Interview & Book Giveaway! Precarious Yates ~ Author of "The Elite of the Weak"

Welcome to Christian Bookshelf Reviews, Precarious Yates! Will you tell us a little about yourself? 

My mother didn't really name me Precarious, but there are just way too many Sarah Smiths in the world. There are 2 just in our family.

I've been a bit nomadic for a few years, but we're stationed in Texas for right now. I was born in the UK and grew up around Yale University as the daughter of an Episcopal minister. For work, I've done everything from roofing and construction to church planting, but spent a great deal of my life making coffee. Forgive me if I cringe when someone asks for a cappuccino!

I'm the mom of a daughter who would easily stare down a lion, and the wife of a very patient man. When I'm not writing, I'm home schooling my daughter, gardening, or playing tag.

What is The Elite of the Weak about?


Revelation Special Ops. An organization filled with the Elite of the Weak. Weak because their hearts are broken for the oppressed. Elite because they keep the code.

What code?
No lying.
No sexual immorality.
They follow the Lamb wherever He goes.

Hadassah isn’t like the rest of her friends in high school. Neither is she like the kids in her church’s youth group. At least not when she’s in the African jungle trying to rescue an abducted child, or when she’s crawling through an air duct on a surveillance mission in Queens. Hadassah was born for such a time as this. She also wasn’t cut out to do this work alone.

The Elite of the Weak is book 1 of the Revelation Special Ops series.

When did you first realize you wanted to be a writer?

When I was six or seven, and finishing my first book (Timmy the Flying Turtle), I daydreamed about sitting at a desk in the sunshine doing this work all day long. I dreamed about it like most kids dream about being a firefighter. This dream has been chasing me ever since.

Do you have any favorite authors?

My favorite book, Till We Have Faces, is by C. S. Lewis. My other favorite authors are Dostoyevsky and Tolkein. Jon Lewis, who wrote Invasion, is a fantastic YA writer. I also love Anthony Horowitz's Alex Rider series (not a fan of #8, though) and Eoin Colfer's Artemis Fowl books.

Do you have a favorite time of year?

This is probably the hardest of all your questions! At least for me. I very much dislike the heat of summer, but my daughter is such a great swimmer I yearn for these warm days. Spring does something inexplicably marvelous for my soul. I love snow, even when my body protests the cold. And I wait all year long for pumpkin-anything in the fall. But perhaps Christmas? Yup, I really like Christmas. And Passover, since our family has a huge celebration every year. In other words, I try to find joy in all the different facets of the seasons.

Favorite song and/or movie?

My favorite movie is The Return of the King, but only the extended version. Yes, I'm one of those nerds ;).

As for my favorite song? I'm a U2 junkie, and have been since 1983. Old habits die hard. But my very favorite song has to be Arms Wide Open by Misty Edwards.
 
Favorite Bible verse?

I have so many! The whole book of Hebrews! John 17! I think the easiest way to answer this is to share my life verse:

Song of Solomon 8:5b:

Who is this coming up from the wilderness leaning on her Beloved?

What are three things you wouldn't want to do without (besides the Bible, food, and family)?

In no particular order:
1. Tea. Black tea. The hot version, like the Brits love. Must be why they allowed me to be born over there.

2. Books. Particularly the classics—I adore them. Once I picked up de Cervantes for the first time, I knew I couldn't live without Don Quixote. I feel about the same way with The Brothers Karamazov by Dostoyevsky and quite a bit of Shakespeare.

3. My dog. She's a shepherd/mastiff and she's awesome. She sleeps with her head on my shoulder all night long. Who could ask for better than that in an animal?

What do you hope readers take away from reading The Elite of the Weak?

I hope they carry away the courage to do the impossible in partnership with God. As a friend of mine said today, doing anything of lasting greatness requires faith.

I also hope there's an understanding that:

1. many kids around the world are enslaved against their will
2. it doesn't have to be this way
3. every person speaking out against human trafficking helps
4. God is not slow in keeping His promises. He doesn't want any to perish, but wants all to come to repentance. At the same time, His justice is perfect and He will answer the cries of those who call out to Him for mercy—He is the great Emancipator!
5. our prayers do cause great changes to happen!

Are you currently working on any novels?

I'm working on two at the moment:

Book two of the Revelation Special Ops series is halfway finished (at least the rough draft).

I'm also working on a very different novel. It's a coming of age book about a hyper-intellectual girl who has wild experiences and tremendous hurts on the way toward the mission field.

Thank you very much for being here! Where can we find you on the web?
Here are some links:

www.precariousyates.com
precariousyates.wordpress.com
www.facebook.com/precariousyates
twitter: @precariousyates

Book Giveaway!

Enter to win a copy of The Elite of the Weak! This giveaway is open to U.S. residents only. Ends 2/14/12

Enter using the Rafflecopter below! The mandatory entry is to leave a blog post comment on this post.

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