Author Caprice Hokstad

Odd and ends

2011-12-31T21:16:00.000-08:00

This is one of those catch-all posts. I don’t really have much to say about any one thing, so I’m going to say a few short things and make a post of the melting pot.

1. The “Novel Experiment” is officially over. With encouragement from a few loyal readers, I managed to pound out “Blood and Brine” in about five months. Insofar as the experiment produced results, it was successful. Not as encouraging were the number of people who said they would participate, who then dropped out without explanation. The experiment didn’t manage to make writing original feel the same as writing fanfic, but perhaps that goal was flawed.

Two critiquers are done with the second draft and one more is about halfway done. I have reconciled all of Kat’s critiques and all that Susan has given me so far. Robynn’s very thorough edits are going to take a little longer, but I have started on those in earnest after an initial false start. (I didn’t have enough distance the first time.)

Of all the changes being made, the most exciting one so far is a suggestion from Susan that I take that secret night raid (the massacre at Phaehad ITC) and SHOW it in chapter one rather than just get a dry letter about it in chapter five. Actually, she thought it would be a good prologue, but I already have “translation notes” and “cultural explanations” before the story opens. I think another pre-story thing would just get skipped. I haven’t decided whether to do it from the point-of-view of General Nazzar or to just make it a chaotic cinematic scene where no one can figure out what is happening. But it will definitely make for MUCH more drama in the opening and also ties in nicely with the title. Thank you, Susan, for that idea. I’m going to run with it.

2. I just found out that grandchild #2 will be arriving in 2012. Probably in late July. My daughter put a picture of Noah (grandchild #1) in our Christmas card, wearing a t-shirt that said, “I’m Going to be a Big Brother.” But I didn’t have reading glasses with me and couldn’t see the tiny writing on a PICTURE of a 9-month-old-sized shirt, so I didn’t catch it. My daughter found this fact utterly hilarious. I got a Kindle for Christmas and was planning to throw away those darned reading glasses permanently, but now I think maybe I have to keep them. Drat. I guess grandmas are expected to have bad eyesight.

3. I’m working on a big promotion for the new book kickoff. I want to have a contest or giveaway with a “Summer Reading” goody basket as a prize. I found cool waterproof ebook protectors and bought one so I can use my Kindle in the bathtub, and I bought another one for the basket so the winner can take his/her ereader to the beach or pool (it fits Kindle, Nook, and other readers too). I also plan to have a canvas book bag in the goody basket. I found a cute one on Zazzle (I would be getting the budget model), but I didn’t buy it yet. If anyone sees a good summery/reading themed one somewhere for around ten bucks or less, let me know. I’d also like to have something with the Splashdown logo on it and maybe one item with the new book cover. However, I want the prizes to be useful and reading-related in themselves and not simply advertising gimmicks (e.g. REAL bookmarks, not those silly 1x3 inch “skinny business card” things Zazzle calls bookmarks). I’m starting shopping now so I can budget this out because I expect it will cost some moulah.

4. I don’t make New Years resolutions. My goals are things like hoping the dishwasher lasts the year so we don’t have to replace it or live without it, and praying hard that the price of food doesn’t get any higher. I have little to no control over the vast majority of circumstances that affect my life. All I can do is keep paddling fast enough to keep my head above water, or get gills. I keep checking the science news. So far, no one has succeeded with artificial gill implants yet. I could say I want to sell 500 books, but I have no idea how to make that happen without a MUCH bigger advertising budget. So resolving to sell 500 books is setting myself up to fail. Yes, I will try to sell as many books as I can. But I cannot MAKE people buy books. It’s out of my hands. “...neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow.” (I Cor. 3:7)*

*NIV Busy Mom's Bible: Daily Inspiration Even If You Only Have One Minute (Kindle Locations 70713-70714). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.

Save the Bees

2011-11-02T00:01:00.000-07:00

This isn’t really related to writing except in a roundabout way. You see, this is a movie review, but the movie is a documentary, not a work of fiction. Now, I have taken it at face value and assumed (possibly unfairly) that it is mostly factual and not a piece of propaganda, like, say “An Inconvenient Truth”. I am VERY open to being persuaded otherwise. In fact, I would welcome it. If you have any evidence to cite that can argue against the theories put forth in this documentary, PLEASE share it!

First, the movie trailer:

Frankly, this movie haunts me. I first saw it a couple of months ago, before Netflix bumped up their prices and I still had the DVD plan. I haven’t been able to get it out of my mind. I just watched it again, on Netflix streaming, because I wanted all the facts fresh in my mind when I wrote this review.

Fact: Our honeybees are dying. In HUGE numbers. I can attest to this in my home town. The shrub that provides a privacy screen between my mobile home and the home next to me (extremely close) blooms every spring. It smells very fragrant when it blooms; there is no mistaking it. In the past, it also attracted bees by the hundreds. You could not go out on a nice day and not find bees all over that thing when it was in bloom.

And on the other side of my house, in a neighbor’s yard, is a bottle brush plant (a.k.a. Callistemon). Its flowers look like those brushes they use to clean baby bottles. The “bristles” are red and the plant is messy, but man-o-man, the bees and the hummingbirds LOVE that plant. It used to be so full of bees all the time that it literally buzzed. It blooms year-round. This last spring and summer I noticed that the plants were still in bloom, and the hummingbirds still visited the bottle brush, but the bees were/are almost completely absent. Yes, I see a bee or two every now and then. They’re not extinct. But there is something very wrong.

We heard some alarming news about this a few years back. It’s called Colony Collapse Disorder. I thought they’d figured out what was causing it, or at least that it was a disease that had run its course and ceased being a problem. Why did I assume this? Because I haven’t heard anything lately in the news. But that assumption is dead wrong.

