Win Two Signed Copies of Scared

Me and the family are on our vacation here in Breckenridge. I love the mountains of Colorado! If there's anything that restores my soul, this is it.

I wanted to let you know about my friend, Nicole Wick, who is giving away two signed copies of Scared. She's also posted an author interview with me on her blog with the answers to important questions like: "what's the most memorable bit of parenting I've ever received" and "what's my greatest achievement." 

Remember, there's only 10 days left to receive a free down load of Scared. Click here to go to www.scaredthenovel.com to get your copy. Please post the badge on the right to your blogs and tell your friends. Thanks everyone. Hope you have an incredible 4th of July!

Get a Free Copy of Scared Right Now!

Dear friends of mine in the cyberspace and blogging community:

 

I have some very exciting news to share with you!

 

My publisher, David C. Cook, feels that the message of my new novel, Scared: A Novel on the Edge of the World, is so important they are giving it away for free! You heard right, Scared can be downloaded for free until July 10^th, simply by going to www.scaredthenovel.com.

 

What can you do? I need your help to get the word out. Would you consider blogging about this, posting it on Facebook and Twitter, or other social networking sites? Reading Scared is changing people’s lives, that’s why we want this in the hands of as many people as possible. You can click here to read twenty-three reviews already posted on Amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/Scared-Novel-World-Tom-Davis/product-reviews/1589191021/ref=dp_db_cm_cr_acr_txt?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1

 

We’ve also created a landing page with some resources you can use. It includes an embedded copy of the Free PDF link, chapter samplers and the video trailer. Get them here:

http://tomdavis.typepad.com/tom_daviss_blog/scared-publicity-page.html

 

My friend Mike Morell from The Ooze has posted this on his page so you can get an idea of what your page might look like:

http://zoecarnate.wordpress.com/2009/06/22/scared-free-ebook-download-a-novel-idea-thats-helping-kids/

 

Thank you all so much for the support you’ve already given to Scared. I’m so glad my publisher believes in the message of the book so much, they’re willing to give it away. Who does that?! With your help, thousands of people who might not read the book can have it in their hands instantly. Hopefully, their lives will be radically changed.

Huntley Street Interview Posted

You can watch the full interview I did on 100 Huntley Street by clicking here. It aired two days late, sorry about that. It's a two part segment that is also on YouTube. You can skip the other programs on the show and go straight to mine by watching below:

Preview of 100 Huntley Street Interview

This interview will air in its entirety in Canada on 100 Huntley Street on June 22nd. Enjoy!

Hilary Clinton Releases Human Trafficking Report

Hillary Clinton releases human trafficking report

Tue, 06/16/2009 - 12:07pm

 

This morning, Secretary Clinton released the State Department's ninth annual "Trafficking in Persons Report." The report assesses more than 170 countries on what efforts their governments are taking to stop human trafficking.

To learn more about sex trafficking specifically, I recommend the recent bookSex Trafficking: Inside the Business of Modern Slavery, by Siddharth Kara. (A portion of the proceeds from the book will be donated to Free the Slaves.)

Click here for original link

Feed the Forgotten Raises $20,120

A special thanks to Brandi McElheny for all the hard work she put into the Feed the Forgotten campaign. Over two weeks, she helped to raise $20,120. That's food for over 7,000 people in Uganda who are starving right now.

You can read Brandi's summary of the campaign and the many, many bloggers who picked up this project here on her blog.

We are now in a position to begin launching several carepoints within Uganda. We'll report back with pictures and more information.

Two Great Reviews of Scared

Two reviews of Scared have just come out. One is by, Mary DeMuth, an author I highly respect. She's an incredible writer in the fiction and non-fiction department. Get her books, you will love her writing. The second is by CJ Darlington, who won the Christian Writer's Guild's Operation Novel Contest. Her review appeared on TitleTrakk today. Hope you enjoy reading them:

Wow.

Maybe it's because I think I left my heart in Africa, in the northern regions of Ghana. Maybe that's why I loved this book. Or maybe it's because I am deeply saddened by the state of children and women in some of the poorest nations on earth. Or because sometimes I don't feel like I do enough and I need a swift kick in the pants to jolt me out of my American complacency to remember the marginalized. Despite the why, I'm thankful I read Scared by Tom Davis.

Davis holds nothing back. The reader feels the blow by blow atrocities through the eyes of a reporter who has his own soul issues. We see poverty. Crime. Sexual exploitation. Evil. Hunger. Disease.

But in the midst of that, we also see the uncanny grace God lavishes on those who suffer, yet bend toward His ear. We see humanity at its best, helping each other, vying to love. And we see sparkling hope in impossible places.

Such is the reach and scope of this book. Written with sparse, direct prose, Davis is a keen storyteller whose heart for the widow and orphan bleeds onto the page.

Don't read this book unless you're willing to be haunted, then changed. I promise you both things will happen. And in the midst of that, hope. Blessed hope.

Scared by Tom Davis

Reviewed by C.J. Darlington

"Scared is the hand adjusting our blurry lense of the world ... You’ll visit Africa while readingScared. And once you finish, a little piece of Africa will remain with you."

Here in America it’s easy to hole ourselves up in our cozy little houses with our laptops and iPods, oblivious to rest of the world. Our knowledge of foreign affairs comes from Twitter. If the AC goes out, the coffee burns, or the car won’t start, our day’s ruined. But the truth is that even the poorest in our country would be considered rich in some parts of Africa. What if a bad day wasn’t the barista getting your order wrong but going hungry . . . for five days in a row? What if instead of lying in bed worrying about that presentation on Monday, you worried who would provide for you because your mother was dying of AIDS?

