Now’s your chance to get the first book of the Love Blooms at Bethel series for cheap. Get it here on Free-Discounted Kindle Books (and check out their other free and bargain books for… Read More

Love Blooms at Bethel (the conclusion)—a sweet romance about truth, faith, and spiritual freedom.   All is well at Bethel Church and Pastor Garrett Stone continues leading his con… Read More

The Every Hill and Mountain Quiz Can you distinguish the facts from the fiction? Take the Every Hill and Mountain Quiz–AFTER you finish the book–to find out how good you are… Read More

The Great Salt Springs Illinois’ Great Salt Springs are along the south bank of the Saline River, less than a mile west of Route 1 on Salt Well Road. Nearby at Half Moon Lick, John Cre… Read More

In a previous post I explained how and why I came up with the horrible, wife-beating character Bertram White. Even though completely imaginary, he totally creeped me out. The “Old Dear… Read More

I had gathered quite a lot of historical information for Unclaimed Legacy. But even so, I could not begin to write until I solved three perplexing problems. Problem #1: My main historical ch… Read More

Captain Meriwether Lewis The five and half months Lewis and Clark spent in Illinois Country were essential. While they waited for the treaty with France to be settled, Captain Lewis collecte… Read More

The Underground Railroad runs through the trilogy, beginning with the slaves hiding in Charlotte Miles’ attic in Time and Again, and ending with Ned’s ordeal in the attic of Cren… Read More

Woodburn, where I grew up, was so tiny it had only one store. Fortunately, all the staples of life could be found at Hopper’s—everything from Wonder Bread and bologna for making… Read More

Jonathan Miles The author of the Macoupin County history book describes Jonathan Miles as “brave, honest, patriotic, broad minded, God fearing, zealous” and “one of the mos… Read More

Every Hill and Mountain (First published Mar 28, 2013. Updated June 21, 2020) I think of my novel Every Hill and Mountain as an assignment I turned in for the continuing education… Read More

The Write Stuff Radio show is the premier podcast showcasing Christian authors worldwide. For the past six years, Write Stuff has been interviewing Christian authors who write in a  wid… Read More

Merry Christmas! Book II in my Love Blooms at Bethel Series is officially launched today. Two Hearts Waiting (book II) A sweet romance about forgiveness, redemption, and love the second time… Read More

Life in the small town of Coldwater is good–except for the conflict at Bethel Church. Kurt Haney and other legalistic deacons are still trying to bully everyone into following the… Read More

Each of my books has at least a bit of a love story, but Holding On is my first attempt at an all-out romance novel. The writing gurus say to stick with one genre in order to build… Read More

I thought I should let you in on why I can’t get a publishing contract with a Christian publisher. With my first book, I couldn’t get a contract  for anything. Now that… Read More

In three days I will be sending out my annual free Christmas short story as a thank you to the members of my V.I.P. readers list. You should click over to my home page and subscribe so you c… Read More

Several readers told me they cried when they read the ending of A Matter of Time. It didn’t surprise me, since I cried like a baby as I wrote it. I’m referring to the scene… Read More

As I mentioned in an earlier post, sometimes I get “friendly-fire” book reviews from disgruntled Christian readers. One woman positively hated How Sweet the Sound … Read More

Time and Again is the first book of my History Mystery Trilogy, which serves as a prequel to my Rewinding Time Series. And its free for five short days! So snag your copy here:   An old… Read More

Readers have asked on more than one occasion if the “time-surfing” software in my books were real, and if so where they could buy it. (Really. I’m not making that up.) If I… Read More

The Rewinding Time Series has all new covers. Why? Let me explain. Here is the “Before” view: With these covers I worked hard to come up with an artistic concept that would refle… Read More

Years ago, during a period when I was getting rejection slip after rejection slip for my first book, one agent told me she thought she could get a publisher to bite it if I took all the reli… Read More

When it came time to write Every Hill and Mountain, the third book in my “history mystery” trilogy I needed another old house for Abby Thomas and her friends to “… Read More

Hello again from Beautiful Southern Illinois.I feel guilty having such delightful weather here when so many are suffering from the recent storms in Texas and Florida. Two Hearts Wa… Read More

Trust me, I much prefer a physical book to an e-book myself, which is why I always publish my books in paperback, even though most of my sales are for Kindle. I priced it as low as Amazon wi… Read More

Just Released–Holding On: an Inspirational Romance (Love Blooms at Bethel, book 1)! If you prefer a clean romance that doesn’t make you cringe and realistic characters that face… Read More

