My Books

All of my books are available for purchase on Amazon and Kindle.

Click the link below to see my books on Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_2?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=Sandra+Julian+Barker 

I also have books on hand if you wish to purchase 

at a lower price directly from me.

      This book was published in October, 2023, the cover painting is by Susanna Katherine Staley - thank you so much for letting me use your beautiful artwork, Susanna!

The ten short stories in the book each have different scenarios featuring people going about their everyday lives when boom!  The Rapture happens and their world is turned upside down.  In a few of the stories, the characters are Christian believers and we see them caught up to Jesus and their amazing first-hand experiences of Heaven.  In other cases, the unbelievers that are left behind go through a variety of frightening, confusing experiences on the day that millions of people disappear.  One reader wrote, "It was impossible to start reading a story and not finish it."  Another reader said she cried through every story -- which is a real compliment to an author!  That same person said, "You knocked it out of the park with this one!"  

     Along with the fiction short stories, there are chapters of fact-based information about the times surrounding the upcoming Rapture.  One chapter tells about the War of Gog and Magog written about in Ezekiel 38-39.  Another chapter is entitled, "What's the Deal with UFOs?"  There are seven fact-based chapters.

      Thank you to each person who reads this book!  I hope you will be blessed as you read  about an exciting upcoming event in the history of the world -- an event that changes the world forever!  Reviews are greatly appreciated!      Link to book:  Amazon - The Rapture

Rainbows & Raindrops -- Celebrating Grace

              The blurb for this book published in May 2023 reads:  "This book praises God and celebrates the amazing grace He bestows on all of us every day. Stories of people, places and things, and truths throughout the Bible all offer us pictures illustrating God's grace to us in beautiful ways.

            God is in control of every raindrop and every ray of sunshine and gives us assurance that there is a plan and purpose - and grace for every need.
         Like a stunning rainbow spread across the blue sky after a rain storm, God's grace can spread beauty in the midst of tears.

               The author's beautiful photography further illustrates each chapter to complement the message and offer visual pictures of grace."

                The photo of the rainbow on the cover was taken at the Outer Banks, North Carolina, after a short rainfall.  I was so excited to see this beautiful rainbow rising out of the ocean!

More Joy in the Journey -- a 40-day Devotional

More Joy in the Journey encourages finding joy in the ordinary, mundane things of life - and being aware of God's presence all around us.  I've written the book as a 40-day devotional that will help encourage the reader to see things in the world around us from heaven's view.

Here's what Sarah Young wrote on the subject in her book Jesus Calling.  She writes as if Jesus is speaking these words to us:  "I speak to you continually: through sights, sounds, thoughts, impressions, Scripture.  There is no limit to the variety of ways I can communicate with you.  Your part is to be attentive to My messages, in whatever form they come. When you set out to find Me in a day, you discover that the world is vibrantly alive with My Presence."

This is a book I've been working on - a little here, a little there - for about three years.  I chose a picture I'd taken in Zurich, Switzerland for the cover because it's one of those cobblestone roads through an old city that is so intriguing and just seems to draw you into the scene.  Because this book is full of pictures that are part of the story, I've chosen to make it all in color.  I've also included a couple of questions at the end of each day's devotional to help make it more personal.  I hope you are blessed by the messages in the book and that you will feel the joy of God's presence each day of your life.

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SALVATION BOOKLET

I just published a booklet you might find helpful to share with those who are seeking to find out more about how to be saved.  Lately, I've had a burden for the lost and felt led to create this 40-page booklet with not only the plan of salvation, but also stories about people who were saved, and questions an unbeliever might ask -- like, what does "being born again" mean?

    Here is the Table of Contents:

   Introduction  /  One:  The Gift of Eternal Life in a Nutshell

Two:  What’s Stopping You? /   Three:  Unsure?

Four:  Born Again?  What’s That About?  /  Five:  Relationship Trumps Religion

Six:  How it All Began – Sin  /  Seven:  God’s Answer to Sin – Salvation

Eight:    The Joy of Jesus – Truth to Set you Free

Nine:  Know that you Know  /  Ten:  Conclusion

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Here is volume two of the Ordinary Women -- Extraordinary God series.  It came out in March, 2020, just in time for the corona virus pandemic.  Oh, well, hopefully the people who were able to get a copy were comforted by the stories.  The book contains stories of 16 women, who shared their heart about struggles, tragedies, and/or loss, and how God helped them get through it all.  Three of the stories are from my own family's tragedy of the murder of my brother and his wife.  There is also a section of messages tailored to the needs of women.  I pray God will use this book as a blessing in your life.

I love the sunflowers on the cover.  The picture was taken by me in Haarlem, Netherlands, at a flower shop in front of the historic Haarlem train station.  

