Saturday, January 26, 2013

About Us

Heroes, Heroines & History
Moderaters & Bloggers


Moderators
(and monthly Bloggers)

   
Debbie Lynne Costello is represented by Tamela Hancock Murray of the Steve Laube Agency. She attended Heritage University, where she studied Journalism and worked in the editing department.
She has completed five full length novels set in the Charleston, SC and Savannah, GA area in the late 19th century and is now seeking homes for them.
She and her husband have four children. They live in upstate South Carolina with their family. She spent thirteen years coaching cheerleading and trying to make a difference in young girls’ lives. Debbie Lynne has raised Shetland sheepdogs for seventeen years and occasionally shows them. In her spare time, she sews, paints, knits, camps (in a fifth wheel) and plays with the grandbaby.








Vickie McDonough grew up reading books about horses and dreaming of marrying a rancher, instead, she married a computer geek who is scared of horses. But those old dreams have found new life as she pens stories of ranchers, lawmen, and others living in the Old West. Vickie is the best-selling author of 34 books and novellas. Her novel, Long Trail Home, won the 2012 Booksellers’ Best Awards for Inspirational Fiction. Her books have also won the Inspirational Reader's Choice Contest, Texas Gold, the ACFW Noble Theme contest, and she has been a multi-year finalist in ACFW’s BOTY/Carol Awards. Whisper on the Prairie is a 2014 Holt Medallion Award of Merit winner, and Buckskin Bride, a novella in The Pioneer Christmas Collection, was a finalist in the 2014 Inspirational Readers Choice Awards.

Vickie’s books include:
- The Texas Boardinghouse Brides series
Long Trail Home and End of the Trail in the Texas Trails series
- The Pioneer Promises series
- Rancher Under Fire
- Numerous Heartsong Presents novels
- Christmas novellas included in collections like The Westward Christmas Brides, the 12 Brides of Christmas, and The Pioneer Christmas Collection

Find Vickie Online:


Website: www.vickiemcdonough.com

https://facebook.com/VickieMcDonough
https://twitter.com/VickieMcDonough
http://pinterest.com/VickieMcDonough


Bloggers

                                                                 
Janet Chester Bly authored 12 books including Words To Live By For Women, Hope Lives HereGod Is Good All The Time,Awakening Your Sense of Wonder, and The Heart of a Runaway. Teacher at writers conferences & workshops on Writing For The Woman’s Heart; Finishing Dad’s Novel: A Family Affair (crisis research and the process of committee fiction); and Creating A Family History. Mentor and manuscript critiquer for Jerry B. Jenkins Christian Writers Guild. Music director at her local church. She has 3 married sons, 4 grandchildren, and 2 great-grandchildren who all live down the mountain from her in north-central Idaho. Editor for late husband Christy Award winner and western novelist Stephen Bly who published 106 nonfiction & fiction books. She and Stephen co-authored 20 books, including The Power of a Godly GrandparentThe Carson City Chronicles, and The Hidden West Series.



Margaret Brownley has published more than thirty books and is a N.Y. Times bestselling author--not bad for someone who flunked eighth grade English.  Just don’t ask her to diagram a sentence. Margaret and her husband have three grown children and live in Southern California.



Linore Rose Burkard is best known for historical regency novels with Harvest House Publishers, including Before the Season Ends, the award-winning The House in Grosvenor Square, and, The Country House Courtship. As a writer known for meticulous research as well as bringing people marvelously to life on the page, Linore's books earn her devoted fans who report reading her novels over and over. When not writing, Linore teaches workshops with Greater Harvest Workshops, and is a homeschooling mom who enjoys cooking from scratch, family movie nights, gardening and decorating.  



