Deb Kinnard & Clash of the Titles"Seasons in the Mist"

Clash of the Titles, Where Authors Compete and Readers Judge


Clash of the Titles got off to a strong start in the last quarter of 2010. With their new spin on book promotion within the Christian Fiction marketplace, you can't help but sit up and take notice. With us today is Michelle Massaro, Assistant Editor for COTT, to highlight another five featured authors.

Deb Kinnard joined the COTT family during Thanksgiving week as an Honorable Mention. This means that even though it hadn't made it into our previous Clashes, we at COTT felt her excerpt was just too good not to share with our readers.

Deb: I enjoyed the idea of going one-on-one against a passage from another writer in our market. I didn't anticipate enjoying it as much as I did!

About her book: SEASONS IN THE MIST is the story of an ambitious history grad student who inadvertently is yanked back to 1353 Cornwall. Challenges aplenty await her -- does the Lord intend for her to stay in the past, or return to her life and try to integrate her very strange experiences?

Just for fun, here's a snippit when the two main characters are busy falling in love by the holy well:

“The place has always been holy,” Michael was continuing. “The church in her wisdom assigned the spring to St. Aldhem, but we Cornish know better. St. Aldhem is but a nouveau arrivé. This well was sacred long before we Christians changed its name.”

“Sacred to whom?”

He loves this place. And its legends.



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I look back over 2010 with a very full heart at all of the authors who have joined the COTT family. The Lord has been good to us. Readers and writers are being brought together, brothers and sisters are connecting, and I have made some good friends. I can't wait to see what's in store for 2011 and I sure hope you will join us- both as a reader and as a competitor. Authors can get information on participation at www.clashofthetitles.com/contact.html. Come take part in the website where authors battle and readers judge!

Michelle Massaro is the Assistant Editor for Clash of the Titles website and an aspiring novelist. She and her husband Mike live in Southern California with their four children, two dogs, two cats, ten guppies, and one rat. They attend Living Truth Christian Fellowship where they teach origins science to the youth and where Michelle is involved in the worship ministry.

Shawna Williams & Clash of the Titles "Orphaned Hearts"

Clash of the Titles, Where Authors Compete and Readers Judge


Clash of the Titles got off to a strong start in the last quarter of 2010. With their new spin on book promotion within the Christian Fiction marketplace, you can't help but sit up and take notice. With us today is Michelle Massaro, Assistant Editor for COTT, to highlight another five featured authors.

Shawna: My book, Orphaned Hearts, competed in the competition for Most Touching Christmas Scene. I enjoyed the opportunity to share this special part of my book with new readers. My book is an e-book with a small press that has been open for less than two years, so I especially appreciated the anonymity in which the competition is conducted. It keeps the focus on writing. I was astonished to find out that I had competed against a book from a very well known publisher and my book had won with 77% of the vote.




Orphaned Hearts is a historical romance set in Northwestern Arkansas during 1932. It's about a minister, David Langley, who had been severely burned in the same fire that killed his family when he was a baby. David's burns are concealed beneath his clothes, but he has always believed them to be the reason he was never adopted as a child, and the reason he will never have a family as an adult. Then Caleb, a six-year old orphaned boy, handicapped in the accident that claimed his family comes along. Only Sadie Miller, the town spinster, has a heart big enough to see past Caleb's disability. If David can find a home for Caleb, maybe there's hope for him, too.

Fun stuff about me? Hmm... I used to be heavily involved in competitive dance, and during the summer of 1988 I was given the title Miss Halftime USA. I don't think I could kick much higher than my knee nowadays. I still have a somewhat competitive spirit, just at slightly less physical activities, like card games.

***

I look back over 2010 with a very full heart at all of the authors who have joined the COTT family. The Lord has been good to us. Readers and writers are being brought together, brothers and sisters are connecting, and I have made some good friends. I can't wait to see what's in store for 2011 and I sure hope you will join us- both as a reader and as a competitor. Authors can get information on participation at www.clashofthetitles.com/contact.html. Come take part in the website where authors battle and readers judge!

Michelle Massaro is the Assistant Editor for Clash of the Titles website and an aspiring novelist. She and her husband Mike live in Southern California with their four children, two dogs, two cats, ten guppies, and one rat. They attend Living Truth Christian Fellowship where they teach origins science to the youth and where Michelle is involved in the worship ministry.

Rachael Phillips & Clash of the Titles "A Door County Christmas"

Clash of the Titles, Where Authors Compete and Readers Judge

Clash of the Titles got off to a strong start in the last quarter of 2010. With their new spin on book promotion within the Christian Fiction marketplace, you can't help but sit up and take notice. With us today is Michelle Massaro, Assistant Editor for COTT, to highlight another five featured authors.

Rachael: What do I enjoy most about COTT? It's fun--and instructive--to interact with the readers, meeting new friends who love Christian fiction.

