The authors of "Journey of the Chosen", Richard Nance and daughter Rhonda Roth, brought their talents and the first book in a trilogy named The Hidden World Chronicles, home Sunday. The pair were hosted at the Holiday Inn Express where dozens of readers, friends and family, came to meet, greet, and visit with the authors.

"Journey of the Chosen" is the first release of the chronicles. The second book in the series is due to be published by the end of the year.

The book explores the secrets of the world and the effects on everyday life through a fictional tale of suspense. The genre is a science fiction Christian adventure.

"The book is built on fantasy and fact, all mixed together," Roth said. "The reader will find that the story goes along with historical facts and there are things that will be recognizable."

"I've been working on this book for 40 years in my head, planning the story and characters," Nance said. "On a trip back from the beach, Rhonda said tell me about the book dad, and for the next four hours, I told her everything I thought and had researched over the years. When we got home, Rhonda sat down and wrote the prologue and sent it to me.

For the next three months, we wrote the book," he said. "We'd go out on the front porch and plan the next events in each chapter for the book. It became our place."

Nance is a native of Jonesville who went off to NC State University, joined the Navy, where he taught and wrote course instructional books.

"My students loved to hear my stories over the years," Nance said. "I had always wanted to write, just never got around to it before."

Nance came back to North Carolina and worked and retired from Brown and Williamson Tobacco. After retirement, he then went to work for LP in Ronda, where later he retired once again.

Roth, Nance's youngest daughter, is in property management in Winston-Salem.

"I grew up in Jonesville," Roth said. "I went to school at Starmount, it's home."

"Journey of the Chosen" has been published by Tate Publishing out of Mustang, Oklahoma and is available online through Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Borders. It can also be found at local bookstores.

"We sent our manuscript to a few publishers and within just a few weeks, Tate contacted us," Roth said. "We were very lucky."

"Any aspiring author should take a chance and send their material in," Nance said.

The authors said it took one full year from the time of acceptance of their manuscript from the publisher until the book got to print.