visiting his Challies.com blog, Tim Challies is pioneer in the Christian blogosphere. In The Next Story: Life and Faith After the Digital Explosion (978-0-310-32903-9, $14.99, Zondervan), in stores this month, he examines whether or not today's digital technology is good for the soul.

As a writer and Web editor, Challies admits to feeling overwhelmed. "I began to feel as if maybe, just maybe, all of my devices, gizmos, and gadgets owned me as much as I owned them," he writes.

Feeling uneasy, he asked himself: "Am I giving up control of my life? Is it possible that these technologies are changing me? Am I becoming a tool of the very tools that are supposed to serve me?"

Inviting readers to join him to think about "the 'next story,' a story we are living right now—life after the digital explosion," he asks, "Is there a way, then, to live virtuously, immersed in this strange new digital reality?" 

In part one of the book, Challies looks at theology, theory and experience as he helps readers find "that sweet spot where our use of technology is not just thoughtful and informed, but it is informed by the Bible, by an understanding of God's purpose for technology."

In part two, he looks to areas of application specific to the Christian life. For instance, he shows that we are now a "hypersocial people and why we must intentionally submit our need for constant communication to the lordship of God." He also examines privacy concerns and shows how the digital explosion has brought about changes in authority structures that affect the individual, the family and the church.

From within a distinctly Christian worldview, Challies offers three key principles to help readers better understand the nature of digital technology. First, he sees technology as "a good, God-given gift" with tools that should be used to "shape God's creation for practical purposes," he writes. 

With that in mind, he warns that since technology is subject to the curse, its instruments can often become idols. Finally, users need to discern the intended use of a technology, examine their own use of it and reflect on its purposes in light of Scripture.

"There is inherent good in creating technology," he writes. "And yet there is inherent evil in abusing it or assigning it to a godlike prominence in our lives."

While some Christians wholeheartedly and unthinkingly adopt the latest technological discoveries at the risk of becoming irrelevant, Challies challenges them to take a more discerning and wise approach. 

On the other hand, some Christians head in the direction of strict separation, "seeing everything digital as a dangerous enemy," but Challies asserts that "there is no biblical reason to utterly separate ourselves from them."

A third alternative is that of the discerning Christian, who "moves beyond the broad strokes of utter rejection and complete acceptance. Instead, he relies on the Holy Spirit, who speaks his wisdom through the Bible, to learn how he can live with virtue in this new digital world."

Challies addresses questions such as, how can we live in a deep and meaningful way that avoids distraction? And, why is it that so many of us prefer to send an e-mail or text message rather than make a phone call or knock on a door?

To help readers better understand how to honor God with the technology in their own lives, each chapter ends with questions for self-reflection and discussion.

For more information or to order, call Zondervan at 800-727-1309, or visit www.zondervan.com.

Mother and son offer hope in the wake of 'out of the closet' disclosure

Christopher Yuan lived the life of a prodigal, and his mother, Angela, nearly did the unthinkable after he came "out of the closet." The two tell their story in Out of a Far Country: A Gay Son's Journey to God. A Broken Mother's Search for Hope.

At 16, Christopher sought out a sexual encounter with an older man. When his parents found out, they hoped he was going through a phase, but his same-sex attraction persisted. Later, his parents happened across a porn video he had hidden, and his mother gave him an ultimatum.

"I thought that ultimatum would turn him around or wake him up, so my ultimatum to him was to choose the family or choose homosexuality, but Christopher had already bought into the lie, so he said, 'If you cannot accept me, I have no other choice but to leave,' and without any hesitation, Christopher picked up his bags and left," Angela told Christian Retailing.

Angela and her husband, Leon, were Chinese immigrants living an upper middle class life in a Chicago suburb. Christopher was in his third year at dental school, but after his confession, he went deeper into the gay lifestyle and school became less of a priority.

"All I wanted to focus on was my friends and the gay community, going out to bars, partying," he said. "Eventually I began doing drugs, and when the drug life kind of took over, I began selling drugs as well. I was finally expelled from dental school just three months before I was about to receive my doctorate."

With Christopher's admission, Angela hit a low point. "It was worse than receiving news of Christopher's death, and I fell to the floor in shock and anguish," she said.

Feeling that her husband refused to stand by her and that Christopher had betrayed her, she decided to contact a minister, who met with her and gave her a pamphlet about homosexuality.

With plans to end her life, she bought a one-way train ticket to say her final goodbye to Christopher. Reading the pamphlet on the train, Angela sensed God meeting her at her point of need.

"I realized that just as God loved me in spite of my sin, I could love Christopher in spite of his sin as a homosexual," she said. "So when I was sitting on the train … suddenly I just heard a still small voice that (said), 'You belong to me.' "

After a federal drug raid of his home, Christopher was sentenced to six years in prison—where he met Jesus and learned that he was HIV-positive. 

"I think that was maybe the final thing that God used to put me down," he said.

