Greetings from Chris
After all, the gospel hangs on the thin, crimson thread of a story, preserved and shared for 2,000 years.
I tell stories, hoping one will scamper somewhere near the back door of your heart and knock. I hope that one day I will write something that has the impact of the story Nathan told David that revealed the truth in a story. David was incensed at the injustice of the story. He was looking in a mirror.
I grew up listening to stories told in the smoke-filled kitchen of my grandmother, my uncles smoking Camels, their elbows on their knees, hunched forward and spinning a yarn. I can close my eyes and still hear them, still hear the laughter, and still feel the exhilaration of a story well-told.
Stories can change the world because stories reach the heart. I hope you find a good one among those I have written.
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Under a Cloudless Sky
A lush and storied coal-mining town—and the good people who live there—is in danger of being destroyed for the sake of profit. Will the truth about the past—including the decades-old secret of a feisty octogenarian named Ruby—be the town's final undoing or its saving grace?
1933. In the mining town of Beulah Mountain, West Virginia, two young girls form an unbreakable bond against the lush Appalachian landscape, coal dust and old hymns filling their lungs and hearts. Despite the polarizing forces of their fathers—one a mine owner, one a disgruntled miner—Ruby and Bean thrive under the tender care of Bean's mama, blissfully unaware of the rising conflict in town and the coming tragedy that will tear them apart forever.
2004. Hollis Beasley is taking his last stand. Neighbors up and down the hollow have sold their land to Coleman Coal and Energy, but Hollis is determined to hold on to his family legacy on Beulah Mountain. Standing in his way is Buddy Coleman, an upstart mining executive who hopes to revitalize the dying town by increasing coal production and opening the Company Store Museum. He'll pay homage to the past—even the massacre of 1933—while positioning the company for growth at all costs.
What surprises them all is how their stories will intersect with a feisty octogenarian living hundreds of miles away. When Ruby Handley Freeman's grown children threaten her independence, she takes a stand of her own and disappears, propelling her on a journey to face a decades-old secret that will change everything for her and those she meets.
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"Under a Cloudless Sky captivated me from page one. I cared immediately what happened to Ruby and Bean, and the stakes kept rising as tidbits of history were revealed, unraveling the mystery that held Ruby captive. A terrific reading experience!"
— Francine Rivers, New York Times bestselling author