Billy Coffey

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Release Day: Some Small Magic

March 14, 2017 by Billy Coffey 3 Comments

some small magic coverLet me tell you about a kid I know, a boy named Abel.

In many ways he’s not unlike a lot of children around here, meaning Abel’s family is poor and he has only one parent at home. That would be Lisa, Abel’s momma. Lisa spends most of her time waiting tables down at the diner. The tips aren’t much but they provide. There’s groceries enough, along with the rent money for their little rundown house along a dead-end dirt road outside town. Abel stays home most times. He came into the world with a mild form of brittle bone disease. Any awkward step can leave Abel casted and laid up for weeks. He’s got to be careful in what he does. Lisa worries about her boy. There are times, many times, when Abel knows himself a burden his momma cannot bear.

But I don’t want you thinking everything in Abel’s life is bad.

Far from it. He doesn’t have much but believes that okay; very often the ones truly cursed in life are those who have more than they know what to do with. It’s hard for Abel to get around with those soft bones, but there isn’t much exercise involved in reading. That’s what he does mostly, Abel reads, which has turned him into maybe the smartest kid I’ve ever known. And you can say all you want about the way his classmates pick on him, Abel’s got someone who will do just about anything in the world for him. Dumb Willie Farmer might only be the janitor at the elementary school (and might only be Dumb, as the name implies), but you will find no better friend. Ask Abel, he’ll tell you.

And about that house: sure it’s nothing more than a rented little shack, but it’s set along the edge of a field where the trains pass three times a day. Abel loves his trains. He’ll limp out there every day to count the cars and wave at the conductor. His daddy’s gone, prayed into the sky before Abel was born, but some days Abel will wave at that train going by and imagine a daddy he never knew waving back.

I’m not sure how life would have turned out for Abel had he not gotten into trouble with his momma and cleaned their house as an apology. Have you ever noticed how quick things can change off one small decision? It happened to Abel that way. He even cleans up the spare bedroom in back of the house where Lisa says he should never go, and that’s where he finds his daddy’s letters—shoved into an old popcorn tin and addressed to Abel Shifflett of Mattingly, Virginia. Some of these letters are dated from years back, but the one on top? Sent three weeks ago. Abel can only sit and ponder it all. His daddy’s not dead. And more than that, one of those letters reveal where his not-dead daddy is: a place called Fairhope, North Carolina.

It’s one of those times when all of life’s murky darkness gets shot through with a beam of light.

Abel knows what he’s supposed to do. He’s going to find his daddy and bring him home. Because that will fix everything, you see? His momma won’t have to work so hard anymore. The two of them won’t have to struggle. If Abel can get his daddy home, they’ll all be a family. It’s all Abel has ever wanted.

The problem is how a ten-year-old boy with soft bones is supposed to make it all the way down to someplace in Carolina without getting found. It’s too long of a way, and there will surely be danger. But then Abel realizes he has a secret weapon in his friend Dumb Willie, and the two of them hatch a scheme to run away from home. They’ll hop one of the trains coming by Abel’s house and ride it as far as they need. It isn’t a terrible idea so far as ideas go, but one which doesn’t take long to go awry. Hopping a moving train at night is an act fraught with peril, especially with a broken little boy and his not-so-smart friend. Abel’s journey seems to end before it begins when he is crushed under the rails.

But this isn’t a tragic story—oh no. This is a tale of magic big and small, and Abel and Dumb Willie aren’t the only ones at the train that night. Death itself has come in the form of a young woman to take Abel on. One look at this broken boy is enough to convince her this is a thing she cannot do. Even Death carries a burden too great, having witnessed so many children having their lives ended in so many needless ways. And while both Death and Dumb Willie (who is not so Dumb after all) understand what has happened to Abel, Abel himself does not. He convinces the strange but pretty girl who saved them to join in their journey, after which he promises to let her take them home.

So it is that Death itself accompanies two boys along the rails through the wilds of West Virginia and eastern Tennessee, clear to the Carolina mountains. Looking for a father long thought dead. Looking for a little magic.

That is the story in short for my eighth novel, Some Small Magic, which is out today.

There’s more to Abel’s journey (trust me, a lot more), but the rest is for you to discover. Believe me when I say you won’t be disappointed.

It’s my favorite book so far, and you can pick it up by heading here.

In the meantime, should you find yourself at a railroad stop in central Appalachia, do yourself a favor. Scan those boxcars as they fly past. They might not be all empty. And if you see three faces peering out at the blue sky, send a little prayer their way.

Because those three are bound west, toward home.

Filed Under: Adventure, challenge, choice, death, faith, family, home, magic, publishing, Some Small Magic, Thomas Nelson, trials, writing

Release Day: There Will Be Stars

May 3, 2016 by Billy Coffey 1 Comment

Twitter_There_Will_Be_Stars

Today is release day for my newest novel, There Will be Stars.

If you’ve hung with me for the last seven books (sheesh, seven books!), chances are you’ll know the name Bobby Barnes. He popped up the first time way back in Snow Day, then again in The Devil Walks in Mattingly, then one more time in In The Heart of the Dark Wood. Kind of strange that one of the most recurring characters in all of Mattingly should be the town drunk, but then that’s me. I’ve always been drawn to characters who are broken in some way, probably because I’m a little broken, too.

Probably because we’re all a little broken.

You guys know that, right? We’re all broken people living in a broken world, and the trick is to seek out the beauty in all the cracks. That’s what life is all about. It’s certainly what it’s all about for Bobby when you get to the end of this story.

People often ask me if the shine wears off after seven books. I tell them no, it doesn’t. Between you and me, though, that’s kind of a lie. The truth is that every release day marks an event I spent a really long time trying to convince myself would happen.

