COTT: Laurel Award, Coming Soon!

THE 2014 LAUREL

Hear ye, hear ye! 

Clash of the Titles's 2014 Laurel Award 

will soon be open for submissions.

Novels participating in the Laurel are judged by their audience—readers who are well-versed in Christian fiction
yet not a part of the CBA industry. This contest judges the first two chapters (or 3,500 words) of published novels.

READERS

Are you a fan of Christian fiction, yet not associated with the publishing industry? Then we want you! If you enjoy reading and giving your opinion, Clash of the Titles invites you to join our reader-judge team. Each judge reads 5 to 7 two-chapter excerpts of recently published Christian novels, then completes a simple point system score sheet. If you're interested, please contact us at contactcott@gmail.com.

AUTHORS
Eligibility for the Laurel: Christian novels (30,000+ words) of any genre published between January 1, 2013 and December 31, 2013.

Self-published novels accepted.

Submissions Open: June 02, 2014

 Submissions Close: July 18, 2014, 

or when submission max is reached.

2013 Laurel Winner
Veil of Pearls
by MaryLu Tyndall

Limited Submissions: In order to not overburden our volunteer judges, we are limited in the number of submissions we can accept for the Laurel. Act soon!

One entry per author. Co-authored entries accepted.

Fee: $10 payable via Paypal

 

Please visit our website for submission guidelines.

Prizes: One first-place winner will be chosen. He/she will receive a special feature on Clash of the Titles' blog. A tour through COTT’s Blog Alliance. A dedicated page on COTT’s site for a full year. An on-line radio interview with author and CAG board member, Cynthia L. Simmons. A digital winner’s badge. A beautiful plaque.

Stay tuned for updates by 

subscribing to COTT's blog and “liking” our Facebook page.

COTT: 2013 Laurel Award Feature--Veil of Pearls

On October 18, 2013 Veil of Pearls took home Clash of the Titles's Laurel Award. Over the course of six weeks, the novel's first chapters were read and judged by avid readers of Christian fiction who determined Veil of Pearls to be the worthiest to receive the 2013 Laurel Award.


Clash of the Titles extends a heartfelt congratulations to author MaryLu Tyndall for her exemplary writing. We wish God's richest blessings on her future work. 

About Veil of Pearls:

Be swept away to Charleston of 1811, a city bustling with immigrants like Adalia, who is a runaway slave so light-skinned that no one guesses her past. Terrified her secret will be discovered, she settles into a quiet life making herbal remedies for a local doctor. But when Morgan, the handsome son of a prominent family, sweeps her into his glamorous world—a world in which the truth about Adalia’s heritage would ruin them both—suspicions and petty jealousies are aroused. What will Morgan do when he discovers that the woman he has fallen in love with is a runaway slave?

PURCHASE YOUR COPY

Listen to Cynthia L. Simmon's" Heart of the Matter" radio interview of Laurel Award Winner, MaryLu Tyndall!

About MaryLu:

MaryLu Tyndall, a Christy Award Finalist, and best-selling author

of the Legacy of the King's Pirates series is known for her adventurous historical romances filled with deep spiritual themes. She holds a degree in Math and worked as a software engineer for fifteen years before testing the waters as a writer. 

MaryLu currently writes full time and makes her home on the California coast with her husband, six kids, and four cats. Her passion is to write page-turning, romantic adventures that not only entertain but open people's eyes to their God-given potential. MaryLu is a member of American Christian Fiction Writers and Romance Writers of America. 

For more information on MaryLu and her upcoming releases, please visit her website at http://www.mltyndall.com or her blog at http://www.crossandcutlass.blogspot.com/

 

COTT: March 2013 Winner

The winner of Clash of the Titles' latest Clash is:

Forsaken Dreams

by

MaryLu Tyndall

Congratulations, MaryLu, two-time clash winner!

Special thanks to her competitors for their participation:

Sadie and Sophie Cuffe

Gina Holmes

Christine Lindsey

Noelle Marchand

About Forsaken Dreams: 

They Left Everything Behind to Build a New Southern Utopia

Colonel Blake Wallace has seen enough death to last a lifetime. Weary and disillusioned, he slumps beneath the weight of defeat and loss. With his entire family murdered by the North and his name appearing on a list of officers wanted for war crimes, Blake organizes a shipload of southerners who, like him, long to escape the horrors of war and start a new life in a verdant land called Brazil.

