Welcome to my site

What can I say? I'm so pleased that you've come here. I've spent 5 years blogging, more than that building websites and have been writing "professionally" since 2003. I'm here to help writers with their writing, encourage people through this life, and point them to Jesus. That's the most important thing. So stay tuned. Check this site regularly as "some of the features" may change. I'll need help from time to time, because I'm not perfect. If you're perfect, please go to another site. I'm pretty sure you won't fit in here.

Unbalanced Scales

I'm sure everyone in the U.S. already knows that we are in danger. The problem is that so much of the rhetoric and the old rules are just antagonizing things.

For instance, only weeks ago all the media could do was talk about going over a fiscal cliff. Now, however, that cliff seems to have disappeared and they are talking about spending ceilings. I don't know about you, but this tells me that the people in Washington (D.C) don't know what they're talking about.

Then comes the IRS looming on the horizon. It's hard enough to get around with their hands in our pockets year round, but they expect an extra-special bonus via our Income Tax. We've been gritting our teeth and baring this for years, but now it's becoming harder and harder to find the forms to fill out, even if you can understand them, so you can send them in and pay that tax. I'm of the inclination that if they want my money they should come and fill out all the forms and make it easy. I'm not one of these people who expect freebies. It's just that the founding fathers didn't get paid, and if they did it was by their district, and probably in feed or livestock. I say we go back to that. You want to get out of our $15 trillion debt, then stop paying the people who aren't listening to us when we say, "No taxes."

I know, that's idealistic, but this country was built on ideals, and hard work made it work. That is until the government decided to pay for those who didn't want to work. Take a good idea and present it to Congress or the Senate and the first thing they do is appoint a special task force to investigate the problem. Oh, and all those tax problems we face, they do not face. How'd that happen. Whatever happened to "We the People..?"

Monday, July 5, 2010

The Duke's Handmaid, by Caprice Hokstad


CFRB tours THE DUKE'S HANDMAID, by Caprice Hokstad...again. In August of 2007 we toured THE DUKE'S HANDMAID, by Caprice Hokstad. At the time she was self-published, and there were some things she and Xulon didn't see eye to eye on. Now, Grace Bridges and her Splashdown Books, has acquired this book, repacked it and made some minor changes. So I thought, why not tour it again? As I re-read THE DUKE'S HANDMAID I remember some of the great things from the first time I read it, but I began to see even more. To me that is just another indicator that Caprice Hokstad has been about to basically create her own sub-genre, which she calls a "sword opera", and prove to the writing world that she is head and shoulders above many "known" authors already out there.

The story is actually a love story, but she approaches this in a manner that respects what love truly is, and it is NOT lust. Most contemporary romances are nothing but tales of lust. Not only does she make a clear distinction between the two, but she shows you that real love is something worth having, even if you have to give up everything else, including the object of your love. Now I know that sounds contradictory, but it really isn't. If a man loves a girl and she wants to pursue a career rather than get involved with him he will let her go, not because it is easy or because he wants to see her go, but because his love for her is so great that he would rather see her happy than make her miserable by forcing her to stay with him. We find this same selfless love in THE DUKE'S HANDMAID.

We find much more though too. We find ourselves on another world in a society that is complex, yet believable. We find things going on that we may have faced, at least to some degree, in our own lives, and then we are challenged to love beyond a way we have ever possibly loved before. And who are we to love this way? First and foremost we are to love our Lord this way. When we do we will find He can give us the same love for our spouse, and then for others, even our enemies. So grab a copy, open in up, and fall in love with a new kind of writing that one day other writers will be comparing their own work to, and largely failing, but that's the way it is when you're the best there is. The rest of us have to come after "best". I'm content to come after Caprice, knowing she is a truly great writer.

Visit Caprice's website.

Purchase The Duke's Handmaid from Splashdown Books.

(Coming soon to Amazon and Barnes & Noble) For a limited time, the .pdf eBook is FREE from Lulu or get the Kindle version from Amazon for just 99 cents!



Check out the following blogs for more about her book





IMPORTANT:
According to Federal law I have to tell that I received this book for free so I can do a review. Such a statement is meant to question the actual value of the book, so I want to set your minds at ease. Although in 2007 I did receive a free, pre-release copy of her book to do a review I have deemed it, even in its original form, of a quality high enough to give Caprice Hokstad a 2nd tour with CFRB. In other words, for this tour I have used the older version, knowing that the work deserved another tour. As far as a fantasy is concered The Duke's Handmain a book that, by it's quality, stands alone among many naturally gifted and well known writers. If you own a copy of this book, I believe that somewhere down through time you are going to say, "Caprice Hokstad? Of course I've heard of her. Her work is amazing." And you will feel a special glow because you will have purchased this book before she became famous, which I totally believe she will become. No one paid me to say that.
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2 comments:

  1. Caprice HokstadJuly 5, 2010 at 10:41 PM

    Thank you, David. These are truly kind words and the kind of blushing praise any author longs to hear. If I ever live to see these days you speak of, I hope I do not forget the few who believed in me when I was unknown and struggling.

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  2. DavidJuly 6, 2010 at 5:21 PM

    It took me forever to be able to get this comment to post. Sorry. Guess Blogger doesn't like my home computer. Anyway, you deserve all the praise I gave and more. Maybe there are a couple areas where I speak "evangelastically", but you are top notch. When your name gets known people will be rushing to hear what you have to say next.

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