99 Cent E-Books!

Zondervan is offering a whole list of their e-books for 99 cents, including The Healer's Apprentice. You can get them for your Kindle, your Nook, your Kobo, your Sony reader, and if there are other e-readers I don't know about, they should have them for 99 cents too! Here's the list of Young Adult books:
Vanished (Faithgirlz! / Boarding School Mysteries)
0.99

The Healers Apprentice
0.99

Beyond the Reflection's Edge (Echoes from the Edge)
0.99

Chosen Ones (Aedyn Chronicles, The)
0.99

Catwalk (On the Runway)
0.99

Starlighter (Dragons of Starlight)
0.99

Eternity's Edge (Echoes from the Edge)
0.99

Boyfriends, Burritos & an Ocean of Trouble (Real Life)
0.99

I Love You This Much
0.99

Always Watching (The Rayne Tour, Book 1)
0.99

Mixed Bags (Carter House Girls, Book 1)
0.99

Saint Training
0.99

Premiere (On the Runway)
0.99

On the Run (Elijah Project, The)
0.99

Sophie's Secret (Book 2)
0.99

Sophie's World (Sophie Series, Book 1)
0.99

A Horse to Love (Keystone Stables)
0.99

Motorcycles, Sushi and One Strange Book (Real Life)
0.99

Stealing Bradford (Carter House Girls, Book 2)
0.99

A Girl Named Mister
0.99

Katy's New World (The Katy Lambright Series, Book 1)
0.99

Lucy Doesn't Wear Pink (Faithgirlz! / A Lucy Novel)
0.99

Jackson Jones, Book 1: The Tale of a Boy, an Elf, and a Very Stinky Fish
0.99

So go stock up on some good books! And please tell your friends!

The Great Reveal: Video Trailer of The Merchant's Daughter

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What do you think of the trailer? She slightly mispronounced the hero's name (Ranulf, emphasis on the second syllable) and it isn't live action like my first one, but I like it.

What do you think of the cover? I absolutely love it and think they perfectly caught the feel of the story, with the hero's face in the broken mirror the heroine is holding. Cool, no?

If you'd like to pre-order your copy of The Merchant's Daughter, you can do that on Amazon.com
Barnes & Noble
ChristianBook.com
or Borders

Let me know what you think!

Website Is Back Up, a.k.a. Always Backup!

Always keep a backup copy of your website!

That's the moral of the story of my disappearing website. It went down last week, and today it's back, thanks to Michael Joshua. Michael helped me by finding the html codes for all my web pages and putting them back up for me. It was quite a bit of work, and he is a hero! So, if you need a simple affordable website, Michael is your man! You can contact him on his website, or leave me a message in the comments and I'll give you his email address.

Keep an eye on my website in the next few days to see the official unveiling of the cover for my new book, The Merchant's Daughter, which comes out in November. There is a trailer for this book too, so don't miss it!

Here's a teaser for The Merchant's Daughter, my Medieval Beauty and the Beast story:
An unthinkable danger. An unexpected choice.

Annabel, once the daughter of a wealthy merchant, is trapped in indentured servitude to Lord Ranulf, a recluse who is rumored to be both terrifying and beastly. Her circumstances are made even worse by the proximity of Lord Ranulf’s bailiff—a revolting man who has made unwelcome advances on Annabel in the past.

Believing that life in a nunnery is the best way to escape the escalation of the bailiff’s vile behavior and to preserve the faith that sustains her, Annabel is surprised to discover a sense of security and joy in her encounters with Lord Ranulf. As Annabel struggles to confront her feelings, she is involved in a situation that could place Ranulf in grave danger. Ranulf’s future, and possibly his heart, may rest in her hands, and Annabel must decide whether to follow the plans she has cherished or the calling God has placed on her heart.

