Christa Kinde's Blog, page 23

THREE YEARS: And Growing…

The Main Series, Illustrated Short Stories, Serial Prequels, Sequels, Outtakes… Three years ago, Zonderkidz released the book in which Prissie meets a boy she shouldn’t have been able to see. Since then, I’ve been telling stories about the Pomeroy family and the angels who were Sent to them.

I love to write. I’d even say I have to write. But I’ve always believed that books without readers are lonesome. So I want to say THANK YOU to each of you. There are so many books in the world. I’m glad you found mine.  That you care about characters who are dear to my heart. That you drop by for our little chats. ♥

What’s to come? Lord willing (that’s Deo Volente in Latin), I’ll add to the Pomeroy Family Legacy collection, and I’ll release a new series or two. The two serials that are underway will continue. Angel Unaware will take another year to tell (through 2016), and Sage and Song also seems to be taking its sweet time. Print editions are in the works. Not just Pursuing Prissie. I’m also prepping Rough and Tumble, Tried and True, and Angel on High. And I have an angel-themed devotional releasing in two short weeks.

Available on October 6

So onward! Eyes forward. Further up and in. One day after another. Because that’s how we grow. And that’s when we discover the amazing new things that God Most High has in store. Let’s discover them together. : )

REMINDER: Milestone Party

Just a quick reminder that we have a party underway. Lots is happening—new art, a Pomeroy poll, story updates, nostalgia, review drive, and a prize drawing. Tomorrow is The Blue Door‘s book birthday, making September 26 the Threshold Series’s anniversary! To take part in the festivities, check out the lists on the original part post >>

Extension. It slipped my mind that I’d be attending an apologetics conference this weekend. (Ransom would be so there.) So I’ll nudge the deadline for participation in the prize drawing until Sunday afternoon. You now have until noon (Pacific) on Sunday the 27th to enter.

Incentive. Here’s a peek at the prettily pink notecards that will be going out to six prize winners. Doncha love watercolors? ♥

Gotta ask! Who knows what apologetics is?

ANGEL ON HIGH: Ravel

Ofir leaned in, and a slow smile spread across his face. “Eyes forward, Observer. My buddies are backing up a friend of yours!”

Ravel? Koji pushed wet bangs out of his eyes and searched the gray haze, but there was no sign of a scruffy beggar. Big and broad, with red wings flung wide, a singular warrior towered over the rest. Bronze hair clung to his face as he slashed a broad arc with a double-bladed ax.

—excerpted from Angel on High, Part Seven: “High and Mighty”

Reinforcements. As part of our festivities, I’m sharing another chibi angel. This time, it’s Ravel, one of Koji’s friends in Angel on High. If you have very sharp eyes, you’ll have spotted a fleeting cameo in Pursuing Prissie.

Ravel by Terri Delgado

Have you taken the time to review Angel on High yet? I’d be grateful.

OUTTAKE: Careful Attention

“May the word of my lord the king bring me

rest, for the lord the king is like an

angel of God in discerning good and evil.”

2 SAMUEL 14:17 NIV

Careful Attention

“You know, we cleaned this thing inside and out before the trip,” Prissie grumbled. “Look at this mess!”

“Indeed.” Koji joined her in peering under the seats in the Pomeroy family’s fifteen-passenger van.

They were newly returned from a week-long road trip. Prissie’s parents had decided to take advantage of spring break to show Koji around. The aftermath was messy. So at the first opportunity, they’d pulled up to the cinder block building of their town’s self-serve car wash.

“Make way!” Mr. Pomeroy warned, circling around behind the van with a long, black hose. “Zeke and I will layer this thing in foam. It can do its good work while you two deal with the inside.”

“Yes, Daddy.” Prissie shot a warning look at her little brother, who stood beside a panel of flashing, beeping buttons. “Don’t spray us.”

Zeke’s grin was far from reassuring. “Not on purpose!”

Taking plastic bags, Prissie and Koji climbed into the van and picked a row. She was surprised how much stuff was lurking under the seats. Forgotten things that didn’t matter. Dropped things that were no use to anyone. An old french fry. Spilled cereal. A used tissue. Candy bar wrappers. Three pennies. A blue crayon. Empty bottles.

