PAINT THE STORM and interview with Dawn V. Cahill

Are there any other authors in your family? 

No, I am the only author in my family. In fact, I’m the only writer, strangely enough. Although I noticed my oldest son at a young age had writing talent, and I think he could develop it into something special if he wanted to.

How old are your children? Do they read your books? Have any of them got the writing bug, as well?

I have 3 grown sons, all in their 20s. I’ve given each of them a paperback copy of Sapphire Secrets, and two of them think it’s really cool that Mom has a published book out there! As I mentioned above, my oldest son has a latent writing talent that I hope and pray he develops.

How do you research the communities and people you write about? Do you find yourself having do a lot of research?  

Traveling is the best research! Even better, it counts as a business expense. Researching people is a little more difficult. I listen carefully to how different types of people talk, dress, behave, etc, and incorporate a little something unique into each character. I also tend to stick with the familiar, or something I’ve had personal experience with. If I have to go outside my comfort range, there are a plethora of wonderful fellow authors in ACFW whose brains I can pick!

About the book: 

GOLDEN STATE TRILOGY, BOOK I: Set amidst the spectacular scenery of California’s Marin Peninsula, Paint the Storm tells a timely story that resonates in today’s culture. It’s a saga of God’s power to heal relationships and answer prayers in the unlikeliest of ways. It’s a tale of loss, danger, and ultimately love.

When her daughter Linzee announces her engagement to her partner Nena, artist and single mother Meg struggles to understand how God wants her to respond. Should she follow the culture around her by embracing and celebrating Linzee’s same-sex relationship? How would Christ repond? And what does Christ think of a local church notorious for its hateful anti-gay messages? While she wrestles with these questions, she turns to a Christian support group where she learns what it means to love like Christ did. An intriguing new man makes life interesting, but while she is getting to know him, another man from her past suddenly shows up, further complicating matters.

Meanwhile, a cyber bully is targeting Linzee. His hateful messages turn threatening. Meg and Linzee rekindle their bond as together they determine to uncover the stalker’s identity. When the clues point toward Meg’s own family, she is paralyzed with fear. The violence escalates–until the day Linzee turns up missing.  In her search for Linzee, Meg joins up with the unlikeliest of allies – and begins to see God’s hand at work. It’s only when she turns to her support-group friends for comfort and prayer that she finally understands God’s faithfulness through the deepest of trials.

Join Meg on her adventure toward love, healing, and a heart-warming conclusion.

Available for pre-order after September 15, 2016. See my website for the latest news: www.dawnvcahill.com

See Paint the Storm’s cast of characters here: https://www.pinterest.com/dawnvcahillauth/meet-paint-the-storms-cast-of-characters/

Dear Readers:

When I began writing Paint the Storm three years ago, gay marriage was not yet legal in the US. At the time, I approached the story as if it were a likely future scenario. Two years later, it was no longer a “what if.” It became reality. Unfortunately, it’s an issue which has polarized our nation, and even our churches.

You may be wondering why I would tackle such a controversial topic as gay marriage. In essence, I saw an unfilled niche in the Christian market for edgier fiction that dealt with issues unique to our time, and came up with the concept of Hot Topic Fiction (HTF). My stories aren’t afraid to explore the question, how does God want us Christians to live out our faith in this not-so-brave new world? Without insulting the reader by offering pat or easy answers—because there aren't any—my books tell of ordinary Christians following hard after Christ in a world of terror and violence, of upside-down morality, of hostility to Judeo-Christian values. The characters in my stories face situations that would have been unthinkable even 20 years ago. We live in a vastly different world than our parents did, and that's the world I write about.

Yet very few Christian fiction books contain gay characters, even though fiction is a great medium for imparting life lessons. I don’t claim to have all the answers. My goal was not to push an agenda. I simply wanted to tell the story of one Christian mom, and how she chose to live out Christ’s law of love.

I hope that more Christian authors will be courageous enough to tackle this and related issues in the future. After all, this is the world in which we live. And we Christians need to be prepared to deal with it.

This book required a daunting amount of research. But despite the hours I spent on Google, I found very few conclusive answers. Only lots of disagreements on questions such as, Does a gay gene exist? What causes someone to be gay? Due to the lack of definitive scientific answers, I didn’t try to answer those questions in the book. But I certainly encourage you to do your own research on these questions.

~~DVC~~