We’re all addicted to them. We just can’t help ourselves, plus there’s not much else on television anymore. Reality Shows in the last ten plus years have saturated our television sets, but why?

Has our society changed so much that fictional entertainment is just useless? It seems that we want what’s ‘true’, ‘real’ and raw no matter what the cost. We want to want to watch people winning and loosing. We watch people facing the everyday odd and ridiculous of life in the attempt to escape our own lives in the name of entertainment. But what good has really come from reality TV?

Seriously, do you think the positives out way the negatives? Are these the values that we want to be teaching the next generation? Not even that there’s not even good ideas to put into our own heads.

It’s sad that this style of television has infiltrated our living rooms. Even in our ‘desire’ not to be lied to or to be shown the real stuff, reality TV is full of lies. The Editing floor cuts and paste’s footage to create drama and media interest. You see it in the captions at the end of some programs that the production team makes the final decision. So in some of the competitions some of those that deserve to be there to the end are cut, just for dramatic effect. Is that real? No it’s marketing. So don’t think that reality TV is giving it to you as is and unbiased, because that is a lie which makes ‘reality TV’ just as fake as any other show on TV.

These comments do come on the heals of the Jon and Kate Plus 8 controversy or whatever you want to call it, because my heart aches for that family. Their lives have changed and been contorted for our entertainment. Sure they’ve received many benefits from the show, but the cost is exponential, if divorce is now a word/action on the table.

In Monday night’s premier of the new season Jon said, ‘Life is about choices’, and I totally agree. But now is the time for the hardest choices of their lives. Because love is a choice, a selfless decision made everyday. Keeping a family together is a choice. Being brave enough to seek help/counseling is a choice.

I just hope ‘reality’ TV hasn’t distorted true family values or the world our children will live in will be a sad one.

From paradise to exile, from immortality to the death of Adam, experience the dawn of mankind through the eyes of Eve — the woman first known as … Havah

Tosca Lee is the author of the critically acclaimed Demon: A Memoir(2007), a ForeWord Magazine Book of the Year Silver Award winner, American Christian Fiction Writers Book of the Year nominee, and Christy award finalist. Her eagerly-awaited second novel, Havah: The Story of Eve, released October 2008 to high praise, including a starred review from Publishers Weekly.

A sought-after speaker and first runner-up to Mrs. United States 1998, Tosca works as a Senior Consultant for the Gallup Organization. She received her B.A. in English and International Relations from Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts. She also studied at Oxford University.

In her spare time, Tosca enjoys travel, cooking, history and theology. She currently resides in Nebraska.

RAVE!

Tosca Lee has delivered another amazing story to stir your faith and thoughts of a story we think we know. From what life would have been like in the Garden of Eden, how the serpent was able to tempt Eve. What was life after paradise, and how Adam and Eve’s relationship suffered and grew through exile.

The expressions of faith and expectations of  ‘the One that Is’ throughout the novel are as real as the struggles of faith we have in this day in age. Lee expertly shows the wonderful and frustrating dynamics between a man and a woman, and even the struggles and expectations between a son and his parents in a truely loving way.

If you read any book this year I would say Havah: The Story of Eve would need to be it.

Happy Reading!

To Get a glimpse of this wonderfully spun tale read the first chapter at: http://havahstoryofeve.com/main.php

Award-winning author, DiAnn Mills, launched her career in 1998 with the publication of her first book. Currently she has over forty books in print and has sold a million and a half copies. DiAnn believes her readers should “Expect an Adventure.”  DiAnn Mills is a fiction writer who combines an adventuresome spirit with unforgettable characters to create action-packed novels. Six of her anthologies have appeared on the CBA Best Seller List. Three of her books have won the distinction of Best Historical of the Year by Heartsong Presents. Five of her books have won placements through American Christian Fiction Writer’s Book of the Year Awards 2003 – 2008, and she is the recipient of the Inspirational Reader’s Choice award for 2005 and 2007. She was a Christy Awards finalist in 2008. DiAnn is a founding board member for American Christian Fiction Writers, a member of Inspirational Writers Alive, Romance Writers of America’s Faith, Hope and Love, and Advanced Writers and Speakers Association. She speaks to various groups and teaches writing workshops around the country. DiAnn is also a mentor for Jerry B. Jenkins Christian Writer’s Guild. She lives in sunny Houston, Texas. DiAnn and her husband have four adult sons and are active members of Metropolitan Baptist Church.

