Showing posts with label WW II fiction. Show all posts
Showing posts with label WW II fiction. Show all posts

Friday, August 28, 2015

Rick Barry: Do You Have Regrettable Elements From Your Past?

Everyone's Story welcomes multi-published author and church-planter/missionary, Rick Barry. As a co-client of our agent, the amazing Linda S. Glaz, I've had the pleasure to get to know Rick these past few years and I'm thrilled he agreed to be my guest. An encourager, Rick shares with us this week how to let go of the past in order to move forward and parallels this with the characters of his new release this September, THE METHUSELAH PROJECT. Please check out Rick's dynamic BookGiveaway. Both Rick and I look forward to hearing from you!




BookGiveaway:
Rick is offering 1 printed copy of  his novel THE METHUSELAH PROJECT to 1 randomly chosen commenter. The winner will be announced here on Friday, September 4th between 5-6 PM EST. To be entered in the Giveaway, please leave your contact information within your comment (you may choose to use the Contact Me form to privately send me your email address--the form is in the right-hand sidebar on the blog's main page, toward the bottom).


Back Cover Copy:
During World War II, German scientists started many experiments. One never ended. 

Shot down over Nazi Germany in 1943, Roger Greene becomes both a prisoner and an unwilling guinea pig in a bizarre experiment. Seventy years later, Roger still appears as youthful as the day he crash-landed—and he’s still a prisoner. Nearly insane from his long captivity, Roger finds his only hope in an old Bible.

Not until our present time does Roger finally escape from the secret society running the Methuselah Project. When he does, the modern world has become a fast-paced, perplexing place. His only option is to accept the help of Katherine Mueller—crack shot, go-getter, and attractive to boot. Can he convince her of the truth of his crazy story? And can he continue to trust her when he finds out she works for the very organization he’s trying to flee?


You’re Not a Prisoner of Your Past by Rick Barry

Right now, someone reading these words feels hindered by the past. You might be a woman who had a child out of wedlock and gave it up for adoption. You may be a man who fought and struggled to open his own dream business—only to see it collapse in dismal failure. That regrettable element could be any of a thousand things, but even if you read nothing else in this blog feature, understand this: you don’t have to remain a failure because of your past.

In my new novel, The Methuselah Project, my main character Roger Greene is haunted by mysteries in his own past. In fact, he doesn’t even know exactly who or what he is because his earliest childhood memories are of the orphanage where he grew up. Even though Roger is intelligent, even though he’s handsome, and even though he becomes an ace fighter pilot in World War II, as an adult he struggles with his own sense of self-worth.

Why didn’t he grow up with a regular family like other kids? Was he the unwanted result of an illicit affair? Perhaps the unfortunate offspring of a prostitute? Or maybe he had a mother and father who were so dirt poor that they simply could not afford to keep him? But no matter which scenario was true, why was it that no one at the orphanage had ever offered even the vaguest of answers to his questions? Making matters worse, after German fighter planes shoot down his P-47 in WW II, Roger doesn’t get sent to a regular POW camp. Instead, he becomes an unwilling guinea pig in a secret Nazi experiment.



Roger’s romantic interest, Katherine, must also face questions from the past. I won’t reveal the plot, but many of those problems exist in the person of her one living relative, Uncle Kurt.

Failure to separate yourself from the past—mistakes, shortcomings, unwise decisions, whatever—makes you a victim. That attitude is like living with an enormous anchor shackled to one leg, and that anchor prevents you from achieving happiness and your full potential. But your life doesn’t have to be that way. You can learn from past mistakes. You can ask for God’s help in overcoming the source of unhappiness and plant your feet on a new path in life. God is an expert at redeeming lives and giving them new directions.

At this point, I don’t want to offer spoilers about my suspense novel and its dose of romance. What I can say is that both Roger and Katherine must face their past, each in his own way. The Methuselah Project packs a variety of emotions. Readers will alternately laugh, cry, share the characters’ frustrations, and fear for their lives. In the end, though, is that satisfying conclusion that makes the journey worth it all.

If you decide to read The Methuselah Project, I hope you’ll tell me. Better yet—tell others if you like it!

Rick's Ah-hahs To Tweet:
Like #ChristianSuspense novels with a twist? Meet author Rick Barry @WriterRickBarry #BookGiveaway (Tweet This)

Everyone’s Story: @WriterRickBarry, author WW II #suspense #BookGiveaway of The Methuselah Project (Tweet This)

Are you a prisoner of your past? See what author @WriterRickBarry advises. (Tweet This)

Authors' Bio:
Rick Barry has authored three novels (Gunner's Run, Kiriath's Quest, and now The Methuselah Project), plus hundreds of published articles, short stories, and devotional pieces. He speaks Russian and has visited Eastern Europe over 50 times. His experiences have included skydiving, mountain climbing, rappelling, camping in Russia, visiting Chernobyl, white-water rafting, and visiting World War II battlegrounds. He believes that all experiences in life provide fuel for a writer's imagination. Rick and his wife Pam live near Indianapolis.

Places to connect with Rick:
  

Friday, July 24, 2015

Bruce Judisch: When A Novel Teaches A Lesson To Its Author

Everyone's Story gives a warm welcome to author Bruce Judisch. I confess that because of my own fascination of WW II, and that my author's theme centers around how people treat--or not--each other, that I have invited Bruce to guest on my blog. Yet, I also went "oooh" upon discovering Bruce because I know his novels also reflect on my viewers' interests. Bruce's contribution this week is eye-opening intriguing! Every time I read Bruce's last line of his message fresh tears of gratefulness fill my eyes. I hope you enjoy this feature. Please check out Bruce's wonderful BookGiveaway. Both Bruce and I look forward to hearing from you.





