Seaglass Books
Nonfiction
Just Launched... RETURN TO CHILOÉ: Treasures from the Island
A life-changing trek from memories of the past to hope for the future… Join me on a nostalgic six-day return journey to my former home in southern Chile, a little-known island shrouded in mist and mystery that shifted my life experience in subtle yet significant ways.
In this travel memoir complemented by meditations on local mythology, I chase and check off adventures on my Chiloé Islands bucket list: sleep in a palafito with an ocean view, eat clambake-in-a-pot, tour heritage architecture, discover hidden hamlets, savor the sunset over the Pacific. Along the way, questions surge to challenge me: Did our work here all those years ago matter? How can I harmonize my love for this land and its people with the desperate need for transformation we all share? Can I reach and touch eternity amid the harsh realities of life here?
We’ll uncover gems of bright sea glass in the darkness of generations steeped in myths and legends. Surprises will sweep us up as God’s true story, the only remedy for false narratives, renews our faith. Our prayer will become, God, let me see what matters. Help me sort treasures from trash, crystals from clamshells.
International/Inspirational New Adult Romantic Adventures
Title Translations for my Spanish-speaking friends…
My Work-in-Progress–JUST FINISHED FIRST DRAFT!
WINDS OF ANDALUCÍA: Pearl of Great Price (Perla de Gran Precio) and Anchor of Last Hope (Ancla de Última Esperanza) – Inspirational Romantic Suspense. When Chilean art student Valeria Serrano becomes engaged to soccer icon Felipe Bello while on an internship in Spain, she imagines all her dreams have come true. But her discovery of a mural depicting the Inquisition, her visit to an elderly veteran of the Spanish Civil War, and her re-encounter with Lieutenant Nathán Valencia, her old friend from home, combine to shake up the idyll in paradise. And behind the scenes, Felipe’s drug abuse and Valeria’s pearl engagement ring set off a chain reaction that will culminate in tragedy. Read the beginning of this new story...
Desert Island Diaries (Diarios de la Isla Desierta)
Destiny at Dolphin Bay (Destino en la Bahía de los Delfines) – International/Inspirational YA Adventure. In this Genesis Award finalist, Baltimore teen Melissa Travis flees from guilt over her grandmother’s death to visit her sister on a rustic Chilean island. While on this involuntary mission trip, she is sucked into a storm of chilling calamities and bizarre superstitions. Then when a major earthquake hits, Melissa and her friend Nicolás team to help a group of homeless children, trap a bogus shaman who uses the chaos for his own agenda, and make life-changing choices. Read an excerpt…
Pursuit of the Pudú Deer (Caza del Ciervo Pudú) – Inspirational YA Romantic Adventure. Even as Melissa and Nicolás fall in love, everything else in their lives falls apart. While on a church youth-group trip to Chile, Melissa Travis, now 18, re-encounters her special friend, Nicolás Serrano. The earlier sparks between them soon burst into blaze, but old nemesis Delicia’s outrageous accusations pour cold water on their growing relationship. As Delicia stalks Nicolás, and his brother Marcos searches for a rare species of deer with the dubious aid of a thief with terrorist ties, Melissa ponders whether she should give up on a future with Nicolás. Trapped in the wilderness, they all must face crucial decisions about what is worth pursuing. Read an excerpt…
Legacy of the Linnebrink Light (Legado del Faro Linnebrink) – Inspirational Romantic Adventure. When English teacher Cristina Linnebrink leaves her prestigious job and ambitious fiancé to accompany her anthropologist father on a research venture in an isolated island of southern Chile, she little imagines the surprises—and mysteries—that await them. Missionary Melissa Travis and Captain Nicolás Serrano provide an oasis amid the desert of oppression. But it’s Leonel Nahuelanca, a local carpenter-turned-student, who teaches Cristina the island culture while building a needed lighthouse. Together they survive a volcano eruption and track down a long-buried family legend. The truth they discover—communicated through an amazing musical—will light up the darkest reaches of the island and transform the hardest hearts, including their own. Read an excerpt…
First Mate’s Log (Bitácora de la Primera Oficial)
The Seahorse Patrol (La Patrulla “Caballo del Mar”) – Inspirational Romance. At long last, Melissa Travis settles into her new career as a missionary Bible teacher in the public schools of Chile’s Chiloé Islands. But to her consternation, her old love Nicolás Serrano is unexpectedly posted to the area’s Coast Guard unit, called the Seahorse Patrol. Though he walked away years ago, Nicolás wants to pick up their relationship again. Bitter and bewildered, Melissa refuses and buries her torn heart in her work. With the rise of violence over provincial autonomy, the discovery of an arms cache near her home, and her ban from several schools, Melissa struggles to find her port of peace. When she finally accepts God’s strange timing, Nicolás and the Seahorse Patrol may have already sailed into peril. Read an excerpt…
