Dear Readers, Deborah
Heal is an author with an entirely different time travel novel. She uses
current technology in a unique way to facilitate the time travel aspect. I
found it fascinating. And since it interweaves a complete contemporary story
with a complete historical story, this adds even more uniqueness to the whole
book. I loved her settings and her characters. I think you will, too.
Welcome back,
Deborah. What are some of the spiritual themes you like to write about?
The overarching theme of my Rewinding Time Series is that
our sovereign God works his good and perfect plans in our lives, and that if we
could experience time from His perspective we would see that more clearly.
Merrideth, the main character, is a Christian in name only, and throughout the
series readers will see how God works in her life to bring her to true saving
faith in Christ.
In Once Again, Merrideth sees Christ’s
parable about forgiving seven times seventy times lived out in the life of a
young pioneer preacher who takes the Gospel to the very Indian tribe that
scalped his brother. Merrideth can’t decide whether he’s a hero or a fool to
risk his life, but she is definitely impressed. She wonders how she would ever
be able to forgive those who have injured her.
In book 2, Only One
Way Home, Merrideth learns another piece of the Gospel message when Matthias
Frailey tells White Dove that it is not her Cherokee rituals or his own white
religious customs that bring salvation. It is only Christ’s redeeming sacrifice
on the cross.
How Sweet the Sound
will showcase the truth of Romans 3:23. “For ALL of sinned and fallen short…”
Merrideth begins to understand that there’s no sense comparing one’s own sins
to another person’s because neither of you measure up.
And so it will go until she finally accepts Christ.
What other books of
yours are coming out soon?
I hope to have How
Sweet the Sound, book 3 in the Rewinding Time Series, out by May of this
year. This time Merrideth will take her amazing software to Cave-in-Rock, a
tiny southern Illinois town on the banks of
the Ohio River . The actual cave from which the
town gets its name has a long history of human habitation. Indians and French
trappers found it a convenient place to stop while traveling the Ohio . Then when
land-hungry easterners began coming down the river on their flatboats, bound
for the frontier with everything they owned, river pirates found the cave an
exceedingly convenient place for a hideout from which to relieve the pioneers
of their earthly goods and many times their lives. Truly truth is stranger than
fiction!
I really want to
feature this next book on my blog. If you could spend an evening with one
contemporary person (not a family member of yours), who would it be and why?
I’d love to have a leisurely chat with presidential
historian Doris Kearns Goodwin so she could tell me lots of interesting
tidbits and help me put our history into
perspective.
What historical
person would you like to meet (besides Jesus) and why?
I’d like to get to know President Thomas Jefferson so I
could find out what he actually believed and felt about slavery.
How can you encourage
authors who have been receiving only rejections from publishers?
I tried off and on for eighteen years to sell my first book,
and it was soundly rejected everywhere I turned. But then I began to hear about
the self-publishing option and decided to try that. And it’s working! I am very
happy to not have to depend on a publisher seeing the merit of my work.
Instead, my books rise or fall on the basis of reader response. It is so
rewarding to find that many readers do enjoy what I write. So don’t wait on
publishers as long as I did. Go forth and publish. Just study what you need to
in order to turn out a good product.
Tell us about the
featured book.
Once Again: an inspirational novel of history, mystery, and
romance is about a young woman named Merrideth Randall whose day job is
teaching history at a small college. But after hours she turns to her first
love, historical research. And she has a tool other historians can only dream
of—a computer program that rewinds time!
Merrideth makes a virtual visit to the 1780s, hoping to be
the first to locate an ancient pioneer fort. Along the way, she gets a
first-hand look at the lives of the courageous pioneers of the Illinois
Country, who withstood Indian attacks, hardship, and loneliness to settle the
rich land.
One of the settlers is James Garretson, who risks his life
to take the Gospel to the very tribe that wreaked havoc on his family.
Merrideth is amazed that he could forgive a crime so huge. Hero or fool, James
Garretson is the ancestor of her colleague Brett, a physics professor at McKendree College .
With her findings, Merrideth is able to help Brett with his
genealogy, but she can’t tell him everything she learned—like that he inherited
his black hair and green eyes from James Garretson, or that his aunt’s poetry
is eerily similar to the verse Garretson’s wife Isabelle used to compose at her
spinning wheel.
