#SaturdaySpotlight is on William Burt & The Lake Lights!

Good Morning and Merry Christmas Weekend!

As you set about this weekend for travel, food, fun and family, please be safe and keep in mind the real reason for Christmas.

Over the last couple of months, today's guest has shared treasures and thoughts with us but today William Burt is giving us a peek into his novel, The Lake Lights. Take it away, William....

What are the mysterious lights flitting above Oswego Lake on moonlit nights? Marsh gas? Ball lightning? Or holdovers from the dawn of Creation?

When Jonathan Oliver makes it his homeschool project to track down the source of the Lake Lights, his search leads him to Iron Mountain’s abandoned Prosser Mine and its age-old secrets. After his physicist father goes missing in the wilds of Afghanistan, Jon is left to decode a cryptic message leading to yet more mysteries and a remarkable, game-changing invention.

With his grandfather’s help, Jon matches wits with an unscrupulous scientist who will stop at nothing to steal the device and sell it to a shadowy criminal organization. Jon’s dual discoveries not only help him to deliver his city from total annihilation but also ultimately rock the scientific world to its very foundations.

EXCERPT:

THE LAKE LIGHTS

PROLOGUE

Gliding silently through the night, the huntress skimmed the lake’s moon-silvered waters, her own reflection moon-like. Lured by the light, a trout swam to the surface, where the she-beast scooped it up and devoured it whole. Her offspring joined in the frenzied fish-fest. Voracious predators, taloned yet toothless, nameless yet having many names, they ruled the lake.

The natives who arrived later knew the beasts as the Skookum-kallakala. No one—especially children—ventured out at night when the Skookum-kallakala were hunting. Fish were not all they ate.

Out of the east the creatures had come. Winging upon the prevailing winds, they skirted the jagged young mountains and reeking volcanoes thrown up during the Great Flood. Harsh winters drove them across uncharted oceans and seas. In their quest for warmth, shelter and prey, they traversed wastelands of freshly laid stone where others of their kind lay entombed in their final agonies.

At length, the Skookum-kallakala reached the coast of a vast continent teeming with wildlife. Enjoying the land’s abundant food and mild climate, the newcomers lacked only a suitable place to breed.

Above an inland lake valley, alternating flows of basaltic magma and an iron-rich slurry had invaded a mountain of flood-borne sediment, forming thick beds of a heavy brown ore. Much of the molten basalt spewed out of the mountain, leaving behind lava tubes and caverns—a perfect refuge from ice and snow, fire and flood.

The Skookum-kallakala had found their ideal home.

 Author Bio: William D. Burt is the award-winning author of the seven-title Christian allegorical “King of the Trees” series. Two of his titles (out of three submitted) were finalists in the 2014 Readers’ Favorite International Book Award Contest: “The King of the Trees” and “The Golden Wood.”

“The King of the Trees” subsequently won the 2014 Silver Medal in the category of “Christian Fantasy.”

All seven of Burt’s series titles have been awarded five stars by Readers’ Favorite reviewers. He was also a 2013 finalist in The Authors Show.com "50 Great Writers You Should Be Reading" competition.

Volume I in his new Creation Seekers series, “The Lake Lights” is William Burt’s first foray into the realm of science fiction. The plot deals with the investigation of an unusual lake phenomenon in Oregon as well as the discovery of a world-changing invention that helps prevent a nuclear disaster.

As an Assistant Professor in the Special Education Department at Western Oregon University, Burt served as a successful grant-writer and program coordinator. He holds a B.S. in English from Lewis and Clark College and an M.S. from Western Oregon University in Deaf Education. Burt has been an RID-certified sign-language interpreter with over forty years’ experience. His interests include reading, foreign languages and mycology. He is married with two grown children and two grandchildren.

Find out more about William and his books at his Website. The Lakelights is available at Amazon in Print and for Kindle!

Hope you enjoyed today's post, friends and that you'll drop by each week for Tuesday Treasures, Thursday Thoughts and Saturday Spotlight.

Until next time, take care and God bless.
PamT

#ThursdayThoughts with William Burt

Good Morning Friends!

A couple of weeks ago I introduced you to William Burt who shared some treasures with us. Today's he's got something for us to think about.....

Considering the ferocity and frequency of the recent hurricanes that have devastated the Caribbean and Florida, many people have been asking, “Where is God in all of this?” A trite answer might be, “Well, He’s right there in the midst of it all."

While that response is undoubtedly true, it doesn’t address the bigger question, which is, “Why did God allow those hurricanes in the first place?” Again, we could glibly answer, “For His glory and His perfect purposes,” an explanation that begs the ultimate question, “Why does God allow evil in the world?”

Though many books have been written that delve into this issue more thoroughly than I can here, I believe we can find the answer in both Genesis and Job. In Genesis, we read how Adam and Eve disobeyed God’s edict by surrendering to Satan’s temptation and lies, bringing ruination upon the human race and creation itself (cf. Romans 8:22). In essence, all of the original couple’s descendants are suffering the consequences of that rebellious decision. In Job, we see how Satan must ask God’s permission before afflicting His servants in any way, and we also see that the Father of Lies is capable of inflicting violent, weather-related phenomena upon God’s children.

