Update: Bella is out! Along with a release of the DVD.
I'm pleased to officially announce that I'm in the process of writing the novelization of the award-winning movie Bella. I was contacted by Thomas Nelson earlier this past autumn and plans were finalized in December. Working from the screenplay by Leo Severino and Alejandro Monteverde and painstakingly watching the film itself has been a unique process for me, but one I am enjoying. Bella is life-affirming, filled with faith, hope and love.
Where were books like this fifteen years ago when I was a teen? Sweet Valley High and saccharine Christian YA made my stomach lurch and my mind long for characters I could relate to. Good thing I had an imaginary friend…
Teens of today, don’t despair! Authors Melody Carlson, Jenny B. Jones and now Lisa Samson are cranking out the books I only dreamed of reading.
We're so excited here. Justice in the Burbs released August 1st! Will's first book, my first involvement with non-fiction, and we're wondering what God will do with it. What people will do with it. Our prayer is that so many people will see Jesus standing in front of them, whether it's the person serving who's giving the Savior food, of the person being served, seeing Jesus in the eyes of the person who's come to help.
If you're excited about the book and you blog, would you mind letting your readers know about it today? Amazon link here. And youtube video link here. We own the copyrights to the video so please feel more than free to embed it in your blog if you so choose.
Also, if this is something you think your church would like to do in small groups or studies, email us with your address and we'll send you the two-chapter sample booklet and a DVD of the promotional video so you can pass it on to the decision makers. If that happens to be you, don't get out of breath passing it from one hand to the other!
Thanks so much!
will and lisa
"Will and Lisa have joined talents to offer a compelling argument
for living justly in an unjust world, and for loving our neighbors in a
hands-on, life-changing way." LIZ CURTIS HIGGS, author, Bad Girls of the Bible.
"Whatever happened to the vital social and moral energies of the
Christian faith? They are alive and throbbin in this book that shows
how the gospel can walk the missing sidewalks and unfriendly
cul-de-sacs of the suburbs." LEONARD SWEET, Drew Theological School,
George Fox University.
"Will and Lisa are provocateurs of imagination, writing for a desert
where folks are thristy for more than the American dream. This is a
much-needed invitation for justice to flow throught the suburbs liek
mighty waters and bring to life all the parched souls trapped in the
ghettos of poverty and wealth." SHANE CLAIBORNE, activist, author, The Irresistible Revolution: Living as an Ordinary Radical.
"Will and Lisa Samson's new book, Justice in the Burbs, is a moving
book. I wept with joy, knowing how many people will be moved to join
the work for justice God has already begun in the world." CHRISTIAN
SCHAREN, author, One Step Closer: Why U2 Matters to Those Seeking God.
The Justice in the Burbs blog
will be updated regularly with thoughts and ideas for those seeking to
engage in the world around them for the sake of others and in the name
of Jesus.
Our promo video for Justice in the Burbs is finished. Award-winning documentary filmmaker John Paget, (Route 66, Almost Elvis) came and filmed in Lexington and put together this video. If you'd like to use Justice in the Burbs for Sunday School or small groups, this is a great resource to send to your pastor or ministry director. Let us know what you think?
Shauna's become one of my internet buddies. Women like Shauna are one of the reasons I can't imagine disengaging myself from the on-line community even though there are times all that is Amish looks pretty darned nice!
Shauna has given her readers "The Christy Challenge" and some of them are taking her up on it. As part of the Christy Challenge feature on her blog, she was gracious enough to have me on over for a cup of coffee and an interview. Okay, so the coffee's still future tense. But someday! I'm totally convinced of that.
Thanks, Shauna!
I've been a fan of Lisa Samson ever since picking up Tiger Lillie one day at the library. I loved the book's quirky heroine and her friends and was surprised by how edgy and authentic the story was while at the same time revealing spiritual truths. I have since then read everything else of Lisa's I could get my hands on and am a regular reader of her blog, Author Intrusion. Thanks to technology and her gracious spirit, I have had the privilege of getting to know her better and learn more about how she lives her faith.
“Will and Lisa Samson remind us that Jesus and those who have loved and
followed him over the centuries have cared about the poor and about justice.
They invite us to discover afresh this truth and this way of life today in our
communities and our world.”
Will
and Lisa Samson invite you to join them on a very scary journey that
begins in the suburbs that could change your life and make a little
difference in God’s world. If interested in taking Jesus seriously I
suggest you read this book with a few friends and see what happens.
Publisher's Weekly Magazine has given Justice in the Burbs a great review. You can pre-order here. Download a copy of the intro and chapter one here.