Tell us about Breach of Trust?

Breach of Trust is the 1st book in the Call of Duty Series. Paige Rogers is a former CIA agent who lost all she treasured seven years ago when her entire team was killed in a covert mission. She blames their leader—Daniel Keary—whom Paige believes betrayed them. Disillusioned and afraid for her life, she disappeared and started a new life as a small-town librarian. But when Keary announces his candidacy for governor of her state, he comes after Paige to ensure that she won’t ruin his bid for office. He threatens everything she holds dear, and Paige must choose between the life of hiding that has become her refuge . . . or risking everything in one last, desperate attempt to right old wrongs.

And for those who read the back cover:

Paige Rogers survived every CIA operative’s worst nightmare.A covert mission gone terribly wrong.A betrayal by the one man she thought she could trust.Forced to disappear to protect the lives of her loved ones, Paige has spent the last several years building a quiet life as a small-town librarian. But the day a stranger comes to town and starts asking questions, Paige knows her careful existence has been shattered.He is coming after her again. And this time, he intends to silence her for good.

Do you think a CIA operative can be a Christian too?

I believe that many of us are called to careers that we don’t understand.  

Who is the most important influence in your life besides God?

I would say my husband. He’s my best cheerleader and my worst critic. He also handles the business side of writing for me. We’re a great team - in my opinion.

What books on writing have been most helpful to you?

Stein on Writing – Sol Stein

How to Grow a Novel – Sol SteinWriting the Breakout Novel – Donald MaassWriting the Breakout Novel Workbook  - Donald Maass

What books are you reading now? 

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows

The Divine Conspiracy by Dallas Willard

The Spider Rock Treasure by Steve Wilson

What is your favorite verse from the Bible?  

Jeremiah 20:9. But if I say, “I will not mention him or speak any more in his name,” his word is in my heart like a fire, a fire shut up in my bones. I am weary of holding it in; indeed, I cannot.

What are you working on now?

Breach of Security is book 2 in the Call of Duty series. Danika Morales is a Border Patrol Agent who was widowed two years ago when her husband was murdered. She has to move on with her life, but can she with the killer on the loose? This book will be released in early 2010. 

A Woman Called Sage is my first historical for Zondervan. Sage Morrow is a bounty hunter who discovers she has become the hunted.              I’m also plotting the 3rd bood in the Call of Duty Series and a second historical.

What advice do you have for authors?

Write everydayRead the books from the genre you want to write. Read the books about writing. Participate in writing conferences Participate in writing groupsPray!

Check more books by Diann at www.diannmills.com

Welcome to the 1st ever
TitleTrakk.com Blog Tour!

This week we’re chatting about:

The Fantastic Fall Giveaway Contest!

Just in time for the holidays, you could win over $335 worth of books, cds and dvds!

Sponsored by our friends at:

The Grand Prize Winner will receive:

BOOKS:

Whispers of the Bayou by Mindy Starns Clark
Rachel’s Secret by BJ Hoff
Beach Dreams by Trish Perry
Playing God by Michelle McKinney Hammond
White Soul by Brandt Dodson
The Legend of the Firefish by George Bryan Polivka
Finding Marie by Susan Paige Davis
The Power of Praying Through the Bible by Stormie Omartian
A Man After God’s Own Heart by Jim George
Evidence for Faith 101 by Bruce Bickel & Stan Jantz

CDS:

Wake Up! Wake Up! by Everyday Sunday
Rock What You Got by Superchick
Sunday by Tree63
Houston We Are Go by Newsboys (Live CD/DVD)
Nothing Left To Lose by Mat Kearney
I Am Free Worship Collection
Salvation Station by Newworldson
Not Without Love by Jimmy Needham
Pages by Shane & Shane
Colors and Sounds by Article One

MOVIES:

Love’s Unfolding Dream
The Ten Commandments Animated
Between the Walls

But that’s not all!
We’re giving away even more!

