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The Great Writings of Fiction Author Christine E. Collier

Christine Collier (my mother) passed away on February 8, 2023, she was 73 years old (5/26/1949 to 2/8/2023). She had a strong mind and she loved to read and write. She wrote adventure and mystery books for kids and adults. She self published 11 short books (10 of which are in Amazon) and also many short stories, anthologies, and articles. One of her greatest loves was getting published in publications like Prairie Times, a publication of Eastern Colorado. Her articles were featured often in Prairie Times and even as recently as January 2023. I’d share those articles but Prairie Times owns the rights. But here is a link to the latest Prairie Times articles.

Her life stories are shared in anthologies by Guideposts, Adams Media, HCI Ultimate Books, Silver Boomer Books, Write Integrity Press, Silver Birch Press, Trisha Faye and Patchwork Path.

I plan to gradually add links to her other publications as I accumulate them.

A List of 11 of Her Books, in no particular order.

1. Christmas At Cliffhanger Inn

Mystery always follows the women of the Writer’s Club but this time with holiday flair!

Bill and Tara Fields are ready to celebrate the first Christmas at their Bed and Breakfast, the Cliffhanger Inn.

2. The Writers Club

Here is a short story mystery collection about four women writers that form The Writers Club. Each writer faces mysterious happenings in her life. Taylors beloved bridal chest, a wedding gift from her husband suddenly has new names carved into it. A baby monitor warns Jenna, while working on assignment, that someone is following her. Jenna is working on an investigative report concerning a famous dating service that has a scandal brewing. Amy finds an old letter in a secret drawer of a writing desk she has refinished. This letter describes a relationship that spells disaster. Lily faces a masked intruder at the bookstore, the Wrens Nest. While footsteps are heard upstairs in The Tomb, the temperature controlled room for old books. Lily will discover on her honeymoon that an inkwell passed down to her from her great grandmother was part of a legend.

3. Solve A Cozy Mystery

Are you into complicated police procedures or detailed forensic evidence? If so, my books NOT for you! However, if you enjoy solving simple, short and cozy-type mysteries, my book might be your cup of tea! Speaking of tea, read Clues in a Teacup.


Three of the thirty-five mysteries in this book happened to people in my family. I share which ones at the end of the book, plus the solution to each mystery.


Romance is clearly in the air in Goosebumps & A Gift Basket, Mystery Lane, Sleepwalking Intern, and Memories in a Guestroom. Do you enjoy easy recipes? Check out Undercover at Innisfree.

In Pink or Blue Secrets a mother-to-be plans on reading the results of her ultrasound test at her baby shower. In Till Theft Do Us Part a bride learns wedding boutiques will stop at nothing! Would you enjoy having your hair done at the new salon Curl Up and Dye? What happens when a lawyer visits the library and sees a ghost? Youll find the answer in Ghost in the Library.


A fun read for a cozy afternoon! How many can you solve?

4. A Heartfelt Christmas

A Heartfelt Christmas In this Christian novella Ben and Jocelyn Hart have inherited his grandmother’s house in Heartfelt, Pennsylvania. The charming Cape Cod on Sugar Maple Cove is filled with antiques. Jocelyn discovers a journal in the attic and learns surprising facts about the home and their neighbors. A young pastor, Simeon Turner, starts a church, By His Grace, in an empty 4H building. He will share wonderful sermons, the joy from his faith, and a fascinating lecture about the Star of Bethlehem. Esmeralda opens a fortune telling shop next door to the church, causing more than a little trouble with her crystal ball! Will a dream be realized when Jocelyn enters a writing contest at the Heartfelt Gazette? The Mail Alert she buys for Ben’s birthday adds humor and a touch of mystery. The couple meets their beloved next door neighbor, Mrs. Bedford. Is she really a guardian angel? When a lovely woman named Claire, welcomes them into the neighborhood, an instant friendship is born. Claire is tired of living and working at her parents’ grocery store, Stop for Milk. She longs to create unique dishes in her pottery shop, Claire’s Collection, and to be with Heath Parker, a local antique dealer. Will Jocelyn be able to bring this couple together? Their mothers’ feud started in high school and continues still.

