 I want to welcome pastor and author Jason Velotta to Author's Corner and introduce you to his book: Reclaiming Victory. Click on the picture to purchase his book from Amazon.com.
About the Book
Today, many believe the gospel is nothing more than the basics of Christianity – the first of many steps toward a victorious life of joy. The gospel of Christ is believed, accepted, and then laid aside as the believer searches for the abundant life.
Do you remember the joy you felt when Jesus first saved you from your sin? Before you knew it, ministry programs, self-help principles, and moral mandates drew you away from the very gospel that first captivated you. Since then you have struggled to recapture that victory for living.
Far too many believers experience this loss of vitality in their spiritual lives. In fact, this decline is so common that many say a declining passion is to be expected as a Christian matures!
Even worse, because of our inept view of the gospel, many non-believers disregard the Bible’s evidences of salvation, joining the millions of unfulfilled believers in a fruitless search for peace.
In Reclaiming Victory: Living in The Gospel, author Jason R. Velotta dispels the idea that salvation is just the doorway on the road toward victorious living. With an informative yet captivating style, Reclaiming Victory brings God’s Word to the forefront, showing that the gospel itself is the victorious Christian life!
Believers will find that the life of fulfillment is waiting at Calvary, exactly where we left it. Disregard the “recovery” mindset, which has led to helplessness and apathy, for the gospel is not just the door to salvation…It is the source of the victorious Christian life!
Your Savior is waiting…your fulfillment has always been in Him…Victory is already yours!
About the Author
Jason Velotta is the Associate (Worship / Youth) Pastor serving at Christ Church in Brownsville, TN. Growing up in aChristian home, Jason made a profession of faith early in life. However, the fruits and conviction of the Holy Spirit were absent for much of Jason's teenage and young adult life. Searching for fulfillment in music, Jason spent most of his young life playing the guitar in rock bands around Memphis and Jackson, TN. The lifestyle that accompanied Jason's career choice quickly degenerated into a destructive pattern.
Realizing the futility of that lifestyle, Jason left that life and returned to the church, "re-dedicating" himself to God. After years in the Church, it became clear that he had simply traded an overtly sinful lifestyle for a religious one. In 2003, the Holy Spirit convicted Jason of his sin and revealed the fact that he was just as lost on the Church pew as he had been playing in the clubs of Beale Street.
Jesus saved Jason in 2003 and called him to the ministry two short years later. Since then, Jason has earned master's degrees in ministry, biblical studies, a divinity from Temple Baptist Seminary and is currently pursuing a doctorate in applied theology. He currently resides in Tennessee with his wife Dana, and their three children, Jacob, Jesse, and Sophie.
You can find out more about Jason Velotta and his work at his website:
http://www.reclaimingvictory.com.
 I want to welcome Ben to Author's Corner and introduce you to his book: Which God Should I Choose? Click on the picture to purchase from the publisher: Xulon Press.
About the Book:
THE CHOICE IS YOURS TO MAKE.
The world we live in today offers a wide variety of gods to choose from. These gods range all the way from the god of the moon to the God who created the moon and every imaginable kind of god in between.
When it comes down to it, not many people question the existence of some kind of Supreme Being or Higher Authority. Even an atheist prays when the airplane they are on is about to crash. Nature (the heavens and the earth) and even life itself proves that there has to be a Master Designer involved in creation.
The question then isn’t “Is there a God” so much as “Which God should I choose?” With so many choices available though, how can we ever be sure we are choosing the right one?
This book takes a closer look at some of the more prevalent and popular gods of today to see how they stack up against the qualities that a real God should possess. After all, shouldn’t the true God have distinguishable characteristics that would set Him apart from all the other false gods? Shouldn’t we be able to know for sure that He is the right God?
The author’s goal is to help you or someone you are concerned about make an educated decision when faced with the question of Which God Should I Choose?
