Hot Apple Cider Books » Hot Apple Cider

Christmas Ad

N. J. Lindquist — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 17:33:04 +0000

This ad is in the November/December issue of Maranatha News.

If you'd like to print it off to post it in your store, library, or church, there's a PDF you can download on our media page.

House of James–Toe Tapping Fun and Hot Apple Cider

Heather — Sat, 01 Oct 2011 19:05:14 +0000

Recently, contributors, Paul Beckingham (from Hot Apple Cider), Ed Hird and Bill Bonikowsky were whooping it up at the House of James in Abbotsford, British Columbia.

"House of James"

Ed Hird has plenty to share about the evening over at his blog. We thought you'd want to see what all the buzz was about.

Apples Are In This Season

Heather — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 18:38:18 +0000

It's no secret, this year's best dressed orchards are flaunting their Delicious reds in a flagrant array of autumn's Gala colours, and we've fallen for the fashion too. Book signings and appearances are popping up in big cities and quiet communities across the country. Like the House of James bookstore in Abbotsford, Ontario, and Word on the Street Festivals in Toronto, Vancouver and Halifax; with Second Cups being served up in churches from Nackawic, New Brunswick, to Moorefield, Ontario, to Hatchett Lake, Nova Scotia.

There's something for everyone in this second season of That's Life! Communications' heart-stirring anthology, and we'd like you to be part of it, too. Find out where all the fun is by checking the Meet Us page regularly; and let us know how the stories have touched you by sharing something under the Reader Comments section. We've even included several recipes to keep your taste buds tapping while you read, too.

Staying in fashion has never been so much fun!

A Second Cup Goes To Tokyo

Heather — Sat, 09 Jul 2011 19:42:06 +0000

Recently, Wendy Elaine Nelles, co-editor and contributor to both Hot Apple Cider anthologies found out you don't have to go very far to get to the other side of the world. Here's what happened:

What a small world! My parents and I were at a little country restaurant in the middle of nowhere, attached to a butcher shop called De Koning Meats, near Jarvis/Port Dover. (Wednesday afternoons they offer a special roast beef dinner for five dollars.) The restaurant was packed with patrons and summer cottagers from Port Dover.

We saw a group of seven people come in and take two tables, but didn't pay attention. Much to our surprise, two of the people came to our table while we were eating our homemade beef vegetable soup.

Turns out, the people are almost like family to us. The great-grandfather, Les, now deceased, had worked as our farm foreman for 40 years. His son Reg grew up with my father and is a close friend of my dad's. Reg's son Steven Willson, his wife Jacquie (DeBoer) and three teenaged daughters had just flown into Toronto a couple of days earlier from Tokyo. They are missionaries who work at the Christian Academy in Japan, where Jacquie is the director and Steve is the property manager.

They came home to Ontario for a short unplanned furlough this summer to get away from the stresses of the tsunami that had plunged Japan into a lengthy crisis. By pure coincidence, the Willsons came for the roast beef special before heading to the family cottage on Lake Erie for a few days of much-needed R&R.

Having heard a great deal about Steve and his family, but not having seen them in years, our conversation was a delight.

During the tsunami and radiation crisis in Japan my mother was fervently praying for a young cousin on her side of the family, Keri, from Seattle, Washington, who married a Japanese-American Christian named Richard Nakamura. Richard, Keri and their five children are serving as missionaries in Tokyo.

Richard mentioned in one of his emergency prayer letters that he barely had enough gas left in his car's tank to get his oldest children home from the Christian Academy the day the tsunami hit and Tokyo traffic was gridlocked. We made inquiries, and only then realized that the grandson and great-grandchildren of the man who had worked his whole life on our rural southwestern Ontario farm were actually good friends with my mother's relatives from Seattle, thousands of miles away in Tokyo!

Of course, they had absolutely no idea they had one common denominator (in addition to their shared Christian faith) — the Nelles and Miles pioneer farming families in Ontario. Kind of a Six Degrees of Separation thing.

