Christians Read

New Release: Hunted by Margaret Daley—Interview with the Hero

Luke Michaels, tell me the most interesting thing about you.

I don’t know if it’s necessarily interesting, but I love working with animals from the horses I own to my German shepherd, Shep. He is a well-trained search and rescue dog. We are a team.

What do you do for fun?

I hike and camp. I love the outdoors.

What do you put off doing because you dread it?

Facing my feelings about my wife who died suddenly. I never go to say good-bye.

What are you afraid of most in life?

Confronting my past. I worked on Wall Street and made a lot of money, but at the sacrifice of my marriage.

What do you want out of life?

To appreciate life and the beauty around me. Also, to help others in need.

What is the most important thing to you?

My family and friends. For many years I worked constantly and had little to do with my family and my friends—no, acquaintances—were my business colleagues.

If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?

Put my trust totally in the Lord. I grew up believing in God but when I began to work seventy to seventy-five hours a week, I pulled away from what’s the most important thing in life: God.

If you could travel back in time, where would you go and why?

I could say back to when I graduated from college and choose to work on Wall Street, but that part of my life has made me the man I am today. Out of tragedy, I’ve grown and made my life mean something other than making a buck.

Blurb for Hunted:

Murder. On the Run. Second Chances.

Luke Michaels’ relaxing camping trip ends when he witnesses a woman being thrown from a bridge. He dives into the river to save her, shocked to find her wrapped in chains. As a canine search and rescue volunteer, Luke has assisted many victims, but never a beauty whose defeated gaze ignites his primal urge to protect. When Megan Witherspoon’s killers make it clear they won’t stop, Luke fights to save her, but can he keep her alive long enough to find out who is after her?

Buy links: Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Apple, Kobo and Google Play

What kind of woman would Captain Ahab fall in love with?

Ahab would not be Ahab if he fell in love with a typical Victorian woman. But to figure out what sort of woman he would choose, we must look at more of his character, personality, and history. (At right, picture of Pequod whale ship from miniseries is used by permission of the photographer and found at Wiki Commons.)

I believe Ahab will be attracted to someone with his same zeal for life. Although he probably would not disdain a woman experienced in intimacy, it is also probable he would not choose a promiscuous woman simply because he’s probably known many of them over the years. Being educated—“Ahab’s been in colleges”—he will marry an intelligent woman. Having traveled the world, he may find favorable the idea of taking his young bride on a world tour both to show her the world and to show her off to the world. (Today we would call her “arm candy.”) Ahab is not insane when they meet, but he is intense. Their romance is passionate because he is a vital, active, healthy man in all respects. The woman he loves must be all of those things as well.

Since he marries before he loses his leg, (not three voyages wed at the time of the Pequod’s departure; lost his leg the previous voyage of the Pequod), I am curious to know what kind of man he was before that tragedy. Why does he react as he does when it happens? Other men with similar losses, i.e., the English captain who lost an arm to Moby Dick, have managed to recover and adjust without Ahab’s rage against the White Whale.

He married “past fifty” and thought it might have been a great evil to marry Hannah because he sailed the next day, leaving her a widow while she was still a wife. Though at the time of their marriage and his departure, he left only “one dent in his marriage pillow,” the fact that he returned to her at least two more times (not three voyages wed, but at least two) means they would have had more marital bliss. Because their child is young enough to take a noon nap, he would be younger than six or seven years, and he would have been conceived after Ahab returned from that first voyage.

Ahab’s voyages would have been shorter than average, but still successful. The average whaling voyage took three years, and usually more, so Ahab becomes a legend by his less-than-three-year successful voyages. My whole story must take place when he is past fifty and before he dies at fifty-eight. By the time Moby Dick takes place, he has spent only three years out of forty on shore. He sailed for the first time at eighteen. He is “rich as a potentate” and has no need to continue whaling. He does so perhaps because it is the habit of his lifetime, but also because he has a passion for the savagery of the whale hunt, much as a career soldier thrives on battle, i.e., continually proving his manhood.

Even Ahab does not completely understand why he is compelled to pursue the White Whale. He even tries to stop when he sees his loved ones reflected in First Mate Starbuck’s eyes. But he is overwhelmed by his mania. Where did it come from? What is the real target of his rage? Why is he enraged? Surely it must go beyond the loss of his leg. A man of his courage could have faced his loss with the support of his loving family.

