STAR SONG - Katheryn Maddox Haddad - One Free Book

Welcome back, Katheryn. God has really been moving in your writing life. What do you see on the horizon?

Television. I am in touch with a couple of different people about turning this book (actually all eight in the series) into a TV series. It can start at Christmas time and end at Easter time.

That’s wonderful. Tell us a little about your family.

My twin brother is easy to tell apart from me because he is the one with the beard. I also have two older sisters. We are all unique.

Has your writing changed your reading habits? If so, how?

I read the end of the book first. When I went to college back in the 1950s, there was no such thing as a degree in journalism, so I had to learn by reading the famous writers. Another thing I began doing was read the first chapter of a book to get myself oriented, then read the last chapter so I knew how it ended, then reading the rest of the chapter to see how the author got me from point A to point C. I love it!

What are you working on right now?

Martyrdom. I began a series called Intrepid Men of God a year ago and it has become so popular, I am spurred on to write a seventh book. It will be Stephen: The Martyr.

What outside interests do you have?

Converting Muslims. I spend half a day each day teaching English over the internet using the Bible as a text book. I have taught some 6,000 so far, mostly in the Middle East, and have written a book entitled Christianity or Islam: The Contrast which could be given to a Muslim without offending them. The first half quotes from the Quran and the Bible on the same subjects without comment. The middle clarifies misinformation Muslims are taught that Christians believe, and the last part is quotes from 100 of my Muslim students who have decided Jesus really was the Son of God and not just a prophet. It ends with “A Letter to our Muslim Friends.”

How do you choose your settings for each book?

Since I write history, much of it is chosen for me. But I do also research other things going on in their world at the time and insert my characters in some of those events. They certainly did not live in a vacuum.

If you could spend an evening with one historical person, who would it be and why?

I think Joseph, the father who raised Jesus during such violent times, kept him protected so long, and guided him as he developed his inner understanding of who he was. (Joseph was still alive at Jesus’s Nazareth rejection where they called out, “Isn’t this the carpenter’s son?”)

What is the one thing you wish you had known before you started writing novels?

Not to write such long chapters. My first eight novels had chapters averaging twenty pages. I now limit my chapters to ten pages.

What new lessons is the Lord teaching you right now?

I am 76 years old. Star Song and the other lyrical novels in this 8-book series, They Met Jesus, took me 53 years to write and get published. Most of the time it was in a closet gathering dust. Then one day it became published. And right now, I am in contact with someone in Hollywood about turning the series into a TV series. It is never too late.

What are the three best things you can tell other authors to do to be successful?

a.         Go back and read your favorite book by the most famous author and analyze it.

b.         Be good at grammar and take a short course on Marketing (Terri Main is excellent and does not charge a lot).

c.         Write, write, write. You learn by doing.

Tell us about the featured book.

Come meet the people who met Jesus. You are one of them. Probably you are several of them. Go ahead and struggle with Him as they did. Laugh. Cry. Do mental battle with Him. Emotional battle too. Fight for your faith as they fought. Pause to listen for what you’ve never heard before. Then touch Jesus.

This is the story of faith in the impossible. Hope in the inconceivable. Love for the invincible. It is the dreams of youth, the desperations of infirmity, the hopes of age, and the song of eternity.

Follow the suspense as each person in Jesus’s life comes to terms with who they are, and who Jesus is. Jesus accepts them as they are. But can they accept themselves as they are? More than that, can they accept Jesus as He is?

It is the story of doubts explained away, animosities melted away, misunderstandings cleared away. It is your story and mine. For deep within each of us is everyone who ever met and struggled with Jesus.

BOOK 1, STAR SONG: Mary was too young, Elizabeth too old, Joseph too gullible, the shepherds too smelly, Anna too senile, Simeon too idealistic, Salome too flippant. The wise men should have minded their own business, Zechariah should have accepted he’d never have children, King Herod dared control God, the oriental scholars dared interpret God.

This lyrical novel is available in normal print, large print, and child’s version. At the end of each chapter are life-application questions and primary historical sources.

This unique lyrical novel is in present tense and gives readers a chance to insert themselves into the story and urge the character on. So, when you read those parts, just remember it is you. The book is dedicated “To Everyone Who Has Ever Doubted.”

Please give us the first page of the book.

1—MARY and HEROD

Dayspring Dawning

BC 23

Nazareth, Province of Galilee, Palestine

It is night. It has been night for a long time. Forty years night. Self-rule taken from the country. This time for good. Bitter, bitter night.

Mary has just been born. There is not much gladness. They name her Bitterness. That’s what Mary means.

Since Mary’s mother was a toddler, the country has been ruled by a madman. He killed half of the citizens of Jerusalem in order to take over—many of them right there in the holy temple itself.

 And just two years earlier when Mary’s parents were married, things got worse. One of King Herod’s spies uncovered a plot to assassinate him. He had the would-be perpetrators tortured and executed. The people in turn tortured and executed the spy. Herod in turn tortured some women until they confessed who had killed the spy. Will it never end?

How will such innocence, as that which baby Mary has, ever survive in a world like this?

Baby Mary begins to fuss and cry in her little bed. Her little heart-shaped face contorts, wrinkles form around her eyes, and her little mouth puckers in readiness for an out-and-out wail.

Her mother, hair falling down around her eyes, leans over and picks up her baby. She sits on the well-worn cushions nearby and rocks, hums and dreams of better days for her little one.

Silent night? Holy night?

Sarah only wishes it were. Her eyes grow misty and she looks up as though searching through a blackness.

“God, why aren’t you saving us from all this?” she whispers. God knows and understands. But does he care?

How can readers find you on the Internet?

Website: http://inspirationsbykatheryn.com

Newsletter: http://bit.ly/1xKBK4B

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/haddad1940/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KatherynMaddoxHaddad

Linkedin: http://bit.ly/28WsEgZ  

Amazon: http://amzn.to/1FR6uaU  

Barnes & Noble: http://bit.ly/28JKX8a  

Goodreads: http://bit.ly/28NjHXGI

Thank you, Katheryn, for sharing this book with us. I am eagerly awaiting my copy of all three of these books, so I can read them. I know my readers will be eager, too.

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