About the Author:
Ben Kniskern has been a Bible teacher and guest speaker since 1995. For nearly two decades he has been helping young people (through Word of Life and Awana clubs) and adults (through preaching and teaching)find their way to the right God and build a solid relationship with Him.
Ben's Website - http://www.whichgodshouldichoose.com
 I want to welcome Lisa to Author's Corner and introduce you to her book - Meow Mayhem! Click on the picture to purchase - enjoy.
About Meow Mayhem
When a small town mayor invites rare-cat lovers Ivy Preston and True Thompson to move their respective businesses to Apple Grove, can they survive the sudden rise in crime?
Ivy Preston keeps other people’s secrets for a living. When a small town mayor invites Ivy Preston and True Thompson to move their businesses to Apple Grove, can their love survive the sudden rise in crime?
After being left at the altar, Ivy Amanda McTeague Preston uproots herself and her cat, an Egyptian Mau named Memnet, from her boring and lonely life to start over at the urging of Mayor Conklin, a fellow pedigreed Mau owner. Truesdale Thompson is ready to move in a fresh direction with his life. A private man whose physical wounds are the only outward sign of a tragic accident in his past, True and his cat, Isis, open a branch of his trendy little bookstore and coffee shop in Apple Grove. When Ivy takes a mysterious message while the mayor is away on business, only Ivy’s criminology professor mom, and True believe there’s something rotten in Apple Grove. Can Ivy carry on her romance with True while saving the town from further Mayhem?
About Lisa Lickel
A graduate of the Christian Writer’s Guild’s Apprentice Course, Lisa Lickel was a top ten finisher in the first Operation: First Novel contest. She is a freelance editor and mentor, blogger, avid book reviewer and workshop leader.
Lickel’s novels include The Last Bequest, The Map Quilt, Meander Scar, A Summer in Oakville, Healing Grace: a novel, and Meow Mayhem. Her work has appeared in Writer’s Digest, You Can Write for Children, and Harpstring.
She enjoys membership in local book clubs and writing groups, as well as American Christian Fiction Writers, and Wisconsin Writers Association, where she is editor-in-chief of Creative Wisconsin Magazine. She holds a bachelors of science in history and RECES. She lives in a hundred and sixty-year old house and is active in local historical societies. Married to a high school biology teacher, she enjoys travel, books and collecting dragons.
Visit Lisa at her website - http://www.lisalickel.com
 I want to welcome Theresa Franklin, and her book - Journey to Fulfillment - to Author's Corner.
About the Book:
Have you experienced heartache? Has emotional trauma turned into physical pain? Are you tired of life's setbacks and looking for reassurance from God? Journey to Fulfillment is for you.
Through this encouraging and often humorous devotional, author Theresa Franklin will show you how to turn life's impossible stumbling blocks into stepping stones toward a fulfilled life. In Journey to Fulfillment, Theresa chronicles the painful events in her life and how they changed her character and her principles forever. She challenges you to remember your childhood and how events from your past have influenced your today. God uses each milestone as stepping stones to strengthen and prepare you for His service. Learn to achieve your goals by letting the painful events of life strengthen you. And consider what could be or has been accomplished because of these adversities. Consider each person who has gathered strength from you because of the journey God allowed you to travel and join author Theresa Franklin on her Journey to Fulfillment.
This is not your typical ‘woe is me’ story. Theresa shares her unique sense of humor in the book. She also shares her pain and the lessons she learned through it all. You’ll laugh. You’ll cry. You’ll learn. But you won’t be bored.
About Theresa:
Theresa Franklin grew up in Houston, Texas. After graduation she attended East Texas Baptist College. There she met her husband on a blind date. They married a short time later and moved outside of Beaumont, Texas where they raised their three children.
Theresa taught school for 12 years. Students with disabilities won her heart and she became Director of Special Education in an effort to better serve them. She retired in 2010 and began writing children’s books.
