COTT: Going for Gold with "Red Gold"

Red Gold, 

winner of Clash of the Titles's April Clash!

What COTT voters had to say about this month's winner:

"Reading Red Gold by Sandy Nadeau gave me a much needed 'vacation'! The faith story was heart-filling...and the adventure carried me to the mountains. 

Thanks, Sandy, for sharing your talent with the rest of us!"

"Not only does Sandy Nadeau and Red Gold have a great cover, the story is realistic, inspiring and a fun thrill ride in Colorado."

Red Gold

by Sandy Nadeau

~COTT's April Champ~

"Sandy Nadeau's work was a very fun read with good moral value!"

"A shout-out to Sandy Nadeau, author of Red Gold! I have an autographed copy, 

and couldn't be more delighted for your success!!"

"Red Gold sounds like a book that will keep readers turning the pages!"

"Keep writing, Sandy Nedeau! I'm in the middle of Red Gold now and love it! Blessings!"

About Red Gold:

Mandy Phillips loves life with her husband running an adventure ranch in the Colorado mountains, but when Mr. Shonee, their crotchety old neighbor, tries to stop them from building a kid-size old west town their dreams of expansion are crushed. Is Shonee just being a difficult neighbor, or is something more sinister going on? A discovery on the property of Colorado's state mineral leads to more mysteries for the ranch, and then a teenage guest finds herself thrust head first into danger. Mandy will have to rescue her, but who will rescue Mandy? Her faith in God is her only source to keep the guests safe, solve the mysteries surrounding her ranch, save her neighbor from himself, and discover the secrets of the Red Gold.

PURCHASE

Amazon

Barnes and Noble

Pelican Book Group

Autographed Copy

About Sandy:

Sandy Nadeau loves to go on adventures, photograph them and equally loves to write about them. She and her husband do a lot of four-wheeling in the back country of Colorado and share those experiences with others by taking them up in the mountains. With a background in writing a column about her community for a

local newspaper, she also has had several magazine articles published. She loves to write novels about adventure, mystery, romance, but most importantly sharing God’s love. She is currently a member of the American Christian Fiction Writers and Vice President of the ACFW South Denver Chapter. Married for 37 years, she and her husband are loving life as grandparents to their nine month old grandson. Travel is their favorite thing to do and they don’t get to do it as often as they’d like. Adventure awaits around every corner, over every hill and mountain.

How Red Gold came about:

"This story developed out of a dream my husband and I shared of wanting to run a guest ranch as depicted in the book. We love the mountains of Colorado so much and have spent many days exploring the deep reaches of the state. We get a lot of out-of-town guests so we take them out on adventures with us. Our favorite thing to do is four-wheeling into the back country. We have ended up in a few places we never should have gone, at least not with the vehicle we drove. I wanted to share some of the adventures we have had through my book, the beauty, and the excitement of Colorado. My hubby actually came up with the title. It was so perfect for it."  ~Sandy Nadeau 

Connect with Sandy:

Blog

Website

BOOK REVIEW: The Night Sky: A Journey from Dachau to Denver and Back By Maria Sutton

This is the true story of Maria Sutton's forty-three year search to find her ancestors, a search repeatedly hampered by her mother's reluctance to help, the loss of records during World War II, and the painfully slow government officials Maria had to deal with.

Maria came to the United States in 1952 when she was four years old with her mother Julia, her father Paul, and her sister Krystyna who was a couple of years older than Maria. The Catholic Charities helped them settle in the Denver area.

Julia Czeczerska had been born in the Eastern Europe town of Galicia which had been ruled by Russia, Austria, Ukraine, and Poland. Since she was Slavic, Hitler considered her inferior and she was placed in forced labor when Germany invaded.

At the age of thirteen, Maria overhears her mother and friend her mother had known from the German displaced persons camps talking and she subsequently learns that Paul is not her real father. This led to Maria's lifelong search for her father and her other ancestors.

Julia doesn't seem to want to help with Maria's search, but as the years go by, she offers more help. Eventually, she is more and more appreciative toward Maria for the information she learns.

The Night Sky is a true story, but it is written in a way that keeps you wanting to learn more. It is hard to put the book down. For that reason, I don't want to say too much so that you will enjoy reading the book as much as I did. Just keep in mind that there is much more to the book than Maria finding her father. This is an interesting look at history and gives insights into World War II and how it has affected people since. The author researched her material and added much more than a story about her own family.

I lived during the war, safely here in Texas, with only a few of my relatives serving in battles. I was aware of the treatment of Jews, but I learned from reading The Night Sky that the Slavic people were also murdered and persecuted by the Germans and the Russians. I recommend this book to all who want to read an interesting story while learning more about an important time in the history of the world.

Carbonite is Great for Multiple Computers

I probably should be getting a kickback from Carbonite since I talk about it so much, but I pay for it just like everyone should.

Because I teach computer science classes at Austin Community College, I get a ton of computer-related questions from friends as well as people I barely know. Today, it happened on the trail where I walk. I ran into my friend Ron who I hadn't seen in about a year. He's a retired chaplain with homes in Hawaii, Colorado, and Texas. He'd just arrived here in Texas from Hawaii last week and was having problems reading a flash disk he brought with him. He said he had all his data on the flash disk, including documents and photos. He was especially concerned about a tax form he needs before he goes back to Hawaii where his desktop computer is.

The problem is his laptop says the flash disk is bad and must be reformatted. He knows that a reformat will cause all the data to be lost. He said he'd talked to the computer club here and tried the flash disk on other computers, but nothing has worked. Some there was some talk about a recovery software package, but it didn't sound hopeful.

I suggested he find someone in Hawaii to access his desktop computer and send the files to him here, but he'd already thought of that. The only friend there who could do that for him is in the hospital.

Since I couldn't think of anything else to do, I told him about my experience with Carbonite in hopes that he could prevent this from happening again. I tried to do it in a non-critical way.

I have three computers with the online backup system Carbonite. It is so easy to use I sometimes forget it is there. The other day I wanted to move a file from my laptop computer to my desktop computer. Often, I use a flash disk to do this. Sometimes, I'll email it to myself. But on this day, the laptop was turned off, so, while sitting at my desktop computer, I logged into Carbonite.com, opened the file from my laptop and saved it on my desktop computer. Simple, huh?

When I told Ron about that, he said he'd check it out. I know it's too late for the problem he's having now and perhaps we'll find a solution for that yet, but using Carbonite is an ideal solution for transferring data from computer to another, across the country or within the same home.

For more information, click: Carbonite.