Lisa Harris and Lynne Gentry Interview

Q: Let me start with asking you to tell us a little bit about yourself.

LISA: Like most women, I juggle a lot of roles. Mom, wife, teacher, chauffer, writer. . .My husband and I have three beautiful children, and we’ve lived in southern Africa for almost fourteen years. We currently live in Mozambique and are involved in church planting and discipleship. We’ve been blessed to see a lot of the world and experience many different cultures, something I’m extremely thankful for.

LYNNE: I grew up on a Kansas dairy farm. I longed for grand adventures. I wanted to visit exotic places and meet famous people. Imaginary trips became my escape from rural isolation. In an instant, my mind could magically transform a tree house into a medieval castle, hay bales into a pioneer fort, or a dank root cellar into a time portal that could transport me into the ancient civilizations of the Bible. In my make-believe world, I was bold, brave, and beautiful. The heroes were handsome and romantic. Humanity’s fate hung in the balance. Good always triumphed over evil. And in the end, I left the past in far better shape than I found it. Outlandish journeys still feed my creative soul. I love to explore Roman baths or traipse through old English castles. My mind goes crazy imagining myself living in different eras. The stories I write launch modern women into unexpected adventures. If you long to step away from the ordinary, open my books and come away with me.

Q: When did you first realize you wanted to be a writer?

LISA: My mother always tells me that I was dictating stories to her before I could even read or write. When I was in junior high I started handwriting stories, though I never finished anything. They were typically mystery novels like Nancy Drew, Gothic Romances, and even one I remember about a young girl in Europe in WWII. But it wasn’t until I was in my late twenties that I finally took the time to sit down and write a complete novel.

LYNNE: I have always been a storyteller. Fifteen years ago, Lisa challenged me to apply my theatrical writing to novel writing…and, the rest is history, as they say.

Q: Could you give us the highlights of your professional writing career including how you got your first writing break?

LISA: I had been writing about six years when I received a call from Tyndale that they were going to buy one of my novellas for a Christmas collection. I was in Chicago at the time and will never forget that call. Not long after that, I started writing for Barbour’s Heartsong line. I learned so much about both writing and the publishing business during these years and will always be grateful for those who helped me get my start there. A few years later, my agent sold a romantic suspense series set in Africa to Zondervan. I currently write for both Love Inspired Suspense—international settings—and am working on my eighth book for Revell.
Several highlights over the years have been winning Romantic Times Suspense book of the year twice and being nominated for a Christy award three times–winning once with Dangerous Passage.

LYNNE: I started out writing articles for magazines like Christian Woman. After that I spent twenty years writing skits, plays, and musicals. I also did some ghost writing and had some short stories published by Guidepost, HCI Books, Howard, and Worthy. In 2005 I attended my first writing conference. From there I met my agents, one of which eventually sold my first book (a romantic comedy to Tyndale) in 2011. After that, I sold a five book time travel/sci-fi series to Simon & Schuster. Those books started releasing in 2014. Since then, I’ve written this medical thriller with Lisa and a whole series based on my first romantic comedy. I hope to release another time travel series the first of next year.

Q: Would you tell us about your current book release GHOST HEART?

A brutal murder convinces surgeon Mia Kendall there’s more than she imagined to the mysterious spike in heart transplant rejections. Determined to find answers before she loses another patient, Mia gets sucked into a dangerous international medical web. With time running out for her youngest transplant recipient, Mia is forced to partner with a disillusioned ex-military pilot who flies brokered organs across East Africa. But searching for the truth will prove costly for the unlikely duo racing to stop a madman before he annihilates a rare and cursed bloodline.

Q: Where did you get your inspiration for GHOST HEART?
LYNNE: Just over a decade ago, a newspaper article featured a picture of a terrified albino. The fear in his pale eyes caught my attention. As I read about the horrors these fragile people faced in Africa, I couldn’t believe such evil existed in the world. I wrote Lisa, who lives in Mozambique, and asked her to investigate.

LISA: Until Lynne shared what she’d read, I’d never heard of these barbaric crimes. But after doing some further research, I discovered that the atrocities against albinos had been going on for years. Once we learned that the witch doctors targeted the pale skin and hair of this minority to make good luck charms and potions, we knew we had to tell their story.
Q: What is the main thing you hope readers remember from this story?
LYNNE: Beneath the color of our skin we are all alike. Because my novels always speak to the intrinsic worth of each of us, I long for the day we can all learn to look past outward appearances.
LISA: In most of my suspense novels, I turn to real life events that affect our world today. In highlighting things—like the issues facing albinos today, I hope that people will step up and get involved in their own communities and make a difference.

Q: What inspires you to write?

LISA: I’m inspired to write books where the good guy wins, where justice is carried out, and where God’s light shines even in the darkest of places.

LYNNE: Story ideas always come to me from reading books or listening to someone’s story. Most of the time, I can see the story in my head immediately. From there, I then decide what genre would be best suited to water this seed until it grows into an extraordinary tale.

Q: Would you share with us what you are working on now?

LISA: I’m currently working on two books. A LIS set in Brazil—Rio and the Amazon—and my eighth novel with Revell that will come out next year.

LYNNE: I’m finishing up the last book in my Mt. Hope Southern Adventures series. This romantic comedy (Baby Shoes) wraps up (for now) the quirky life of Leona Harper. After that, I’m doing edits on a Young Adult sci-fi I can’t wait to release.

Q: When you’re not writing what do you like to do?

LISA: I love hanging out with my family, cooking different ethnic dishes, photography, and heading into the African bush on safari.

LYNNE: I love spending time with my growing family, trying to keep some plants alive, and watching my medical therapy dog make people in the cancer wards smile.