ReadersMagnet features Gina Venable, author of the 2020 spiritual-fiction novel Closer to Home.

Gina Venable is among the participants of this year’s The Festival of Storytellers. TFOS 2020 is ReadersMagnet’s first-ever virtual book fair. Today, we will get to know more about the author of the book Closer to Home.

Venable: Childhood and Career

Gina Venable is from Northwest Indiana and is a born and bred Hoosier. A small house in a small Indiana town serves as Gina’s home. It is peaceful and quiet and is a haven for the wildlife that takes shelter in the woods behind the house. As a nature and animal lover, Gina firmly believes that all living creatures are God’s creations. Each of these living things has a spirit and should be treated with kindness and respect. Gina Venable’s love of nature and animals and her spirituality reflects in her literary work. But it would only be after her retirement that she would pursue writing a book.

For thirty-four years, Gina Venable has dedicated her life as a mental and health therapist. In all her years of service, she has seen many things. Most of them have made her realize that the world is a walk in the park or a ready-made paradise. There is too much chaos and strife that it makes her long for peace and serenity. Gina also realizes that she cannot change the world around her, but she can envision an ideal world that she can make possible in her writing. After hanging the proverbial hero’s cape and retiring from mental health services, Gina decided to embark on a new adventure and finally pursue writing her first book- Closer to Home.

Book and Other Recent Projects

In 2020, Gina Venable published her major literary work, Closer to Home. It is a spiritual-adventure fiction novel that centers on a remorseful God wanting to undo his mistakes with the help of two unlikely accomplices.

“Closer to Home is a story about a woman, Kat, and a man, Sam, who have both endured near-fatal accidents. They are both in surgery and hovering somewhere between life and death when the story begins. Kat faces what she thinks will be her last judgment only to find out she’s been placed in a situation where she either accomplishes four missions for a mysterious higher power or face an eternity in limbo. The missions are to reverse four mistakes made by the higher power who can’t reverse them Himself because of His image of perfection. Sam joins her and if the missions are successful, the end results will revolutionize politics, social welfare, social and racial justice and nearly deplete homelessness and juvenile violence.”

The book has caught the interest of many readers and fellow authors, especially after Gina Venable participated in Readers’sMagnet’s first-ever virtual book fair. The Festival of Storytellers featured Venable’s Closer to Home along with other established and independent authors.

Aside from spending time with her writing and promoting her book, Gina also dedicates her time and energy an AmeriCorps Service Member. She works at a local food bank, assisting in programs that distribute food to local communities. The spirit of service is very much alive in Gina even after she retires from clinical practice.

As for other interests, Gina is also a loyal Chicago Cubs fan. Her mother was a huge Cubs fan. When Gina’s mother passed away, she picked up the torch and continued to cheer for her favorite baseball team.

Gina Vanable hopes that readers have enjoyed her first book. Currently, she is writing the sequel to Closer to Home and cannot wait to share it with fans.

You can visit her official website today to know more about author Gina Venable and her book, Closer to Home.