Answer Question # 7 to be entered into the giveaway. Include contact information.
1. What
is your current work in progress?
I am finishing my fourth book, Plain & Simple a romance about
a recently widowed middle-aged mother who must pull up stakes from her home for
financial reasons and relocate to an Amish farmhouse she plans to turn into a
B&B that was owned by a recently widowed young Amish man who lost his
entire family in a buggy accident.
2. What would be your dream vacation?
I would love to go to Switzerland, Germany,
Italy, France and England. Switzerland
because Heidi was my favorite book as a child and I’ve always wanted to see the
Alps. Germany so I could tour the
Neuschwanstein Castle in Bavaria (the one that Disney modeled their Cinderella
castle after), Italy so I could eat my way through the country and kiss under
the bridge of Sighs at sunset, France for the romance of it and England to have
a proper high tea!
3. What are your hobbies, besides writing and reading?
I used to ice-skate, do crafts, sew, and scrap book but as a working
adult I no longer have any time for any of that even though I miss it. I’m
hoping there are ice-rinks in heaven!
4. What is your most
difficult writing obstacle, and how do you overcome it?
Logical consistency and continuity. I write in fits and starts with gaps
in-between and don’t often remember what came before. I’m also a Type A
personality (the kind that doesn’t like to read instruction manuals) so I have
a tendency to just want to get the main thought/theme down on paper on not
bother with the minutiae that makes the story logical.
5. Tell
us about The Victor – a brief
blurb:
A benevolent King; ...his sword of power;
...a ruthless traitor bent on revenge; ...and the faithful son who stands in
his way with the woman destined to share his throne. Who shall emerge as the
victor in this epic struggle between good and evil to govern the lives of
hapless men?
6. Is there one particular message or “moral of the story” you hope
readers walk away with?
I went from being a non-religious
Jew to becoming an instant believer as a result of responding emotionally to
the tv movie Jesus of Nazareth
in 1977. I was inspired to write The Victor with the goal of reaching
unbelievers with the message of God’s redemptive love for us as a medieval love
story. It doesn’t beat people over the
head but by-passes their mental objections by connecting with their heart
through their emotions. Since the main character, Joshua, represents our Savior
and is the protagonist, he is the one the reader will most identify with and
perhaps see things from his perspective. My hope is that this will then
translate into real life when the reader realizes how much they are loved and
what he did to redeem us.
7. What one question would you like us to ask
your readers?
Who
is the one person in your life you have the most difficulty sharing the Gospel
with and why?
8. Tell us about the giveaway you’re offering.
I am offering an autographed, paperback
copy of The Victor to one of your blog followers and another personally
autographed copy as a gift to that person’s friend, acquaintance or relative as
a gift who they are trying to reach with the Gospel.
9. How did The Victor get started?
It all
began 30 years ago while I was listening to Amy Grant’s second album, “Father’s
Eyes”. The song “fairytale” was playing and when I heard the verses: “two
princes wage the battle for eternity but The Victor has been known from the
start” I got a mental picture of Satan and Christ as knights locked in mortal
combat which would decide the fate of a maiden in distress who represents the
bride of Christ. I began to write the story in my spare time at work on a
typewriter (this was years before computers). Shortly after I began to write, I
asked the Lord for a confirming scripture that the idea had come from Him and
was immediately led to Psalm 45. Not knowing what it said, I looked it up and
was absolutely stunned to read the first verse: “My heart overflows with a good
theme; I address my verses to the King; my tongue is the pen of a ready
writer.” It could not have been more perfect. The rest of the Psalm describes
the wedding of the King to his bride which I use almost in its entirety at the
end of the book. In the summer of 2009, I was finally able to meet Amy Grant in
person and show her the book that her song had inspired.
10. Tell us
about your research process.
