Award Winning Author Frances Fuller Announces Second '50 Great Writers You Should Be Reading' Award, New Writing Project For Stories About the Middle East

    WILMINGTON, NC, January 07, 2016 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Frances Fuller, author of 'In Borrowed Houses', has been chosen as a winner in the '50 Great Writers You Should Be Reading Awards' for the second year in a row. In addition, she has announced a new outlet for stories about the Middle East and invites the public to participate by submitting stories that illustrate the culture and values of the people.

Fuller spent many years as a Christian publisher in Lebanon during the Lebanon civil war. As the result of her time and experience there, Fuller wrote an award-winning book entitled 'In Borrowed Houses'. Told in short episodes, Fuller's book reveals the alienation, confusion and courage of civilians in the Lebanese civil war, introducing to the reader a variety of real people with whom the author interacts: editors, salesmen, neighbors, refugees, soldiers, missionaries, lawyers, shepherds, artists, students. With these people she works, studies, plays games, prays, laughs and cries, all to the accompaniment of gunfire. Together these small stories tell what war is like for civilians caught on a battlefield, and they create the impression of the Lebanese as a fun-loving, witty, patient and resilient people. Fuller's stories compose not a political history, but a historical document of a time and a place.

"My fans are the best," Fuller stated. "They are always ready to claim that I told a great story or that I enlightened them or that I said what they felt when they couldn't find the words. Because of their loyalty, I have been a winner two years in a row.

With their encouragement I have decided to launch a new writing project in which anyone with a story to tell about the Middle East can pass it on through my website. Middle Easterners in their own countries, Americans who have lived or spent time in the Middle East, and immigrants to the U.S. are all invited. Of course, I must reserve the right to choose and to edit stories, so I will explain my goals.

What I am trying to do is to present the human face of the Middle East, so I want stories about interesting people, memorable characters, especially stories that illustrate the culture and values of the people. My readers will love stories that reveal how the people of the Middle East are just like us, and they will also love stories about how they are different. It takes all kinds of stories to bring out the whole truth, so any small story could be important.

Send your stories to me: [email protected]. Please include your name and how you wish to be identified."

Critics have praised 'In Borrowed Houses.' A judge in the 22nd Annual Writer's Digest Self-Published Book Awards called 'In Borrowed Houses' " . . a well written book full of compassion . . . a captivating story . . . ". Another reviewer described the book as "Wise, honest, sensitive, funny, heart-wrenching . . .". Colin Chapman, lecturer in Islamic Studies at the Near East School of Theology in Beirut said, " . . . western Christians and Middle Eastern Christians need to read this story...full of remarkable perceptiveness and genuine hope."

Frances Fuller is available for media interviews and can be reached using the information below or by email at [email protected]. Fuller's book is available at Amazon and other book retailers. A free ebook sample from 'In Borrowed Houses' is available at http://www.payhip.com/francesfuller. Frances Fuller also blogs on issues relating to the Middle East on her website at http://www.inborrowedhouseslebanon.com.

Frances Fuller spent thirty years in the violent Middle East and for twenty-four of those years was the director of a Christian publishing program with offices in Lebanon. While leading the development of spiritual books in the Arabic language, she survived long years of civil war and invasions.

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