Oh WOW!

My book is in Publisher's Weekly! In an article about Young Adult books, PW featured my book's cover prominently and said: "A highlight of this fall's list is The Healer's Apprentice by Melanie Dickerson, a loose retelling of the Sleeping Beauty story."

If you want to read the entire article, you can go here

Also, I will be doing an interview live between 4 and 5 this afternoon on WAAY-31 TV in Huntsville. Tomorrow (Sat.) I have a book signing at The Coffee Tree in Huntsville from 8 a.m. to 12 noon. The Coffee Tree is located on Bailey Cove Road across from Grissom High School and behind Star Pharmacy. Would love to see you! :-)

Get Autographed Copies of The Healer's Apprentice

Want a simple, easy way to get personalized, autographed copies of The Healer's Apprentice? Do you have a special daughter, granddaughter, sister, niece, hairdresser, pastor's wife, etc. etc. who would love to get The Healer's Apprentice as a Christmas gift? (Of course you do!) Well, I have good news for you! :-)

Here is the link to bookseller Roseanna White website where you can buy my book. Roseanna will ship the book to me, I will sign it and personalize it any way you want, and mail it to you. This is a limited time offer, only running through Dec. 7th, so hurry!

And it isn't only my book that you can order. This is an "online book signing event!"
There are almost 80 authors participating. So go to the site and check it out. You can search by author, title, or genre at the Christian Review of
Books and then follow the purchase links
to CrossPurposes Bookstore and buy autographed copies of each book featured. The authors will sign the books and ship them to the customers.

Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving, and here's to a very blessed and merry Christmas!

What is Your Moral Compass?

What do you use as your moral compass? When you make decisions, what is your standard to help you make the right choice? And when you read a book, how do you judge the characters’ choices?

When I was thirteen years old, I read Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte for the first time.

It became one of my favorite novels and I still re-read it occasionally. The first time I read it, I wanted the hero and heroine to get married. They seemed made for each other. They were good for each other, and they loved each other. But Jane, the heroine, was convinced that it would be wrong to married Mr. Rochester.

Mr. Rochester tried to hide the truth from her, and when that failed, he simply told her it was all right. Yes, he was technically still married to his first wife, but it was all right. She was completely mad, so that made it okay. Also, no one would know. But Jane would not be persuaded. She would not commit a sin to please the man she loved, so she ran away from him, at great peril to herself, and also to Mr. Rochester, who she knew would be so distraught that he might do harm to himself.


The first time I read it, when I was only thirteen, I couldn’t understand why Jane didn’t just marry Mr. Rochester. He had explained to her why it was all right. Why didn’t she just marry him? I even went to my mother and told her the situation and asked her why it wouldn’t be all right for them to marry. She told me it wouldn’t be all right because the Bible said no one should have more than one wife. It was against God’s law—and man’s law—for Jane to marry Mr. Rochester.

I was a little shocked that I had let Mr. Rochester persuade me, if not Jane.

By the Bible’s standards, which was what Jane was following, Jane had done the right thing. By the world’s standards, as I read in a recent review of Jane Eyre on Goodreads, Jane did not do the right thing. She was following some outdated, overbearing religious law. She should have stayed with Mr. Rochester. To that reviewer, the standard was feelings. They both felt love for each other, so if they stayed together as man and wife, it was right.

What is the standard you follow? Do you apply it to story characters when you read a book?

I recently read a book that is marketed to teens as a Young Adult book. In it the “hero” does many things that violate the Bible’s standards, both in the beginning before he becomes “good,” and at the end, when he has changed and is considered “good.” What makes him good, you might ask? Well, now he is much kinder to people. And now he knows that it’s only okay to sleep with your girlfriend if you love her.

Wow, that’s a big departure from Jane Eyre. When you read a book, what is the “Truth,” or standard, that you judge it by? That modern novel I read was entertaining, but I cringe to think that some people who read it will mistake it for Truth. It isn’t okay to sleep with someone you’re not married to, even if you think you “love” them. What is love anyway? Love is a sacrificial thing, not just an emotion. If the person who says they “love” you isn’t willing to commit to you, to sacrifice for you, and marry you, then maybe that isn’t love at all.

But if you have no solid standard to go by, you won’t know what is good and what is harmful. And if you can’t judge right and wrong in a novel, how will you judge it in your own life?

