Marie McGaha
is an award-winning writer whose work includes clean historical
romances, Christian devotionals, and heartfelt children’s books. A
storyteller at her core, she weaves faith, resilience, and gentle humor
through every page she writes.
She makes her home in southeast
Oklahoma, in the foothills of the Ouachita Mountains, where life is
anything but quiet. Her days are shared with four spoiled dogs, a
crippled rooster with more attitude than feathers, a noisy guinea who
believes it runs the place, a couple of flighty hens, and a watchful roo
who keeps an eye on everything that moves. This lively little
farm—equal parts sanctuary and circus—provides endless inspiration,
companionship, and the kind of grounding only God’s creation can offer.
Whether she’s crafting a tender love
story, guiding readers through Scripture, or bringing the Bible to life
for children through animal characters, Marie writes with a voice shaped
by faith, loss, healing, and the stubborn hope that refuses to let go.
Her work reflects the heart of a woman who has walked through fire and
come out carrying stories worth telling.
You can also join her for daily devotionals on YouTube at @HeReignsChurch, where she shares encouragement, Scripture, and the steady reminder that hope is still alive. You can contact her by email: church.hereigns@gmail.com.
Tell us about your book! What inspired you to write it?
My husband died in November 2021 and the past 4+ years have been the hardest of my life. I had 600 pages of rantings I’d written trying to cope with the pain, grief, and loss, so I edited them and my book was born.
How did you choose the title for your book? Did it come to you right away, before you started writing it, or did it come later?
Originally, I called it Your Ghost because I felt like a ghost haunting my own house. After a few edits, the subtitle came to me.
Tell us about the cover design process. Did you have a basic idea of what your book cover would be like?
I knew I wanted my husband on the cover and as I looked through photos, I came to one that made sense. It was taken the winter of 2020, the last picture of when I was truly happy and everything was right with the world.
Who is your cover designer and how did you find him/her?
I designed this one.
What has been the readers’ response to your cover?
It’s been very positive and apparently, my husband is very appealing to women!
What tips would you give to authors who are looking for a cover designer?
My favorite cover artist is Val Muller. I’ve used her exceptional talent in the past and highly recommend her. She is also an author, so she gets how important the cover is to writers.
Anything else you’d like to say about your book?
Losing my husband is the worst thing that has ever happened to me. I will never “get over” him and no other man could hold a candle to him. He is the best man I’ve ever known.
David LeRoy
is an author and avid explorer of the intersection of philosophy,
psychology, and art. His debut novel, The Siren of Paris, is a poignant
work that emerged from personal family research he undertook in 2010 to
locate missing persons of WWII.
LeRoy’s fluency in French and two-year
sojourn in France afforded him unique insights into the French culture
he deftly weaves into his literary work. With a Bachelor of Arts in
Philosophy and Religion, an MBA from California State University
Sacramento, and an MSc. Applied Data Science from Paris, France, LeRoy
is a polymath with diverse interests and an insatiable curiosity for
knowledge.
He currently resides in California, where he continues to write and pursue his creative passions.
Tell us about your book! What inspired you to write it?
The Siren of Paris follows one soul’s spiritual journey to seek peace from his decision from surviving World War Two. The original research project had nothing to do with fiction and everything thing to do with missing person’s research of American tourist who never made it home in 1939. I decided based upon what I had learned to write a fiction novel instead of a traditional nonfiction memoir. The main protagonist is a man named Marc Tolbert who falls in love with the Marie Bonnet, who becomes in the course of the war his mortal enemy. The story is of one of wartime betrayal.
How did you choose the title for your book? Did it come to you right away, before you started writing it, or did it come later?
The project was called “Français Seulement” for someone who disappeared into France during the war to never be seen again. The title is a line that appears in the novel as a question from a German Solider named Officer Sean. He was drafted against his will when he returned to Germany after studying in America to visit his family. His passport was revoked and he was conscripted to the Army in 1938. He spoke English, and he is the one who asks my protagonist “What Siren of Paris is calling you back to horrid city?” The Siren of Paris has multiple meaning in the course of the story.
Tell us about the cover design process. Did you have a basic idea of what your book cover would be like?
