News

[[{"type":"media", "view_mode":"media_large", "fid":"798", "attributes":{"class":"media-image alignright size-full wp-image-1085", "typeof":"foaf:Image", "style":"", "width":"206", "height":"297", "alt":"BB homefront cover200"}}]]I'm getting ready to start packing for my trip to Gettysburg, hooray! But first, some news to share with you: The winner of The Charlotte-Inspired Give-away, according to random.org, is.... Jasmine A.! Congrats Jasmine, and thanks so much to the rest of you for entering this Wedded to War-themed drawing! Stories of Faith and Courage from the Home Front, which I co-authored with Karen Whiting, won the Golden Scroll Award (nonfiction category) from the Advanced Writers and Speakers Association on Sunday! The fiction award went to Jeanette Windle for Congo Dawn, and well deserved it was! To see the complete list of Golden Scroll Award winners, see: http://www.ecpanews.org/rush/pr9.html Last night the Christy Award went to Tracy Groot for Flame of Resistance (historical category) and Julie Cantrell for Into the Free (first novel category). Both books totally earned their wins. I've actually been writer buddies with Tracy for years and I'm thrilled to see her stunning work honored in this way. To see a complete list of the Christy Award winners, see: http://bit.ly/2013ChristyWinners Have a great week! Hope to see some of you in Gettysburg sooooon! :)

[[{"type":"media", "view_mode":"media_large", "fid":"948", "attributes":{"class":"media-image alignleft size-medium wp-image-1214", "typeof":"foaf:Image", "style":"", "width":"194", "height":"300", "alt":"Widow cover 3 hi res"}}]] Widow Launches! Well, today is the official release day of Widow of Gettysburg! I'm so excited for people to read the story I poured my heart into over the last several months. Twenty-four hundred residents inhabited the borough of Gettysburg in 1863 when 163,000 men and 15,000 animals converged upon it for the three-day battle in July. Some fled to protect themselves and their property, while many--most of them women and children--were caught in the crossfire. Surviving the battle was only the beginning. While most history books follow the armies on their journeys away from Gettysburg when the battle receded, Widow of Gettysburg keeps the focus on the aftermath being played out in the town. Women of Gettysburg did not ask for the distinction, but many became heroines behind the lines just the same. Widow of Gettysburg is the story of their resilience. In the words of Gettysburg housewife Sarah Broadhead, "We do not know until tried what we are capable of." If you haven't seen the book trailer yet, take 75 seconds to do so below. [[{"type":"media", "view_mode":"media_large", "fid":"949", "attributes":{"class":"media-image alignright size-medium wp-image-1376", "typeof":"foaf:Image", "style":"", "width":"199", "height":"300", "alt":"cover-May13"}}]]Cover Story! I'm honored to be the "cover girl" for Christian Fiction Online Magazine this month, and hope you'll take a moment to read Kim Ford's interview with me. She did a great job asking really thoughtful questions, and, as a journalist myself, I really appreciate her!   Free Books! For a limited time, Widow of Gettysburg is free as an ebook at Amazon, BN.com, and ChristianBook.com! Widow of Gettysburg is Book 2 in the Heroines Behind the Lines series. Be sure to read Book 1, Wedded to War, first for maximum enjoyment. [[{"type":"media", "view_mode":"media_large", "fid":"950", "attributes":{"class":"media-image", "typeof":"foaf:Image", "style":"", "alt":":)"}}]]  Wedded to War is a double Christy Award finalist, in the categories of First Novel and Historical Fiction, so I’m hopeful you will be glad to read it! [[{"type":"media", "view_mode":"media_large", "fid":"951", "attributes":{"class":"media-image alignleft size-medium wp-image-1018", "typeof":"foaf:Image", "style":"", "width":"300", "height":"300", "alt":"360MKD MW NT"}}]]I've got one more very special announcement to make before I let you go. May 10 is Military Spouse Appreciation Day, and to honor military wives, Zondervan is running a special throughout the month of May! Buy one Military Wives' New Testament with Psalms & Proverbs, get one FREE! Here's how: Visit www.churchsource.com Add 2 copies to your cart, and enter promo code BD5W11 at checkout. For more about this special devotional for military wives, visit this page. Happy May Day everyone!