Brett has rock-star status on campus, but amazingly enough,
he seems to be pursuing Merrideth—in spite of her firm policy against dating
co-workers. She would love to tell him about her amazing program, but
discretion is not his strong suit. She has secrets about herself that she’d
just as soon he didn’t find out either. One virtue Brett does have is patience,
and he’s quite willing to wait for Merrideth to figure things out.
Please give us the
first few pages of the book for my readers.
“We have to remember that in 1811, the Illinois Territory
was the wild, wild West.” Merrideth Randall realized she was leaning on her
podium and straightened her spine. At five-foot-two it was difficult enough to
look like a mature professional without slouching. At twenty-six, she was the
youngest professor at McKendree
College and only a few
years older than her students, which was why she always dressed in suits and
high heels. At times, she had a feeling it only made her look like a child
playing dress-up.
She had started the day feeling confident in her new black
gabardine suit. The label had bragged about the comfortableness of the
three-season fabric. But even though it was a cool October afternoon, she was
already sweating like a pig.
Furthermore, the fabric was a magnet for her hair. She
picked two long blond strands from her sleeve and turned her eyes back to her
students.
“And as amusing as it
seems today, the governor’s job description then included riding into battle,
leading the soldiers at his command.”
Apparently, they didn’t find that historical tidbit as
amusing as she did. The class continued to look apathetic. She mentally sighed.
At least they were awake, to a degree. And most were even taking notes, in a
desultory fashion. But the gleam of curiosity she had hoped to see in their
eyes was absent. As usual.
She had thought, naively it turned out, that after a couple
of weeks at McKendree she would be nicely settled in, and her history classes
would be well on the way to becoming campus favorites. Instead, after over a
month, her students remained aloof and only mildly interested in what she had
to say. She found their nonverbal feedback incredibly dampening, to say the
least. It was a vicious cycle, of course. The more she worried about being
boring, the more difficult it was not to be.
Marla White, a seasoned pro from the French Department had
advised her to act confident even if she didn’t feel so. “And whatever you do,
don’t ever let ’em see you bleed, or they’ll be on you like wolves.”
But that was easier said than done, wasn’t it? Taking a deep
breath, she shuffled her notes and soldiered on.
“Tecumseh was off trying to organize a coordinated Indian
resistance that November day in 1811. If he had been successful…”
A student in the third row—Allison? Alyssa?—raised her hand.
She was a beautiful girl and always looked cool and collected, as if she
weren’t familiar with the human phenomenon of perspiration. And as far as Merrideth
could tell her blond highlights had not
come out of a bottle. She was one of the few students who ever asked a question
or offered a comment. Unfortunately, they were usually so tinged with sarcasm
that Merrideth had begun to dread calling on her. But now as always, hope rose
that at last she was about to experience a lively interaction with a student.
Merrideth pointed to the raised hand. “Yes?”
“The proper term is Native
American. Besides, they aren’t really Indian anyway.”
Merrideth was sure the smile she had drummed up looked fake,
but it was the best she could do when her teaching competence was under direct
attack. “I’m glad you brought that up. I recently learned that most Native
Americans actually prefer to be called Indians.”
The girl looked decidedly skeptical.
“I was surprised myself.” Merrideth glanced down and
shuffled her notes again. “Anyway, if Tecumseh had been successful, who knows
what the map of America
would look like today? While he was gone, Harrison and a force of 1,000 soldiers
defeated the Shawnee
at Prophetstown.
“At the time it was considered a huge victory for Harrison . He picked up the nickname Tippecanoe
from the river of that name near the battlefield. Twenty-nine years later in
1840, a Whig campaign song called Tippecanoe and Tyler Too helped Harrison win the presidency.”
The girl raised her hand again. “Yes?” Merrideth said as
pleasantly as she could.
“Will that be on the final exam? The nicknames and songs,
things like that?”
“Maybe. Probably.”
A disdainful expression flittered over the student’s face,
and then she lowered her eyes and resumed writing. Just as Merrideth looked
back at her own notes, the girl muttered, “I registered for Illinois History,
not Trivial Pursuit.” It was said loudly enough that it was clearly intended
for Merrideth to hear.