Covers, designs and marketing a book is a very difficult and painful journey. I did not understand or know this in 2012. The first cover was a pre designed cover purchased that had elements of the story, but too much of a romantic promise.
Cover One
Plus, I have tag lines on it. It is not horrid but it is not the best. Most people assume that the story is romantic.
Cover Two
It is a professional job, but too much mystery, intrigue is suggested. My story is not a mystery novel. Cover two, had too many elements of mystery and thriller genre.
Cover Three
Cover three is based upon the drawing known as “The Man of Pain and Sorrows,” which is truer to the story. When you look into all of the titles published in the past twenty years, there is a storm of highly romanticized world war two stories with women on a hero’s journey in the context of German occupied Paris.
They are great covers, but do you see the trend? How do I stand out when Amazon is pulling up The Siren of Paris along books like The Paris Network, or The Last Letter from Paris?
Below is a study of covers to put to a test.
I did a study of the various options and the put it out to my audience.
My story is a brutal war story that has betrayal as the core relationship conflict. Therefore I decided to commission Cover Four from the same professional that I had used to create the cover up my next story, titled The Flower of Chamula. The Flower of Chamula is a very different story of The Siren of Paris. However, it was through that cover that I had found the talent to create professional covers.
It is hard, requires work, reflection and a design who will listen to the marketing challenges of the story. Below is the book cover that I approved.
Cover Four
Today, the new cover is inspired by Cover Three, but is it executed by a professional Photoshop expert with cover experience
Who is your cover designer and how did you find him/her?
Ace Sadler
Found his work on Instagram and reach out to him if he could make a cover that appeared similar to a very high end commercially successful book in the genre of Latin American Magical Realism.
What tips would you give to authors who are looking for a cover designer?
Stay away from premade covers or anything that is AI generated. Save money and budget for $1000 or more for a high end cover.
Make sure there is a contract in place.
Go through a process of researching high end covers of your genre that have been created in the past five years. Do not copy the design but have a new cover created that is of the same quality.
Anything else you’d like to say about your book?
You may love The Siren of Paris or even hate it, but it is a very unique story. The Siren is not a thriller, romance or horror story. People read of the war as it happened. It is Historical Literary Magical Realism.
The Priest of Time and Judgment is based upon a real priest who suffered and died at Buchenwald Concentration Camp. He is the one who summons the dead of the war. His qualifications is the pain and suffering he experienced at the betrayal of his own congregation.
The graves marked ‘Known Unto God” means unknown person, and those were graves that were looked at as possibilities of someone. The animals belonged to a traveling circus that died on roads as the fall of France took place. . The rabbit died on the RMS Lancastria as well as the dog.
Marc Tolbert faces these ghost and he must prove he is worthy to be among those who are called “Known Unto God. “
Magical Realism was not as big in 2012, and there were not a lot of historical fiction that combined the magical elements. Today, Magical Realism is huge.
It is my prayer and hope that the likes of World War Two stay historical. Current events in Asia suggest that the 21st century maybe heading into a new tragedy.
Barbara Jean Weber lives in Skagit County with her husband and two daughters, where she works as a speech and language therapist. Her novel, The Welcome Sign,
was inspired when she was gifted a mermaid welcome sign. The more she
studied the sign, the more her story evolved. She is currently an active
member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators.
Tell us about your book! What inspired you to write it?
The Welcome Sign begins when Molly Parmell's grandmother mysteriously disappears. She and her mother travel to Cape Cod to take ownership of the house they inherited and begin to discover unusual things about the grandmother's sudden disappearance. What they discover is more dangerous and life changing than they ever imaged. When Molly and her mother find a beautiful mermaid Welcome Sign in
the attic and place it on the front door strange events start to happen and they are flooded with visitors who claim they knew the grandmother. They soon find out that the mysterious Welcome Sign comes with powerful magic and secrets are slowly revealed as Molly learns about her grandmothers involvement with a secret organization working to keep balance between the magical realm and the real world. The magical realms placed an invisible veil of secrecy over the world to hide their true identities from the human world allowing them to live among the humans in secret. An angry rebel group of magical beings, tired of living in hiding is tearing down and destroying the magical cloaking fabric between the two worlds. If they are not stopped the magical realm will be revealed and will no longer be safe from the rest of the world. As Molly and her mom embark on a dangerous and magical adventure throughout the magical realms to help stop the rebels, she learns of her own unique powers and her strong family heritage connected to the Welcome Sign. Along the way, she teams up with new magical friends helping to keep the realm of magic safe from the eyes of the world and discovers that her grandmother was right all along. The world she thought she knew no longer exists, but an amazing world of magic woven into their world has always been hiding in plain sight.