According to Vanishing of the Bees, some of our beekeepers know what’s wrong, finally. This happened in Europe a decade ago. There, the laws are set up to err on the side of precaution and safety. The beekeepers lobbied to ban certain systemic pesticides that they suspected were the problem and within a year, the bees bounced back. But in the United States, our Environmental “Protection” Agency doesn’t use the same precautionary method with its emphasis on public safety. Instead, the EPA operates under “risk assessment” principles and the only research ever done is done by the very companies who stand to profit from the pesticide being licensed. Here, the beekeepers have to prove that a pesticide is killing bees before it will be banned, and it’s not easy to prove because the pesticides in question don’t kill quickly. It’s a cummulative effect brought on by the fact that these chemicals are designed to last a long time in the soil and in the plant tissues.

There are other problems in the bee industry contributing to the overall health of bees. Foreign countries have been allowed to sell “funny honey” (diluted with sugar water or HFCS) in the U.S. without full disclosure to the public. (Doesn’t it bother you that the FDA doesn’t require something labeled “Pure Honey” to actually BE pure?) Being unable to compete with cheap, diluted honey is what drove our beekeepers to some of the practices that are contributing to the stress on bees. (The beekeepers can’t make a living on honey, so they have to rely on pollination contracts. That mean lots of transportation stress and exposing bees to these pesticides in neighboring fields, even if they are pollinating an organic crop.)

I could go on and on, but I think the movie did it better than I could. If you like to eat fruits, vegetables, or nuts, then you need to care about our bees. I have never been a big proponent of organic food before now. But I think this movie presents the best case for going organic that I have ever seen. We need to fix our EPA and the FDA, but we also need to vote with our forks.

You can rent or buy the DVD. You can watch it on Netflix streaming here. Or if you don’t want to pay a whole month subscription, you can pay for a one-time streaming (currently $3.99) at VanishingBees.com.

I will close with a quote from the movie I think is sad but very true:
“Only when the last tree has died and the last river has been poisoned and the last fish has been caught will we realize we cannot eat money.”
Cree Indian Proverb
We need to care. Before it’s too late.

Underground Rising Anthology

2011-11-01T00:01:00.000-07:00

“Walk the 2030s streets of the USA, alleys of Germany, and tunnels of New Zealand. Through twelve tales from the Underground, One State Neros enforce their global ban on Fundamentalism in the world’s dark future. Armed with the hottest technology and faith, heroes choose right decisions for spiritual freedom in spite of the cost. Will the saints’ mindware, a type of software loaded directly into the brain, provide enough of an advantage to survive the twenty-first century purge? Biblical cyberpunk at its best. Each of the anthology stories are based upon Frank Creed’s UNDERGROUND--the award-winning novels Flashpoint: Book One of the Underground and War of Attrition: Book Two of the Underground.”

I haven’t read this book yet, but with authors like Frank Creed, Grace Bridges, and Greg Mitchell, how could it miss? I’m looking forward to it.

A bunch of the authors got together for a discussion. You can read a transcript of that on Frank Creed’s Blog.

Purchase your copy of Underground Risingat The Writer’s Cafe Press or Amazon.

Nick Giannaras Interview

2011-10-25T00:01:00.000-07:00

P.A. (Paul) Baines Interview

2011-10-20T00:01:00.000-07:00

The following is part of a marketing co-op for a writing group I am a member of. I will be posting several interviews during the month of October in return for my interview being posted by each of the people interviewed. My review for Paul’s book, Alpha Redemption, appears here. I did not supply the questions for these interviews.

For my next interview, please welcome Paul Baines, who will be posting my interview at PABaines.com.

Q: How long have you been writing?
A: I used to mess around with short fiction at school, but I only started writing seriously about fourteen years ago.

Q: Where do you get your ideas for your stories?
A: I usually start with thinking about an interesting situation or scene. Occasionally, one will stick and I then start thinking about events surrounding the scene. If end up with enough material to work with, it may end up on my list of potential stories. At this point, I write the opening chapter. This is usually enough to tell me whether or not it can work as a novel.

Q: Was it hard to develop a writing style?
A: For me, yes. It took most of the past fourteen years for me to find my voice. My first attempt at a novel was described as “solid but not slick enough”. Since then I have worked diligently to find my own voice. I’m not sure how “slick” my writing is now, but at least it is mine.

Q: Who is your favorite author?
A: Stephen King

Q: Have you dealt with writer's block? If so, how did you overcome it?
A: I get a mild version of writer’s block fairly regularly. Sometimes the words just flow. Other times I can spend days in a staring contest with my monitor. I get over these blocks by reading. I find that the act of reading will often be enough to jump-start my own creativity.

Q: Do you find a part of your personality sneaking into any of your characters?
A: I once read that you should write what you know. I am pretty certain that, in the act of creating a character, we all draw on our own experiences. So, yes, definitely.

Q: Do you use outlines or let the story develop on its own?
A: I like to have a very broad outline. I liken it to remembering an old film I’ve seen years before, in which I can remember the mood of the film, and the general plot, but not the details. That way, I can let the story grow, but without getting lost on the way.

Q: Can you share any upcoming projects with us?
A: Hmm. Well I have two finished stories with my publisher at the moment. Plus a long humorous poem for kids, written in the style of Dr Seuss. At the moment I’m busy writing a sequel to my debut novel Alpha Redemption. And I have another story waiting to be written, plus an old story that I want to rewrite and another that I am thinking about.

Q: Tell us a little about yourself. What do you like to do when you are not writing? What is your temperament, etc.?
A: I love to watch a good film, or listen to some music. When I’m not relaxing I am usually exercising, or watching sport. I used to be a fitness instructor so cannot imagine not being fit. I’m not a fitness fanatic, but I do like to train.

