Summerside Press Partners With HopeKids Founders

Summerside Press™ is pleased to announce its partnership with HopeKids founders, Rob and Susan Cottrell, and their new book, HopeMinute. More than just another book in the Summerside Press™ Spring 2010 line, HopeMinute came out of a special relationship between Summerside Press™ creative director, Jason Rovenstine, and the HopeKids organization. When Rovenstine’s young son was diagnosed with a life-threatening illness, it was Rob and Susan Cottrell and HopeKids who helped make a difficult path somewhat more easily traversed because it was attended by a series of kind acts done for the family over an extended period of time. With things as small as tickets to movies, concerts, or sporting events for the whole family, HopeKids helps families have fun and make memories in the midst of trying times.

“HopeKids helped us be a normal family through some abnormal circumstances. In fact, without them, we would have spent a lot more time focusing on cancer this past year than on sharing special times as a family and getting through this together,” Rovenstine said. “The HopeMinute book is a natural expression of what they already do. We knew from the start that we wanted to share the message of HopeKids with people—facing all kinds of situations—who need a life-giving dose of hope.”

Reaching these families comes out of the heart and life of HopeKids founder Rob Cottrell. As part of his work, Cottrell sends simple email messages to the families of those battling cancer or other life-threatening medical conditions. Those emails touched many lives, and they have been expanded in HopeMinute. In the book, Rob offers his perspectives on faith, fear, dreams, and hope as a powerful medicine, and Susan adds inspiring and heart-warming prayers at the end of each selection. Working with Summerside Press™ to produce HopeMinute, Rob said, “What a thrill it is to partner with Summerside Press™ and see the HopeMinute book come to life! It has been such a blessing to get to know the people at Summerside and see the love and care they put into this book.”

Cottrell continues, “The HopeKids organization comes alongside nearly 1,500 families, each with a child battling a life-threatening illness. We are a unique charity with a powerful program and message. We are a family, a community, and we go through these battles together. We play together, we pray together, we laugh together, we cry together, and we stand together believing in the power of hope and believing that the future is indeed full of wonder and life! Summerside Press™ and the HopeMinute book will enable us to reach so many more people with the same message.”

HopeMinute releases in January 2010 and is available everywhere books are sold. For more information on HopeKids, visit www.hopekids.org or www.summersidepress.com.

New Website for Amish Fiction Lovers & Contest

Amish fiction readers craving more of the simple life find community and resources on AmishLiving.com

As an answer to fans’ requests for more of “all things Amish” after enjoying the plentitude of Amish fiction titles on the market, a new community has launched at www.AmishLiving.com. Here, fans gather to share opinions and recommend favorite Amish novels, and also to find recipes, products like quilts and furniture, and advice on planning a trip to Amish country. The site regularly offers book giveaways.

With helpful links to many vendors, event listings, information directories, and blogs, the community also includes member-generated forums designed to spark conversations and groups to join based on members’ locations. Members are encouraged to interact with each other, including several prominent novelists who contribute expert knowledge from their research of the Amish people and seek fan feedback for their upcoming titles. The community’s open membership allows all those who love Amish culture, including authors who write for any publishing house, to get involved in the conversations online.

Bonus! Here's how you can win a copy of the book An Amish Gathering, which features 3 novellas by Beth Wiseman, Kathleen Fuller & Barbara Cameron (courtesy of our friends at Thomas Nelson).

Anyone who joins the AmishLiving.com community and then comments back here (letting us know that you’ve joined) will be eligible for the giveaway. We will draw the winner from the comment submissions February 6th.

Covers of Summer 2010 Tyndale House Novels

Some exciting releases coming from Tyndale House this summer. Here are the covers of a few. We don't have full plot descriptions yet, but stay tuned...

Marcher Lord Press Select Winner!

Marcher Lord Select--The People Have Spoken!

After two months and four rounds of voting, Marcher Lord Select, Jeff Gerke's experiment in fiction acquisitions "by the people," has successfully concluded.

And the winner of the primary Marcher Lord Select contest, the author who will become the newest Marcher Lord and whose book will release in the fourth MLP release cycle, is:

The Sending by Matt Koceich

Congratulations, Matt!

Here's the hook for Matt's book: "The Garden of Eden holds a 4,000-year-old secret. One believer must risk his faith to find it."

Find out more about Marcher Lord Press at their website.

Matt Bronleewe leaves Thomas Nelson and to Give Away His Next Novel The Deadly Hours for FREE

Matt Bronleewe recently made the decision to leave Thomas Nelson (they published his first novels, Illuminated and House of Wolves). That left his 3rd novel, The Deadly Hours, without a home.

