MPA PDF
You can now purchase an electronic <.pdf> copy of The Minor Protection Act for a mere $5! Click here to access the PayPal system, and no, you don't need a PayPal account.
May 24, 2008
May 23, 2008
Janet Folger Interview Airs.
In a classic case of marketing mania, I found out five minutes ago from a friend in Florida that my pre-taped interview with Janet Folger is airing today. I just popped onto the Faith 2 Action website and listened to the last five minutes -- if you want to hear it you can go to the website during the next 24 hours or so to download the whole interview.
UPDATE: You can download the interview here <look for May 23rd> as a RealPlayer file or an mp3.
April 29, 2008
They came first for the Mormons.
"They came first for the Communists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew.
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Catholics, and I didn't speak up because I was a Protestant.
Then they came for me, and by that time no one was left to speak up."
-Martin Niemoeller
Ok, I know it's a little over the top, but this is the quote I was thinking of when I saw a news item Saturday showing children of the Texas polygamist sect being bussed to foster care. Yes, there are absolutely problems with the group. Some of the adults were actively breaking the law -- but according to this article, only half the marriages are polygamous. The charge is child abuse, yet authorities concede the boys were not being abused, nor were the 130ish children under five. The divorced single mother wasn't breaking any law, nor were those living in traditional families, yet their children have been resettled into foster care during the investigation rather than being returned to them.
April 22, 2008
Janet Folger MPA Interview.
A few weeks ago Janet Folger's producer called to tell me the time had finally come for an interview. She <the producer> read the book over a year ago and has apparently been lobbying Janet all this time to get me on the show. I know this because I had the interview this afternoon, and at the beginning of each segment Janet said she doesn't have time to read fiction, she couldn't think of the last time she'd featured a fiction book on her show, etc., etc., but her producer had bugged her for a year about it. :p
I felt like I'd run a race by the time I hung up the phone and I have no idea how it turned out, but it was fun talking to someone so knowledgeable about a variety of difficult political issues facing Christians in America. I'd mention some plot line or other and Janet would have two or three related true stories on the tip of her tongue. I read her book, The Criminalization of Christianity, at the beginning of my book tour and it sounds like she's got enough material for a second edition if she has time to write one.
Hopefully I was able to convince her just a teeny little bit that fiction reaches a different segment of the population than her book or radio program, and is therefore a valid strategy for inspiring action and change...
The interview was taped, but I'll be sure to post when I know the date it will air.
April 18, 2008
Troubling.
Over the past week I've been following stories about the polygamous sect in Texas where Children's Protective Services removed 400+ children from their homes. I think what bothers me most about the story is the scale, and what seems to me the troubling implications.
If I understand correctly, a girl called a police hotline and reported being abused by her much older husband. A terrible accusation, and very much worthy of investigatory action by an agency charged with protecting children. But the broad scope of the action is what's amazing to me.
March 12, 2008
MPA in the News.
Some of you long-time readers may remember I stalked Joel Rosenberg at the International Christian Retail Show in Atlanta last summer. One of the questions I asked him was if he had any suggestions for how to get Christian fiction a broader voice in the marketplace <he had said on his website he was disappointed to find only non-fiction got much play in Christian circles>. He basically said he had no idea; that he was given a voice and wild popularity because he’d written a novel that had basically come true.
I read a lot of news and consider myself fairly well informed, and yes, I’ve seen echoes of my novel in recent anti-Christian legal actions around our country -- the most eerily similar a Utah homeschooler who fled her home after being ordered to enroll her children in public school -- but I have to say I did a double-take when I saw this headline:
2nd petition opposes homeschooling ban
Legal team warns of possible fines, parenting classes, loss of custody
The story relates to the recent anti-homeschooling ruling in California where the court required a couple to enroll their children in public school or a different private school than they were currently associated with <sort of an independent association of homeschoolers>.
The blogosphere is up in arms, homeschooling families are freaked and online petitions abound. I’m fairly certain the California Supreme Court will overrule such a ludicrous ruling, but what troubles me is that -- if the ruling stands -- the alarmist rhetoric illustrated by the above headline...is neither alarmist, nor rhetoric.
Say this couple <or other homeschooling families hit with the precedent> decides to defy the court? The court would have no choice but to impose punishment. Fines, parenting classes and loss of custody are not out of the realm of possibility in such a scenario.
Parents having to decide whether to give up their beliefs or risk losing custody of their children sounds an awful lot like my novel coming true.