BookGiveaway:
Bruce is generously offering a set of KATIA and FOR MARIA to 1 randomly chosen commenter. The winner will be announced here on Friday, July 31st between 5-6 PM EST. To be entered in the Giveaway, please leave your contact information within your comment.

A Story within a Story by Bruce Judisch

I imagine few writers begin researching their next novel with the expectation that it will change their lives. I certainly didn’t. And yet…


“On September 21st, 1941, the Serpa Pinto sailed into New York’s harbor with 55 refugee children from war-ravaged Europe. Together, Jews, non-Aryan Christians, and other “undesirables” crowded the railing and gawked at the Statue of Liberty as the ship maneuvered toward Ellis Island. Among them, Ania squatted and chattered into the ears of Lilli-Anna and Kammbrie, two years old this day.”       Excerpt from For Maria

Ania, Lilli-Anna, and Kammbrie are fictional characters. The 55 refugee children are not. Among them was a little boy named Oswald Kernberg.

First, let me say that For Maria was both a joy and a heartbreak to write. Research intensive and emotionally exhausting, there were times during the one and a half years it took to produce the first draft that I set the manuscript aside for a week or two just to regather my thoughts, my wits, and my heart. Little did I realize where that research would lead me.



During that research, I encountered a gentleman who would become not only a friend, but an inspiration. His name, Art Kern—his childhood name, Oswald Kernberg—now in his 80s. He’s circled in the above photo. I soon discovered what Art and other children of the Kindertransport endured to be beyond imagination. At least my imagination. Yet, I have never met a person more positive, joyful, and uplifting than Art Kern. Here’s his story* in his own words, excerpted from an essay he wrote about his life, surprisingly titled “Luck.”

“I am 10 years old. I am sitting on the floor of our living room leafing through my parents’ photograph album. My parents aren’t home. I am taking photographs out of my parents’ photograph album … parents, brother, aunts, uncles and cousins, and putting them in an envelope. I must hurry. I don’t want my parents to see or know what I am doing … I know that I must leave my parents’ home tomorrow evening.”

Denied immigration to England, the US, Paraguay, Uruguay, Cuba, China, and Palestine, among other places, in final desperation, his parents applied through the Vienna Jewish Community to get their two sons out of Austria. Art was chosen; his brother was not. Over the next 2-3 years, Art lived in several children’s homes in France run by the Œuvre de Secours aux Enfants (French Children’s Aid Society), the OSE. His eventual journey to the US would come in fits and starts.

“In May of 1941, I am told that I have been chosen to go to the USA with a children’s transport … I am overjoyed … and it somewhat compensated for the fact that I had just found out my parents and brother had been deported from Vienna to Poland.”

But two days before he was due to leave, his place on the manifest was revoked. Devastated, he spent the next two months languishing in another OSE home near Limoges. Then, in July, a second transport prepared to depart. Two of the children selected to go fell ill, and their places were given to Art and another girl.

The end of his story?

“I arrive in the United States and a whole new world opens up for me. I am placed in a foster home … I am given clothing … I am enrolled in school … When completing high school, I receive a scholarship, enroll at CCNY … and graduate in 1952.”

In the following years, Art would marry and complete a career in the aerospace industry in LA amid a small group of other Kindertransport alumni. They dubbed him “The Librarian,” as he maintained records of their heritage and spoke at public venues about their experience. His closing words:

“I have had a wonderful life; however, it took more than a village to raise this child. It took the governments of three countries, many people and many organizations, both Jewish and non-Jewish, to raise this child! … Thousands of children did not get chosen for any Kindertransport and perished. I was chosen for two. TALK ABOUT LUCK!”

I asked Art how he could lose his entire family to the Holocaust, go through what he did just to survive, and yet still find such joy in life.

He simply replied, “I lived the life my parents saved me to live.”

When I have “bad days”—difficulties at work, rush-hour traffic snarls, a favorite TV show cancelled—and I start to gripe, I remember Art. My thoughts turn toward my children and grandchildren, all alive and thriving. I relax in a peaceful home that has never been ripped away from me by black-shirted men in jackboots, practice my faith without being beaten or worse. And I resolve to live the life God saved me to live.


*Blog note: Bruce Judisch has been granted by Art Kern, and encouraged by Art Kern, to quote his personal story.

Bruce's Ah-hahs To Tweet:
Why does author @BruceJudisch make me weep #grateful tears when I read his blog feature? (Tweet This)

Everyone’s Story: @BruceJudisch on when a novel teaches a lesson to its author #BookGiveaway (Tweet This)

#BookGiveaway of #WWII & post WWII novels by @BruceJudisch (Tweet This)


Author's Bio:
Bruce Judisch lives in Universal City, TX, with his wife of 42.5 years (high school sweetheart), Jeannie. They have 3 children and 14 grandchildren. Bruce has published four novels (not including the Barbour collection), and has a fifth manuscript finished (Quimby Pond, a romantic mystery set in NW Maine). His website contains synopses of each book by clicking the book cover.

Places to connect with Bruce:



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