“After I met Miss Debbie and Mr. Ron, I worried that I was so different from them that we wadn’t ever gon’ have no kind a’ future.  But I found out everybody’s different – the same kind of different as me: we’re all just regular folks walkin down the road God done set in front of us.” — Denver Moore

A dangerous, homeless drifter who grew up picking cotton in virtual slavery.
An upscale art dealer accustomed to the world of Armani and Chanel.
A gutsy woman with a stubborn dream.
A true story so incredible no novelist would dare dream it.

For the week of March 22,2009, Same Kind of Different as Me by Ron Hall and Denver Moore with Lynn Vincent will be listed as the #12 nonfiction paperback on the New York Times Best Seller List – its 52nd consecutive week on the list. The highest point reached over the past year has been #11, which was reached on two separate occasions.

“Denver and I never dreamed a couple of nobodies like us could make the New York Times Best Seller List,” comments author Ron Hall. “It could only be possible because we told the story about Miss Debbie, a REAL somebody. Thanks to all our readers who read our story and told their friends. Thousands of homeless people all over America have benefited from your acts of kindness.”

Since its release in June 2006, sales momentum for Same Kind of Different as Me by Ron Hall and Denver Moore has continued to surpass every expectation. With extensive promotion and an ever-expanding grassroots word-of-mouth, Thomas Nelson, Inc. has recently shipped the 400,000th copy of the acclaimed title out into the marketplace. A new book by Hall, Moore, and Vincent entitled What Difference Do It Make?: Stories of Hope and Healing will release September 29, 2009.

“There are many reasons that a book might appear on a national best seller list, including television appearances, heavy store promotions, well-known author, etc.  However, sometimes it’s because of one very specific and undeniable trait: It’s simply a great book. That’s the case here,” says Matt Baugher, Thomas Nelson Vice President and Publisher. “Same Kind of Different as Me is frankly one of the finest books that Thomas Nelson has ever had the privilege of publishing, and for a house that’s been around since 1798, that’s saying something. I firmly believe that we have yet to see the real tipping point on sales of this life-changing story.”

Same Kind of Different as Me (Thomas Nelson, Inc., ISBN# 978-0-8499-0041-9, 2006) is a tale told in two unique voices – Ron Hall & Denver Moore – weaving two completely different life experiences into one common journey where both men learn “whether we is rich or poor or something in between this earth ain’t no final restin place. So in a way, we is all homeless-just workin our way toward home.”

Meet Denver, raised under plantation-style slavery in Louisiana until he escaped the “Man” – in the 1960’s – by hopping a train. Non-trusting, uneducated, and violent, he spent another 18 years on the streets of Dallas and Fort Worth. Meet Ron Hall, a self-made millionaire in the world of high priced art deals — concerned with fast cars, beautiful women, and fancy clothes. And the woman who changed their lives — Miss Debbie: “The skinniest, nosiest, pushiest, woman I ever met, black or white.” She helped the homeless and gave of herself to all of “God’s People,” and had a way of knowing how to listen and helping others talk and be found – until cancer strikes.

The story takes a devastating twist when Deborah discovers she has cancer. Will Deborah live or die? Will Denver learn to trust a white man? Will Ron embrace his dying wife’s vision to rescue Denver? Or will Denver be the one rescuing Ron? There’s pain and laughter, doubt and tears, and in the end a triumphal story that readers will never forget.

Authors have donated all royalties to date to the Union Gospel Mission in Fort Worth, Texas.

RON HALL AND DENVER MOORE ARE AVAILABLE FOR INTERVIEW.
Stephanie Newton
Publicist II
tel:        (615) 902-2320
fax:        (615) 902-2129
email:    snewton@thomasnelson.com

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