House of Honor Books
Engaging Fiction and
Thought-provoking Nonfiction
The Honor Gazette
February 2021
Welcome
House of Honor is closing out this winter quarter and opening the new year with a new name and a pair of book releases.
We are now House of Honor Books. The name better reflects what we do and how we go about publishing our books. We have authors joining us in our alliance with Tiwaz Press whose works will appear with our logo. We are currently open to fiction, nonfiction, and poetry submissions. Please see our website for our submission guidelines.
In January we launched Jack LaFountain’s Christian western series, Mann of God, with Redemption.
Our newest book Face to Face with the Gods is by Kenneth Balch. More on these a little later in the newsletter.
We invite you to subscribe to our site and receive the Gazette for information on our authors, publishing team, coming events, and new releases. Be sure to like us on Facebook.
Open Mic Night
Open Mic 5 is only three weeks away! With what we hope is the worst of the cold and snow of winter behind us, we see a blossoming of our Open Mic events. The fellowship of creativity hosted by Berkeley Bob’s Coffee House in downtown Cullman, Alabama, is growing.
Local writers, singers, song writers, poets and dancers are giving a new, real meaning to the phrase “we’re all in this together.” March’s event is going to coincide with our launch for Face to Face with the Gods which will also be held at Berkeley Bob’s.
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Can You Hear Me Now?
In response to requests, House of Honor Books is moving into the world of audiobooks. We understand you are busy and soon you will be able to turn anytime into story time. We currently have two titles in production and hope to add more as time goes on.
Cameron Buckner of Dixie Cryptid and What If It’s True podcasts has agreed to narrate Bayou Moon. The audiobook, available through Amazon, is scheduled to be out in the spring. Feeling the fatigue of the day on that drive home? Let this story keep your eyes open and your hands glued to the wheel. Or turn down the lights at home and let Cameron’s smooth southern voice send chills down your spine.
Matt Davis was chosen to be our narrator for Redemption. Get ready for his deep, rich voice to carry you out West. There are not many people who still remember the serial radio broadcasts of The Lone Ranger, Red Ryder, or the Cisco Kid, but you can capture a bit of what they were like with the story of Kit Mann and Sheriff Heck Reid brought to life by Matt.
Mann of God, Redemption
By Jack LaFountain
Redemption is my answer to a friend’s request to write her a western novel without a monster. The premise for the story—skeletons from the past that come back to haunt someone had been bumping around in my head before that. The setting and the strictly human antagonist that follow were born of that desire for a different type of supernatural book.
Different, but make no mistake about it, still a supernatural story. True personal redemption and the new life it produces defy the laws of nature. For all my monsters, every story is ultimately the battle between good and evil. Sometimes the distinctions between the two are clear. At other times the canvas is gray, blotted with shades and shadows.
Redemption is the story of Rev. Christopher “Kit” Mann. In a drunken stupor the Confederate deserter, and outlaw shoots and kills an unarmed man of the cloth. In his headlong flight from the scene and the law, Mann runs into God.
God, in this instance, appears in the person of Rev. Denhardt, Dean of Unity Frontier Bible College. Kit gets a new life; one he invests in the ministry. Ashamed of his past, hiding its taint from his congregation in tiny Zion, Wyoming, he refuses to openly confront the life he left behind. That ends when Don Owens and his old gang ride into town. His secret past is laid bare for all to see, including the fact that the local pastor is still wanted for murder.
Mann’s old partner seems more forgiving than his church. Owens wants him to rejoin the old gang and turn Zion into an outlaw hideout. When Mann refuses and forms an alliance with Sheriff Hector Reid.
As lead begins to fly, Kit must ask himself if the problems of the present be solved with the old solutions? Are the old answers good enough to meet the questions of a new life? How real is the new Christopher Mann?
On the Horizon
The shortest month of the year appears to be the busiest at House of Honor Books. Face to Face with the Gods went live on Amazon earlier this month. However, before we flip the page on the calendar, we plan to release a re-edited and revamped version of Jack LaFountain’s Bayou Moon.
Artwork and final editing are underway for a March release of Tracks, a collection of four Bigfoot stories. It will feature a story from each season of the year and original artwork by Michael Payton and Sandy Ratigan. The stories are based on actual encounters and Native American mythology.
Our spring quarter lineup is taking shape. We hope to introduce three new authors in 2021 to join Kenneth Balch and Jack LaFountain.
Face to Face with the Gods
Q & A with Kenneth Balch
Q. Why did you choose to write a book about your experience?
I was having a hard time dealing with the emotional fallout from the experience and decided to write it down as a way to get it off my chest.
Q. What kind of catharsis, if any, have you formed since then?
It really helped me deal with some of the fallout. There were time when I could not separate the experience from reality. Now there are only a few instances left that I can’t seem to separate from reality
Q. Did the experience change your ideas of death and what happens after death? If so, how?
It caused me to have a huge crisis of faith that I have not fully reconciled yet.
Q. What are your goals for the book—what kind of reaction do you hope to draw from your readers?
I’d love for the book to be able to give readers a glimpse into my.. mind and I’d love for it to be a best seller as well obviously. I’d like for my readers to experience the concept that even if the face of overwhelming odds, good eventually wins the day.
Wake Up!
This issue’s free story is Wake Up! This story is based on real events related to us by one of our site's followers.
Moving is never easy. It becomes even harder when the sweet deal of a rental that you find in a Salt Lake City suburb is haunted. Our protagonist's journey from Hawaii to Utah is a smoother jaunt than his transition from skeptic to true believer. What would it take to wake you up to the supernatural?
Click on the image below to go to the story.
