Experience THE RISING ~ Lynn Chandler Willis

Today I'm excited to introduce you to Lynn Chandler-Willis. Lynn's debut release, THE RISING, is this week's featured release from Pelican Book Group, and what an outstanding concept! Before I dive in to specifics, I want you to get to know Lynn. She's a welcome addition to the PBG family, and I'm delighted to have her join us at the blog!!

ABOUT LYNN:

Lynn Chandler-Willis has worked in the corporate world (hated it!), the television news business (fun job) and the newspaper industry (not a fan of the word "apparently" and phrase "according to"). She keeps coming back to fiction because she likes making stuff up and you just can't do that in the newspaper or television news business.

She was born, raised, and continues to live in the heart of North Carolina within walking distance to her kids and their spouses and her nine grandchildren. She shares her home, and heart, with Sam the cocker spaniel.

She is the author of the best-selling true crime book, Unholy Covenant. The Rising is her debut novel.

 

OK, Lynn, straight away, I have to tell you, we're sisters of a sort. I worked for a number of years at the ABC-TV affiliate in Flint, MI as an associate producer and writer. Loved the energy and humming vibe of being in a newsroom - hated the weird hours when trying to raise a family, so I changed career paths. 

 

Tell me about what led you to write THE RISING. It's an amazing concept (blurb and excerpt follows!).

 

ABOUT THE RISING

 

The idea for The Rising came to me, in all places, at the grocery store. And I mean it hit me like the proverbial brick. I stopped pushing the cart and just stood there in the middle of the aisle playing the “what if” game.

 

What if...a non-believer comes face-to-face with a miracle. Can they still deny God? When there is no other explanation, can they still question God's existence? And taking it one step further, how can you question a miracle when its shared by an innocent child? They know no better.

 

I started working the idea from that point, knowing I wanted a main character to be broken and vulnerable, but too stubborn to admit it.

Amazing inspiration, Lynn. I love those moments of God-speak!

 

 

BLURB

 

A little boy, beaten and left to die in an alley.  A cop with a personal life out of control. When their worlds collide, God intervenes.

 

Detective Ellie Saunders's homicide investigation takes a dramatic turn when a young victim "wakes up" in the morgue. The child has no memory prior to his "rising" except walking with his father along a shiny road.

 

Ellie likes dealing with facts. She'd rather leave all the God-talk to her father, a retired minister, and to her partner, Jesse, a former vice cop with an annoying habit of inserting himself into her life. But will the facts she follows puts Ellie's life in mortal danger? And will she finally allow God into her heart forever?

 

EXCERPT

 

“Jack told me you were at lunch. Caper’s is one of my favorites, so I thought I’d take a chance.” He winked at her then sidled closer. “Anyway, I was thinking about your dead kid—“

“He’s not dead.”

A waitress slammed a sandwich down in front of Ellie, and Jesse helped himself to a homemade chip.

“OK, so he’s not dead. You have sent his picture to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children?”

She huffed. “Did Jack send you?”

“No, Jack didn’t send me. I was just thinking if the center didn’t get a hit, I’ve got a few connections with the FBI, and they’ve got some really cool equipment.”

Ellie pulled a piece of bacon from her sandwich and chewed on one end. “Thanks, but no thanks. I really don’t want the Feds involved.”

Jesse snatched another chip and shook his head. “No black suit with shades is going to swoop in and take your case, Detective Saunders.” He grinned and helped himself to another chip. “I thought we could get them to run his picture through the facial recognition scannhttp://www.pelicanbookgroup.com/ec/the-risinger. Maybe we’ll get a hit.”

What was with all the we stuff? The case was complicated enough. The last thing she needed was Jesse involved. She didn’t need a constant reminder of her downward spiral.

 

Like I said, friends, amazing concept and fantastic writing. Grab your copy of The Rising right here:

Pelican Book Group  ~  Amazon.com  ~  Barnes & Noble

Happy reading, and blessings!

Marianne
 

 

A new release - just in time for Easter

Will a quest for the truth lead him to a miracle -
and the love of a lifetime?

Reporter Paul Hutchins is all about finding facts and uncovering the truth. Verification, authenticity and quantification are the fuel of his spirit...until he falls in love with producer Sandy Pierson.

Sandy sees Christ alive in every aspect of her life. No need for quantified facts. Faith is the fuel of her spirit. But her love for Paul puts her at odds with God's call toward faith and all of its mysteries.

Paul considers Christianity to be well-meaning myth - hyperbole. To Sandy, it's everything - and she can accept nothing less from the man she loves.

