Max Anderson

Reading with Kids Is Important

Ever heard yourself say, “If only I knew then what I know now”? It happens more frequently for me now that my wife and I are newly minted grandparents. Sometimes I wonder how our kids ever made it to adulthood. Not really, but so much has changed since they were small children. I could probably write a book just about all the changes from when we were raising our little ones.

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Evan Angler

The First Markless Orchestra

I’d heard rumors about the Markless orchestra playing in basements out in Beacon’s suburbs, but I never believed them. I can understand the stray minstrel here and there, roaming the streets with his guitar, singing songs for scraps or fun, and keeping one or two steps ahead of the Department of Marked Emergencies. But an orchestra? How does a group like that get its Unmarked hands on so many working instruments?

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K.D. McCrite

What’s in a Name?

As a writer, I love words. I also love to make up places or people and attach monikers to them. Years ago I wrote a series of three books for Avalon Books (Home Is the Heart, Wintersong, and Rainbow Dreams, by Kathaleen Burr—yes, that was my name then). Those books were gentle romances, clean and sweet, so I needed a town that had a lovely, beckoning name and came up with Pleasant Springs, Missouri. In my Confessions of April Grace, I invented a town called Blue Reed by combining the names of two real towns nearby: Blue Eye and Reeds Spring.

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Jerel law

Spirit Fighter Recon:
Tips from the Field for Helping Kids Fight the Spiritual Battle

Things aren’t right. They aren’t right in our world. You and I don’t have to look hard to see this, do we? Check the news online. Or better yet, look out your front door. People fight. Cancer kills. A spouse cheats on the one he’s vowed to be faithful to. Women and children are oppressed. Poverty is rampant. Iron-fisted dictators still rule countries and assault their own people with violence, fear, and death. Should I continue?

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