The theme of Ahab’s rage has been the subject of so much commentary, I feel inadequate to try to address those deeper issues. My purpose is to show just enough of his inner conflict to demonstrate how it affected his wife. She is my protagonist. Still, in creating her, I must base her every strength or weakness on something either that Melville has provided in the original work or something that fits into the time period.

Here is what I decided about my heroine: Hannah will not be a Nantucket girl, but like those indomitable women, she will possess an independent spirit and strong character. She is unlike her mainland friends who embody the typical nineteenth-century views of a woman’s “place.” Like Ahab, she will be an “Isolate” by her own choice.

Staying true to the historical times: The 1830s were a time of great discovery. The mysteries of the world were opening up to whoever wanted to travel. Hannah wants to travel and see the world (or at least parts of it), but she is still young and inexperienced enough to be unfocused in her desires. She also has no close female influences because her mother died when she was born. This device gives Ahab the responsibility and pleasure of teaching her about life, a marital circumstance not atypical of the time period. She will be beautiful enough, yet different enough to attract Ahab’s attention and love.

Love at first sight: The initial attraction between Hannah and Ahab is physical. To Hannah, the successful Captain Ahab appears to be the epitome of all the classical heroes she has read about from childhood, the godlike men who sparked her imagination and made ordinary men appear far too inferior to deserve her attention.

Ahab is attracted to Hannah because: To Ahab, lovely Hannah, all dressed in white, is purity personified. He meets her at a time when he has become sea- and world-weary and has begun to long for something in his life beside whaling. But what begins for Ahab as a playful flirtation to annoy the young minister, who has the audacity to try to convert him, quickly becomes a fascination in the young woman who is different from any female of his social rank he has ever met. Her courage and desire to learn about life beyond her sheltered world inspire him to become her private tutor in the latest philosophies, even as he advises her father in his failing whaling business. (The Victorian bride picture at left is from Flickr through Wiki Commons and has no known copyright.)

Hannah is attracted to Ahab because: Hannah has never met a man, other than her indulgent father, who values her mind as well as her beauty. That Ahab regards her as an equal becomes his most compelling virtue, and her heart is won. As the time draws near for his departure on another long whaling voyage, she fears he will forget her unless she secures his affection with a betrothal. At her prodding and against his better judgment, he proposes only days before leaving. (At right, the picture of Gregory Peck as Captain Ahab is in the public domain from Wiki Commons.)

Surprised by love: Hannah will be as surprised by love as Ahab is, for, unlike her friends, she is not looking for it. She is not attracted to Ahab’s money, but rather his intelligence, generosity, and handsome appearance. As with most people in love, she sees him in a unique light that others may not understand. Though she had not planned to marry, she grasps for happiness before Ahab leaves on his voyage. When Peleg says she is a “sweet, resigned girl,” I’ll take the sweet (though not too sticky sweet), but not the resigned—you may recall that last time I said Peleg isn’t a totally reliable witness to Ahab’s character—because a spirited man such as Ahab would not have married a resigned girl. She must have spirit. Hannah’s only resignation is to his inevitable decision to sail again, and that resignation comes after painful disappointments. With her inexperience in life, she cannot comprehend her husband’s inner conflicts. With wealth to spare and no further need to continue whaling, why can he not be content to stay home with her?

More about Hannah and Ahab next time!

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I love to laugh. Most of us do. With so many serious things happening in the world around us, I think it’s important to find ways to put laughter into each day of our lives.

So what makes you laugh? Is it a joke? A funny story? A humorous TV show? A book?

All those things, but also, for me, I love seeing cute babies and animals doing funny things. So I thought I’d share a few of my favorites here to give you a good laugh for the day.

This little boy is so cute.

Who doesn’t like a couple of cute kittens.

Ever wonder what your pets do when you’re not home?

And my all time favorite. I’m going to try this some day.

