Meet Amy Wallace - Interview & Book Giveaway

What an honor to be the first stop on Amy Wallace’s blog tour! Amy’s latest book, Healing Promises is the second in the Defenders of Hope series. Let’s meet Amy.

THE BIO

Amy Wallace is a wife, homeschool mom of three, writer, speaker, Bible study leader, and avid chocoholic. She loves crafting high-action suspense that delves deep into heart issues, but who she really is can be summed up in a few short words: Amy is a daughter of the King learning to live and love with laughter.

THE INTERVIEW

JA: The Defenders of Hope series was born out of the tragic events of 9/11. How did that inspire you?
AW: Long before I had any idea I’d become a novelist one day, I sat glued to my TV, crying with the rest of America and watching the events of 9/11 unfold. I stayed transfixed for over a week, numb and yet so full of pain at the same time. But as I watched the firefighters, police, military, and FBI being real-life heroes, a deep desire to pay tribute to them started to grow. I had no idea then what God would do with this desire, but the seed was planted. God watered it with a literal dream, some amazing research books, and an awesome federal agent contact. That seed of an idea has now grown into the three-book Defenders of Hope series.

JA: Your current book is Healing Promises. Tell us about it.
AW: Healing Promises is a high-voltage suspense novel which explores how a life-threatening medical diagnosis and the search for an elusive serial kidnapper affects even the most solid, loving Christian marriage and poses a key life question: Can God be trusted when things don’t go the way we pray?

JA: Since Healing Promises is the second book in the series, should we read Ransomed Dreams first, or does each book stand alone?
AW: As a suspense reader and romantic at heart, I’m passionately asking that people please read Ransomed Dreams first! ;-) Some major plot points in Ransomed Dreams are revealed early on in Healing Promises, so it’s really much better to read the books in order. Plus, the experience of Healing Promises will be greatly enhanced by walking through Ransomed Dreams first.

JA: Healing Promises focuses on FBI agent Clint Rollins and his wife, Sara. For you, how does dealing with a married couple differ from a couple who finds each other during the course of the story?
AW: Writing Clint and Sara’s story was a more intense experience, not just for the physical and emotional intimacy, but also because a shared life and family meant far more was at stake for the characters. It was also more painful and conversely more fun. There were personal jokes and special memories that only a married couple can share, but that was also why it proved to be more painful at the same time.

Healing Promises also includes the beginning of Michael Parker and Hanna Kessler’s relationship. That added to the fun of writing this story in contrasting the excitement of new love with the passion and commitment of married love.

JA: What do you hope people take away after reading Healing Promises?
AW: My hope for readers of Healing Promises is that as they become involved in Clint and Sara’s journey, they'll experience a deeper sense of the goodness and trustworthiness of God, even when life doesn’t go as we prayed. I also hope readers will see that at the end of ourselves only one truth remains—God is good. What we do with that fact changes everything.

JA: What’s next for you in the writing arena?
AW: I’m diving into a new suspense series that’s still piecing itself together in my heart.

JA: The tag line on your web site is “Heart Chocolate… words to enrich heart & soul.” I love it… makes me want to curl up with a cup of cocoa and read your books! What is “heart chocolate” to you?
AW: Thanks so much for those kind words! That’s exactly the feel we were going for in designing the Heart Chocolate website.

What is Heart Chocolate to me? It’s the snuggled up declaration of my children and husband saying, “I love you to infinity and beyond!” It’s the shoulder of a friend to cry on and the reminder of truth that God is good and I’m loved and wrapped securely in His arms. Heart Chocolate is anything that slips beneath the surface of the soul and leaves the sweet fragrance of a pleasant memory.

JA: What’s something that people would be surprised to learn about you?
AW: Maybe that my favorite novels aren’t about guns and hard-core suspense, but are more along the lines of Sharon Hinck’s Restorer series and Trish Perry’s The Guy I’m Not Dating. I’m much more likely to read books that make me laugh and learn something deeper about God.

JA: If you had a week to go to a luxurious spa and do nothing but be pampered and read, what books would you take along?
AW: Before books, I’d actually have to take chocolate. ;-) Some amazing Godiva dark chocolate mint to be specific. Then I’d take the two books I’m enjoying right now: Sharon Hinck’s Symphony of Secrets and Julie Carobini’s Truffles by the Sea. I might also pack Madeleine L'Engle’s Walking on Water and Dr. Robert Paul’s Finding Ever After.

