The Last Temptation Tour - Day One

About the Author


Michelle Stimpson is an author, a speaker, and an educator who received her Bachelor of Science degree from Jarvis Christian College in 1994. She earned a Master’s in Curriculum and Instruction from the University of Texas at Arlington in 2002. She has had the pleasure of teaching elementary, middle, and high school as well as training adults.

In addition to her work in the field of education, Michelle ministers through writing and public speaking. Her works include Boaz Brown, Breaking Bondage to Biscuits, Divas of Damascus Road (National Bestseller), The Good Stuff, Trouble In My Way, and the upcoming release, Last Temptation. She has written and published over 40 short stories through her educational publishing company at http://www.wegottaread.com/. She also ministers to women through her online newsletter: http://www.womengrowinginchrist.com/.

Michelle lives near Dallas with her husband and their two teenage children. She is active in the Creative Tyme Ministry at her home church, Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship. Visit Michelle online at http://www.michellestimpson.com/.

Michelle, list your published books.

Boaz Brown, Divas of Damascus Road, Breaking Bondage to Biscuits, Trouble in My Way, The Good Stuff, Last Temptation.

Which book did you find the hardest to birth?

The Good Stuff was probably the hardest because there was so much I wanted to say in that little book. There’s still a non-fiction aspect to that book that I want to finish.

Which book is your current favorite?

That’s a super-tough question. I love them all for different reasons. I want to say Boaz Brown, but I’m partial to my first-born.

How would you describe your writing style?

Easy-going. I like to write first-person because I like telling stories when I’m with my friends. So, it’s easy for me to write in a conversational style.

Do you listen to music while you write? If so, what kind?

No, I don’t listen to music when I write. I wouldn’t be able to concentrate. I have to have a completely quiet house to write at home; a secluded booth when I’m at Panera.

Tell us anything about you as a writer that you think might be interesting or unusual.

I don’t do a bunch of outlines when I write – I just write myself into the story. This usually means I’ll have quite a bit of re-writing to do, but I’m okay with it.

What advice do you have for aspiring writers?

Just write the book already!

Writers are often encouraged to write what they know. Have you found that to be the case with your writing?

In my case, yes. When I write what I know, the work comes across as authentic and believable.

About the Book


Patricia “Peaches” Miller finally has the man and the ring she always wanted, but she’s not quite ready to turn in her Independent-Woman-Card to follow her follow her future husband’s dreams. When her ex suddenly becomes re-interested in her, Peaches wonders if she owes it to her son to give his father one more chance. But this last temptation hurls Peaches down a dangerous road that tests her relationships, her faith, and even her sanity. Can sin ever have a silver lining?

You’ll love revisiting the main characters from Michelle’s highly acclaimed debut novel, Boaz Brown, in this long-awaited story of rebellion and redemption.

To Order This Book

• Amazon.com , Barnes and Noble ,  Borders ,  Books A Million
For More Information

• Visit the author online at http://www.michellestimpson.com/

• View the blog tour schedule at http://bit.ly/LastTemptationBlogTour

Sins of the Father Blog Tour - Day One

Angela Benson’s numerous novels include the Christy Award-nominated Awakening Mercy, the Essence-bestselling The Amen Sisters, and Up Pops The Devil. Currently an associate professor at the University of Alabama, she lives in Northport, AL.

Angela stops by Urban Christian Fiction Today during her Sins of the Father Blog Tour to share a bit of encouragement.

For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. - Jeremiah 29:11, New International Version

The verse comes from a letter the prophet Jeremiah wrote to the Jewish exiles in Babylon. In the letter, Jeremiah passes along a message from the Lord telling the exiles that they will be in Babylon for seventy years. While there though, he gives them hope in the form of the verse above. It’s as though God is saying, “Times may be tough now but now is not the end. I have other, better plans for you. Just hold on.”

A few weeks ago, I was talking to an unemployed young man about thirty years old who was a high school dropout. During our conversation, he shared with me that he had been raised in a single parent home and never knew his father. He went on to talk about his life without a dad. As he spoke, it was clear that he felt his absent father had determined the trajectory of his life.

Jeremiah 29:11 speaks to that young man and others like him, and like me, who grew up without a father. The circumstances of our birth only determine our future to the extent that we allow them. I knew the poverty that young man experienced in a single parent home because I lived it as well. But what I had that he didn’t have was hope. I had the hope that my future would be better than my current circumstances.

