INTERVIEW WITH AUTHOR/MISSIONARY/FORMER ACFW CHAPTER PRESIDENT RICK BARRY

Back in 2011, I was interested in joining the American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW), and was also interested in participating in the local chapter. So I met with the then Chapter President Rick Barry.

I had the honor of reading The Methuselah Project, which he has since written a sequel to. Also, he spoke at our church about a mission organization he was in, which I will speak about below. 

JR: Welcome to the blog, Rick. Could you tell us about how you came to Christ and how you got interested in writing?

RB: The first time I realized I was not a true Christian was in 6th grade. In Sunday school, my Sunday school teacher, Mr. Olson, once asked each of us boys to tell when and how we repented and put our trust in Christ. Up until that moment, I had assumed I was a believer. After all, I did go to Sunday school and believed what I was taught. But on that day I realized I just had a head full of Bible facts without any real relationship with the Lord. Sad to say, I turned down Mr. Olson’s invitation to put my trust in Christ that day. Three years later, when I was in 9th grade, a friend from high school began inviting me to teen activities at his church. I went—but mainly because of a young lady there! Long story short, I began attending with him. A couple months later, his pastor gave an invitation to accept Christ. I felt convicted, but returned home still mulling over everything I’d heard. At home, I went into my bedroom, closed the door, fell on the bed, and poured out a sinner’s prayer to the Lord. I asked His forgiveness and for Him to cleanse me. At the end of that prayer time, I heard no angelic choir nor heavenly trumpets, but I knew in my heart that God had accepted my prayer.

Writing came later. In my sophomore year of university I entered a short essay in the writing contest of a Christian magazine. I didn’t win, but the editor bought my manuscript. That sparked my interest in writing for publication.

JR: Would you like to tell us about your latest project, which I'm assuming is The Next Fithian? What's it like writing different genres such as the historical Gunner's Run and speculative tales such as The Methuselah Project and its sequel? 

RB: Years ago, when Focus on the Family still published Breakaway magazine for teen guys, I often wrote stories for it. The editor didn’t care whether I wrote historical, contemporary, spiritual warfare, sci-fi, or whatever, just so I wrote an engaging tale. So, even though those were short stories, Breakaway provided a fun training ground for writing in a variety of genres. In fact, the original seeds for The Next Fithian came from Breakaway. One day the editor telephoned me with an assignment—a “big concept” story. He didn’t know whether it should be sci-fi, or fantasy, or both mixed together just so long as the concept was big. I ended up writing a 3-part Christian sci-fi series called “The Next Fithian.” Years later, those 5,000 words became the springboard for my novel with the same title. In it, a Christian teen is aboard an airliner when it gets blown up. The real action begins when he gets transported to an alternate dimension.  

JR: When I met you, you were the President of the Indiana Chapter of the ACFW. Are you still with that organization? What was it like being a chapter President? Would you recommend that organization for aspiring authors?

RB: I’m still in ACFW. I highly recommend this organization as a great way to meet and network with other writers and publishing professionals. As a chapter president, I had the fun privilege of inviting authors, editors, and literary agents to our chapter meetings to speak and raise our general level of understanding and professionalism. Also, being president may have given my literary submissions a little more clout when my cover letters included the fact that I was the president of the Indiana chapter in this national organization.

JR: Also when I met you, you were part of a mission organization, Baptist International Evangelistic Missions (BIEM). How has that impacted your life? 

RB: Working with BIEM has had a huge impact on me. As part of my duties I have traveled to Ukraine, Russia, Belarus, Turkey, the country of Georgia, and Kyrgyzstan. It has greatly improved my Russian-language skills, widened my horizons, and given me friends in far-off places. I’ve also been privileged to lead over 25 souls to the Lord in the former USSR. It also gave me an opportunity to tour through the Chernobyl exclusion zone, which provided inspiration for my novel The Methuselah Project: SOS.

