A World Such as Heaven Intended by Amanda Purcell Lauer

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I am happy to share this book by fellow Catholic Writers Guild member Amanda Purcell Lauer. She is an incredibly gifted writer and if you enjoy historical fiction, you are sure to love this book!

“Follow Amara and Nathan’s story from war-torn Atlanta to the plains of Texas as their lives connect in a way that shatters the separate worlds they once knew.”

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Summary:

Amara McKirnan and Nathan Simmons share a devotion to their Catholic faith but their loyalties lie on opposite sides of the conflict. Dedicated to the Confederate cause, Amara offers to help out at her uncle’s makeshift hospital in Atlanta. Fate brought Nathan to their doorstep and into Amara’s life. Little does Amara know that the wounded soldier she cares for harbors a secret that will not only jeopardize his life but hers as well.

Follow Amara and Nathan’s story from the heart of war-torn Atlanta to the Northern Georgia battlefields to the plains of East Texas as their lives become intertwined in a way that shatters the separate worlds they once knew.

Awards: “A World Such As Heaven Intended” is a 2016 CALA award winner.

Excerpt:

Amara began to cough, trying to dislodge the swamp water from her lungs. It took her several minutes before her voice and energy came back to her. She then started to wriggle to get out of Nathan’s arms. “Where in God’s name were you?” she sputtered, breaking free from him. “Didn’t you see that dog had a gun pointed at my head?”

“I was well aware of that fact. I was biding my time, ready to make a move when the opportune moment presented itself.”

“Would that have been before or after I was shot, drowned or eaten by an alligator?”

“It would have never come to that. I had everything under control.”

“Under control, my foot.” Amara stomped over to the fire and started kicking dirt over the flames. “Next time why don’t we let you go for a swim in alligator-infested waters with a madman who has a gun stuck in your neck, and I’ll watch from the safety of the trees,” she screeched.

“Would you promise to save me?” asked Nathan sweetly.

“Oh, everything would be under control, trust me,” said Amara sarcastically.

“Let me think on that,” said Nathan with a laugh. He adjusted the packs on the horse and then offered to help Amara up. She slapped at his hand and mounted unassisted. Easing himself up behind her, he couldn’t help but lean towards her and ask, “Were you really eyeballin’ me up?”

“The only one who’s going to be eyeballin’ you up is that gator when you fall off this horse,” said Amara irritably. She dug her heels into the horse’s flanks and the surprised animal shot off, causing Nathan to tighten his grip on her waist to keep his seat.

“You’re not going to lose me that easily, Miz Amara.”

Bio:

Wisconsin resident Amanda Lauer saw her debut novel published October 29, 2014. A World Such as Heaven Intended hit the no. 1 spot in its genre on Amazon two months later and was the 2016 YA CALA winner. The second book in the trilogy, A Life Such as Heaven Intended, was published April 1, 2018. A Love Such as Heaven Intended is scheduled to be published November, 2018. Lauer has been offered a contract from a Catholic movie production studio based in Los Angeles to bring A World Such as Heaven Intended to the big screen. They are in the pre-production stage of the film and are actively seeking out investors to help bring the production to life.

Lauer learned the technical aspects of writing as a proofreader in the insurance, newspaper and collegiate arenas. Over the last 14 years she has had more than 1,400 articles published in newspapers and magazines throughout the United States. In addition to her proofreading, copy editing and writing career, Lauer is involved in the health and wellness field and does commercial acting and modeling. She and her husband John have been married 37 years, have four grown children, a son-in-law and daughter-in-law, four adorable grandchildren and another one on its way.

Website: fullquiverpublishing.com

Blog: https://aworldsuchasheavenintended.wordpress.com/

Twitter handle: @amandalauer23

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/amandapurcelllauer/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/amanda.p.lauer

YouTube Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C1kbKpBNHv8

Amanda Lauer’s business website: KangenWisconsin.com

Buy Links:
https://tinyurl.com/yalsckdb Amazon
https://tinyurl.com/ycfacwfj Barnes & Noble

Why to buy:

Do you want to support Catholic arts? A World Such as Heaven Intended has an offer from a Catholic movie studio based in Los Angeles to turn this award-winning novel into a major motion picture. Every book sold brings more attention to this poignant Civil War love story. If we can make this novel a national bestseller, that momentum should help us find the investors we need to bring this project to reality.