About TitleTrakk.com:
Founded in 2006 by Tracy & C.J. Darlington, TitleTrakk.com is an interactive website spotlighting Christian books, music & movies. Updated weekly, we feature author and musician interviews, album and book reviews, music videos, movie reviews and interviews, book excerpts, surveys, polls, and fun contests. Learn more: http://www.titletrakk.com/about.htm

Clichés, adages, and quirky sayings are such a large part of our everyday language that we often loose track of their origins. Such as, ‘what can go wrong will go wrong’, the term pot luck, ‘pride goes before the fall’, or ‘truth stands the test of time’. Each of these little phrases are things we’ve heard before, but we rarely know the source.

Well the last two in the list above, ‘pride goes before the fall’ and ‘truth stands the test of time’ are proverbs from the Bible.

Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.
Proverbs 16:18

Truth stands the test of time; lies are soon exposed.
Proverbs 12:19

Often we don’t realize how many little adages and clichés are biblical, but then there are those that we assume to be biblical but in fact they go against the very nature of God. A prime example is the saying “God helps those who help themselves”. This ‘verse’ is often thought of as a biblical statement, and I can’t count how many times I have heard people reference this saying as being from the Bible. But in truth it is a line from an Aesop Fable also a Benjamin Franklin quote from the Poor Richard’s Almanac in 1757.

The Aesop Fable of which this reference comes goes like this:

“A Wagoner was once driving a heavy load along a very muddy way. He came to a part of the road where the wheels sank half-way into the mire, and the more the horses pulled, the deeper sank the wheels. So the Wagoner threw down his whip, and knelt down and prayed to Hercules the Strong. ‘O Hercules, help me in this my hour of distress.” But Hercules appeared to him, and said: ‘Man, don’t sprawl there. Get up and put your shoulder to the wheel. The gods help them that help themselves.”

How a fable became a Bible verse I don’t know, but some will say I’m incorrect and throw out the Bible reference Hezekiah 6:1 as the Bible verse that states ‘God helps those who help themselves’, BUT Hezekiah isn’t a book in the Bible, not even in the Apocrypha. Hezekiah was a king of Judea whose story can be found in 2Chronicles and 2Kings, but he doesn’t have a book of his own.

But what makes the statement against the nature of God, it sounds like something that would be true? Other than the fact that half truths are Satan’s bread and butter, which is how he deceived Eve in the Garden of Eden and attempted to deceive Christ in the wilderness, the statement basically negates our need for salvation.

If our actions or the ‘helping of ourselves’ dictates God’s actions that would tend to lessen the power, strength, and mercy of the Almighty. There is nothing we can do or say to deserve the mercy of salvation or the presence of God in our lives. As Believers we do not set a course for ourselves, and then pray, asking God’s help as we ask Him to “go beside us”…but rather, we humbly ask, “what do You have in mind for me to do?” (ac9:6)

But this also doesn’t mean that we are to sit back and just let the world happen around us. There is a part for us to play in this world. God expects us to be active and obedient to His leading, but we are never the master of circumstances; He is. The more we try to control the more we are trying to wrestle control from Him. At the source of this conflict is a mist trust that God actually works things together for good. (Romans 8:28)

God wants our active obedience in His plans not lazy believers. So be careful in what you references as biblical statements cause they can be a stumbling block for believers of any stage in their walk with Christ. So to reword the quote from Aesop’s fables to be a more biblically relevant; God helps those who obediently submit to his mercy and take up their cross and follow Him.

Have a Blessed Day!

A Review of Adam by Ted Dekker

Thomas Nelson Publishing

 It takes an obsessive mind to know one. And Daniel Clark knows the elusive killer he’s been stalking.

He’s devoted every waking minute as a profiler to find the serial killer known only as Eve. He’s pored over the crime scenes of sixteen young women who died mysterious deaths, all in underground basements or caverns. He’s delved into the killer’s head and puzzled over the twisted religious overtones of the killings.