So here’s hoping your day if filled with laughter…

Mary Alford

Heart of Texas – Available at Amazon

Laney Winters gets the biggest shock of her life when she learns she’s pregnant…on the same day she finds her husband in bed with his secretary. With her blissful life exposed as fraud, and her husband wanting nothing to do with raising a child, Laney faces divorce and her greatest fear–moving back home to live with her two eccentric old-maid aunts.Hiding the demise of her marriage and helping to manage the family diner should be uneventful, but a new man in town has the gossips speculating. Laney’s two aunts create an exciting mystery around the stranger, and Laney is sucked into an entertaining game of “Save Jake Montgomery from Aunt Thelma.” When her aunts’ latest victim turns out to be the town’s new family doctor, Laney must entrust him with her secrets, and along the way, discover that when your life flips upside down it’s God’s way of giving you a different perspective…and a fresh start.

by Elizabeth Goddard

Good morning my Christians Read friends!

I’m late in posting to you this first Saturday of the month (my days to post). The sun has finally shown its face, pushing away the gray clouds of a Michigan winter.

I never thought I’d be excited for spring because it ushers in summer, and as a 7th generation Texan, I simply can’t abide summer. Ha! But in Michigan, well, I welcome spring because it ushers in summer. It’s all about perspective.

For my post today I thought you would be most interested to hear about the spring Christian Fiction Scavenger Hunt!

It ends tomorrow night—Sunday, March 4^th—at midnight (MST) so you have plenty of time to hunt and learn about new authors, all while gathering clues that could potentially leave you with prizes.

To begin the hunt, start HERE AT STOP #1!

Happy Hunting!!!

Elizabeth Goddard

My Journey with God As I’ve Developed As a Christian Writer

By Margaret Daley

In the past few years my faith has deepened. Actually it has grown quite a bit through the years I’ve written for the Christian market. God led me to write inspirational stories in the late 1990s. At first I ignored the nudge, but as the Lord so often does, he kept nudging me until I took up the challenge. And of course, he was so right. I found my writing home in the Christian market.

Several times in the past few years I’ve seen God actively working in my life. First, he gave me a story I had to tell. It became the first book in The Men of the Texas Rangers Series, Saving Hope. The story is about human trafficking, and I knew it would be a difficult sale, but I didn’t give up hope selling it because it was a story the Lord gave me. I felt him totally behind me. There was someone out there who needed to read it. I have felt that way about all my books in The Men of the Texas Ranger Series. The second book, Shattered Silence, is about bullying. He has given me passion about certain social issues and the desire to tackle them in a story.

When I ran for the president of American Christian Fiction Writers, I did because He wanted me to run. I did out of obedience, not really expecting to win. I had books contracted and I was already serving on the board as Volunteer Officer. I didn’t envision myself as the president. I hated getting up in front of large crowds and giving a speech. I did win, and He assured me He would help me with giving the speeches. And He did. He is amazing.

My most recent journey with the Lord has me working on giving control over to Him. For so many years I tried to do everything by myself. I loved the Lord, but I didn’t need Him. Or so I thought. What has come home to me is that I can’t do it alone anymore. That I can’t do it without the Lord. Even knowing that, it has still been hard to give everything to Him. Not to worry. Not to forge ahead without considering what He wants me to do. As I’ve told people, I’m a work in progress, but with the Lord on my side, I can’t go wrong.

How did I choose to write my master’s thesis about Moby Dick? Here’s the first part of my thesis introduction.

Since the 1920s, Herman Melville’s great American novel Moby Dick has been the subject of literary, religious, social, and psychological analysis, movies, television mini-series, Far Side cartoons, Internet sites (both serious and humorous) and countless other forms of commentary. In every generation and with each new academic approach, this multi-layered work continues to inspire interpretation in many forms. Though many non-academic people may not have read the novel, who has not at least heard about Captain Ahab, the monomaniacal whaler who chases to the death the white whale who bit off his leg? (At left is a picture of my much-used copy of the book.)

After hearing of Moby Dick all my life, I at last read it for a class in graduate school and was surprised at how complex and, at the same time, how simple the story is. Because I am a romance writer and I am always looking for romantic stories, one minor detail of the epic tale jumped off the page as I read: Captain Ahab had a wife! Who knew? Immediately, I was intrigued. What kind of girl—Ahab calls her his “young girl-wife”—would marry such a crazy old man as Ahab? What made her fall in love with him? What kind of romance did they have? What did she do while he was away at sea? How did she cope with his monomania after he lost his leg?