“This would be so much easier if everyone picked up after themselves,” Prissie complained. “You’d think we lived like slobs.”

Koji held up a limp pickle. “I have made surprising discoveries.”

Prissie wrinkled her nose in disgust. “Momma would never stand for this in the house. It’s as if all the boys’ good habits went out the window as soon as we left the driveway.”

Passing two bottles for the recycle pile, Koji recited, “We must pay more careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away” (Heb. 2:1).

“Exactly! If they paid attention, we wouldn’t be wading through junk!” Prissie popped up, resting her elbows over the back of the third row of seats. “Only … I doubt that verse is talking about dropping cereal on the floor.”

Koji obligingly picked up where the verse left off. “For if the message spoken by angels was binding, and every violation and disobedience received its just punishment, how shall we escape if we ignore such a great salvation?”

“Which means … always listen to angels,” she surmised.

Koji shook his head. “Angels brought the law to Moses. Their message defined holy living, and all fell short.”

“Like this.” Dumping a crumpled zoo map and several peanut shells into the trash bag, Prissie asked, “So what you’re saying is we’re our van’s great salvation?”

“That is a closer analogy,” Koji agreed.

With the clutter out of the way, Prissie called, “We’re ready to vacuum, Daddy.”

“Sure, sure.” Mr. Pomeroy handed off the fat, black hose with its flexible ridges, then gave a thumbs up to Zeke, who stood ready with more quarters. After a few plinks and the push of a button, the vacuum vroomed to life, and Prissie set to work. Row by row, she and Koji took turns, passing the hose along as they worked their way from one end of the vehicle to the other.

The fruity smell of bubbles. The roar of the sprayer. The whine of the vacuum every time the nozzle stuck against the floor. The rattle of grit and sand as it was carried off, leaving the van fresh and clean.

After it was all done, Koji buckled in next to Prissie for the short drive back to the farm. Letting his shoulder bump hers, he confided, “There is something satisfying about making things new.”

“Isn’t there a verse for that, too?”

Koji smiled approvingly and said, “You were taught … to be made new in the attitude of your minds” (Eph. 4:23).

For the rest of the drive home, Prissie pondered the dangers of drifting … and the differences between cleaning insides and outsides.

♦♦♦

Look into these things …

“Even angels long to look into these things.” –1 Peter 1:12

♦ What are the masks and veneer people hide behind? Why can it be hard to simply be yourself?

♦ Is shining up the outside enough? Read 1 Samuel 16:7 and Matthew 23:27. What can’t we hide from God?

♦ Are you glad He knows you so well? Would you rather hide some parts of yourself from Him?

OUTTAKES INDEX >>

Sage and Song, Chapter 30: The Meager Shelter

Chapter 30: The Meager Shelter

The LORD is your security. He will keep

your foot from being caught in a trap.

PROVERBS 3:26 NLT

Not long after the boys’ arrival in Solomon’s throne room, Kester found himself in a unique position. His seat was in the usual place—a cushion beside the king’s footstool. And his responsibility was the same as ever—to play quietly upon the lion’s head harp. But Lemuel was with him. Or more correctly, behind him.

“Are you afraid of Mauler?” Kester asked quietly.

The prince huffed. “I’m not afraid of anything.”

Kester recognized the untruth, but not some of the other feelings welling up inside. They were distractingly complex and difficult to categorize. He’d never been another person’s shelter before, and the weight of the unaccustomed responsibility unsettled his soul. I was not made to guard or protect. Does this boy not realize that I am meager shelter?

Never before had Kester been more aware of his fragility. If attacked, the enemy could pluck him more easily than a harp string. Lemuel had guardian angels, but all Kester had was an equally ill-equipped mentor.

Well, perhaps not all.

Several of his Flightmates were cherubim. And Benaiah watched out for him here in the palace. As did Ichi. Kester might be new and inexperienced, but he was far from alone. A child of light, he belonged to God Most High. All things were most assuredly in His keeping.

So Kester’s reeling thoughts ebbed into more peaceful rhythms, and he focused on the things he could do. For he was made for song. And there was a harp in his hands. But as he spun melodies and harmonies, he thought to wonder if these stirrings were similar to how Asaph felt about him. Did a mentor’s wings tremble as they offered shelter? Kester’s gaze flitted along the edges of the throne room, but Asaph wasn’t present.