Can a miracle happen? Can the touch of God Himself keep their relatinship from shattering?

EXCERPT

"I know how deeply you feel things, Paul. You have a wonderful heart. That's part of why I love you so much. I'm torn in two about my feelings for you." Sandy's declaration would have filled him were it not chipped and cracked by the impact of her doubts. "Your reporter's instinct toward autenticity and revealing the truth is a big part of what I admire about you. There's nothing wrong with facing the world honestly, but you need to make room for a few other truths."

"Like God."

"Yes, and the fact that life holds as much mystery, and as many intangibles, as it does realistic things you can hold tight to with both hands."

She wanted him to change. Right down to the soul. Paul continued to study her. She was hurt enough that she had almost stepped away from attending tonight's event - out of a frustrated sense of love. Yet, here they were - together - out of a frustrated sense of love.

And if he wasn't mindful of her beliefs, she'd step away from him.

Paul navigated the rapidly-filling parking lot of Woodland Church. Once they stopped, he killed the car engine and used a restraining hand to keep Sandy in place. He closed the space between them and gave her a kiss that lingered and thoroughly tasted. He felt the gesture ease a bit of the tightness in her shoulders and back. "I'll keep an open mind, OK?"

She touched his face, and there was yearning in her eyes. "Keep an open heart. That's much more important."

Long Live God & Long Live His Son

This is going to be a long, though I hope cohesive, and absolutely from the heart blog.

I'm curled up on the couch, my laptop humming after a Thursday night and bulk of my Friday spent celebrating what I feel is life's most precious gift. The overwhelming grace and beauty of my salvation through Jesus Christ. I'm Catholic, so the end of Lent is now just hours away and so many feelings and images swirl through my mind right now.

Humble service (our Lord washing his apostle's feet), accepting the will and mission of God (“Your will, not mine, be done...”) a heartbreaking, physically debilitating journey, laden by a cross beam, down Jerusalem's Via Delarosa, a sinner's death, on a cross, hanging in shame for the sole purpose of redeeming mankind...

I bring this up not just because it's Easter weekend, and the holiest three days of the calendar. I bring this up because I have tremendous call on my heart right now to fight back against what the current President of the United States and the popular media has to say about Christianity and its waning influence on Americas and, thereby, America culture during this sacred time in our year.

According to Obama, the United States of America should no longer be referred to as a Christian nation.

Then there’s Newsweek, publishing an article this Holy Week citing declining church attendance and a Western European style secularism to highlight its point that we are at "The End of Christian America"

According to Newsweek, churches are suffering. Why, the article states at one point, in such tough economic times, aren't people turning to God? The article also sites trends toward a more “enlightened” pattern of embracing “spirituality” - and the idea of “all Gods.”
Please don’t tell the people coming to our church doors at Guardian Angles in Suburban Detroit, that they don’t need God, or that they aren’t turning to God when they receive warm clothing, food, and most importantly, the loving embrace of our faith community! I doubt they’ll pay you an ounce of attention.

I’m tired of seeing that which I hold most honored and holy being trashed. So, I’m taking a stand, here and now, and I’m speaking up, refusing to be rolled over in silence because of faith and beliefs I hold sacred. There is no such thing as “all gods” or a cop-out expression of saying you’re “spiritual” versus being “religious” – what that translates to as far as I’m concerned is a lazy form of faith living with a lack of commitment to standing by what you truly believe.

Here’s what I believe, and will stand by forever: Jesus Christ is my Lord, Savior and Redeemer. I am a Christian, I am a sinner who keeps on sinning, but also keeps on trying, and keeps on looking to Christ for forgiveness and the strength to continue on. I’m a humble servant of my home, my community, and my world because that’s the pattern of living my faith in Christ has shown me to be most authentic and satisfying.

I don’t preach, or serve, in order to ‘earn’ heaven, either, so none of that nonsense. I couldn’t earn heaven with a million lifetimes. Heaven was gifted to me through one thing: Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection. He did that. For ME. For YOU. For the WORLD – and he’ll always take you in, no matter what you’ve said, what you’ve done, or what you’ve believed prior to discovering the truth of his grace, mercy and all encompassing, unconditional love.
He is God’s Son. He’s pure and faultless – and he belongs to us all – if we accept him and invite him in.

Christ lived, ministered and died. He did this in fulfillment of God’s will. He endured crucifixion in order to bring a bring a flawed (and I suppose I'll now also say malleable) humanity back to His fold of love, comfort and peace.