Q: With a full schedule, how do you find time to write?
A: I commute six miles to work and back on my bicycle every day, which means I have about an hour-and-a-half with nothing to do other than watch the world roll by. What I started doing a few years ago was to write my novel on the way to work. I would run through plots and narrative and dialogue in my head, and then write them down as soon as I got to a computer. It is quite effective.

Q: When creating a character, where do you begin? Do you give them a background even if it may never be mentioned in the storyline?
A: I tend to concentrate on the main characters. I don’t do an outline, but I imagine what they are like, and how they fit into the story. Then I let them grow organically with the story, adjusting and tweaking as I go. Sometimes this means rewriting a part of the novel, but that is just a part of writing so I don’t mind.

Q: What is your writing routine? Do you need peace and quiet, soft music, or does it matter?
A: I actually do most of my writing during my lunch break at work. My office can get quite noisy, so I usually listen to music through my headphones. I like Rachmaninoff, or a movie soundtrack if I need some inspiration.

Q: Where can readers find your books and contact information?
A: My personal site: PABaines.com, Splashdown Books, and Amazon.

Cindy Koepp Interview

2011-10-15T00:01:00.000-07:00

The following is part of a marketing co-op for a writing group I am a member of. I will be posting several interviews during the month of October in return for my interview being posted by each of the people interviewed. I have *NOT* read any of Cindy’s works. Her appearance here is merely an invitation for you to check her out, not an endorsement. Also, I did not supply the questions.

For my next interview, please welcome Cindy Koepp, who is posting my interview at Remnant in the Stars.

Q: How long have you been writing?
A: Oh, most of 33 years. My mother has an old short story I wrote when I was six or seven. The hobby continued on since then.

Q: Where do you get your ideas for your stories?
A: Sometimes they get left in my mental voice mail with no mention of the source on the caller ID. Other times they’re based on some misadventure in my own life with the decimal point moved over several orders of magnitude.

Q: Was it hard to develop a writing style?
A: Yes and no. I write how I hear and see things in my head. The problem has been then mutating that so normal humans can understand what I saw and heard. I tend to use a lot of technical terms for things. Sometimes I get bogged down in trivia or skip over something important because it made sense to me at the time. That’s why my critique partners are very helpful. They point out when my idea has been scattered by the hurricane winds of disjointed thinking.

Q: Who is your favorite author?
A: One is definitely Gordon Dickson. I enjoyed the Childe Cycle. Each story stands alone but all of them work together for an ultimate purpose. Bruce Hale’s Chet Gecko series is hilarious. Jude Watson’s Jedi Apprentice series had excellent characterization.

Q: Have you dealt with writer's block? If so, how did you overcome it?
A: Yes, I’ve had some stories stall out midway. I have to set the work aside for a while and come back to it weeks, sometimes months later. In the meantime, I work on something else.

Q: Do you find a part of your personality sneaking into any of your characters?
A: Definitely. Many of my lead characters are disabled in some way. How they deal with their physical ailments is often related to how I deal with mine. One of my stories has two characters with my weird sense of humor. Another has a lead character who doesn’t want to fit in with society’s “normal” view of girls. Very often people I know make it into my stories, too.

Q: Were there any scenes you found difficult to write? Made you angry or made you cry?
A: Plenty have been difficult to write. The subject matter hits too close to home like the character who faced discrimination for her inherited disability.

Not too many make me angry. Some scenes make me cry when I write them and then later as I read them again.

Q: Do you use outlines or let the story develop on its own?
A: I use not just outlines, but very detailed descriptions of the characters, places, societies, maps, and anything I can come up with that might even be vaguely important to the plot. I often have 20 or more pages of notes before I start writing the actual story.

Q: What do you want your readers to take from your book(s)?
A: First of all, I want the stories to be entertaining. I don’t mean gut-busting hilarious, but interesting to read. Since so many of the stories have at least some beginning in my own misadventures, I hope that readers will either identify with someone in the story or maybe understand something a little better.

Q: Can you share any upcoming projects with us?
A: I have a book called Remnant in the Stars under contract with Under the Moon. It’s about a navigator searching for his missing child and a pilot dealing with an undiagnosable illness. If all goes according to Hoyle, we’ll finish the editing process by the end of December, and it should see print in the spring of 2012.

I’m also working with a group of writers on an anthology.

Q: Tell us a little about yourself. What do you like to do when you are not writing? What is your temperament, etc.?
A: When I’m not writing or doing prep and paperwork for school, I sew, crochet, do needlework, play computer games, and try to find recipes for things I can actually eat.

I tend to be the quiet, keep-to-myself type, but I can get pretty goofy when I’m with people I know well.

At work, though, I’m more out-spoken. Diplomacy is not a skill I was gifted with.

Q: With a full schedule, how do you find time to write?
A: Now that’s a good trick. During the school year, I write on Saturday afternoons and Sundays before or after church. On weeknights, I usually don’t get to write much at all. I’m eyeball deep in paperwork and grading.

During Christmas break, spring break, and the summer, I write a lot more. I sometimes write new material. Other times I work on editing old stuff.

Q: When creating a character, where do you begin? Do you give them a background even if it may never be mentioned in the storyline?
A: The characters often have a very detailed background. The key players and other frequent flyers get all kinds of information. Often I have intentions of including it somewhere, but when I get there, that doesn’t make sense, so it just stays in the background information. Lesser folks sometimes don’t have more than name, appearance, and the details needed for story.