ICRS, Christy Awards, and website problems

Monday I'll be signing copies of The Healer's Apprentice at the International Christian Retail Show--right after Karen Kingsbury. (Thank you, Karen, for drawing the crowd!) Should be fun. I've never been to the ICRS, but I'm very excited about it. There will be actual famous people there, like the Duggar family, Bethany Hamilton of Soul Surfer fame, and others. I will only be there one day, but I hope to post some pictures.

Monday night I will also be attending the Christy Award dinner, which should also be fun. Or at least nerve-wracking! It's really exciting to be a finalist, I must say.

And lastly, you may have noticed that my website is down and showing an error message. I have called the server about this and it is supposedly being fixed, but it is taking quite a long time. Grrrr. Right now I have no one to maintain my site, and I am pitiful, just pitiful, when it comes to anything having to do with making updates to a website. I tried once and it was not pretty. But the person I had hired to do my website and make updates has decided not to do it anymore, so if you or someone you know knows anything about HostGator or anything about websites, please, please, please let me know. I want to put the cover and trailer for my new book, The Merchant's Daughter, on my website, and I need help. Help, help, help. Please help the pitiful, old-fashioned author who has zero ability to work on a website.

Okay, end of pathetic-ness confessions and rants.

Greater Harvest Writers Workshop in Dayton Ohio

In case you live near Dayton, Ohio or can drive in for the workshop, I want to invite you to the Greater Harvest Workshop on July 30th. I'll be teaching two workshops, one on writing
Christian romance and one on revising the first 30 pages of your manuscript so that an editor or agent can't resist requesting the full.

There will also be three other presenters, author Linore Burkard, children's author Donna Jo Shepard, and magazine article writer Teri Horsley. So please make plans to come! You can find out all the details at the Greater Harvest Workshops website.

You can also connect with Greater Harvest Workshops on facebook. Hope to see you on July 30th!

Win the e-book of The Healer's Apprentice

Hey, guys! My friend, Carrie Pagels is giving away The Healer's Apprentice as an e-book. So if you have an e-reader and don't have The Healer's Apprentice yet, please go by Carrie Pagel's blog and leave a comment for a chance to win it!

I am working on the second round of edits of The Merchant's Daughter, my Beauty and the Beast story that comes out in November, and I am loving it so much!!! I love the changes we made. You're going to LOVE this hero! Guaranteed or ... I'll be really surprised! LOL!

Anyway, hope everybody is having a great weekend! Remember to check out Carrie's blog and her review of The Healer's Apprentice!

Vote for The Healer's Apprentice in a cover contest

The good news of recognition for The Healer's Apprentice has been coming fast and furious, and I almost forgot to tell you about a cover contest that The Healer's Apprentice is a finalist in. Check out the Cover Cafe Cover Contest where my book is in the Two-Image Cover category. The front and back covers are being judged. There are lots of Christian books in the contest, in every category except the Worst Cover category. Which is good, since you will have to vote in at least three categories for your vote to count.

So go vote on three categories, and don't look at the Worst Cover category. Those covers are really gross, pornographic, if you know what I mean.

Also, if you want to win a copy of The Healer's Apprentice, leave a comment all this week on Shannon Vannatter's blog, where Rose is being interviewed on what she thinks of love, men, and marriage--but this was before she met Lord Hamlin. ;-) Go check it out!

I'm a Christy Award Finalist!!!

In case you haven't heard me screaming and laughing the past three days ...
The Healer's Apprentice is a Christy Award finalist!!!
Here's the whole list of finalists from the Christy Awards website:

Contemporary Romance/
Blood Ransom

by Lisa Harris (Zondervan)
Indivisible

by Kristin Heitzmann (WaterBrook Press)
Sworn to Protect

by DiAnn Mills (Tyndale House Publishers)

Contemporary Series, Sequels, and Novellas/
The Reluctant Prophet

by Nancy Rue (David C. Cook)
The Thorn

by Beverly Lewis (Bethany House Publishers,
a division of Baker Publishing Group)
The Waiting

by Suzanne Woods Fisher (Revell Books,
a division of Baker Publishing Group)

