October, 2025

Dear Friends, We could use some advice. It has come to our attention that the audio versions of our books are a bit lifeless because they are read by robots. Clever, literate robots, of course, but they really don’t understand the stories. For those of you who listen to audible books, how would you like it if I read my books to you? The readings would not be perfect: Perhaps I would stumble over a word and have to repeat the sentence, or I might have to sneeze! Could you imagine me in your home, reading to you while you put together a puzzle or knit? Could I be the passenger in your car while you drive to work?

Floyd tells me that making an audio book is a lot of work, and editing is the biggest part of that work. If we could minimize the editing and simply enjoy the story, I love reading my stories to people. I have been reading my stories aloud since I entertained my sisters when I was in high school. We would really like your opinion on this, before we jump into such a large project. You can give me your input at this email address. I’ll acknowledge your answer.

In other news, we had a wonderful September. Floyd was asked to speak at the church retreat of the church that sent us to Austria 45 years ago. They were our greatest supporters – financially, writing letters, and encouraging us, especially in those early years. It was such a treat to spend time with them. We have gotten older (!) but we still have so much in common. One lady continues to tell her friends and neighbors about Jesus by inviting them to an old fashioned “Sing.” She plays the piano, taking them from Oldies to Hymns, and then serves cookies.

We also were invited to just be campers at the Church Family Retreat, where our son, Erich is the pastor. It was lovely to see the dozens of children and catch up on everyone’s latest news. The special speaker blessed our lives with two sermons from Psalms 11 & 12, and he gave us new food for thought in our life here in Montana. More on that in another newsletter, when we have figured things out a bit more.

Speaking of Montana, my next contemporary novel is about a young woman who leaves her beachfront home to deal with an inherited homestead in Montana. Much culture shock and coping with rattlesnakes (which we have not done yet), fires, and grumpy neighbors. There is also a surprise, but I won’t tell you about that yet. I have written 9 chapters, which means I only have 21 left to write!

The weather has cooled down, and our garden is looking a bit bedraggled, but I will keep things outside as long as possible. I suspect our first frost and first freeze with be toward the end of this month. Floyd bought me an electric canner, and I am going to learn how to can tomatoes.

One of the reasons we moved to a treeless hill in Montana was so that we could look at the stars. We still have not learned how to use the telescope we acquired years ago, but when I take our dog out early in the morning, the stars are magnificent! Orion, the Pleiades, and we can see the Milky Way. The heavens are, indeed, declaring the glory of God. I was wondering how mankind discovered that the North Star never moves. . ..

Since I began writing this letter, we have discovered that Amazon has closed our account. We don’t know why, and everything we have researched tells us that we will never know why. Floyd is busily re-formatting all of our books for another Print-on-Demand company. I know this sounds weird, but we would like to ask you not to buy any of our books on Amazon. They are still selling them, but we don’t know if we will be paid or not. When we send out our next newsletter, we wlll give you all the information you need to purchase our books at the new company. Everything will also be on our website, just as soon as we are ready.

Well, it’s been nice chatting with you. I look forward to hearing your input on us making our own audio books. Thank you for reading and giving some thought to this possible next venture.

Fondly, Christine

The Bible Compass

Back to Back Issues Page