Ramona K. Cecil is a wife, mother, grandmother, freelance poet, and award-winning inspirational romance writer. Now empty-nesters, she and her husband make their home in Indiana. A member of American Christian Fiction Writers and American Christian Fiction Writers Indiana Chapter, her work has won awards in a number of inspirational writing contests. Over eighty of her inspirational verses have been published on a wide array of items for the Christian gift market. Through her speaking ministry, she enjoys encouraging aspiring writers by sharing her story of how she became a published author. When not writing, her hobbies include reading, gardening, and visiting places of  historical interest. www.ramonakcecil.com 
  


Lynn A. Coleman is an award winning and best-selling. She is the founder of American Christian Fiction Writers Inc., and served as the group's first president for two years and two years on the Advisory Board. She makes her home in Keystone Heights, Florida, where her husband of 39 years serves as pastor of Friendship Bible Church. Together they are blessed with three children, 2 living and 1 in glory and eight grandchildren.





 
Susan F. Craft is the author of The Chamomile, a Revolutionary War romantic suspense and a SIBA Okra Pick.  Her 40-year career includes working for SC Educational Television, SC Department of Mental Health, SC College of Pharmacy, and currently for the SC Senate.

“Researching for my novels brings me the same excitement Alan Quartermain must have felt hunting for King Solomon's Mines. I've been known to spend an entire day in a library scribbling notes from someone's diary, spending a wallet of quarters making copies of maps and old newspapers, and trekking from one book or document to the next with a perseverance Lewis and Clark would have applauded.”

Craft wrote A Writer's Guide to Horses, available on the Long Riders' Guild Academic Foundation website, www.lrgaf.org.  The Guide provides authors comprehensive information about horses to assist them to accurately portray horses in their works.

“I married Rick, my high school sweetheart and now husband of 43 years. We live in South Carolina and have two adult children and one grandchild. I gave my heart to Christ as a teenager and am an active member of my church, singing in the choir since I was ten.”

She is represented by Linda Glaz of Hartline Literary Agency.

Please visit my blogs --




Susan Page Davis is the author of more than forty published novels in the historical, mystery, and romantic suspense genres. A Maine native, she now lives in western Kentucky with her husband Jim. She’s a past winner of the Carol Award, the Will Rogers Medallion, and the Inspirational Readers’ Choice Award.
Visit her Website at: www.susanpagedavis.com


Nancy Farrier grew up on a small farm in the Midwest amidst a close knit family. She came to love farm life including the cooking, gardening and canning, but not so much the cleaning house part. In school she often got in trouble in history class for hiding a fiction book in her text book to read during the teacher’s lecture. Nancy was shocked to later discover she had such a love for history. Now Nancy lives in Southern California and loves to research and include bits of history in her books. She is a Christian and enjoys encouraging her readers in their faith.





Anne Greene delights in writing about wounded heroes and gutsy heroines. Her second novel, a Scottish historical, Masquerade Marriage, won numerous writing awards. The sequel Marriage By Arrangement releases in February.  A Texas Christmas Mystery also won awards. In 2014, her World War II novel, Angel With Steel Wings, about WASPs, women test pilots will release. She makes her home in McKinney, Texas. Tim LaHaye led her to the Lord when she was twenty-one and Chuck Swindoll is her Pastor. In 1990, Anne graduated summa cum laude with a Bachelor’s degree in Literary Studies from the University of Texas.

View Anne’s other books, her blog, Addicted to Excellence, extensive travel pictures, and art work at http://www.AnneGreeneAuthor.com. Anne is active in ACFW, FHL, Sisters in Crime, The Writer’s View, and the Southwest Chapter of ACFW. Anne loves to speak to book clubs, libraries, and conferences. Her  love of sailing, horseback riding, history, and art, as well as her Citizens Plano Policy Academy training, and military life sometime figure in her books. She’s never too busy to talk with her fans.