We all face circumstances that challenge us in life, some of our own doing and others resulting from the decisions of others. Either way, we should take comfort in knowing God has a hopeful future planned for us. It’s this hope in God that allows us to meet the challenges we face and to look expectantly for a tomorrow that is better than today, whether here or in heaven.

Prayer: Father God, thank you for hope you have placed in my heart. I know that you are bigger than my circumstances and that my future is in your hands. In times of trial and challenge, I will cling to the hope I have in you. Amen.

About the Book

Successful media mogul Abraham Martin has great wealth, an elegant wife, Saralyn, and a rebellious son, Isaac. He also has a secret: a second family that no one knows about. Now, after thirty years—driven by the urging of his long dormant conscience

—Abraham is determined to do the right thing by finally bringing his illegitimate children into

the light…and into the family fold.

But beautiful, manipulative Saralyn will never accept the

proof of her husband’s indiscretions. Isaac the heir, shaken by his father’s revelations, will fight mercilessly when his world is threatened, and may lose everything that matters as a result. And while Abraham’s forgotten daughter Deborah is open to the undreamed-of possibilities suddenly awaiting her, son Michael cannot forgive the man who cruelly abandoned

them to near poverty. And he’s driven by only one desire: revenge!

Angela Benson’s Sins of the Father is a powerful story of a house bitterly divided—a rich, multilayered family saga of betrayal and redemption, rage and compassion, faith, forgiveness, and ultimately, of love.

Follow the blog tour at http://bitly.com/SinsoftheFather.

For more information about Angela, visit her at AngelaBenson.com.

Author Kimberla Lawson Roby has "The Best of Everything"

Today I’m reposting an interview with author, Kimberla Lawson Roby. I will interview Roby personally about the release of her new book this fall, but I felt compelled to post this interview today because of a conversation I had with an author friend this earlier in the week.

There is much debate about what is Christian Fiction and what is not. It’s the age old argument that we have in the church – who’s church is more holier, who’s denomination has it all right, who’s going to heaven and who’s not. In my opinion, all a bunch of stuff that really and truly gets in the way of effective ministry. While there certainly is a need to separate the wheat from the chaff, there’s too much of it, and with it has come the spirit of condemnation and judgment.

I’m a Kim Roby fan. Always have been since she self-published her first novel, Behind Closed Doors. Would I ever classify Kim as a Christian Fiction author? Up until about a year ago, absolutely not. Her books contained sex and cursing. That immediately eliminated her novels from what I deem to be Christian Fiction. But Roby has made a shift in her writing, certainly one that her fans and critics should take note of. I noticed it when I read her 2008 release Sin No More. I kept waiting for the big sex scene I would have to skip over (because I don’t read them) and it never happened. Then there was One In A Million and The Best Kept Secret and I thought well isn’t that something, she’s trending in a different direction. Like I said, I'm a fan, but I was pleased.

Back to the conversation I had with my author friend. We were discussing the National Book Club Conference and she talked about the Christian Fiction authors or those who in her opinion aren’t really writing Christian Fiction that are exploiting the genre for sales. Roby was one of them. (First of all I thought it was hysterical that she would think any of the authors she listed would exploit this genre for sales. Everyone knows that outside of a Karen Kingsbury or Ted Dekker and a few others if anyone is making less money in publishing it would be Christian Fiction authors. So she was quite misinformed on the money aspect.) I asked her if she had read Ms. Roby’s work lately and she said no. I told her that her work had moved in a different direction and she said “Well, it’s too late now, she has all those books out there.” I was saddened, not because I need to have Ms. Roby accepted as a Christian Fiction author. She's a NY Times Bestselling author, her books are in a class by themselves. I was saddened because this person was so narrow minded, and unwilling to move past what she considered to be unforgivable sin. I decided to leave that between her and her God, but I do recall a scripture in the Bible that says “Judge not, lest you be judged.”

The thing that is most disturbing about this all and we’ll remove Ms. Roby from this point of discussion, is what if an author had a collection of erotica books. This person became saved and began writing the books she felt the Lord had called her to write. Is she not acceptable to us in the genre because she started out writing something else? The bigger question is “Can the lost come back home to the church?”Think about it? Are we deciding who’s good enough for ministry? Who’s good enough for Jesus? Not this girl.I look forward to watching Ms. Roby's work evolve into all that God has called it to be. I listened to an interview she did on Urban Reviews when "The Best of Everything" was released where she talked about her spiritual growth and it's impression on her writing. Ms. Roby is blessed. When any of us can get up every day and do what we know we are called to do, then we truly have the best of everything.