Theresa is the author of children’s books, Don’t Forget Daddy and A Sunny Tomorrow. Her adult books include non-fiction Journey to Fulfillment and fiction Triumph Through Trial. She has written one curriculum guide for the novel Night of the Cossack, a historical fiction for young adults by Tom Blubaugh, titled Night of the Cossack, Lesson Plan.
Where to find the book:
http://www.amazon.com/Journey-Fulfillment-Theresa-Franklin/dp/1617397733/
http://theresa-lifesjourney.blogspot.com
http://www.storiesforchrist.com
 I want to welcome a faithful Christian and good friend, D.M. Webb, to Author's Corner. Below you will find out more about her and her debut novel - Mississippi Nights!
About the Book
Two brothers, one death--the bond of brotherhood faces its greatest challenge against resentment and guilt. Can the love between two brothers eventually win against pain and guilt? When Firefighter David Boyette's fiancée perishes in a car fire, he blames his brother, Sgt. Jeremy Boyette, for her death. Three years later, David returns home with a dark and devastating secret. With the help of family, a woman's love, and a small child's devotion, can David overcome insurmountable odds as he and Jeremy face the bitterness that enslaves him? Together the brothers must decide if the bond of brotherhood is stronger than resentment and hate. About the Author:
D.M. Webb lives, along with her two sons and a variety of pets, in the beautiful state of Mississippi. She is an active member of American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW).
Her studies in art and sociology coupled with her many jobs ranging from bookstore clerk to volunteer firefighter/EMR has produced a plethora of ideas for upcoming books.~~
Who am I really, though? A painter of wild and colorful scenes and dreamer of vivid and vast dreams are two things that describe me. My true dream is to be a light for my Lord and write stories from the heart in hopes that it will speak to those who reads them. My desire is for a person to accept Jesus, or a heart to be soothed from its pain and hurt, or a downhearted soul suddenly uplifted from reading my books.
Within a year of joining ACFW, I not only became a published author, but I grew in spirit. My journey is far from over, basically it's just beginning, but I welcome the adventure that God is revealing to me every day.
Finally, I hope when my role on this earth is done, it's not the words "well done, my good and faithful servant" I desire to hear, but "well done, you may go dance among the stars".
Where to find her and her book:
Facebook as D.M. Webb, on Shoutlife.com, on Twitter as @DaphMichele, goodreads, and Google+ as D.M. Webb.
Also have a blog at www.dmwebb-writebyfaith.blogspot.com and a website, www.dmwebb.com
The book is available through my website, and through any online bookstore such as Lifeway, Christianbooks.com, Barnes & Noble, Books-a-million, and Amazon.com
 I want to welcome Ashley Winters and Rose McCauley to Author's Corner. Ashley conducted an interview with Rose McCauley. Below is the Q&A between Ashley and Rose.
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AW: Tell us a little about yourself….
I’m a wife, mother and grandmother who started writing for publication after retiring from teaching. It took me 9 years to get my first fiction contract! So, for everyone who wants to get pubbed, keep trying!
AW: What genera do you write?
Women’s fiction and romance. Why? I like stories that have satisfying endings. The romance genre always has a HEA (happily ever after) ending and (WF) women’s fiction (or at least the kind I like to read and write) usually has a satisfying ending with a solution to a problem. I also like stories set in small towns with that gentle pace and caring (if sometimes quirky!) characters.
AW: What is your latest release?
Christmas Belles of Georgia
AW: What inspired you to write this book?
This book is an anthology with 4 novellas written by 4 different authors. Jeanie Smith Cash who came up with the idea asked me and Debra Ullrick and Jeri Odell to join her. We each wrote the story of one of the sisters who are reunited at the end of the book.
AW: Who is your favorite character?
Carol Peterson and Nick Powers. Why ? Because they are my heroine and hero! They met and clashed as teens, but now they come together to help a family in need.
AW: What did you learn from writing this book?
How to collaborate with other authors. How to keep typing to meet my deadline even after I had a bad accident that totalled my car and broke some of my ribs.
AW: What is the hardest part of the writing process for you?