I went to my parents' car to get Hot Apple Cider and A Second Cup of Hot Apple Cider to give as gifts to Steve, Jacquie, Lauren, Rachael and Caitlin. I asked if they had room in their suitcases for a little piece of Canada. They said they already had book one (I vaguely recall sending one over in 2008 when Steve's parents flew to Japan to visit) but they were delighted to get book two. They all plan to read A Second Cup of Hot Apple Cider, then they will donate it to the library at the Christian Academy in Tokyo. (As a matter of fact, a tired missionary needing some encouraging stories of hope is probably reading A Second Cup with his feet up at the cottage right now.)

Finally, the Willsons' eldest daughter Lauren will move from Japan to Ontario to attend Redeemer College in Ancaster this September, and was very keen to hear about the evening school writing course that N. J. Lindquist will be teaching there this fall, where I will be the guest teacher on November 2. (Of course, last year's writing course at Redeemer College was where Mary Ann Benjamins heard about The Word Guild and Hot Apple Cider for the first time, and decided to write and enter her true story. Her chapter "Holding God's Hand" was only the second time she'd been published in her life, and she is now working for The Word Guild!)

Further proof of our small world and divinely-orchestrated "coincidences"… and A Second Cup is enroute to Tokyo.

Smith Drugs & Apothecary

Heather — Sun, 15 May 2011 21:00:00 +0000

Editor Wendy Elaine Nelles and contributing writer Mary Ann Benjamins enjoyed a very successful book signing at Smith Drugs & Apothecary, Brantford, Ontario, on May 5.

To show their support, store owners Phil and Deb Smith purchased 15 copies of A Second Cup of Hot Apple Cider–one for each of their employees! Thanks to Deb for organizing a great event and for showcasing us as part of their Mother's Day special event by taking out a colour ad in the Brantford Expositor newspaper, listing us on their huge outdoor sign, supplying free hot and cold apple cider and refreshments for customers, offering sale prices on both Hot Apple Cider titles AND telling all their customers to come talk to us!

Deb Smith has a large section of Christian books and cards as a ministry to people who would never enter a Christian bookstore or church, but are regular customers who come to their drugstore with many concerns, including needing drugs for cancer or other serious illnesses. The Hot Apple Cider books are wonderful sources of hope for people who are dealing with sickness, bereavement or needing encouragement for other reasons.

In The News

Heather — Sat, 30 Apr 2011 00:52:13 +0000

Here’s what’s happening in the Hot Apple Cider headlines:

(Updates from Wendy Nelles)

Thanks to Glynis Belec, her book reviews of Donna Dawson's and Robert
White's books work in a nice mention of A Second Cup of Hot Apple
Cider in her bio and her launch April 30 at Zeal for Teal. In today's
Kitchener Waterloo Record.

http://www.therecord.com/whatson/books/article/524451–books-what-they-re-reading

Also found this from today's Peterborough Examiner re: the farmers
market book launch May 7.

http://www.thepeterboroughexaminer.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?archive=true&e=3100282

Have found one of the first Second Cup of Hot Apple Cider reviews, published in the April 29
issue of The Kitchener-Waterloo Record.

Done by Joanne Guidoccio, a Guelph writer. She singles out writers from south-western Ontario and
talks about Chapters Waterloo signing by The Group of Five.

“I had planned to read one short piece in this book each evening, but
found I couldn't put the book down. Each heart-warming story, article
and poem provides encouragement and reassurance that God is at work in
our lives. The book follows in the successful footsteps of the
first volume, Hot Apple Cider, which achieved bestseller status in
Canada."

http://www.therecord.com/print/article/524430

One of Wendy's press releases was recently published in the Burford Times.

See the story here: http://www.burfordtimes.com/ (scroll down to the fourth

article.)

In other news:

An update from Dorene Meyer that A Second Cup made the bestseller list for the week of April 17. That means it was listed in the Winnipeg Free Press as a Manitoba best-seller and also posted in their store as a best-seller.

From Kimberley Payne: Cheryl Rogers, publisher of New Christian Books in the States has posted a short announcement about HAC2 with a link to Amazon for purchase.

http://www.songsfromtheword.com/NewChristianBooks /

Inspiration is always in season, and readers are responding with enthusiasm to the sip-size helpings this Second Cup is serving up.

A Second Cup of Hot Apple Cider

N. J. Lindquist — Tue, 28 Sep 2010 11:00:00 +0000

Publication date was May 1st, 2011. The official launch (May 1 – 7) has come and gone, but the book signings and launches continue to bless churches and communities all over Canada.