Contemporary Standalone/
Almost Heaven

by Chris Fabry (Tyndale House Publishers)
Lady in Waiting

by Susan Meissner (WaterBrook Press)
A Season of Miracles

by Rusty Whitener (Kregel Publications)

First Novel/
Crossing Oceans

by Gina Holmes (Tyndale House Publishers)
Heartless

by Anne Elisabeth Stengl (Bethany House Publishers, a division of Baker Publishing Group)
A Season of Miracles

by Rusty Whitener (Kregel Publications)

Historical/
Chosen: The Lost Diaries of Queen Esther

by Ginger Garrett (David C. Cook)
For Time & Eternity

by Allison Pitman (Tyndale House Publishers)
While We’re Far Apart

by Lynn Austin (Bethany House Publishers,
a division of Baker Publishing Group)

Historical Romance/
The Girl in the Gatehouse

by Julie Klassen (Bethany House, a division of Baker Publishing Group)
She Walks in Beauty

by Siri Mitchell (Bethany House Publishers,
a division of Baker Publishing Group)
Within My Heart

by Tamera Alexander (Bethany House Publishers, a division of Baker Publishing Group)

Suspense/
The Bishop

by Steven James (Revell Books, a division of Baker Publishing Group)
The Bride Collector

by Ted Dekker (Center Street)
Predator

by Terri Blackstock (Zondervan)

Visionary/
To Darkness Fled

by Jill Williamson (Marcher Lord Press)
Konig’s Fire

by Marc Schooley (Marcher Lord Press)
The Last Christian
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by David Gregory (WaterBrook Press)

Young Adult/

The Charlatan’s Boy
by Jonathan Rogers (WaterBrook Press)

The Healer’s Apprentice
by Melanie Dickerson (Zondervan)

Motorcycles, Sushi, and One
Strange Book
by Nancy Rue (Zondervan)

And if that isn't enough, The Healer's Apprentice is a DOUBLE finalist in the National Readers Choice Awards! Check out the list of all the finalists.

My cup runneth over. It's truly a dream come true to final in the Christy Awards. I've been dreaming about it since I started writing, hoping to get a Christian novel published. I am so honored and feel so blessed. Thank you, God!!!

Happy Resurrection Day!

Tomorrow is Easter, or Resurrection Day. I hope you will go to church and experience a little of what Jesus did for you and feel a fresh touch of heaven.

If you are a writer, or a person with a burning desire or dream in your heart, I have a great prayer from Mary DeMuth. She calls it A Writer's Prayer.

And in honor of Resurrection Day, here's a wonderful article on the evidences of Jesus and his resurrection by Eddie Snipes.

God's greatest blessings on you, dear reader!

Annual Readers Luncheon at the VBC

If you live near Huntsville, Alabama, please consider attending the annual Readers Luncheon at the Von Braun Center for those who love romance novels. I, and a lot of other authors much more famous than I am, will be participating in a book signing at the end of the luncheon. Here's an announcement and information:

Registration is now open for the 14th Annual Heart of Dixie event, held at the Von Braun Center in Huntsville, AL, on April 30, 2011, from 11am until 3pm.

Special guest author Kerrelyn Sparks will share her vampire world during the keynote speech, host a table, and sign books at this year's event. Attendees will enjoy a delicious garlic-free lunch and blood-stirring conversation with fellow romance readers and favorite romance authors including Linda Howard, Beverly Barton, Linda Winstead Jones, Peggy Webb, Rhonda Nelson, Lynn Raye Harris, Kimberly Lang, and Vicki Lewis Thompson.

HOD's Annual Luncheon also includes mysterious door prizes and celebrations. A book fair and autograph session with the attending authors following the luncheon is open and free to the public at 2pm. Profits from the book fair are donated to a local literacy charity.

Join us as we celebrate romance in all its spine-tingling forms! Registration is $25 and must be received by April 15th. Seating is limited, so register today. More information and registration forms can be found at www.heartofdixie.org or call 256-586-5962.

