Guest Blog: Charlotte Amsden and Where Men Stand *Free Book to All
Dear Readers,
Vacation was wonderful, but so is getting back in the swing of things! I've been going into the office in the morning and working on writing in the afternoons. Excited to be writing again, and I can't wait to share these upcoming stories with you!
Now...a guest author who was scheduled to appear while I was gone, but we mixed messages and are just now getting this posted. I'm loving meeting this new author! How about you? Blessings, Christina
Hello. I am Charlene Amsden and I write Christian suspense from a little island in Washington State. I have a habit of talking to strangers in grocery stores. One recent conversation began because I pointed out that a woman shopping for strawberries had somehow manage to fill her produce bag with pears. We laughed all the way from the produce isle though the checkout line, then waved good-bye like forever friends. My stories start the same way. I notice a tiny detail, say hello, and suddenly a whole new story unfolds in my mind.
Where Men Stand started just that way. It is the prequel to my novel, Kage: The 6th Commandment, but I actually wrote it after Kage was published. When the reviews and comments started pouring in one of my long-time fans said, “I wish you would have explained how the True North Brotherhood first formed” and my brain ran with it.
Here’s the back cover blurb:
Kage Kincade didn’t walk out of prison triumphant. He walked out resolved. Silent. Watchful. Remade in ways no one could see. Seven years inside taught him that parole isn’t a clean slate—it’s a leash, and faith doesn’t cancel judgment; it only gives a man the strength to endure it.
So when a young man is cuffed mid-proposal in a Cedar Haven park, Kage recognizes the pattern: a story written too fast with guilt assigned before the truth is invited to speak.
Now Kage must decide where he stands—not as a former inmate, not as a newly ordained pastor, but as a man who will not let truth be trampled by accusation.
Where Men Stand launches the True North Brotherhood series, which is a growing collection of faith-driven romantic suspense novels about redemption, restraint, and the courage to hold the line when belief is costly. If you’d like a free copy of this novella, just pop by my blog and you’ll find a BookFunnel link where you can safely download the story free.
Have you ever tried to tell a story about someone or something without giving too many details away? I found writing the prequel after the series has launched much harder than I thought it should be. To me, Kage’s personality had already been fully fleshed out in his novel. I wrote as though he and his friends were already known. That wouldn’t work for anyone new to the series who started with Where Men Stand.
Another issue, was putting this particular origin story before Kage’s romantic arc. Shouldn’t the prequel to a romance series be a romance? There is a romance in the book and the main character is working hard for a happily-ever-after, it just isn’t his own.
It is my hope that reading Where Men Stand helps readers connect with Kage enough that they want to read more about the life he’s building in Cedar Haven and the woman he falls in love with.
Here’s a short excerpt:
The land shifted as they rolled west. Fields tightened into tree lines. The air cooled. The road bent where Kage expected it to bend, memory rebuilding what years had eroded. He knew this stretch, not by landmarks, but by feel. The way the pavement dipped near the river. The way the light changed through the trees.
The bike thrummed beneath him, metal and heat alive, pulsing like a second heartbeat. Wind streamed across his face, drying the sweat at his temples, carrying the scent of pine, distant diesel, warm dust. The air tasted of freedom, as bright and raw as wild honey.
For a moment, it felt unreal.
What if this is a dream?
What if he woke to steel bars, the hum of fluorescent lights, the coarse feel of state-issued sheets, the gritty silence of judgment?
His stomach clenched. Another semi tore past, the wall of hot air rocking him in its slipstream. Diesel fumes stung his eyes. In that one stark second, certainty came.
I’m free.
The pressure in his chest burst, not with panic, but gratitude. Kage wanted to shout, to tear open the sky with joy.
Instead, he prayed, aloud and rough with reverence. “Thank you, God.”
His lips tasted of road dust and wind.
“Don’t let me take this for granted. Don’t let me waste this second chance by chasing adrenaline or yesterday’s glory. Keep me grounded in You. Help me become the man You would have me be.”
The rhythm of the road thrummed beneath him, a kind of sacred percussion.
“I ask this in the name of my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.”
He set his heart on home. Not his room in the Striker mansion, but his final home with Jesus. Whether he had five minutes or fifty years left, he meant to live it with his heart fixed there, even if the people who’d known him all his life didn’t understand.
He didn’t know how he would fit into this new life, but it wouldn’t be as he had before. Violence had been his past. Redemption would be his future.
His seminary studies in prison had taught him God expected more than repentance. He was meant to build something–to create a sanctuary in Cedar Haven where grace, forgiveness, and safety could take root. In his dreams, Striker and Delores stood beside him. But what if that wasn’t how it happened?
It might take time to find the way, but he would honor his calling. His chains were gone. He’d been set free. He didn’t need to make restitution for his own salvation. He needed to do it to point others toward God.
That truth settled deep, quieting the worst of his doubt—even if peace didn’t always mean ease.
As Cedar Haven drew near, Striker signaled and took the River Park exit. The park would be crowded this time of year.
Was Striker planning to stop?
Kage straightened. Somehow he knew this would be the first real test of his future.
If you’re interested in checking out Kage: The 6th Commandment or any of my other novels, you can find links to them on my blog, or just click below. And don’t forget to pick up your free copy of Where Men Stand.
Website: https://www.charlene-amsden.com/
Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/search?q=Charlene+Amsden
Here is a code for a free copy of Where Men Stand. It is my reader magnet (Charlene's), so "free" is standard procedure. You do not have to subscribe to my newsletter to download it it even though the program will ask you to. https://BookHip.com/ZQSNLRA
Have a great day! Christina
Your excerpt is expertly written! This sounds like a fascinating story.
Sounds really interesting. Thank you.
Thank you so much. I love suspense. God bless you.
Thanks for free book