FEATURED BOOK:  Facing the Darkness (Against the Darkness 1)

AUTHOR:  H L Wegley

PUBLISHER:  Trinity Press International

GENRE:  Medical Thriller

SERIES OR STAND ALONE:  Book 1, Against the Darkness

TARGET AGE:  College age and up

 

 

 

IT IS MY PLEASURE TO WELCOME AUTHOR H. L. WEGLEY TO THE OVER 50 WRITER. H. L. SHARES INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT THE POLYNESIAN PEOPLE AND THE CHRISTIAN FAITH.

 

 

 

THE ALOHA PEOPLE

 

 

 

by

 

 

 

H. L. Wegley

 

 

 

When my wife and I retired and spent six weeks in Maui to wind down from stressful jobs, I became interested in the Polynesian people, their history, and culture. After reading several books and observing the people firsthand, I’m providing my nutshell description of the breathtaking history of this special group of people.

 

 

 

First, a principal: regardless of what modern anthropologists say—anthropologists whose findings are often tainted by inadequate theories of human sociology, psychology, and evolution—cultures grow darker the more the knowledge of God is removed from them. “Pristine” cultures are not always beautiful. Some are horrifying. If you don't believe me, read Spirit of the Rainforest: A Yanomamo Shaman's Story by Mark Andrew Ritchie, a real eye-opener.

 

 

 

According to Daniel Kikawa, in his well-researched book, Perpetuated in Righteousness, the Polynesian people migrated eastward from the Middle East, the cradle of civilization, eventually reaching the Pacific. They became great navigators and, a little before 400 A.D., using the stars, they made a miraculous journey in small boats, hitting a minute target in the middle of the Pacific, the Hawaiian Islands. They brought with them much of the Old Testament in story form, including stories of the flood, Joseph, Moses, and much more. In fact, their word, aloha, derives directly from this retained knowledge of God. “Alo” means Divine Son of God in their high priestly language. “Ha” means spirit of life. So, to say aloha is literally to say, “May the spirit of the one true God go with you.” Aloha is much like “shalom” used by the Jewish people.

 

 

 

For nearly 1,000 years, the “spirit of aloha” and the stories of God they preserved characterized the culture of this Pacific paradise. But around 1,300 A.D., Pa’ao, a pagan priest, arrived from Tahiti and began to rule with force and fear, introducing evils such as gruesome methods of human sacrifice and perverting God by characterizing Him as a violent god of war. The priests of this religion controlled the people, demanding from them what the religious leaders needed to live in wealth and luxury, enslaving the people and forcing them to fight in their armies to conquer more territory. But the stories of God were hidden in the hearts of a few people who refused to forget them.

 

 

 

Eight hundred years later, in the early 1800s, several things happened that prepared the islands for a return to God. King Kamehameha unified the islands, freeing them from the former system of rule, kapu. The people openly defied the laws of the kapu system.

 

 

 

A new priest began quoting an old prophecy announcing the imminent coming of the Prince of Peace, who was supposed to arrive on a ship with white sails and give them back the knowledge of the God of peace. He would come by way of a small black box. At that very time, the first missionaries were onboard a ship on their way to the Hawaiian Islands. When the ship landed, the first thing the missionaries brought to the people was a black Bible box.

 

 

 

The Hawaiian people’s hearts had been prepared for this event and the gospel spread in a huge revival beginning in 1837 and lasting more than 20 years. By 1860, the island population was 90% Christian, and it had the highest literacy rate in the world because people wanted to read and study the scriptures.

 

 

 

I chose to end the story on this high note because the last 40 years of the 19th century were a sad time in Hawaiian history. I pray that the people of the Islands will return to their historical beliefs in the one true God, that they will be made whole again, and that their many wounds will be healed.

 

 

 

Back Cover Blurb for Facing the Darkness

She scuttled the CCP’s biowarfare plans. When they catch her, she will pay.

Dr. Meiling Chen, a brilliant young virologist from the Hong Kong Medical School, is on the verge of a major breakthrough for manipulating the entire class of RNA viruses that would make gain of function hardly more than child’s play. She is offered an attractive postdoctoral fellowship at the Wuhan Institute of Virology to complete her work, and she accepts.

Knowing the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) plans to use her work to create deadly bioweapons, she memorizes her important findings, deletes all her files, and tries to escape to America with Chinese Communist Party (CCP) agents in pursuit.

Escaping China with its surveillance and social credit system is not easy. And even if Meiling is successful, can she find someone she can trust in the U.S. who will allow her to continue her work, using it only for good? But treachery is a capital offense to the CCP and PLA, and it never goes unpunished.

