What was the first adult novel that you read? What did you like about it?

When I was in junior high, I devoured Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand. As a Christian I cannot recommend the philosophy she espoused (pure humanism), but she took a dark probability and infused it with hope.

What was the first book you read that you couldn’t put down?

The first book I remember reading was the first one I couldn’t put down. My mom was my first reading coach; she took me to the public library, where I got lost in the stacks. I still remember the smell and to this day, I sniff books, thinking back to the fun days we had. The book? Little Witch by Anna Elizabeth Bennett. Mom bought me a copy of it when I was older, and I still treasure it. As I look at it now, I realize my life and writing theme is in the book. HOPE! My motto is, “Not all is lost. Charge!”

What was the last book you read that you couldn’t put down?

My mentor and friend, Jim Rubart, wrote the last book I couldn’t out down, Rooms. I have to re-read it about every year, and it still gets me, you know? Jim has a way of drawing his readers in to the story and we hang on every event. I love to know the end of the story, but I absorb the story the whole way through and turn that last page with a sigh, because I don’t want it to end. Even though I wait to get to the end in books, I can’t do the same with movies. I gotta know! (Drives my husband crazy)

If you could have dinner with any fictional character, who would it be?

Can you imagine sitting across from Scrooge after he’d repented of his evil ways? To me, the glow of hope in him would render me speechless (almost). I’d ask him what he now believed and what he planned to do.

Ooo, that would be an interesting conversation. And what about places: if you could visit any fictional place, where would you go?

I’d love to visit Middle Earth and journey with Frodo and Sam and Pippin and Merry (after the ring had been destroyed). To stoop down in a Hobbit hole and smell the dark wood and have breakfast, second breakfast, elevensies, etc. with that troupe would be a hoot. And ahh, Rivendell! Without the amazing characters, though, it’d be a bust. Tied with Middle Earth would be Narnia to see Aslan!

I’d love to hug Aslan! But back to reality, who’s your favorite author?

My favorite fiction author is Jim Rubart, for the reasons I mentioned above. My favorite nonfiction author is Rick Bragg, hands down. That man can use words like no one else’s business. His nonfiction reads like fiction, and that inspires me as I write.

Share five books from your TBR (to be read) pile.

Oh, my, I’ve been so busy at writing I haven’t had time I wish for reading, But here we go:

1. The Road to Little Dribbling by Bill Bryson
2. The Best Cook in the World by Rick Bragg
3. The One True Love of Alice Ann by Eva Marie Everson (I promise to read it soon, Eva!)
4. Knowing Scripture by R. C. Sproul
5. Christ From Beginning to End by Trent Hunter and Stephen Wellum

My first book is a memoir titled, Someplace to be Somebody (End Game Press) written about Pastor Marshall Brandon, who used to be a Black nationalist. By the time Marshall Brandon was five he’d been beaten, abused, and abandoned. By eighteen he was addicted to drugs, dealing them, and living the life of a thug. By the time he finished his tour in Vietnam, all he wanted was to take the white man down.

But God had other ideas.

Ideas like Marshall becoming a pastor at a lily-white mega church. And speaking deep into the minds and hearts of his congregation.

In a memoir that reads like an adrenaline-packed novel, you’ll delve deep inside the life of a man who should not have survived, let alone be ministering to men and women in a way few others can. A man freeing people from opioid addiction, and fighting the brutal racial rifts that are battering our country.

Someplace to be Somebody is real. Raw. And the riveting story of a man crushing insurmountable odds through the power of a God that says nothing is impossible.

Lisa Loraine Baker is the award-winning author of Someplace to Be Somebody (End Game Press, 2022). She has also written for Selah-finalist compilations by Lighthouse Bible Studies and their online magazine, Refresh. Other venues for which she has written include CBN.com, and she is a regular contributing writer for the Salem Web Network. Lisa writes fiction and nonfiction and is currently working on a nonfiction book with her husband, and a suspense novel.
Lisa is a member of Word Weavers, Int’l (as a critique partner and mentor), Serious Writer Group, and BRRC.

Lisa thrives on hope, and her brand encompasses the axiom, “Not all is lost; CHARGE!” She’s quirky and sassy, loves the Lord, and seeks to bring Him glory in all she does. Lisa is a happy wife to Stephen and “cat mom” to crazy cat, Lewis (who has his quirks, too). They inhabit their home as the “Newlyweds of Minerva.” www.lisalorainebaker.com