Eliza Crawford can barely remember the days of her youth spent in opulence and comfort at her Georgian home. She can't help but wonder how different her life would be had she not met her late husband, Stanton Watts, a general in the Northern army. Now a war widow, Eliza is rejected by both North and South. Desperate to keep her marriage a secret and escape her past and pain, she longs to start over again in Brazil.

But once the voyage begins, troubles abound. Dangers at sea  and enemies from within threaten to keep Blake and Eliza from the new life—and love—they long for.

PURCHASE:

AMAZON

B&N

CBD

Just when I think MaryLu Tyndall cannot write a more passionate, page-turning romance...she does! Forsaken Dreams is a worthy addition to your keeper shelf, melding adventure, love, and spiritual truths in soul-enriching ways. A blessed start to a new series! 

- Laura Frantz, author of The Colonel's Lady and Love's Reckoning

BACKSTAGE WITH MARYLU:

Several things inspired me to write my new Escape to Paradise series. First the history is so fascinating. I never knew that so many (tens of thousands) Southerners fled the South after the Civil War for greener pastures. Many went to Mexico, some out west, but several thousand went to Brazil. Their descendants still celebrate there today! Secondly I'm a big fan of the TV show LOST, in particular the jungle setting and the spiritual themes that ran through the show.

I love the supernatural and I saw an opportunity to write a story about a group of settlers who are in a sense, running away from their problems and from God, but who end up being part of an eternal plan that involves a battle between good and evil.   Forsaken Dreams is the account of their voyage to Brazil, during which the reader meets all the characters and discovers their individual reasons for running away.

Themes of forgiveness, bitterness, hatred, guilt, rebellion and even Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome are addressed as the colonists face several disasters that threaten their mission and their lives. During the trip, hints are given here and there that something much larger is at stake waiting for them in Brazil, something that originated behind the curtain of the natural world.

MORE ABOUT MARYLU:
A Christy Award finalist and best-selling author, MaryLu Tyndall dreamt of tall ships and swashbuckling pirates during her childhood years on Florida’s Atlantic Coast. With over a dozen novels published, she continues to pen her romantic tales while managing a home, husband, six adult kids, and three cats who have decided that her keyboard is the best place to sleep!  She believes that without popcorn and chocolate, life would not be worth living, and her sole motivation in life is to bring others closer to God.

For more information on MaryLu and her books, please visit her website at http://www.marylutyndall.com or her blog at http://crossandcutlass.blogspot.com/ or you can find her on Facebook:  http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/MaryLu-Tyndall-Swashbuckling-Romance/175344859169475

COTT: New Clash! Get a Load of These Fab New Releases...

    

Summer's just around the corner, which means you, dear reader, need to be thinking about which books you're going to get lost in while lounging at the pool. Today, Clash of the Titles offers you a few excellent suggestions.

     Fresh from the editor's desk, these five new titles are some of our favorites this month. They're hugely diverse. Set in exotic locations such as India and Brazil, and ranging in time period from  the 1800's to present-day, at least once of them is bound to catch your fancy!

    So have a quick virtual browse, then vote on which you think will most likely make it into your beach bag.

How do you start a new life when you don’t know who you are? Lydia doesn't have a clue, but when she discovers the man who identified her in the train wreck has been lying, she must decide whether to listen to her heart, or her head.

Wings of Glass tells the story of Penny Taylor, a young wife who feels trapped in an abusive marriage until two women from two very different worlds help open her eyes to the truth of who she is, what she deserves and lend her a backbone until she can find her own.

Two women, one Indian, one English, flee to the tropical south of India only to be captured and imprisoned by their respective pasts—Eshana by her traditional Hindu uncle for her faith in Christ, the other, Lieutenant Laine Harkness by her former fiancé who crushed her heart years ago. Amid cyclones and epidemics, tigers and tiger cubs, clashing faiths and consequences of war, will the love of the True Master give hope to these searching hearts?

For Ellie O'Brien, finding the perfect partner for other people is easy, but now the townsfolk of Peppin want to return the favor by matching her with Lawson Williams who Ellie deems least likely to court a tomboy with a guilty secret. Lawson doesn't see marriage with anyone in his future, but what if his childhood friend has become the woman who can chase away the clouds of his past?

After witnessing the death and destruction caused by the Civil War, Colonel Blake Wallace is eager to leave his once precious Southern homeland for the pristine shores of Brazil and the prospect of a new utopian community. Harboring a dirty secret, Widow Eliza Crawford seeks a fresh start and passage on Wallace’s ship, but will dangers from the sea and from man keep them from the peace and love they long for?

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