2 new novels penned by Toledo-area authors

12/8/2012

Two recently published novels with religious themes, written by Toledo-area authors, are in the marketplace now.

His Choice: A Family's Struggle During Genocide, by the mother-daughter team of Angel Nalbandian Rossi and Susan Parks, is a fictionalized account of the family struggle of Armenian artist Paul Kerbajian and his four daughters (one of whom is Angel Nalbandian Rossi's mother) during the Turkish/Armenian, Islamic/Christian differences most pronounced in the World War I-era actions by Turkey that Armenians and others call an act of genocide. Ms. Parks, who is a lecturer in literacy education at the University of Toledo and lives in Holland, said she and her mother “wrote together. It was probably one of the most rewarding experiences that we have had as a mother and a daughter.” Ms. Parks will be signing copies of the novel, self-published through the Christian publisher Westbow Press, at the Volunteers in Parks Holiday Cafe and Craft Show at Metroparks Hall in Wildwood Preserve Metropark, 5100 W. Central Ave., today from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

The Rev. David J. Claasen, longtime minister of the Mayfair-Plymouth Congregational Church in Toledo, self-published his second novel, Moon's Mercy, through Amazon.com, where it is available in paperback and as an ebook. Moon's Mercy is a science fiction allegory of “a creator attempting to rescue his creation,” said the Pastor Claasen, who lives in Temperance. “Jesus told parables and this is a very long parable. There's a message behind it but first I hope people just enjoy it as a fun read,” Pastor Claasen said. It's the story of Joshua Christopher and highly intelligent dolphin-android hybrids living on the moon, led by the prototype “dolphdroid” named Adam. J.C. And Adam work together to save the dolphdroids from annihilation.