Angela's advice to parents of prodigal children is to "pray and fast unceasingly and never ever, ever give up," but tough love is also necessary. "We have to be willing to submit to His Lordship and be willing to do whatever He tells us to do," she added.

The book includes a foreword by Kay Warren. In support of the release, marketing efforts include a social media campaign and a blogger campaign.

To order, call 800-733-3000.

ASK THE AUTHOR

Wanda E. Brunstetter

Next release: The Journey (April), the first book in the "Kentucky Brothers Series."

Publisher: Barbour Publishing

Why do you think this genre has so much appeal? 

In talking to my readers, it's very clear to me that people are seeking something that will take them to a simpler life. It will make them slow down and refocus their priorities and just get back to basics. I think we all want to go back to our roots to the way our ancestors were. Since the Amish are still living in that mode, reading about them—and of course, a lot of people will take it one step further and travel to Amish country after they have read an Amish book—they'll just get a taste of what it means to slow down and live life a little more simply.

Your books seem to be making their way around Amish communities across the country. What's different about Kentucky? The part of Kentucky where this book is done is very rural. There is not a lot of tourism there. The Amish pretty much have that area to themselves. The Mennonites are also in that community. Very clean, very simple way of living, not a lot of commercialism going on, and I think that and the fact that the land there is so much cheaper has been the attraction. A lot of Amish have moved out of Lancaster County into Christian County, Ky. 

What drives the plot in The Journey? It is actually a spinoff from one of my earliest series, "The Daughters of Lancaster County," where a boy is kidnapped. In that series the father remarries because he is a widower, and he and his wife in their mid-life have twins, two boys. So the spin-off involves these two twin boys as well as one of their other sons. These boys decide to uproot from Lancaster County and go into Kentucky and start life anew, so it's a bit of a trauma for the family, especially the mother to see her youngest children move away like that. They are trying to find themselves and begin again.

Do you think Amish fiction will continue to grow and add readers?

I really think it will because people are just craving that simpler life. They are looking for that. People will tell me, "Don't ever stop writing about the Amish," and I think it's because they just want that feeling so bad. … Many people said, "I wish I could become Amish, but I know I can't give up my lifestyle, so this is an attempt to glean from their life and carry it into our own world."

How's your Pennsylvania Dutch?

I know several words. I don't speak the language fluently, but I know enough words that when we are with our Amish friends, I can pick out some of the things they say. I will often comment, and they will look at me surprised and say, "Oh, you knew what we said?"

See Author Corner at www.christianretailing.com for more on this author.

ECPA Fiction Top 10

1. Unlocked, Karen Kingsbury (Zondervan)

2. The Twelfth Imam, Joel C. Rosenberg (Tyndale House Publishers)

3. Her Daughter's Dream, Francine Rivers (Tyndale House Publishers) News Bit: Rivers' maternal grandparents have similarities to fictional characters Marta and Niclas, but it was only after the release of Her Daughter's Dream that she learned that her grandfather, a German immigrant working for the Baldwin Locomotive Works, advertised for a wife when he arrived in Montreal in 1913. Her grandmother replied, and they were married Easter Sunday, 1914.

4. Her Mother's Hope, Francine Rivers (Tyndale House Publishers)

5. Redeeming Love, Francine Rivers (Multnomah Books)

6. The Shack, William P. Young (Windblown Media/Hachette Book Group)

7. The Thorn, Beverly Lewis (Bethany House/Baker Publishing Group)

8. Immanuel's Veins, Ted Dekker (Thomas Nelson)

9. Fatal Judgment, Irene Hannon (Revell/Baker Publishing Group)

10. Girl in the Gatehouse, Julie Klassen (Bethany House/Baker Publishing Group) News Bit: Klassen has something in common with her book's heroine, who is a secret authoress. For years, while Klassen worked as an editor for Bethany House Publishers, her dream of writing was a closely-held secret.

The ECPA list is compiled from sales of Christian books in hundreds of Christian retail outlets nationwide, collected using Pubtrack Christian ( www.ptchristian.com). December best-sellers are for the four-week cycle ending January 15, 2011. All rights reserved. © 2010 ECPA. www.ecpa.org.

New fiction releases coming in May:

A Killer Among Us, Lynette Eason (Revell/Baker Publishing Group)

Day of War, Cliff Graham (Zondervan)

Fade to Blue, Julie Carobini (B&H Books)

Hidden Affections, Delia Parr (Bethany House/Baker Publishing Group)

Indelible, Kristen Heitzmann (WaterBrook Press)

My Foolish Heart, Susan May Warren (Tyndale House Publishers)

Nick of Time, Tim Downs (Thomas Nelson)

Secrets of the Heart, Jillian Kent (Realms/Charisma House Book Group)

Snitch, Booker T. Mattison (Revell/Baker Publishing Group)

To Win Her Heart, Karen Witemeyer (Bethany House/Baker Publishing Group)

When Sparrows Fall, Meg Moseley (Multnomah Books)