By Rukhsana Khan

Young Jameela is determined to follow her mother Mor’s advice: “If you can’t be beautiful, you should at least be good.”  Growing up in a post-Taliban Afghan orphanage, shy, sensitive Jameela finds this easier said than done, especially since she’s not really an orphan.  Her father is alive, but her mother, Mor, has just sickened and died.  the rest of Jameela’s family was wiped out when bombs fell on a wedding party they were all attending.

In response to his loss, Jameela’s father sells the family possessions and rushes to the big city of Kabul to seek his fortune.  She barely has time to say visit Mor’s grave and say goodbye, let alone pack.  Once there, her father marries a boorish widow out of convenience and greed.  When the new “mother” is unable to get along with Jameela, openly despising her country clothes, manners and cleft lip, Jameela’s father takes her to the local marketplace and abandons her.  Jameela is taken in temporarily by a kind butcher.  Unable to manage another mouth to feed, he reluctantly gives in to his wife’s demands and takes Jameela to an orphanage, where she meets some unlikely allies who help her find hope, courage, and the will to pursue a future that’s not just better, but “good.”

An absorbing story with vivid imagery and rich, composite characters, Wanting Mor leaves readers wanting more.  The author paints word pictures of village life in Afghanistan and bustling Kabul that are so colorful, readers can almost taste the dust and feel the jostling crowds.  She also peppers her prose with Afghan verbiage and colloquialisms, bringing a sense of gravitas and authenticity into this well-rounded story.  A glossary is included.

Wanting Mor is based on real events in post-Taliban Afghanistan.  A worthwhile read.

by Alan Lawrence Sitomer

Hyperion Books, 2008

Sonia Rodriguez is the family work camel.  The oldest daughter in a family of nine, the 15 year-old wants to keep her grades up and the first member of her family to graduate from high school.  But the demands of caring for her pregnant-with-twins mother (“Sonia….. Ayudame!”) who spends all day, every day watching Spanish soaps, plus cooking, cleaning and caring for her younger siblings as well a endless trips t the tienda for cervezas for her loutish “drunkle” are overwhelming.  In mu cultura, Sonia explains – a culture she both loves and hates – “familia es todo.” (Family is everything.)

So she misses three days of school to make homemade tamales for her drunkle’s birthday fiesta, gets on the wrong side of her manipulate, hyper-religious Tia Luna. And is generally taken advantage of by everyone and anyone except her beloved, hard-working Papa.

Tia Luna insists that Sonia return to “The Old Country,” and demands the young teen spend a summer visiting with the legendary Abuelita (grandmother) in rural Mexico to straighten her out.  Sonia wants none of it.  She’s not interested in becoming a carbon copy of her mother – dependent, whiny, and dominated by men.  Sonia sets her sights considerably higher – and learns that ambition comes at a price when she’s caught in the middle as cultures collide: a daughter of illegal immigrants in El Norte, and a pocha in Mexico.  Where – and how – will she fit in?

***

            Author Alan Sitomer has an uncanny knack for thinking and feeling like a 15 y.o. girl.  His ability to capture teen emotions, frustrations, ambitions and angst is remarkable.  The story is vivid, Sitomer’s characters real, his settings and scenarios crisp.  He also skates perilously close to sermonizing on occasion, and risks losing readers in the process.  The plot seems contrived at times, but is redeemed by solid characterizations and crisp dialogue:

“A tear began to form in my heart for all of the mujeres de Mexico.  I have never realized how much loneliness there was in the hearts of my people, especially the women.  Or how much strength there was to go on, in spite of everything they faced.”

“Do not stoop to their level” is the repeated refrain from Sonia’s proud, industrious father.  And she doesn’t.  By the end of this book, you’ll want to stand up and cheer.

- Consistently high levels of creativity, imagination and ingenuity, including new twists on familiar subjects.

- Insightful posts that go beyond pedestrian, predictable re-hashes of tired topics.

- Frequency of guest authors/contributors.

- Originality.  Are posts fresh, vital, intriguing?  Do they compel you to “turn the page”?  Do they fire the imagination and urge readers to keep reading, thinking, questioning, exploring or consider another perspective?

- Blogs with a significant number of posts evidencing a biblical worldview rise to the top.

