Phase one of the Great Novel Promotion Experiment is over and although we could have stood a few more attendees, Kay Strom and I both agree the Church and Culture Conference was a success. Kay is a dynamic speaker and her talks went straight to the heart. Human trafficking in the 21st century is as horrible as anything she wrote about in her novel, The Call of Zulina. From Indian children living in garbage dumps, to Nepalese girls running for their lives, Kay painted poignant word pictures of the need to stop those who would sell children into sexual slavery. She donated 20% of her book sales to Partners International. My book, The Fence My Father Built, deals with Native Americans. I spoke on the challenges confronting American Indians from the boarding schools meant to “assimilate” them into Anglo culture to the heritage-affirming Lillian Vallely School in Blackfoot, Idaho. I will donate 20% of my sales to the Vallely School. Neither Kay nor I knows exactly where this method of novel promotion will lead us, but we’re willing to go. We had a great time and are eager to find other churches to present this topic.
