Raney, Deborah 1955-

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RANEY, Deborah 1955-

PERSONAL: Born 1955; daughter of a retired farmer and a homemaker; married Ken Raney (an illustrator), 1974; children: two sons, two daughters. Education: Attended Emporia State University, 1973-74, and Kansas State University, 1974-75. Religion: Christian. Hobbies and other interests: Reading, music, indoor gardening.


ADDRESSES: Agent—The Literary Group, 270 Lafayette St., Ste. 1505, New York, NY 10012.


CAREER: Novelist.


MEMBER: Romance Writers of America, American Christian Romance Writers, ChiLibris Authors Group.


AWARDS, HONORS: Angel Award, Excellence in Media, 1997, for A Vow to Cherish; RITA Award, Romance Writers of America, and Reviewers Choice Inspirational Novel of the Year, Romantic Times Book Club Magazine, both 2002, both for Beneath a Southern Sky.


WRITINGS:

A Vow to Cherish, Bethany House (Minneapolis, MN), 1996.

In the Still of Night, Bethany House (Minneapolis, MN), 1997.

Kindred Bond, Bethany House (Minneapolis, MN), 1998.

Beneath a Southern Sky, Random House (New York, NY), 2001.

After the Rains, Random House (New York, NY), 2002.

A Scarlet Cord, Random House (New York, NY), 2003.

Playing by Heart (novella), Barbour Publishing, 2003.

A Nest of Sparrows, Random House (New York, NY), 2004.


Also author, with Vicky Miller, of Children's Sermons to Go and More Children's Sermons to Go. Contributor to The Storytellers' Collection, I and II, Multnomah; A Currier and Ives Christmas; Teatime Stories for Women; and Teatime Stories for Mothers. Contributor of articles to periodicals, including Mary Engelbreit's Home Companion, Writer's Digest, Christian Parenting Today, Arrington's Inn Traveler, and Welcome Home.


ADAPTATIONS: A Vow to Cherish was filmed by World Wide Pictures.


WORK IN PROGRESS: A novel, tentatively titled Over the Waters, set alternately in Chicago and Haiti, for Steeple Hill Books, expected 2005.


SIDELIGHTS: Deborah Raney has written several romance and inspirational novels, including the award-winning titles A Vow to Cherish and Beneath a Southern Sky. In the latter title, published in 2001, a woman seeks guidance from God in making a choice between honoring the memory of the missionary husband she thinks is dead and making a future with the new man in her life. In the novel's sequel, After the Rains, the woman's choice is shown to affect her daughter, a teen who feels lost without the knowledge of her true father and decides travel to Colombia in search of him. While taking issue with some stylistics, a Publishers Weekly contributor found favor with Raney's "compelling message that God can redeem poor choices, no matter how tragic the initial consequences."


Raney told CA: "As a seat-of-the-pants or 'intuitive' writer, I find the process of writing a book nearly as much fun as reading a great novel. I love experiencing the discovery of plot and characters much as my reader will. As a Christian, I write from a Judeo-Christian worldview. And although I have written a short historical novel, I find that I am much more captivated by contemporary issues and characters."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Christian Parenting Today, May, 2001, Deborah Raney, "Parenting Teens and Toddlers—at the Same Time!," p. 46.

Independent Sunday (London, England), October 20, 2002, Elizabeth Boston, review of Beneath a Southern Sky, p. 21.

Library Journal, February 1, 1996, Henry Carrigan, Jr., review of A Vow to Cherish, p. 66; February 1, 1997, Melissa Hudak, review of In the Still of the Night, p. 68.

Publishers Weekly, August 26, 2002, review of After the Rains, p. 43.



ONLINE

Deborah Raney Web site,http://www.deborahraney.com/ (January 3, 2004).

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