Getting the story sketched out in outline form, but also being flexible enough to change if I need to.
AW: Do you have any interesting writing quirks?
I like total quiet—no music or anything to distract my easily distracted brain. I write best with no one else in the house!
AW: What project(s) are you currently working on?
I have 4 anthology proposals submitted to Barbour, the same publisher who pubbed this book. They are a great company to write for with great support. I also have a women’s fiction with another editor and another WF idea brewing in my brain that I plan to start on after Christmas.
AW: Do you have anything to share with new or aspiring writers?
Join ACFW if you write Christian fiction. Keep praying for God’s lead and keep persevering!
I hope you will visit me at www.rosemccauley.com or www.rosemccauley.blogspot.com
 Tell us a little about yourself.
I am a wife and a mother of two teenagers, one German Shepherd, two cats, two rats and lots of fish. I love to walk and hike in the great outdoors, and consider myself an amateur photographer who loves to take tons of pictures of nature. I am Certified as a Personal Trainer, a Fitness Consultant, a Fitness Instructor, and as a Weight Training Instructor. I used this training to design and implement employee wellness programs and counsel individuals on weight control, stress management, self esteem improvement and overall wellness. I used my education and experience to write Fit for Faith – 7 weeks to improved spiritual and physical health. Please tell us about your book.
Believing that prayer, Bible study and journal writing are to the spirit what exercise, healthy eating and stretching are to the body, Fit for Faith unites physical health and spiritual health through a 7-week program to lose weight and develop a deeper relationship with God. It is a reference on cardiovascular exercise, strength training, prayer, healthy eating, Bible study, flexibility exercise and journal writing. Fit for Faith is a motivational tool to empower women to improve their physical and spiritual health to live balanced, whole and joyous lives that glorify God. What made you want to be a writer?
I began writing as a young child, mostly writing in a diary and later a journal. I started seriously writing in 2003, after attending Write! Canada (then called God Uses Ink) and joining The Word Guild. I love to learn. And I love to share with others what I’ve learned. Writing is the easiest way for me to do this. My latest is a piece called, A Personal Makeover - Inside and Out, in the anthology A Second Cup of Hot Apple Cider - Words to Stimulate the Mind and Delight the Spirit. It was released this year by That’s Life! Communications. What advice would you give to aspiring writers?
Read, read, read. It is said that you must read an equivalent of one library full of books in order to write one book. Where can readers learn more about you and your books?
My Website: www.kimberleypayne.comMy Blog: www.fitforfaith.blogspot.comTwitter: https://twitter.com/#!/FitForFaithFacebook: Kimberley Payne, author & speaker http://tinyurl.com/3fymrmpYouTube: Fit4Faith channel http://tinyurl.com/3jnjpkp Is there anything else you would like to add?
Fit for Faith is a simple workbook to support a person through their day. It is designed for individuals to participate on their own at any hour, and any where. However, the workbook is extremely versatile and has proven success as a group program. Leader’s Notes are available to work within a group setting that can also be used as an outreach program within a church or workplace. Thank you for the opportunity to share with your readers. To your health!Kimberley Payne
 Blurb:
Steeplechase jockey Cassie Hinton's dream was to walk down the aisle in her medieval wedding gown to become Mrs. Jack Chambers. Injured in the Grand National, she returns home...only to find Jack is now the Pastor of her parent's church. Jack Chambers, now a widower and single parent, still has feelings for Cassie, but she sees him as nothing more than a Pastor. Even if he could change her mind, there is still his position to consider. With the Royal Wedding fast approaching, Cassie makes her dress, little dreaming of the consequences of doing so. Extract:
“Everyone else has photos of the royal couple and ribbons, silver bells, hearts and balloons. I wanted something more sophisticated but this…” she gestured at the window, “…isn’t it.” “Maybe tie it in with what Danny sells. After all, the bakers did a wedding cake and the printers did invitations.” Cassie nodded, her mind whirling. “Yeah…thank you.” Jack glanced at his watch. “I’d best be off and get Lara from school. She complains if I’m late. I hope you find a solution to your problem.” “Thank you. Bye.” Cassie smiled and turned back to her display, watching Jack’s reflection in the glass as he walked away. He’d always been a Godly man, even as a teenager, and despite everything that happened he kept his faith—unlike her. Her life and her faith lay in ruins. She used to hope he’d ask her out one day, but it never happened. And now it never would. She was down and out before anything even got started. He was a pastor, and she was his parishioner. A fallen- without- hope- of- redemption parishioner, at that. Strike one. He was a widower with a small daughter. Strike two. Her leg—her disability. No man would ever want a one-legged ex-jockey. Strike three. buy link - http://www.pelicanbookgroup.com/ec/cassie-s-wedding-dress
 Clare lives in a small town in England with her husband of 19 years and her three children. Writing from a early childhood and encouraged by her teachers, she graduated from rewriting fairy stories through fanfiction to using her own original characters and enjoys writing an eclectic mix of romance, crime fiction and children's stories. When she's not writing, reading, sewing or keeping house or doing the many piles of laundry her children manage to make, she's working part time in the breakfast club at one of the local schools.
