Illinois Authors

CreateSpace 2015

Prison is not the usual place to discover love, forgiveness and the grace of God. But that’s where Hunter Lowe finds it. Because He Cares, Revised, is the story of Hunter’s spiritual battle as God works in his life before, during, and after five years in prison. Walk with Hunter through his idyllic high school years, into a modeling career with hopes for acting. Fall with him into a moral defeat that takes him to prison. Stand with Hunter as he travels through his darkest hours including a vicious beating that ends any career that depends on good looks. Watch how he recovers into a new life with the help of family and friends, a new cellmate and an NFL player. Share the victories of Hunter’s soul from prison to being happily married and a respected person in his community. Because He Cares, Revised, comes out of one of America’s serious contemporary issues through suspense, a touch of violence, romance, forgiveness, failures, and victories. Hunter’s journey to Christ is the same we all must take, in prison or not.

Independently Published 2020

Raised by a single mother with hatred for a father living out his life in a super max security prison, JT struggles to find his way through life as a young boy in a small town in Illinois. With an arrogant, selfish, vile attitude and mouth, JT barely squeaked through high school. He needed his one and only friend, Caleb Shepherd, to help him maintain a C average just to stay on the football team for his senior year. After graduation, on a wilderness canoe trip in the Border Water Canoe Area (BWCA), JT witnessed an accident that for the first time in his life brought him to feel sorry for someone else. Upon returning home after the canoe trip, JT is invited to visit his despised father in prison. Does finishing high school, playing football, the canoe accident, and the visit to see his dad have any effect on JT’s arrogant, selfish, vile attitude and mouth?

CreateSpace Princeton, IL : 2012

After conquering wilderness and mental challenges on a canoe trip in the Minnesota/Canadian boundary waters area, Jason returns home to another crisis in his young life. Going off to college he discovers that the temptations in high school were small challenges compared to those he faces in college. The time comes when Jason finds himself in the same trap his father did. Will his early promises hold, or does the new generation morality justify such liberties? When Jason suffers a crippling injury and the death of someone close, can he keep the enthusiastic Greene spirit alive? Is there anything JT can teach him? And will law school bring disaster to his life? This is the second book in the Jason Trilogy. “The Jason’s Promise series is tantalizing. The dialogue is natural. Testimony clear. … I will pray for its impact.” Dr. David L. Larsen. Former senior pastor of First Covenant Church, Minneapolis, Minnesota.

CreateSpace Princeton, IL : 2013

The promises twelve-year-old Jason Greene made to his father on that canoe trip fourteen years ago were hard to keep as he grew up. In high school the promises kept him in moral check. In college they were more difficult to live up to. Jason’s life has always been an emotional rollercoaster full of unexpected and surprising events. Jason’s Promise III, Fulfilled, continues to push the emotional ride to both extremes. Is it still vital for Jason to keep those promises now that he is in law practice and politics? When pressures and opportunities to conform to the world grow heavier as he attains high political office, are those old promises still important? Does Jason ever wonder why he made those promises? “This series is so close to reality it makes the reader wonder if it is really fiction.” “The flow of your book is very good. Your book is enjoyable and worthy reading.” Rev. Jamie Morrison Executive Publisher – Books By The Bundle

CreateSpace Princeton, IL : 2012

In front of a campfire in the boundary water canoe area of Minnesota, Marc Greene confesses his past sins to Jason, his twelve-year-old son. In the innocence of youth, Jason promises he will avoid the sins of his father. Marc warns him that the heavy promises he makes now will be difficult to keep in the tough years to come. Just a year later Marc is killed in a helicopter accident and Jason is forced to rebuild his life without his Christian dad in the fragile years of adolescence. Is Jason able to keep the promises he made to his dad at age twelve when he comes up against temptations in high school and college? You probably don’t know a kid like Jason Greene, but he exists somewhere beyond this story. You’ll come to love Jason; can’t help it. It’s a heartwarming and easy to read story with conflicts, failures, and victories. “Just a pleasant and touching book.” You’ll cry and laugh through Jason’s Promise – enjoy. Jason’s Promise is a good book for any young person struggling with a major life crisis (parents’ divorce; death of a parent or sibling; natural disaster etcetera). Roy Swanberg has an unusual ability to write to the pre-teen and teenage readers’ ability to relate to and understand situations and circumstances beyond what that age group normally experiences. This book can be helpful, empowering and encouraging to a youngster in need of compassion and understanding. Tom Ziglar, proud son of Zig Ziglar