Blessings,

Rhonda McKnight

Enjoy Patricia Woodside’s interview with Ms. Roby and leave and a comment and tell me what you think:

Reposted from http://readinnwritin.blogspot.com/2009/02/black-christian-fiction-on-parade_23.html

Today's featured author in Black Christian Fiction on Parade brings a little controversy with her, even before I posted her feature.

Today's featured author is Kimberla Lawson Roby.

As with some other very popular AA Christian Fiction authors, there's some debate as to whether Ms. Roby's books qualify as Christian fiction. Well, that's not for me to say. Although there's always been a faith thread in her stories, I suspect the controversy stems from some of the literary choices Ms. Roby made. Here's what she has to say, first in an interview with SORMAG earlier this year and before that, in a 2008 interview with author Connie Briscoe.

"If I had it to do over again, I never would have used any words of profanity in my work just because it is sometimes used by people in real life---especially since I don't use words like that myself. In my first nine novels, I didn't use profanity on every page and not even in every chapter, but on occasion, if a character was angry, hurt or had been betrayed in some way, I did have the character say a select word here and there. But as I began writing my tenth novel, SIN NO MORE, I wasn't comfortable with using even one curse word in my work and haven't done so with any book since then. The other good news, too, is that I have felt very relieved about the change I made, and I am excited to be doing what I believe God wants me to do."

"...actually, as of Sin No More, I stopped writing detailed sex scenes of any kind. Even in my past novels, I never wrote erotica and worked hard not to write anything offensive, but I finally realized it just wasn’t necessary to include all the details unless the story is somehow centered on sex."

To date, I've only read Casting The First Stone, back when it was first published. I'm honestly not sure why, although perhaps these issues struck a nerve at that time. However, I can appreciate an author who grows in outlook as well as writing ability.

Enough about that.

Ms. Roby's success speaks for itself. Her books consistently make the NY Times and Essence Magazine bestseller lists among many others. Her first novel, Behind Closed Doors was originally self-published and was the #1 Blackboard Best-selling book for paperback fiction in 1997.

Regina Moore and Karen Jackson have been best friends since they were six. And now at age thirty, they've obtained what most women only dream of-wonderful careers, gorgeous homes in an upper-echelon Chicago suburb, and loving husbands to complete the package. Of course, all good things must and usually do come to an end. Regina's husband, Larry has been working too much overtime, and Karen's husband John has started donating his paycheck to the local horse track on a regular basis.

What happens when a husband and wife appear to have the perfect life on the outside, when in reality, their marriage is practically falling apart behind closed doors?

Her second novel, Casting the First Stone, the one I had the pleasure to read, introduced the Rev. Curtis Black, who was so popular that he has since appeared in six other books.

Tanya Black has everything a woman could want: a fulfilling career, a beautiful daughter, an elegant home and a handsome, charismatic husband who pastors a prominent Baptist church. And yet, Tanya can no longer deny that the calm surface of her life hides a growing turbulence. Her husband Curtis, once a supportive partner and passionate lover, has grown remote, and Tanya has the uneasy feeling that her comfortable life is about to change forever.

When Tanya uncovers disturbing truths about Curtis, she is plunged into a bittersweet journey of discovery. For while she learns painful new lessons about love, betrayal and sensual temptation, she also discovers, within herself, the wisdom to celebrate the victories that are hers alone.

Now author of twelve books, Ms. Roby's most recent book, The Best of Everything, was published this past January.

World-renowned Reverend Curtis Black’s daughter Alicia is all grown up and even more trouble than her father.

Alicia Black Sullivan swore to never repeat her father’s mistakes: she would never break any promises, she would never be unfaithful. And most important of all, when she got married, it would be for good.

And she really does love Philip, the assistant pastor of her father’s church. She just happens to love money – and the things it can buy – as well. Alicia was born to the good life, she’s entitled to the best, and she’ll do anything to get it. Even if it means piling up thousands of dollars in debt. Even if it means denying to everyone—even herself—that her love of shopping has gotten way out of control.

Before long, Philip begins to wonder if marrying the woman of his dreams was a huge mistake. Alicia has the same thoughts, too. Deep down, though, she knows a whopper of an emotional bill is coming due. And all the regrets in the world won’t change the fact that she may be more like her infamous father than she could have imagined—or feared.

You can learn more about Kimberla Lawson Roby and her books at her website, http://www.kimroby.com/.