Ryan Adams, a meteorologist at a Bend, Oregon TV station and a self-taught Christian apologist, said he’d give his right arm for a reliable source of info on China’s bioweapons program. He might get his wish, but it could cost him more than just his right arm.

Set in Wuhan China, Hong Kong, Oregon, and Colorado, Facing the Darkness is a clean medical thriller that paints a picture of the cost of Facing the Darkness.

 

 

Purchase Link for Facing the Darkness

Available on KU

 

 

H. L. Wegley served in the USAF as an Intelligence Analyst and a Weather Officer. In civilian life, he was a weather forecaster and a research scientist in atmospheric physics. After earning an MS in Computer Science, he developed computing systems for Boeing before retiring in the Seattle area, where he and his wife of 57 years enjoy small-group ministry, grandchildren, hiking Olympic Peninsula beaches, visiting Maui whenever they can, and where he writes inspirational thrillers and romantic-suspense novels.

 

 

 

 

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FEATURED BOOK:  The Story Behind the Story of The Novice Ranch Hand

AUTHOR:  June Foster

PUBLISHER:  Winged Publications

GENRE:  Contemporary Romance

SERIES OR STAND ALONE:  Series, book #1

TARGET AGE:  20-90

 

 

 

IT IS MY PLEASURE TO WELCOME AUTHOR JUNE FOSTER BACK TO PATTI’S PORCH. JUNE SHARES THE INSPIRATION BEHIND HER LATEST NOVEL.

 

 

 

THE STORY BEHIND THE STORY OF THE NOVICE RANCH HAND

 

 

 

by

 

 

 

June Foster

 

 

 

As I wrote The Novice Ranch Hand, I enjoyed a sentimental journey into the past. The idea for this story, which takes place on a sheep ranch, was inspired by my life as a young child.

 

My father was heir to a large sheep ranch in west Texas. So, after my parents married, they made the ranch their home. My father raised sheep and sold the wool to the local coop in his town. For years, the business was profitable. Later, however, the foreign wool markets made sheep ranching less lucrative.

 

 

 

In my early years, I have memories of playing with my cousins, riding horses, and exploring the bunk house which was empty at that time.

 

 

 

One recollection I'll never forget is going swimming in the water storage tank behind the house. My father loved to don his swimsuit and take me with him to splash around in the rock structure. The tank was filled with rainwater and not used for much of anything else at the time.

 

 

 

My grandmother lived in a larger house on the ranch property. I always loved going to the big house for a visit. Often, she would fix a delicious Sunday lunch after church.

 

 

 

Unfortunately, my parents divorced when I was six so my experience of living on a ranch didn't last long. Nevertheless, my childhood recollections were a valuable inspiration and starting point for writing The Novice Ranch Hand.

 

 

 

Blurb for The Novice Ranch Hand:

Peyton Langley must escape the haunting memories of the past. He can no longer dwell on what he left behind in the jungles of Peru. Seeking a new life, Peyton answers an ad in the Texas Rancher's Journal for a job at the prominent Ford Sheep Ranch in Central Texas. Only problem, he knows nothing about ranching.

Erika Ford runs the Ford family sheep ranch in the hill country of Central Texas along with her father and two brothers. She wants to keep the legacy of the ranch alive when her father retires and her brothers move on. When a new ranch hand shows up, she pulls a gun on him believing him to be an intruder.

Can Erika prove to her father that she's capable of managing the sprawling sheep ranch which has been in the Ford family for four generations? Will Peyton find a new beginning in the springs, stony hills, and steep canyons of Central Texas.  

 

 

 

An award-winning author, June Foster is a retired teacher with a BA in Education and a MA in counseling. June began writing Christian romance in 2010 as she and her husband traveled the US in their RV. Her adventures provide a rich source of information for her novels. She brags about visiting a location before it becomes the setting in her next book.

To date, June has written over thirty contemporary romance and romantic suspense novels and novellas. June uses her training in counseling and her Christian beliefs in creating characters who encounter real-life difficulties yet live victorious lives. She's published with Winged Publications.

June is active in her church and her ladies' fellowship group. She enjoys writing devotionals as well as fiction. She frequently attends writers' conferences such as Blue Lake Writers' Conference and Florida Christian Writers Conference.

Her novel, The Inn at Cranberry Cove, won the 2021 Selah award for Romantic Suspense. It is available on Amazon in paperback, hardback, and eBook format. In 2023, June won the Ames Award for her book Christmas at Cranberry Cove, book three in the same series.

Visit June at her website to see a complete list of her books.

 

 

 

 

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