AN INTERVIEW WITH LINCOLN STEELE FROM PATRICIA BRADLEY'S NATCHEZ TRACE PARK RANGERS SERIES

Natchez, Mississippi

Today we sit down for a chat with Lincoln Steele from author Patricia Bradley’s Natchez Trace Park Rangers series.

What was your life like before your author started pulling your strings?

I was a successful FBI investigator/sniper. And I didn’t have PTSD from almost killing a ten-year-old boy. Oh, and thanks for giving me an opportunity to rat out talk about my author.

 

What’s the one trait you like most about yourself? 

That I can adapt. If I can’t be an FBI agent, then I can feed my other love—history—as an interpretive ranger for the National Park Service.

 

What do you like least about yourself? 

I hate that I can’t overcome this thing about guns. After all, I was an FBI sniper…

 

What is the strangest thing your author has had you do or had happen to you? Going back to the gun thing—I just don’t understand why she had to do that. I mean, couldn’t she have just made me afraid of alligators? There’s plenty of them in the sloughs around Natchez.

 

Do you argue with your author? If so, what do you argue about? 

All the time. It’s always about the gun thing. I mean, how can a former FBI sniper be a hero without a gun?

 

What is your greatest fear? 

That Ainsley will be in danger, and I can’t save her. I let her down once, and I never want to do that again.

 

What makes you happy? 

Having Ainsley smile that special smile at me. The one that says, “I forgive you…I love you…”

 

If you could rewrite a part of your story, what would it be? Why?

I would never hurt Ainsley like I did when we were in college. See, she had this great dream of being a country/gospel singer, and I told myself the music industry would chew her up and spit her out. I told myself I didn’t want to see her hurt, but really, I was afraid I’d lose her. I lost her anyway,

 

Of the other characters in your book, which one bugs you the most? Why?

The escaped convict bugs me the most. He’s like a chameleon and I’m afraid he’ll get to Ainsley when I’m not around. 

 

Of the other characters in your book, which one would you love to trade places with? Why? 

Actually, none of them. Because her dad was so controlling, Ainsley doesn’t let anyone get close to her emotionally, so it wouldn’t do any good to trade places with one of them. I’ll just have to prove to her I’ve changed so she’ll trust me again.

 

Tell us a little something about your author. Where can readers find her website/blog? 

Patricia Bradley and her two rescue kitties Suzy and Tux live in Northeast Mississippi just four miles from Tennessee and twenty-five from Alabama. She’s a Carol finalist and winner of an Inspirational Readers’ Choice Award in Suspense, and three anthologies that included her stories debuted on the USA Today Best Seller List. 

 

She sets most of her romantic suspense novels in the South, and they include the Logan Point series, the Memphis Cold Case Novels, and the Natchez Trace Park Ranger series. You can find links to her books at https://ptbradley.com/books/.

 

Patricia would love to connect with you on her blog—you see, on Tuesdays she writes posts with mystery questions, usually about dumb criminals. Three of the stories are true, but she makes up one of them. It’s up to the reader to guess which one she made up. Then on Fridays, she tells her readers about a book she’s read lately. And you can always connect with her at her website where you can find links to all her social media. 

What's next for you? 

Crosshairs, my third book in the Natchez Trace Park Rangers series released Monday, November 1, 2021, and I just turned in the fourth book of the series, Deception.

 

Crosshairs

Natchez Trace Park Rangers, Book 3

 

Investigative Services Branch (ISB) ranger Ainsley Beaumont arrives in her hometown of Natchez, Mississippi, to investigate the murder of a three-month-pregnant teenager. While she wishes the visit was under better circumstances, she never imagined that she would become the killer’s next target–nor that she’d have to work alongside an old flame.

 

After he almost killed a child, former FBI sniper Lincoln Steele couldn’t bring himself to fire a gun, which had deadly and unforeseen consequences for his best friend. Crushed beneath a load of guilt, Linc is working at Melrose Estate as an interpretive ranger. But as danger closes in on Ainsley during her murder investigation, Linc will have to find the courage to protect her. The only question is, will it be too little, too late?

 

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MEET MINISTER AND CHRISTIAN ROMANCE AUTHOR CYNTHIA MIDDLEBROOKS HARRIS

Cynthia Middlebrooks Harris is both an ordained minister and an author African-American Christian romance. Today she joins us to discuss the challenges she faces combining these two parts of her life. Learn more about Cynthia and her books at her website and blog.  

Doing What Feels Right

Christian authors are sometimes challenged with our choice of genre or content. Isn’t it amazing how others have the uncanny ability to pinpoint your strengths as a writer, and often strongly suggest the type of material they’re prophetically sure you should produce? We find ourselves, at times, yielding to the demand of others.

When I felt the urging from God to write fiction, moreover, Christian Romance Fiction, I instantly resisted. It wasn’t because I disagreed with the command from the Almighty. I cringed at the thought of the backlash I was destined to receive from my fellow ministers, and receive it, I did! “Why are you wasting your God-given talent on fiction? … With all your knowledge of the Bible, you chose fiction. And romance at that! … And just how do you suppose writing fiction will advance the kingdom of God? … You’ve grossly missed what God would have you to do… I can’t believe you are going to write that garbage… You’ll lose credibility as a minister of the gospel.”

Yet, I knew my imagination was a gift from God, early in my childhood. I spent the majority of my pre-teen years living inside of an imaginary world. No matter where I was or what I found myself doing, words were forever in my head. Soon, after many trials, tribulations, failures, and successes, Christianity and my imagination collided, and I emerged as a Christian Romance author. Christian or not, most everyone loves a good romance or drama novel.