JR: I would be interested in your thoughts on the current situation between Russia and Ukraine. Any ideas on how to pray for that region?

RB: I pray for the shooting, fighting, and destruction to stop. I pray for an end of the killing and for justice to be served on anyone involved in committing atrocities. But I also know that God is saving souls in the midst of these troubled times, and I also pray that many more souls would turn to Him for salvation. 

JR: Thank you for your time, Rick. What's on the horizon? Will there be a follow-up to The Next Fithian? How can we keep in contact with you and your writing and other endeavors?

RB: This year my life has gone through a number of rapid changes. For the past 3.5 years I was the caregiver for my mother. After she passed, my life was filled with funeral plans, estate sales, the sale of her home and land, and also a move from Alabama back to Indiana for me. House-hunting became another time-consuming pursuit. In the midst of the chaos, I’ve managed to write some short devotionals that are now published, but I do hope to get back to my novel manuscripts very soon!    

INTERVIEW WITH AUTHOR NANCY MEHL

 

JR: I've had the honor of interviewing you back in the day when I read my first Nancy Mehl novel in 2014 (Gathering Shadows, book one of the Finding Sanctuary series). I'm currently reading #16. (For the record, that ties you at second with Donna Fletcher Crow, and only seven behind Agatha Christie.) So if I asked you way back then how you got into writing, I had forgotten. So would you refresh my failing memory?

NM: It was a combination of two different things. First of all, I used to love “Murder, She Wrote.” One day I said to myself, “I know what I want to be. I want to be Jessica Fletcher!” Up until then, I’d tried all kinds of things, but nothing was the perfect fit. Then I heard someone teach that if you wanted to know what you were called to do, sometimes you could go back to your childhood and look at what you did naturally. Well, I was a voracious reader. I loved books! And I wrote “things.” First of all, I wrote a small book (pieces of paper stapled together) titled “Danny Goes to the Circus.” (Danny was my younger brother.) Then I wrote poetry in high school. I also recalled an assignment by my high school English teacher to write three poems. She would then read them to the class. She read mine and accused me of plagiarism in front of everyone. I never challenged her. (I wish I had.) But it got me to thinking. Had she believed I’d stolen those poems because they were good? Was it possible I was a writer? Maybe I really could be Jessica Fletcher Junior! So I decided to give it a try. After a very clear confirmation from God, I started writing and never looked back.

JR: My short term memory tells me that you have won a Carol award this year. My long term memory is saying it may not be your first award. Could you tell us about your award winning books? Did winning the awards in any way feel different from each other?

NM: The first award I won was in 2009. It was called the ACFW Book of the Year Award for mystery/suspense. The book was For Whom the Wedding Bell Tolls. It was a cozy mystery which was part of my Ivy Towers series. That same award became the Carol Award shortly after that. Last year I won the Daphne Du Maurier Award for Excellence in Inspirational Mystery and Suspense for my book, Dead End, book three in my Kailey Quinn Profiler series. This series was about a behavioral analyst for the FBI. The same book won the Carol Award as well. I’ve been nominated for the Carol Award two other times. I was also nominated for the Reviewers Choice Award twice from RT Book Reviews. And I was thrilled to be nominated for the prestigious Christy Award for my book, Mind Games, book one in the Kailey Quinn series. I would love to win this award at least once during my career.

I don’t think the awards felt any different from each other, although winning the Daphne Du Maurier Award was neat because the contest was actually sponsored by a secular organization.

JR: Kaley Quinn is one of my favorite fictional characters, and I was happy to see her in the novel I'm currently reading. Would you like to tell us about Dead Fall and the Quantico Files series?

NM: The Quantico Files series tells the story of Alex Donovan and Logan Hart, both behavioral analysts for the FBI’s prestigious Behavioral Analysis Unit (BAU) for the FBI.

Here’s the synopsis for Dead Fall:

He has a deadly endgame in mind--and he's already chosen each victim . . . including her.