The books are available across Canada in the Chapters/Indigo/Coles/SmithBooks chain and in most Christian bookstores, as well as at independent booksellers such as McNally Robinson. If a bookstore does not have copies on its shelf, it can easily order them through our Canadian distributor Foundation.

A Second Cup of Hot Apple Cider is widely available in the U.S. through the distributors STL/Ingram/Spring Arbor, and overseas they may be ordered through Amazon.

Keep up with the latest news on launches, signings, reviews and endorsements and more, by checking out the links on top. And while you're at it, why not tell us how the book has been a blessing to you by leaving a comment under the 'Reader Comments' tab?

Interview with Carmen Wittmeier

N. J. Lindquist — Mon, 31 May 2010 13:01:19 +0000

Carmen Wittmeier, a former college instructor, describes a classroom experience in “A Child on the Tracks” (page 260 of Hot Apple Cider). While facing a group of skeptical college students grappling with the subject of global poverty, she is brought back to her own encounter with human suffering in the dark hallways of a Romanian orphanage.

Carmen Wittmeier grew up surrounded by bookshelves (two to three layers deep) and vividly remembers the day she, her mother, and her brother exceeded their 99 book limit at the library. Her recognition of her own power to wield words began in her early teens when she forged impassioned love letters between unsuspecting victims.

Despite her delinquent beginnings, Carmen pursued literature in earnest, earning her BA in English (Honours) from the University of Calgary and her MA from the University of Alberta. A penniless graduate at the age of 23, she landed a job reporting for a national weekly magazine, The Report Newsmagazine, delving into matters of law, crime, and social justice. She simultaneously honed her skills as a writer, interviewer, and researcher for Alberta in the 20th Century, a set of history books.

Her love of classical literature eventually prevailed, and Carmen went on to teach English literature at three colleges, including Langara College in Vancouver, B.C.

Read our interview with Carmen

Interview with W. Harold Fuller

N. J. Lindquist — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 13:48:45 +0000

W. Harold Fuller's entry in Hot Apple Cider is an article adapted from his latest book, Sun Like Thunder: Following Jesus on Asia’s Silk Road. The article, on page 136, tells about Harold's meeting Dr. Aletta Bell, a Canadian woman who moved to India in 1964 to help ordinary people, in particular Muslim women and children who were not allowed to see a male doctor.

A truly inspirational leader, during her time in India, Dr. Bell coped with many difficulties – political, cultural, and physical – including a stretch of 17 years without a visit home to Canada because she might not have been allowed to return to India. Now retired and living in London, Ontario, Dr. Bell still returns to India for visits.

W. Harold Fuller was born on Canada’s west coast, served in the Canadian Navy on the east coast, studied missions and Bible on the prairies, edited Africa’s largest circulation (at the time) monthly magazine, and has ministered in six continents.

An award-winning author (“Jesus Wears a Stethoscope” is adapted from his 12th book, Sun Like Thunder), Harold holds a diploma in journalism from the Newspaper Institute of America, an honorary doctorate in literature from Biola University, and the 1996 Leslie K. Tarr Award for career achievement and outstanding contribution to the field of Canadian Christian writing.

Harold's books include Sun Like Thunder: Following Jesus on Asia’s Silk Road (SIM); Maxwell’s Passion & Power (Maxwell Foundation); Global Crossroads, editor (World Evangelical Alliance); People of the Mandate (Paternoster/Baker); and Celebrate the God Who Loves (SIM).

Harold and his wife Lorna now reside in Stouffville, Ontario.

Read our interview with Harold

Hot Apple Cider gets its own t-shirt and car magnet

N. J. Lindquist — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 14:39:57 +0000

Glynis Belec is a Canadian writer who doesn’t even have a piece in Hot Apple Cider. Yet because she’s a strong supporter of Canadian writing in general, she’s been doing a lot to promote the book.

Glynis recently asked for and received permission from That’s Life! Communicaitons (the publisher of Hot Apple Cider) to create a car magnet and a t-shirt to promote the book.

She even had a contest and gave away one of the t-shirts!

Glynis , we think you’re amazing!

Check out or order the Hot Apple Cider t-shirt and the car magnet.from Glynis.