- Spelling and punctuation count.  If you can’t differentiate between “you’re” and “your” and “its” and “it’s,” don’t expect your blog to be among the finalists.

- Egocentric, online diary-type blogs are exempt.  AngelFire Awards are limited to blogs that speak to something bigger than the author.

And the winners are (in no particular order):

* It Only Takes a Mustard Seed – By Joanne Troppello, mystery and inspirational romance author.

* Writing and Doing: One Man’s Take on Tackling Life – By Kent Ostby  on “novels, short stories, favorite fake memories, and online novellas.”

* Karin Kaufman - Karin writes mystery novels set in Colorado.

* Soulation - By Jonalyn Fincher. “Engaging and growing human souls” and the “sparkly connection between faith, feminism and womanhood.”

* Simple Church Journal – aka The House Church blog by Roger Thoman. “A way of life, simple church, house church, organic church.”

* The Assembling of the Church – By Ph.D student Alan Knox writes about how “our understanding of the church affects (or should affect) the way the we live our lives among other brothers and sisters in Christ.”

Do you have any favorites to add to the list?  Chime in!

By Richard Paul Evans

“Is this like a series?  When’s the next one coming out?  Can we get it tomorrow?”

High praise for any book, but coming from my twelve year-old son?  We’re talkin’ statospheric.  I mean, I had to arm-wrestle the kid for Richard Paul Evans’s new release, Michael Vey: The Prisoner of Cell 25.   Good thing I’m a fast reader.  I zoomed through all three hundred and twenty-six pages in two days.

I’m not kidding.  Vey is a barn burner.  Page-turner.  Whatever.

Fourteen year-old Michael Vey is smack in the middle of life’s “armpit”: freshman year at Meriden High School.  He seems like an incredibly “average” kid.  The only thing that may set him apart is furious eye-blinking when he’s nervous, attributable to Tourette’s syndrome.  Michael’s one – and only – friend is portly, resourceful brainiac Ostin (he was born in Texas.  His mom was a poor speller.  Figure it out.).

Michael would like nothing better than to be left alone and just try to survive high school, but a trio of local thugs won’t let him.  They’re among the first to encounter Michael’s secret first-hand when they try “pantsing” him after school as cheerleader and drop-dead gorgeous Taylor walks by.

Michael later finds out that he and Taylor aren’t as different as he thought.  They both share special electrical powers. Michael, Ostin and Taylor form the “Electroclan.” Everything’s going swimmingly until Ostin detects some coincides between Michael and Taylor that are way too similar for mere coincidence – like the fact that they were born in the same hospital, in the same state, a day apart, and that nearly all other babies born in the same hospital within that time frame died.  The trio sets out to find out why.  In the process, they stumble upon the “Who?” – and wish they hadn’t.  Enter the darkly sunglassed, mysterious Dr. Hatch.

A megalomaniac par excellence, the ‘ethically challenged’ Hatch (that’s an understatement) has been looking for Taylor and Michael for nearly fifteen years.  When Michael’s mom is kidnapped, as is Taylor,  it’s up to Michael and Ostin to launch a daring rescue against seemingly overwhelming odds.  They must rely on wit, tenacity and each other to succeed.  But who can they trust to help?  Who else is after them, and what do they want?  Will the boys arrive before it’s too late?  And what happened to Michael’s dad?

Evans has ranked high on my Favorite Authors short list for years, ever since The Christmas Box.  As a YA novel, Vey represents a significant departure from Evans’s usual themes and treatments. It’s a different “cup of tea.”  Very different.  And Evans pulls it off beautifully!  The story is a skillful combination of action, suspense, mystery, romance, science and humor into an imaginative fiction with characters that are real and genuine.  We want to meet them again.  The plot is engaging, brisk and clever.  A keeper!

And the next title in the Vey series, The Rise of Elgen?  Not to worry.  My son and have it on hold at the library.  In fact, we’re first in line.