January 02, 2008
MPA Notes.
Over at Cornhusker Academy, The Minor Protection Act by yours truly has been selected as the 1st Most Life Changing Book of 2007. I don't know if that means #1, or first of several to be named, but thanks for the honor. :) Janna also interviewed me right before Christmas -- you can read it by following the link above.
And while I was in Senegal, an interview was published over at Window to My World. Thanks Kim!
November 20, 2007
Snow! and a Christmas Present.
I woke up this morning to a light fall of snow on the ground. I don't know why, but snow just makes me happy. :) Of course it's already long gone...but it was nice while it lasted!
And snow reminds me of a great new Christmas offer I meant to post -- imagine the joy of your friend or family member as they open an autographed copy of an interesting, timely novel. :p
You too, can give the gift of reading by simply mailing me a check for $14.99. Yes, that's only $14.99 -- from now until Christmas I'll throw in free shipping and a free, super-cool bookmark.
Click here, then click on "how to order" to find out where you can mail the check. Make sure you include the name of the person you want it autographed to. :)
October 12, 2007
What About the Children?
I've always enjoyed hearing the BreakPoint radio spots done by Chuck Colson. Of course I haven't heard them in quite awhile, not being near a radio much, but my cousin forwarded the commentary for this past Wednesday entitled "What About the Children: Is Religion Child Abuse?"
Apparently my old pal Richard Dawkins, in his book The God Delusion, compares sexual abuse of a child and the "mental terrorism" of teaching them about religion and finds sexual abuse less damaging. Colson writes:
By “child abuse” Dawkins is not, at least not principally, referring to the scandals involving sexual misconduct by Catholic priests. He means that teaching a child about Christianity can damage them psychologically and emotionally.
According to Dawkins, however “odious” sexual abuse is, he “suspect[s] that it may do them less lasting damage than the mental abuse of bringing them up Catholic in the first place.”
Dawkins goes on to suggest that you should be able to sue for this "mental terrorism" in the same way you're able to sue sexual abusers. I wonder if he really does believe that, or if he's just being outrageous to sell books? It's amazing to me that someone who would make such claims is able to appear on every talk show in America as a calm and rational person, much less that he would see his book rise to the heights of the bestseller lists. I guess I shouldn't be amazed by that, but I still am.
Maybe I'm overreacting, but that seems to me as inflammatory a claim as the central theme of my book. I can easily see Dawkins saying that we need to remove children from the homes of people who are psychologically damaging them by teaching them about the claims of Christianity...for the good of the children...and the talk show hosts would just nod and murmur affirmations "yes, yes, for the children."
I'm torn between wanting to read Dawkins' book to be better informed and not wanting to donate a penny to his megaphone. Maybe I'll check for it at the library...
August 20, 2007
MPA in Canada.
"Fifteen Christian families from a tiny community of only about 1,300 people are making plans to leave their homes and work behind so that their children will not be forced by the Canadian government to attend 'sanctioned' schools where evolution is taught."
Apparently members of the Mennonite community in Quebec have their own schools, similar to our Amish and Mennonite communities. Children are taught the usuals, but this particular school is not following the required governmental curriculum including teaching on evolution and alternative lifestyles.
The worst part: "provincial officials have threatened the families with legal action, including the potential loss of their children to state control, if they do not abide by the mandatory education curriculum."
The Education Ministry spokesman was quoted as saying "We are not trying to prevent them from living their life the way they want, but they have to obey the law when it comes to educating their kids."
Yeah right. He might just as well have said you can believe whatever hokey, old-fashioned things you want to believe, but we the government are going to step in and teach your children what's really going on and you and your beliefs will go the way of the dinosaur. Sounds like the Canadians have been listening to Richard Dawkins.
How long do you think it'll be before we follow suit in America?
July 19, 2007
Truth & Hope Report Podcast & a New Review.
Odd how you make connections on the internet. A month or so ago I left a comment on a new blog I'd stumbled across, only to be contacted by the writer and find out he's a fellow Boisean. I sent him a book to review and a couple weeks ago he interviewed me for his podcast, The Truth and Hope Report. It's just been posted and you can listen to it here if you'd like <I think it's about 10 minutes long>.
He also posted a wonderful, thoughtful review <The Sum of all Christian Fears> that almost perfectly captured my hopes for the book. Thanks Adam!
July 17, 2007
Stranger than Fiction.
