Staci Stallings' "To Protect & Serve"

Love as a Verb
My newest series is called The Courage Series (To Protect & Serve, White Knight, and For Real, which comes out the end of this week). The Courage Series revolves around a firefighter who becomes kind of the center-pin for a whole group of friends. In the course of the three novels, the characters again and again face situations that call for great courage.

However, many times when we think of courage, we tend to think of dangerous situations--fires, wrecks, etc. There are certainly enough of those portrayed in the three books, but I think by the third one (For Real) we begin to see a different kind of courage called for--the courage to love with your whole heart, to be "all in" with someone and to love no matter what.

That's a tough one because most of us have learned the art of loving when it's convenient, when it's easy. We have friends who seem great until we need something, and then they disappear. "Fair-weather" friends. But this series really points out that real friends aren't just there when things are good. Real friends are there particularly when things get rough.

When life keeps throwing curveballs meant to take you out, that's when you need friends the most--and when you, as a friend, need to be there for others the most. This is really hard, and it requires having a verb kind of love, not just a noun kind of love.

See, the noun kind of love is all hearts and flowers and champagne. It's going out to party together, celebrating, having fun. But the verb kind of love is the part that happens after the end of the movie. The part you have to step into when he loses his job or she loses her health.

It's the part that society doesn't like to focus on--the being there for someone when the chips are down and they have been stomped on by this thing called life. It's showing up when someone close to them has died and being willing to be there, with them, through the trials and the tears, through the heartache and the healing. That's the verb kind of love, and it takes immense courage.

It's the kind of courage that The Courage Series is ultimately about. Having the courage to live love, to be love, to give love--when it's easy, and when doing so might just tear your heart right out.

I think the challenge of this series is first to show the reader what the verb kind of love is, what it looks like with this set of friends, and then it challenges you to live the verb kind of love. The question is: Do you have the courage that will take?

Copyright Staci Stallings, 2012

Staci Stallings, the author of this article, is a Contemporary Christian author and the founder of Grace &a Faith Author Connection. Check out Staci's brand new release...

Houston firefighter, Jeff Taylor is a fireman's fireman. No situation is too dangerous to keep him sidelined if lives are on the line. However, when control freak Lisa Matheson falls for him, she quickly realizes she can't control Jeff or the death wish he seems to have...

To Protect & Serve
The Courage Series, Book 1
To save other's lives, they will risk their own

Buy it on Amazon Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/Protect-Serve-Courage-Series-ebook/dp/B008391QB2/ref=sr_1_22?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1337091378&sr=1-22

Buy it on Barnes & Noble Nook:
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/to-protect-serve-staci-stallings/1110805844?ean=2940014423410

"To Protect and Serve will hold you prisoner to its pages until the final one is turned. Prepare to cry, laugh, wish, love and maybe even cry again as you become enveloped in the hopes and feelings of Lisa and Jeff."
-Cindy Reiger

Staci Stallings' "Deep in the Heart"

Title: Deep in the Heart

      Publisher: Spirit Light Publishing

Cover blurb: Just out of college and completely alone in the world, Maggie Montgomery has one shot left to save her life from an abyss of poverty and hopelessness. Clinging to the last shred of fuel and hope, she arrives at the mansion of Texas billionaire Conrad Ayers. Although Maggie is clearly not what Mr. Ayers and his wife have in mind for a nanny, they agree to hire her temporarily until they can find someone more appropriate to fill the position. However, Maggie's whole world is about to be up-ended by two way-over-scheduled children and one incredibly handsome hired hand. As she struggles to fit into a world she was never made to fit in, Maggie wonders if she can ever learn to become a perfect version of herself so she can keep the job, or is she doomed to always be searching for a life she can never quite grasp?

Keith Ayers despises his life. As the son of Texas billionaire Conrad Ayers and the fiance to a Senator from Texas' daughter, it looks great on the outside, but inside, he is dying. He would vastly prefer to manage and train his father's racehorses. However, everyone else thinks that is beneath him. He needs to get into industry and build on his father's success. Suffocating under the constrictions of his life, he meets Maggie who begins to teach him that wealth and power is not everything in this life. But can Keith defy the most powerful men in Texas to follow his heart?

1) How did this story come to you?

Of all 31 full-length novels I've written so far, this one started with the least amount of information--a name and a "presence."  I woke up one morning with the name Keith Anderson running through my mind, and I felt like I knew him--even though I didn't.  Even after I really woke up, I couldn't shake the name or the presence, nor could I shake the feeling that he was real. So I went and Googled the name, and there he was, the exact guy I was picturing.  All that day God gave me more and more of his story, and within a day, I was writing his and Maggie's story.  Who could have guessed that following that little thin thread of instinct would lead to my first #1 Best Seller?  God is so awesome!

2) Tell us about the journey to getting this book published.

I had published a couple of books as Kindle ebooks prior to Aug. 2011, but that was when I decided to go big into Kindle.  Deep in the Heart was one that had already gotten some good reviews when I gave it as a free ebook some years earlier, so I put that one as one of my first eleven novels on Kindle.  Then in April 2012, after a cover-change, I was looking for my next book to do free days with, and this one just kept coming to me.  So in defiance of some of the unwritten "rules" about how you're supposed to do free days, I put this one free in April, and it went to #1 on the Free Side for 36 hours.  Then it turned around and went #1 in four categories and all the way up onto the Top 100 Paid for 2 weeks.  Recently it was chosen as a 100 Books under $3.99 by Amazon and has been doing gangbusters since then!

