Spotlight

Author Carrie Turansky is as sweet and kind in person as she is through email. I met Carrie back when ACFW, American Christian Fiction Writers was a young, fledgling organization. We were among the earlier members before the group grew to almost 2000 strong! Carrie and I shared in our struggles to break into publishing, and she did so a few years ahead of me. She has continued to sell her work and has a new book coming out with Steeple Hill next year.

Carrie Turansky is originally from Oregon but now lives in central New Jersey with her husband Scott. They have been married for over thirty years and have five great kids, a lovely daughter-in-law, a great son-in-law, and two darling grandsons. Now that her children are grown she has more time to be involved in ministry with her husband who is a pastor and who also oversees The National Center for Biblical Parenting. They often travel together when Scott presents parenting seminars around the country. Carrie leads the women’s ministry at her church, teaches Bible studies, and enjoys mentoring younger women. When she is not writing or spending time with her family, she enjoys reading, gardening, trying out new recipes, and walking around the lake near their home. Carrie and her family spent one year in Kenya as missionaries, giving them a passion for what God is doing around the world. Carrie is the coauthor of Wedded Bliss, Kiss the Bride, A Big Apple Christmas, A Blue and Gray Christmas, and the author of Along Came Love and Home to Fairhaven. She always enjoys hearing from her readers.

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I have not yet had the privilege of meeting author Ginger Garrett in person, but we have exchanged several emails, and I have found Ginger to be a warm, caring person—-not to mention a wonderful author! I loved her biblical novel on Esther and her second in this genre, Dark Hour was truly captivating! I wanted to read the rest of the series, and hope someday she will finish it so that I may do so!

Ginger Garrett is an expert on women’s history with a special interest in biblical women. She is the author of several critically acclaimed books. Ginger’s first novel, Chosen: The Lost Diaries of Queen Esther, was a finalist for the Christian Book Award, recognizing it as one of the top five inspirational novels for 2006. Ginger was also nominated for the Georgia Author of the Year Award for her novel Dark Hour. Her popular nonfiction Beauty Secrets of the Bible reveals how biblical women viewed beauty and the natural foods, perfumes and cosmetics that complemented their spiritual beauty. (I loved this book too and have tried several of its suggestions!)
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I first met author and Christy Award-winning editor Jefferson Scott, also known in real life as Jeff Gerke, through the reading interests of my sons. Jeff’s books, among them – Virtually Eliminated and Terminal Logic – quickly captured my boys’ young imaginations, especially since Jeff was one of the only authors at that time who wrote books involving computers and computer gaming. Jeff became one of their favorite authors!

I have met Jeff once briefly at last year’s ACFW writer’s conference. Since he began his fiction-writing career, he has expanded his horizons and is now the founder and publisher of Marcher Lord Press, a small independent publisher whose main interests are speculative fiction such as sci-fi and fantasy and other “wonderfully weird genres.”

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I’ve met bestselling, award-winning author James Scott Bell briefly at the past few American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW) conferences. He was the keynote speaker one year when I took my son, Ryan, with me to the conference. We both learned a lot from Jim and found him to have a great sense of humor and an innate ability to inspire his fellow writers.

JAMES SCOTT BELL is the bestselling author of Deceived, Try Dying, Try Darkness, Try Fear, No Legal Grounds, Presumed Guilty, Glimpses of Paradise, Breach of Promise and several other thrillers. He is a winner of the Christy Award for Excellence (Suspense category), and has also been a finalist for the award in the Historical category. He has served as the fiction columnist for Writers Digest magazine and has written two bestselling craft books in the Writers Digest series Write Great Fiction: Plot & Structure and Revision & Self-Editing.

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I have met best-selling, award-winning author Denise Hunter in passing at some of the American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW) conferences, but we have not had time to connect much yet. I received her book The Convenient Groom for my birthday this year (my request) and read it in two days! I never read a book that fast, but this one I could not put down! Denise is up for the RITA Award in the Inspirational Romance category from Romance Writers of America for this romance novel, and I believe the honor is well deserved. Highly recommended!

Denise lives in Indiana with her husband Kevin and their three sons. In 1996, Denise began her first book, a Christian romance novel, writing while her children napped. Two years later it was published, and she’s been writing ever since. Her books often contain a strong romantic element, and her husband Kevin says he provides all her romantic material, but Denise insists a good imagination helps too! Besides writing, Denise enjoys reading, playing the drums, traveling with her family, and eating dark chocolate. Not necessarily in that order.
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I haven’t met author Alton Gansky yet, but I’ve read his book Crime Scene Jerusalem and loved it! I look forward to reading more of his work.

Alton Gansky writes fulltime from his home in the high desert area of Southern California. He is the author of 30 books. When not writing, he likes to work in his shop making furniture from exotic hardwoods that invariably end up in his children’s homes. He is also the founder of Gansky Communications, a writing company that services publishers, agents, businesses, and nonprofits. He has recently finished the film script for his book A Treasure Deep. He enjoys sneaking out in the middle of the week to watch movies. A San Diego native, he visits his hometown whenever possible and has been sighted drinking coffee at a sidewalk café in Coronado. He has been married to his wife Becky for more years than anyone thought possible and still enjoying it. He has three children and six grandbuddies. He is also the director of the Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writers Conference.
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