There are so many interesting characters in James McBride’s novel that it’s hard to know where to start this review. So I’ll begin with the bare bones of a plot that draws them together. The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store is a small business in Chicken Hill, a poor corner…

June 2024 New Releases   Happy Friday, Chevron Ross followers! Below you'll find information on newly released books by members of American Christian Fiction Writers. More in-depth descriptions of these books can be found on the ACFW website.   Biblical: Petra: An Unbroken Legacy by Lisa L. Dorsey -- Embark…

I love good journalism. Democracy cannot survive without it. America’s founders knew this when they included freedom of the press in the Bill of Rights. The New York Times has long been the yardstick of American news organizations. Thus, it receives closer scrutiny than most. When I purchased Adam Nagourney’s…

If you compare Sister Carrie with the excesses of modern literature, Theodore Dreiser’s novel seems mild. It contains no explicit language and barely a hint of sexuality. Yet this story of a "fallen woman" was so offensive to readers of the early Twentieth Century that the full version did not…

May 2024 New Releases   Happy Friday, Chevron Ross followers! Below you'll find information on newly released books by members of American Christian Fiction Writers. More in-depth descriptions of these books can be found on the ACFW website. Contemporary Romance: A Cameo for a Cowgirl by Carolyn Miller -- Welcome…

Today it's my privilege to feature author Shanna Heath. Shanna resides in central Kentucky with her sweet family, two dogs, and a ball python. When she isn’t writing young adult Christian fiction, she enjoys teaching middle school social studies or taking Sunday afternoon naps. Because she's a sucker for teen…

Few novelists can paint pictures with words while maintaining a good narrative pace. John Steinbeck, best known for The Grapes of Wrath, displays this talent most winningly in his short novel Cannery Row. Steinbeck takes us on a tour of a humble fishing and cannery village in California. His story…

Today it’s my privilege to feature Sarah Hanks. She’s the founder of Brave Authors, a Facebook collaboration of Christian writers. Sarah Hanks switched gears from children's ministry to full-time novelist with Mercy Will Follow Me. She and her husband have nine children, a couple of whom seem to have inherited their…

Dear Chevron Ross followers, From now through Tuesday, May 6 you have a chance to win a bundle of free ebooks in the AuthorsXP Christian book giveaway. My novel, The Seven-Day Resurrection, is one of the prizes. It’s about a failed novelist who awakens one morning to find that his…

One of the virtues of reviewing a classic novel is the opportunity to introduce it to a new generation of readers. Upton Sinclair’s exposé of Chicago’s meat packing industry, published in 1906, demonstrates that there are some things government does well, when shamed into taking action. The Jungle revolves around the…