With all the issues in which Hollywood is currently embroiled, the American public is clamoring for excellent films made by moral production teams that feature large-draw actors who are known for their talent and not their scandals. People are looking to be entertained with movies that harken back to the Golden Age of Hollywood — a good, old-fashioned story that will “make them laugh, make them cry, and move them.”A World Such as Heaven Intended will do precisely that.

We invite you to join us in bringing excitement, joy, laughter, and love to moviegoers worldwide by investing in our film, A World Such as Heaven Intended. You have a chance to make a lasting difference in millions of lives.

Thank you for your consideration. We’ll see you on the red carpet!

Blogging from A to Z Challenge: Letter F ~ Founding Fathers

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F is for Founding Fathers

When God made me, He decided when I’d come into the world and where. He chose the year 1966 and He chose America. According to some statistics, a billion children live in poverty today, 400 million do not have safe access to water, and 1.4 million die from poor sanitation. And of the 194 countries in the world, forty-nine are under dictatorships. 36% of the world population does not have freedom. And another 24% has only partial freedom.

But I was born here. And I am proud to be an American. While our country isn’t perfect, I believe it was founded on solid principles that were designed to protect our freedoms and God-given rights, and give us every opportunity for success.

Our Founding Fathers had strong faith. I wish more in government office had similar faith, courage, and humility. The proud and arrogant push their own agenda, which inevitably leads to destruction. But the humble, those who readily admit they cannot do it alone and who turn to the Lord and Giver of all victory, bring blessings to the land.

Here’s a quote from George Washington:

“Thursday the seventh Instant, being set apart by the Honourable the Legislature of this province, as a day of fasting, prayer, and humiliation, to implore the Lord, and Giver of all victory, to pardon our manifold sins and wickedness’s, and that it would please him to bless the Continental Arms, with his divine favour and protection’ – All Officers, and Soldiers, are strictly enjoined to pay all due reverence, and attention on that day, to the sacred duties due to the Lord of hosts, for his mercies already received, and for those blessings, which our Holiness and Uprightness of life can alone encourage us to hope through his mercy to obtain.”

                             ~General Orders, March 6, 1776

The Founding Fathers believed in freedom. One of my favorite quotes is by Patrick Henry, from his Speech to the Virginia Convention at St. John’s Church, Richmond, Virginia, March 25, 1775

“Is life so dear or peace so sweet as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God. I know not what course others may take, but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!”

I have a shirt with this quote on it. It makes me think how tragic it is when we try to compromise with evil to get things we want, including so-called peace and even life. Did you know that according to the Vatican some 100,000 Christians are murdered for their faith every year? This far surpasses the numbers during the Roman Empire persecutions.

Having never been tested, I do not know if I have the courage of the martyrs or of our service men and women to lay down my life for the faith, for our country, to save another, or for what is right. But I hope I do. I hope to always have the strength to be on the side of truth and goodness and to allow no compromise.

So what does it take to secure freedom? Here is a quote by Samuel Adams:

“If virtue and knowledge are diffused among the people, they will never be enslaved. This will be their great security.”             

                      ~Letter to James Warren, February 12, 1779

Not just knowledge, but virtue and knowledge. I pray for an increase of faith and for “holiness and uprightness of life” in our country that we may receive those blessings that the “Lord and Giver of all victory” has prepared for us.

Remember, everyone who is reading this blog, you were made for this time and this place. God has a purpose for you.

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Blogging from A to Z Challenge: Letter D ~ Dystopia

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D

D is for Dystopia!

A dystopia is an imaginary society that is undesirable or frightening.

Who wants to read a novel about such depressing stuff and why would anyone write about it?

I wrote my Chasing Liberty dystopian trilogy as a way to consider where certain ideologies might lead. We all believe in caring for the earth, but some very influential elitists believe that the earth is more important than people, population numbers need drastically reduced, and humans should be corralled into contained cities.

So…if the earth was elevated above man, what does that look like?

