Christianbook.com Fiction Blog

Audio books are the greatest invention since sliced bread–especially on a long road trip! We’ve all thought about taking a road trip with family, and then realize the reality of a family road trip… and say, “maybe we’ll fly.”

For the first time, well, ever, we took a family road trip in two vehicles down the east coast. For whatever reason, I gave the “boys” in the other vehicle the GPS. Little did I know after being lost in the middle of New Jersey after the 55th red light within a mile, that my son had programmed the GPS for the most economical route, which meant avoiding tolls. I cried “uncle” through the cell phone and headed straight for I95, not caring at all what sights there were to see…or not. By the time we finally made it to the freeway, I was willing to pay any toll no matter how outrageous, not to have to go through city streets that I’m unfamiliar with.

Right at this point, I glanced down at the passenger seat and realized I had put an audio book “Leah’s Choice,” by Marta Perry next to me, (in one of my more organized moments). I put in the first CD and went from a frazzled driver to riding in a peaceful, calm, Amish countryside in less than ten minutes. That’s a feat considering how high my blood pressure must have been. The only thing annoying from then on were the phone calls interrupting my peaceful story with my son wondering where we were going to stop and eat and where were we staying for the night. I didn’t even blink at the 5 pm rush hour traffic in Philadelphia, just enjoying the audio book.

The next day as “Leah’s Choice” came to a close, I also found that I’d packed “Beyond This Moment,” the audio book by Tamera Alexander, which I found equally as enjoyable to listen to and there I was happily, calmly, driving/stopping through rush hour traffic in Baltimore just enjoying the CD’s. For those of you with a rush hour commute, I strongly recommend ordering an audio book or two for the ride. It will certainly make your ride more pleasant and may perhaps even save your sanity!

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When Deeanne Gist visited us at CBD one of the many questions we asked was,” Why did you decide to write a suspense novel with J. Mark Bertrand?”

Deeanne immediately responded, “Because Mark is a brilliant writer, I jumped at the chance to work with Mark on Beguiled. Up until now, J. Mark Bertrand wrote strictly non-fiction works.”

With that recommendation, I started reading his new debut novel, Back on Murder- talk about great writing! He has me hooked!

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As I was catching up with publishing our interviews with several Abingdon authors, I was struck by how detailed and thoughtful the interview answers were. These were carefully chosen authors and books, written from a slightly different perspective than the norm. Abingdon just started publishing their fiction line this fall and what an outstanding set of books and authors they’ve debuted!
First, the eye of the god is based on the true history of the Hope Diamond. The Fence my Father Built…is made up of old oven doors, and it gets more quirky still.  Call of Zulina takes place in the 1800’s in W. Africa, depicting a young woman who has been sheltered from the outside world by her parents.  She decides to run away when she sees the prospect of the man her father wants her to marry.  Once over the wall that has barred her in all these years, she discovers a world she almost can’t comprehend, from the slavery to the vile streets, etc. The author, Kay Marshall Strom is well familiar with Africa and passionate about its fate, which clearly comes through in her writing. Prayers of Agnes Sparrow is about an older woman completely confined who spends all of her hours praying.  The miraculous part of the story is how the prayers come true.

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Instead of talking about books today, I want to give you a bit of an insider’s view into our very special company, CBD/Christianbook.com. Our company started with brothers Steve and Ray Hendrickson. Steve was a theological student at the time, and was appalled at the high cost of his texts. So the two brothers figured out a way to get them for less…and CBD was born.

Once word got around that the brothers were getting the books for less (hence our logo, “Everything Christian For Less”) students and pastors wanted to also take advantage of the savings. From its humble beginnings out of their parents garage (when Ray, who is now President and CEO, was a mere 14 years old), their helpers included their Mom (who still works as the head of our Credit Department to this day. She’s 80 years young!), their Dad (an Assemblies of God Pastor) and several friends. They outgrew the garage and then outgrew their first building, and then their second building, with the same principle always, Christian books, and now other Christian products, for less.

Eventually they bought another piece of land in Peabody, MA, across the street from their old building. This time they have a warehouse that’s four stories high and the size of four football fields. Yes, CBD even outgrew that warehouse and rents other storage facilities around the area. We’re all here, in Peabody, under one roof. There’s now about 500 people who work at CBD, many have worked here with Ray since it started, and most people stay for a very long time.