JA: Last but not least, how can people keep up with your latest publishing news?
AW: I’d be honored if people would check out my Heart Chocolate website at www.amywallace.com and join the Dark Chocolate Suspense newsletter! Or they can jump into the discussions on my Heart Chocolate blog at http://peek-a-booicu.blogspot.com. I’d love to see you there!

Thank you, Amy, and continued blessings to you in your writing journey!

JEN’S REVIEW

This is one of those books that I couldn’t put down. From the first page, Healing Promises takes off running. Wallace has populated her book with an intriguing cast of characters. There are no cookie-cutter, two dimensional people here. Wallace dares to look at the reality of each situation with honesty and hope. She’s not afraid to say it like it is, even when getting into the head of the “bad guy.” But this isn’t just a crime novel. While the agents of the Crimes Against Children Unit continue their desperate search for a serial kidnapper, Agent Clint Rollins and his wife, Sara, are facing the biggest trial of their lives; Clint’s battle with cancer. The juxtaposition of these two plotlines provides a wonderful combination of heart-stopping action and heart-rending emotion. I highly recommend this novel, and look forward to more great reads from this talented author!

Read the first chapter of Healing Promises.

WIN THE BOOK

If you’d like to be entered to win a copy of Healing Promises just leave a reply to this blog. I’ll combine the responses of my Blogger and ShoutLife blogs to pick a winner at random on April 14th. 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.) ShoutLifers will be contacted via ShoutMail. Good luck!

Meet Brandt Dodson - Interview & Book Giveaway

Today we’ve got another first! I’m thrilled to welcome my first male guest, author Brandt Dodson, whose new book is White Soul. Let’s meet Brandt!

THE BIO

Brandt Dodson was born and raised in Indianapolis. He is a board certified Podiatrist and the author of White Soul and The Colton Parker Mystery series from Harvest House Publishers. He resides in southern Indiana with his wife and two sons and is currently at work on his next novel. You can visit Brandt at www.brandtdodson.com.

THE INTERVIEW

JA: Your latest novel is White Soul. Please tell us about it.
BD: White Soul came about because I have a fascination with crime fiction and that’s especially true when the novel deals with organized crime. I think it’s one of the greatest scourges we have and one of the greatest drains on our economy that we’ve ever faced. Over the years, I’ve come to the conclusion that these groups make their money and grow their influence because they prey on the weaknesses of others. In short, because they know the temptations that many people face and are all to willing to capitalize on them.

Satan works the same way. Every one of us has been - and will be - tempted. Now we are not all tempted to sin by the same thing, but we all have our weakness. Even the most solid among us, will crumble if we do not keep our guard up as Paul warns us to do. Undercover officers face temptations as a matter of course. So when I decided I wanted to write a novel that confronts this issue, I could find no better vehicle than a novel about a Christian undercover officer who must deal with the temptations that surround him. To further add to the luster of the lifestyle he’s investigating, I set the story in Miami, the capital of flash and materialism.

In White Soul, Ron Ortega penetrates a group that is run by a ruthless drug lord name Ricardo Estevez. Estevez is trying to rebuild The Corporation (a real entity, by the way) in order to seize control of the drug flow into the U.S. and build new opportunities in the new, post-Castro Cuba. (Which we’re beginning to see) As his investigation proceeds, Ortega must answer the basic question: “Do the right thing? Or do the desired thing?”

JA: Your hero, Ron Ortega, is a cop torn between his family and his professional ambition. As someone who comes from a long line of police officers, how much of your personal experience were you able to put into Ron?
BD: In the sense that I grew up in a family of police officers and clerked with the FBI, I’ve been able to build the story off the psyche that cops seem to share as well as my own experiences. But other than that, the novel is built wholly off a mix of speculation and research. Which is not unusual, by the way. Mario Puzo is alleged to have once said he got everything he knew about Sicilian crime families from the public library. (Unfortunately, he didn’t have the internet)

JA: What do you hope people take away after reading White Soul?
BD: That temptation comes at us when we are at our most vulnerable and that if we going to resist it, we must live close to God. “Abide in me,” Jesus commanded.

In White Soul, Ron Ortega is a what I call a “functional” Christian. His conversion is real, he attends church services, and might even pick up the Bible on occasion. But he is not maximizing the opportunities that God has provided. He isn’t living as close to God as he could and therefore, like a moth, he is drawn to the flame.