These highly influential special interest groups also believe that faith in God and the traditional family stand in the way. Let’s face it: when you have faith and family, you care about the world around you and everyone in it. You think about right and wrong. Stuff matters. Crush faith and family, and a government can rule without opposition.

So…what does a society look like when faith and the traditional family have been suppressed?

Perhaps all dystopians are written to warn people about current ideologies or trends that could lead to a frightening future.

Here are a few modern dystopians, including my own:

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This is a reboot of a classic! Born not in a past of corsets and bonnets but into a future of cloning and bioterror, could Jane Eyre survive? This Jane is an “unclaimed embryo,” the living mistake of a reproductive rights center–or so her foster family tells her. At age ten she is sold into slavery as a data mule, and she must fight for freedom and identity in a world mired between bioscientific progress and the religions that fear it. What will happen to a girl without even a name of her own? (available on Amazon)

The third one is hot off the press! Cadain’s Watch: Michelle and Jason escaped the wreckage of their beloved hometown and are determined to live free. Though they are hunted by the totalitarian bureaucracy, they vow to resist oppression no matter the cost. But insidious evil still threatens. Once proud Americans are hopeless and unwilling to fight, making it that much harder for the rebels in their quest for Liberty. And so, God intervenes, and the angel-warrior Cadáin is sent to watch over those whose spirits are unbroken. (available on Amazon)

Chasing Liberty dytopian trilogy – This novel explores the loss the individual faces when government is allowed to grow too big and reach too far. The traditional family is nonexistent. Human life loses value. The earth is elevated above man. It shows the importance of faith, family, and freedom through a story about a society devoid of all three.  Available in paperback and ebook on Amazon or through your local bookseller.

Do you enjoy reading dystopians? What are your favorites and why?

Book promotion. Ugh.

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I love writing! I could do it all day and all night… given the opportunity. Of course, I’m never given that opportunity because I live in the real world. I have a wonderful family, I homeschool my three boys, and we have to eat and do other time-consuming things like that.

I get time to write here and there, and I have an awesome husband who often takes the boys out for awhile or helps in other ways to make time for me to write. I don’t bring in a ton of money with my books, so one could consider it a hobby. Sometimes an expensive hobby. But my husband never belittles me as a writer. He encourages me and listens to my story ideas, lets me spend money on ISBNs and contests and websites and flyers and all those other things that go with writing and publishing. I probably don’t tell him enough how I appreciate him!

But I digress. This blog post is about promoting my work. Not my favorite thing to do. In fact, it’s not even in the top ten. I don’t know where on the list it is, but I avoid it like the plague! Part of me loves writing so much that I don’t care if I sell a single book. But the other part of me realizes that I write for others.

I long to find my audience, those people who would really enjoy my books! So I have to do something in order to find them.

Today I made an effort. I created a bunch of tweets about my books and a few quotes from wonderful Americans.  And I created a few promotional posters which I promptly posted on my Author Facebook page and Tumblr. And I don’t know what else to do with them, so I’m putting them all here.

If you or someone you love, might enjoy my books, please check them out! Ask your library to carry them and buy them as gifts for your friends!

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Along with a group of awesome writers of Catholic teen fiction, my books are on this brand new website: www.CatholicTeenBooks.com   If you like my books, chances are you will like the books found here too!FB poster

Okay. There you have it! My promotional effort! Yay, me!

If you have a good idea for how an author can find his or her audience, please oh please, let me know!

Conservative Fiction Book Bomb!

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Looking for a few good books for your vacation? Want something that represents the conservative voice? Check out these titles and consider purchasing one or more during the next two days: Monday, July 18, and Tuesday, July 19.

Let’s give these authors a boost! Click on the book picture to read more and buy:

  The Notice (Storms of Transformation series book 2)* by Daniella Bova
A young Catholic couple’s family is ripped apart as their unborn child becomes a target in transformed America.

  Honor at Stake (Love at First Bite book 1)* by Declan Finn
One’s a bloodthirsty monster, the other is a vampire.
Welcome to New York City, where Vampires Burn.

  Chasing Freedom by Marina Fontaine
Geeks and outcasts fight an oppressive regime in near-future America.

