“A Light Shining” Publishes Today; “Dancing Priest” Free on Kindle

Today is the official publication date for A Light Shining, the sequel to my first novel, Dancing Priest. It’s now available in e-book format on Amazon Kindle, Barnes and Noble Nook, and other online sellers shortly. The paperback edition will be available in about a week.

The new novel includes most of the same characters from Dancing Priest, with a few new ones added, including a character born doing the editing and rewriting process this past summer. Giving credit where credit is due, the editor – Adam Blumer – suggested that a character be added (for a specific reason, which you have to read the book to understand). I worked this character for weeks stretching into months, and finally it clicked and the story was essentially recast and reborn as a result.

It’s a character who has no name, and he’s introduced on the very first page.

The story: Michael and Sarah are newly married, joining their names as Kent-Hughes, and back in San Francisco from their honeymoon in Hawaii. Michael continues to work as assistant pastor at St. Anselm’s Church, and he and Sarah are raising Jim, the young boy Michael became the guardian for in Dancing Priest. Within a few short weeks, they have a new addition to their family. They return to Europe on vacation, seeking the family of Michael’s birth mother.

Then comes the Violence. And everything changes.

Over the next few weeks, we’re planning interviews with Michael and Sarah, background on the writing of the story, some giveaways of the novel, a free pdf of the wedding story (cut from Dancing Priest and not included in A Light Shining), and some various other activities.

Today, to help celebrate the publication of A Light Shining, we (that’s the publisher and me) are making Dancing Priest a free download on Amazon Kindle.

I’m still somewhat surprised that all of this has happened. Dancing Priest in 2011, A Light Shining now, a novella in the spring, and a contract for another kind of book altogether signed and planned for the fall or winter of 2013 (more on that later).

And I’ve already been asked – will Michael and Sarah’s story continue?

The answer is – it’s possible. We’re going to see how these two novels are received, and then we’ll decide.

But there is a lot more to the story.

Related:

Laura Boggess reviews A Light Shining at The Wellspring.