What Daniel can’t possibly know is that he will be Eve’s next victim. He will be the killer’s first Adam. After sixteen hopeless months, the case takes a drastic turn on a very dark night when Daniel is shot and left for dead.

Resuscitated after twenty minutes of clinical death, Daniel finds himself haunted by the experience. He knows he’s seen the killer’s face, but the trauma of dying has obscured the memory and left him with crushing panic attacks. Nothing–not even desperate, dangerous attempts to reexperience his own death–seems to bring him closer to finding the killer.

Then Eve strikes again, much closer to home. And Daniel’s obsession explodes into a battle for his life . . . his sanity . . . his very soul.

This is a Book to 

RAVE

Adam is a journey into a world we’d rather not dive into.  A fictional exploration of the presence of evil that impacts our lives. It gives an interesting look at Behavioral Psychology and how the FBI uses it to track and stop serial killers, which keeps the momentum of the novel on high speed. You also get a taste of  some  popular TV shows  such as CSI and Criminal Minds.

The charcters  in the novel and their flaws make the characters as real as anyone you know, and the curiousity of life and death and the battle between good and evil are evident on every page. 

I would have liked the story to have a stronger spiritual forces of good combatting against the  antagonist in the novel. But Dekker does an amazing job of showing how belief and temptation is a slippery slope. One other thing I was not expecting was the excerpts from Crime Today Magazine’s narrative account Man of Sorrow: Journey into Darkenss by Anne Rudolph. The excerpts do give the background to explain the serial killers motives, which almost takes away from the antagonist’s actions and motives.

Even though the spiritual aspects Dekker touches on could have been expanded this book is a thrilling read. I would recommend the Exclusive Christian Retail Edition for an extra chapter and a very interesting converstation between Dekker and author John Eldredge.

I recently received an email announcing one of last year’s recipiant of the Congressional Medal of Honor, which is the highest military honor. The winner of this award surprised me, but once I read about his actions I was touch, amazed, and proud. Here is a picture of this amazing hero.

Yes, the winner of the Congressional Medal of Honor was a dog named Brutus.

 Brutus won the Congressional Medal of Honor last year from his tour in Iraq .  His handler and four other soldiers were taken hostage by insurgents.  Brutus and his handler communicate by sign language and he gave Brutus the signal that meant ‘go away but come back and find me’.  The Iraqis paid no attention to Brutus.  He came back later and quietly tore the throat out of one guard at one door and another guard at another door. 

The guys were being held in an old warehouse and Brutus jumped against one of the doors repeatedly until it opened.  He went in and untied his handler and they all escaped.  He’s the first K9 to receive this honor. 

Despite these amazing acts, if  Brutus knows you’re ok, he’s a big old lug and wants to sit in your lap and enjoys the company of cats.

I absolutely love animal stories like this, because they show us that animals are more than possessions or something to look at in a zoo.  They have personalities and needs not all that different than our own. I encourage you this week to look a the animals in your life and be thankful for the joy and compassion they bring to your life.

I am thrilled to announce my Honorable Mention placement in the Mom Writer’s Literary Magazine ‘08 Spring Short Contest Pop on over to the following website to view my short and learn more about the amazing writers at  Mom Writer’s Literary Magazine.

http://www.momwriterslitmag.com/HonorableMention.htm

 Thank you to Mom Writer’s Literary Magazine for the inspiration and the oppertunity!

I subscribe to a blog called Novel Journey, and there most recent post by Mike Duran was an interesting one I’d like to share.

By Mike Duran

As you would expect, Thomas Nelson’s recent decision to cut its work force and publish less books — which includes a 50 percent cut in new author titles — has generated some animated discussions and hand-wringing amongst Christian authors. While Michael Hyatt, CEO of Nelson, concedes the business aspects of this decision, he inevitably cites quality as the driving force. In his initial blog post, Too Many Books, Too Few Shelves, Hyatt writes:

As a heavy book reader myself, I contend that we need better books not more books. I can’t tell you how many books I started this past year and never finished. Why? Because, frankly, they weren’t worth finishing. Most of them left me underwhelmed. The authors would have done better to boil down the content and make it a magazine article.