Last night I was finishing up a novel by Keith Clemons. He was another author at the show last week and came up to talk to me after hearing my spiel for the ten thousandth time <it's a political thriller about Christian persecution in America>. He writes about the same subject so we traded books.
So anyway, I was reading along and came across a quote that sounded, from context, like it was a real incident. Sure enough, I did a little googling and found it:
"How much do we regard children as being the property of their parents?," Dawkins asks. "It's one thing to say people should be free to believe whatever they like, but should they be free to impose their beliefs on their children? Is there something to be said for society to be stepping in? What about bringing up children to believe manifest falsehoods?"
I'd never read that quote before, but gosh it sounds a lot like some of the justification given in my book for beginning to remove children from the 'hostile' and 'intolerant' homes of Christian parents. It also reminds me of an outcry a few months ago over the Mickey Mouse-like TV character teaching Palestinian children to hate and kill the Jews. There was some discussion about whether or not children should be removed from that kind of environment.
February 22, 2007
Review.
Through multiple forwards, today I received a comment about MPA:
My former student Jodi Cowles sent me a copy of the book she recently published, and I was very impressed. It is called The Minor Protection Act (ISBN 1-933204-11-7) Multnomah's library has a copy too. It's very well written, and riveting to read. Made for good airplane reading.
Ok, seriously, is there any review more satisfying than your college English professor saying your book is "well written" and "riveting?" I think not. ;)
February 06, 2007
MPA Interview Posted.
If you're having trouble falling asleep, I suggest you click on over to an interview just posted at Active Christian Media. It's 41 1/2 minutes so you should be good and zonked by the time it finishes. ;)
January 04, 2007
Final MPA Review Posted.
And can be viewed here.
January 03, 2007
Two New MPA Reviews
Two more reviews came in. There's a good one here and I just got absolutely skewered here.
I tried to prepare myself for negative reviews, but now I'm sitting here a bit confused. The main point of the review, in my estimation, was that the entire book (plot, theme, etc.) was unrealistic. What confuses me is that 90% of the comments I get from people are that the book is realistic and they can see it happening. Literally, that's the first thing most people say to me. I guess the weight of all those remarks is why I was caught so off-guard. I was prepared for reviews saying it was horribly written, or my characters were shallow, or the dialogue creppy... :p
January 01, 2007
MPA Review.
I just found that the second review from the Active Christian Media promotion has been completed here. It's entitled "Do you want to be scared?" :p
December 18, 2006
Still Shopping?
What could be finer than a personally autographed book from an up-and-coming author? ;) I'll give you a great deal up to Christmas -- free priority mail shipping on any books you order by Wednesday. You can contact me by e-mail if you want to arrange an order.
December 11, 2006
Active Christian Media Book Review
November 22, 2006
Support Our Advertisers!
My first outside advertising campaign has just started! Active Christian Media is a blog-based advertising company run by a woman I met at GodBlogCon several weeks ago. Five of her associates are reviewing my book right now and I've got a banner on her site for a month. We'll see how it goes...
October 28, 2006
Small Humor.
I introduced myself to Hugh Hewitt very quickly at the mingle last night because I wanted to tell him how much his book, The Embarrassed Believer, had impacted me when I read it 7 or 8 years ago. He asked what I was doing and I briefly told him. Then he said something to the effect of "are you writing another one?" Yes. "Good, write 8 or 10 and then the Christian publishing industry will love you." Sigh. I guess I'd better get back on a writing schedule. :p
October 11, 2006
MPA in CA
Ok, so, you know how my book is fiction, right...
My dad called the other night and said I had to look up something he'd seen on the news. I did a little research here in my Home-Depot-parking-lot-lab and came up with this article. It describes three bills that Governor Schwarzenegger vetoed in the past year.
Assembly Bill 606: requires that "state funds be withheld from any school district that does not adopt a 'model policy' prohibiting discrimination and harassment based on sexual orientation and gender identity."
Assembly Bill 1056: "allocated funds for a Tolerance Education Pilot Program to teach kids about 'tolerance and intergroup relations,' including 'actual or perceived gender.'"
*side note, tolerance education programs are a major part of the re-education process in my book
SB 1437: "would have changed school textbooks to require positive portrayals of transsexuality, bisexuality, and homosexuality."
Also in my research today I found an interesting new study that discusses how LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisual and transgender) students are more prone to anger, drugs, suicide etc. because of the harassment they receive in school. Particularly "widespread bullying has dangerous academic, health and safety consequences for students."
