Who doesn’t love a good book while sitting on the patio during the gorgeous autumn weather. September has ushered in new books, authors and news . . . our highlights below include new releases, contracts signed, notable reviews and PR events, new authors to the agency and other news of note by clients and agents.
New Releases
Congratulations to John Spencer and Potomac Books on the July 1st release of Connected Soldiers: Life, Leadership, and Social Connections in Modern War.
John Spencer was a new second lieutenant in 2003 when he parachuted into Iraq leading a platoon of infantry soldiers into battle. During that combat tour, he learned how important unit cohesion was to surviving a war, both physically and mentally. He observed that this cohesion developed as the soldiers experienced the horrors of combat as a group, spending their downtime together and processing their shared experiences.
When Spencer returned to Iraq five years later to take command of a troubled company, he found that his lessons on how to build unit cohesion were no longer as applicable. Rather than bonding and processing trauma as a group, soldiers now spent their downtime separately, on computers communicating with family back home. Spencer came to see the internet as a threat to unit cohesion, but when he returned home and his wife was deployed, the internet connected him and his children to his wife on a daily basis.
In Connected Soldiers Spencer delivers lessons learned about effective methods for building teams in a way that overcomes the distractions of home and the outside world, without reducing the benefits gained from connections to family.
Congratulations to Bonnie Kristian and Brazos Press on the October 11 release of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community.
Which media outlets will help me be a responsible news consumer? How do I know what is true and whom I can trust? What can I do to combat all the misinformation and how it’s impacting people I love?
Many Americans are agonizing over questions such as these, feeling unsure and overwhelmed in today’s chaotic information environment.
American life and politics are suffering from a raging knowledge crisis, and the church is no exception. In Untrustworthy, Bonnie Kristian unpacks this crisis and explores ways to combat it in our own lives, families, and church communities.
Drawing from her extensive experience in journalism and her training as a theologian, Kristian explores social media, political and digital culture, online paranoia, and the press itself. She explains factors that contribute to our confusion and helps Christians pay attention to how we consume content and think about truth. Finally, she provides specific ways to take action, empowering readers to avoid succumbing to or fueling the knowledge crisis.
Congratulations to Dr. Tammy Lewis Wilborn and Balance Books on the October 11 release of Playing a New Game: A Black Woman’s Guide to Being Well and Thriving in the Workplace.
Drawing on first-hand clinical insight and scientific research, Dr. Wilborn offers much-needed advice on how women of color can be high-performing and successful professionally, without sacrificing their physical, mental, and emotional wellness.
Black and brown women have been making profound strides in leadership and professional achievement, despite facing the added hurdles of both sexism and racism in the workplace. But so often, excelling at work comes at the expense of their wellness: the chronic stressors and demands on Black women can result in negative physical health outcomes such as sleep disturbance, hypertension, and diabetes, and negative mental health outcomes including anxiety and depression. We cannot talk about career advancement for Black and brown women without talking about strategies that promote their total wellbeing.
Playing a New Game offers women a new way forward, in which ambition and wellness can not only coexist, but bolster each other. With insights from her 20 years of professional counseling experience and extensive research, mental health expert Dr. Tammy Wilborn expands the dialogue on BIPOC women’s experiences of race and gender stereotypes at work, exploring them as a wellness issue. Through her evidence-based best practices that promote self-care and self-empowerment as necessary tools for professional success, Black and brown women can flip the script by prioritizing their wellness even as they advance professionally.
Congratulations to Katie Powner and Bethany House on the October 11 release of Where the Blue Sky Begins.
Sometimes the hardest road of all is the road home.
When confident and handsome Eric Larson is sent to a rural Montana town to work in the local branch of his uncle’s financial company, he’s determined to exceed everyone’s expectations, earn a promotion, and be back in Seattle by the end of summer. Yet nothing could prepare him for the lessons this small town has in store.
At forty-six years old, eccentric and outspoken Eunice Parker has come to accept her terminal illness and has given herself one final goal: seek forgiveness from everyone on her bucket list before her time runs out. But it will take more courage than she can muster on her own.