She has been a Christian for more than half her life. She goes to Carey Baptist where she is one of three registrars.
 A visionary is someone who sees into the future. Taylor Forrestier sees into the past but only as it pertains to her work. Hailed by her peers as “a visionary with an instinct for beauty and an eye for the unique” Taylor is undoubtedly a brilliant architect and gifted designer. But she and twin brother Trevor, share more than a successful business. The two share a childhood wrought with lies and deceit and the kind of abuse that’s disturbingly prevalent in today’s society. Can the love of God and the awesome healing power of His grace and mercy free the twins from their past and open their hearts to the good plan and the future He has for their lives? Find out in…The Visionary ~ Where the power of God's love heals the most wounded of souls.
EXCERPT
Taylor Forrestier awoke with a muffled scream. Her feet tangled in the bedcovers when she tried to bolt, and she landed on the floor with a thud and a whimper. She kicked free of the sheets and blankets then crawled into a corner. Eyes wide with horror, she tried to make sense of the shadows that danced around her, to separate the ones in the room from those in her mind. Her heart thundered. Breath escaped in short pants. She drew her knees to her chest, took several deep breaths to keep from hyperventilating, then closed her eyes and rested her head. Shivers overtook her slender frame. A sob escaped. Oh, God, would the nightmares ever cease, the ghosts ever rest in peace?
Resolve straightened her spine. Eyes still closed, she inched her way to the bedside table. Her hand trembled when she turned on the lamp. The light forced darkness from the room, but only one thing would push it from her mind. Agility born of fear drove her to her feet. She fumbled into a sweat suit, socks and tennis shoes, scraped her hair up into a ponytail, then fled.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Award-winning author, Pamela S. Thibodeaux is the Co-Founder and a lifetime member of Bayou Writers Group in Lake Charles, Louisiana. Multi-published in romantic fiction as well as creative non-fiction, her writing has been tagged as, “Inspirational with an Edge!” ™ and reviewed as “steamier and grittier than the typical Christian novel without decreasing the message.”
SOME QUESTIONS (AND ANSWERS)
What inspired this novel? How did it come about?
When I first wrote The Visionary in a 5-subject notebook (where most of my stuff began way back when) I had in mind a sweet romance featuring m/f twins and their love interests. When I first typed the novel, I thought, “this is my light romance!” which was a great relief after some of my other work which dealt with subjects like domestic violence, grief, and betrayal. However, one day I sent off the first 3 chapters to a friend and her response was, “these twins are awful close, you need to be careful.” Of course that made me wonder Why? What happened to them or between them to make them so close (I couldn’t seem to tone down their intense feelings for one another). Then one day I walked out of my office into the living room where my husband sat watching a popular talk show. In a heart-wrenching scene the young man on the show apologized to his sisters because he couldn’t stop the abuse they suffered at the hands of their father. I swear, every drop of blood drained from my body and I began to argue with God…. No! Not that! Anything but that! I can’t write this! I have no experience in this! I’m not qualified as a minister or therapist! God….PLEASE….no. Three days of wavering, three days of arguing, three days of not being able to sit down and write a single word and God finally confronted me with…. “Who are you writing for anyway?” I capitulated and wrote the entire story in 4 months during the busiest time of year for a bookkeeper/tax preparer (Jan - April).