To me that sounds like a study I pretty well made up for chapter 1 to provide the basis for Nick being thrown in jail after Jayla's suicide.
May 17, 2006
Family Christian Bookstore - Boise
I met with the manager of the Family Christian Bookstore in Boise last week and he agreed to carry some copies as a "margin skew." I'm learning all kinds of new and interesting terms through this process. I still have no control over changing minds at the corporate level, but they will stock it in Boise. I told him I'd be by to take a picture, as that will be the first time I've actually seen my book on the shelf!
May 02, 2006
188 stores & counting...
First, I've hooked up with two ladies who are helping me with marketing. Thank the Lord above! I am definitely not the marketing type, especially when it comes to marketing my own stuff. But these ladies are helping me brainstorm and run ideas to ground.
Second, the redesigned website is up and running. I've got the ability to take credit card payments through Paypal now. Also have a tell-your-friend page where you can send an e-mail with an excerpt from the first chapter.
Last, I'm booked at the Pacific Northwest Library Association meeting in June. I'll have a little table and try to hawk some of my books. That should be fun after I get over it being nerve-wracking.
April 04, 2006
180 Stores!!
I got an e-mail from the publisher yesterday that 180 stores have taken copies of the book. Being the newbie that I am, I had to ask for clarification of what "taken copies" meant -- I thought maybe it meant they'd taken free marketing copies to read and decide whether they wanted to stock. But no, it means they ordered copies to sell. Now there is a 100% buy back guarantee, so really they're only risking the time and trouble of stocking it and then maybe having to return it...but they made at least that effort.
March 27, 2006
Launch!
Yesterday was the Book Launch party thrown by my family. We had a great time and I even managed to read the first chapter of the book in front of the group without hurling. I didn't have any trouble with the question and answer period, but there is something truly heinous about having to read my work aloud. I don't know quite what the difference is, but once the reading part was over I had a good time. My family and friends really went all out. There were cut-out paper dolls matching the cover, table decorations, balloons, lots of food -- it was a real party. Now if all attending will go out and tell five of their friends, maybe we'll get some word of mouth going. :)
March 23, 2006
The bio that got cut
Just for fun, here's the un-publisher-snipped bio I wrote for the book. My parents and I came up with it when we went out to Fiesta Guadalajara for a celebratory dinner the night I sent off the final edited copy to the publisher. I was pretty excited because my life sounds fairly interesting when you just list one cool thing a year. :p
Jodi Cowles caught the travel bug when her parents took her on her first international flight at six months of age. Since then she’s been in over 30 countries. Along the way she’s gotten locked out of her cabin on an all night train to Kiev, helped deliver a baby in Indonesia, taught English in South Korea, gone spelunking in Guam, hiked the Golan Heights and laid bricks in Zimbabwe. Her interest in politics stems from hunting Easter eggs on the south lawn of the White House as a child. For her 30th birthday she ran the LA Marathon and promised to get serious about publishing. Jodi resides in Boise, Idaho and this is her first novel.
February 10, 2006
I'm Ranked!
Granted, it's only "Amazon.com Sales Rank: #143,791 in Books." But that's better than "Sales: none" as I was just yesterday. A couple friends tried and said it will let you complete the order, but shows as sold out and not deliverable until the first week of March. I'll be at the LAX Hilton next week for work and as it sits between a Carl's Jr. and the XXX Girly show and I will have no car -- I should have some freetime in the evening to work on the book's website.
February 09, 2006
One Nanosecond of Fame
I have been checking every month or so, randomly, to see when my book shows up on Amazon. Yesterday afternoon I was ordering some other books by Dee Henderson (great reads!) and typed my name in while only half paying attention. I nearly fell out of my chair when it popped up. I know quite well that when you read further down it says "sales: none" -- but that doesn't destroy my unmitigated happiness at just seeing it there. Amazon.com. Wow.
February 06, 2006
Better get a move on
So I got an e-mail back from the publisher today that I would have my copies of the book by the end of the month. I guess that means I'd better get on the ball with the website. After all this time I'm sort of numb that it's finally coming out -- for some reason it's making it hard to work up any energy or momentum to do the things that need doing. Website, marketing, etc. I think I would have been better as a writer in another era -- one where I could hide in my manse scribbling like a madwoman and only sending out a manuscript once a year. I am more the Finding Forrester type.