Why is there such a loyalty when most companies have a constant turnover? Because of the family atmosphere, starting with Ray and Mrs. Hendrickson, to customer service, web, IT, warehouse, HR, Hendrickson Publishing. We don’t have a dress code. It’s not at all unusual to see Ray in shorts and when the Boston Bruins, Patriots, Celtics, Red Sox win a series/ playoffs, we’ll get a half day off or a special delivery of cracker jacks. We have staff appreciation weeks, quarterly luncheons, a special celebration everyday throughout the last week before Christmas.

Our motto within the company is “one boat, one team,” and that’s true, particularly at Christmas! In order to ensure excellent customer service and quick shipping, it’s “all hands on deck.” From top to bottom, we all work in the warehouse or on the phones to serve our customers. This year, our company was recognized as one of the Top one hundred companies, ranking #22 overall and #8 in the mid-size company category in the Boston Globe.

This is just a taste of …the rest of the story.

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No matter how many books you’ve written, there’s always that blank page moment when an author thinks of just about anything to do except come up with the next line.  Kristin Billerbeck, Terri Blackstock, Robin Lee Hatcher, and Angela Hunt all do a wonderfully funny demonstration on what they do when they can’t think  of what to put on paper.  Enjoy!

What Novelists Do Between Novels

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Back in the day, movies and TV dramas that were downright creepy, were The Twilight Zone, The Outer Limits” and The Birds by Alfred Hitchcock, just to name a few.  They didn’t contain sex or direct violence just great drama, imaginative thinking and of course, great writing and acting.  If you think Christian fiction suspense and intrigue is tame, try reading any of the books in The Bug Man series by Tim Downs.  He gives forensic lessons that definitely make you think differently every time you look at a bug!  Tim actually went to a three day “bug” camp just to learn about his subject.

Then there’s Colleen Coble, she gets excited at the mere mention of gory and creepy.  One of her best “creepy” books was Abomination…and believe me, that was creepy.   She even incorporated a type of game called geo-caching into the story which is a new phenomenon.

 Brandilyn Collins has taken creepy to a whole new level with her book, Exposure, just to name one.“ A columnist who is already paranoid and even writes about her paranoia in her column, is creeped out someone leaving a camera in her house, which means someone has invaded her home; now to make anyone believe that she’s not faking it!

These are just a couple of examples of terrific writers writing outstanding Fiction.  It takes great imagination and a paradigm shift in thinking to make these stories deliciously “creepy,” and they are all masters at their craft!

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So many people ask,”How do I become an author? I have a great story but have no idea how to pitch it.” First of all, we have a wonderful Writer’s Corner on the fiction website where many authors have contributed their knowledge to help others along the writing journey. 

In almost every instance, the writers will tell you to go to a writer’s conference.  You gain invaluable experience and exposure.  There are many Christian Writers Conferences scheduled throughout the country and throughout the year, which include the American Christian Fiction Writers Conference (ACFW), the Christian Writers Guild, Mount Hermon Writers Conference and the Blue Ridge Writer’s conference among many others.  The purpose of the conferences is to enhance each author’s opportunity; whether it is to refine an already published author’s skills, or to meet an agent for the first time.  Your experience will help your writing career exponentially. There are several books recommended for fiction writers:

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One of the most amazing facets of working with Christian fiction authors is to discover “the” story from their heart and soul. You know it’s not just a fiction story, but the book comes from deep down, where it’s painful to write yet their story insists on bubbling to the surface. The author feels extraordinarily vulnerable, exposing their inner pain to the world at large, and they pray that their story will help others. These are the books of courage!  There are two such books that specifically deal with adult victims of childhood sexual abuse. Patty Hickman wrote the wonderful story, “Painted Dresses” and Mary DeMuth wrote, “Watching the Tree Limbs.”  They’re both wonderfully written!

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When I called to interview new author Laura Frantz,  she was meeting with Deeanne Gist the same day to do a book signing.  Deeanne Gist was flying out the following day to visit and participate the famous CBD warehouse sale and have an interview with me. You can hear both interviews on the Christianbook.com website.

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Once I started thinking about the authors collaborating, I realized that is truly a huge understatement.  They are so tight that it’s not at all uncommon that when I interview one author, like Cathy Marie Hake, that I have to call Tracie Peterson’s house to find her…not once, but twice!  They live in different states!

And then there’s the conncection between Tracie Peterson and Judith Miller!  Tracie and Judith worked for the same company, when Tracie was newly published.  One day, Judith asked Tracie if she would just look at her manuscript.  She not only “looked” at her manuscript, Tracie brought Judith’s  manuscript to her publisher AND they ended up publishing several books together.  Of course, the rest of this story is that Judith and Tracie are highly successful authors in their own right.

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