The Seagull Operation (La Operación “Gaviota”) – Inspirational Romantic Suspense. Just as Melissa Travis finally decides to marry her long-time love, Nicolas Serrano, the rumors of war in the Chiloé Islands morph into harsh reality and conspire to keep them apart. Frantic to connect with Nicolás, Melissa links up with his brother Marcos’s Seagull Operation forces as interpreter for a pair of American doctors. Even after the storm of the first skirmish subsides, they must save the wounded, solve an ancient puzzle, win the locals’ support, and prepare for the next clash—before they can be together again. Then, incredibly, Nicolás faces court martial for his part in the operation to end the separatist insurrection. Read an excerpt from the first chapter…
The Sea-Silk Banner (La Bandera de Seda Marina) – Inspirational Romantic Suspense. Just when the terrorist insurrection is presumed over, Melissa Travis’s worst nightmare comes to pass—her fiancé, Captain Nicolás Serrano, disappears in action, captured by thugs. The one clue to his whereabouts leads his friends and crewmates in different directions. But after outsider Melissa succeeds in talking down a hostile teen, she searches for Nicolás in his home island of Chauquelín and ends up a hostage herself. In the final confrontation of the rebellion, she takes the lead and fights for her future, flagging down a rescue ship with a bolt of white silk and learning that while some refuse to repent, no one is beyond redemption. Read an excerpt from the first chapter…
Swan Island Secrets (Secretos de la Isla de los Cisnes)
Swan Pose (Pose del Cisne) – Inspirational Romantic Suspense. When irresistible belle Constanza Belmar flirts with a handsome stranger on the ferry back to her despised teaching internship in the Chilean Patagonia, she’s both abashed and intrigued to learn her mark is soccer star-turned-police officer, Marcos Serrano. Though their paths intersect in a series of harrowing calamities—a bizarre accident, a threat to an endangered species, and an attack on a millionaire conservationist—Marcos remains immovable: No interest in Barbie dolls. Coni chases him for amusement, but wonders if an ugly-duckling heart lies beneath her swan pose. Then, following a dormitory drug bust and the death of a student, she unearths two secrets that could turn her life upside down…and set the entire region reeling. Read an excerpt from the first chapter…
Swan Dive (Picada del Cisne) – Inspirational Romantic Suspense. The unrivaled Constanza Belmar admits to meeting her match in aloof Marcos Serrano and attempts to engineer some changes in her life—only to discover that old habits die hard and true beauty consists of more than fine feathers. As she and Marcos interact with students and investigate a teenager’s murder, a gang of poachers, and the lurking specter of other criminal skeletons in Patagonia’s closet, her ex-boyfriends keep popping up and temptations to fake it abound. When Coni finally takes a leap of faith into a new world with Jesus, she impresses no one. She’ll have to allow God to truly transform her before she can find the courage to stand for the truth. Read an excerpt…
Swan Song (Canto del Cisne) – Inspirational Romantic Suspense. A once-reluctant teacher in the Chilean Patagonia, Constanza Belmar shepherds her deprived fourth-graders on the field trip of their lives. But the adventure turns into a nightmare when a freak storm forces the class to take shelter in the remote wilderness of Swan Island. There Coni faces a cast of sinister characters, a wave of chilling discoveries, and a host of practical challenges on her own. When relief arrives with Lieutenant Marcos Serrano, her false friends-AKA-felons make their final play in the showdown. It looks like curtains, but Coni, like the dying swan, resists the darkness…with what may be her last breath. Want to read an excerpt?
Next Projects – Angélica’s Story
- Hope Chest (Baúl de Esperanzas) – What if the man Angie’s mother picked for her turned out to be a monster?
- Joy Ride (Paseo de Alegría) – If Angie accepted David’s offer, it would mean a journey of no return for them both.
- Grace Stroke (Golpe de Gracia) – In the island, Angie and David had finally escaped the trouble…or had they?
- Love Knot (Nudo de Amor) – Angie never expected life with David would be easy, but…
- Peace Work (Obra de Paz) – How could Angie build a nest in a place like this?
- Truth Test (Prueba de Verdad) – Why was David’s government so interested in a boy’s visions from God?
- Honor Code (Código de Honor) – Finally, what really happened to Fabián De la Cruz?