I took full advantage of my Uncle Norm’s love of literature whenever the Naas clan came to visit.  Norm believed in reading aloud before  reading aloud was cool.  He put heart and soul into every page,  bringing characters to life with different vocalizations, gestures and facial features.   Realizing this, I’d climb into his lap, laded to the chin with books.  Bass voice booming, Norman and I bounded into  Treasure Island and Camelot, explored Neverland with the Lost  Boys, roared with Aslan, and jumped into chalk pavement paintings  with Mary, Burt, and the Banks children.  We shared many summer  hours with Stuart Little, Black Beauty, a word-spinning spider, an  Indian in a cupboard, an old yeller dog, the March and Ingalls  families.  So many others.

It was November of 1960-something.  I was in the second grade. Mom bought me a book I couldn’t figure out.  “It’s a Christmas book,” she explained.  “The holidays will be here soon.”  I could read the  words just fine, but they were song lyrics and I couldn’t read music. Figuring that Uncle Norm was omniscient in all matters bookish, I  pulled on his sleeve one morning when the troops were visiting for Thanksgiving.

“Can you read this to me, please?”  I thrust the dark blue book into his hands. “It’s a singing book.  I don’t know how it goes.” My uncle and I retreated into the living room, plopped onto the sofa and opened Bring a Torch, Jeanette Isabella.  He paged through, “ooing and ahhing” at scenes depicting a young girl with a torch, the Holy family, a stable and lots of stars. “Oh, this is a good one!” Uncle Norm declared.  He always said that.  To a world-class bibliophile like Norman Naas, every book I offered was “a good one.”

“Let’s give it a try, shall we?” he leaned back, perched his black-rimmed glasses atop his nose, cleared his throat and began to sing:

Bring a torch, Jeanette, Isabella!
Bring a torch, to the stable run
Christ is born. Tell the folk of the village
Jesus is born and Mary’s calling.
Ah! Ah! beautiful is the Mother!
Ah! Ah! beautiful is her child.

A sixteenth century French Christmas carol, Bring a Torch, Jeanette Isabella urges visitors to the stable to keep their voices low so as not to disturb the dreams of the newborn Babe.  I’m told that some French children still dress up as shepherds and milkmaids and carry torches and candles to Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve while singing the carol.  The doleful tune has also been recorded by Fred Waring and the Pennsylvanians, Joan Baez, Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, and Mannheim Steamroller, among others.

Uncle Norm and I never recorded Bring a Torch, but it seems we sang it every holiday season for years.  It was “our song.” I don’t know what happened to that book, but my uncle passed away years ago.  I think of him often, especially when prowling the stacks of the local library.  The literary lights he lit still blaze beacon-bright.

Just as my uncle “brought a torch” to illuminate the wonderful world of books, so has the Divine Author written the greatest Book of all.  Its pages reflect the Light of the world and the true story of a Father whose love for you and me is so pure and deep that it became Emmanuel, God with us.  His story, The Great Story, became flesh, walked among us, and was nailed to a cross so those who believe would never walk in darkness.

So when cherry-cheeked winds scrub autumnal skies and November ignites the hills, I sometimes catch myself humming. Isabella’s torch is lit. Memories of my Uncle Norm shine like  alpenglow at sunset. Jesus is born.  And the Greatest Story ever told calls me Home.

Here are the basic rules:

- Each submission must be your original work.  Please include at the top of your submission (email only): 1) Your name; 2) A word count; 3) “Holiday Story Showcase” in the subject line, followed by your title.

- Length: between 300 and 1,500 words

- Any genre. Stories may be inspirational, fiction, non-fiction, memoir, or humorous.  Just make sure they’re G-rated.  (I reserve the right to reject any submission, for any reason.)

- I’m looking for clean, uplifting, family-friendly stories that have been thoroughly proof-read.

- First-person narratives are preferred, but not mandatory.

- Stories can be on any winter holiday.

- You may submit more than one story.

- Posting is up to the sole discretion of the blog owner (yours truly), and there is no monetary remuneration for any submission.  This is simply an opportunity to share your gifts and stories with the rest of our loyal readers!

- No anonymous submissions.  Please include your name.

So, pour yourself a steaming mug of hot apple cider, plop in a cinnamon stick or two and let your creative juices go to work!  Be sure the spread the word about our Holiday Story Showcase.  The more stories, the merrier!

Please send submissions in the body of an email (NOT as an attachment) to: HolidayStoryShowcase@gmail.com.  Last day to submit is December 10.