Just some thoughts I wanted to throw out there! Would love to hear your thoughts and comments.

Sandi Rog's The Master's Wall

I want to tell you about my friend, Sandi Rog. Last week her very first book, The Master's Wall, was released. The book has gotten rave reviews from published authors such as Robert Liparulo, and is said to be one of the best, if not THE best, Christian novel set in ancient Rome. But unfortunately, Sandi was not able to really enjoy her book's debut last week.

For a while, Sandi had been feeling really awful. She deals with MS and all the dread and physical problems that brings, so she believed her fatigue and dizziness was caused by the MS. However, her doctor put her in the hospital on the day Sandi's book came out and discovered she has a brain tumor. And a few days later, they confirmed that it is cancerous.

I want to ask you all to consider purchasing Sandi's book, The Master's Wall. I have known Sandi through ACFW and a very active writers' loop that we both participate in, HIS Writers, for writers of Christian historicals with exotic settings. I know Sandi to be a sweet, loving person and a very dedicated wife, mom, and writer. She loves the Lord and wants her life to glorify Him. And I desperately am praying for her healing. I ask you also to pray for her healing, and for her continued good spirits as she goes through treatment, chemo and radiation. Please pray for her family, too, her husband and four children. Sandi has been through a lot in her life, and I am praying for God's power and mercy to give her a miracle. Please join me in this.

And if you want to do more than pray, another way to help Sandi is to purchase her book. You can get it from Amazon.com here,

and it is also available on Kindle.
Her publisher is DeWard Publishing Company. Daniel DeGarmo of DeWard Publishing Company issued this statement:
...My business partner and I have agreed to donate an
additional $1 per book to a Fund that I'll be setting up this week.

Just so no one thinks we are being shady about the whole deal, this is above
and beyond the royalties that Sandi (and her agent) is already incurring
with every book sold.

The purpose of this fund is to help out Sandi's family (husband and
children) while she is laid up fighting for her life.

What I need from you is simply spread the word. For every copy of "The
Master's Wall" that is sold (including Kindle) we will donate $1 to this
Fund.

I'll also be setting it up so that it can receive regular donations if
anyone is interested in just helping out financially.

As soon as I have more information on this, I will let you know.

Please pray for Sandi! The Bible says God is the healer. He is "the God of compassion." He is merciful and "longs to give good gifts to his children." Pray with me that God, in his mercy and wisdom, will give the gift of healing to Sandi.

Thank you.

Radio Interview

You can listen to my interview by going to the website, www.meetinghouseonline.info and clicking on The Intersection Download Center and the blue letters that say Click Here. Then scroll down to where it says Melanie Dickerson and click on the speaker on the left.

Radio Interview and Book Signing

Today Faith Radio in Alabama will air a 15-minute interview with me sometime between roughly 4:30 and 5:15 p.m. You can hear it at 89.1 in Montgomery, 91.5 in Andalusia, 90.3 in Dothan, and a few other towns and frequencies in Alabama. More details can be found at the Faith Radio website. You can listen to the interview later, some time after it airs, by going to www.meetinghouseonline.info and downloading it.

This interview is to publicize my book signing in Andalusia this Saturday from 12:00 noon to 2:30 at Tabby D's Christian Book Store. I'm excited about going "home" and hoping to see some people I grew up with and haven't seen for ... a long time! There's also an interview with me in the Andalusia Star-News, which you can read by going to their website.

I'm very thankful to my Public Relations person, Candice, for getting me these "gigs" and to Zondervan for hiring her! God has been good to me. So far the sales for The Healer's Apprentice have been good. They even seem to be picking up on Amazon, so I'm very thankful!

Outdoor Festival and Book Signing in Birmingham!

Come to McCalla, Alabama (near Birmingham) for Brooke's Book Stop's authors and crafts festival. It's this Saturday, October 30th from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., and there will be food vendors and a live band! Also, several other authors will be there, including Christian author Elizabeth White, signing her latest book, Tour de Force.


I will also be signing my book, The Healer's Apprentice. The owner of Brooke's Book Stop and her daughter have been promoting The Healer's Apprentice! I'm excited to get to chat with them. :-)

If you're in the Birmingham area this Saturday, please come by! It's at 5928 Old Tuscaloosa Hwy McCalla Al. 35111, beside Brooke's Book Stop.