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Today, I bring you an interview with Kathi Macias, author of another special book entitled Special Delivery. Please leave a comment to be eligible for the book giveaway.

Special Delivery is book two in the Freedom (human trafficking) series. For anyone who may not have read book one, Deliver Me From Evil, can you fill us in on the focus of the series in general, and Special Delivery in particular?

The Freedom series is a three-book fiction series built around the horrifying topic of human trafficking. People often ask me why I decided to write about such a dark topic. First, I explain that I’m not writing about a dark topic; I’m writing about the Light that shines in that darkness.

And second, I believe the Church should be at the forefront of the modern-day abolition movement to set the captives (modern-day slaves) free. The three books in this series specifically follow the life of a young woman named Mara, who was sold into sexual slavery by her own parents in Mexico, and then smuggled across the border into San Diego by her uncle who then served as her pimp.

A strong sub-plot throughout the series tells of two sisters in the Golden Triangle of Thailand, Chanthra and Lawan, who are also trapped in a brothel. Finally, a teenage girl named Francesca, kidnapped in Juarez, Mexico, and forced into prostitution, is introduced in book two. Special Delivery picks up two years after book one, Deliver Me From Evil, ends, and continues with the stories of Mara and Lawan, as well as others carried over from book one.

Mara hopes she is finally free to pursue her own life because she was rescued from the brothel and her testimony helped lock up her uncle for life. But the man has underground connections and is driven by revenge to reach out from behind bars and deliver the ultimate punishment to his niece.

This isn’t the first fiction series you’ve written on nationwide and even worldwide social issues, the one previous to this being the persecuted Church. What draws you to these difficult topics?

As a Christian, I believe I am compelled to use my God-given gifts to honor God in all I do—and that includes exposing the deeds of darkness, calling sinners to repentance, and taking a stand for righteousness by doing all I can to help rescue those who are suffering. I dare not turn my back on “the least of these.”

I also believe that God placed this sort of burden on my heart even before I became a Christian at the age of 26. I’ve always been a champion of the underdog, a “soap-box” preacher, if you will. When I met Jesus, I simply redirected that passion toward His people, realizing I couldn’t effect real change in my own strength anyway.

With your obvious passion to right social and moral wrongs through the power of the Gospel, how did writing and speaking enter into that?

I’ve known I wanted to be a writer since I was a child—never wanted to do anything else. When I was a teenager I told my then boyfriend (now husband) that I was going to be a writer one day. What a blessing that God allowed me to fulfill that dream!

After becoming a believer and growing in my faith, it was natural to take my passion to fight for others and incorporate it into my writing. Speaking, on the other hand, was an entirely different story. I was terrified of public speaking when I was young, and the day I received Christ I made a “bargain” with God, promising to do anything He asked of me—so long as it didn’t include public speaking. (Does God have a sense of humor or what???)

Now, when I stand in front of audiences where I believe God has called me to speak (and actually find myself enjoying it!), I tell my listeners that if God has called them to do something and they feel it’s impossible, they can consider me their “visual aid” that NOTHING is impossible with God IF we will simply take that first step of obedience and let Him fulfill His purpose in and through us.

With the topics of the worldwide persecuted Church and human trafficking under your belt, what other issues are you dealing with in your writing?

My Christmas 2011 book, A Christmas Journey Home, dealt with the immigration/border problem, and my Christmas 2012 novel, Unexpected Christmas Hero, will be about homelessness in America. The next issues-related fiction series I have on tap—which I am just starting to write, by the way—is called the “Patches of Courage” series and will begin releasing in late January 2013.

Book one is The Moses Quilt, based on the life of Harriet Tubman, and will be followed by The Christmas Quilt and The Impossible Quilt. This series of books will highlight historical American women whose Christian faith enabled them to walk in great courage and make a difference in the lives of countless people.

Where can people find out about you and your books/speaking/appearances?

They can go directly to my website (kathimacias.com or Bold Fiction) or my Easy Writer blog. I’m also on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Google, and various other social sites. Would love to hear from all of you!

Where can people find out about free book giveaways on this blog tour?

The blog tour host is giving away a set of two books from the Freedom Series - Book 1 (Deliver Me From Evil) and Book 2 (Special Delivery). Also, readers can follow @ChristianSpkrs on Twitter or follow on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/CSSVBT.TheFreedomSeries for more book giveaway locations on the tour.

~I was given a complimentary copy of this book from the author in exchange for posting the author’s interview on my blog. This blog tour is managed by Christian Speakers Services Christian Speakers Services

~Don’t forget to comment for a chance to win the book!

Today, it is my pleasure to bring you an important post, one from a special cyber-friend, Diana Scimone. She fights diligently for those children who are sold into sex trafficking. She has written a book just for...well...here are Diana’s words from her site...

“Most kids are lured into sex slavery because they don’t know the deceptive tactics of traffickers. Wherever awareness training takes place, the rate of trafficking plummets. There’s just not enough, nor is it available in the languages of most at-risk kids.

The Born to Fly Project is a strategic 4-stage plan to educate kids, parents, and teachers about the dangers of child trafficking—with the ultimate goal of ending it.

Stage 1: Write a children’s book called Born to Fly, an allegory about the world of child trafficking that teaches kids to make wise choices as they pursue their dreams.

