Our Abiding Heritage: A Collection of Diverse Short Stories

by C.D. Sutherland, Priscilla Adams, Jann Franklin, Marguerite Martin Gray, Carole Lehr Johnson

Overview

This publication is a testimony of the sixth year a group of authors assembled their collective muse to create an anthology celebrating the short story. The last five years’ collections, Celebrating the Short Story, Over the Moon Travel Treasures, 2020 Vision, Coming of Age, and Second Chances, contributed significantly to advancing the craft of Christian fiction writing in Louisiana. This year, ten authors have collaborated to produce the outstanding collection of diverse short stories you’re now viewing, Our Abiding Heritage.

The ten short stories in Our Abiding Heritage are as diverse in technique and theme as our previous years’ writings; nevertheless, they are united in the fact that a heritage element is common. We invite you to take notice of the techniques used by this array of talented authors to weave those heritage-related appearances into their stories.

These ten adventures will take you to places you have never been. C.D. Sutherland’s Enough takes you to Golgotha and the crucifixion of Christ as witnessed through the eyes of Stephanus Longinus, a young Roman soldier. Priscilla Adams’ debut short story, Gemini Legacy, drops you into the chaos of a fast-paced love affair, where the soon-to-be bride discovers her fiancé’s family curse. Jann Franklin’s The Backup Beauty Queen pulls you into small-town Louisiana festival culture, where family, enthusiasm, and talent collide with laughter. Marguerite Martin Gray’s The Thread Uncovered examines a tendril through Sophie Lucy Marteen’s life, revealing how family relationships do not always require blood ties. Carole Lehr Johnson’s Heritage of Hope takes you to seventeenth-century England to show how Melior Olford, a character in her 2022 release, The Burning Sands, came to be married to Radigan Atwood. Beverly Flanders’ Katherine's Table plunges you into a mystery as a family heirloom reveals its secrets to Katie and her cousin Laura. Tina Ann Middleton’s Lord of Time places you on a time-traveling adventure where a good-intentioned man named Eddie strives to rescue Jesus from the cross. Should he succeed, what would be the ramifications of that? Calvin Hubbard’s debut fiction, The Handoff, takes you on Tom’s nostalgic journey where he realizes specific events from key players in his life gave him precisely what he needed to run the race set before him. Mary Lou Cheatham’s Crossing Cohay Branch ventures into the recesses of a childhood memory, generating as many questions as it answers. Finally, Susan Hiers Foster’s Out of the Dark follows an author’s quest for inspiration in Maine, where she meets a famous author who needs something from her.

When you return from these experiences, chances are some will have left you wanting more. If so, check out that story’s author page at the back of the book. They might have something else you’ll like. We believe you’ll be glad you did.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940166020338
Publisher:	Narrow Way Press
Publication date:	01/31/2023
Sold by:	Smashwords
Format:	eBook
Sales rank:	186,910
File size:	868 KB

About the Author

Charles David Sutherland signs his books as C.D. Sutherland. Across three decades, he flew B-52s for the Air Force, where he was known among his fellow warfighters as The Chuck. Then he turned novelist with his "The Chronicles of Susah" series novels, which shook up the fiction world as they defied conventional classification. They blended action and emotional tension with technology and spiritual intrigue in a coming-of-age story wrapped in an epic adventure set in the antediluvian age marking the birth of a new literary genre. His readers called it Antediluvian Steampunk and declared C.D. Sutherland to be its father. If you like Biblically-based action adventures for all ages, then look at his books—you’ll be glad you did.

Born in the Virginia foothills to a coalminer’s son, who long ago joined the Navy to escape a life in the dark Appalachian mines, C.D. Sutherland also joined the military. After high school, he served in the Air Force for thirty-two years, seeing much of the world, flying jets, and doing other things most men have only dreamed about doing.

C.D. Sutherland married the love of his life, and they are well into their 45th year. The two of them are raising a couple of their grandsons. While C.D. Sutherland is a Baptist deacon, author, and ACFW Louisiana chapter President and project manager, he is also the owner and executive editor of Narrow Way Press, LLC, a small independent publishing company. His philosophy for life is to "do the best you can with what you have to work with.”

His power verse is:

“I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.” (Philippians 4:16 KJV) *

(*note: You can too!)

Priscilla Adams, known as Priscilla A., may be a little lady, but she has big dreams. Born in Shreveport, Louisiana, she always dreamed of becoming an actress, but God had so much more in store.

She is an accomplished writer, producer, actress, and filmmaker, who has already had the pleasure of seeing her stories on the silver screen. Now she is making the pivot to putting her stories in book format.

She is on a course to tell stories that bring awareness to issues that face our world today in an entertaining and provocative format, reaching beyond your visual, beyond your mind, to your soul.

Her film projects include Fate’s Reunion, When I Needed You, and her award-winning films Reunited, and High School Honeys. Reunited secured a global distribution deal with Maverick Entertainment and is available on Amazon Prime, Vudu, Tubi, Pluto, and many more....