Q: What is your writing routine? Do you need peace and quiet, soft music, or does it matter?
A: I like to sit on my couch with a notebook and pen in hand and a glass of water nearby. I don’t focus well with noise, so I prefer quiet. Once I have the stuff written, I enter it into the computer using either the keyboard or some voice recognition software. Then I can edit and revise. Sometimes I do that on the screen. Other times, I make the font stupidly small … like 8 or 9 point … and print it out. That depends on whether it’s an early draft or a later one. Earlier drafts will need much more shuffling and fixing, so I print those. Later ones are usually more stable, and I can do those on the computer.

Q: Where can readers find your books and contact information?
A: I have a Facebook author page. I also have a webpage and two blogs that I update when I have something interesting to say: ckoepp.xanga.com and ckoepp.blogspot.com.

Adam Graham Interview

2011-10-10T09:38:00.000-07:00

The following is part of a marketing co-op for a writing group I am a member of. I will be posting several interviews during the month of October in return for my interview being posted by each of the people interviewed. By the way, I did not supply the questions.

For my next interview, please welcome Adam Graham, who will be posting my interview at POV Boot Camp. I did a short review of Adam’s book, Tales of the Dim Knight, last January. My review appears here.

Q: Adam, how long have you been writing?
A: Since I was eight, almost nine years old. Before the San Francisco Earthquake, I was writing Batman-Superman Fanfiction.

Q: Where do you get your ideas for your stories?
A: Everywhere: Sermons at church, out of the blue. Sometimes, I’ll get ideas from TV shows, particularly one where I don’t enjoy the episode and I imagine how it really should be told.

Q: What are your thoughts on critique groups?
A: It’s a mixed bag. On one hand, if you get a knowledgeable, supportive critique partner, it can be a blessing. On the other hand, there are bad critique groups, arrogant critiquers, etc. So proceed with caution.

Q: Have you dealt with writer’s block? If so, how did you overcome it?
A: Yes. I’ve generally tried not to sit there and stare at blank screens. At some point, to quote the great Kenny Rogers, you have to know when to hold ’em, know when to fold ’em. And sometimes, the best thing to do is to do something else, rest your mind, and come back.

Q: Do you find a part of your personality sneaking into any of your characters?
A: Here and there, probably the clown and sarcastic tendencies are the ones most likely to appear.

Q: Were there any scenes you found difficult to write? Made you angry or made you cry?
A: I’m working on a Short Story that’s trying to become a novelette and the final confrontation scene was very tough. The story deals with child abuse and I kept wanting to handle the whole thing more clinically. What we finally ended up writing after much coaxing from my wife, was something that packs more of a punch, and did make me cry writing it.

Q: Do you use outlines or let the story develop on its own?
A: Mostly on its own. I know where I’m starting and I have a general idea where I’m going. I let the story happen as it goes.

Q: Tell us a little about yourself. What do you like to do when you are not writing? What is your temperament, etc.?
A: I love old time radio and radio drama in general. Spend a lot of time listening to that and producing podcasts on old time radio.

Q: With a full schedule, how do you find time to write?
A: I’ve invented something called a caffeine IV. Sadly, don’t find enough.

Q: When creating a character, where do you begin? Do you give them a background even if it may never be mentioned in the storyline?
A: I really try to get to know the character organically, through telling the story and listening to them. I tried once writing down all the details and I never got through all the details and never wrote the story.

Q: Can you share one or two nuggets of wisdom to those wanting to travel down the writing road?
A: In modern writing, there are two types of rules: 1) rules that are absolute and hard and fast and 2) things that are a matter of opinion and style but get stated as rules. A good writer has to be able to tell the difference.

Q: Where can readers find your books and contact information?
A: My website, Tales of the Dim Knight and Amazon.

Kimberli R. Campbell Interview

2011-10-05T13:00:00.000-07:00

The following is part of a marketing co-op for a writing group I am a member of. I will be posting several interviews during the month of October in return for my interview being posted by each of the people interviewed. I have *NOT* read any of Kimberli's works; her appearance here is merely an invitation for you to check her out, not an endorsement. Also, I did not supply the questions.

For my next interview, please welcome Kimberli R. Campbell, who is posting my interview at hiswriter.blogspot.com.

Q: How long have you been writing?
A: I have been writing for over 10 years. However, I still have a lot to learn.

Q: Where do you get your ideas for your stories?
A: Boy, the ideas come from everywhere. The series I'm writing now came from a dream. I have a romance/suspense story from watching an old blue pickup truck stopped in front of me at a stoplight. It's fun watching people in hopes the images will produce a story.

Q: What are your thoughts on critique groups?
A: I think they are extremely important if there is a mixture of experience levels. Unfortunately, as people get busy with life, it's difficult to stay consistent with critiques. You also need to be able to receive constructive criticism. It's painful, but needed.

Q: Was it hard to develop a writing style?
A: If I developed a style, it probably came from the type of books I like to read. Down-to-earth and relaxed.

Q: Who is your favorite author?
A: I enjoy reading books by Donita K. Paul, Terri Blackstock, and Ted Dekker...just to name a few.

Q: Have you dealt with writer's block? If so, how did you overcome it?
A: I don't think I've had to deal with writer's block. However, I have let things keep me from writing. After a full day, instead of writing, I spend my time doing mindless things - surf the web, playing games on the iPad. Although there are times when a person does need to take some downtime, I tend to play longer than I should. When I do notice myself doing this, I force myself to get back to writing.

Q: Do you find a part of your personality sneaking into any of your characters?
A: Yes. I think it gives the characters more depth...not that I'm a complex person. :)

Q: Were there any scenes you found difficult to write? Made you angry or made you cry?
A: One of the issues the main character and his friends deal with is bullying. Bullying makes me angry. As for crying, in the third book of the series, there is a part where I teared up. I didn't have to breakout the tissues, but it was close.

