New Story Collection Offers Hope Without Easy Answers – Download for Free through August 1, 2026

FAITH NEWS SERVICE – Multi-award-winning author Samuel L. Blumenthal explores how grace meets wounded hearts in ten faith-infused stories.

Gilbert, AZ – July 27, 2026 — Retired clinical psychologist, Bible teacher, and award-winning author Samuel L. Blumenthal, PhD, releases Once Upon a Time, Volume Three (Redemption Press, 2026), a collection of ten literary short stories spanning contemporary life, historical moments, and imagined futures. Each story examines the hidden struggles of the human heart and the persistent work of God’s grace. At a time when many believers and spiritually curious readers are weary of clichés and easy answers, the collection offers fiction willing to face brokenness without surrendering hope.

Drawing on more than thirty years of work with people navigating emotional and relational pain, Blumenthal portrays characters shaped by regret, fear, grief, addiction, failure, doubt, and the longing to belong. Rather than resolving pain too neatly, the stories invite readers to recognize the internal wounds and defenses that keep them stuck and to consider how awareness can open the way to repentance, healing, freedom, and renewed faith. The collection’s central thread is that even when life feels fragmented or directionless, God is still at work, patiently guiding wounded hearts home.

Blumenthal’s conviction about the power of story reaches back to childhood, when listening to stories in his elementary school library first stirred a sense of wonder he later understood as a spiritual calling. He wrote this third volume believing stories can awaken readers to the larger redemptive story they are living and remind them that no chapter is beyond the reach of God’s love.

Samuel Blumenthal’s print copy will be available on July 28, 2026; with the e-book free to download on Amazon for 5 days through August 1, 2026.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Samuel L. Blumenthal, PhD, is a retired clinical psychologist, Bible teacher, and award-winning author whose fiction explores the redemptive work of God in the human heart. With more than thirty years of experience in psychology and a deep commitment to Scripture, he writes stories that are thoughtful, honest, and spiritually resonant. His Once Upon a Time short stories have received multiple Selah Awards for literary excellence. He writes a bimonthly newsletter on the power and meaning of story, which can be found at samuelblumenthal.com.

For interviews, or speaking inquiries, contact:
Samuel L. Blumenthal, PhD
Email: samblumenthal@icloud.com