SURRENDER THE DAWN - MaryLu Tyndall - Free Book

So good to have you back, MaryLu. Since you’re being published regularly, what new avenues will your future books take?

Most of my books take place either on the sea or very near it. I love the Age of Sail when tall ships ruled the seas. No matter what era I am researching or writing about, I always am drawn to the 17th and 18th centuries. So, I hope to write more books set during that time period, during the age of exploration and the colonial age in America. I also am very excited about including more spirituality in my books.  The secular world is doing so with vampires and wizards and ghosts, why can’t I bring the power of God, signs, wonders, visions, dreams, and the like into my stories?           

I so agree with you on that. What conferences will you be attending this year? Will you be a speaker at any of them?

The only conference I hope to attend this year is ACFW in September. I’ve decided to spend more time at home due to family obligations and lots of deadlines!  No, I’m not speaking at ACFW. Although I’m anxious to connect with author friends and make new ones while I’m there. I also hope to be an encouragement to unpublished writers.

           

If you were in charge of planning the panel discussion at a writing conference, what topic would the panel cover, and who would you ask to be on the panel, and why?

The panel would be entitled: Don’t be afraid to be different. Follow your heart. Authors invited to be on the panel include: Julie Lessman, Ginger Garrett, Ronie Kendig, Michelle Griep, Camy Tang, and Tosca Lee.  Oh, that sounds like a fun group! If only I was in charge of panels. J

I would love to hear that group. I love their books. How important is it to you to be active in writing organizations? 

Connecting with other writers is a vital part of being an author, published or not. Writing is a lonely, difficult job and you need support and comfort from people who understand what you’re going through, while also making yourself available to give out that support as well. This is a tough business filled with disappointments and rejections and anxieties. You won’t want to go it alone. In all honestly, I probably would have quit a long ago if not for the encouragement I received from fellow authors. That’s what I love about being a part of the Christian writing community. For the most part, everyone sets aside their personal competition and readily encourages one another. If I didn’t have my online and local writer friends, I’d be pretty lonely.

Where in the community or your church do you volunteer? 

I don’t volunteer. With six kids, a husband, house, and a full time writing job, who has time? I consider my books to be my ministry and whenever I have the opportunity I give them away for free. I’ve given boxes of books to homeless shelters, prisons, women’s ministries, churches, libraries and schools. I’m also in weekly correspondence with a missionary in South Africa who uses my books to teach English in college classes.

Who are the five people who have made the most impact on your life, and how?

Aside from Jesus, and if I could only choose people I’ve actually met, I’d say first, my kids, because they give meaning to my life and set my priorities where they should be.

My mother because she taught me the meaning of unconditional love. My husband because he’s shown me the meaning of lifelong commitment. Derek Prince for teaching me the depths of the Scriptures, and my friend Kim for being the only person in the world I could tell anything to who wouldn’t condemn me for it.

If you could write the inscription on your tombstone, what would it be?

Oh death where is your victory? Oh death where is your sting?

I’ll see you again in heaven when the angelic trumpets ring.    

Tell us about the featured book.        

Surrender the Dawn is the final book in my War of 1812 Surrender to Destiny series. If you know anything about the War of 1812, then you’ll recall that our National Anthem, the “Star Spangled Banner,” was written by Francis Scott Key as he watched the British fire thousands of rockets at Fort McHenry in Baltimore. This book concludes with that incredible scene as my hero and heroine get caught up in the events of the war. However, it is really a tale about love, and privateers, and how we all so often feel like failures in this life. Here’s the back of the book blurb:

An upper crust lady desperate to save her family. . .

A nefarious town rogue blackmailed into selling out his country. . .

And the destiny that awaits them both amid the War of 1812.

When the war of 1812 robs Cassandra Channing of her father and brothers, she must find a way to support her mother and younger siblings without being forced to marry a man she does not love. Determined to remain independent, she hires a privateer, captained by the town rogue.

Tortured by guilt for his parents’ death, Luke Heaton spends his time drinking and gambling. When Cassandra offers him enough money to fix up his ship, he sees an opportunity to redeem his reputation and help the lady he has loved from afar. Things go well until the British blackmail him into selling supplies to their ships. Still Luke cannot allow Cassandra’s family to be tossed on the streets.