After an accident pushes Eric and Eunice together, the unlikely pair is forced to spend more time with each other than either would like, which challenges their deepest prejudices and beliefs. As summer draws to a close, neither Eric nor Eunice is where they thought they would be, but they both wrestle with the same important question: What matters most when the end is near?
Praise for Katie Powner …“Powner delivers life lessons that cross generations and will linger long after the last page is turned.”–Library Journal starred review
“My favorite stories are ones about everyday, salt-of-the-earth people. When I open a novel by Katie Powner, I know that’s what I’m going to experience.”–Susie Finkbeiner, author of The Nature of Small Birds
Congratulations to Mike Kinney with Margot Starbuck and Salem Books on the October 18 release of Out of the Fire: How an Angel and a Stranger Intervened to Save a Life.
When his truck slammed into a telephone pole and burst into flames, the seventeen-year-old became pinned in the driver seat. Moments before the vehicle was consumed by fire, Mike was pulled from the burning wreckage of twisted metal as his body burned. After his guitar was incinerated in the blaze, Pete Townsend from The Who, a musical inspiration, sent him a new guitar, offering, “This is the Phoenix.”
In the wake of his Phoenix moment of rising from the ashes, Mike wanted to believe that his life had been saved for a unique purpose. But along the way—through a brutally painful physical recovery, learning to live with a brain injury, and eventually several vocational disappointments—that purpose to which he believed God had called him seemed in jeopardy. Determined, though, Mike pressed on.
Mike Kinney’s life was saved by God from the flames for a unique purpose, and Out of the Fire invites readers to live out the purpose God has for their lives—even when, and especially when, that purpose seems to be in jeopardy.
Congratulations to Dr. John Bruchalski with Elise Daniel and Ignatius Books on the October 20 release of Two Patients: My Conversion from Abortion to Life-Affirming Medicine.
After a terrible misjudgment in the delivery room, Dr. John Bruchalski realized that with every pregnant woman he attends, there are two patients—the mother and her unborn child. In addition to this discovery, two remarkable spiritual experiences deepened his understanding of the kind of man he had become and the one he was called to be.
Two Patients is the story of how a physician who practiced abortion came to question the medical status quo and to pioneer an approach to reproductive medicine that respects female fertility, honors the dignity of unborn children, and o ers care to patients regardless of their financial situation. Such health care, writes Dr. John Bruchalski, is merciful medicine, and his memoir gives a glimpse of just how merciful the relationship between a doctor and his two patients—mother and child— can be.
Congratulations to Carissa Shillito and BH Kids on the November 8 release of Innis and Ernest: An Unlikely Friendship Between Young and Old.
Innis loves being an only child. He gets to watch TV and play with his cars whenever he wants. Then one day, Ernest, a 90-year-old man, comes to live with his family, and Innis must start sharing his space with someone else. Innis is irritated at first, but he soon learns that he and Ernest have lots in common, and he begins to appreciate Ernest’s stories, silliness, and special treasures. By the end of the story, Innis cannot imagine life without his new best friend.
A heartfelt and humorous picture book about cross-generational friendship, Innis and Ernest reveals the importance of having relationships with senior citizens in our communities. A celebration of life, both young and old, this gentle story is sure to captivate children, parents, and grandparents alike with its vintage illustrations and endearing message.
Contracts
Kara Powell with Jennifer L. Bradbury and Brad M Griffin signed with Baker Publishing for the November 2023 release of The Character Compass.
Roger Hutchinson signed with Church Publishing for the November 2023 release of The Art of Calm: Spiritual Exercises for the Anxious Soul.
Elizabeth Felicetti with Samantha Vincent-Alexander signed with Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing for the May 2024 release of Irreverent Prayers: Talking to God When You’re Seriously Sick.
Mindy Ferguson signed with AMG Publishing for the December 2023 release of Eyewitness to Redemption: Finding Refuge in God’s Redeeming Love.
New Clients
Kimberly Katiti and Jerry Jamison recently signed with WordServe. Welcome!
What We’re Celebrating
Wordserve Literary is proud to announce the promotion of Keely Boeving to Senior Agent. Keely has been a member of the Wordserve Staff since 2015 and has the respect of both authors and publishers. Please help us celebrate this well deserved promotion.
WordServe Water Cooler 