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Ivory & Ice

My first published book (June 2013).  It was so exciting to finally hold a printed copy of a book I'd written in my hands!  I'd waited for 15 years to see this one in print.  It was actually the last of six novels I'd written during about a seven year period from 25-30 years ago.  This is the only book that I had someone else format and load up for publication for me (at quite a cost!).  It was a learning process.

I took dozens and dozens of pictures to get just the right angle of the necklace and rocks for the cover.  I'm happy with the way it turned out.  The ivory disk with one notch is an important element in the story - for both Jaen and Beth.

I love the story of ancient Jaen, who lived 6,000 years ago, following her on her journey across the mountain to meet the man she loves.  And then, modern-day Beth with all her angst and insecurities, following her on her journey of self-discovery.  I'm always amazed when I read the book and think that I wrote it.  I'm humbled and honored that God used me to tell this story. 

The author photo on the back was taken in Manteo, NC, by my dear sister-in-law Trish during one of our family weekends on the Outer Banks.  

I hope you enjoy reading this book as much as I enjoyed bringing these characters to life.  All of my books are available through Amazon, both in print and ebook.

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The House

The second book I published was a bit of trial and error in the formatting and the loading up as an ebook on Kindle.  I wanted to see if I could do it and I could - yay!  It's really more of a long short story -- at nearly 13,000 words, I call it a "Novelette."  It's a bit of a horror story -- not supernatural, but rather natural in a scary way.  I can't tell you what the terrifying part is about because that would give away the suspenseful ending, but for some people, it might be more the stuff of nightmares than the book that comes next in this list.

The story is about a family who moves to Florida after their house burned down in New Jersey and they want a fresh start.  They are able to rent this beautiful house for a surprisingly small amount of money.  Wonder why?  Soon, things start happening and the mystery begins, with a heart-pounding conclusion.

I snapped this picture of Spanish moss dripping from a tree in South Carolina.

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The Stuff of Nightmares - a collection of short stories

The short stories in this book were written over a number of years.  I brought them together in a collection of eclectic stories, some a bit scary, some horrifying in the reality that such things can really happen, and some thought-provoking.  One reader wrote, "Will this collection give you nightmares?  Perhaps.  Will it give you something to think about?   Without a doubt."

The stories in this book either have a Christian theme, or have an author's note at the end with a Christian spin to the story.  A couple of the stories have been published in magazines.  One of them, Always Remember, won first place in a short story writing contest and was later nominated for Best Ghost Story of the Year by a magazine editor.

The picture of a crescent moon on the cover was taken by me one evening in Lexington, South Carolina, after a family reunion.  The sky was a beautiful blue and I love the way the picture turned out.

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The Frenchman

This is the first of the published novels that I wrote, and also the longest.  I wrote it as my imagined version of the life of my ancestor, Rene de St. Julien.  Rene was a French Huguenot who fled France in the late 1600s when Louis XIV was forcing protestants to convert to Catholicism, or they would be imprisoned or even killed.  It's a story that begins when Rene was orphaned at the age of twelve years old.  We follow him on his journey from the countryside of Brittany to Paris and later to Holland, England and finally America.  With a few bits of historical data, I have spun a story that I hope captures the spirit of the times in which he lived and the very real struggles of the French Huguenots.

The cover photo was taken in a small chapel we visited on the Island of Orkney in Britain.  The wrought iron cross was made by a man during WWII.  I think its a beautiful piece to represent Rene's struggle for religious freedom.  The author photo on the back cover was taken by my husband Larry in the doorway of an ancient building in Melk, Austria, a small, charming town where we stayed for three nights.

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Deadly Masquerade

I wrote this book when my daughter Sara was still in high school.  One of the main characters is named after her, looks like her and is even a school teacher like her.  I'm still amazed that the plot came together like it did.  It's so interesting - as I'm writing a book, the characters sometimes lead the story into different directions.  It's as if they take on a life of their own.  I suppose you'd call the book a suspense as we follow Sara and Margaret through a series of dangerous events that lead to a surprising climax.

I love the way the cover picture came together too.  It's one of my favorite covers because I think it looks really professional and I love the mystery of the masks.  My daughter Holly purchased these two masks on sale after Christmas and when I saw them, I said, that's it - that's what I need for my cover!  I moved them this way and that way on a background of purple and this one made the cut.
I hope you enjoy reading the story!

The author photo on the back cover was taken in a little town called Hungerford, just above the city of Innsbruck in Austria. We rode a funicular up into the mountains and enjoyed great views of the city below.  Larry snapped the photo of me at an ancient water fountain.

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The Formula

This is another book I wrote around the time of the previous book.  They're of somewhat similar genres, but the plots are very different.  This book features Holly, named after my other daughter and with her appearance.  The story is a bit more "out there," but not too much considering technology these days.  There is danger and death and romance and all sorts of goings on as Holly tries to clear her sister's name and discover how she died.

