Novel Borrows from Author’s Experiences as a Hired Gun
Author Shaun Schutte’s new novel, Hired Guns in Iraq (WinePress, 2008) portrays the life of a professional bodyguard in Iraq. After completing his five year compulsory national service with the South African Army, Schutte began his own business in light steel fabrication. In 2004 the lure of money and excitement drew him to Iraq, where he has been working for various Private Security Companies since.
Schutte’s book borrows from personal experience and introduces readers to a growing, yet covert profession in Iraq. His protagonist, Brogan Kessler, reflects the fears and challenges faced by Schutte and his comrades:
Unemployed husband and father, Brogan Kessler is unable to resist the lure of financial stability and finds himself in Iraq working as a private security specialist. The conflict inevitably heats up and Brogan comes face to face with the perils and political tension of his new profession.
“My book relates to the war in Iraq and the security industry working alongside the U.S Military and construction companies.”
Besides writing, Shaun currently works as Personal Security Detail in Iraq. Due to the classified nature of his profession, as well as a non-disclosure agreement for security reasons, he is unable to provide details about the company for which he works. His official job title is “Security Specialist.”
To purchase your copy of Hired Guns in Iraq please visit our WinePress Group online bookstore or call toll-free 877.421.READ (7323).
Tweet This!‘Struggles and Triumphs’ Live Interview
Brand New Day host Dudley Donaldson will be speaking live with author Cynthia Simmons about her new book Struggles and Triumphs: Women in History Who Overcame (Pleasant Word, 2008). Tune in to WHEM FM-91.3 at 5:10 pm (Central Time) tonight.
“Each of the [women in my book] had something that made me feel a connection with them. For instance, I particularly liked Princess Alice, daughter of Queen Victoria, because she was a nurse. She had some serious questions about her faith and found answers.” Struggles and Triumphs offers a glimpse into the lives of nine prominent women from history—many have faith, several don’t; all experience fears, expectations, challenges, dangers, oppression, and grief. Those who know Christ find their way through heartache with God’s help and guidance. Follow the stories of these nine remarkable women from the past—some who overcame insurmountable odds by putting their faith and trust in God:
• Katie Luther, wife of Martin Luther
• Susannah Thompson, later Mrs. C.H. Spurgeon
• Princess Alice, daughter of Queen Victoria
• Queen Kateryn, wife of Henry VIII of England
• Louise, Duchess of Coburg
• Caroline Bauer, wife of Prince Leopold
• Ellen McCallie, wife of Thomas Hooke McCallie
• Princess Vicky, daughter of Queen Victoria
• Catherine, Duchess of Suffolk
“This is a book about women and for women. It shows that women have value wherever they find themselves in life,” says Simmons.
To order your copy of Struggles and Triumphs, please visit our WinePress Group online bookstore or call toll-free 877.421.READ (7323).
Tweet This!Healing the Father Wound
Host Ron Meyers of American Family Radio (WAOY FM- 91.7) spoke with author Kathy Rodriquez about her new book, Healing the Father Wound (Pleasant Word, 2008). The pre-recorded interview will be aired at a later date and you can listen to it online as well.
More about Healing the Father Wound:
The behavior of our parents—particularly our fathers—leaves a lasting imprint on our lives. In order to grow spiritually, she says, “We must address our emotional woundedness and the imprint our fathers have left upon our lives, for better or for worse.” Rodriguez asserts that many people are unable to receive God’s love because their earthly fathers have wounded them or have been absent altogether. The results of “fatherlessness” are evident, particularly among the teen population, says Rodriguez: sky-high dropout and teen pregnancy rates, kids killing their peers or themselves in mass school shootings, and kids hurling themselves through cyberspace to escape reality.
Consider the staggering statistics about fatherlessness that Paul Lewis presents in Five Key Habits of Smart Dads:
• Fatherless daughters are 92 percent more likely to fail in their own marriages.
• Seventy percent of all young men incarcerated in the U.S. come from fatherless homes.