I will personally be giving away a copy of my book, The Healer's Apprentice, and a basket of "medieval" items. See you there!

Attention Booksellers and Librarians!

Judges are needed for the Carol Awards, sponsored by American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW). Here is the official call:

*ACFW's 2011 Carol Awards are actively recruiting librarians and booksellers
who are interested in judging the best in Christian fiction for the year
2010. If you are, or know of, a bookseller or librarian, who would be
interested, please contact Mindy Obenhaus at carolawards@acfw.com.

So if you are a librarian or a bookseller and you enjoy Christian fiction, please email Mindy at the above address. It means FREE books, and what's better than that?

Giveaways of The Healer's Apprentice!

If you don't have a copy of The Healer's Apprentice, or need a copy to give to a friend, there are two giveaways going on right now! One at Novel Teen, the group blog I do with some other Christian YA authors. Just leave a comment on my article, What Do You Crave?

And the other giveaway is on Jamie Carie's blog. So please go check it out!

Book Signing in Atlanta

If you happen to be in Atlanta on Monday, Feb. 21st, which is President's Day, please stop by the Buford LifeWay store in front of the Mall of Georgia. I'm having a book signing from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. and then speaking to the book club that meets in the store that night at 7:30. Would love to see you!

Happy Valentine's Day!

My friend, Jamie Carie, author of several very romantic novels, wants to share this video with you. These quotes are from her novels. Jamie writes Christian romance with heart and passion and emotion, so be forewarned that these quotes will make you want to read her books!



To better view this video (since I don't know how to make it fit the blogger screen!) please go to the YouTube page.


I hope you all have a wonderful Valentine's Day. Eat some chocolate! I know I will!

Go check out Jamie Carie's website for more information about her books.

The Merchant's Daughter--New Book to Release Dec. 2011

It's official! I have a new book coming out December, 2011, with Zondervan. This one is a Beauty and the Beast story titled The Merchant's Daughter.

Here's a short summary:

Annabel grew up as the daughter of a wealthy merchant, but her father died and left them penniless. Her family is in trouble with the new lord of the village for shirking their duties, and she is forced to become Lord Ranulf’s servant. But Annabel is terrified to work at the manor house, since the bailiff once tried to molest her. Perhaps even more terrifying is Lord Ranulf himself, whose temper is as frightening as his appearance.

Lord Ranulf saved a servant from a wolf attack years before, which left him scarred physically, while his late wife’s betrayal left him scarred emotionally. People say he’s a beast, growling at anyone who tries to get close to him. If he didn't require someone to read to him at night, he'd never allow Annabel so near. She is a beauty and could never look at him with anything but repulsion. But when both their lives are at stake, Lord Ranulf is willing to sacrifice everything to keep her safe.


It has sort of a Gothic, romantic atmosphere (think Jane Eyre but with even more romance), and the cover designers did the most amazing job of capturing that mood. I can't wait to show you the cover! And I can hardly wait to see the trailer. The same people who created the cover and trailer for The Healer's Apprentice are also doing the cover and trailer for The Merchant's Daughter. I just wish December wasn't so far away! LOL!

Oh, and I just heard about a new medieval mystery series. I haven't read the books, but they look really good, sort of a Christian version of the Cadfael mysteries, which are by author Ellis Peters.



I hope I get to read them soon. I like the Cadfael mysteries. Although I am more of a romance reader, personally. :-)

Keep your eyes and ears out for my new book, The Merchant's Daughter!
Have a blessed week!

FREE download of The Healer's Apprentice!

Get your FREE e-book of The Healer's Apprentice!

You can get it from Barnes & Noble as a free Nook book!

You can get the e-book from CBD.com.

You can get it from Amazon.com, where reviewers who hate Christian books love to hang out. (oops! Did I say that? Sorry. Slip of the keyboard.)

So tell your friends! Got get my book for free. You can download it to your computer, too, even if you don't have a Kindle or Nook or Sony Reader. So now you have no excuse for not reading my book! *Very big grin*

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.