Q: Do you use outlines or let the story develop on its own?
A: I'm an outline kind of gal. I need structure. Hats off to those that let the story develop on its own. If I wrote that way, the story would probably start with the ending.

Q: What do you want your readers to take from your book(s)?
A: I would love for the readers to come away with a spirit of victory and that they've been on an awesome adventure. Learning the importance of a relationship with the Lord, family, and friends is also something I'd like them to walk away with. And, let's not forget the desire to read the next book.

Q: Can you share any upcoming projects with us?
A: I would love to share. My book, Redemption: Shayia's Adventures - Book Two, will prayerfully be out this year. I am currently working on book three of the series. I have no title at this time. I am not sure if the Lord has a book four, so I'll have to see what he has next.

Q: Tell us a little about yourself. What do you like to do when you are not writing? What is your temperament, etc.?
A: I'm a quiet person. However, if you were to see me acting on stage, you would disagree. I would be content sitting quietly in a room (not padded) with a book and/or my iPad. I drive the speed limit and obey the rules of the road to the point that it gets on people's nerves. I HATE emotional mind games. In other words, if you have something to say, please say it...in love. :) Going for walks in nice weather is something I enjoy when not writing. There is more, but that's a good start.

Q: With a full schedule, how do you find time to write?
A: I've been blessed to be at home. Although the time may broken up into little sessions, I'm able to get writing done between regular housework and family time. When my little one goes to school full-time, I will be able to get more writing time.

Q: When creating a character, where do you begin? Do you give them a background even if it may never be mentioned in the storyline?
A: I think dreaming is a writer's best friend. When I create characters, I like to dream about them, so I can picture how they look and act. I don't normally write a background on the characters. I do note the memories they have in case something comes up later.

Q: What is your writing routine? Do you need peace and quiet, soft music, or does it matter?
A: I don't have a writing routine....anymore. Now I write when I can. Having it nice and quiet would be my first choice, but the only quiet time we have in our house is when everyone is sleeping. I have learned to adjust to the noise.

Q: Where can readers find your books and contact information?
A: The best place is The Sword of Light. The book is also available on Amazon. You can visit my blog at hiswriter.blogspot.com. I would love to connect with other writers and readers.

Yvonne Anderson Interview

2011-10-01T15:13:00.000-07:00

The following is part of a marketing co-op for a writing group I am a member of. I will be posting several interviews during the month of October in return for my interview being posted by each of the people interviewed. I have *NOT* read any of Yvonne’s works; her appearance here is merely an invitation for you to check her out, not an endorsement. Also, I did not supply the questions.

For my first interview, please welcome Yvonne Anderson, who will be posting my interview at YsWords.com.

Q: How long have you been writing?
A: I started writing since I was old enough to hold a crayon. But as far as writing seriously, with hopes of publication? That began in 2002. I was offered my first publishing contract in 2011.

Q: Where do you get your ideas for your stories?
A: I have no idea. They spring up like weeds, and I don’t usually know what sort of critter dropped the seeds there.

Q: What are your thoughts on critique groups?
A: A good critique group is invaluable. Better than a MFA. I can’t sing their praises enough.

Q: Was it hard to develop a writing style?
A: No.

Q: Who is your favorite author?
A: I have no favorite author. Nor favorite color, food, movie, book, etc. I don’t think I’m wishy-washy, I just enjoy too many things to narrow it down.

Q: Have you dealt with writer's block? If so, how did you overcome it?
A: I can’t say as I’ve ever struggled with writer’s block. If I feel stuck on one thing, I drop it and go on to something else. Most of my struggles, especially at first, were trying to find the time to write, not trying to decide what to write.

Q: Do you find a part of your personality sneaking into any of your characters?
A: Yes, I think this is inevitable, though I try to counteract it by making my characters do things I never would.

Q: Were there any scenes you found difficult to write? Made you angry or made you cry?
A: The scenes I feel most strongly about are the most difficult to write. Yes, scenes have made me cry sometimes, but they’ve never made me angry. Anger results from loss of control, but I have complete control over everything that happens in my story world.

Q: Do you use outlines or let the story develop on its own?
A: I’m a seat-of-the-pants plotter. However, before I start writing, I know the beginning, the end, and two pivotal events that will take place along the way, as well as the major characters. But other than that, I’m as surprised about what happens as the reader is. It’s fun.

Q: What do you want your readers to take from your book(s)?
A: I want people to enjoy my books and find things in them to think about after they’re through. Mostly, though, I hope they’ll see God’s truth reflected in my stories.

Q: Can you share any upcoming projects with us?
A: In January 2011 I signed a three-book contract with Risen Books for a space fantasy series, Gateway to Gannah. The first book, The Story in the Stars, was released in June; Book #2 will probably come out in December, and I expect the third to be released in the middle of 2012. I’m currently revising #3 in preparation for submitting it to the publisher, and I also have a good idea in my mind of what’s going to happen in Book #4. I have no contract for anything beyond the third book, but I expect I’ll keep writing more in the series for the next few years, because I have several story ideas still to work out.

Q: With a full schedule, how do you find time to write?
A: I used to squeeze it in whenever I could, and it was very frustrating. Thankfully, I’m now in a position to write full time. It’s not like having a full-time job, because I don’t get a paycheck. But at least my time is my own.

Q: When creating a character, where do you begin? Do you give them a background even if it may never be mentioned in the storyline?
A: Yes, I give my characters a history, but I tend to work backward. That is, I decide first what I want the character to do, and then I figure out what her background and motivation is, and build her history that way. That’s all done mentally before I start writing. Then once I get started, she’ll sometimes react in ways I hadn’t anticipated, but it’s always consistent with the backstory I gave her early on.