What was the hardest part of writing your book?
The hardest part of writing TheVisionary was depicting the gruesome abuse the twins suffered as children and then realistically portraying the healing available through the awesome power of God's love and their struggle for relief from a past too horrendous to live with any longer.
What is the message you hope to get across in this story?
That regardless of where you’ve been or what you’ve done the awesome love of God has the power to heal the most wounded of souls and to forgive the ugliest of sinners.
CONTACT INFO AND WHERE TO FIND THE BOOK!
Website address: http://www.pamelathibodeaux.com
Blog: http://pamswildroseblog.blogspot.com
Bayou Writers Group: http://bayouwritersgroup.com
Amazon: http://amzn.to/n8as1b
Barnes & Noble: http://bit.ly/o3YrMq
 The Floating Palace book one of the Roarin' 20's series
ELLIE DUNKLING’S life long dream has been to work on one of Lake Champlain’s steamships, the Ticonderoga. There’s only one problem. Men, not women, are hired to work on ships. Ellie, however is determined to change that. After all, it is 1923 and far from the dark-ages. Captain PHILIP LAWHORN is a man’s man. When Champlain Transportation Inc. informs him a woman has been hired to work on his ship as stewardess, he’s anything but pleased. First of all, he doesn’t appreciate the fact someone’s hired on his twenty-eight-member crew without his knowledge. Secondly, how is he supposed to handle this company mandated—sure to be—disaster?
Desert Breeze Publishing 7/15/2011 (Purchase link:http://stores.desertbreezepublishing.com/-strse-185/JoAnne-Carter-Cherished-Moments/Detail.bok) Amazon, B&N, and other retailers as well.
(Book 2 will be released Feb. 15, 2011)
A bit about the journey of writing this story~ If I've learned anything through the journey of writing it's that like in life, you never know what (or who) God will use. A few years ago, my husband's family came up for a visit and we went to the Shelburne museum for the first time. As soon as I stepped aboard the S. S. Ticonderoga, I fell in love with it. One fact totally captured my imagination. In 1923, the first female stewardess was hired. It didn't take long for seeds to be planted for The Floating Palace. Fast forward a few months...
Our family was invited to the home of one of our church members. I don't even think Bob realizes what a blessing this was for me. We went downstairs to see his "toys" when a box caught my eye. He said someone in the family had given it to him, it was a treasure chest of information about... can you guess? Yup, the Ticonderoga and 1923. He let me take this box home and I was able to look through headlines of newspapers and such. That box was like an energy drink for my story. It helped me get a clearer picture of the life and times. Guess what else I discovered about 1923? Betti Dunkling, also a member of our church, was born this year. When I first started asking her questions about what she might know of this time period, I didn't realize this was the year of her birth. Isn't it just like God to give us sweet surprises like that? In honor of Betti, I used a derivative of her name, Ellie Dunkling.
Betti is such a remarkable woman and tremendous role model for me. Although her life experiences varied greatly from the main charter in The Floating Palace, they both share the same spunk. With Betti's help, the rest of the cast was set in motion as I asked her what names were popular in Vermont when she was a girl. After our visit, I sat down with the list and chose the names according to the role they played in the story. It's a special memory for me and I enjoyed working with her on this project.
God's hand has guiding this story since the very beginning. I'm praying that He would continue to do so to accomplish His great purposes... in my life and in the lives of others.
You can learn more about JoAnn's stories at http://home.comcast.net/~jo.glenncarter/site/
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