My Son, John by Kathi Macias - Book Giveaway!

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Murder. Could there be a more chilling word? Could it be any more horrible than to have a loved one killed, brutally and heartlessly, without obvious reason or motive? When Liz Peterson’s elderly mother is found viciously beaten to death in her home, Liz and her husband, Charles, along with their grown son, John, and teenage daughter, Sarah, are horrified beyond words. Their previously predictable, respectable lives seem to have vanished without a trace, as they struggle to make sense of a senseless act.

And then a second blow—more devastating, if possible, than the first—rocks them to their core. John is arrested for his grandmother’s murder. As what’s left of the Peterson family begins to crumble under the weight of loss and accusation, the Petersons’ longstanding Christian faith is put to the test in a way they could never have imagined, and unconditional love is stretched to its limits. Can God’s grace reach even to the deepest agony of the soul and bring healing to a family torn apart by murder and betrayal?

Kathi Macias is a multi-award winning writer who has authored nearly 30 books and ghostwritten several others. A former newspaper columnist and string reporter, Kathi has taught creative and business writing in various venues and has been a guest on many radio and television programs. Kathi is a popular speaker at churches, women’s clubs and retreats, and writers’ conferences, and recently won the prestigious 2008 member of the year award from AWSA (Advanced Writers and Speakers Association) at the annual Golden Scrolls award banquet. Kathi “Easy Writer” Macias lives in Homeland, CA, with her husband, Al, where the two of them spend their free time riding their Harley. Look for her new Blog Talk Radio show, coming soon!

Visit Kathi’s website at http://www.kathimacias.com/ and her blog at http://kathieasywritermacias.blogspot.com/. Stay tuned to Kathi’s website for news of her upcoming Blog Talk Radio show.

My Son, John is available as a trade paperback and a Kindle edition.

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This giveaway will run from today until 11:59 p.m.(Eastern) on October 31st. A winner will be announced in early November.

This contest is open to all residents of the United States and Canada.

Faith and Fiction...a Biblical Connection by Kathi Macias, Author of My Son, John

Joining us today is a talented author who I am happy to call a treasured friend. Kathi Macias is a multi-award winning writer who has authored nearly 30 books--some of which we've reviewed here--and ghostwritten several others. A former newspaper columnist and string reporter, Kathi has taught creative and business writing in various venues and has been a guest on many radio and television programs. Kathi is a popular speaker at churches, women’s clubs and retreats, and writers’ conferences, and recently won the prestigious 2008 member of the year award from AWSA (Advanced Writers and Speakers Association) at the annual Golden Scrolls award banquet. Kathi “Easy Writer” Macias lives in Homeland, CA, with her husband, Al, where the two of them spend their free time riding their Harley.

Kathi is currently on a virtual book tour to promote her contemporary novel, My Son, John. In this book, the Peterson family's once normal life is shattered when Liz Peterson's mother is brutually murdered and her son John is arrested for the crime. As what’s left of the Peterson family begins to crumble under the weight of loss and accusation, the Petersons’ longstanding Christian faith is put to the test in a way they could never have imagined, and unconditional love is stretched to its limits. Will family ties and relationships withstand such a crushing blow, or will evil succeed in dividing and conquering this once close and inseparable family?

Faith and Fiction…a Biblical Connection Kathi Macias


When I first got into this “Christian bookselling business/ministry” back in the early 1980’s, fiction was scarcely a consideration for me. I was primarily interested in writing articles for various publications, though I also took a job at Gospel Light Publications, working in the editorial department for adult curriculum. While there, I was approached by one of the editors in their book division about co-authoring a nonfiction book with her. I liked the idea, accepted, and the rest is history, since that book went on to become one of that publisher’s all-time bestsellers.

About that same time, however, I began to have this nagging sense that I’d like to write a novel. In fact, I had a very specific idea and topic in mind, but I couldn’t imagine why I should bother, as Christian fiction really wasn’t exactly a hot-button item. Catherine Marshall and Grace Livingston Hill had what little market there was sewn up, so why bother?

And yet I felt the topic that I was sure God had placed on my heart was worth exploring in fiction form. So I began to write a chapter here and there, and before I knew it, Yesterday, Today, and Forever was completed. It was time to submit it to publishers. It took awhile, as few were doing fiction, but at last a small publisher picked it up, and my first novel soon became a reality.