Twenty years passed between the day I sat down and said I wanted to write a novel and the day my first novel was released.

And between the two . . . well, let’s just say a few of those years were dark ones that I don’t care to ever live again. So each year that a new novel comes out is a cause for celebration—it means I’ve made it this far. But while I’ll likely walk around for most of today with a goofy smile on my face, I know I haven’t quite made it where I want to be just yet. That’s why I’ll also spend much of today getting ready for what’s next.

In the meantime, please do head over to Thomas Nelson’s site for places to order a copy of There Will be Stars. Or even better, head on down to your local bookstore grab it there. And don’t you worry about Bobby Barnes. Sure, he’s not the sort of guy you’d want around. But the great thing about starting out with a ruined character is that it leaves the door open for redemption by the end. And is there a better thing in this life than that?

I don’t think so.

Filed Under: Thomas Nelson, writing

“Devil” makes the rounds: Release week

March 13, 2014 by Billy Coffey Leave a Comment

Devil Walks Update-3

It’s been a great week (and did you hear the “Whew!” as I wrote that?). The Devil Walks in Mattingly is now officially released, and with it came a flurry of reviews, interviews, and about everything else you could imagine, all made better by good folks like you.

I’ll be doing a giveaway here next week. In the meantime, here’s a sneak peek at some of the things people have been saying:

Interviews:

Publishers Weekly Billy Coffey: Writing a Different Ending

Windows and Paper Walls The Devil Walks in Mattingly-Q&A with Billy Coffey

AndiLit(dot)com Write Naked: A Writers Writer Interview with Billy Coffey

Ordinarily Extraordinary The Devil Walks in Mattingly by Billy Coffey

Flickers of a Faithful FireFly Coffee with Billy Coffey and a Giveaway

Reviews from the Heart Sittin on the porch talking with Billy Coffey!

Reviews:

Publishers Weekly Fiction Book Review: The Devil Walks in Mattingly

The Christian Post Novel Considers the Destructive Nature of Secrets and Regret

Faith, Fiction, Friends “The Devil Walks in Mattingly” by Billy Coffey

Patheos via Karen Spears Zacharias The Devil Walks in Mattingly

Guest spots and other things worth mentioning:

Faith Village The Devil Walks in Mattingly/Billy Coffey: excerpt

Southern Living: The Daily South Five Things You Need to Know in the South Right Now

The Good Men Project A Father’s Long Shadow:Author Billy Coffey speaks about the effect his father had on his life, and where it’s brought him now

Katdish(dot)net In Like a Lion: Favorite book releases in March

***

If you’d like to help spread the word about The Devil Walks in Mattingly, you’re invited to join the Launch Team on Facebook. We’d love to have you!

Filed Under: The Devil Walks in Mattingly, Thomas Nelson, writing

Choose my next title, win my next book

July 23, 2012 by Billy Coffey 55 Comments

image courtesy of photobucket.com

The good folks at Thomas Nelson are just about to finish polishing up my third novel, to be released in May of next year. I can say with absolute honesty that it is (so far) my best book and that it contains (to this point) my best writing.

But there is one small problem. No one really seems to know what to call it yet.

Not me. Not them. We’ve whittled things down to two possibilities, but that’s as close as we’ve gotten.

And that, dear reader, is where you come in. Because since I can’t settle on anything and my publisher can’t settle on anything, we both figured maybe you could. So what I’d like to do is give you a short synopsis and the two titles we’re pondering and kindly ask for your two cents.

The story:

Leah Norcross wants nothing more for her ninth birthday than to be spared the horror of a party. What she receives instead is half the citizens of her peculiar new town of Mattingly in her backyard, an easel made by a failed toymaker named Barney Moore, and two new friends.

One of these friends is Allie Granderson, a little girl one year Leah’s elder who is both brave and gregarious, everything Leah is not. The other is an imaginary friend Leah calls The Rainbow Man.

Mattingly is a small town, the sort of place loved by those who live there and overlooked by everyone else. But it is also a magical town, a place where the wall between this world and the next thins. There is magic in Mattingly. And sometimes, many times, that magic will fly over someone unexpected. Even if that someone is a shy, unbelieving little girl.

At first only Allie believes the magic has flown over Leah—that her imaginary Rainbow Man isn’t so imaginary at all. That changes when Leah’s thank-you painting to Barney Moore contains hidden numbers that win him the lottery. Now Mattingly divides itself between those who see Leah as a prophet and those who see her as a danger. Caught in the middle are Leah’s psychologist father, who struggles to keep both his daughter and one abused patient from an emotional abyss, and Leah’s mother, who wants nothing more than to keep her family from falling apart.

When Leah’s paintings take an ominous turn and she announces a grave danger is approaching, her family and town must make a final choice to trust all they know or place their faith in what Leah calls “the Maybe.” Tragedy and fear force Leah’s few friends away as the town carnival approaches, along with a storm in which some lives will be lost and some destinies will be found—a storm from which the town of Mattingly can only be saved by one little girl and her imaginary friend.

There’s a whole lot more, but you get the idea.

As for the prospective titles, the choices are either Into the Maybe or Fly Over Me.

So I ask you, friend—which sounds better? Which catches your eye?

Comment below. Leave me a note on my Contact Page. Call me. Tweet me. Facebook me. Text me. Doesn’t matter which. Let me know what you think, and I’ll put your name in my hat for a free copy when it’s published. I’ll even scrawl a personal thank-you in it. Just keep in mind it will not contain any winning lotto numbers…

Filed Under: publishing, Thomas Nelson, writing

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