N. N. Light’s Book Heaven Love and Romance Book Festival

Calling all romance readers! It’s more than hearts and flowers at N. N. Light’s Book Heaven Love and Romance Book Festival. 42 romance books featured plus a chance to win one of the following:

Enter to win a $50 Amazon (US) or Barnes and Noble Gift Card
Enter to win a $50 Amazon (US) or Barnes and Noble Gift Card
Enter to win a $25 Amazon (US) or Barnes and Noble Gift Card
Enter to win a $15 Amazon (US) or Barnes and Noble Gift Card
Enter to win a $10 Amazon (US) or Barnes and Noble Gift Card

I’m thrilled to be a part of this event. My books, The Hotel LaBelle Series and Some Other Child, will be featured at https://www.nnlightsbookheaven.com/love-and-romance-book-festival on the following dates. Here are links to them to learn more about the stories:

February 7:  Legacy of Evil https://www.sharonbuchbinder.com/LegacyofEvil.html
February 15: Eye of the Eagle https://www.sharonbuchbinder.com/EyeoftheEagle.html
February 20: Some Other Child https://www.sharonbuchbinder.com/SomeOtherChild.html
February 27: The Haunting of Hotel La Belle https://www.sharonbuchbinder.com/TheHauntingofHotelLabelle.html

Wait until you read my romantic tip to enhance your love life. You won’t want to miss it! Bookmark this festival and tell your friends: https://www.nnlightsbookheaven.com/love-and-romance-book-festival

Have fun and good luck!  

 

Human Trafficking, Part IV: Resources

My final post for Human Trafficking Month provides you with a list of resources, should you decide to take action, whether as a reader, author, or citizen. This list is by no means exhaustive, however, I hope it gives you the opportunity to explore this issue in greater depth. SOME OTHER CHILD is a baby trafficking story, but as you've seen there are many facets to this terrifying issue.

Films  & Documentaries

·        Taken

·        Frozen River

·        Revenge

·        Human Trafficking

·        Slum Dog Millionaire

·        Trade

·        Sin Nombre (Without a Name)

·        Born into Brothels

·        Lilya 4-Ever

·        Selling of Innocents

·        National Geographic BORDER WARS (Cable)

A Small Sampling of Nonfiction Books

·        Disposable People: New Slavery in the Global Economy by Kevin Bales

·        Human Trafficking: A Global Perspective by Louise Shelley

·        The Slave Next Door: Human Trafficking and Slavery in America Today by Kevin Bales & Ron Soodalter

·        Not for Sale: The Return of the Global Slave Trade--and How We Can Fight It by David Batstone

·        Sex Trafficking: Inside the Business of Modern Slavery by Siddharth Kara

·        The Whistleblower: Sex Trafficking, Military Contractors, and One Woman's Fight for Justice by Kathryn Bolkovac

Online Resources

·        CIA World Fact Book

·        US State DepartmentTrafficking Report 2018

·        Health and Human Services

·        UNICEF Child Trafficking Handbook

·        World Health Organization: Organ Trafficking

·        Polaris Project

·        UNESCO and Human Trafficking

·        US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)

·        FBI HumanTrafficking

·        FBI InnocenceLost Project

·        Bureau of Justice Statistics

·        DHS-OSE Daily Human Trafficking and Smuggling Report

Comment below with your thoughts about human trafficking for an opportunity to win an ecopy of SOME OTHER CHILD.

NEW AUDIOBOOK: Some Other Child

One of my first novels, SOME OTHER CHILD, is now available in audiobook, narrated by the wonderful Jeffery Lynn Hutchins.

In this romantic suspense, one of the main characters is an unwed mother of twelve during World War II.  She goes into labor, is told her baby died in birth and that the child was buried in the hospital rose garden. In reality, the nurse in the delivery room saw the baby move and stole her. Crazy scenario? Unlikely event? Nope. Truth is stranger than fiction. 

Baby trafficking is not a new phenomenon. Some of the more horrific ones in recent history include the Cole babies between 1927 and 1963 and the butter box babies from the late 1920's to the 1940's. Katherine Cole of Miami, Florida, claimed to be a physician. Unwed mothers came to her and either aborted or delivered their babies, whom she then sold to adoptive parents. Children delivered and sold in this manner have no clue about their medical histories; many are still seeking their real parents.

The owners of the Ideal Maternity Home in Nova Scotia, Canada, a midwife and an unordained minister and missionary, offered discreet deliveries to couples and to unwed mothers. With no laws to constrain them, they conducted a brisk business of selling babies to families in the United States. Those deemed unmarketable, became butter boxbabies, so called because babies they could not sell were placed in boxes that milk and butter was delivered in, given minimal food and left to die. The infants were buried in butter boxes.

Babies continue to be a valuable commodity and many countries have an abundance of girl babies. More developed nations will pay big bucks for babies, and until recently, the notion that these infants were actually trafficked humans was not a topic for polite conversation. Colombia has been one of the biggest offending countries, with mothers being told to have their babies, then being informed they child died at birth--then sold to adoptive parents. Laws regarding out of country adoptions are changing and adoptive couples are more likely (one hopes) to ask if the baby's mother actually voluntarily gave her child up for adoption. The problem of documentation still remains an issue. Otherwise, that baby could be SOME OTHER CHILD.

Behind the Scenes of SOME OTHER CHILD

One of the funny things that happened as I wrote SOME OTHER CHILD was that I had to see if an idea for a particular scene in the book would work. The main character had a neck injury and was wearing a foam cervical collar. I wondered if she could float, even if knocked unconscious. After a couple of falls into a pool with a foam cervical collar (under $20 at your local durable medical equipment store), it became clear that wasn't working. She was going to drown.

My next thought was what about inflatable swim wear? After all, my son had a swim suit with Styrofoam inserts when he was a little guy. Did they make them for adults? Well, no, not exactly. But they did make....drum roll please....INFLATABLE BIKINI TOPS! However, they were found only in collections of vintage swim wear.

What to do, what to do? I looked in the pantry, rummaging for a snack to stimulate my muse, and spotted a box of Ziploc baggies... EUREKA!

I blew two quart size bags up (yes, I wanted to be big big big) and stuffed them into the top of my bathing suit. My family and friends laughing the whole time, I repeated the plunge and FLOATED! Ta da! Problem solved.

Ahhhh, the things we authors do for authenticity! Oh, and just in case, you can get your own inflatable safety device! Happy floating!

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