JA: By the way, I love book cover art, and I have to say the cover of White Soul is just great. Is that a gun I see in the clouds, or are my eyes playing tricks on me?
BD: I had the same question when I first saw it. No, your eyes aren’t playing tricks. It’s a gun. I had an opportunity to meet the cover artist during the last ICRS (CBA for all of us oldies but goodies) and to tell him how much I have enjoyed and appreciated every cover he’s done. He just happened to have a mock up for White Soul with him and when he showed it to me I was ecstatic. When you write (or at least, when I write) I have an imaginary cover in my head. But I must say, the covers I have mentally pictured are in no way as good as the ones he does. He’s a very talented artist. I’m very fortunate.

JA: There are four books in your popular Colton Parker series. Do you have any more adventures planned for Colton? Is White Soul the beginning of a new series?
BD: I have several Colton Parker novels in my head, ready to go. But for the moment, my publisher has asked for some stand alones. White Soul is written as a stand alone, but could also be part of a series. I’ll have to see what develops. My next release, Daniel’s Den (January 2009) will be a stand alone and a straight suspense novel.

JA: I read that you were contacted by a porn actor after he read you first novel, Original Sin. What an awesome thing to be able to reach someone who isn’t the stereotypical “Christian fiction” reader! What’s the overall response been to your books?
BD: Very good. Very solid. My intent was to write for a male reading audience, an audience that has largely been neglected. In that sense, we’ve been successful.

My personal mission statement, as it relates to my writing, is to generate enough thought in the reader to have them go back to the Bible for more information. If I can direct my readers to become God’s readers, I will have completed the task that I feel He’s given me to do. The awesome thing about writing is that it covers the spans of time and space. I had a missionary in China recently contact me about an article I wrote over eight years ago. So you never know who your writing is going to touch, where it’s going to touch them, or how. I’m convinced that God meant for his people to be a reading people. After all, He wrote the greatest bestseller of all time.

JA: Besides being a successful fiction author, you’re a husband, father, and board-certified podiatrist. What does your family think about your literary life?
BD: They’re supportive. If they weren’t, I couldn’t do this. And I think they’re proud of me, but it hasn’t reached the point –yet- where my wife is willing to stand next to my chair while I have dinner and fan me with a big feather. (I say, “yet”. She’s says, “Never”) Karla and I have been married for almost 28 years. She still tells me to take out the garbage. To my sons, I’m just dad. And that’s a good thing to be.

JA: What’s something that people would be surprised to learn about you?
BD: That I like poetry. I read Dickens, Eliot, and local Hoosier favorite James Whitcomb Riley. I think poetry adds to life and it can add to a better, more economical use of language in nearly any writing endeavor.

I also like to cook.

JA: What authors have had the biggest impact on you?
BD: Chandler, Hammett, and Robert B. Parker, for obvious reasons. But it was Dean Koontz who got me to reading again. I had just opened my solo practice and since patients don’t exactly beat a path to your door in those early years, I went to the mall and bought a copy of The Bad Place. I read it and was impressed enough to read something like 12 or 15 of his backlist titles over the next two or three weeks.

I’ve also been influenced by Ken Follett, Tom Clancy, Jack Higgins, Ed McBain, and recently, Brad Meltzer and David Baldacci. From the classics, I like Poe (nobody, I mean NOBODY creates mood better than him), Dickens, Twain and London. (Dennis “Doc” Hensley turned me on to Jack London by opening up his work for me in a way I wished they had done when I was in school)

JA: Last but not least, how can people keep up with your latest publishing news?
BD: I have a website which is probably the best way. I can be reached at www.brandtdodson.com. I answer all correspondence and keep the site updated. I also blog on Amazon and on Keep Me In Suspense at www.keepmeinsuspense.com.

I enjoyed speaking with you, Jennifer. Thank you for the opportunity.

Thank you, Brandt, and continued blessings to you in your writing journey!

JEN’S REVIEW

This is the first book I’ve read by Brandt Dodson, and I became an instant fan. When I picked up White Soul, I had just finished reading three chick-lits in a row, so I was ready for some serious action… some testosterone, if you will. Man, did Dodson deliver!

In undercover agent Ron Ortega, Dodson creates a character who wants to do what’s right, but is constantly reminded of what he perceives as his shortcomings. Entrenched in the decadent and dangerous subculture of drugs and organized crime, Ron is surrounded by temptation. Through twists, turns and non-stop action, Dodson delivers a compelling, energetic story that is sure to challenge and entertain readers.

WIN THE BOOK

If you’d like to be entered to win a copy of White Soul just leave a reply to this blog. I’ll combine the responses of my Blogger and ShoutLife blogs to pick a winner at random on April 11th. 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.) ShoutLifers will be contacted via ShoutMail. Good luck!