Justice in the Burbs: Being the Hands of Jesus Wherever You Live
Will and Lisa Samson. Baker Books, $14.99 paper (208p) ISBN 978-0-8010-6809-6
Award-winning Christian novelist Lisa Samson (Songbird; Quaker Summer) and her husband, sociology doctoral student Will Samson, intertwine fiction and nonfiction in this challenging and inspiring book about justice. Lisa Samson's novella features the Marshalls, a suburban family with all the accouterments: Matt climbs the corporate ladder, Christine cares for their three children, and both are busy with numerous church leadership positions. One day, however, Matt and Christine visit an inner-city mission, and their ideas about how they should be living gradually, but dramatically, change. The nonfiction portion of the book examines the issues these characters (and most of the book's readership) face. The Samsons talk about why God cares what we eat, where we live, how much electricity we use, and to whom we minister. Astonishingly, the authors manage to do this without hitting a sanctimonious note. On the contrary, they repeatedly highlight the heartbreak and complexity of what they refer to as "thinking and living in keeping with God's heartbeat of justice," and frequently acknowledge their own struggles and failures. The Samsons include short meditations at the end of each chapter written by a variety of Christian authors, as well as a series of helpful discussion questions at the end. (Aug.)
Here's one of the questions from an interview Will had with New Wineskins linked to below. I love this little blurb from the interviewer Fred Peatross's bio:
Fred makes "ordinary attempts" to evangelize through relational acts of kindness and enjoys praying behind his friends' backs . . .
3) I don't know if it would be fair to call you an environmental activist but tell us a little about the environmental concerns?
Scripture talks of humanity as coming “from the dust of the Earth.” In this way, concerns about what we eat, what we drive and how much we consume are not dissociated from me. Instead, because I eat food and breathe oxygen and rely on vitamins and minerals from the Earth, care for creation is caring for the future “me.” This frightens some Christians. It sounds like pantheism. I see it as a holistic view of humanity and all of creation. I hope this perspective is being shaped by my attempts to be faithful to scripture and the Christian tradition – time will tell. But because of this hope, I might not think of myself as an environmental activist – maybe more of a kingdom activist, one who sees care for creation as inseparable from living in faithful relationship to God and my neighbor.
Hooray! The cover is up and Hollywood Nobody, my first delving into a YA novel, is already pre-flying off the pre-shelves. Okay, just kidding. I have no idea if anybody's pre-ordered! The point is, you can preorder now and I thought, shoot, who wouldn't want to after seeing this very cool cover.
Hollywood Nobody is geared for girls ages 12 - 16 and was a whole lotta fun to write. As much as I deal with heavy issues in my women's fiction, I just wanted this to be a hoot. Well, you know me, it did get a little deep once in a while, can't help it, but overall it's a sassy, colorful read.
The story centers around Scotty Fitzgerald, the daughter of an on-location motion picture food stylist. They travel from shoot to shoot in an old Travco RV. Scotty rag-tag community includes geriatric RVers, an ornery director, a sassy wardrobe mistress and the hottest young actor in Hollywood, Seth Haas, who, unfortunately has it for Karissa Bonano, the actress most likely to end up in rehab or at the plastic surgeon's. Add to this the fact that Scotty doesn't know who her father is and she and her mother are always running from a mysterious man they call Biker Guy, and you've got a recipe for fun, intrigue and a whole lotta sass. I hope your daughters will love it.
The mountains in Estes Park just make you gasp, don't they? Being around giant nature reminds me how truly dumbfounding it is that the God who created such astounding beauty communicates with me and cares. It's crazy, isn't it?
The CCWC was loads of fun. I got to see a lot of my friends from the blogosphere and from writerville. God was speaking to a lot of people in various ways and I knew I was supposed to be there. I'd tried to back out, but when the director, Marlene Bagnull, told me 21 people had signed up for my workshop Living Intentionally, Writing on Purpose, I knew I had to go. I'd descended into a deep bout of depression and couldn't imagine packing my things, getting on a plane, and doing all the things travel entails. But God got me there and several people, thanks be to God, said after that workshop (it felt a little like church) they knew why God had called them to come to Colorado.
But God had plans for me too. He's very thrifty, isn't He? I had a couple of words spoken over me which make me ask you to pray for me, that I would truly recognize the voice of God. Especially pray that God would show me what my next adult novel is supposed to be. If you'd be willing to pray with me over this for the next month, please email me or let me know in the comments.
So I'm back. Filled with expectation and gratitude. I'm in the process of finding out if you can order the CD from the above mentioned workshop or the one on Women's Fiction. I'll post the link as soon as I know.
Update: Bella is out! Along with a release of the DVD.