After putting to rest the most personal case of her career, Alex Donovan is ready to move on and focus on her future at the FBI's elite Behavioral Analysis Unit. When the BAU cofounder is discovered dead in his hotel room, the FBI is called in to work on the strangest case they've ever faced. How do you find a killer who murders his victims from a distance?

When it becomes clear that the killer is targeting agents in Alex's unit, they are ordered into lockdown, sheltered in the dorms at Quantico. Alex bunks with controversial agent Kaely Quinn, and as they work together, Alex discovers in Kaely the role model she's never had--despite being warned away.

As Alex questions the type of agent she wants to become, things get personal when the brilliant killer strikes close to home. Now Alex will do anything to find the killer--even at the risk of her own life.

JR: Another of my favorite characters is Hilde Higgins from your Curl Up & Dye trilogy. I'm sure Hilde and Kaley regularly meet for coffee a fiction world diner, since they have so much in common. Or let me put it a different way - what is it like writing different genres such as the cozy mysteries of Curl Up & Dye, romantic suspense like Finding Sanctuary, and thrillers like Kaley Quinn profiler and the Quantico Files?

NM: The genre I’m writing now is what I’ve always wanted to write. (Although I would love to tackle a few novels that look more deeply into the spirit realm – kind of like what Frank Peretti writes.) I started off writing cozy mystery because that’s the door that opened. I actually love cozy mystery so I truly enjoyed that opportunity. Then I was asked to write Mennonite-themed suspense. That changed to romantic suspense. Then my books became more suspense (less romance). Now my books are suspense/thriller, although I believe every book I write has a mystery flavor since mystery is probably the genre of my heart.

JR: I've mentioned that I'm working toward reading my sixteenth Mehl novel, and yet I haven't hit the halfway point yet. Besides the different genres, what changes have you made in your writing? What advice would you give a young writer? Are there people you still consider mentors, and do your characters sometime help mentor you?

NM: Wow. Lots of questions there. I think the changes in my writing have to do with doing more research into law enforcement. I love law enforcement and it means a lot to me to be able to represent these brave men and women in my writing.

To newbie writers I would advise three things. First of all, study the craft of writing. If you don’t, you’ll pay the price for it. Don’t send out proposals to agents or publishers before you know what you’re doing. They’re looking for writers who understand how to write a book. If you don’t, you’ll be rejected. Just remember that you wouldn’t want a surgeon to work on you who hadn’t gone to medical school. Same thing with writing. Go to school. I always advise Christian writers to join American Christian Fiction Writers. There is so much information there as well as great connections.

My second piece of advice is to read books released by the publisher you’re targeting. Find out what they like and write that.

Number three, find a good agent. Not one that asks you for money. Legitimate agents don’t do that. When querying, send them exactly what they ask for. Read their requirements. If you don’t, your query will be rejected.

Not sure if I have a mentor. I’ve certainly had God put people in my life that have helped me. Susan Downs is one of them and Raela Schoenherr with Bethany House is another. I love these women and will always appreciate them.

JR: Thank you for your time. I'm sure that Dead Fall isn't the end of the Quantico Files; what else are you working on? How's your family (both the two and four legged members)? How can we keep up with the latest?

NM: The last book in the Quantico Files is “Free Fall.” It will be out in June. I’m working on a new series now that features two retired behavioral analysts that have started a detective agency.

My family is fine…now. Norman and I were both hit with COVID around Christmas. He recovered after a couple of weeks. Mine took longer. I had what is called “long term COVID.” It was rough. I’m just now starting to feel like myself again.

Our dog Watson is doing fine. Still thinks our bed actually belongs to him. Since we moved he is determined to protect us from the evil deer that come into our yard. Sigh.

I’m on Facebook. I have a regular page and a fanpage. I’m also on Twitter. My website is: nancymehl.com.

Thanks for the interview, Jeffrey.