But publishers appear to be addicted to cranking out more and more titles. It reminds me of a scene from an old episode of “I Love Lucy” in which Lucy and Ethel are working in a chocolate factory. Finding themselves in the Wrapping Department, they must keep up with the increasing speed of a factory conveyor belt. Since the ladies initially appear to be keeping up with the flow, their supervisor increases the speed of the belt until Lucy and her friend are overwhelmed.

Editors and book marketers face a similar predicament. “If only we had just a little more time to spit-shine this title,” they mutter under their breath. But the conveyor belt keeps delivering a seemingly endless flow of titles. Worse, Publishers desperate for growth keep piling additional titles onto the backs of their already-overworked employees.

It’s time to stop the madness. We don’t need more titles. We need better titles. The only way this is going to happen is if publishers stop focusing on quantity and begin focusing on quality. (italics mine)

Though Nelson’s decision has potentially uncomfortable ramifications for book makers and aspiring authors, the appeal for quality above quantity should resonate with readers. Who doesn’t want to see better books? In this, Hyatt’s statements recall another industry giant.

Patrick Goldstein’s The Big Picture appears weekly in the L.A. Times and is one of the most informative Hollywood insider columns out there (in fact, Goldstein recently launched his own blog, which is equally rich in content). Earlier this year, in a column entitled Mouse House Tops Studio Report Card, Goldstein handed out year-end report cards to the studios. The overall score consisted of three grades: first for box office and profitability, second for film quality, and third for overall success. At the top of the list was Disney with an A-.

…Of the 11 movies it released in 2007, eight were Disney label movies, allowing the company to remain relentlessly focused on its brand. By releasing so few films, Disney was able to make more high-quality films by putting extra time into solving script, production and marketing issues than competitors like Sony and Warner Bros., who roll out more than 20 a year.

“We’re probably in a different business than our brother and sister companies,” says Disney studio chief Dick Cook. “We’ve learned that it’s not how many you do but how good they are. If you only make 11 movies a year, you’re not putting your movies through a meat grinder; you can be very specific about quality. That way, if we do stumble, and I’m sure we will, it will be because we were pushing the envelope instead of not keeping our eye on the ball.” (italics mine)

After watching Ratatouille, a delightful film that made many critics’ Top Ten ‘o7 lists, who could argue about the meticulous detail that goes into Disney’s animated films — a signature that will, no doubt, be continued with Wall-E, its most recent release. But as with any quality product, there’s a downside — perfection takes time. And this is exactly what differentiates Disney from its competitors. So while competing studios crank out 20+ films a year, Disney is content to limit its lot… and polish the heck out of them.

Whatever happens, I for one, applaud Thomas Nelson’s decision, even if it makes the climb that much harder for aspiring authors like me.Even as an aspiring writer I have to agree with Mike Duran on this one. It might make it harder for aspiring writers to make the jump into publishing, but true quality in the CBA will help strengthen the market.

Happy Writing

There is a delicate balance between Patience and Action. Theologians have debated it throughout Christian history, and I must say I haven’t come to any great conclusions myself. But this balance is something to be considered in each step in ones spiritual walk.

There are often those times where we need to take a step back and let God move through the situation. Trusting in his gracious provision. Then there are times that require us to act, to immediatly take that leap of faith and activly pursue a cause.

The struggle comes in how much to place on either side of the scale. Do we need to be activly sprinting, or pacing ourselves in the marathon. In each question I’ve posed all comes back to Faith. How much are you trusting in God to guide your actions? How much time are you spending with him daily? How much are you activly listening for His answers?

Our God is not a distant god. He is an ever present part of who you are. He activly seeks relationships with us, and activly desires good for us. He desires to teach us daily and to guide our steps along the rocky paths laid out before us.  But no matter the situation God always expects action on our part, whether it’s more time in prayer and study, patience and trust, or stepping out in faith. 

Christianity isn’t supposed to be a passive way of life, but an active relationship with God, his son, and fellow believers.