  Iron Chamber of Memory by John C. Wright
On an island time has forgotten, a man remembers a lost love, a lost soul, and an eternal evil.

  The Unexpected Enlightenment of Rachel Griffin by L. Jagi Lamplighter Wright
Fringe meets Narnia at Hogwarts.

  Her Brother’s Keeper* by Mike Kupari
Military Scifi

 By the Hands of Men, Book One: The Old World by Roy M. Griffis
The first book in the “By the Hands of Men” historical fiction series, an epic globe-spanning saga of love, honor, and redemption.

  The Gods Defense (Laws of Magic book 1) by Amie Gibbons
In a world where the gods and magic have returned, enforcing justice just got a lot more hazardous!

  Portals of Infinity: Kaiju by John Van Stry
Fantasy–Myths & Legends

  Beyond the Mist (The Chara Series book 1) by Ben Zwycky
A man with nothing – no memories, resources, or even solid ground to stand on – rediscovers life, civilization, and himself (with a foreword by John C. Wright).

  Echo of the High Kings (The Eoriel Saga book 1) by Kal Spriggs
In a world of vengeful spirits and dark gods, a handful stand against the darkness.

  On Different Strings: A Musical Romance by Nitay Arbel
Penniless Texan guitar goddess teaches British engineering professor. Hearts beat in harmony. The world has other ideas.

  Fight for Liberty: Book Three in the Liberty Trilogy by Theresa Linden
Driven to bring freedom to a regime where none exists , a young woman discovers answers in America’s first fight for freedom.

  Van Ripplewink: You Can’t Go Home Again by Paul Clayton
Literary YA mashup

  Amy Lynn: The Lady of Castle Dunn (Amy Lynn book 3)* by Jack July
Americana action thriller

  The Worst President in History: The Legacy of Barack Obama by Matt Margolis and Mark Noonan
Non fiction: politics

  The Devil’s Dictum* by Frederick Heimbach
Alternate history satire

  The Good Fight by Justin Robinson
Toronto is a crowded place. Plenty of eyes and ears all around. Plenty of chances to be overheard. Be careful what you say…

  The Violet Crow: A Bruno X. Psychic Detective Mystery* by Michael Sheldon
Psychic detective Bruno X fights crime in the Philly suburbs using kabbalah and recycled borsht belt routines.

Flag of the Free

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I’ve been dying to share this post, but I’ve been saving it for now so that it comes out just before we celebrate our nation’s independence!

My mother read book one in my dystopian trilogy, Chasing Liberty. She said she liked the themes on freedom, then she told me that she had written a poem about freedom when she was twelve years old.

She shared her poem with me. As I read this poem written by my very own mother, I was so excited! The last book in the Liberty trilogy, Fight for Liberty, has a special thread about our American flag and all that it represents.

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In honor of our country’s independence and in honor of my mother, I give you “Flag of the Free” by Esther Thomas.

Flag of the Free

by Esther M. Thomas

In our country strong and free,
Waves the flag of liberty.
With its colors bright and true,
Where it waves for me and you.
There are some who work and fight,
That Old Glory may fly high.
There are those who pray and die,
For the flag that stands for right.
Right to freedom, right to speech,
Right to ideas, right to preach.
‘Tis the banner all free men
Will revere until the end.

 I get goosebumps when I read this poem. Go Mom! I love it!

As an American who loves our country, the home of the free and the brave, and as a Child of God who believes it is “for freedom that Christ has set us free” (Galatians 5:1) this poem really speaks to my heart! I hope that you enjoy it.
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On July 4th, the final book in the Liberty Trilogy comes out. It is available for pre-order now. Although I love this book and am excited to share it with you, I have been so overwhelmed with other things in my life that I haven’t done much to prepare for release day. If you would like to help this book come out with a bang, consider ordering your copy in advance or on the release day. And tell a friend about the trilogy too!

I recently had the opportunity to share this trilogy with someone famous! This person, a popular television personality, said he would check them out and then he gave me an address to send copies. I will share more soon. I am hoping he loves them!
God bless America! Keep her strong and safe from all enemies. Keep each of one us free and in Your loving grace.