As Iron Sharpens Iron
Time Will Tell Series, Book 1
“Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend.”
Proverbs 27:17
Kansas Territory, 1854.
Originally from Boston, Nathaniel and Carrie Morren have spent the last eight years in Colorado watching their parents use their fortune to build a town from the ground up. After a tragic accident takes their parents’ lives and leaves them and their friend Enoch Slater alone and destitute, the three teens work together to carve out a livelihood from the ground up and show the townsfolk that not all riches are weighed in gold.
When a mysterious package arrives, placing them in the sights of dangerous outlaws, they are forced to rely on one another and to reach beyond their pride for help to uncover the secrets that their parents left behind.
Publishing Timeline
This represents where I am at in the process currently. Keep an eye out for changes in that little blue bar, because things should be moving forward at a steady clip!
Nat froze, his eyes riveted on the barrel of a pistol hovering just out of reach in front of his face. A glance to the side showed another, directed at Carrie. He let his eyes slide shut, hoping the mirage would disappear and saying a prayer for strength if it didn’t. Opened them again: nope, still there. He straightened slowly, raising his head until his gaze was level with that of the owner of the gun. His hand twitched toward his own weapon, even as his mind shouted that the idea was foolish, but the slight motion was spotted.
Excerpt from ‘As Iron Sharpens Iron,’ by Abigail Timm © 2024
“Don’t even think it, Morren, or neither you nor your sister will see tomorrow.”
Nat clenched his teeth, biting back a response that could make Carrie’s position worse. Of course, she was the only reason the threat was effective to begin with. Where was Enoch? The sound of that first shot flashed through his mind again, sending a wave of sickening dread over him.
“Alright, Lawson. You’ve got the drop on me.” He kept his tone even, hoping none of his thoughts were betrayed by his face. “What do you want?”
“The deeds.” A strange light came into Lawson’s eye. Greed? Madness? “Where are they?”
You know those old boys’ adventure books from the late 1800s and the early 1900s? I loved those as a kid.
As Iron Sharpens Iron began as a throwback to that style of writing. Did I nail it? No, it took on my personal voice as I went along. It also became the first in a series . . . which became the first in a series of series.
I have two main goals in all of my books: to show the biblical values I hold in action, and to encourage others to seek the truth and follow through with their beliefs no matter how tough life gets.
Nat and Enoch’s friendship being closer than brothers reflects how much I value loyalty, which is probably the most consistent theme throughout my writing.
I set this tale in 1854 because I chose the time period for the next book first. 😅 This one is perhaps less historically accurate than succeeding books will be because I developed the plot for this book last of all of them, but already had some key aspects written that I just couldn’t ditch for the sake of historicity. I chose Colorado as the setting (Kansas Territory at the time) because I wanted mountains . . . and then didn’t set it close enough to them for them to have any significance in the story. Go figure.
