Blog #101; Giveaway for IN LOVE AND WAR novel, for next three days

Free digital versions available for my debut novel IN LOVE AND WAR, through Monday

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Blog #100; update on Flash Fiction; historical fiction; some misapprehensions regarding my religion

 Hi, all!  Just wanted to check in on my 100th blog entry on this website!!  The time has passed swiftly, and it is hard to believe I have done 100 of these things.  I have recently produced some short-short fiction pieces with themes of combat/violence and mental illness.  The trauma that informs these pieces is taken from real life experiences and I have really been enjoying the writing process lately.  Like the late Neal Peart of the rock band Rush says, "How the words would flow with passion and precision."  Well, that's what I have been feeling like lately when I write.  The stories of course are grounded on actual experience, if also fiction in nature and character.

I am returning to A Contrite Spirit, after a hiatus.  I do not know where the plot is going beyond a bare inkling of what actually happened in the 20th century and how that will affect some of the characters.  The novel centers around a Mormon family and with all the news going on out of my home state of Utah, I just wanted to set the record straight.  Mormons are Christians first, believe in the New Testament (and the Old) and also accept Mormon scripture as doctrine.  They are the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  Unlike some figures in the news recently, Mormons as a rule do not advocate physically or otherwise abusing children or anyone else.  In fact, just the opposite, which was what drew me to join the Mormon Church in the first place.  Mormons are typically very gentle and kind-hearted people, and believe in a just but merciful God.  There have been misrepresentations of our religion, and Under the Banner of Heaven is just one.  All organized religions have their outliers and their dark souled members.