Rachael's story is part of a collection called A Door County Christmas. Of her novella, Ride with Me into Christmas, she says:

Most romances involve a young heroine and hero, some of whom experience parental resistance. Instead, I created sixtyish widowed characters whose Grinch-y grown children had no intentions of letting their late-life romance bloom. I also made Joanna and Paul cyclists, sharing a pastime my husband and I learned to enjoy--after we actually learned how to ride our bicycle built for two. Like us, my characters learned lack of communication and cooperation can mean a crash! The cycling theme worked very well in Door County, as it boasts many scenic bicycle trails--the perfect setting for love on wheels.

Fun fact: Two of my novella partners were Wisconsin natives. I'm from Indiana--not too far away. But our fourth partner was from Texas and had never seen snow! We told her to leave her flip-flops at home and join us in Door County, which she did, in November 2009. We spent three crazy days (that included a power outage as we were writing) in Door County together. Not only did our meeting produce fun romance novellas, but close writing friendships that continue to endure. We're hoping to do it again sometime!

***
I look back over 2010 with a very full heart at all of the authors who have joined the COTT family. The Lord has been good to us. Readers and writers are being brought together, brothers and sisters are connecting, and I have made some good friends. I can't wait to see what's in store for 2011 and I sure hope you will join us- both as a reader and as a competitor. Authors can get information on participation at www.clashofthetitles.com/contact.html. Come take part in the website where authors battle and readers judge!

***

Michelle Massaro is the Assistant Editor for Clash of the Titles website and an aspiring novelist. She and her husband Mike live in Southern California with their four children, two dogs, two cats, ten guppies, and one rat. They attend Living Truth Christian Fellowship where they teach origins science to the youth and where Michelle is involved in the worship ministry.



Clare Revell & Clash of the Titles "Season for Miracles"

Clash of the Titles, Where Authors Compete and Readers Judge

Clash of the Titles got off to a strong start in the last quarter of 2010. With their new spin on book promotion within the Christian Fiction marketplace, you can't help but sit up and take notice. With us today is Michelle Massaro, Assistant Editor for COTT, to highlight another five featured authors.

Clare: I discovered COTT from a link on a yahoo group and loved the fact it was dedicated solely to Christian fiction. It's a unique chance to get our books out there on a 'safe' site. What surprised me most - after getting down to the final two - was winning. Putting my debut eBook novel Season for Miracles out there like this was a huge step of faith, letting the readers judge is always nerve racking and I was thrilled that so many of them liked it.

Season For Miracles is total role reversal - she's a mechanic, he's a hairdresser. Throw a serial killer and a Christmas wedding into the mix and off you go.

***

I look back over 2010 with a very full heart at all of the authors who have joined the COTT family. The Lord has been good to us. Readers and writers are being brought together, brothers and sisters are connecting, and I have made some good friends. I can't wait to see what's in store for 2011 and I sure hope you will join us- both as a reader and as a competitor. Authors can get information on participation at www.clashofthetitles.com/contact.html. Come take part in the website where authors battle and readers judge!

Michelle Massaro is the Assistant Editor for Clash of the Titles website and an aspiring novelist. She and her husband Mike live in Southern California with their four children, two dogs, two cats, ten guppies, and one rat. They attend Living Truth Christian Fellowship where they teach origins science to the youth and where Michelle is involved in the worship ministry.



Lynette Sowell & Clash of the Titles "A Riverwalk Christmas"

Clash of the Titles, Where Authors Compete and Readers Judge

 

Clash of the Titles got off to a strong start in the last quarter of 2010. With their new spin on book promotion within the Christian Fiction marketplace, you can't help but sit up and take notice. With us today is Michelle Massaro, Assistant Editor for COTT, to highlight another five featured authors.

Lynette: I thought COTT was great fun. I'm a competitive person, and I thought this was a fun and unique way to introduce our books to new readers.

A Riverwalk Christmas: Gabriela Hernandez tries to juggle her life as an up-and-coming chef in her family’s Riverwalk restaurant. When her parents decide to renovate their home kitchen, this puts Gabriela on a collision course with contractor Miguel Rivera.

***

I look back over 2010 with a very full heart at all of the authors who have joined the COTT family. The Lord has been good to us. Readers and writers are being brought together, brothers and sisters are connecting, and I have made some good friends. I can't wait to see what's in store for 2011 and I sure hope you will join us- both as a reader and as a competitor. Authors can get information on participation at www.clashofthetitles.com/contact.html. Come take part in the website where authors battle and readers judge!

Michelle Massaro is the Assistant Editor for Clash of the Titles website and an aspiring novelist. She and her husband Mike live in Southern California with their four children, two dogs, two cats, ten guppies, and one rat. They attend Living Truth Christian Fellowship where they teach origins science to the youth and where Michelle is involved in the worship ministry.