Q: What is your writing routine? Do you need peace and quiet, soft music, or does it matter?
A: It takes me a little while to get into the story each time I go back to it, and I need to be isolated from distracting things like TV, music, conversation, etc. I don’t need complete silence, though. I do a lot of writing sitting on the front porch with the world going past the house. But those sounds, I can block out.

Q: Where can readers find your books and contact information?
A: Readers can connect with me through my blog at YsWords.com. The Story in the Stars (and later, subsequent titles in the series) can be purchased in paperback or e-book formats at Amazon or through the publisher’s website (www.RisenFiction.com/store).

Experiment Report, in progress

2011-09-20T12:47:00.000-07:00

The following feels like a complaint or a whine to me and I really don’t like that. But I’ve been told that readers want to know the “real me”, with my shortcomings and imperfections. I do not understand this. At all. I’d much rather hide my flaws, specifically my massive insecurity, than “be transparent” and let people see what I am really like on the messy underside of the tapestry. If you’re not particularly interested in me and my petty problems, I do NOT blame you! Really. You are excused from reading further. Check back another day when I talk about sharks or bees (my next rant) or some other underdog getting a bum wrap. This is about me and my (probably unreasonable) desire for approval, attention, validation, and encouragement.

I also don’t know how to go about this without it looking like I’m pointing fingers. Kat, your first novel just released three weeks ago. You’re officially excused. The rest of you: I am NOT fishing for apologies. You do not owe me any explanations. However, I did start this little experiment publicly, so I am going to comment on its effectiveness publicly. I will try not to make this personal. No names. No fingers pointed.

It’s not going very well, in my opinion. I have 17 people signed up at fictionpress, that means 17 people get a courtesy email every time I post a chapter. I have been at this since June 24th, posting a chapter about every 5-10 days. I am now up to chapter 20.

Two-thirds of those people who made a commitment to encourage me in this project have either NEVER encouraged me, or they started out and have given up on me for one reason or another. I knew there would be some detractors. Life tends to get in everyone’s way. I didn’t start this until I had more than I thought I’d need, so that a break every now and then wouldn’t be noticeable. I obviously miscalculated.

When I’ve lamented to a friend or two about the drop-off in interest, I inevitably hear, “It’s September.” I guess that is supposed to mean no one has time during the school year. I don’t know everyone’s situation, but I am pretty sure that MOST of those 17 people are not in school themselves. And the one I know who did just return to college, is in the one-third of faithful who are still with me. No matter how busy we are, most people have at least half an hour a week where we could sit in Starbucks and sip a latte or watch a TV show or read a chapter. Anyone who didn’t have at least that minimal free time I am going to be bold enough to venture shouldn’t have volunteered in the first place.

Anyway, this experiment has been going on a while now. I estimate it is beyond the halfway point, at least. Chapter 18 was the worst as far as number of hits and reviews (5), but I discounted it and plowed through because 19 was going to be BIG. I thought. Chapter 19 was a very pivotal and climactic chapter (that I also felt was pretty darned clever). But after I posted it, I got so little reaction and feedback, I felt a bit depressed.

So I fell back on old habits. It was my 2-year anniversary of the day I first posted on fanfiction.net, so I snuck away from fictionpress for just a few days (which SHOULD have given people more time to catch up, right?) and I wrote a very superfluous seaQuest chapter. It was fluff. No conflict at ALL. Nothing very clever or new. I even changed the story description to warn everyone it was fluff and that it didn’t mean I was “back”, not for good, anyway. It was just for fun.

Evidently, September doesn’t affect fanfiction readers like it does original fantasy readers. In less than 24 hours, I had more hits for the tacked-on fluff chapter to a story I DROPPED than I got for all the chapters I posted over the entire month of September at fictionpress. We’re not talking just a few more (FF-net statistics are seven TIMES greater). Remember, this is a show that was cancelled before it even finished its third season, and that cancellation was more than 15 YEARS ago. This is NOT a big fandom by any stretch of imagination.

So what’s my point? In this experiemnt, I was trying to contrive a way to make writing original fiction FEEL the same or at least similar to writing fanfiction. I failed at that. People had no commitment to me whatsoever over at ff-net. If anything, they should be mad at me, because I basically dumped them and announced I was taking an indefinite hiatus to go work on something publishable. Yet when I snuck in and posted a piece of fluff, they came out of the woodwork in droves to read it and to tell me how much they enjoyed it.

But the people who said they are my biggest original-fiction fans and who DID make a commitment to encourage me, well, they all got too busy. Reminds me of the scene in “The Incredibles” where Elastigirl is trying to contact air traffic control and saying to herself, “Don’t panic. They just all stepped out for coffee... at the same time. Yeah, right.”

How can I feel confident about this book going to retail if I can’t even engage the people who are my biggest fans? Why can’t I write original fiction that is compelling enough to make people WANT to read it, not just because they’re my friend or I cajoled them into a commitment?

So yes, I am now officially disillusioned. I am committed to finishing this original novel and I think it’s going to be pretty good, if I do say so myself. But I am seriously concerned about finding its audience. One of the big reasons I wanted to get it written was to complete the trilogy and presumably help sell the other two books that haven’t exactly been doing so well. I don’t want to put my generous publisher in the hole paying the costs associated with publishing yet another of my less-than-stellar-selling books.

After this, what I do as a writer is going to largely depend on results that are out of my hands. If this trilogy can find an audience and sell enough copies that I can see myself as an asset rather than a burden to a publisher, that would help. If I could win an award or two, that would definitely help. (Stop laughing. It could happen.) If not, I won’t quit writing, but I may very well give up on original fiction and publication. Chalk it up to my insecurities or my weird plot proclivities or whatever. I’m not blaming anyone but me.

