THIEF - Linda Windsor - Free Book

Linda Windsor has been a dear friend and fellow author for many long years. I love feauturing her on this blog. Welcome, Linda. I love your picture. Tell us about your salvation experience.

Oh my! It was a long time coming. I never stopped believing in God, but, thanks to a college education, I’d learned Jesus was just another great prophet and I had no use for organized religion because of all the horrid things done in Jesus’ name. I threw Jesus out with the dirty church water.

I married, had two children, divorced and because of my son’s learning disabilities had to put my kids in a private school that happened to be Christian. I had no problem with it. Christianity was a good foundation and the kids could decide what they wanted to believe when they were older. I re-married, this time to a believer, while my children, especially my daughter, needled me to take them to church. I wouldn’t because I didn’t believe in Jesus and would not be a hypocrite in the pews. But I found myself crying every time I witnessed the kids’ childlike faith. Eventually I took my daughter to a community 24 hour Good Friday service for her sake.

Hah! A different pastor spoke every hour on the hour and at my 2PM arrival, one stood up and announced that he wanted to talk about Doubting Thomas. I was riveted to that hard seat as he went on to say it was okay to have doubts as long as we earnestly sought the truth. I’d been an armchair philosopher stating all my doubts, but I hadn’t been looking any further for what I could believe in. And aside from the Jesus stories of my pre-college church experience, I knew nothing about what the Bible actually said beyond the clichés and the holier-than-thou and hypocritical attitudes that had driven me away from church.

I rushed from the service straight to my mom to announce God had called me to go to church. Where else could I learn? I didn’t have to believe all I heard as long as I earnestly sought (and respected those who did believe.) That was the beginning of a long journey. I researched, and anyone who has read my historicals knows I am a research-a-holic. And I got to know Christians who were stumbling along like me, grabbing at the Father’s hand and trying to follow Christ’s example. I mean, God or man, Jesus was special. I had to admit that. And the questions I had regarding my faith? They were answered Sunday after Sunday, so much so, that I’d sit in church and cry in awe and gratitude at each revelation God gave me.

Two years later on a gorgeous day, I was overwhelmed by my blessings, God’s presence, and the stark beauty surrounding me as I prayed on my way to work. The Holy Spirit snuck up on me and out of the blue, I exclaimed with all my heart “I love you, Jesus!” Not God. Not Holy Spirit. Jesus! I had to pull over, I was so overcome with emotion. Then and there I’d at long last accepted Christ, completing the Trinity package. And the journey continues.

What a special event in your life! You’re planning a writing retreat where you can only have four other authors. Who would they be and why?

That’s not fair! I’d chose my Celtic authors Liz Curtis Higgs, Carol Umberger, Sharon Gillenwater… oh, and the Thoenes. I know the first three and would love to meet the latter. Why? Our love of bringing history and faith to life in our stories.

Do you have a speaking ministry? If so, tell us about that.

I have a speaking and music ministry. When I get real nervous about my speaking, I throw in a song to calm me down and drive the message home. Most of my speaking has to do with my writing and I love addressing the history-faith connection, particularly regarding the Celtic heritage as it reaffirms Scripture. Oh, and science as it reaffirms the Word as well. The topics and songs vary according to the audience.

And sometimes, I let the music do it all and simply lead into the song with an introduction to the message in the music.

What is the most embarrassing thing that has happened to you and how did you handle it?

I was student teaching and we had a unit in reading about spies. I thought it would be fun to demonstrate invisible ink (vinegar) and as I held the secret message over the candle flame, it caught fire. Kids were squealing and I was running for the sink with a flaming paper in hand, huffing and blowing all the way. When I looked up, my supervisor was standing there, so I smiled and announced, “And now you can see one of the dangers of invisible ink. So do NOT try this at home!”

People are always telling me that they’d like to write a book someday. I’m sure they do to you, too. What would you tell someone who came up to you and said that?

I recommend they learn the business as well as the craft by joining a professional organization such as American Christian Fiction Writers and/or Romance Writers of America. The basics of good fiction remain the same for most genres, so they shouldn’t let the word romance put them off. I also warn them that one must be tough-skinned and pit-bull stubborn to succeed, but that it can be done.

So true. Tell us about the featured book.

Thief is book two of the Brides of Alba series about three brothers who find love and faith in King Arthur’s war-torn Scotland. Readers will learn that arthur and merlin were titles, explaining how two men could not be accountable for over a hundred years of events and battles. There were at least two arthurs and more merlins or counselors to the king. The arthur in my series is the only historically documented one and, I believe, the last one who held the office of Dux Bellorum (Roman duke of war), Scot/Irish High King, or Pendragon (Welsh head dragon). Also revealed are the historic traditions of Grail Church and the holy bloodlines (Davidic royal and Arimathean priestly) that it protected as passed down in histories from the Holy Land through Egypt, Iberia, and Gaul to Ireland and Britain.

Book two picks up where Healer left off with the second of the O’Byrne brothers. Arthur, the historical prince of the Dalraida Scots, is holding Saxons at bay to the east and Picts to the north from his stronghold in Manau Gododdin. Exiled in shame and wounded while fighting with Arthur, Caden O'Byrne accepts a mission to go into enemy territory to find his healer's long-lost daughter. At worst, he'll get his death wish. At best, this could be God's second chance. But the lovely, larcenous Sorcha will have no part of him, his God, or the rescue...until a murder forces them both to run for their lives. While Caden's rekindled faith is tested, Sorcha wonders if his God is real. Add to the mix a stargazing princess, a capable dwarf, a scheming witch, an improbably beautiful stranger and you have the ingredients for a surprising, page-turning tale. I try to bring life to Arthurian/Grail Scotland in the tradition of Mary Stewart, while weaving in the little known history of the British church. The result is a saga of intrigue, treachery, second chances, and the liberating power of love.

Please give us the first page of the book.

Prologue

Kingdom of Lothian

Late sixth century ad

Leaf Fall

It was a good day to die. But then this warrior had lost count of such days, hoping that each one would put an end to his miserable existence…to this exile of body and soul. Beneath him, his horse strained at the reins, eager to join the fray between the Pendragon’s forces and the Saxon invaders seeking to win yet one more chunk of the ever-shrinking Bryneich. Once it had swept to the North Sea, but the Sassenach had hacked away its coastal settlements with their axes. Now they wanted more.

Caden O’Byrne held his stallion back, waiting with the other mercenaries for the signal to sweep down the hill and relieve the first line of warriors already engaged. None of them knew him by any other name but Caden. Like everything else that mattered, he’d left his clan name behind. Only shame followed, haunting him night and day.

The clang of blades, the cries of rage and anguish rose in a dissonant chorus from the edge of the summer-blanched forest of oak and alder that had hid the enemy…or so they thought, until the last moment. Anxiety weighed upon the faces of Caden’s battle-hardened comrades—at least those with something or someone to go home to. But there were a few, like him, who grinned, teeth bared in anticipation of, if not death and escape from their personal demons, at least a chance to take out their pent-up need for vengeance on an enemy they could see and lay hands on…an enemy they could kill.

How can readers find you on the Internet?

Readers can find book previews, contests and sign up for my occasional newsletter at www.LindaWindsor.com.

What fun to once again feature you on my blog, Linda.

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