She stifled the urge to smack her. To reward herself for her
restraint, she decided to wrap up class three minutes early. “But historians
know,” she said tersely, “that the victory at Prophetstown only ratcheted up
the violence between the whites and Indians. Six months later when the War of
1812 began, the Indians naturally sided with the British. We’ll talk more about
that next time. Be sure to keep up with your readings.”
The students began gathering their things with an eagerness
that was a further insult to Merrideth’s confidence. Then she remembered her
announcement and called out, “Don’t forget, if you want to be a volunteer at
the Fort Piggot archaeological dig Saturday, there’s still time, but you’ll
have to be a member of History Club. Just let me know if you need a sign-up
form.”
No one responded. No one even looked interested, much less
stayed behind to get the details. She felt her face heating and turned away to
gather her own things. Her embarrassment grew ten-fold when she realized Dr.
Garrison was watching her from the door. With a mind of its own, her hand
started to rise, intent on checking her hair. But she forced it back down to
her side. She would not allow Brett Garrison to trigger any fluttery female
instincts she might have.
The thought that the most popular professor on campus had
witnessed her debacle just added icing to the cake. She had heard that gushing
groupies congregated outside his classroom like he was Indiana Jones, and they
were there to catch him before he cast off the trappings of academia and went
off on an action-packed adventure.
But Brett dressed more stylishly than Indy had—never in
tweed jackets with leather patches on the elbows, for sure. And he was much
better looking than Harrison Ford. His black hair was thick, and his eyes were
so green that Merrideth once asked Marla White if she thought he wore colored
contacts. Marla had smiled knowingly and said, “No, ma’am! They’re the real
deal. It’s the Irish in him.”
The moment she was introduced to him at the faculty
icebreaker at President Peterson’s residence, he had set her nerves on edge.
Sure, he was pretty to look at, but his vanity ruined it. Twice she had caught
him admiring himself in Peterson’s hall mirror. She had avoided him ever since.
But now she smiled and said, “Hi. Don’t you math types do
your thing in Voigt Hall?” It hadn’t come out in the friendly manner she’d
intended, and she mentally kicked herself for letting her rattled nerves show.
He sure didn’t need anything more to stoke his ego.
How can readers find
you on the Internet?
I hope readers will visit my website to find out more about
the actual people, places, and events that my books are based on.
Website: http://www.deborahheal.com
Amazon Author Page: http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B00760M3OS
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/DeborahHeal
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/DeborahHealThank you, Deborah, for introducing my readers to your new series.
Readers, here are links to the book. By using one when you order, you help support this blog.
Once Again: An inspirational novel of history, mystery & romance (The Rewinding Time Series) (Volume 1) - paperback
Once Again: An inspirational novel of history, mystery, & romance (The Rewinding Time Series Book 1) - Kindle
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18 comments:
Hi, it's so nice to visit on your site on this cold February morning!
I love time-traveling books. Add in adventure and a little romance and I'm good to go!
J.C. -Indiana-
Count me in on this one, Lena!
Melanie Backus, TX
I enjoyed the opening to the book thank you.
Mary P
QLD AUSTRALIA
I'm anxious to see if Merrideth wins over her students. Would love to win a copy.
I live in Indiana.
Blessings,
Cindy W.
I'm intrigued. Is there resolution between Merrideth and Brett by the end of book one, or not until book three?
Anne, rural NC
Anne, their romance will be a plot thread that spans all SIX books I have planned for the Rewinding Time Series. Merrideth certainly has issues to work out, but she's coming along in book 3. And then in book 5. . . well, I you'll have to stay tuned.
I liked the first pages! Sounds like one I'd like to read...
D K Stevens, NE
Enter me!!
Conway, SC.
This series sounds very intriguing. Thank you for offering a copy.
Tennessee
I am happy to provide a free copy of Once Again to the winner. And please check out my website for more information about the real live people and events featured in the novel.
www.deborahheal.com
Hi Deborah & Lena! I downloaded Time & Again last year, but I just haven't gotten around to reading it yet. I love how you thought of a way to use modern technology for time travel!
Kristen in OK
kam110476 at gmail dot com
I am excited to learn more about this series. Thank you!
Connie from Kentucky
cps1950@gmail.com
Sounds interesting! Shelia from Mississippi
I've only recently started reading time travel books and I find I do enjoy them.
Beth from IA
I've never really read any time travel books but this one sounds great!
Jasmine in MT
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