Meet Historical Fiction Author Amber Stockton - Interview & Giveaway!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Tiffany Amber Stockton is an author, online marketing consultant, and web site designer who lives with her husband and fellow author, Stuart, and their baby daughter in Colorado. They also have a vivacious Border Collie mix named Roxie. Amber has sold eight books to Barbour Publishing with more on the horizon. Other writing credits include five short stories for Romancing the Christian Heart, and contributions to Grit for the Oyster and 101 Ways to Romance Your Marriage. Her goal in writing is to convey the message that God is always present, even during the most difficult circumstances. Read more about her at her web site: http://www.amberstockton.com/.


GETTING TO KNOW HER

JA: Have you always wanted to be a writer?
AS: I can't say for certain, but I have always been a storyteller. My parents said I was forever embellishing every story I told to the point that they would step in and tell the story how it really happened. To me, the real truth wasn't interesting enough, so I had to add some flair to it. I suppose writing books came naturally. :)

JA: How does your faith impact your writing?
AS: It's essential and breathes from every word I write. My underlying goal with every story I write is that my readers will see evidence of God's presence in their lives, no matter what the circumstances. I have been blessed with a strong, unwavering faith for most of my life, and that faith has sustained me through may difficult circumstances. I would love for my readers to have that as a takeaway from my novels.

JA: How long does it take to complete a novel? How many drafts do you go through?
AS: Depends on how long the novel is. For the ones I've sold so far, I can write one of them in 2 weeks. For a trade-length, I could do it in 1 month. I'm a fast writer, and I usually only go through 1 complete draft with a phase of revisions before sending it off to my editor. Of course, once my editor gets it, then come the revisions in the content edit stage, followed by the copy edit stage and finally the galley stage. So, if those count, that would make 5 drafts in all.

JA: Do you treat yourself to something special when a project is completed?
AS: Usually, my husband and I go out to eat somewhere special to celebrate. And we splurge...but only after the 2nd half of my advance arrives. :) Otherwise, we'd feel guilty about spending frivolously when we could likely put the money to good use somewhere else. But the advance money is book money, so we feel splurging is justified.

JA: What does your family think about your crazy career?
AS: Actually, since my husband is also a published author, he understands. *winks* And he's just as nutty as I am, if not more so. I mean, he writes science fiction. You HAVE to be a nut job to write that genre. LOL!

JA: What’s the one far out sci-fi technology you’d most like to see become a household item?
AS: The replicator from Star Trek. That thing that produces whatever food item you ask of it, with all the embellishments and spices, and cooked just the way you want it. Can you imagine the time it would save if you could just ask for your meals and poof? There they are! Yeah, that is one household item with which I could easily become spoiled.

Thanks for visiting with us, Amber. Many blessings on your many projects!


WIN A BOOK
If you’d like to be entered in today's book giveaway, just leave a reply to this blog. I’ll pick a winner at random on December 15th. The winner will get their choice of one of Amber's books. (NOTE: This one is restricted to residents of the United States and Canada.) Please leave an email address so I can contact you if you're the winner. (To prevent spammers from trolling for your email, please use this format with the brackets--you [at] yourmail [dot] com--or something similar.) Good luck!

More about Amber's latest series...

Copper and Candles
Barbour Publishing/Heartsong Presents Book 1 of Michigan historical series (HP #843)
At Christianbook.com or Amazon.com
Release date: April 2009
ISBN-10: 1602603405
ISBN-13: 9781602603400

A young lady of means discovers that keeping secrets, no matter how noble the intent, demands a price that she and a refinery worker, with all their resources, might not be able to pay.— Society teas and garden parties, shopping, gossip—Life as a young lady of means may be fun, but Felicity wants to do more. Unfortunately, she finds that her position and wealth can sometimes hinder her efforts to help those around her in need. Thus, when a charity case falls ill and cannot work, Felicity determines to go to work as a commoner in Detroit's dangerous factory district. Relationships become complicated, however, and she soon finds herself falling in love with a worker from the copper refinery next door. She knows her family would never accept him as a suitor, but what's a girl to do? What she doesn't know is that Brandt has his own secrets and hides his identity just as carefully as she. Brandt and Felicity soon discover that deception—no matter how noble its intent—demands a price that even they, with all their resources, may not be able to pay. Can they survive the storm when truth is revealed?
Read the first chapter here.

Hearts and Harvest
Barbour Publishing/Heartsong Presents Book 2 of Michigan historical series (HP #867)
Christianbook.com 
Release date: September 2009
ISBN-10: 1602605769
ISBN-13: 9781602605763

A destitute young man fights society's mores to win the hand of his privileged sweetheart.— William's is a true riches to rags story...Once members of Detroit's elite society, the Berringer family lost everything they had in the financial crash of 1893. From a life of influence and privilege, they now find themselves working a potato patch alongside immigrants and other destitute folk on borrowed land. William's resentment toward his current situation—and mostly toward God for allowing it—simmers barely beneath the surface. All it takes is one charitable visit to the fields from a lovely society darling to burst his façade of acceptance. Annabelle Lawson, convicted by her pastor's admonishing words, begins delivering food and water to the workers on her father's donated land. But as she learns the stories of the people who work there, she becomes increasingly drawn to their plight. Especially that of the inscrutable William Berringer. Can Annabelle and William overcome the stigma placed upon his family by a society that once embraced them? Will her parents remember their own meeting or forbid this budding romance altogether?
Read the first chapter here

Patterns and Progress
Barbour Publishing/Heartsong Presents Book 3 of Michigan historical series (HP# )
Christianbook.com
Release date: December 2009
ISBN-10: 1602606870
ISBN-13: 9781602606876

A farmer's daughter would rather turn back the hands of time than accept the fact that advancement in technology could be in God's plan.— Shannon Delaney was right. Every time she might consider changing her stance on what other people called progress, something bad would happen and she would be proven right again. Take the day Jacob Berringer almost ran her over in that new Model-T, for instance. And he had the nerve to suggest she'd been daydreaming? Or the Titanic. A marvel of modern invention. Look where that got them. Or how about the new tractor her brother insisted they try out. What did he get from that? A broken arm. Why can't things just stay the way they are—the way they should be? Jacob's got his work cut out for him, proving to the stubborn but beautiful Shannon that just because he works for the Henry Ford Company, he isn't evil incarnate. But something about her tells him she's worth the effort, and when Jacob puts his mind to something, he doesn't turn back. But will either of them look to God for direction?
Read the first chapter here