Her highest hope is that her stories transport the reader to an awesome new world and touch hearts to seek a deeper spiritual relationship with the Lord Jesus. Buy Anne’s books at http://www.PelicanBookGroup.com. Or at http://www.Amazon.com.  Or in 2014 at http://www.B&HPublishing.com



A recent transplant to Chimney Rock, Colorado, after thirty years in Austin, Texas, Linda Farmer Harris and her husband of 46 years are acclimating to real snow, months and months of snow, plus the rich historical culture. She loves the 1890's and her stories are steeped in that era. She enjoys knitting and collecting antique patterns. She's learning to paint on rocks, like the heroine of one of her young adult novels. She wrote stories in junior high school with cowgirl heroines and the heroes were horses. In high school, she contributed to Seventeen and Ingénue magazines and added cowboy heroes. She’s published in 101 Ways to Romance Your Marriage, Advanced Christian Writer, and The Good News Journal. With Artie Stockton, wrote Stained Glass Windows in the Dark, a novel, and audio novel, mystery/romance set in Mexico. The Writer’s Edge published Stained Glass Windows in the Dark on p. 6, of their March-May, 1996 catalog. She wrote Texas Elves for young children. In 2010, she a finalist in American Christian Fiction Writers' (ACFW) Genesis Contest-Young Adult category with Escape to Outlaw Ridge, Westin Chronicles.  
Her website is lindafarmerharris.com
 


Multi-published author Cynthia Hickey had three cozy mysteries published through Barbour Publishing, with a novella scheduled to be released in March 2013. Her first mystery, Fudge-Laced Felonies, won first place in the inspirational category of the Great Expectations contest in 2007. Her third cozy, Chocolate-Covered Crime, received a four-star review from Romantic Times. All three cozies have been re-released as ebooks through the MacGregor Literary Agency, along with Deadly Neighbors, the first in a new cozy series. She has several historical romances releasing in 2013 and 2014 through Harlequin’s Heartsong Presents. She lives in Arizona with her husband, two of their seven children, two dogs, two cats, a snake named Flash and a fish named Floyd. She has five grandchildren who keep her busy and tell everyone they know that “Nana is a writer”. Visit her website at http://www.cynthiahickey.com/



Pam Hillman was born and raised on a dairy farm in Mississippi and spent her teenage years perched on the seat of a tractor raking hay. In those days, her daddy couldn’t afford two cab tractors with air conditioning and a radio, so Pam drove the Allis Chalmers 110. Even when her daddy asked her if she wanted to bale hay, she told him she didn’t mind raking. Raking hay doesn’t take much thought so Pam spent her time working on her tan and making up stories in her head. Now, that’s the kind of life every girl should dream of! Claiming Mariah is her second novel.  




Rebecca Price Janney as a teen had her own column, "The Short Stop," on the Philadelphia Phillies with her local newspaper, the Phillipsburg (NJ) Free Press. In high school, Seventeen published her first magazine article. Columbia Scholastic Press Association, named her a runner-up in their teen of the year contest. She has received eight other writing honors including "Writer of the Year" for a Philadelphia writer’s conference. Rebecca’s bestselling Great Women In American History was followed by Great Stories in American History and Great Letters in American History. Her other books include Harriet Thubman, Impossible Dreamers Series, Heather Reed MysteryHer most recent books are Then Comes Marriage? A Cultural History of the AmericanFamily,Who Goes There? A Cultural History of Heaven and Hell and Great Events in American History.  Rebecca is a graduate of Lafayette College and Princeton Theological Seminary, and received her doctorate from Biblical Theological Seminary. www.rebeccapricejanney.com www.rebeccapricejanney.com/blog @Drrebeccajanney  Facebook: Rebecca Price Janney






Jillian Kent’s first novel in The Ravensmoore Chronicles, Secrets of the Heart, debuted in 2011 and held readers captive winning four stars from Romantic Times. Then in 2012, Chameleon, the second book in the series found its way into readers hands and hearts with an, “I dare you to solve the ending,” challenge from the author. Mystery of the Heart, book three in the series released in 2013 and will grab the attention of readers who love a romantic adventure.