I am happy to present my first contemporary Christian romance, Holding On, book one in the Love Blooms at Bethel series. It is scheduled for release in early June in both e-book and paperbac… Read More

Holding On, coming in June of 2017, is my first contemporary Christian romance. I really enjoyed writing it, and I hope you’ll like it too. It will launch at the reduced price of 99 ce… Read More

Why everyone should know Frederick Douglass whether it’s Black History Month or not “Why do we have to learn this stuff?” Every math teacher hears that plaintive cry from t… Read More

The final installment of the Rewinding Time Series is now available in Kindle and paperback. More Than Meets the Eye is currently still available at its introductory price of 99 cents before… Read More

A Very Important Year: 1918 The Illinois Centennial In researching for More Than Meets the Eye, I was struck by what a momentous year 1918 was. What an emotional roller coaster it must… Read More

Coal Fueled Carlinville’s Boom More Than Meets the Eye is a fictional account of the construction of the 156 Sears catalog houses in Carlinville’s Standard Addition in 1918. But… Read More

A short history of Sears, Roebuck & Co. You can download your own copy of the 1918 Sears Honor Bilt Homes catalog here.  Sears, Roebuck & Co. was founded Chicago in 1886 as… Read More

Exciting Times in Carlinville, Illinois The first decades of the 20th century were a bright and shiny time of progress with new inventions that improved people’s lives… Read More

The setting of More Than Meets the Eye is Carlinville, Illinois, the seat of Macoupin County. I grew up just twenty-two miles south of it in in Woodburn, and on our occasional visits, I… Read More

Merri and Brett’s time-surfing adventures in More Than Meets the Eye take them to Carlinville, Illinois in 1918 to observe the construction of the largest collection of Sears catalog h… Read More

About Face I thought it was about time you got the chance to see Merri’s face instead of the back of her head, so I had her turn around for the cover shoot. Isn’t she pretty? Let… Read More

I’m happy, yet a little sad too, to announce that More Than Meets the Eye, the final episode in my Rewinding Time Series is now here (Well, only to pre-order, but still.). I’m ha… Read More

  The History Behind A MATTER OF TIME   A Matter of Time: Coming in December, but available now for pre-order for your Kindle.     “He’s not very tall,”… Read More

The History Behind A MATTER OF TIME A Matter of Time: Coming in December, but available now for pre-order for your Kindle. What was the Illinois frontier like when Charles Dickens visited it… Read More

The History Behind A MATTER OF TIME   A Matter of Time: Coming in December, but available now for pre-order for your Kindle.       A Matter of Time, book IV in my Rewindi… Read More

The History Behind A MATTER OF TIME   A Matter of Time: Coming in December, but available now for pre-order for your Kindle.       Perhaps like Merrideth, the closes… Read More

The History Behind A MATTER OF TIME A Matter of Time: Coming in December, but available now for pre-order for your Kindle.         Charles Dickens, his wife Catherine, an… Read More

Please welcome Christian author Robin Johns Grant. She shares my appreciation for C. S. Lewis and had included some awesome quotes below. You can read my review of her book Summer’s Wi… Read More

And Reviewers Can Read Them Free! Once Again is the first of a series of novellas that serve as a sequel for the original Time and Again “history mystery” trilogy. But… Read More

  I always include a disclaimer at the front of each book: While every effort was made to be historically accurate, this is a work of fiction. I recently trumpeted on my website th… Read More

Here are the books I consulted along with many, but not all, of the websites I visited. I encourage you to read more about the fascinating history of the pirates of the Ohio River.   Th… Read More

Charles Dickens: world-famous literary giant, beloved author of A Christmas Carol, creator of Tiny Tim. Nearly as many words were written about him as he wrote himself. Respected British nov… Read More

A Matter of Time is chock-full of characters, more so than any other of my novels. Why you ask? Well, when I was researching the place and time, I kept running into people who either met Cha… Read More

“No Crib for a Bed” is my second annual free Christmas short story (Dec. 2015) for subscribers to my newsletter V.I.P. Perks.The following is the story behind the story, so it wo… Read More

The History Behind A MATTER OF TIME   A Matter of Time is scheduled for release Christmas Day, but it is available for pre-order NOW!           WARNING! Plot Sp… Read More

Gifts and Fun! Welcome to my interactive virtual Christmas party! A Matter of Time, book 4 in my Rewinding Time Series (Now available for pre-order!) will be released Christma… Read More