The river and its tributaries
I liken the entire canon of our books to a river. I say "our"
because I have not single-handedly put these together. My wife, Connie,
works with me full-time; editors at each of my publishers, as well as
their sales support groups, assist as well. So does my tireless agent/partner,
Greg Johnson of WordServe Literary
Group, Ltd. Each of the hundreds who send me their favorite stories
every year makes a significant difference. And God. Each day I pray that
He will grant me divine wisdom so that I will choose, write, and edit
wisely.
Each collection stands alone, thus readers do not need to read them in
sequence, although some may prefer to.
Feeding into this river are a number of tributaries.
Christmas Books
Great Stories Remembered Books
Heart to Heart Books
Great Stories / Classics
Forged in the Fire Books
The Good Lord Made Them All Books
Mavericks
Translations
Christmas Books
The best-selling Christmas book tributary is the oldest. Review and Herald
Publishing House started it in 1992. In their series are now sixteen books
and six audio tapes. The series was a Gold Medallion finalist in 1995.
Doubleday/Randomhouse, in 1996, took these same stories to the broader,
secular marketplace with four Christmas in my Heart hardbacks and
the two books of the Christmas in My Soul hardback series. Focus
on the Family first began using the series in 1995. Tyndale House first
co-published a Christmas in my Heart collection (with Review & Herald)
in 1998. In 1999, they joined with Focus on the Family in publishing Christmas
in My Heart 8 in vertical trade paper for the first time; and in 2000,
when Doubleday changed its series title, Tyndale House/Focus on the Family
published Christmas in my Heart 9 in vertical hardback.
Great
Stories Remembered
The second oldest tributary is the Great Stories Remembered series, begun
by Focus on the Family in 1996. These are stories for all times of the
year, arranged chronologically by the time of the year stories would most
likely be read. Great Stories Remembered I received Family Television's
highest award, the Seal of Quality in 1996. The second collection (now
co-published by Focus on the Family and Tyndale House), came out in 1998,
and the third in 2000. Three-hour audio-tapes came out simultaneously.
The first two collections are also available, retitled as The Best
of Times.
Heart to Heart
The third tributary, the Heart to Heart series, began as a Tyndale House
duet in 1997: Mom in My Heart and Dad in My Heart. Two years
later it was decided to republish them in hardback form as part of the
Heart to Heart series, following Heart to Heart Stories of Friendship
and preceding Heart to Heart Stories of Love in 2000. More followed.
Classic Books / Great Stories
The fourth tributary began in 1997 as Focus on the Family's classic book
series. Over a four year period, twelve titles were released, eleven in
trade paper. They are co-published with Tyndale House. This
series is especially useful for home-schooling and in classes. For each
book I write an introduction, a read-aloud biography of the author, a
master bibliography, a filmography, and discussion questions for each
chapter at the end. The older texts I footnote. All are illustrated with
the oldest known, or best-ever, plates. These classic editions are truly
treasure houses and are so far relatively undiscovered by the general
public. If enough readers do discover them, then we will consider
continuing the series beyond the original twelve.
Forged in the Fire
The fifth tributary did not begin until 2000. It followed my first
ever collection of Easter stories, Easter in My Heart, published
by Waterbrook/Random House and (later in that year) by The Wings of
God, true stories of God's angels and providence. Late in 2000 it
was decided to title WaterBrook's story anthologies Forged in the Fire,
the first two collections of stories dealing with tough times and heroes.
The Good Lord Made Them All
What a sadly different world this would be without all the other creatures God placed on this planet to bring us joy! In 2004, Joe Wheeler and Pacific Press began a series of story anthologies that would celebrate man's relationship with all these fellow travelers. He began with dogs (after first searching for the most moving dog stories he'd ever read), continued in 2005 with cats, and followed it up in 2006 with horses. A general collection of wild life stories has been featured in 2007, and, most likely, the series will continue for some years yet.
Mavericks
The seventh tributary features one of a kind titles, beginning with Remote
Controlled (a book I wrote on the impact of television on the American
home, published by Review and Herald in 1993. Time for a Story,
co-published by Harvest House and Focus on the Family in 1999, reprints
five stories from Great Stories Remembered I geared to children
4 to 12, and are illustrated in color. Two pamphlets were printed by Review
and Herald: View at Your Own Risk (a condensation of Remote Controlled,
published in 1993) and Old-time Christmas Stories (four stories
taken from Christmas in My Heart 1), published in 1995. A play
edition of Ben-Hur was published by Focus on the Family in 2000,
tying in with the short-lived Ben-Hur: the Musical.
Translations
The eighth tributary features works in translation. First was Pacific
Press's translation into Spanish of Christmas in My Heart 1, Navidad
en Mi Corazon, in 1997. Also in 1997, Remote Controlled was
translated into Spanish as La Tirania del Control Remoto by Associacion
Publicadore Interamericana.
All eight of these tributaries combine to form the river.
