Hannah Alexander

"You want me to help you WHAT? PARALYZE someone?"

"Only temporarily, of course."

And thus began the writing collaboration known as Hannah Alexander.

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IT WAS A SET-UP FROM THE BEGINNING, and I wasn't interested. My meddling pastor Ron, however, had different ideas.

"Cheryl," he said at church one night, "I found a man for you. He's a doctor."

"Are you kidding me? Brother Ron, not interested."

I argued with vehemence but when Ron wanted his way he got it. That night he dragged poor Mel through the church as I tried to escape out the back door. He had the whole church’s attention by the time they caught up with me.

But Mel was nothing like the doctors—or men—I'd known in the past. He was gentle, shy, intelligent. I got rid of him as soon as I could, of course, but that wasn't the end of it.

A few weeks later, during a pizza fellowship after church, in walked Mel. Ron gently drew a young friend of mine from the seat beside me and beckoned to Mel to sit there. The whole group was in on this set-up. I was amazed, embarrassed, and couldn't think of a thing to say. Neither, apparently, could Mel.

I broke the silence with a discussion of my lifelong passion. "So, you're a doctor? Could you help me paralyze someone?"

You know that "deer-in-the-headlights" look some people get in the presence of serial killers? That was Mel.

I saw my mistake immediately. "I'm sorry, it would only be temporary. I'm working on my thirteenth unpublished novel, and I need my character to be paralyzed for part of the story." (You may find the finished product in the Hannah Alexander novel, Urgent Care)

Mel regained his color, grinned, and together we brainstormed the pertinent information I needed for the novel. His explanation was a little too realistic, so I only ate half a slice of pizza. I don’t have the strongest of stomachs.

He was so intrigued he eventually read all the manuscripts I had filed away. His kind words were a balm to my soul. When we got married a year and a half later, we formed a team. I began to base my heroes on Mel's strong, ethical, gentle character, and the novels began to sell. I'm the writer who creates our fictional world; Mel is the doctor who researches, edits, even writes some of the medical scenes.

We chose the pen name Hannah Alexander* to show that we work together as a unit. Hannah means "she whose hope is in the Lord," and Alexander means "servant of mankind." Mel quickly points out "Cheryl is Hannah; I'm Alexander."

I (Cheryl) have made up stories since I was 6 years old, much to the regret of my parents. When Mel was ten, his mother said, "Son, as much as you love science and helping people, you should be a doctor," and the idea stuck. As a thirty-year veteran in emergency medicine, Mel makes sure the medical background in our books is authentic. I make sure the reader loses herself in the scene and doesn’t lose her lunch. Mel and I still have a lot of stories left to write.

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*Hannah Alexander is the multiple award-winning author team Cheryl & Mel Hodde, who have written over 35 novels during their career. Their awards include, among others, the Christy Award for Romance, 3 Holt Medallions, a Library Journal Inspirational Fiction Top 5 pick, and an Inspirational Reader's Choice award. Their title A Woman Worth Knowing, book 4 in the Hallowed Halls of Medicine 7 book series, was an Amazon #1 Best-Seller in multiple categories.

Cheryl and Mel currently are living in Arizona and they love hiking, traveling, going to the zoo, and being in the great outdoors.

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