Did you need something, apprentice mine? His mentor’s tone was light, almost teasing.

Kester asked the first question that came to mind. Are you afraid for me?

Ah.

Kester shifted uneasily in the silence that ensued.

Then Asaph gently posed, Can faith and fear coexist?

Could they? Kester’s fingers drifted through David’s composition as he considered an answer. Yes?

Oh?

Kester wasn’t sure if his experience amounted to truth, but one thing was certain. I have been afraid, yet I am faithful. I remain one of the Faithful.

Amen and amen. Yes and yes. Asaph hummed softly in his apprentice’s thoughts. Your presence in my keeping has changed my perspectives in unexpected ways.

A fresh series of emotions trickled through Kester. Are you afraid?

Not at the moment. Are you?

Kester blinked. Not at the moment.

Good. Calm permeated Asaph’s tone. There’s no reason to fear the unexpected. In my experience, God Most High likes to make things new. Watch for them.

Watch for … what?

New things.

At that moment, the tune Kester had been playing came to an end. It was time to choose a new song, but before he could, a ruckus broke out at the far end of the room. Servants and guards hurried to quell the disturbance, which drew everyone’s attention. Even the king’s.

Solomon sat forward, then lifted a hand.

A woman broke from the crowd to approach the throne. Clearly, she wanted to get to the Solomon, but not with any trace of respect or awe. She was too busy haranguing the woman who stumbled after her, arm outstretched. Kester had spent enough mornings in the throne room to know that their race was pointless. Solomon would hear both sides in a dispute. He never ruled in favor of the one who talked fastest, yelled loudest, or reached him more quickly.

As they drew closer, Kester tried to make sense of their shrilling. The wails of the baby in the first woman’s arms echoed off the walls, making it hard to hear.

Suddenly, Lemuel shrank against him, his hand fisted in the back of his shirt.

“Why are you hiding?” whispered Kester.

“I don’t like them.”

Kester sat taller, doing his best to shelter for Lemuel while trying to figure out what had frightened the prince. The grim-faced palace guards? The squabbling women? The crying baby?

No … babies. He’d not noticed the second infant.

Probably due to the child’s silence.

♦ Raise your hand if you know where this story is headed. : )

♦ Have you ever been responsible for someone else’s safety?

♦ Let’s pose Asaph’s question. Because it’s a tricky one. Can faith and fear coexist?

<< PREVIOUS CHAPTER  |  NEXT CHAPTER >>

START AT THE BEGINNING

Author’s Note: This story is a prequel to Christa Kinde’s Threshold Series [Zonderkidz] and updates on Thursdays. More information can be found on the Sage and Song index page. Sage and Song, © Copyright 2015 Christa Kinde, all rights reserved. If you want to receive an email whenever my stories update, subscribe to this blog. You can also watch for notifications on Twitter.

ANGEL ON HIGH: Cherith

Community. Despite my best efforts at restraint, the cast of the Threshold Series has grown … and continues to grow. Every time I publish a new serial or novella, the community widens. Koji’s first friend. Jasper’s older brother. Marcus’s foster siblings. Ransom’s guardian angel. Tad’s children. In tales to come, you’ll be meeting other folks who’ve been waiting their turn. Jayce’s culinary mentor. Naomi’s brother Abel. Tad’s college roommates. Lemuel’s older sister. Gideon’s mentor. Othniel’s first apprentice. They all have stories. Lord willing, I’ll share them.

Speaking of sharing, I have another chibi angel to show you. Do you remember Cherith? He’s the Caretaker into whose capable hands Koji is delivered.

♦♦♦

“You are the eyes and ears of heaven,” Cherith explained. “Words are your service. Art is your joy. In due course, you will learn how to set your thoughts upon a page, but a song will do for now. Sing a song of beginnings. Tell me about your first day.”

Finally! Koji’s song came in a rush as he shared all of his pent up discoveries. In return, Cherith sang about the storehouse of beauty in which they stood, introducing himself as a keeper of bees and a maker of ways.