I later did another novel called Shooting Star, which I co-authored with Rosey Grier, and a collection of short fiction stories in two book compilations for children, but other than that I stuck to nonfiction. By the late 1990s, however, the climate was changing, and I decided to give fiction another try. Soon my Matthews mystery trilogy released from B&H, and my love for writing fiction had become unquenchable.

Since that time, though I have written several more nonfiction books, my heart has been to write “fiction with a purpose”—meaning more than just “nice fiction” that omitted cursing and included a presentation of the gospel somewhere between the front and back cover. In other words, I believed it was necessary to follow the biblical connection to fiction by adhering to Jesus’ example in His telling of the parables if I wanted to justify calling my novels “Christian fiction.”

Jesus used parables to teach the masses, telling stories His listeners could relate to and easily understand. But though He no doubt entertained them in the process, entertainment was not His primary goal. He had a purpose in telling each story, and that was to help His listeners better understand the Kingdom of God and to be drawn closer to the Father’s heart. And He never apologized for that or tried to hide His agenda. For that reason, I try to keep that same focus when I develop my own stories.



My Son, John is a classic example. Though readers tell me that once they started the book they couldn’t stop until they were finished, they also tell me that it moved them to tears, caused them to seek reconciliation in broken relationships, drew them back to the Lord, even nudged them to get involved in jail/prison ministry or some other outreach to the hurting and rejected they might otherwise not have considered. That’s what tells me I was successful in this endeavor.

Though My Son, John is told primarily from the viewpoint of a middle-aged woman named Liz who is already a Christian, the story carries the readers through Liz’s shock and grief at her mother’s murder, her devastation and denial at her son’s arrest for the crime, and her long, dark hours of wrestling with God over all the implications of finding herself in the middle of such an unbelievable triangle of pain and horror. It’s a sort of “coming of age” faith book for believers who, like Liz, thought they had already come of age years earlier—only to find themselves challenged at the very root of their belief system.

So does faith have a place in fiction? Absolutely! In fact, without it, I question the reason for even bothering to write such stories. If all we want is “good, clean entertainment,” then let the “good, clean” unbelievers write it. Can the story be told without including the need for Jesus? Then it can be told apart from those of us who know we need Him just to breathe.

At least, that’s the way I see it. And the eight novels I currently have in the works for 2010-2011 release will continue to carry that crucial component and message at their very heart. It’s a biblical connection I simply can’t ignore.

Visit Kathi’s website at http://www.kathimacias.com/ and her blog at http://kathieasywritermacias.blogspot.com/. Stay tuned to Kathi’s website for news of her upcoming Blog Talk Radio show.

To find where Kathi Macias is stopping next on her virtual book tour, please visit http://virtualbooktours.wordpress.com/.

My Son, John by Kathi Macias -- Book Review

My Son, John might just be the most powerful novel on forgiveness and unconditional love that you'll ever read!

When Liz Peterson's elderly mother is brutally murdered, Liz and her family try to understand how a woman loved by everyone met such a horrible death. But nothing could have prepared them for the day their grown son, John was arrested for his grandmother's murder. The Petersons' once simple life is now cast into chaos, where a mother, a father and a young sister who worshipped her older brother now struggle with the thought that John could have done something so despicable. Undoubtedly their faith is shaken, and the concept of unconditional love seems challenging in a way it never did before. Can God's grace place them on the path of healing, and ultimately forgiveness?

I have been a fan of Kathi Macias's nonfiction for quite some time, but I have never read any of her novels. Now, I want to scoop up each one and read them cover to cover. The emotional roller coaster ride that My Son, John takes you on is unbelievable. You will be forever changed once you read this book.

Now, I know the story behind this novel--which you'll read more about as Kathi's virtual book tour gets underway this month--but I did not have that information when I read it. To know where it originated from makes My Son, John even more powerful for me, but I also related to it on other levels.

I am a mother, so I immediately related to the difficulty Liz and her husband, Charles had in dealing with the knowledge that their son had not only changed so much since living with them, but could possibly have brutally murdered his own grandmother. And something like this is not an easy fix. Liz has to deal with her family crumbling to pieces, the change in some of her friends and fellow church members toward her, and struggle to keep it together all at the same time.