After perusing hundreds of articles and books on Melville, and on Moby Dick in particular, I was surprised to see that very few commentators make reference to this wife or to the child she bore Ahab. It seems as if Melville, by mentioning her only in passing, is merely using her as a tool to demonstrate that “Ahab has his humanities, as Captain Peleg assures us. This incidental mention by the author rightly concerns feminist readers, who see it as a typical example of nineteenth-century dismissal of the value of women and women’s work to society. But, after all, Moby Dick is first and foremost a book about one man’s attempt to avenge himself against the whale who wounded him. And, of course, Herman Melville did not write about women with any great degree of understanding in any of his books or stories.

Still, I am intrigued by the idea that a young woman would marry this old whaling captain. I am also curious to know why Ahab would marry “past fifty” when he had been content to be a bachelor all his life. On the surface, there is not much to go on. There are only two mentions of this unnamed wife in the entire four-hundred-and-seventy-page Norton Critical Edition of the book. To my feelings of intrigue and curiosity, add the element of challenge. I’m going to find out who these people are, and I’m going to write the story of their romance! But how do I make this character my own?

What do we know about Captain Ahab? All we know of him is related to us by Ishmael, who narrates the novel. But in addition to his own observations, Ishmael gives us the words and viewpoints of others, so we have much scuttlebutt and many opinions about Ahab. To whom should I listen if I am to find out why our young girl, whom I have named Hannah, loves Ahab? I decided that Ishmael’s views of Ahab can be trusted. He writes from the viewpoint of one who loves/admires Ahab but who also sees his flaws. What Ishmael observes can be believed, for only he speaks with affectionate objectively. The ideas of other characters who speak of Ahab must go through a filter to strain out superstition, fear, anger, self-delusion, and self-interest. Thus, if Ishmael is reporting something another character has said about Ahab or his wife, I don’t necessarily have to believe it, for it merely forms a part of the myth of Ahab.

A wise and brilliant captain: From Ishmael, I learn that Ahab’s “firmest fortitude [and] determinate, unsurrendered wilfulness” earn him the respect and awe of his crew. His lance (harpoon) is the “keenest and surest” out of Nantucket. He “lowers”—gets into the whaleboat—along with the rest of the crew in the active pursuit of the whale. He is a wise and brilliant captain, knowing how to rule his tiny shipboard kingdom in order to keep everyone alive at sea for three or four years at a time (89). He can be a harsh taskmaster to his crew, but he is not unjust. He will reward hard work and give incentives to his men at the appropriate time. This is what the real-life whaling captains of American history were like. (The picture above is from Wiki Commons: https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=42887975.)

Admirable qualities: Adding to the typical attributes of a good captain, Ahab has many other admirable qualities. He is a strong, powerfully built man, resembling Cellini’s cast bronze statue of the Greek hero Perseus. Despite a rod-like scar down one side of his face, he is strikingly handsome in appearance. He has had a long, successful career in whaling to the point that he has become a legend in the industry, especially in his home port of Nantucket. He is a god-like man and far above average. He has visited other cultures and has learned to accept hard-working men of all races without prejudice. He can be tenderhearted, as in the case of poor, mad Pip, his little cabin boy. He dotes on his son, speaks fondly of his wife, and would gladly be back home to sit with her by the fireside if he were not driven by his quest. He has confidence in his wife’s love and devotion, knowing she will tell their son about him every day. (Picture above from Wiki Commons.)

Less admirable qualities: We also learn of Ahab’s less admirable qualities from Ishmael. He acknowledges that there is a God, but he is angry with Him even before his injury, seeing Him as unjust. Ahab has had prophecies made about him ever since the time his “crazy, widowed mother” gave him the name of an evil Biblical king and a Gay Head Indian woman, Tistig, said it “would somehow prove prophetic.” Others have made prophecies about him, as well, usually because of some aberrant behavior on his part. He has had a checkered past, having done numerous rash things in his younger years, such as spitting in a calabash (breaking a heathen taboo) and fighting with a Spaniard in a church (breaking a Christian code of behavior). And he lost his leg according to a prophecy.