You can find out more about Jillian at www.jilliankent.com
@JillKentAuthor on Twitter
 https://www.facebook.com/JillianKent
 You will also find Jillian and her team of authors at The Well Writer Column in the Christian Fiction Online Magazine. http://www.christianfictiononlinemagazine.com/



Laurie Kingery is a central Ohio author and veteran E.R. RN who has written twenty-two  historical romances, first as Laurie Grant and now writing Christian historicals under her own name for Love Inspired Historicals. She won the Reader's Choice for short historicals in 1994 and was a finalist in the 2010 Carol Awards in short historicals by the American Christian Fiction Writers for THE OUTLAW'S LADY.

Her website is http://www.lauriekingery.com

Her current  installment in the "Brides of Simpson Creek" series from Love Inspired Historicals is THE PREACHER'S BRIDE (Oct. 2012) with the next book in the series, HILL COUNTRY CATTLEMAN, coming in May 2013.



A native of Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, author Pamela S. Meyers lives in suburban Chicago, an hour's drive away from her hometown which she visits often to dig into its historical legacy. Her novels include Thyme for Love, and Love Will Find a Way,  contemporary romantic mysteries and her 1933 historical romance, Love Finds You in Lake Geneva,Wisconsin, released in April, 2013. She can often be found speaking at events around Lake Geneva or nosing in microfilms and historical records about Wisconsin and other Midwestern spots for new story ideas.



Golden Keyes Parsons is a popular retreat and conference speaker and author of historical novels. Her book, “In The Shadow Of The Sun King,” (Thomas Nelson Publishing), first in a three-book series based on her family genealogy, released Fall 2008, and was named a finalist in the ACFW’s Book of the Year Debut Author category. Her second book, “Prisoner Of Versailles,” was released September 2009 and was named a finalist in RWA’s prestigious Daphne contest and was also a finalist for the AWSA Golden Scroll Novel of the Year. The concluding book in the series, “Where Hearts Are Free” released September 2010 and is a Women of Faith Book Club selection. Her fourth novel, “His Steadfast Love,” a Civil War novel set in Texas, released November 2011, and was a finalist in the National Readers Choice Awards. Her current ebook series, Hidden Faces: Portraits of Nameless Women in the Gospels, WhiteFire Publishing, commenced with the first novella, Trapped! The Adulterous Woman in October 2012. The second novella, Alone, The Woman At The Well, was released in April 2013. Book #3, Broken, The Woman Who Anointed Jesus’s Feet released in October 2013, and Hopeless, The Woman With The Issue Of Blood, will release in April 2014. The four novellas will then be combined into a print compilation.
Golden and her husband, Blaine, are retired from the pastorate and reside in Waco, TX. When she isn’t writing or speaking, she is busy with their three grown daughters, eight grandchildren and four great-grandchildren or attending sporting and alumni events at Baylor University.



A mother of two young boys, Naomi Rawlings spends her days picking up, cleaning, playing and, of course, writing. Her husband pastors a small church in Michigan’s rugged Upper Peninsula, where her family shares its ten wooded acres with black bears, wolves, coyotes, deer and bald eagles. Naomi and her family live only three miles from Lake Superior, where the scenery is beautiful and they average 200 inches of snow per winter. www.naomirawlings.com 


When Christina Rich was younger, she tried to dig herself to China, loved Three Billy Goats Gruff, and had an obsession with maps. She gave up her dig to China but still jumps at the chance to travel even if it’s just down the road. She loves watching modern takes of fairytales and mythologies on the big screen and still has a huge obsession with maps. The older the better.

Born and raised in Kansas, where she currently lives with her husband and children, Christina loves to read stories with happily ever afters, research,  take photos, knit scarves, dig into her ancestry, fish, visit the ocean, write stories with happily ever afters and talk about her family and Jesus.

A semi-finalist in the Genesis, she just recently signed a contract with Love Inspired Historical for a Biblical romance. You can find her at http://christinarich.wordpress.com/


Martha Rogers is a free-lance writer and the author of the Winds Across the Prairie series as well as the novella, Key to Her Heart in River Walk Christmas. Her second series, Seasons of the Heart, is now available as is her Christmas novel, Christmas at Holly Hill. She was named Writer of the Year at the Texas Christian Writers Conference in 2009 and is a member of ACFW.  Martha and her husband live in Houston. In addition to her works of fiction, Martha has stories in a number of compilations as well as devotional contributions to several anthologies and writes the weekly Verse of the Week for the ACFW Loop. She is a retired teacher and lives in Houston with her husband, Rex where they enjoy spending time with their grandchildren and attending football, baseball, and rugby games when one of the grandchildren is playing or performing.


