Two Controversial Novels on Faith and Distortion

 

 

                        

Just after I turn in my novels to my publisher, I begin my hunt for a deep spring read, the kind of novel that makes me drop to my knees and thank God that my editor didn’t read it before she signed me, the kind of novel that makes me want to be a better craftsman at writing, the kind of novel that explores topics about my faith that challenges my stewardship, the kind of novel that affirms why I lean on the body of Christ when I’m weak, and the kind of novel where I don’t mind sentences as long as this one. This month I want to share two literary novels with strong Christian themes that are past the fringe of traditional Christian fiction but are at the heart of the dilemma that affects us today. Read more about the novels I picket at Christian Fiction Online Magazine.

Searching for Daylight: Sharon Foster

Multicultural Fiction

Searching for Daylight: Part II

Sharon Ewell Foster on Witness, Writing, and the Christian Writer’s Journey

Sharon Ewell Foster is a critically acclaimed, award-winning author, speaker, and teacher. She is the author of Passing by Samaria, the first successful work of Christian fiction by an African American author, and six other works of fiction. Her works regularly receive starred book reviews—which is a rarity among writers—and has won a Christy Award, the Gold Pen Award, Best of Borders, and several reviewers’ choice awards.

Last month, Foster’s highly anticipated new novel released.
The Resurrection of Nat Turner, Part 1: The Witnesses (Simon & Schuster) is a story about how Harriet Beecher Stowe, author of Uncle Tom’s Cabin, aims to clarify the accepted history of Nat Turner’s prosecution. Turner, the Ethiopian turned American slave, is a well-read patriot in slaves’ eyes, but an ornery slave who needs to be put in his place in his mistress’s eyes.

Foster continues her chat with Christian Fiction Online Magazine about this controversial novel, her questions to God about her writer’s journey, and how her readers were her saving grace.

Here’s a sneak of this interview.

What themes in this story are relevant to our current Christian worldview?

I’m always fascinated by how our past speaks to our present.

It is about love.

Slavery, trafficking—no matter what country, race, or age—is very simply our failure to see one another as brothers, to love one another. We can try to intellectualize it, but it is what it is.

It is about the power of truth and the power of lies. Many people, lots of black men, find it hard to love God because of the lies they’ve been told—lies like God doesn’t love them, God meant for them to be slaves, God says people are inferior or superior because of the color of their skin.

In the books, I explore lies that are so ubiquitous that we have come to accept them as truth—even when those lies fly in the face of God’s Word. I explore the power of the truth to overcome even the oldest lie.

Read the rest of this great interview here.

Monday Moment: Sharon Ewell Foster on Nat Turner

Christian Fiction Online Magazine: Searching for Daylight: Part I

Sharon Ewell Foster is a critically acclaimed, award-winning author, speaker, and teacher. She is the author of Passing by Samaria, the first successful work of Christian fiction by an African American author, and six other works of fiction. Her works regularly receive starred book reviews—which is a rarity among writers—and has won a Christy Award, the Gold Pen Award, Best of Borders, and several reviewers’ choice awards.
Releasing this month is Foster’s highly anticipated new novel, The Resurrection of Nat Turner, Part 1: The Witnesses (Simon & Schuster), a story how Harriet Beecher Stowe, author of Uncle Tom’s Cabin, aims to clarify the accepted history of Nat Turner’s prosecution. Turner, the Ethiopian turned American slave, is a well-read patriot in slaves’ eyes, but an ornery slave who needs to be put in his place in his mistress’s eyes.
Foster chats with Christian Fiction Online Magazine about this controversial novel, her questions to God about her writer’s journey, and how her readers were her saving grace.
Sharon Ewell Foster is a critically acclaimed, award-winning author, speaker, and teacher. She is the author of Passing by Samaria, the first successful work of Christian fiction by an African American author, and six other works of fiction. Her works regularly receive starred book reviews—which is a rarity among writers—and has won a Christy Award, the Gold Pen Award, Best of Borders, and several reviewers’ choice awards.
Releasing this month is Foster’s highly anticipated new novel, The Resurrection of Nat Turner, Part 1: The Witnesses (Simon & Schuster), a story how Harriet Beecher Stowe, author of Uncle Tom’s Cabin, aims to clarify the accepted history of Nat Turner’s prosecution. Turner, the Ethiopian turned American slave, is a well-read patriot in slaves’ eyes, but an ornery slave who needs to be put in his place in his mistress’s eyes.
Foster chats with Christian Fiction Online Magazine about this controversial novel, her questions to God about her writer’s journey, and how her readers were her saving grace.

Related articles

• Lorene Cary Hosts May Blacklitchat (deegospelpr.com)
• Christian Fiction: My Writing Journey (christianfiction.blogspot.com)
• 2011 Christys Award Winners Announced (christianfiction.blogspot.com)
• Southern swamp was refuge for runaway slaves (seattletimes.nwsource.com)

Trailer Park Tuesday: Abraham's Well

It's Trailer Park Tuesday. Today we are featuring Sharon Ewell Foster's Abraham's Well.

Synopsis

A young woman and her family struggle to hold on to their dreams through decades of heartbreaking separations, forced relocation, escapes, and eventually, the Civil War. They belong to people who are themselves despised, whose land and rights are stolen.

As Armentia's son grows, she points to a well on the land their Cherokee master owns. "It seems hard to believe now, but someday we'll have our own land. Land with a well just like this one. And when we get our well, we will call it--Abraham's Well." Here is a story of courage, hope, and destiny that will not be denied.

How to Think Strategic About Your Writing

Happy New Year. Thanks for coming back. To kick off our third year I am hosting our first 1 Question Interview Winter Series. Throughout winter I will be posting some of your favorite Christian authors answers to this question:

What did you do for your spiritual life in '07 that also improved your writing?

Today Christy, Rita, Romantic Times Inspirational and Gold Pen Awards winning author , Sharon Ewell Foster responds.

You know, I always have big dreams for other people. One thing I did this past year was to commit to read Julie Cameron's The Artist's Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity [10th Anniversary Edition]. The Artist's Way is a book of wisdom, prayers, and exercises. It forced me to examine my writing, my life, and to be honest about my desires and expectations for my art. The introspective look helped me to better articulate to my new agent (another positive thing I did) and my new publisher (another positive step) what I hope to accomplish and what I wanted. In the past, I haven't been very strategic in my thinking about my writing. I'm strategic about other people and wanting the best for them. But, I've minimized my own gifts, settling for less. I thought of it as art and ministry and kind of just let it happen. But the truth is, no matter what the endeavour, without a target--without focus--you won't get where you plan to go! The Artist's Way helped to remind me that God has a good plan for my art, as well as for my life! The Lord has big dreams for me; The Artist's Way helped me to acknowledge His plans for me and to embrace them. 2008 is going to be a whole new thing!

Blessings to you and Happy New Year!

Sharon

Abraham's Well Best Inspirational

Congratulations to Sharon Ewell Foster. My mag, Romantic Times voted Abraham's Well as 2007 Best Inspirational. Ha!! I told ya, Sharon. When you tell the truth God has your back.

Congrats again. :)

Abraham's Well By Sharon Ewell Foster / Bethany Inspired by true events, authentic slave narratives, and other historical accounts, Abraham's Well is the profoundly moving story of the Black Cherokee--African Americans, both slave and free--who, along with native people, walked the Trail of Tears. It is the story of their forced removal from the Southeast to Indian Territory--modern day Oklahoma--and of the courage and faith of one woman as she struggles to overcome her desperate circumstances.