The Welcome Sign's creation began when I received a beautiful mermaid Welcome Sign as a gift. I love mermaids and my parents had found a lovely sign with a mermaid on it. The store was going out of business so they purchased the sign for me. After I received it as a gift, I had several amazing dreams about the origin of the sign. Those dreams were the inspiration and basis for the "The Welcome Sign."
In school I was always interested in creative writing and was excited when we received new assignments to write something new and interesting. Having an interest in creative writing from an early age allowed me an outlet for writing about things that really interested me. I had written short stories for assignments but had never tackled anything quite like this. Writing a book someday was always something I had dreamed about if I found the right story. I've always had a fascination with mermaids and magical realms so when I started having the dreams about the sign, I began writing the main ideas down, put them in outline form and started creating characters, events, etc. As it evolved, it became a fun adventure story that I was eager to share with my family and others as I felt they would also enjoy reading it. A project that once seemed overwhelming and daunting was replaced with the joy of creating magical worlds, interesting characters, intrigue and battles between good and evil. It's fun to believe that my metal mermaid welcome sign might really have a magical origin story. You just never know. The Welcome Sign was written as the first book in a series of three. The second book is written but not published and the third book is still being developed and is in outline form.
How did you choose the title for your book? Did it come to you right away, before you started writing it, or did it come later?
Both the title of the book and concept of the story started as a result of receiving the metal mermaid welcome sign as a gift and from the dreams that followed. There was no doubt about the title of the book. I knew from the very beginning that the title would be The Welcome Sign.
Tell us about the cover design process. Did you have a basic idea of what your book cover would be like?
I had a basic concept of the cover. I wanted a mermaid Welcome Sign featured on a door since that was the basis of the plot for the book. My daughter expanded it from there. We discussed the concept and she made various versions of the artwork.
Who is your cover designer and how did you find him/her?
The cover design and concepts were inspired by artwork from my oldest daughter. I had a basic idea of what I wanted the cover to look like but my daughter expanded it from there. She is very talented with all sorts of art and I knew I wanted her work featured for the cover. The artists with Bookbaby, who published the book changed the artwork just slightly from my daughters original work to prevent any trademark issues from the original metal welcome sign design.
What has been the readers’ response to your cover?
People seem to really like the cover design and are impressed that it was inspired by my daughters artwork.
What tips would you give to authors who are looking for a cover designer?
I would recommend finding someone who's art you like. If it's a family member or friend that makes it more personable. If you don't have someone like that, then look at book covers in the genre you are writing in, look at similar art on line to see if something fits your vision and reach out to them directly if possible. I went through BookBaby publishing company and they have artists that work on the covers, so you can work closely with them to make your vision come alive.
Anything else you’d like to say about your book?
The Welcome Sign is a fun, magical story for young-middle teen readers who enjoy hidden worlds of enchantment, magical powers, interesting characters, strong friendships, adventure and imaginative and emotionally engaging stories. The Welcome Sign is a balance between personal growth and magical adventure. It is full of good versus evil, intrigue and action. This book will delight and entertain readers who enjoy unique and magical characters, secrets to be revealed and discovering amazing new places. The Welcome Sign aligns with readers expectations for middle-grade fantasy. I am working on finishing book three in The Welcome Sign series.
I look forward to your feedback and am happy to write back to you. Please check out my website: www.barbarajeanweber.com and I can also be reached at author@barbarajeanweber.com.
Thank you so much for taking the time to get to know me and more about The Welcome Sign. If you like fun, adventure stories with lots of action, this book will be a fun one to read.