Jann Franklin lives in the small town of Grand Cane, Louisiana. Over three hundred other people also live in Grand Cane, and many of Jann’s chapters came from her weekly visits at the downtown coffee shop. She would like it on the record that Grand Cane’s current mayor and aldermen are nothing like the characters in her book. They are definitely larger than life but in a good way.

She and her husband, John, enjoy Sundays at Grand Cane Baptist Church, dinner with family and friends, and watching the lightning bugs in their backyard. Their kids come to visit when they aren’t too busy living their big-city lives.

She graduated from high school in Russellville, another small town in Arkansas. She obtained her accounting degree from Baylor University in Waco, Texas, and moved to Dallas in 1989. She still dabbles in accounting but has taken up writing to satisfy her creative side. Like Jen Guidry, she never appreciated her small-town upbringing until she was encouraged to move back to one. Now she cannot imagine living any other way.

If you ever make it to Grand Cane, stop by 4C Coffee Shop and say “hi.” Rhonda Cox and her employees make amazing coffee, and they will save a seat and a smile for you.

Marguerite Martin Gray enjoys history especially when combined with fiction. An avid traveler and reader, she teaches Spanish and French and has degrees in French, Spanish, and Journalism and a MA in English. Marguerite is a member of American Christian Fiction Writers, Abilene Writers Guild, Daughters of the American Revolution, South Carolina Historical Society, and Southern Christian Writers. Always planning her next traveling adventure, she anticipates researching her novels in the setting of her fiction projects. Currently, Marguerite lives in North Louisiana with her husband and three rescue pets. Her two adult children help keep her young and energized.

Carole Lehr Johnson is a veteran travel consultant of more than 30 years and has served as head of genealogy at her local library. Her love of tea and scones, castles and cottages, and all things British have led her to immerse her writing in the United Kingdom, whether in the genre of historical or contemporary fiction.

She is a member of the American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW) and the president of her local chapter. She and her husband live in Louisiana with their goofy cats. Permelia Cottage is her first novel.

Beverly Flanders lives in Shreveport, Louisiana. She was born in Kokomo, Indiana, but spent a nomadic childhood as an Army brat. She has dabbled in various forms of writing since winning a poetry writing contest in junior high school. Her frequent moves and experiences living in different cultures and circumstances have given her plenty of material to develop into stories.

She graduated from Ferrum Junior College, Ferrum, Virginia, and attended Indiana University with the career goal of becoming a teacher. Those plans changed when she met her husband at IU, moved to Mansfield, Louisiana (her husband’s hometown), and raised three perfect children. Those children went on to create strong, God-centered homes and six even more perfect grandchildren.

Although she never became a paid professional, the opportunities to teach and write followed her. As a parent and an active volunteer in her church and community, she has a steady flow of ideas to work with. She used her writing skills to teach children in Sunday School—she often wrote plays based on familiar Bible stories for her classes to perform. In her community, she was a volunteer tutor in the Literacy Volunteers of America program. Writing short stories and poems was part of her lesson plans. In her family, she had the responsibility of overseeing the care of six relatives with various forms and stages of dementia for sixteen years, so she became a reluctant expert in Elder Care. Two of her short stories are based on the heartbreak of watching loved ones decline as victims of this terrible disease.

When her husband died in 2009, she moved to Shreveport to adjust to her new life as a widow. She joined a new church and found a place of service in teaching a delightful group of Senior Adult ladies. A friend encouraged her to rekindle her love of writing by joining ACFW-LA. Her association with other writers and incredible support from family and friends inspired her to write devotionals and six published short stories.

Whatever her outlet of expression, God has enabled her to use her writing toolbox in ways she never imagined.

Since accepting Christ as her Lord and Savior as a young girl, Tina Ann Middleton has been writing poems and essays to share the good news of God’s amazing love. Recently she has turned her attention to writing Christian romance with her Forrestville series.

Tina is an avid reader, often reading four or five books at the same time. Her active imagination allows her to picture various scenes, then put them together in a story that not only provides sweet romance but a message of encouragement as well.

She is an active member of American Christian Fiction Writers and enjoys writing short devotionals for the women’s ministry at her church.

Tina and her husband, Darran, have been happily married since 1981 and have two grown daughters. They live in northwest Louisiana, and both work at the VA hospital in Shreveport. In her spare time, when she’s not reading or writing, she likes to take walks, bake homemade goodies, and work on her jigsaw puzzle app.

Calvin was born and raised in northwest Louisiana, where he lives today. He is the youngest of five children. His hobby of reading led him to apply for work at a local public library, where he met his wife, Cindy. After dating for four years, they married in 1987. They have one son, who also is married.

Calvin was saved by the Lord Jesus Christ in April 1983. He was called to preach in the summer of 1983 and has been involved in Christian ministry since late 1983. He has served in five churches, in two associations of churches in northwest Louisiana, and on two committees of the Louisiana Baptist Convention. He currently pastors a local Baptist Church and is serving on one associational and one state convention committee. After a nine-year break from college, he returned to school and earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Christian Ministry from East Texas Baptist University in 1996. He earned his Master of Divinity degree from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in 2007.