5. Something Borrowed Something Blue

Amy, a member of the Writer’s Club, is busy helping her daughter, Rachel, plan her wedding. Will it be wedded bliss or more mystery for the Writer’s Club?In the sleepy little town of Foggy Grove the bridal shop, Something Borrowed, Something Blue, is in the home of a wonderful seamstress, Margaret Brown. We learn that years earlier Margaret’s own wedding was halted just as her father was to walk her down the aisle. Why did she never marry the man she loved so much and tenderly nicknamed, her huckleberry friend?We meet Ivory, the young helper Margaret hires to work in her shop. Ivory dreams of becoming a writer but spends much of her time caring for her sister, Jade.What has happened to the bride, Raven Moore? Why did she call off her wedding one week before it was scheduled? Why is her car parked at Foggy Grove Inlet near the Sweetheart Tree and why is her name carved into this tree with a question mark?The Foggy Grove Gazette will raise questions about Raven’s whereabouts and the crow hunters that have come from all over the country. The popular column, Dear Miss Lonely Heart, will share two letters that cause a stir in Foggy Grove, as does a rare second edition of the newspaper!

6. Twelve Months of Mystery

How would you like to read a year’s worth of mystery, one month at a time? This book is filled with stories that both girls and boys will enjoy.Whether it’s a snowboarding trip to Snow Cliff Lodge in January, where a mint coin set is found under the carpet in a loft closet. Or a missing Valentine card mystery in February.In April, Ivan turns an old vaporizer into his Steaminator and accidentally steams open a small envelope, which does not belong to him. In July, Calla will spend a week with her grandmother and wake to a terrible noise in the attic, thunder and lightning. As she slowly climbs the attic stairs, the lights go out! Ahead, two glowing eyes peer back at her! In the August mystery, we wonder what’s behind the fence on Chestnut Drive. Why is it covered in locks? Why are there shadowy lights in the backyard late every night?Blake and Jeff are hiding snowballs in their snow cave in preparation for the Carpenter twins’ visit during an early November blizzard that has caused a Snow Day!What will Jenna do when a miniature copy of the shop where she takes her piano lessons lights up suddenly December? It’s never been wired for electricity! Is there a Christmas mystery brewing?

7. Mystery Is Our Shadow

The Writer’s Club was embarking on another adventure! Little did they know the selling of their co-authored book, Mystery Is Our Shadow, would bring about even more intrigue.A college manuscript is discovered in a well-known magazine. Now to track down the person who plagiarized it.One writer takes a job as a live-in ghostwriter in the eerie, gothic style house, Four Gables. This house has hidden a terrible secret for years.A holiday book signing, a fan letter, and a wonderful writer’s conference will bring happiness. While horrible book reviews and an anonymous warning about agent’s fees and contracts will cause concern.A weekend stay at a writer’s Bed and Breakfast, The Cliffhanger Inn, will be enjoyed by the members of the Writer’s Club. Here they’ll learn trouble has been planted within the very walls of the Inn.

8. Adventure On Apple Orchard Road

The Forrest family buys a run down house on Apple Orchard Road. Eleven-year-old Ethan is disappointed the house is so old.Ethan invites his best friend, Tanner, for a sleepover and Tanner brings along a metal detector. At the break of dawn, Ethan and Tanner make a discovery in the old shed out back that will change their lives. This amazing treasure includes a letter from the past owner of the house. Elizabeth Patterson writes that she and her husband have hidden things in the house for years!Elizabeths old journal is discovered in the attic. What will Ethan do when he reads that Mr. Patterson made his own time capsule? In an old coffee can he placed a 1958 autographed NY Yankees baseball, wrapped in that days newspaper and placed in the floor joists of the attic. Could this baseball still be up there?The shed will become Ethans bike garage. Who or what is making the huge footprints in the dirt by the shed?

Her Anthologies

9. A Holiday Sampler

A multi author book of holdiay stories.