Have you ever sat in church on Sunday morning, only to leave disappointed because you had no idea how to apply to your life what you just heard? Most often, the message is delivered as a prime cut of filet mignon, when instead, all you were capable of digesting at the time, was a hamburger. Inside, you scream, “Will someone please give me a simple answer to this Christian walk of life!”

I trusted God and followed his omniscient lead. Moreover, it just plain felt right! Through fiction writing, I dared to believe that marriages would be mended. I had a hope that young girls straddling the fence would choose to remain virtuous until their wedding nights. I prayed they would get the understanding that the jewels of the treasure box they have on lockdown should be opened only by the one who possesses the master key. 

It was also my desire that men would be challenged to rise to the occasion of the divine mandate of “mighty men of valor.” They will begin to become the heads of their homes and lead their wives and children after the manner laid out by God’s original design. They will begin to minister to their wives instead of choosing to throw caution and vows to the wind, going outside of the marriage bed at the first sign that the grass in their lawn has been overgrown with a few brown spots. They will begin to understand how devastated and lost their wives felt when they chose another over them.

I chose to dance to the beat of the drum that resonated deep within my spirit. The rhythm of my heart is exposed in this series. I could have chosen to fall in line with the instruction to use my “gift” to write nonfiction. If so, I would have missed a vast majority of the people who would never have chosen to pick up or open a bible. Some Christian authors fail in the task of writing a book that non-Christians will ever desire to read. I could have chosen, and written along the lines of the vast “Christian way of living” novels currently in print. The ones that often list seven ways to spirit living, five principles of the spirit-led man or battling the demons within. (These are not real titles. At least not to my knowledge. They are merely titles suggested as subjects for imagery, to drive home the point). And, the point is; if they have the word “Christian,” or “spirit living.” Some people will never open the cover even to view the first page. The reason, of course, they feel defeated, out-cast and substandard, in the title alone.

The Other Side of Through 

All Things Work Together, Book 1

Tragedy has struck Talinda Travis’ perfect world. A harsh reality has overshadowed the one thing she waited not so patiently on for a lifetime. The man of prophecy, handpicked by God just for her, lay dying in her arms at the hands of a mad man. How could this possibly be the right division of God’s word that says, ‘All things work together for the good?’  Talinda would come to understand her husband’s favorite quote that “Ministry is Always Required.” She finds herself in a place she thought she would never be at such a young age… a grieving widow. The woman she’d kept at arm’s length for most of her life would prove to be her most valuable asset as she fights to stay afloat emotionally.

Meanwhile, Nevette Naythia Goodfellow appears to be living the dream life with her newlywed husband, Derrick Justice Goodfellow II. She’s in total bliss and awe of God as she indulges in His most powerful gift on earth... love!  While Nevette is living inside her fairy tale, her closest friend Lindsay has perfected the art of masking a devastating secret. One that, if it were exposed, would threaten the spiritual stability of the small town where she spent most of her childhood. 

Every God-given emotion you have within will surface as you journey into Talinda and Nevette’s world in this riveting series. You will sigh with dreamy eyes…laugh out loud…cry and want to explode with revenge as you travel to The Other Side of Through with Talinda and Nevette!

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FAVORTIES, FAILURES & FRUSTRATIONS--GUEST AUTHOR SYDNEY LAWRENCE

Author Sydney Lawrence has dabbled in many things in her life, from painting to raising cows. She is a fan of old movies and Britcoms. An avid reader, Sydney often finishes more than a novel a week. She wishes she could write equally fast. Learn more about her and her books at her Goodreads author page.

Failure—it’s not a word anyone likes to hear, least of all me. I prefer soaring success! Who doesn’t? Yet, along my path as a writer, I’ve encountered rejection. I think it just goes along with the work. Don’t believe me? Even Stephen King and the wildly successful J.K. Rowling have tasted the stings of rejection. I have to remind myself that this business is not for the thin skinned.

My latest bitter taste of failure came in the form of an Amazon Kindle Scout campaign. If you haven’t heard of the program, it is a mix of choosing novels to publish by popularity and then a deciding word from the Amazon Kindle Scout editors. A book’s campaign is under way for thirty days in which members can vote on your novel.

Let me stop here and say this is a brutal undertaking! It sounds simple enough at first but to keep a book campaign at the top of the popularity on the site actually takes a very well developed social media following combined with round-the-clock marketing. Worse yet, even if you do manage to keep the book hot and trending, meaning it’s popular with voters, Amazon’s editors still have the final say. Some books that lit up the charts were ultimately not published.

I began my campaign for a Christian romance novel called Date with a Billionaire.  I worked and pushed but it slipped in popularity. I waited anxiously to find out the results of the campaign from the editors. When I received my “Thanks but no thanks” email confirming my book hadn’t been chosen, I was deflated. Does this mean I think the Amazon Kindle Scout program is a bad idea? No, not at all. I think it gives authors and readers a chance to see unique books that might otherwise not be published. It was also a valuable learning experience for me in marketing. Those brutal 30 days were a trial by fire.

For me though, one of the best takeaways of the failure was freedom. Up to then, I’d only written romance novels. If I’d actually won the campaign, I’m sure I would have felt compelled to write a similar book. That’s what readers would expect, right? However, failure granted me another option. Why not try something different? So, I did. I wrote the short novel The Girl Within, a dark first person, psychological thriller. I loved the change of pace. I don’t like to ‘fail’ any more than the next person, but sometimes the lessons from a stumble outweigh our successes.

As it turns out, Date with a Billionaire, is doing okay, too. Readers like it and that’s always the ultimate success in my little world.

The Girl Within

Elizabeth Lyons steps into a nightmare when she returns home to find her husband and young son missing. Nothing is as it seems in this dark, psychological thriller.

Will Elizabeth unravel the tangled mystery or succumb to her worst impulses?

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