Best-selling author Max Lucado talks with Managing Editor Christine Johnson about his 25 years in publishing, which he is celebrating in a number of ways, including the publication of new book Outlive Your Life (Thomas Nelson, Sept. 14).

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Jane and Kyle Madison's son Max-just 6 months old-vanished during Mardi Gras while in his 16-year-old sister's care. The family, of course, is devastated and the search for Max is thorough and careful. Yet no trace is found except for one tiny shoe left in his stroller.

Six months later, Jane and Kyle's marriage is foundering as they drift apart in their own grief, while their daughter Melanie makes decisions that put even more pressure on the family. But hope surfaces when frightening events in Jane's life begin pointing to a possible connection between her past and Max's kidnapping. Can they find him before it's too late? Will the kidnapper take their other child as well?

Readers of modern-day fiction will enjoy this tale of heart-rending emotion, forgiveness, suspense and high drama as one family fights to restore their past only to have a new future bring them together. Faith is a subtle undercurrent through much of the book, but Jane's emerging understanding of God's love adds depth to the tale.
-Ann E. Byle

Missing Max
Karen Young
Howard Books
softcover, 320 pages, $14.99
978-1-416-58749-1

Set in the early ‘70s, Anderson's The Cool Woman opens readers' eyes to the bravery and heroism of America's Vietnam veterans.
Fighter pilot Lieutenant Bill Mann graduated tops in his Air Force class and is now heading to Vietnam as the only black pilot in the 1st Special Operations Squadron. Following in the footsteps of his late father, a Tuskegee Airman, Mann wants to make his mark in history.
Thinking he has everything a man could want-a beautiful wife and a job he loved-Mann sees his personal life spiral downward when his wife asks for a divorce, and the only thing keeping him going is his quest to prove he is the best fighter pilot around. During one particularly difficult assignment, he must face an enemy from his past and is forced not only to save the lives of his friends, but his own as well.
Anderson uses his military experience and knowledge to paint authentic war scenes. Throughout the story, he supplies backgrounds for his characters to reflect the social issues of the era. His characters display qualities readers can relate to and demonstrate how God intervenes in their lives.
-Nicole Anderson

The Cool Woman
John Aubrey Anderson
Fidelis Books (B&H Publishing Group)
softcover, 352 pages, $14.99 
978-0-805-46480-1

July

Daisy Crispin is on a mission-to find a date for prom. The problem? She is one of the most unpopular kids in school. Not only does she have the strange habit of spitting out random facts when nervous, she's also not allowed to date, is forced to wear only homemade clothes, and makeup is not permitted because her parents believe that God only cares about what's on the inside. Unfortunately her peers at her school don't see it this way. Despite these challenges, Daisy is determined to leave her mark in her high-school career and win the heart of her crush since kindergarten, Chase Doogle.

The Evangelical Christian Publishers Association's 2010 Christian Book of the Year went to Richard Stearns' The Hole in Our Gospel, announced May 3 at the awards banquet at ECPA's annual Executive Leadership Summit in Nashville.

Along with the top honor of the year, the Thomas Nelson title took the Christian Life category, one of six divisions in the Christian Book Awards, presented annually since 1978 to the best titles in Christian publishing.

Listen to the discussion below.

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Established mainstream thriller and Hollywood script writer Andrew Klavan is a relative newcomer to the Christian market, but has made an emphatic debut with his young adult "Homelander" series for Thomas Nelson.

The first two titles in the four-part adventure have sold nearly 50,000 copies in hardcover, with the third installment due out in November and "Homelander" just optioned for a film by the makers of The Hurt Locker and the "Twilight" films.

With a Jewish and atheist background, Klavan surprised many people when he embraced Christianity a few years ago--through a question prompted by reading a book by British novelist Patrick O'Brien.

Klavan tells more about his journey to faith and talks about how is has changed his writing in a conversation with Christian Retailing editor Andy Butcher.

Jonathan Merritt author of Green Like God: Unlocking the Divine Plan for Our Planet (FaithWords, April 21, 2010, $16.99 hardcover), speaks about Christianity and the environment.

How is creation care tied to our love for God?
"One of the ways we show our love for God is through obedience. God has mandated that we care for creation because he has buried the revelation of His attributes within it and because people that God loves depend on it. Another way we show our love for God is by loving what God loves. The Psalmist tells us that 'God is loving toward all that He has made.' If we love God, shouldn't we mirror this? No one perhaps summarizes these ideas better than Francis Schaeffer, who wrote the following in Pollution and the Death of Man: 'If I love the Lover, I love what the Lover has made'."

Do you think Christians have become more aware of creation care in the past few years?
"Definitely. Just take a look at the number of books being published now by Christians on this subject compared with 20 years ago. We now have a robust corpus on which to construct a solid theological and practical foundation for creation care. What a blessing it is to be able to stand on the shoulders of thinkers like John Stott, Alister McGrath, Calvin Dewitt, Matthew and Nancy Sleeth and others. These thought leaders are reawakening Christian communities to the need to live out the Gospel by obeying the Bible's creation  mandates and caring for 'the least of these'."

What do you think some of the hesitancies have been/are?
"Some people hesitate to embrace our responsibility to steward the earth because environmentalism is perceived as a 'liberal' issue. In Green Like God, I illustrate how we can develop uniquely Christian solutions to our world's problems that look less like Al Gore and more like Jesus Christ."

What trends give you hope for the future?
"I am so encouraged by the innovative and courageous initiatives being undertaken by missionaries, churches, and faith communities around the world. I've been bombarded with stories of Christians who've embraced the love for God and love for people promoted by the Bible and embodied in life of Jesus. I share a few of these in my book. God is on the move, and God's people are on the move."