Carla Stewart is the award-winning author of five novels. With a passion for times gone by, it is her desire to take readers back to that warm, familiar place in their hearts called “home.”

She launched her writing career in 2002 when she earned the coveted honor of attending the Guidepost’s Writers Workshop in Rye, New York. Since then she’s had numerous magazine and anthology articles published. Carla has been an Oklahoma Book Award finalist four time and was the 2011 trophy winner of the Oklahoma Writers Federation Inc. “Best Book of Fiction”. Other awards include the 2012 Inspirational Reader’s Choice Award (Faith, Hope, and Love) for women’s fiction, an INSPY finalist in 2013, and a two-time Genesis winner. She and her husband live in Tulsa and have four adult sons and seven grandchildren. Learn more about Carla at www.carlastewart.com  
 


Tiffany Amber Stockton has been crafting and embellishing stories since childhood. Today, she is an award-winning, best-selling author, a speaker, and a virtual assistant who lives with her husband and fellow author, Stuart Vaughn Stockton, in Colorado. They have a daughter and a son, and an Australian shepherd/retriever mix named Roxie. She has sold 14 books so far and is represented by Sandra Bishop of MacGregor Literary Agency. Three of her novels have won annual reader’s choice awards, and in 2009, she was voted #1 favorite new author for Barbour’s Heartsong Presents book club. 
Read more about her at her web site: www.amberstockton.com.


Marilyn Turk received her B.A. in Journalism and Advertising, which she initially used writing copy for newspaper, magazine and television, then put her journalism training behind her to work in food service sales the next 30 years. After relocation and retirement, she returned to her writing roots to seriously pursue a writing career. Since then, she has been published by Guideposts magazine, A Joyful Heart (Guideposts devotional book – Sept. 2012), The Upper Room Devotional Guide, Focus on the Family’s Clubhouse Jr., and Chicken Soup for the Soul multiple times. She and her husband are empty-nesters and live in Florida where she loves to research lighthouses and Southern Civil War history. Her website, http://pathwayheart.com, features two blogs, a lighthouse blog and A Writer’s Path blog. Her books are set in the mid to late 1800’s, plus a Southern gothic set in 1942.


Jennifer Uhlarik discovered the western genre as a pre-teen, when she swiped the only “horse” book she found on her older brother’s bookshelf. A new love was born. Across the next ten years, she devoured Louis L’Amour westerns and fell in love with the genre. In college at the University of Tampa, she began penning her own story of the Old West. Armed with a B.A. in writing, she has won the 2012 CWOW Phoenix Rattler, 2012 ACFW First Impressions, and 2013 FCWC contests, all in the historical category. She is also the winner of the 2013 Central Florida ACFW chapter's "Prompt Response" contest. In addition to writing, she has been a schoolteacher of English, literature, and history, as well as a marketing director. Jennifer is active in American Christian Fiction Writers and lifetime member of the Florida Writers Association. She lives near Tampa, Florida, with her husband, teenaged son, and four fur children.




Janalyn Voigt is a novelist, speak, and literary judge. Dawnsinger, her epic fantasy debut and first title in the Tales of Faeraven series, released in 2012. Other projects include a western historical romance series. Janalyn serves as a literary judge for several national contests and is an active book reviewer. Her nonfiction publication credits include Focus on the Family, Scripture Press (now David C. Cook) and Pentecostal Evangel.

Janalyn is available as a motivational speaker. Her affiliations include American Christian Fiction Writers and Northwest Christian Fiction Writers.

