Daisy Chain by Mary DeMuth

Mary DeMuth's new book, Daisy Chain, is on virtual tour right now. I'll post my own thoughts when I get time, but in the meantime if you want to know about the book, here's the official text. I will say, it's an intriguing read right from the first few pages.


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The abrupt disappearance of young Daisy Chance from a small Texas town in 1977 spins three lives out of control-Jed, whose guilt over not protecting his friend Daisy strangles him; Emory Chance, who blames her own choices for her daughter’s demise; and Ouisie Pepper, who is plagued by headaches while pierced by the shattered pieces of a family in crisis.
In this first book in the Defiance, Texas Trilogy, fourteen-year-old Jed Pepper has a sickening secret: He’s convinced it’s his fault his best friend Daisy went missing. Jed’s pain sends him on a quest for answers to mysteries woven through the fabric of his own life and the lives of the families of Defiance, Texas. When he finally confronts the terrible truths he’s been denying all his life, Jed must choose between rebellion and love, anger and freedom.

Daisy Chain is an achingly beautiful southern coming-of-age story crafted by a bright new literary talent. It offers a haunting yet hopeful backdrop for human depravity and beauty, for terrible secrets and God’s surprising redemption.

About the Author:

Mary DeMuth
Mary DeMuth is an expert in the field of Pioneer Parenting. She helps Christian parents plow fresh spiritual ground, especially those seeking to break destructive family patterns. Her message guides parents who don’t want to duplicate the home where they were raised or didn’t have positive parenting role models growing up.

An accomplished writer, Mary’s parenting books include Authentic Parenting in a Postmodern Culture, Building the Christian Family You Never Had, and Ordinary Mom, Extraordinary God. Her real-to-life novels inspire people to turn trials into triumphs: Watching the Tree Limbs (2007 Christy Award finalist, ACFW Book of the Year 2nd Place) and Wishing on Dandelions (2007 Retailer’s Choice Award finalist).

Mary is a frequent speaker at women’s retreats and parenting seminars, addressing audiences in both Europe and the United States. National media regularly seek Mary’s candid ability to connect with their listeners. Her radio appearances include FamilyLife Today, Moody Midday Connection, and U.S.A. Radio network. She also has articles published in Marriage Partnership, In Touch, and HomeLife.

As pioneer parents, Mary and her husband Patrick live in Texas with their three children. They recently returned from breaking new spiritual ground in Southern France where they planted a church.

Learn more about Mary at http://blog.myfamilysecrets.org/.

Daisy Chain
Paperback: 368 pages
Publisher: Zondervan (March 1, 2009)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0310278368
ISBN-13: 978-0310278368
Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.5 x 0.9 inches

Change of Venue

Effective immediately, I can better be found at my new main site, www.ScitaScienda.wordpress.com. This blog has (mostly) been exported there, and I'll continue updating my writing musings there.

It's all very exciting, really. Finally, I found my one theme that encompasses all the many things I've done and continue to do. And probably will do in the future.

Scita > Scienda covers everything to do with gaining the information needed to make solid judgements about one's life. It could be in terms of beekeeping, writing, milking a cow, planting a tree, or theology. This is what my life's about. Now I finally have the right words for it.

Hat tip to Carl Teichrib for lending me the book that held the words. I am grateful to encounter minds that have understood the search, quantified and formulated it for travellers coming after. I've done time in the ash heap this last year, but now it's time for new beginnings.

Cultural Themes

When I compare the indy/small press Christian writing community to the larger mainstream houses, one difference I notice is storytelling. I don't really mean technique. Indy writers are studying the same craft, although they may take advantage of greater structural freedom.

I mean the type of story told. There are always cultural themes in common within the mass market, either Christian or secular. They're usually belief-related or archetypal. That tends to differ in the indy realm.

I was thinking about this today as I reflected on a discussion Karina, Grace and I had about sales during our impromptu writers' gathering a few weeks ago. We talked about the stumbling block of lack of sales, and the de-motivating effect it can have on creativity. It's one thing to put a book out; it's another to put it in people's hands.

Indy storytelling tends to fall into niches. Witness Jeff Gerke's Marcher Lord Press. Mr. Gerke has picked up a large enough niche to be successful. All the same, one wonders whether many other indy ventures are simply not speaking to a large enough niche. If so, what's the issue?

Most of the indy people I've read have been good craftspeople. Their issues aren't technical. They want to tell a different type of story, not just look at the usual mass market themes in a different way.

Does this contribute to lack of sales? It could be, although I just think that selling books under one's own power alone is really hard. But I recently picked up the second book in an indy S-F series. It was well written. It was something I didn't necessarily want to put down. Nonetheless, by the time I was done, I did find myself wishing I hadn't spent money on it.

The reasons were thematic ones. Although it was billed as falling in the Christian realm, I couldn't relate the overall themes to my Christian understanding. It didn't even cause me to look at my preconceptions in a different way. It didn't challenge or connect at all. It was just a story.

In telling new and different stories, we do need to consider whether we're connecting to our faith. Karina's work is unabashedly Catholic, and it will speak its beliefs, space nuns and all. It will connect with some and challenge others, and none of that is bad. Thought is provoked.

I, on the other hand, am under three or four anathemas (probably more, but I tend to lose count) by Rome, from Trent to Vatican II. That's life as a conservative-evangelical-who-doesn't-fit-into-boxes. That's not too bad. People keep telling me I provoke them in one way or another.

Incidentally, it occurred to me that it could be fascinating to collaborate with Karina on some kind of S-F story where we each write a character from our own faith perspective (maybe we're jointly under persecution from those crazy Calvinists). Talk about deliciously outside the box. But I digress.

There are reasons many manuscripts don't make it through the big-house hoops. Some are good. Some are bad. Lack of a faith perspective shouldn't be one of them. Let's think on message.