These are my literary babies. I’m expecting another completely different book in the winter.

I loved doing the historical research for these books nearly as much as writing them. But it would have been so  much easier to do if I could go back in time to see what it was really like in the “olden days.” The characters in my books find a weird computer program that lets them do just that. Abby calls it “time-surfing.”The books don’t fit neatly into a single genre. They are a combination of southern Illinois history and modern technology, part Christian historical fiction and part sci-fi because of the time travel. (Only virtual time travel because I didn’t want Abby and her friends to accidentally mess up the whole space-time continuum thingy.)

One Amazon reviewer describes the trilogy’s premise as “unique…sort of a Back to the Future meets virtual reality, with a little dash of Seventh Heaven thrown in.” (Tiffany Harkleroad, Amazon Top 500 Reviewer)

Another Christian reviewer wasn’t as enthusiastic about this fantasy concept of time-surfing. She said it wasn’t scriptural. But as Brother Greenfield says in Every Hill and Mountain, “Our God is omniscient, omnipotent, and omnipresent. Hallelujah! If he wants to give us a gift like that, he can.”

It’s an amazing gift, all right. Except sometimes Abby and her friends learn more than they ever wanted to know about people from the past. Still, studying their lives of people teaches them about God’s love and goodness in a new way. From the distance that only time gives, they clearly see that God has a plan for his people, that He’s in the business of redemption, that He makes all things new. I hope my readers get that. Writing about it reminded me, too.

By the way, I was born near the setting of Every Hill and Mountain and grew up “just down the road” from the settings of Time and Again and Unclaimed Legacy. Today I live with my husband Bob in Waterloo, Illinois, where I enjoy reading, gardening, and learning about regional history. We have three grown children, three grandchildren, and two canine buddies Digger and Scout (Scout had a cameo role as “Dr. Bob” in Unclaimed Legacy).

Learn more about the trilogy (including where to buy them, of course) here.