 

Cassandra has fallen in love with Luke. When she begins to suspect his nefarious activities, she is heartbroken. Hoping to prove her suspicions wrong, she sets out to catch him in the act. But what she doesn’t expect is to get caught up in a massive British invasion.

When the entire British fleet heads toward Baltimore and begins to bombard Fort McHenry, lives, liberty, and the future of a nation are at stake. What destiny awaits the couple in one of the most decisive battles of the war?

Sounds like a wonderful story. Please share the first page with us.  

Chapter 1

March 26, 1814

Merchants Coffee House, Baltimore, Maryland

“Miss Channing, no privateer in his right mind would accept money from a woman investor. It is simply bad luck.”

Raucous laughter—all male—shot through the tiny coffee shop that smelled more like ale and sweat than coffee.

Wrinkling her nose beneath the odor and bracing her heart against the mounting impediment to her well-laid plans, Cassandra rose from her seat. “That is merely a foolish superstition, Mr. McCulloch. I assure you, my money is as good as any man’s.”

Snickers and grins interspersed with the occasional salacious glance continued to fire her way. But Cassandra brushed them off. After an hour of sitting in the muggy, male-dominated room, listening to various merchants selling shares for the equipping of their vessels into privateers, she had grown numb to the attention.

When the customs agent had finally announced eight shares offered at two-hundred dollars each to be invested in the Contradiction—a one-hundred-and-three ton schooner out of Dorchester, housing one long nine gun ten men, and captained by Peter Pascal—Cassandra had raised her hand. With her one thousand dollars, she could purchase over half the shares rather than be one of many investors in a larger, better equipped ship. Owning more of a privateer meant higher returns. And she definitely was in dire need of higher returns.

Mr. McCulloch shoved his thumbs into the pockets of his trousers and shot Cassandra the same patronizing look her mother often gave her younger sisters when they failed to comprehend what she was saying. “Aye, your money is good, Miss Channing. It’s the mind behind the coin that begs concern.”

“How dare you, sir! Why you are no more. . .” Cassandra clutched her reticule close to her chest and spat out, “My money and my mind are equal to any man’s here.”

Again laughter pulsated through the room.

“It’s the comely exterior of that mind that I’m partial to,” one man yelled from the back, prompting yet another chorus of chuckles.

Cassandra narrowed her eyes and scanned the mob. Did these men honestly believe they were amusing? Most of them—with the exception of a few unsavory types loitering around the fringes of the assembly—were hard working merchants, bankers, shop owners, mill workers, and farmers. Men who often tipped their hat at her on the street. Her gaze locked with the wife of the coffee house proprietor, scrubbing a counter in the right corner. Sympathy poured from her eyes.

Mr. McCulloch scratched his head and gave a sigh of frustration. “A share in any privateer gives you a voice in its affairs. A business voice, miss. A voice that needs to be schooled in matters of financial investments and risk assessment.”

The men nodded and grunted in approval like a band of mindless lackeys.

Where can my readers find you on the Internet?

http://www.marylutyndall.com/

http://crossandcutlass.blogspot.com/

http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/MaryLu-Tyndall-Swashbuckling-Romance/175344859169475

Thank you so much for sharing your book, and life, with us, MaryLu.

Readers, here's a link to the book. By using it when you order, you help support this blog.

Leave a comment for a chance to win a free copy of the book. Please tell us where you live, at least the state or territory. (Comments containing links may be subject to removal by blog owner.)

Void where prohibited; the odds of winning depend on the number of entrants. Entering the giveaway is considered a confirmation of eligibility on behalf of the enterer in accord with these rules and any pertaining local/federal/international laws.

The only notification you’ll receive is the winner post on this blog. So be sure to check back a week from Saturday to see if you won. You will have 4 weeks from the posting of the winners to claim your book.

If you’re reading this on Feedblitz, Facebook, or Amazon, please come to the blog to leave your comment if you want to be included in the drawing. Here’s a link.
Http://lenanelsondooley.blogspot.com