10. Nightlight: A Golden Light Anthology

A Golden Light Anthology spins tall tales of childhood. With faries and wizards, school plays and summer camp, family adventures and learning life lessons, this childrens anthology is perfect for bedtime stories and will take readers to far off places before they slip into dreamland.

11. Mothers Of Angels Living and Loving After The Death of a Child

We’re members of a club that none of us asked to join. The membership dues are steep – they require the loss of a child. And unfortunately, there’s just too many of us in this organization. Ask any of us and we’d tell you that we’d give anything in our power to take our child back and resign, gladly forfeiting our membership. Alas, being powerless to have this greatest wish granted, we do what’s second best. We keep living, we keep loving – despite our pain and sorrow. Some days are bleak and filled with tears, and on other days we put one foot in front of the other on our journey towards finding a new normal. Along the way we find some joy, tinged with sadness, as we revel in any chance to share our story and keep our child’s memory alive. In Mothers of Angels, over twenty mothers, a father, aunts, and grandmothers rallied together to tell the tale of children gone too soon. Some were miscarriages or early births, and the child never drew a breath or walked this earth. Others were young and the carefree days of bicycle riding, skateboarding, and just being a kid were their final days, never getting the chance to find out about getting old. Others were grown. Their driver’s licenses said they were adults, but they were still our children. Being a child doesn’t come with an expiration date. They’re still our babies and we still grieve losing them to death. In our grief and despair, we’ve also learned to lend a welcoming embrace to others as they enter our ranks. We share, we offer shoulders in consolation, and share our resources as we step forward and help others learn to live and love again. Come join us as we share our children with you, honoring their memories in whatever way we can. And if you’re a member of this growing group too, we hope you find some words of solace amidst the pages.

Other Anthologies

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How to Improve Christian Fellowship with Conflict

There is a strong and well-known connection between fellowship and conflict, between love and conflict.

If you cruise around YouTube listening to sermons, we can hear some dreadful and harmful-to-Christ teachings being taught in churches. Teachings which also conflict with one another.

A good deal of false teaching which are mixed in with some of the most wonderful and glorious teachings. Teachings which are changing lives and are undoing wickedness in communities all over the earth.

I believe a big reason this mixture goes on unchallenged is that we are not really in fellowship with one another. We are segregated based on pet-peeve doctrines. Most church leaders are isolated and are trained to be so in seminary. Or trained to be so by the former generation’s on the job training. Trained to hide behind their small collections of truth. We tend to major on what we are convinced is true then use that truth to judge and beat up on our brothers and sisters who emphasize something else. Seminarians who surround themselves with their personal amen corner of buddies. Corners which are just big enough to eek out a salary, yet small enough to not have to deal with much of any real conflict.

Limited and inadequate knowledge of Jesus Christ is the massive price that we pay for this segregation.

When some day we want to be biblical, then together we will know the mind of Christ. One man teaching alone every week needs to, at very minimum, be in fellowship with others doing the same. And the congregations need to be mixed up, the Baptists with the Pentecostals, the Lutherans with the independent charismatics.

Not too long ago I heard and older pastor say “a lot of people don’t like my son”, who had recently taken over as the pastor of his church and then said, “if you don’t like him go listen to someone else”

This attitude of agree, keep silent or or get out is one of the most divisive ways of thinking that can exist in the church today. It spreads and has filled the political culture of our nation in cancel culture. It is evil, it thinks it must dominate others who disagree and it is an attitude of short sighted group-think and abandonment.

Some day I predict that the Baptists will routinely be arguing and fellowshipping with the independent Pentecostals, who will be arguing and fellowshipping with the Lutherans, and the Catholics, and the Wesleyans, and every other flavor. And we will know how to do it without hating and abandoning one another or driving one another.

Then I predict we will sell our fancy religious buildings and do great works of God with our money instead.

The sin of isolation and denominationalism causes us to teach poorly and remain in the dark regarding knowledge of much of Christ.

Can We Embrace Conflict to improve Fellowship?