Believable reports: In addition to Ishmael, I believe Starbuck’s insights regarding Ahab because the young Quaker is a practical man, courageously but carefully involved in the dangerous pursuit of whales only in order to provide for his family. He is also a man of integrity and spiritual insights. He cannot rebel against or kill Ahab to save himself or the crew because of his religious conviction against murder. Yet he is filled with anger toward Ahab, knowing that his monomania will destroy them all. Therefore, when he looks into Ahab’s eyes and sees that the captain has a moment of sanity, he seizes that opportunity to beg Ahab to forsake his mad quest. As a loving husband and father, Starbuck recognizes another man’s love for his family. I also believe the prophet Elijah and Pip because they both are mad and see with the eyes of mystics.

Less believable reports: On the other hand, comments made by Captain Bildad, Captain Peleg, or any crew members may be filled with rumors and superstition and therefore may not be accurate. For instance, the lightning scar that extends down Ahab’s face and disappears beneath his collar is thought to extend clear to the sole of his foot. But the man who relates that story has never seen that it does and is only passing on what someone else has said. If I doubt an account, I do not have to give it credence.

Putting it together: Using these tools, I began my construction of my own Captain Ahab. I think that, as a man who has proven himself with prodigious success in his own arena, Ahab will be comfortable with himself no matter where he goes, including the upper echelons of the whaling society. Just as he knows how to figure out any problem that arises on his ship in the middle of the ocean, he can also figure out how to navigate social waters. Though not ashamed of his Nantucket heritage, he may forsake his usual Quaker-sounding “thees” and “thous” until he is certain that it will not bring contempt from his listeners. He has learned some hard lessons in life and will avoid unnecessary unpleasantries in social situations, which are, after all, only temporary gams to him.

More rocky parts of Ahab’s history: An important factor in Ahab’s development concerns an incident that happened to him “off Cape Horn…when he lay like dead for three days and nights” some years before he lost his leg. This undetailed report from Elijah provides me with an opportunity for creating a reason for Ahab to take a ship from New Bedford rather than his home port, Nantucket, from whence he has always shipped. If he had an illness while at sea, it may have sobered him from his rash ways. He might have begun to rethink his life and to make a few changes after thirty years of whaling, if only to try shipping out from a different port.

My creative juices start to flow: At this point in Ahab’s life, these events might also prime him for meeting an appealing woman and getting married, though I do not think he would be aware of that aspect of his search for change. Ahab will be surprised by his love for Hannah. From the moment he sees her, he will be thinking “What a woman!” But what kind of woman might Ahab fall in love with? We’ll discuss that next time.

Have you ever reached the end of a great book and thought, “No! That can’t be it. I’m not ready for it to end…”

I think most of us have had that type of reaction to a book that drew us in from page one and held us captive until the end. I know I certainly have on many occasions.

This is the very reason the series is so appealing to us. The story we fell in love with goes on, just in a different way. We can still catch up with our favorite characters, but in addition, we’re introduced to a whole new story that will hopefully make us fall in love all over again.

Still, not every book is destined to be a series.

So what makes a book series worthy? Well, at the core of every series you have great characters:

Obviously, a key ingredient in creating any great series is having an array of interesting secondary characters to complement the hero and heroine and make the reader want to know what happens to them as well.

But there has to be more to a good series than its characters. You need a fresh storyline that’s different from the first book and one that will set it apart and make the reader want to read it.

So, we have a great set of characters and a storyline that is intriguing. What’s next?

Location, location, location. The location where the story is set is key to the story and the series’ success. In Framed For Murder, book three of my Scorpion Team series, is set in the mountains of Colorado as well as the tundra of Alaska. The rugged backdrop of the mountains adds to the suspense of the story.

So, we have great characters, and intriguing storyline and the perfect location. Now comes the end?

Surprise! – The Perfect Ending.

I think what makes for a great series is that the ending both surprises and satisfies us. The story ends, but there’s still room for more.

About Framed for Murder – available at Amazon:

FALSELY ACCUSED

Framed for helping her partner smuggle guns—and then murdering him—CIA agent Liz Ramirez must find the evidence that will prove her innocence…before she’s caught or killed. So when her squad’s leader attempts to bring her in for questioning, she knows her future depends on convincing Aaron Foster to go rogue and help her. On the run from the rest of her team and the gun dealers who are convinced she knows the location of their missing weapons, Liz risks losing the proof that would clear her name. But will eluding her pursuers—and trying not to fall for the handsome commander—prove to be fatal?