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Each year the International
Christian Retail Show (ICRS) brings
together individuals throughout the Christian resources industry to
promote a wide range of Christian products. A number of Christian
publishers and authors present the latest in Christian publishing. The
week is a flurry of book signings, interviews, and meetings. Here are
excerpts from some interviews I was privileged to conduct.
 Colleen Coble
discussed her new release, Rosemary Cottage (Thomas
Nelson).
It was such fun to write, and my
editor says it’s my best book yet,
so I’m eager to see what readers think! Romance blooms, as always! But
it has action and mystery, including a lot of women’s fiction issues,
because the main character, a midwife, loves children but she can’t
have children. I’m interested in natural medicine, and I like to write
about things I’m learning, too, which was the case with Rosemary
Cottage. It is just now hitting the stores.
[Interviewer’s note: Readers
seem to be enjoying it; the novel already hit the USA Today
best-seller list!]
 Cynthia Ruchti’s
latest novel, When the Morning Glory Blooms
(Abingdon Press), deals with the difficult and, somewhat divisive,
subject of unwed pregnancy.
I look around my community and
church and I see teen moms. Teen
pregnancy is celebrated on television and even somewhat idolized. I
think, “People, where is the ‘reality’ part of reality TV? Where is the
concept of how far the ripples go in a thing like this?” The human
drama creates When the Morning Glory Blooms, which
is full of
drama but very much full of heart. For example, what do you do when
someone is broken? You help them pick up the pieces. You love on them
all the more because they’re broken. You find ways
to show them
where hope is hiding and where grace is in all of the hurt. And that is
part of what God designed a church to do: to embrace or welcome or
engage those who are broken, because that’s where they will find
healing. God is the only source of healing. But I didn’t want the book
to give the impression that there are not heavy prices to be paid,
consequences to be paid. In this particular story, some of those prices
were paid many, many years down the road. Some of  it is in
damaged emotional health needing repair. Some of it is in secrets
eating away at you. And when we think we’re doing good now, here comes
another wave of consequence for not following God’s perfect plan.
Ace Collins
gives us a peek into his upcoming novel, The Cutting Edge
(Abingdon Press), the story of a model whose physical attack left her
unrecognizable.
The Cutting Edge
represents the way America views beauty and
the way we should view beauty. In this age when cosmetic surgery fixes
all our evils but leaves the problems untouched, this young woman had
no depth because she was beautiful. She finds other people who have
incredible depth because they aren’t beautiful. Our spiritual anchor in
this book is a little girl who is abused by her mother, whose face is
disfigured. She always looked at this magazine cover before Leslie was
carved up and said, “That’s my Cinderella.” Then when she meets her and
sees her carved-up face, her first words are, “God doesn’t like you
either, does He?”
James Rubart
received a Christy Award for Soul’s Gate (Thomas
Nelson) the night before we talked, and he is on the verge of releasing
his second book in the series, Memory’s Door. He
shared a bit about his motivation for this series.
I wanted to write a book about
the freedom that is available in Jesus. But as I got more into Soul’s
Gate
and this thing about freedom, the question arose: “What’s opposing
freedom?” Ask people if they are free, and they say no, because they
suffer brokenness from their childhoods or they have this fear or that
wound. Where do brokenness, fear, and wounds come from? Warfare!
Thirty-three percent of the healings Jesus did were casting out demons.
Satan opposes Jesus. We don’t wrestle against flesh and blood. So I
couldn’t write this book unless I addressed that very real element in
our lives. Soul’s Gate was an incredibly difficult
book to write, spiritually oppressive to write. Memory’s Door
was tough, as well, but with all  this cool spiritual warfare and spiritual things
going on, the heart of Memory’s Door is regret.
Dealing with deep regret and getting free of it.
Stacy Hawkins Adams
shared how she views her writing as a ministry to women as she
discussed her latest release, Lead Me Home
(Zondervan).
I was a journalist for fourteen
years. I have a gift for empathy, so
when people tell me their stories, I am able to relate it to readers in
that person’s voice. That’s how I approach my characters. They become
real to me, and I become invested in their stories. I feel like I have
a heart for women’s ministry and for a ministry throught these fiction
stories. I approach a project thinking, “What do I want readers to take
away? What does this character need to go through in order for me to
address this issue in a meaningful and real way that will touch a
reader’s soul and maybe transform her in some way?”
Randy Alcorn
discussed his new graphic novel, Eternity
(Kingstone), and addressed this relatively new medium and the book’s
biblical integrity.
The most important thing to
realize is that there are different
reasons for different kinds of books. Some people have said, “I’ll read
your nonfiction, but I’m just not a fiction person at all.” The same
argumentation is what nonfiction people use against all
fiction: “Nonfiction is true and fiction is false.” Of course, the
reality is that much nonfiction is false and much fiction contains a
great deal of truth. A graphic novel is just another medium. My graphic
novel is a way of reaching people who will read a graphic novel. It’s
me telling a story and taking the liberties (of elaboration] that are
always taken in biblical fiction. My number one rule is never ever
violate anything Scripture says. Take what Scripture does
say
and include it.  For instance, every single
verse and every single word
of those verses about the Rich Man and Lazarus in Luke 16 are in the
story. I include Old Testament prophecy about Jesus and the life of
Jesus. Virtually everything Jesus says is directly from Scripture. In
the end, this graphic novel contains more Scripture and scriptural
truth than just about 120 pages of anything you’ve ever read!
Loree Lough,
whose most recent release is Emma’s Orphans
(Whitaker House), discussed her philosophy of writing.
It’s important to admit we write
for the glory of God. We’re
certainly not in it for the money! And we’re not in it for the fame.
We’re doing it for the glory of God. It gives me chills just to say
that! Every story idea, every character, every problem, every conflict,
every solution comes from Him. Sometimes life interrupts and I get
distracted and forget to ask for guidance, but sometimes I read what I
wrote and think, “I didn’t even know I did that!” It’s as though I did
it in my sleep or in a vacuum, because He’s guiding me.
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