This brings us to our final question: “Why has God allowed Satan to run rampant over the earth all these years?” The Adversary still incites people to sin, wreaking both physical and spiritual destruction in countless lives. To be sure, God can use Satan for His own ends, but I am convinced the answer ultimately lies in God’s mercy and kindness to us. Although we all must suffer the repercussions of the Original Sin, God does not bind us to Adam and Eve's Original Decision. Rather than condemning the entire human race to hell out of hand, God is offering each human being the same choice He offered Adam and Eve: the freedom to follow God (through Christ) or to follow Satan. In effect, God is recapitulating Eden’s pivotal Choice for each one of us, but to make that Choice authentic, Lucifer must still be a factor in the equation—and he will remain a factor in earth’s spiritual equation until God binds and casts him into the bottomless pit for a thousand years. When he is released again, it is only to offer the human race Eden’s Choice one last time before our enemy is consigned eternally to the Lake of Fire.

In this we can find comfort and hope, that God will not permit Satan’s insidious influence in this world a moment longer than necessary. Then as Christ takes His rightful place on earth’s throne, all hunger and sorrow, pain—and hurricanes—will fade into distant memory.

William D. Burt is the award-winning author of the seven-title Christian allegorical “King of the Trees” series. Two of his titles (out of three submitted) were finalists in the 2014 Readers’ Favorite International Book Award Contest: “The King of the Trees” and “The Golden Wood.”

“The King of the Trees” subsequently won the 2014 Silver Medal in the category of “Christian Fantasy.”

All seven of Burt’s series titles have been awarded five stars by Readers’ Favorite reviewers. He was also a 2013 finalist in The Authors Show.com "50 Great Writers You Should Be Reading" competition.

Volume I in his new Creation Seekers series, “The Lake Lights” is William Burt’s first foray into the realm of science fiction. The plot deals with the investigation of an unusual lake phenomenon in Oregon as well as the discovery of a world-changing invention that helps prevent a nuclear disaster.

As an Assistant Professor in the Special Education Department at Western Oregon University, Burt served as a successful grant-writer and program coordinator. He holds a B.S. in English from Lewis and Clark College and an M.S. from Western Oregon University in Deaf Education. Burt has been an RID-certified sign-language interpreter with over forty years’ experience. His interests include reading, foreign languages and mycology. He is married with two grown children and two grandchildren.

Find out more about William and his books at his Website. The Lakelights is available at Amazon in Print and for Kindle!

Hope you enjoyed today's post, friends and that you'll drop by each week for Tuesday Treasures, Thursday Thoughts and Saturday Spotlight.

Until next time, take care and God bless.
PamT

PS: Don't forget to enter the Rafflecopter Giveaway for a Kindle Fire and if you haven't already purchased your copy of my award-winning title, Keri's Christmas Wish (Print & Kindle) or Mistletoe, Snow and Suspense, get them today!

#TuesdayTreasures with William Burt

Good Morning and Happy Halloween!

Nothing spooky going on here on our blog....only GREAT news! In case you haven't noticed the sidebar....two great things. First a rafflecopter contest to win a Kindle Fire and notification that Keri's Christmas Wish is a finalist in OKRWA's 2017 IDA contest!

Although today's guest was mentioned on the blog several years ago, he is actually new to being featured and to many of you here.

William D. Burt is the award-winning author of the seven-title Christian allegorical “King of the Trees” series. Two of his titles (out of three submitted) were finalists in the 2014 Readers’ Favorite International Book Award Contest: “The King of the Trees” and “The Golden Wood.”

“The King of the Trees” subsequently won the 2014 Silver Medal in the category of “Christian Fantasy.”

All seven of Burt’s series titles have been awarded five stars by Readers’ Favorite reviewers. He was also a 2013 finalist in The Authors Show.com "50 Great Writers You Should Be Reading" competition.

Volume I in his new Creation Seekers series, “The Lake Lights” is William Burt’s first foray into the realm of science fiction. The plot deals with the investigation of an unusual lake phenomenon in Oregon as well as the discovery of a world-changing invention that helps prevent a nuclear disaster.
As an Assistant Professor in the Special Education Department at Western Oregon University, Burt served as a successful grant-writer and program coordinator. He holds a B.S. in English from Lewis and Clark College and an M.S. from Western Oregon University in Deaf Education. Burt has been an RID-certified sign-language interpreter with over forty years’ experience. His interests include reading, foreign languages and mycology. He is married with two grown children and two grandchildren.

MY TREASURE 

Although I treasure my wife and son, at the moment, my daughter (pictured) is a special blessing to us all. She spent eight years teaching kindergarten but has always wanted children of her own. After three early-term miscarriages (one of which nearly killed her), she was told that her uterus is malformed and that she would never be able to carry a child to term. Determined to prove her doctor wrong, she is now pregnant again and in her tenth week (as of 9/16)—this time without complications. In the photo, my daughter has just had her hair cut after letting it grow for about four years to fulfill a vow. She had told God she wouldn’t cut her hair until she could have a child. Since only 3-5% of pregnancies at this stage end in miscarriage, she decided the time had come to donate her locks to a worthy cause.

OH Wow, William, how wonderful! Keep us posted on that baby and give your daughter a hug for us.

Find out more about William and his books at his Website. The Lakelights is available at Amazon in Print and for Kindle!

Hope you enjoyed today's post, friends and that you'll drop by each week for Tuesday Treasures, Thursday Thoughts and Saturday Spotlight.

Until next time, take care and God bless.
PamT