I believe we can greatly enhance our fellowship by specifically embracing fellowship. But we must be taught how to approach conflict and how to react to conflict.

The chief motive needs to be the pursuit of truth. All conflict must be tolerated if and under the condition that we want to come to know the truth. Attitudes of I must be right or I don’t want to be wrong must be banished out loud and repeatedly. Also, accusatory attitudes which seek to shame someone must not be tolerated. Resentment also results from accusations which cause someone accused to behave defensively. Then the conflict becomes fight back from the attack mentality. And the pursuit of truth gets lost to the battle.

But if conflict is encouranged and taught from leaders. Then the groundwork is set.

Another things that must be taught is how to react when people defeat you in conflict. Some people are good debaters, other people are lousy debaters. That often has little on whether they are correct or not. Mistaken people can sometimes out-debate people with great wisdom and knowledge. But they should not always win the conflict, this is very important. And this is where other people must step in and help guide the conflict.

I have won debates before that I later reflected I was totally wrong. And vice versa I’ve given up on a conflict because the person got so hostile I cared more about the friendship than I did on winning the debate.

If you are leading Christian teams in conflict I suggest openly and often teaching the following.

  • Conflict is good and we should do it more.
  • Losing conflict is normal and ok.
  • It is ok if people are wrong or mistaken, we do not accuse one another of evil if we believe they are wrong.
  • Conflict is a powerful tool to come to the knowledge of truth, in a ecclesia/ church setting it is intended for the purpose of knowing Jesus Christ.
  • Conflict is also useful in rooting out deception and strongholds which hold us all back.
  • Knowing Jesus Christ in a variety of ways is the most important thing a Christian community set out to do.
  • Strong debaters are required to periodically stand down when they are dominating others.
  • Weak debaters are required to periodically stand their ground when they believe they have a strong point but are not communicating it well.
  • After every conflict both parties are required to thank the other for a good debate and remind one another of knowing Jesus Christ is the chief aim.

What do you think about conflict, comment below!

for more content on conflict

Here is a great teaching on YouTube by Patrick Lencioni on conflict

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Free Resources During Coronavirus Isolation

Updated on 3/20/2020: I’ve been offered some free resources during this coronavirus isolation month. And I thought I would compile and share (in one place) a list of free and discounted resources (and even food) during this time of isolation.

Free Educational Resources For Parents

Free to everyone, free audio books for kids, tweens, and teens ! Just click here> (stories.audible.com)

Free Wifi During Coronavirus

Comcast is offering wifi hotspots available nationwide due to the coronavirus.

The hotspots will be available with no data caps, disconnects or late fees and speeds will increase to 3 Mbps. This allows parents and students to have access to news and educational content.

Once at a hotspot, select “xfinitywifi” network name from the wifi menu, then launch the preferred browser.

XFinity

To find an Xfinity WiFi Hotspot, check the hotspot location map at wifi.xfinity.com or download the Xfinity WiFi Hotspots app from the App Store or Google Play.

Xfinity is making it easier for low-income families who live in a Comcast service area to sign up by offering new customers 60 days of complimentary Internet Essentials service.

According to Xfinity’s website, that service is normally $9.95 a month.

The company is also increasing internet speeds for the Internet Essentials service from 15/2 Mbps to 25/3 Mbps for all new and existing customers, which will be the speed of the service going forward.

To receive the increased Internet speeds, existing customers will not need to do anything.

For new customers, applicants visit www.internetessentials.com. The accessible website also includes the option to video chat with customer service agents in American Sign Language. There are also two dedicated phone numbers 1-855-846-8376 for English and 1-855-765-6995 for Spanish.

Xfinity WiFi hotspots across the country will also be available to anyone who needs them for free – including non-Xfinity Internet customers. For a map of Xfinity WiFi hotspots, visit xfinity.com/wifi. Once at a hotspot, consumers should select the “xfinitywifi” network name in the list of available hotspots, and then launch a browser.

Food Discounts During Outbreak

click here for some restaurants you might want to check out during your isolation at home

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