Stage 2: Develop a wordless book based on the Born to Fly storyline and distribute it to kids worldwide. Why wordless? So we don’t have to translate it into hundreds of languages—saving thousands of hours and dollars.

Stage 3: Produce a companion curriculum to teach children the important concepts found in the wordless book, and distribute it to schools, community centers, and NGOs worldwide.

Stage 4: Create multimedia awareness materials including posters, fliers, DVDs, web-based games, etc. to supplement and expand on the B2F message.”

And here is her message...

Christmas is all about One special Child. I’d like to tell you about another child—actually 1 million of them. That’s the number of children who are sold into sex trafficking every year. Some of them are just 4 years old. They’re in your city and mine.

I know, this is not your warm, fuzzy 3-weeks-before-Christmas blog post, but it’s a story that must be told. Lynn has written about this subject before here, here, and here, and to help with my organization, The Born2Fly Project, to stop child trafficking.

Most anti-trafficking organizations rescue kids, which of course is needed, but B2F works to cut off the supply line of kids—by reaching kids before the traffickers do. They do it through an awareness and prevention program that they’re testing in 5 countries right now.

To raise funds for this, B2F has published a delightful e-book for children called Born to Fly: The tale of a dream that would not die. Here's a taste...

"Blossom is in big trouble. Her grandfather warned her not to go beyond the village gates. After all, no caterpillar in Twig Valley has ever ventured there and returned to tell.

For centuries the caterpillars of Twig Valley have lived with a Dark Cloud over the land. For as long as anyone can remember, no caterpillar has ever become a butterfly. In fact, no one thinks about being anything more than a bug that crawls in the dust of the ground.

Until Blossom."

Proceeds from ebook sales go to the Born2Fly Project to stop child trafficking. A companion website, www.borntoflybook.com, has games and activities for kids and a free reading guide/curriculum for schools.

You can purchase Born to Fly for Kindle, iPad, Nook, etc. (links are here). (Or download it on the Kindle PC.)

It would be a great Christmas gift for some young child and you’ll be helping to stop child trafficking with every word.

***I pray you will visit and support Diana’s site Born2fly and her blog Diana Scimone.

Did you know child trafficking...

* truly exists?
* is a $34 billion (that’s with a B) a-year-plus industry?
* that it takes money and concerned hearts to fight these atrocities?

Modern-day slavery is the second largest criminal industry in the world. In the US alone, 100,000 children are trafficked for sex and labor slavery each year.

Born to Fly International founder and director Diana Scimone is an independent journalist who has traveled to more than 40 countries including Sudan, Zimbabwe, Thailand, China, and India. She first became aware of child trafficking on a trip to Mumbai, India, where she saw cages that held little girls—some as young as 5 years old—smuggled in from Nepal.

When she returned home, she founded Born to Fly to stop child trafficking around the globe and around the corner. She writes a regular blog about the effort to stop the traffic (www.dianascimone.com).

“Each year millions of kids are lured into sex slavery because they don’t know the deceptive tactics of traffickers,” Scimone says. “What if we could warn kids and their parents ahead of time? What if we taught them about the lies traffickers use—and how to stand up to them? The rate of trafficking would drop and millions of kids would never be trafficked.”

The goal...

Each year more than a million kids are lured into modern-day slavery where they’re raped for profit 30 or 40 times a night--night after night. Some are just 4 years old.

Imagine what a dent could be made in the trafficking pipeline if kids and their parents were educated about the tactics traffickers use before they show up on their prey’s doorstep.

That’s the goal of The B2F Project: to reach kids before the traffickers do. B2F educates at-risk children and their parents about the dangers of trafficking through a strategic 6-week community campaign.

The project’s centerpiece is a wordless picture book—wordless so that it doesn’t have to be translated into hundreds of languages. It teaches kids to make wise choices and stand up to traffickers. A 70-page companion curriculum teaches the important concepts in the book.

Diana has visited numerous safe houses to write the storyline for the wordless book, which was illustrated by artist Leah Wiedemer, and worked with a team of educators to develop the curriculum. Book and curriculum are being piloted in the Dominican Republic this month.

The final version is scheduled for release in early 2011 when Born to Fly will ship materials to a waiting list of schools and community organizations in Ghana, Thailand, Iran, Haiti, Germany, Cambodia, India, Bulgaria, the US, and elsewhere.

“Our goal is to give the materials away without charge, of course,” Diana says. “So we’re counting on crowdfunding to help get this done.”

But what if you could help?

Diana wants the Twitterverse to get angry about child trafficking--and then do something about it. Therefore, she initiated the 10/10/10 Twitterthon with a goal of 10,000 people giving $10 each—the $100,000 needed to start printing the book.

You can help!

* Donate: Go to www.born2fly.org and use the orange Chip-in button to donate $10.
* Twitter: Tweet about 10/10/10 and ask followers to donate $10.
* Email: Tell 10 people about 10/10/10.
* Blog: Post about 10/10/10. Include the logo and a link to www.born2fly.org.
* Facebook: Talk about 10/10/10; include a link to www.born2fly.org.
* Updates: Check Diana Scimone’s blog for the latest: www.dianascimone.com.

“Traffickers think kids are commodities,” Scimone says. “On 10/10/10, I challenge the Twitterverse to tell kids they’re priceless. All it takes is $10.”



I pray you will give prayerful consideration for Diana’s plea for help!