In her spare time Janalyn reads, gardens, and finds adventures in the great outdoors.
Author website for Janalyn Voigt: http://janalynvoigt.com





15 comments:

  1. What a great group of authors. Looking forward to your postings.

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    1. Thanks Tamara! These are some pretty awesome ladies. I am honored to blog with them.

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  2. Congratulations on the launch of this Society + blog!
    I cannot wait to see what the future holds for each of your writing careers, as much as I am eager as Ms. Leigh to see your postings flourish!
    To whomever started this blog, garnishing this idea,... carving out such a breadth of diversity of authors to join together, and giving readers such a dynamic introduction to the historical genre -- I salute your fortitude!
    Here's to celebrating all that is yet to come!

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  3. Thank you! I am a Christian Historical Fiction reviewer/influencer. I would love to become better acquainted with each of you. Thank you for beginning this specific blog. What a beautiful tag:
    Uniting those who love ~*~
    to write ~*~
    historical novels
    with those who love to read them

    Kathleen ~ Lane Hill House
    lanehillhouse[at]centurylink[dot]net

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    1. Thank You Kathleen. I believe Vickie came up with that. It fit us perfectly!

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  4. I have a Blog Devoted to Christian Historical Fiction, so I think we might have something in common! I also have 'Choices of the Heart' by Laurie Alice Eakes on my to read list.
    My real passion though is fiction set in the Medieval period, as that is the one a study and know best. Little but disappointed to see only one Medieval date on the timeline, some significant events did happen in the 500 odd years between Magna Carta and the War of Independence.

    Anyhow, Good luck and greetings from Britain.

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    1. Hey Anna! I love the Medieval period too. My first manuscript is set in that time period. I understand what you are saying about wishing there were more tabs, and we did too! Our problem was there just wasn't enough room. So what we did was try to put tabs where our posts would fit in. Medieval does cover a tremendous span but so does ancient and wild west. Those time periods were pretty large but we felt we could work with them. I hope you'll still come by and check us our regularly! And I was thrilled to see you are from Britain. Hubby and I plan to next our next big trip to Britain. what part of Britain do you reside in? Blessings!

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    2. Yes, space constraints are always an issue, and you might just want to ignore me when I start on one of my pedantic semi-rants like that about the exclusion of the Medieval era, or anything else. Timelines are not easy, especially when there is a lot to go on them.
      Of course ill still come over, take more than that to get rid of me, though you might want to question the wisdom of allowing an eccentric British wannabe Medievalist in training to comment on your site. Don't say you weren't forewarned.

      I'm from the south of England (though I was not born in Britain) and currently live in the Winchester, whose most famous name is likely King Alfred the Great, and in more recent times has had a few scenes of Les Miserables filmed here.

      May the weather be clement for you when you come. Blessings too.

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  5. LOl! No confusion. I knew right away it was you, Anna. We are thrilled to have you coming by! I know many of us authors on this blog LOVE medieval and have manuscripts we would like to get published. And we would love to hear from someone who lives where we all are dying to go visit! If you haven't jumped over to our home page and left a comment please do! We don't mail out of the U.S but if you can use Amazon over there we can enter you in the Kindle and $25 gift card drawing. If you win either of those I'll just mail you a giftcard code from Amazon.

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    1. Yes I saw that, might have to leave a comment. Not coming all at once are you!?

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  6. LOL! No not all at once. But Hubby and I will be coming together. heehee. We are in the early stages of planning. Which means figuring out where all we want to go. I know I want to see England and Scotland. We have to decide where in these countries we want to visit. It'll be a year or two before we go. We went to Italy a few years back and spent 3 weeks. It wasn't enough time!

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    1. Well good lack planning. I have only really been to Scotland once, into the Highlands for a week.Even I haven't seen as much of Britain as I would perhaps like to have done.

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  7. I see I've won a $10 Amazon gift card from Christina Rich! I am Sharon M. However, I have not received an email about it I don't want to miss receiving it so here is my information: Sharon Miller, wileygreen1(at)yahoo(dot)com
    Thanks very, very much! I see a new book in my future. sharon, ca

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