[[{"type":"media", "view_mode":"media_large", "fid":"939", "attributes":{"class":"media-image wp-image-1258", "typeof":"foaf:Image", "style":"", "width":"574", "height":"430", "alt":"Museum building3-2013"}}]] Seminary Ridge Museum. Photo courtesy: GSRM   If you are within driving distance of Gettysburg, write this down: on Saturday, June 29, from 1-4pm, I will be signing copies of Widow of Gettysburg at the Seminary Ridge Museum in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania! This day will be the kick-off to a week of festivities commemorating the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg. See the schedule of events here. (Note: Though my book signing is not on here, I promise it's happening. We just nailed down the date yesterday.) For information on other events, including re-enactments, click here. [[{"type":"media", "view_mode":"media_large", "fid":"940", "attributes":{"class":"media-image alignright size-medium wp-image-869", "typeof":"foaf:Image", "style":"", "width":"194", "height":"300", "alt":"Widow cover 3"}}]]If you can't make it to Gettysburg this summer, don't worry. Award-winning author Peter Leavell says that reading Widow of Gettysburg, wherever you are, "will make you feel like you’ve lived in Gettysburg during the Civil War." :) I am really attached to the building which houses the Seminary Ridge Museum. It has also been called Old Dorm, or Schmucker Hall, and it was the main Lutheran Theological Seminary building on campus aside from faculty houses during the battle in 1863. Aside from its historical significance (its cupola offered strategic viewpoints for the armies, and the building was used as a hospital for months after the battle), I love it for a few more personal reasons, too: This was the building where I researched the archives of the Adams County Historical Society in 2010. Though I was looking for stories for a nonfiction book (Stories of Faith and Courage from the Home Front), the drama I encountered in those archives planted the seed in my mind that grew into the Heroines Behind the Lines Civil War series of historical novels. I set a scene from Widow of Gettysburg in this building. One of my characters in Widow of Gettysburg was a former student here at the Lutheran Theological Seminary. This building is on the cover of my Gettysburg novel. The chief operating officer of the Seminary Ridge Museum, Denise Doyle, has been an instrumental historical consultant as I was writing and fact-checking the book. [[{"type":"media", "view_mode":"media_large", "fid":"843", "attributes":{"class":"media-image size-full wp-image-1255", "typeof":"foaf:Image", "style":"", "width":"550", "height":"400", "alt":"View from the cupola. Photo courtesy: GSRM"}}]] View from the cupola. Photo courtesy: GSRM   Both Denise Doyle, from the Seminary Ridge Museum, and Mavis Starner, from the Adams County Historical Society have read Widow of Gettysburg. Here's what they had to say about it. “Steeped in sorrow and death yet infused with resiliency, Jocelyn Green’s Widow of Gettysburg is a gripping depiction of individuals brought together by war. Ms. Green’s thorough research and poignantly written storyline delicately weaves a compelling description of Liberty and Bella, who could have been enveloped and trampled by the ubiquitous prejudice and revulsion around them; they could have allowed these scars to define them. Instead, as did the community and eventually the nation, these women’s unswerving faith and inner strength took center stage enriching their spirit, enhancing their ties, and embracing their ownership of their personal struggle for a new birth of freedom.” ~Denise Doyle, chief operations officer, Seminary Ridge Museum, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania   “While the leading characters are fictitious, they represent a combination of real people who lived through, and witnessed, one of America’s most crucial events of the Civil War – the Battle of Gettysburg.  Through their eyes you experience what the citizens, especially the women, of Gettysburg endured during those hot July days. Jocelyn Green’s detailed research and literary talent combine to transport the reader to another place and time . . .  so real that you can feel the earth shake with each roar of the cannon; see the hundreds of wounded soldiers as they lie in the mud and dirt with missing arm or leg; hear the wounded as they cry out for help and water; smell the rotting flesh and carcasses of dead men and horses yet unburied; and taste the gunpowder as it lays heavy on the air. You will be pulled into a place and story that will not let you go until the very end – and leave you wanting more.  Beware!  Once you begin reading this book you will not be able to put it down.” ~Mavis Starner, Volunteer at Adams County Historical Society, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania I hope to see you in Gettysburg on June 29, but if you can't make it, keep in mind I can still sign your book for you through the wonders of the U.S. Postal Service! Visit this page to see how to get a signed bookplate for any of my books. Finally, let's step back almost 150 years ago together--for about 90 seconds--through this book trailer, below. Widow of Gettysburg releases May 1. For more information about the Heroines Behind the Lines series, visit this Web site. Pre-order below:

[[{"type":"media", "view_mode":"media_large", "fid":"931", "attributes":{"class":"media-image alignright size-medium wp-image-900", "typeof":"foaf:Image", "style":"", "width":"192", "height":"300", "alt":"mwives nt cover_200"}}]]Happy official release day for the Military Wives' New Testament with Psalms & Proverbs! This beautiful hardcover volume includes, in addition to the text of the Scriptures: 60 Reinforcements (devotional readings) 30 Home Front Heroes (inspiration stories of other military wives) 10 Basic Training guides for in-depth Bible study 10 Classic hymns that speak to military wives Topical listing of favorite Bible verses for military wives We are celebrating by giving away 20 copies! Hop over to this blog post at FaithDeplyed.com and follow directions to enter the drawing.

Plans are underway to give my Web site a facelift. One of the most important changes I want to make is to shine the spotlight on you, my readers, by posting photos of you with one (or more) of my books! But to do that, I need your help. There are two ways you could share your photos with me: 1) Post your photo directly to my Facebook author page. 2) If you're not on Facebook, email me your photo at jocelyn@jocelyngreen.com. If you don't have a copy of my book handy but still want to participate, feel free to get creative! Pose with a copy from the library or at your bookstore, or with some sort of prop. Since all of my books, so far, have to do with war, anything military-inspired would work! Send me your photos by Feb. 28 so I can get them up on the Web site! [[{"type":"media", "view_mode":"media_large", "fid":"771", "attributes":{"class":"media-image alignleft size-full wp-image-891", "typeof":"foaf:Image", "style":"", "width":"125", "height":"193", "alt":"Widow cover 3 125"}}]]BOOK GIVE-AWAY: As a small token of my appreciation for you, I will randomly choose two of you to receive a free advanced copy of Widow of Gettysburg!