Oh, and to that one-third minority who have stuck with me when it was hard: THANK YOU. Really and sincerely. Please know that you are appreciated.

Personal news and a shark rant

2011-09-01T19:41:00.000-07:00

So I post a joke and people think I’m starting a trend. No, I don’t have another snarky top ten list. Writing comedy is hard; I’m not a comedienne.

In personal news, Nor Iron Bars a Cage was a finalist in the Global eBook Awards. That’s top three in the fantasy category. It didn’t win but I got a nice jpg "sticker" out of the deal (see left sidebar). Book 3 of the Ascendancy Trilogy is up to Chapter 17. It’s not nearly as popular as my fanfiction, but I guess it’s going as well as can be expected. I feel like it's finally getting to the good part.

Now I’m going to go on a little rant about sharks. Yes, sharks. Feel free to skip it if you’re not into animals or marine biology or breathing.

Did you know that more people are killed every year by elephants than by sharks? Did you know that 90% of the world’s shark population is now endangered because humans are killing an estimated 100 MILLION sharks per year? Sharks are being caught on longlines, stripped of their fins while still alive and then thrown back in the ocean, finless, to drown. If these were whales or seals or manatee, there’d be an uproar. Why doesn’t anyone care about sharks? Even if sharks were man-eating monsters that killed humans who trespass in their world, could we not forgive them at least as much as we forgive the elephants and lions and tigers who also kill humans every once in a while? No one would suggest we stop protecting elephants from the ivory trade because a few have killed humans.

Forget about the insanity of hunting any living creature to extinction for a minute. Forget that this is all in the name of shark fin soup, which only needs the fin for appearance and texture, not flavor or any substantial food value whatsoever. Of those 100 million sharks slaughtered, only a minute fraction are being used as food for people who would otherwise go hungry.

All right, so we can’t seem to raise any sympathy for the sharks themselves. Fine. Humans are selfish and need to have a selfish reason, so I am giving one: we NEED sharks. While I personally believe global warming is caused by sunspots, there are droves of people who believe it’s carbon dioxide. Okay, if carbon dioxide is the problem, what is the solution? Photosynthesis. Do you know what the single biggest photosynthesizers on this planet ARE? No, not the rainforests. (Hello, 70% of the planet is ocean, of course a marine species is going to out-perform any plant that is limited to our small land masses.) And no, that doesn’t mean we should let the rainforests be destroyed either. Forget what carbon dioxide theoretically does to the planet temperature. We KNOW, without any doubt, that we animals need oxygen to survive.

The single biggest oxygen producers and carbon dioxide consumers on this planet are plankton. But these wonderful oxygen-creating marvels have been depleted from our oceans at an alarming rate. Why? Because all those fish that the MILLIONS of sharks used to eat, didn’t get eaten. And what do all those fish eat? Well, some eat other fish, of course, but it all boils down to plankton. It’s a food WEB, folks. There’s a balance. You take out unreasonable numbers of the top predators and ALL the populations become grossly imbalanced. We have too many fish eating the plants and the plants can’t reproduce fast enough to keep up. No plants, no oxygen, too much carbon dioxide.

So if you want to BREATHE, people, you need to care about sharks. Save the sharks. For more info, see Support Our Sharks. End rant.

Top Ten Ways to Wipe a Nose

2011-08-02T19:18:00.000-07:00

We had a discussion on my author group about whether I had any kind of expertise to offer the world at large, you know, so I could get exposure and have ten seconds to plug my book. I'm a mom. Not an expert mom, not mom-of-the-year, just the normal, garden variety. I said (sarcastically), "Oh sure, like everyone is dying to know the top ten ways to wipe a nose."

Then someone challenged me to write it. Being the stubborn person I am, I accepted the challenge even though I was just kidding. So here it is. The "Top Ten Ways to Wipe a Nose"

10. Pass the Buck. "Junior, wipe your nose!"

9. Bait and Switch. Hold out a gummy bear and when the child approaches, you attack the nose. This rarely works more than once.

8. Covert. Sneak up behind the child and reach around from the back. This often requires cleanup from the front after child realizes defeat.

7. Feint. Hide the tissue and pull out a comb. The highly skilled may be able to accomplish the hair-combing simultaneous with the nose wipe, but not recommended on girls. (See Top Ten Ways to Remove Foreign Objects Hopelessly Entangled in Long Hair)

6. Nonchalant. Don't draw attention to the runny nose or the resulting cascade of green mucous so obviously overtaking the landscape of the child's face. Don't announce your intentions, but don't try to hide it either. Hold the tissue in plain sight and calmly reach out and touch someone. Under the nose. This also only works once.

5. The Incidental Approach. "No, I'm not going to wipe your nose. I need to wash your face. Oh look how filthy you are. Forget it and get in the bath tub." Nose gets clean as collateral damage to the rest of the body.

4. Outlast the Standoff. Children eventually succumb to sleep. If they pass out before you, you get to wipe the nose. However, sometimes the standoff lasts for hours and the snot which started out runny and relatively easy to remove may have become cemented to the upper lip like a stone mustache.

3. Jealousy. Wipe your own nose and declare how great it feels, how much cleaner and better it looks. "I don't have to deal with all that gunkus getting in my way. Don't you want to be like Mommy?"

2. Reverse Psychology. "See if I care if you get a throbbing, burning case of chapped upper lip that will leave you writhing in agony. It's no skin off my nose."

1. The Nike Approach aka "Just Do It". Let them scream and try to get away. Suck it up. You're bigger and stronger than them.

I live in a mobile home with my husband, two teens, an 8-year-old (who can now wipe his own nose, thank God), a dog, a cat, two big rats, and a tankful of guppies. Please, buy my fiction so I don't have to resort to this sort of pathetic cry for attention.