Here's the scoop from Matt in his latest newsletter:

Earlier this year, while putting the finishing touches on August Adams’ latest adventure—THE DEADLY HOURS—I made the difficult decision to leave Thomas Nelson Publishing. I’m extremely grateful for the time I spent with them, but like a restless cowboy in search of the wild wild west, it was simply time for me to move on. The inevitable result was putting THE DEADLY HOURS in limbo, something I didn’t want to do. To all of you who have inquired, I apologize for your inability to get your hands on August Adams’ most dangerous journey—

But all that’s about to change....To read the first chapter of The Deadly Hours now, click here.

Believe it or not, Matt's actually giving away digital copies of The Deadly Hours for FREE, if you buy his first two novels for $19.95, that is. Check out all the details at his website.

Read our interview with Matt.
Read our review of Illuminated.
Read our review of House of Wolves.

New John Aubrey Anderson novel coming this summer!

Coming in July 2010 from Fidelis Books (B&H).

Summary:

In 1970, Bill Mann, a pilot who sought to make aerial combat his guiding star, is already lost whether he knows it or not. Although he's at the top of his Air Force class and marries a beautiful girl, his life is centered on drinking and partying-perhaps a way to escape the haunting memory of having to kill two white men who beat his black mother to death when he was ten years old.Upon leaving to spend a year in Vietnam flying combat missions aboard his aircraft, The Cool Woman, Bill remains confident and considers himself "the envied of the envied." But soon enough his wife is leaving him, and a downward spiral of Mann's heart, soul, and survival odds has begun.

The much anticipated sequel to By Darkness Hid coming Spring 2010 from Marcher Lord Press

Just in from Jeff Gerke at Marcher Lord Press....

The first book from list 4 (coming Spring 2010) is the eagerly awaited sequel to By Darkness Hid by Jill Williamson.

To Darkness Fled, Book 2 of The Blood of Kings, picks up right where the previous book left off. As you may recall, By Darkness Hid ends with characters entering the mysterious darkness that shrouds the land of Er'Rets. To Darkness Fled begins with these words: "What do you mean she's gone?"

By Darkness Hid is Marcher Lord Press's bestselling novel by a wide margin and readers have been clamoring to know what happens after the cliffhanger ending of that book. That Book 2 is releasing soon is cause for rejoicing. And it's a monster too: 664 pages in its unedited form.

Christy Awards Call For Entries

ANN ARBOR, Mich.—Submissions are now being accepted for the 2010
Christy Awards. The awards honor excellence in fiction written from a Christian worldview. Entries are due by December 10, 2009.
Submission guidelines and entry form are available at:

www.christyawards.com

The Christy Awards, named in honor of Catherine Marshall’s novel and her contribution to the popularity of Christian fiction, were established in 1999 to encourage, recognize, and promote excellence in Christian fiction.

Media Inquiries:
Jeane Wynn
Wynn-Wynn Media, LLC
P: 918-283-1834
jeane@wynnwynnmedia.com

Erin Healy's standalone novel Never Let You Go coming April 2010

Coming in April 2010 from Thomas Nelson is Erin Healy's first stand-alone novel Never Let You Go (she's co-written Burn and Kiss with Ted Dekker). Sounds intriguing!

The Price of Holding on to Her Past Will Cost Her Daughter's Future

Lexi lives in the shadow of choices her husband made. Especially Grant’s choice to leave seven years ago, without a word. Her relationship with their daughter Molly is the most important thing in her world now.

When Grant shows up out of the blue declaring his intent to re-enter their daughter’s life, Lexi hardly knows what to do. And on the same day, a drug dealer named Warden arrives on Lexi’s doorstep, demanding she repay Grant’s longstanding debts.

Staggering and supernatural events coincide with the arrival of these two men, and Lexi begins to feel she’s losing it. A dangerous shift is taking place. Forces greater than she’s ever known vye for control. What’s at stake? Lexi’s life as she knows it—and the life of her innocent little girl.

Read our interview with Erin.

Travis Thrasher's Broken coming May 2010

Coming May 2010 from Faithwords is Travis Thrasher's next novel Broken.

We've snagged a summary from Mr.Thrasher himself:

Laila had it all--love, family, wealth, and faith. But when her faith crumbles, her world falls apart and Laila finds herself living an empty, dangerous life as a call girl in Chicago.

When she is threatened, Laila shoots and kills a client in self-defense, sending herself into a spiral of guilt and emptiness. Six months later, she is trying to move on, but she's haunted by the past. She hasn't told anyone about the man she killed, and she's still estranged from her family.

When she is approached by a stranger who says he knows what she did, Laila has no choice but to run. But the stranger stays close behind, and Laila begins having visions of the man she killed. Little does she know she's being hounded by something not of this world, something that knows her deepest, darkest secret.

Scared and wandering, will Laila regain her trust in God to protect her from these demons? Or will her plea for salvation come too late?

The author of eleven works of fiction, TRAVIS THRASHER creates flawed characters and takes them on harrowing journeys of redemption. He and his wife, Sharon, live with their daughter in Chicago, IL. For more information about Travis, visit www.travisthrasher.com.