The Jerry Jenkins Writers Guild announced the top three winners in its annual Operation First Novel content. The winners will be published by indie house Mountainview Books.
This year's winners are Linda Brooks Davis for Greater Still, about a young woman who dreams of being a teacher in 1905 Oklahoma; Clarice James for Double Header, about a female sports columnist who discovers she has a brother;
and Christy Brunke for Snow Out of Season, featuring two seemingly unconnected women struggling with unexpected pregnancies.
Jerry Jenkins has run Operation First Novel for ten years. This year marks the first time Mountainview will publish the winners. Mountainview, a small, family-owned publisher in Lancaster County, Penn., will publish all three in December in both paperback and electronic versions. The indie house, which publishes mostly Christian fiction, is a change from previous publishing partners Tyndale House and Worthy Publishing.
“Mountainview has been friends with Jerry Jenkins for many years,” said C.J. Darlington, founder of Mountainview and winner of the 2008 Operation First Novel contest. “We have wanted to work with him and our goals are in sync with his: to produce quality books with integrity. His mission has dovetailed with ours, so this is a great opportunity.”
Jenkins is the author of nearly 200 books, including the blockbuster Left Behind series of apocalyptic novels. He owned the Christian Writers Guild for 14 years before ending it in 2014, and is now owner of the Jerry Jenkins Writers Guild.