He has a passion for sharing God’s word in practical ways so that people can be like Jesus and share God’s word in their own lives.He enjoys camping with his wife, reading, learning about new subjects, playing guitar at a basic intermediate level, and trying to paint in acrylics.

As a child, Mary Lou Gregg allowed stories to roost in her head until they grew into novels, but she never completed any writing until she finished her second career. Living a busy life, she did not think she could spare minutes at the keyboard every day. Mary wrote some poems and short stories, which she always tossed into the trash can. When her life was the busiest ever, she could no longer suppress the desire to write. Experiences had shown her what she needed to say. The compulsion to tell her stories grabbed her and wouldn’t let go. Every morning beginning at four o’clock, she spent two hours writing.
She grew up on a hill farm on the county line south of Taylorsville, Mississippi, and north of Hot Coffee. Her folks sat around the fireplace on winter nights with pecans to roast and shell, while they competed to see who could tell the most intriguing stories. On summer evenings, they sat on the front porch, where they shelled peas and beans, while their parents told more tales. Sometimes they sat quietly and listened to the bobcats, owls, and whippoorwills.
The youngest of five children who lived to adulthood, she is the only survivor. One of her desires is to pass on a legacy to her nieces, nephews, and daughter. Writing a family memoir is a project she’s working on. All her Gregg relatives and their acquaintances are welcome to send Mary anecdotes containing memories of the Gregg family to include in the book. So far, she has received some poignant and humorous stories.
All her life, curiosity has led her to read and study. In high school, she took every available subject and continued to take courses after earning her B. A. She attended five colleges in Mississippi.
She taught English and other subjects. When her daughter, Christie, was young, Mary worked part-time so she could spend as much time at home as possible. At the age of forty, she enrolled in the Louisiana Tech Nursing Program and two years later began working as a hospital RN.
After forty years with Robert Cheatham, a phenomenal trumpeter who taught at Louisiana Tech, where he inspired generations of great musicians before he died of a variant of a rare neuromuscular disease in 2002, Guillain Barré Syndrome, which seldom causes death, Mary spent more than a decade single and unattached.
Then she married John Cooke—a retired petroleum landman, history scholar with a degree from Emory, bird watcher, excellent cook, newshound, and faithful follower of Christ. They have a happy life. John has four grandchildren and four children with mates.
Now Christie lives in west Texas with her husband, Brandt. As a dairy nutritionist, Dr. Christie Underwood advises dairy farmers. Brandt, an agronomist, offers aid and advice to farmers challenged by a semi-arid climate.
In 2019, Mary and her husband John moved to Ransom Canyon, Texas, down the street from Christie and Brandt. John spent 2019 recovering from stage IV cancer. Mary and John are hiding from COVID-19—so far successfully.
She writes. She goes to bed with a notebook and pen by her bed. The highlight of her day is the scheduled time she spends writing. When she can spare thirty minutes, she turns on her computer and spends three hours. Books about writing and about whatever subject she is researching clutter her personal space. Her thirst for ways to improve her craft has sent her to workshops and meetings with fellow writers. She reads, mostly the works of fellow authors who have become her friends. She maintains her website, MaryLouCheatham.com.
She writes inspirational fiction with a bit of mystery, mostly historical but sometimes contemporary. Her writing always shows the oppressed, the downtrodden, those mistreated by unkind human beings. A new novel about west Texas, Deep from the Heart, shines the light of God’s love on a group of impoverished people ignored by their neighbors.

In 2020, she released Letter from Belleau Wood, which tells the story of young love during World War I and the 1918 influenza epidemic. The book has received critical acclaim. Mary considers the book’s favorable review by Kirkus a significant accomplishment.

Susan is the author of two children’s books, Because God Tells Me So, dealing with her challenges of visiting her mother in a nursing home, and Leaping Over Walls, discussing the subject of bullying. In both books, Susan incorporated various family members in her tales, including her grandson John, and grand-dog Vito, a narrating pug.

After two decades spent mostly in the Washington DC area with her Army officer husband and children, the Shreveport native returned home. Susan’s professional life started in newspapers, including The Shreveport Times, The South Towne Courier, and as city editor of the Leesville Leader. She retired as director of the Noel Neighborhood Food Pantry after 17 years. What started as a job out of her comfort zone, would eventually become a passion for working with volunteers in serving a community living with a food shortage.

Susan enjoys being a group leader in Bible Study Fellowship, and volunteers in the jail ministry of Purchased Not for Sale, a program working with women in human trafficking. Susan is currently serving as The American Christian Fiction Writers Louisiana chapter’s vice president.

As always, Susan’s best days are spent with husband Rick, their adult children and spouses, active grandchildren, and their on-the- loose pets. Her second-best days are happily curled up with a book, fully appreciating someone else’s hard work.