Christ's life is on-going (remember that – on-going!). His mission continues on through to this very moment in time in the living, breathing echo of a life and death that took place nearly two thousand years ago. This authenticity and truth cannot be faked. Look at the mission work, the benefits provided, by those who work in His name.

I watched a PBS documentary years ago about the topic of Christ’s life and death wherein a learned professor and theologian made a comment that has stayed with me every since: “Believe, or don't believe. That's everyone's individual choice. But something happened that day. If not, Christianity would have died out perhaps just a few hundred years after His death.”
Almost two thousand years later, it has not. Believers remain, live, work, minister, and have faith. And they will continue to do so for thousands of years to come.

Obama is trying, almost desperately it seems to me, to create as many avenues away from the heart of what founded our nation as possible. I’d like to ask him: What is wrong with Christianity? Why is he so frightened by a group of people working for the betterment of their lives and the communities in which they live – the world they inhabit?

Additionally I would have to ask: Does tolerance and this call for politically correct, offend no one, ever, unity only include those who believe what he says we should believe? It seems that way to me. After all, Christian beliefs and views don’t have any degree of acceptance and respect from Obama and his terrifyingly extreme left-wing administration.

Obviously Obama’s comments and the Newsweek article upset me tremendously at first. They are the embodiment of all that I would most stridently fight against. For a while I felt hurt, and I railed about the topic with a good number of my Christian friends who made comments like:

'I'm sick of being marginalized.'

'Too many people are afraid to speak up for their faith and beliefs.'

'Christians who live and speak their beliefs are labeled as bigoted, racist, homophobic anti-woman, anti-choice zealots. I believe it's part of an agenda to try to make Christians the fringe. Not acceptable.'

All of this, sadly, is so true!

But then came this observation from my husband:

‘Back in the 60's, the media came up with the same kinds of stories. “God is Dead” was actually a headline. And he's not dead yet.’

Thanks, honey. That’s so true. And spending quality time in within the embrace of my faith community at Guardian Angels Church helped sooth and assure me, and it affirmed my goal to keep fighting the good fight. If I may, here are a few things I’d like to share after our services this weekend:

Holy Thursday Service:
We participated in a beautiful mass emphasizing humility. Humility and service to one another, our communities, and those most in need. Emphasizing action with words, close to one hundred people came forward with their Lenten alms and offerings such as clothing and food basket items (these kinds of donations – badly needed here in Metro Detroit – take place every week during mass, and are deeply needed). This generosity also takes place despite a wickedly difficult Depression that has settled over the state of Michigan. Depression – not Recession. Michigan passed that yard-marker years ago. Parishioners remain self-sacrificing enough, however, to bring about a greater good – not in order to be seen as holy, or proud – but simply to help our fellow man. It’s what Jesus would do.

Stations of the Cross & Good Friday Service:
Members of our parish spent almost a half hour streaming forward to venerate the cross of Christ and receive communion. Several moments stick with me about the service:

• An usher, who gently led forward a very ill woman with a walker who was in such pain she was in tears – but she needed to give of herself to Jesus in this reverent moment. He rubbed her back and encouraged her while she struggled, and tenderly re-seated her afterward. He was the face of Christ to her. And the peace on her face afterward? It was an amazing thing to behold.
• The youth of our parish who performed the Passion. It was moving, and engaging to all who watched, and I felt so proud of their efforts and genuine love of the Lord. And that’s our YOUTH. God bless them!
• A story from the recent Italy earthquakes told to us by our Pastor. A woman was trapped beneath a pile of rubble. Rescue workers offered her water to tide her over while they worked at digging her out (apparently there was enough of a hole to be able to communicate and pass things through). They kindly asked if there was anything else she needed to aide her comfort. Her reply? It was prompt: “Yes – there is. I would like the Eucharist.” The body of our Lord. The rescue workers saw to her request, and, yes, she was rescued. Praise God!

But what brought me to tears during Good Friday mass? The conclusion of the passion play. As our youth group carried “Jesus” from the cross they sang a combination of “Prepare ye the Way of the Lord” and “Long Live God.” It was affirmation to me, and a call to arms.

Long. Live. God.

God is real. God touches people. Faith in the redemption of his son accomplishes miracles every day.

Long. Live. God.

In the end, after enduring the foul taste of that derogatory article, I found myself more than able to walk that pathway to Calvary and celebrate my Christian faith with a solemn, grateful, and humble heart.

Evil won’t win, and God cannot and will not die. His battle against darkness has already been won.

Long. Live. God.

To that, I can only add a simple, and heartfelt: “Amen.”

Happy, blessed Easter, everyone. He is Risen!!