Author Christine Egbert, new to me...

Dear Readers, I would like to introduce you to an author, new to me: Christine Egbert. Her novel Miracle Across the Sound is both tender and moving and I am sure you will enjoy it.

Q Christine, how long have you been writing?

A: I have always had a fascination with words and loved to read. When I was in grade school, I used to write little stories on notebook paper and sell them to my dad for a quarter. Then in my senior year of High School—1969-70—my English class had to enter the VFW’s annual essay contest titled “The Dangers of Communism To Our American Way of Life” as an assignment. My essay won first place in Monroe county, then went on to win first place in the State of Florida. But it wasn’t until I turned fifty, that I started to hone my craft as a fiction writer.

Q Tell my readers a little bit about Miracle Across the Sound?

A: "Miracle Across the Sound" is Christian, historical fiction, published by Little Roni Publishing in their new Messianic Inprint, Betrothed. .

The main character is twenty-year-old Fleming Lund, a Jewish college student who has recently come to faith in Yeshua (Jesus) as Israel’s Messiah but reads the New Testament through Jewish eyes. He has not spoken to his next-door neighbor—and former fiancée, Liesel Prestur, a Lutheran—for nearly two years. The estrangement ends the night they both witness the Gestapo arrest a Jewish family across the street. Woven into the romance is the inspiring but little-known history of how ordinary Danes hid, then smuggled nearly all of their Jewish neighbors to freedom in neutral Sweden over the month of October in 1943.

Q What would you say in a sentence or two to compel someone to want to read your book?

A: Philosopher Edmund Burk once wrote: “All it takes for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing.” I hope that the heroism of the Danish people in WWII, which weaves my novel together, will inspire readers to take courage, to trust God and take a stand against EVIL in whatever form it comes.

Q Where do your characters come from? Are they personalities you have met?

A: Since I was born in 1952, I grew up watching many old black and white WWII movies

about the Nazi occupation. I like to think I based my characters on the resistance fighters in those movies. But I once read that all fictional characters—both good and bad—are aspects of the writer’s own character. So who knows?

Q How about the names you use?

A: I chose popular names of the Danish people for my fictional characters. But I used the real names of the Germans and Danish people whose actions I turned into a written doudrama.

Q Is there a follow up novel planned?

A: No.

Q. What inspired you to write Miracle? What is your fascination with that time period and all the complex events that took place?

A. Because of my age, I am now 69, I found WWII relevant and impactful. As a child, I can remember thinking one day there will be another war, and then I will be in the RESISTANCE, and I am. My weapon of choice is a pen, actually my keyboard.

Q As a writer, what do you read to relax? To get inspired?

A: God and His Word are my inspiration, but I still love (and watch) old movies like Casablanca in which ordinary people willing to put aside their own desires can make a difference in the world.

Q Do you write every day? Do you work at your computer or curled up in a big chair with a note pad? Give us a visual so my readers can see you writing.

A: I write most every day … and always at my desk, pounding on the keyboard.

Q: If you were to talk to a group of writers just starting out, what would you say to them to encourage them on?

A: Write what you love to read, and never forget that writing means rewriting! Make every word count. After you finish your first draft, put it away for several months, then go back and edit our every unnecessary word. You will find hundreds of them. Read “Self-Editing For Fiction Writers” by Renni Browne and Dave King and “Description” by Monica Wood! Most of all, I would tell them to enjoy the writing process! If you have a writer’s heart, you will love the journey even if it never leads to publication.

Q: Did you have any input on your cover? I think the art work is great.

A: Thanks! I sent the illustrator a link to actual photographs that were taken during 1943 of Denmark’s rescuing the Jews.

Q When you aren't writing what a few things you love to do to unwind and relax?

A: I spend time with friends. I listen to music, mostly Christian praise but sometimes I put on music from the 1940s and 50s. I watch old movies and some newer films, when I can find one that is interesting and not offensive. One of those newer films that I loved was "The Secret: Dare to Dream", based on the 2006 best-seller titled “The Secret”. I read mostly non-fiction books these days. The last novel I read was "Gods and Kings" by Lynn Austin, and I LOVED it!

Q: What is your next project my readers can look forward to? Tell us a little bit about what is not here yet but you are sure they will love...

A: I currently have two projects going. The one I will finish first is a non-fiction compilation of religious articles that are available individually on my congregation’s webpage, Vineyardjc.com. My articles focus on returning to the old paths (Jer 6:16) and contending for the faith that was once delivered to the Saints (Jude3:4), not the distortion of that faith which occurred in the 4th Century under Roman Emperor Constantine, who wrote, “Let us then have nothing in common with the detestable Jewish crowd; for we have received from our Savior a different way.” (Eusebius, Life of Constantine, Vol III Ch. XVIII).

My second project is a novel that is set in 1st Century A.D. Jerusalem. It’s titled “Insurrection”, and I am about half way through my first draft.

Q Are there any other novels I have missed?

A: No.

Q. What would you like my readers to know that I have not asked you?

A. I can’t think of anything at the moment.

Q. And very importantly do you have a dog or pet? If you do, how about a picture?

A. I have three cats: Precious, my 15 year-old on the left, Scamp, my 5 year-old in the middle, and Longfellow, my 1.5 year old kitty on the right.