At the forefront of Tom Davis’s novel is Stuart Daniels, a washed up New York Times photographer who’s thirty seconds of fame came from a photo of dead bodies he shot during a rebel militia raid in Congo. He barely escaped with his life and sometimes wishes he had died with the rest of the massacred village. He’s lost his drive, and his editor knows it. Which is why his next assignment in Swaziland could seal his fate. If he doesn’t produce the goods this time, he might not have a career to come home to.

Scared also features a twelve-year-old Swazi girl named Adanna, and it’s her story that is the hardest to read. Not because Davis’s writing is poor. Exactly the opposite. The writing is so good we feel every moment of the girl’s pain; we hear every longing of her heart. Adanna personifies the emaciated faces we’ve all seen on those tv commercials for relief organizations. How many of us have changed the channel rather than acknowledge poverty, hunger, and disease? Reading Adanna’s story brings the reality front and center. Here, right now, in the 21st century, children like her are suffering through horrors we can hardly fathom.

A powerful eye-opener, Scared isn’t an issue novel meant to guilt us into action. This is a compelling story first, and I believe Davis meant for Scared to challenge, not condemn. As Americans we’re extremely blessed, but our priorities need to be re-calibrated. Scared is the hand adjusting our blurry lense of the world. It also addresses the major question of, “Why does God even allow this type of suffering?” Says Davis, “It’s my firm belief that God has already sent the answers to solve the world’s most difficult issues, and the answer is people like us getting involved.”

Davis is best known for his nonfiction books Red Letters andFields of the Fatherless. He’s also the president and CEO ofChildren’s HopeChest, a Christian-based child-advocacy organization which helps orphans in Easter Europe and Africa. With all these irons in the fire it’s amazing how well he pulled off writing this work of fiction. You’ll visit Africa while reading Scared. And once you finish, a little piece of Africa will remain with you. Hopefully the Scripture, “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world,” will remain with you too. 

C.J. Darlington's first novel, Thicker Than Blood, was the winner of the 2008 Christian Writers Guild's Operation First Novel contest. It will be published January 2010 by Tyndale House. When she's not writing, she's reading. Her hobbies include book and art collecting, fly fishing, painting and drawing. Visit her online at her blog where she talks about books, writing, and publishing. You can also look her up at Twitter and Facebook.

Win a Free Copy of Scared

It's as easy as going to the publisher's website here and leaving a comment. No strings attached! You will also find some interview questions and answers about why I wrote Scared, as well as a few hidden themes in the story and some discussion questions.

Found this on Christian Fiction Blog  today about Scared.

Outside of the trailer being outstanding this novel represents the kinds of books I hope to continue sharing on Christian Fiction Blog. It's one thing to write a story set around church folk and peep into their private drama, but it is another more illuminating activity to take a relevant and current topic affecting our world (World Hunger,) then showing the Christian response to the matter. Having a Christian Worldview in a novel is more than just spouting a scripture and a prayer here and there it's about how we react, how we try to solve, how we use our faith to solve our problems. Kudos again to David C. Cook Publishers.

An excerpt from an interview with Tom Davis...

My passion is driven from the core belief that not only can everyone in the West do something to help children trapped in poverty, they must. God’s kingdom comes when God’s people tackle issues like these and change the circumstances because of their love. We are the answer, that’s why we must act.

If you would like to win a copy of Scared, click here. The Cook Fiction Blog is running a contest

ICHTHUS

I'll be speaking at the Ichthus Festival in Wilmore, KY, this Saturday, June 13th and 2:00 pm immediately after Santus Real. If you're at the festival, make sure to say hi. I'll be signing copies of my new book, Scared - A Novel on the Edge of the World immediately after in the Artist's Tent. Hope to see you there!

Three Little Words...

Originally posted by Brandi McElheny

Kendric spent the first 5+ years of his life in Uganda. He was adopted 8 months ago by a pretty amazing family. I had the awesome privilege of meeting and spending time with this precious boy and his family a month ago. . you may remember my super cute pictures! (if I do say so myself)

On Wednesday night, his mama was in Raleigh for a meeting on Uganda and his dad had the kids home for dinner. Keith, his daddy, prepared a huge meal for his growing group of kiddos (they have 6 total, with 2 of them being the newly adopted Ugandans!). After the kids had consumed a large meal, these growing boys asked for even MORE! Keith, being the wise father he is and knowing that kids shouldn't gouge themselves, told the kids "no more food" and sent them playing.

Kendric, however, did not go play. He went off pouting a bit and hiding to be by himself. Keith noticed his behavior and took the opportunity to talk to Kendric about why he was in a funk. Thankfully, with Keith's sweet desire to shepherd his son's heart, Kendric opened up.

He looked up at his dad with sad eyes and said this:
"My belly used to hurt in Uganda. For many, many times there was 'no more food'. My auntie, she used to say "no more food" and my belly would hurt many days.
Tonight, when you said "no more food" my heart, it got very sad and very scared."

Keith (obviously tearing up just like we are) was able to take the time to assure Kendric that there will be more food tomorrow, and the next day and the day after that. He told Kendric not to worry, we will not ever use those words again, "no more food" since it is the source of such a difficult memory. He was able to hold his boy and comfort the wounds of his heart.

Today, there are children just like Kendric. They aren't a nameless, faceless bunch of kids halfway across the world who don't matter. They are kids just like sweet Kendric who are hearing from their aunties, "no more food" and like Kendric they are sad and scared.

Will you change that? Will you provide for them? Will you help the memory of Kendric's past hurt be used to change the lives of children today in Uganda? (remember to note: feed the forgotten on the notes line when you give)

PS: remember our SWAP IT weekend Challenge!!!!