The Anne Marie

Israel Parker and his wife Melanie

Getting to know Israel Parker
Israel Parker wrote The Anne Marie and has asked me to create the cover. On Friday night I read the first two chapters of this book to help me get a feel for the story. Since the book is not published yet I cannot share any of it with you but to say this, it's really good stuff!

Here is a snippet that Israel shares on the top of his blog: 
Newfoundlands are considered to be one of the most loyal breed of dogs. It is said that once one of the giant water-dogs bonds with a human, they can never bond with another. Atticus Stockton is a Newfoundland who loses his precious master in the sinking of a fishing boat off of Maine's rocky coast. Now alone, Atticus finds that he is unwanted, and as the big dog struggles to find a new home he is also plagued with the dreams from his once perfect world. Can he find a home, and if he does can he ever love another human again?

Israel has been in the Coast Guard for 12 years. Nine of those years he spent as a hellicopter rescue swimmer. He was stationed in New Orleans from 2004-2009. He actually postponed his wedding in Mobile AL on the weekend that Katrina hit so that he could jump on a helicopter and fly into that darkened city in the middle of the night and be a bit of light for the victims of that terrible tragedy.

Israel told me that his time as a swimmer changed his perspective on life. He said that it was during that time that he realized he wanted to live his own life to the fullest. I think that someday you may hear more from this author about his experiences in New Orleans as a rescue swimmer.

And speaking of rescue swimmers, Newfoundlands (our main character of The Anne Marie and our cover model) are known for their centuries of service rescuing people from drowning! 

As you can imagine, Israel was very moved by my own experiences with tragedy as told in my inspirational Growing Bolder Video