This cover was the most challenging as I was trying to decide what to use to represent the story.  I always wanted to do something that was Formula oriented.  I remembered a display at the Children's Museum in Portsmouth that has a wall of glass with bubbles constantly flowing upward in tiny tubes The bubbles swiftly change color from green to yellow to pink and white.  One time when I took my granddaughter to the museum, I took about a dozen photos of the bubbly window, always trying to capture the one second of green zipping through the water.  I'm pleased with the results and feel like it looks like the formula described in the book.

The author photo on the back cover was taken by my husband near the Yukon border in Alaska during a port call to Skagway.  It was pretty cold up in those mountains even though it was the second week in June, but it was also very beautiful.

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A Trip to the Zoo

My first attempt at a children's book and I'm so pleased with the print copy (published February 2015).  The ebook has a space at the top and bottom of the page that I couldn't get fixed, but otherwise it's okay.  I love the print copy though and am so pleased with how well the photos show up.  It's 40 pages and is filled with great pictures of animals from six different zoos.  It includes interactive questions for children to answer that will help them learn both about themselves and the animals.

I had to get permission from each of the zoos in order to use the photos that I had taken at their zoos.  Six zoos were enthusiastic about the project and two zoos said I would have to pay them money to use my photos in a book.  Needless to say, I scrapped those pictures (regretfully - 'cause they were really good pictures!).  It took me longer to figure out how to get the photos formatted correctly to publish than it did to write the book.  There was a lot of trial and error, but I finally got it and viola!

I thank my sister Ava for the idea of this book.  Before Christmas the previous year, she was looking for a book like this to give to her grandson and couldn't find one after looking numerous places.  Ideas started popping into my mind and the book was born.  Thanks, Ava!

You probably recognize the cover photo as being a close-up of a Bongo's hide.  I love the markings on that animal and was pleased with the way it shows up on the page. 

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Joy in the Journey - 

A Traveler's Tale with a Twist

This book was published in April 2016 and is available in both black and white print, ebook with color pictures, and a color print edition (which is unfortunately, a bit pricey, but worth it!).

The book contains 44 color photos that either I or my husband Larry have taken along the way. Each picture is used as inspiration for a message from God.  God has created a map for each of our lives, with a path for each of us to follow.  Along the way He offers messages from nature, from things we come across and from experiences we have.  The book is about these wonderful messages from our great and personal Father, who loves to share beauty, meaning, and laughter with us along our journey through life.  

"For the earth is the Lord's and all its fullness," the Bible tells us.  Check out some of this wonderful earth the Lord created for us - and experience extra joy in your journey along the way with this book.

The cover picture features three "travel" items -- my baby shoe, which I learned to walk in, my passport which gets me into many countries, and a small Bible which was given to my husband Larry when he was a young man just going into the Navy and across the ocean to Japan.

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Ordinary Women -- Extraordinary God

Published November 11, 2015, This was my first non-fiction inspirational book.

        I started this book a little over two years before its completion.  It was a thought planted into my head by the Lord, I'm sure, because during these two years, I stopped and started up again on the writing - always feeling the tug of the Holy Spirit when to move forward.  It was truly a labor of love.  I also believe God chose the 14 women who shared their stories with us and that He will use what He's done in their lives to encourage His children and to glorify His matchless name.  Here's the blurb on the back cover of the book:

          What do we do when life throws us a curve? How do we react? Does our view of God change? What is the secret to surviving crushing loss or sorrowful circumstances and still praising God?  This book contains stories of 14 ordinary women (and one ordinary man) who have gone through various degrees of difficulty or tragedy. These women have come through their trial (or in some cases, are still going through the trial) with a prayer on their lips and praise to our extraordinary God in their hearts.

          Along with these present-day sisters in Christ, there are enlightening stories from a few Biblical sisters in the faith.  There are also messages from God’s word on such topics as fear, tears, His all-sufficient grace, and beauty from ashes.

          Read the stories of ordinary women like you and me.  You’ll cry over their pain and loss, laugh at their humorous tidbits, rejoice in their victories and, hopefully, whisper a prayer for those who are still going through the floodwaters.

          “Yet I will rejoice in the Lord…” Habakkuk 3:18

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This book was published in January 2019 and is available in print and ebook.  I love Bible study and the Old Testament is my favorite part to study.  I realize, however, that many Christians prefer the New Testament and know little about the OT.  So - I wrote this re-telling of key OT stories in an easy to understand format for adults to help them see the richness in this important part of God's Holy Word.  I hope they will discover how the Old Testament is a rich story of the past, present and future.

The picture for the cover is one I took in Sandia Park, New Mexico.  It features a variety of glass bottles cemented into a wall.  I then took the photo and put it through a program that made it look like a painting, hoping it would come out resembling jewels.  What do you think?