Title: Desert Fire
Publisher: Kregel Publications
Cover blurb: On assignment in Darfur, Sudan, journalist Julia Keegan hopes to open the eyes of average Americans to the atrocities taking place there—and to distance herself from the shadow cast by her father. Even as she steels herself to face the horrors of genocide, Julia isn’t prepared to face her own past.
In the United States, Fred Keegan, a convicted murderer dying of cancer, asks young lawyer Joel Maartens to deliver a letter to his estranged daughter, Julia. When Joel and Julia meet in Sudan, they find their lives suddenly redefined by the injustice and violence around them, and both are forced to face truths they would rather leave concealed.
1) How did this story come to you?
Brainstorming with my family on the way home from a summer vacation. I had the first chapter written before we got home.
2) Tell us about the journey to getting this book published.
I attended the Oregon Christian Writers Summer Conference and proposed it to several editors there. Steve Barclift listened to me describe it over supper one night and told me to send it to him. Six months later (after some editing and rewriting), I had a contract. 18 months later, and lots more editing, the book was published!
3) Tell me three things about yourself that would surprise your readers.
I wrote most of “Desert Fire” in the middle of the night.
I homeschooled my five kids.
I’m training to run 10 km.
4) What are you working on now and what's next for you?
I am working on a sequel to “Desert Fire” wherein Julia and Joel enjoy an increasingly complicated relationship and Julia goes to Burma, reporting on the longest on-going genocide in the world.
I desire to grow in obedience to and in the knowledge of the love of Jesus Christ and to persevere in my craft, writing with greater effectiveness the stories God leads me to tell.
5) Parting comments?
I am available to speak at retreats and/or conferences on writing, homeschooling and/or writing.
6) Where can fans find you on the internet?
http://www.shannonvr.com/
