Inspirational author favors Kansas settings

Author Cindy M. Amos recently launched a book promotion tour that included stops at Ashland Public Library. Her presentations feature three aspects that greatly influence her writing—the land, the love and the Lord. This tour highlights the fourth release in Ms. Amos’ current inspirational series.

Pawnee Rock is the setting for the latest release in her contemporary series, Landscapes of Mercy. In Book 4, Sanctifying Ace Aerialist, small town hospitality attracts members of a national social protest movement passing through Pawnee Rock on their way to the Dodge City stockyards. A fictional wildlife park provides jobs and an entertainment source as several members discover romance with local citizens. The pavilion atop Pawnee Rock lifts the couples closer to God in this inspirational fiction. Other Kansas attractions appear in various scenes including Mushroom Rocks State Park, Rock City, and Ellinwood’s underground rooms.

Sanctifying Ace Aerialist: Where taking the higher road can sanctify the journey~

Paisley St. James discovers Brace Cordan, the charismatic leader of the Re-Occupy movement, has been left behind to fend for himself at the wildlife park where she works in Pawnee Rock, Kansas. Sympathetic to include him in the community, she gives him a job tending the lorikeets, where he devises a gymnastics act that covers him with avian attention. When Brace lends his marketing expertise to increase daily attendance and passes romantic glances her way, small town living starts looking up. Betrayal strikes the park, leaving a tag-team staff shored up by nomadic Re-Occupy members to run the Shakespeare event. An unbelievable offer emerges from the show when the post of a wacky performance goes viral on social media, but Brace allows his financial burden to overshadow any hope for her inclusion.

Paisley will have to utter the words no woman should have to say,but will that sacrifice be enough to convince Brace?

The path ahead becomes the higher road when it starts on a towering rock.

The Landscapes of Mercy series includes two Kansas stories, with the leading book, Redeeming River Rancher, set in the Maize area surrounding Wichita along the Arkansas River. For this series where man lives close to the land, a particular landscape feature becomes analogous to the romantic couple’s relationship. For Sanctifying Ace Aerialist, that natural feature is Pawnee Rock’s towering citadel.

Ms. Amos writes fiction with a strong sense of place from her background in endangered species conservation and natural resource management along the Atlantic coast. She now lives in Wichita, Kansas and helps with the Amos family’s fifth generation ranch in the Flint Hills of Morris County outside of Council Grove. She oversees the ranch’s federal conservation stewardship program contracts to monitor the natural quality of the tallgrass prairie.

Her Christian testimony arises from her salvation experience at Vacation Bible School when she was ten years old. She has served in leadership roles for the Single Adult Ministry, as an AWANA handbook leader for 17 years, Welcome Ministry Coordinator for six years, co-teacher for the Ladies Sunday school class, and currently assists as a small group discussion leader with women’s ministry at her church, West Evangelical Free Church in Wichita, Kansas. Her favorite biblical character is King David, an avid outdoorsman with a heart devoted to God.

Ms. Amos relinquished her thirteen-year career as a field biologist after starting her family in South Florida. She met her husband the first week she moved to Palm Beach County where they shared prayer requests in the College and Careers class of a thriving Baptist church. She worked for a private consulting firm and later for the County of Palm Beach, where she won an award for cost-cutting measures she applied from her private-sector employment. Having accepted the award with her newborn baby in her arms, she returned to the department and gave her letter of resignation, feeling led to sacrifice for the well-being of her family. God honored them with two strong sons who share an inclination for the sciences. After prayerful consideration, the family relocated closer to the Amos ranch in 1999, leaving behind sunny Florida for the blessings waiting in the heartland of Kansas.

Faith has remained a resonating influence in the author's life. Her regular disciplines include morning quiet time in the Scriptures, maintaining an attitude of grateful praise throughout the day, remaining on the verge of prayerful conversations with God, and being ever watchful for God's hand in any circumstance. She regularly attends women's Bible study at her home church and leads table discussions when called upon for support. Her favorite women's Bible studies have been authored by Beth Moore and Anne Graham Lotz, the daughter of evangelist Billy Graham. Knowing God in the quiet times allows one to recognize him amid the confusion, and from childhood poverty through new author anonymity, she knows and hears the good shepherd's voice.

Ms. Amos' favorite Bible verse is Psalm 24:1 "The earth is the Lord's, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it." This verse is often used to celebrate the ascension of Jesus into the heavenly Jerusalem, but it also lends proper reflection on his overarching dominion of creation.

Our stewardship is inherent as we grow more Christ-like and therefore becomes interwoven in our accountability as obedient servants of God.

The Landscapes of Mercy series is available in print and e-book versions on Amazon.com. Books can also be viewed on the author’s website at http://cindymamos.wixsite.com/natureink.

The author is available to speak regarding her debut series to women's ministry groups, book clubs, public libraries and other wholesome settings where uplifting inspirational fiction is appreciated. She may be contacted through her website natureink or by e-mail at cindymamos@yahoo.com.