The Plot Thickens | Janet Chester Bly

Each Sunday “Inspired by Life…and Fiction” shares with our readers a Christian novelist’s newest book and the garden spots where they find inspiration.

With a very short growing season where Janet Bly lives, petunias are one of the few hardy flowers that last through summer until the first snows hit. The rest of the year Janet enjoys about sixty ponderosa pines that surround the home. Janet’s late husband, Stephen, who passed away in 2011, was a Christy Award winner for westerns. He authored and co-authored with Janet, 101 fiction and nonfiction books, including historical and contemporary westerns. Steve was a retired mayor who pastored Winchester (ID) Community Church. Janet continues to live in northern Idaho at 4,000 ft. elev., on the Nez Perce Indian Reservation. Janet and the couple’s three sons finished writing Stephen’s last novel after his death. Her hobbies include decorating her home in “country clutter,” shopping for a touch of bling and dressy denim, and reading and reviewing all genres of fiction. You can find Steve and Janet’s books on the Web at www.blybooks.com.

The Bly office in Idaho.

For more “novel gardens” like this, visit The Plot Thickens.

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Deborah Raney

DEBORAH RANEY's first novel, A Vow to Cherish, inspired the World Wide Pictures film of the same title and launched Deb’s writing career. Forty books later, she's still creating stories that touch hearts and lives. Her novels have won RWA's RITA Award, the ACFW Carol Award, the National Readers Choice Award, and the HOLT Medallion. She is also a three-time Christy Award finalist. Deb is on faculty for several national writers’ conferences and served on the executive board of the 2,500-member American Christian Fiction Writers organization for 18 years before retiring in 2022. She is a recent transplant to Missouri, having moved with her husband, Ken Raney, from their native Kansas to be closer to kids and grandkids. They love road trips, e-biking, Friday garage sale dates, and breakfast on the screened porch overlooking their wooded backyard.

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