• Principals across the nation report aggressive, acting out behavior, especially from boys who come from single-parent
homes.
“Approximately 94 percent of us come from some type of dysfunctional family background,” says Rodriguez. “When we work off of these distorted parental images and our own woundedness, we often find it difficult to accept God’s parenting.” Her goal is to help people recover the ability to be parented by their Heavenly Father.
“Healing the Father Wound is an integrated approach to healing emotional woundedness in Christians who have less-than-perfect childhoods,” says Rodriguez. “The book provides a systematic healing process for individuals and small groups to address their emotional woundedness and welcome Father God home to their hearts.” Rodriguez helps her readers identify four types of inadequate fathering and the legacy each produces, understand how a “father wound” impacts significant intimate relationships, recognize the characteristics of a good dad, and learn how to reparent and forgive. “Christians are broken people like everyone else,” adds Rodriguez. “Jesus helps us put the pieces of the image of God back together so we can live as God intended—as His kids.”
To order your copy of Healing the Father Wound, please visit our WinePress Group online bookstore or call toll-free 877.421 READ (7323).
Tweet This!Family News in Focus Interviews Pleasant Word Author
Karen Johnson, host of Family News in Focus, nterviewed author Bob Flanagan today about his new book, Growing a Soul (Pleasant Word, 2008). The pre-recorded interview happened this afternoon and will be aired at a later date.
Growing a Soul explains the why and how to raising children with a deep, strong faith. By drawing from today’s popular multi-intelligence theories, this book offers parents practical tips and tools to increase their children’s Spiritual Intelligence (SQ). SQ is the capacity for people to make good moral choices and connect with something outside themselves, namely, God. Growing a Soul develops a full and purposeful Christian perspective, equipping parents with simple methods for guiding their children’s spiritual growth.
To order your copy of Growing a Soul, please visit our WinePress Group online bookstore or call toll-free 877.421.READ (7323).
Tweet This!Unexpected Surprises
We enjoy receiving feedback from our authors and sometimes it comes in unexpected ways. Lee Rankin, husband of author Margaret Rankin, e-mailed us to let us know he received an invoice from us and just a little bit more:
Dear WinePress,
Please charge the Annual In-Print Fee using the credit card on file. We feel very privileged to be associated with Wine Press Publishing Group.
Many thanks.
Lee Rankin for Margaret
More about Margaret’s book, Making Sense of Evil:
Peg and Lee Rankin stood on their New Jersey balcony on September 11, 2001 with binoculars and watched the first plane hit the twin towers. The same day they learned two members of their church died in United Flight 93. This caused questions in Peg’s mind about this evil and she was determined to find answers. Her new book, Making Sense of Evil: 9/11 Eyewitness Finds Answers (2006, WinePress Publishing) is the result of her search.
Five years later, as September 11th 2006 approaches, the country is still filled with horror and questions. Everything from movies about survivors, recent arrests in thwarted terrorist plots, and the public release of haunting 911 calls, shows Americans’ desperation for answers. Rankin speaks to this desperation in a surprisingly positive study of the Bible about evil Rankin states in her book: “…when a tragedy like 9/11 occurs, your mind can drive you crazy… The Bible comes to our aid at times like these, reassuring us that there are no ‘what ifs’ or ‘if onlys’ with God. Whatever happens is part of an ultimate plan. While some people find such a conclusion disturbing, I find it wonderfully liberating. In fact, it is the only thing that sets one free from the bondage of the destructive ‘what-could-have-been’s.”
Rankin explains that just as Jesus’ suffering on the cross produced life for all mankind, when we trust God to work His will, we too can stand amazed at the plans He works in spite of the evil among us.
Author of six books, including the best-selling Yet Will I Trust Him (1998, Regal Books), Rankin’s passion is to take deep spiritual truths and make them as easy-to-understand as possible. She has been featured on numerous television and radio shows as an encourager and to speak of her experiences of that fateful day.
To order your copy of Making Sense of Evil, please visit our WinePress Group online bookstore or call toll-free 877.421.READ (7323).
Tweet This!