3) Tell me three things about yourself that would surprise your readers.

First, I love to snowboard and skateboard... on the Wii.  I'm a chicken, and I get hurt really easy.  So I love that I can try kick-flips and double barrel rolls, and if my Mii crashes, I can get up and go again--no pain!  Second, I hate cooking.  It must be a generational glitch or something.  But the number one comment I get when I cook is, "What IS this?"  Followed closely by, "Yech! Can I have something else?"  (Oh, well, we can't be talented at everything!)  Third, my house is a disaster.  :)  I think it's that generational curse again, but despite my best intentions, my idea of cleaning is moving stacks from the top of the desk to the floor.  If a clean desk is the sign of a clean mind...  Don't ask!

4) What are you working on now and what's next for you?

I just had a third title go free in August, To Protect & Serve.  It and its sequel, White Knight, are doing very well, and I'm getting some great feedback on both of those.  The third in that trilogy will come out in November, and I already have readers beating down my door to get too it.  It's called "For Real," and the reviewer that called "Deep in the Heart" "the best Christian book I've ever read," said that "For Real" was even better!  So great stuff for my readers I hope!

5) Parting comments?

Thanks for having me, K. Dawn!  You have totally been a great and blessed friend on this writing journey, and I so, so appreciate your dedication to letting people know about the world of Christian fiction!

6) Where can fans find you on the internet?

My Christian living blog is at:  http://spiritlightbooks.wordpress.com  and my blog with first chapters, excerpts, and reviews of all of my romance novels is at:  http://ebookromancestories.com  Come over and visit.  You'll feel better for the experience!

Deep in the Heart is only $2.99 on Kindle for the month of September!  Get your copy today! 
Here's the link:  http://ow.ly/doEuZ or click on the cover below.

Staci Stallings' "If You Believed in Love"

A Brother's Struggle, A Sister's Hope
An Interview with Janet Elliott, Jonathon Danforth's Twin Sister

So you want to know more about my brother, Jonathon Danforth, huh? (Janet sits back and thinks moment then sits forward.) Okay. I'll tell you about him.

For one thing he's a lot smarter than he gives himself credit for. He always has been. He could get into and out of more trouble when he was younger than any kid I knew. And he was always into something. Not bad things necessarily--like drugs or something--just stuff.

Like the time he was running that gambling ring in the third grade. He aced more kids out of dimes and quarters than most kids could ever dream of doing. Of course, Mom made him give them all back when she found out about it. But that was just Jon, you know? He was always looking for the angle, making deals, and trying to one-up somebody.

Okay, so it got him in some fights in school. He spent most of junior year in the principal's office. In fact, they very nearly kicked him out of school more than once. Not that he was a bad kid exactly. He just couldn't sit still, couldn't just be. He always had to be pushing the envelope, always testing the water, always trying to see how far he could go before someone pulled him back.

I think that's why the last year has bothered me so much. Yes, I know all about people grieving and needing time. But Jon like checked out of life, you know? I mean, he wouldn't even leave that stupid apartment for Christmas last year. "Nah, Janet," he said when I called him and begged him to come over. "I think I'll just stay here. I'm not really in the mood for tinsel and stockings."

He had me worried sick if you really want to know the truth. I mean, okay, I'm not his mom, but I am his big sister, and I know that living on pizza and beer in a dark pigsty of an apartment is just not healthy.

That's why I talked him into taking that class--the one over at the community college. Of course, English was never really Jon's style, but it was either that or Chemistry, and I didn't want to hear he'd blown the whole place up.

(She laughs and then sits back again, lost in thought.)

I just worry about him so much. (Pulling forward, her eyes are filled with tears that never fall.) It killed him... what happened. It did. It was like one minute he was one guy--my baby brother, into everything, wheeling and dealing with the world, and the next second he was this guy I didn't even recognize anymore. It scared me, you know. It really did. (One tear slips from her eye and slides down as she wipes it away and sniffs.) We're all we've got in the world now. With Mom and Dad both gone, it's just us.

I didn't want to lose him too. (Her smile is tight and sad.) Plus, he really is a great guy when you get to know him. He has such a big heart for people and for things he really cares about. I guess I just hope he finds something to care about again, you know. (She lets her gaze fall to the table.) I just want him to be happy... or at least not completely miserable.

(With a laugh, she jerks her hair back and smiles.) Sorry. I guess I get a little carried away when I talk about him. I mean, he's my baby brother, right? (She tries to smile again, this one is in apology.) I hope I haven't bored you to tears with all of this. (She shrugs slightly.) I just want what's best for him, you know? And I hope and pray he can find whatever that is, whatever the next chapter of his life is. (She nods.) Yeah, that's what I want the most... for Jon to be happy.

If You Believed in Love, by Staci Stallings, featuring the story of Janet's brother, Jonathon Danforth now available via Kindle & Nook at: http://stacistallings.wordpress.com/2011/10/31/if-you-believed-in-love-2/