Eighteenth-century Philadelphia smelt bad. That’s one tidbit I discovered when researching my latest book, The Shenandoah Road: A Novel of the Great Awakening. And there were waves of disease: smallpox, malaria, and yellow fever. New Englanders and Quakers had decent standards of personal hygiene, but horses pooped everywhere, and there were no toilets, only “necessaries” […]
Behind the Scenes: Author Zoe M. McCarthy Imagines Love on a Golf Course
Ask any member of my golfer-laden family if they think I’d write a story where love happens on a golf course, and they’d laugh. In my early golf encounters, I resorted to observing everything except the golf to keep my interest in the game. While watching golf on TV with my husband, my thoughts drifted […]
Castle Gate Press will assist indie authors
Castle Gate Press has published using a traditional model from 2013-2018. One of our books is an Amazon genre bestseller, and another won a Selah Award for Christian fiction in the speculative category. Yet another was a finalist for Selah, and another a finalist for the Grace Award. In short, we provide award-winning editing. We […]
Behind the Scenes: Author Leeann Betts looks to numbers
When I sat down 15 years ago to see if I had one book in me, I had no clue where to start. And now, all this time and more than 30 books later, every time I face the blank page, it’s the same. Where to start? I’m an avid reader of mysteries, particularly what is […]
The Writing Craft: Author Jennifer Slattery tells how to co-write a book successfully
I’ve never understood how two authors with different muses, voices, and ideas, could, combined, form one cohesive work. Sure, Jerry B. Jenkins and Tim Lahaye co-produced the legendary Left Behind Series, but … those men are clearly brilliant, which I am not. I struggle to keep my own plot threads straight. Why in the world […]
Our book is a Selah Awards finalist!
Castle Gate Press’s book Children of the Forgotten by Charles Franklin, published last year, has finaled in the Selah Award for speculative fiction. These prestigious awards are given out for a variety of genres by the Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writers Conference each year. Last year, our title Cruel Messenger by Timothy Ayers won the […]
Behind the Scenes: Author June Foster tells a shaggy dog story
Last summer, my husband and I spent three months in the tiny town of Shell, Wyoming, population 50, at the base of the Big Horn Mountains. In our RV, we performed what is called “work-camping” at Shell Campground and Cabins. Mainly my husband worked. We gave them 20 hours a week in return for a […]
Behind the Scenes: Author Susan M. Baganz and the tomboys
A couple of things went into writing Donuts & Detours. I was inspired by a young woman I once knew who hid her femininity and had a rocky past with her family of origin. I added that to another young woman who loved working on cars. Her parents tried to dissuade her from that line […]
Behind the Scenes: Author Mary (ML) Hamilton finds a mystery in a newspaper
Does anyone out there still enjoy getting your news from a newspaper? I look to the Internet for up-to-the-minute news, but there’s nothing better than a newspaper for leisurely reading about what’s happening around the local community and the state. You just never know what you’ll stumble across. For example, years ago while living in […]
Behind the Scenes: Author Bonnie Engstrom answers reader questions
As soon as someone asks what you do, the first question is either “When did you start to write?” or “How long have you been writing?” No one ever asks how long you’ve been published. Many people view writing a book like an ethereal cloud to grasp. They don’t understand how much hard work it […]