It’s funny, people often assume I have done a
lot of research for my books when I actually haven’t since I don’t have the
luxury of free time since I work a 40 hour week. For The Victor, I happen to
love the medieval genre and watched a lot of swashbuckling movies and am a big
fan of Tolkien and C.S. Lewis so those resources helped in terms of setting the
stage for my book, so to speak. I also had a book entitled “Life in a Castle in
Medieval England”
that I referred to but if I really described how things were in a historically
accurate way, the reader most likely would have been turned off (especially
when it came to what they ate and personal hygiene. For instance, when a knight
was knighted, the nobleman did not tap his shoulders with the sword but whacked
him with the flat of the blade as hard as he could. It was the knight’s job to
withstand the blow and remain upright!
11. How do you choose
between ideas you’d like to write about?
I
write/create best from inspiration. Sometimes an idea will just pop into my
head. Except for my third book, In Plain Sight, which I was tasked to do, I
believe that both The Victor and especially Make a Wish were
divinely inspired ideas. I’m not sure what the Lord’s plans are for them but I
do know that people have been blessed by them because I’ve heard from them!
12. Where
can readers find you online? My blog: www.psalm451.net;
my book website: www.thevictorbook.com,
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/marlayne.giron
Twitter: @thevictorbook. To find my books on Amazon, just search on my full
name.
Book trailer is here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GA-CbVgBpjg
****
Title: THE VICTOR
Author: Marylane Giron
Publisher: Tate Publishing
April 2009
ISBN: 978-1607991847
Genre: Historical
A benevolent King; ...his sword of power; ...a ruthless
traitor bent on revenge; ...and the faithful son who stands in his way with the
woman destined to share his throne.
Who shall emerge as the victor in this epic struggle between
good and evil to govern the lives of hapless men?
THE VICTOR is the first book I’ve read by Ms. Giron—and she
tells me that this book, THE VICTOR has been rewritten and she is seeking
traditional publication with it. I wish her the best of luck in her search.
THE VICTOR is a fantasy adventure with a Medieval setting.
It blends the evil darkness with the light of hope and goodness. The reader
follows the hero as he matures from a young boy to the being heir to the
throne. But things don’t go smoothly. There is, of course, a villain who is
prepared to take it all the way—and the hero is forced to make an impossible
choice to save the kingdom.
This is a biblical allegory, but it isn’t preachy or
obvious. Fans of fantasy, biblical allegories, or Medieval books should love
THE VICTOR. Available now with Tate Publishing in both print and kindle. Or you can wait
for the new version, hopefully coming soon. $16.99. 276 pages.
*****
Marlayne Giron is a wife and mother living in Southern
California. She currently works as a full-time administrative
assistant and enjoys cooking for her family every night, scrapbooking, making
high teas, and entertaining.
At the age of 22 (In 1982) Marlayne was inspired to write The
Victor by a line in an Amy Grant song called: "Fairytale" (from her
Father's Eyes album). The particular verse in the song which inspired the idea
was: "two princes wage the battle for eternity but the victor has been
known from the start". The verse made her imagine an evil
"Baron" in black armor and knight in shining armor crossing swords
over "maiden in distress". She wrote the story in her free time at
work on an IBM Selectric typewriter and at home on a Smith Corona Portable.
Marlayne rewrote the story over the course of almost 30 years and
made many attempts to get it published for several years but after a 4-year
bout with ulcerative colitis that resulted in major surgery, then infertility
then the adoption of her daughter and the demands of having to work full-time
to pay the bills, she gave up on her dream of The Victor ever being published
until April of 2008 when Tate Publishing called to offer her a contract.
The Victor was released on April 14th of 2009. As a direct result
of her former employment with John Styll at CCM Magazine 28 years ago (who was President
of the Gospel Music Association at the time of the book’s release), she was
able to connect with Amy Grant who personally autographed Marlayne’s copy of
The Victor. Through a dear friend and her agent, Mary Fields, Marlayne was also
able to finally meet Amy Grant in person at the Life & Faith Concert Tour
in 2009 in Richmond, VA.
Nicholas Sparks was also kind enough to pose with a copy of the
book at one of his own book signings as well as Lisa Welchel (Blair from The
Facts of Life TV show).