To say that this book touched me is an understatement. Macias has the ability to get right to the heart, touch you where it matters, get you thinking, and show you the might and power of an all-knowing, loving God without preaching, without hitting you over the head, and without speaking down to you. In My Son, John she is dealing with real issues, challenging issues where she pushes her characters right to the edge and you benefit from it. Not only because this is a book you won't be able to put down once you start, but also because her words and her faith draw you in and open your mind to the possibilities that exist there. When I am reading a book from Kathi Macias--fiction or nonfiction--I am so entranced that I forget I'm supposed to be reviewing the book and need to go back and reread portions of it with a more critical eye.

One thing I discovered when I took the time to step back was the majority of the story is told from Liz's perspective, but John's and Sarah's (Liz and Charles's teenage daughter) point of view also get a fair amount of time. Charles seems to get the short end of the stick and I'm curious as to why. The reader spends most of the time figuring out how Charles feels about things through his dialogue and Liz's impressions. It certainly doesn't take away from the story at all, but the writer in me wonders why the author decided to take this route.

If you have never read one of Macias's books, I strongly suggest you start with My Son, John. It is without a doubt her best work yet!


Title: My Son, John
Author: Kathi Macias
Publisher: Sheaf House
ISBN: 978-0-9797485-4-7
SRP: $12.99 (U.S.)

My Son, John Virtual Book Tour October 2009

Author Kathi Macias returns to the blogosphere in October 2009 with Pump Up Your Book Promotion Public Relations. During Kathi’s second virtual book tour she’ll talk about her contemporary novel, My Son, John.

Murder. Could there be a more chilling word? Could it be any more horrible than to have a loved one killed, brutally and heartlessly, without obvious reason or motive? When Liz Peterson’s elderly mother is found viciously beaten to death in her home, Liz and her husband, Charles, along with their grown son, John, and teenage daughter, Sarah, are horrified beyond words. Their previously predictable, respectable lives seem to have vanished without a trace, as they struggle to make sense of a senseless act.

And then a second blow—more devastating, if possible, than the first—rocks them to their core. John is arrested for his grandmother’s murder. As what’s left of the Peterson family begins to crumble under the weight of loss and accusation, the Petersons’ longstanding Christian faith is put to the test in a way they could never have imagined, and unconditional love is stretched to its limits. Will family ties and relationships withstand such a crushing blow, or will evil succeed in dividing and conquering this once close and inseparable family?

Praise for My Son, John:

“‘My Son, John’ is a compelling story that offers hope when hope is humanly impossible to find, and reminds us how to love unconditionally—“no matter what.” A beautiful story of redemption and forgiveness written by a gifted author.” -- Diane Moody (Kingston Springs, TN)

“…one of the strongest examples of unconditional love, forgiveness, grace and mercy I've come across in some time.” -- Peg Phifer (Las Vegas, NV)


Kathi Macias is a multi-award winning writer who has authored nearly 30 books and ghostwritten several others. A former newspaper columnist and string reporter, Kathi has taught creative and business writing in various venues and has been a guest on many radio and television programs. Kathi is a popular speaker at churches, women’s clubs and retreats, and writers’ conferences, and recently won the prestigious 2008 member of the year award from AWSA (Advanced Writers and Speakers Association) at the annual Golden Scrolls award banquet. Kathi “Easy Writer” Macias lives in Homeland, CA, with her husband, Al, where the two of them spend their free time riding their Harley. Look for her new Blog Talk Radio show, coming soon!

Visit Kathi’s website at www.kathimacias.com and her blog at http://kathieasywritermacias.blogspot.com/. Stay tuned to Kathi’s website for news of her upcoming “Write the Vision” Blog Talk Radio show.

“I was thrilled when I found out Kathi was touring with us again,” says Cheryl Malandrinos, Tour Coordinator for Pump Up Your Book Promotion. “I fell in love with Kathi’s work years ago and she’s never disappointed this reader.”

If you would like to follow Kathi on her virtual book tour, visit the official Pump Up Your Book Promotion Virtual Book Tour site at http://virtualbooktours.wordpress.com/.

Kathi’s virtual book tour is brought to you by Pump Up Your Book Promotion Virtual Book Tours, a virtual book tour agency for authors who want quality service for an affordable price. More information can be found on their website at http://www.pumpupyourbookpromotion.com. Sign up for our 12 Days of Christmas Tour Special! Deadline to register is October 30, 2009.