Callie Hayes is living a life of fear and disillusionment when she volunteers for a psychology experiment that promises to turn her life around. Frightened by the secrecy and evasion she encounters, she demands to be released from the program, only to be dropped suddenly into a terrifying alien world and into a perilous battle between good and evil. With limited resources and only a few cryptic words to guide her, Callie embarks on a life-changing journey.

Other Finalists for Allegorical Novel 2003:

• A SWORD FOR THE IMMERLAND KING by F.W. Faller {Discipleship Publications}
• COVENANT CHILD by Terri Blackstock {WestBow}

Augie Schuler is desperate for love, the kind “normal” families provide. When she meets Sunny Yamagata and her family, Augie knows she’s found what she’s looking for in spite of cultural differences. When the dark days of World War II and the Japanese internment camps tear them apart, they vow never to forget each other. Reunited years later, the two find themselves offering healing and hope as they triumph over the pain of their years apart.

Other Finalists for Contemporary Novel 2003:

• NOT A SPARROW FALLS by Linda Nichols {Bethany}
• WOMEN'S INTUITION by Lisa Samson {WaterBrook}

Erma Lee is on the run from an abusive husband, a mother who doesn’t care, and a soul-numbing factory job. She and her granddaughter, Cher, flee to the town of Wiregrass, Alabama, where Erma Lee forms an unlikely friendship with Miss Claudia, a wealthy, Southern matriarch who is hiding a few details about her own past. Life in Wiregrass is different, merciful, and promising—until the day Cher’s convict father arrives in town and all three women must come to terms with buried secrets.

Other Finalists for First Novel 2003:

• DAUGHTER OF CHINA by C. Hope Flinchbaugh {Bethany}
• YUCATAN DEEP by Tom Morrisey {Zondervan}

Three winners of a Time Lottery earn the chance to travel back into their alternate reality to relive one moment they’ve always wished they could change. But when one man murders a Time Lottery winner, then takes his place, another tries to collect life insurance on his wife who’s now in the past, and the police clamor to shut down the whole enterprise. Maybe it’s time for God to get involved. Or maybe He’s been in on this whole thing from the beginning.

Other Finalists for Futuristic Novel 2003:

• FIFTH MAN by John Olson & Randall Ingermanson {Bethany}
• ICE by Shane Johnson {WaterBrook}

Pastor Schumacher has risked everything to stand against the evils of Nazism, working closely with a small group of young people in his congregation to influence them toward righteousness amid very difficult circumstances. One of those young people is now Second Lieutenant Konrad Reichmann. On the Russian Front, he has discovered that reality bears no resemblance to the glory of the Third Reich. When the slaughter of innocents further disillusions him, Konrad embarks upon a bold and dangerous plan.

Other Finalists for International Historical Novel 2003:

• HALLELUJAH by J. Scott Featherstone {ACW}
• THE SHADOW WOMEN by Angela Hunt {Faithwords }

Candle in the Darkness is the story of a timid southern girl who finds her voice as she begins to tell the truth about the atrocities around her. A short stay in the North confirms her abolitionist views, but when she returns to the South she €nds herself torn between her home, a beloved suitor who doesn’t share her feelings, and the principles she knows are true.

Other Finalists for North American Historical Novel 2003:

• THE TENDER VINE by Kristen Heitzmann {Bethany}
• VIRGINIA AUTUMN by Sara Mitchell {WaterBrook}

Navy SEAL Sam “Cougar” Houston is in love with a spy. But it may be a short relationship, for the terrorists have chosen their next targets, and Darcy’s name is high on the list.

Other Finalists for Romance Novel 2003:

• SUMMER SHADOWS by Gayle Roper {Multnomah}
• THE HEALER by Dee Henderson {Multnomah}

In Saudi Arabia, two American missionaries are targeted by the infamous religious police—the Muttawa. The man is tortured and killed; his wife deported to the U.S. Compelled by the injustice of her plight, attorney Brad Carson files a civil rights suit against Saudi Arabia and the ruthless head of the Muttawa, gambling everything on the ability of his team to bring justice to one family, challenge the religious intolerance of a nation, and alter the course of international law.

Other Finalists for Suspense Novel 2003:

• CROWN OF THORNS by Sigmund Brouwer {Tyndale}
• THEY SHALL SEE GOD by Athol Dickson {Tyndale}

Sam and Judith knew that crossing the Great Basin in a prairie schooner would be risky, but would that decision cost them their son? With the promise of a new beginning beckoning from beyond the western horizon the trek develops into one of hardships and survival that is further complicated by savage weather, dangerous river crossings, water shortages, unique personalities among members of the wagon train and constant harassment by marauding Comanches.

Other Finalists for Western Novel 2003:

• LAST OF THE TEXAS CAMP by Stephen Bly {Broadman Holman}
• THE OUTLAW'S TWIN SISTER by Stephen Bly {Crossway}