CreateSpace 2018

After high school graduation, Jason and three friends canoed the Vern River in northern Minnesota. One of his friends nearly died on that expedition. Now, twenty-seven years later, six sons of Jason and his friends return to the Vern River to claim their own victory over the wilderness. Had the Vern River changed? Did the newbies find the river easy, or had modern lifestyle made the river more challenging? Do members of the Presidential Secret Service go on a wilderness canoe trip just because the sons of the president want to? Starting in the family quarters of The White House and ending in a hospital in Duluth, Minnesota, Sons of Jason, Return to the Vern River, could make or break anyone’s plans for a canoe trip in Minnesota.

CreateSpace 2017

“The crowd is shouting that you’re the Christ! If that’s so, save yourself and us too!” In suffocating gulps of his final breath, the other thief shouted, “Shut up, David. You a disgrace to your good name. Me and you are nailed here because we deserve it. This man done nothing wrong.” A moment later. “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” “Gustavo, listen to me…” “How’d you know my name?” “Listen to me. This very day you will be with me in paradise.” Who were these two other young men on the crosses? What were their lives like? What brought them to their deaths next to Jesus? Why was one thief and murderer sympathetic to Jesus in the last minutes of his life and the other demanding? Where did Barabbas fit into this story? Endorsement Written through the eyes of the two thieves crucified next to Jesus, we see how two men were brought to a decision about Jesus at the end of their troubled lives. There are points to ponder and profound new insights that can be gained from no other people in Jesus’ day. Well-researched and accurate in detail, you will indeed find much to consider in this excellent new book, The Other Two Crosses. Dr. Walter Elwell: Emeritus Professor of New Testament Wheaton College Graduate School, Wheaton, Illinois

Independently Published 2023

In the first week of October of my eighty-third year, I hit the wall – the bear got me – my lights went out – when borrowed time began. My life changed like throwing a switch. I didn’t see it coming. New thoughts and difficult ideas began to occupy my thinking. Frustrations and even some fears played on my mind. Restrictions of body, health issues, and resources, had brought me into a new lifestyle. What health issues would I face in that borrowed future? The list was frightening. How often did I say, “Plenty of time to talk about that later”? No, I no longer had “plenty of time.” A new challenge I’m working on is acceptance of being in my eighties and knowing I am not walking this path alone. What is lifelike up here in the stratosphere of ages? Do hope, creativity, and humor remain? Among all the setbacks, weariness, and lost incentives, are there still joys and blessings? What can I write that will help others? After I finished venting my soul, I put questions to many men and women, also octogenarians, and surprisingly learned the same things. When Borrowed Time Begins, with all its complaints, problems, frustrations, and blessings, is my journey – it could be yours. Read and be encouraged.

CreateSpace 2016

Upon retirement many people feel the desire to write with a passion, but often come up to a brick wall, like, “Roy, you have to write fast -- you don’t have much time.” That was shocking advice from a mentor in a writers’ course. In the following years I discovered what he meant. In retirement, urgent is a word to deal with. It takes time, education, and solitude, getting to meet a new brand of people, and facing rejection, rejection, rejection. I started my race among a field of accomplished authors when I was sixty-five. I had to learn all aspects of composition, publication, and marketing. I went from that wicker chair on the porch to a desk with a computer. Writing in Retirement presents some difficulties a new writer faces, but also exciting rewards and new beginnings. Is it really so different? It’s really different! I invite you to an exciting project few others have stepped into. This is my journey into Writing in Retirement. I hope it helps you. xxx Roy Swanberg’s attitude is, the older you get, the more you have to write about. In this book, he shows folks how to capitalize on those life experiences. Dr. Dennis E. Hensley Author, Pseudonym