—excerpted from Angel on High, Part 2: “Milk and Honey”

Cherith by Terri Delgado

Which “minor” character’s story would you like to know more about? : )

PINTEREST: Threshold Series Boards

Are you a pinner? When it comes to social media, my two favorite places to hang out are Twitter (keeping it short & sweet) and Pinterest (collecting & organizing inspiration). If you don’t already follow me or some of my boards, I have two accounts—one for Christa and one for CJ (my other penname). 

Thanks to recent additions, I’m now up to NINE boards for Threshold readers. Check them out:

Threshold Series – official stuff like book covers
Prissie Pomeroy – lots of braids and long skirts
Threshold Series Misc – mostly related to Prissie’s home & family
Story Art – Threshold Series – a sampling of what’s in my galleries
Give Baird a T-shirt – from the faith-filled to the zany, they’re Baird-tastic
Threshold Series – Secret Santa – what gift would you give?
Reader Show-and-Tell – for sharing squee-moments with those who understand
Zeke! – because he so totally needed a board of his own
Pursuing Prissie – brand new board, celebrating the sequel

If you want to join one of my group boards, link me to your account in the comments or send me a PM on Pinterest. I’ll get you situated! ♥

INFORMAL POLL 3: Favorite Brother

“I’m curious, Prissie. Do you have a favorite brother?”

     The sudden change in topic threw her off. “A favorite?” she echoed.

     “Yes. Is one more important to you than the others?” Adin prompted.

     She slowly shook her head. “They’re all my brothers. I don’t think it would be right to play favorites with family.”

     “No? How admirable. You’re right, of course.”

—excerpted from Book 2: The Hidden Deep

Playing Favorites. A little over a year ago, I posted an Informal Poll and asked readers to pick their favorite angel. This summer, we voted for favorite characters in Pursuing Prissie in Informal Poll 2. Let’s do a new version. One for Prissie’s brothers—Tad, Neil, Beau, Zeke, and Jude. Tell us who you picked … and why! : )

AWAITING VOTES!

CHIT-CHAT: Awkward Beginnings

Anniversary. On September 26, The Blue Door will celebrate its third birthday, making Saturday the anniversary of the entire Threshold Series. Since nostalgia and anniversaries go hand-in-hand, I thought I’d share a few stories from the early days, when we were prepping Book 1 for publication.

Did you know…

♦ My publisher didn’t like Prissie’s name and (very politely) asked me on more than one occasion if I’d consider changing it. At the time, Books 1 and 2 were written, and I was already thinking ahead to Book 3. The change would have required an entire overhaul because she was more than simply “Prissie.”

♦ Prissie’s mother doesn’t shorten her daughter’s name. She still calls her Priscilla.

♦ Milo calls her “Miss Priscilla.” (A very princely thing to do.)

♦ Prissie’s older brothers call her “Priss.” (Her younger brothers call her “Sis.”)

♦ Ransom’s default nickname for Prissie is “Miss Priss.”

♦ I know I’ve mentioned this before in interviews. One of my editors wanted me to consolidate Prissie’s five brothers into two guys. Because no one has big families anymore. But once I (calmly) explained the role each boy served in forwarding the plot, the Pomeroy family came through edits intact.

♦ There was a typographical error on the very first draft of the dust jacket for The Blue Door. It changed the entire tone of the series:

♦ THIS was the first version of The Blue Door‘s book cover. (It’s still floating around out there on the interwebz.) I knew going in that I’d have little or no input over the appearance of my books. So at the time, I pasted on a polite smile and tried not to be overly critical. But I sagged in relief when, within days, my editor sent me a new version—the current version. Folks on their sales teams had requested a re-do. Mercifully, I wasn’t the only one to question that angel’s lack of pants.

Quiz! Names are kind of a thing in the Threshold Series. Most have special meanings. And many have more than one. What’s more, plenty of the cast members have nicknames. How many can you recall? We can compare lists in comments. ; )

WALL SCRAWL PROJECT

“What kind of graffiti are we talking about?” asked Jude, whose hands were wrapped around a steaming mug.

     “I left a few notes for Ransom,” he said. “Words of encouragement. Prayers and blessings. Sage advice. Scripture verses. Maybe a few doodles.”

     Jude smiled. “I’d like to see that.”

     “I’d like to add to it!” said Zeke.

—excerpted from Pursuing Prissie

What would you add to Ransom’s wall?
Comments are open. Graffiti away!