A Novel Experiment, continued

2011-06-26T22:56:00.000-07:00

The story has begun. Still not too late to get in on the reading. The chapters are posted here at FictionPress.com.

You do NOT have to join the site to read and I accept unregistered comments, so you don't have to register to "review" either. However, if you want to be notified in automatic email when a new chapter gets posted, the best way to do this is to register with FictionPress and then use the "SUBSCRIBE" feature on my profile, as described in the previous blog entry. Otherwise, you just have to go check the site all the time, which is kind of a pain, especially since the fantasy section is quite busy.

A Novel Experiment

2011-05-31T11:14:00.000-07:00

This is for FANS of my published books, not just those who thought the books were "okay". I'm talking to the folks who would say they loved them and really care whether or not a third book happens. I probably caught the majority on Facebook, but just in case I missed one, I'm posting here as well.

I wrote those first two novels all alone, with very little encouragement during the writing process. I didn't even TELL anyone I was writing the first one until it was done. That was fine when I had the naïve illusion that someday the books would be on bookstore shelves and flocks of people would BUY them and I'd make money or I'd see hundreds of wonderful reviews on Amazon or something awesome in the NY Times or Publisher's Weekly or whatever. Reality has shattered that illusion. It doesn't work that way and now I know that. My books haven't sold enough to even pay back my publisher for setup costs, earn out my advance and start making any kind of regular royalties. So we can nix monetary incentive. There has to be something else.

I am getting that "something else" with fanfiction (see Why? Part 1 for a detailed explanation on that if you're interested). I am feeling my current ideas wind down in fanfiction and thinking about shifting to writing the sequel to Nor Iron Bars a Cage. However, writing original fiction can't compete unless I can find a different way to do it. Yes, I know several people have told me, "Please write it. I'll buy it" or "I can't wait" etc. Call me insecure or needy or whatever, but I need more than that. What I need is to somehow make writing an original novel feel more like the way I have been doing fanfiction: with constant, steady encouragement instead of the silence and overwhelming feeling that I am wasting my time and bashing my head against a wall.

My fanfiction has received over 54,000 hits in a space of less than two years (See Milestones for more on that), and over 1100 positive comments. That has kept me going. I have written over HALF A MILLION words in that short space of time. Why? Because after every chapter, I knew that I could expect anywhere from 5-12 positive "reviews" within 48 hours. And those comments would absolutely make my day and give me the motivation to write more. After all, I knew if I wrote more words, I got more rewards. It's like a drug and I admit I am addicted.

So is there a way I can duplicate that kind of process? I need to find people who liked the first two books and see if any would be willing to provide what I need. I'm thinking of going to FictionPress.com where I could post my novel chapter by chapter in a password-protected website where people could read each chapter as it is finished. I would probably post about 3000-5000 words per week. This site will send the readers an email every time I post, count hits and keep stats for me, and archive all reviews/comments. It also has a handy private messaging system, so I can easily reply to reviews.

If you'd be interested, you'd agree to write comments about what you liked in a particular chapter so I could glean encouragement. The comments do NOT have to be terribly long or detailed. Most of my fanfic reviews were about 3 sentences. Samples of what I am looking for can be found at Fanfiction.net. They are listed in reverse chronological order, so the ones on the first page are for the end of the story, which means some of them are longer than normal. Try some of the middle chapters for a more representative view.

Reasons NOT to volunteer:

1. You hate to read things spread out. You prefer to have the whole book in your hands so you can sit down and read it in a marathon of twelve hours or in a few days. It will probably take me 4-6 months to write this book. It will NOT be instant gratification.
2. You don't think you would have the time once a week to read a chapter and come up with a comment.
3. You don't think you could keep it mostly positive. I am NOT looking for critique in this stage. Yes, if you see typos or glaring errors, I'd want to hear about them (you changed a minor character's name in mid-chapter, you forgot character X was in city Y and you inexplicably had him turn up in city Z, etc) BUT, until the whole draft is out, I really would not want a lot of negatives. You could save them and give them to me later, if you want. (Note: You would not be required to review every single chapter and always gush. I am hoping to have enough people volunteer that the bases would be covered for the occasional skip.)
4. You don't feel you could perform this service without compensation. You would be getting to read it for FREE, but it won't be in finished and polished final form and you would have to give back some time and thought. You may feel like I'd be exploiting you to reap your constant encouragement without pay.

Reasons it could be to your advantage:

1. You would be in a very select group of people who got to read it FIRST. You would see each chapter immediately after I finish it, possibly a YEAR or more ahead of anyone else.
2. You would be in a position to critique later, in the next stage, if you so wished. I will take volunteers for crit partners from THIS group first and only go outside this group to others if there is not enough interest from the "fan" group.
3. You would have input on what things are "good parts" that I should keep and what is not so good and should maybe be cut. Thus, you might help shape the finished story.
4. If you really do want to see Latoph Book 3 happen, this is the way to do something that will help. I cannot write in a dark closet anymore. I've had a taste of writing with encouragement and I can't go back. I NEED this or it just won't happen.

If you're interested and I haven't scared you away yet, then here's how to proceed:

1. Go to FictionPress and use the link at top right that says "SIGN UP". They will ask for your email address. Use something that you check often (preferably every day). You do NOT have to make this public. The site needs it to mail you an authorization for the next step. They just want people who are going to play nice and not spam the members. You will also pick a screen name which they call "pen name" and choose a password. You can make your pen name your real name or you can be cryptic and mysterious and not tell anyone who you are. By the way, my pen name there is CF Vici.

2. Click the link in the Activiation Email sent by FictionPress. You MAY, if you like, fill out a profile with as much or as little information as you wish to share. Click on MY PROFILE (and login if necessary). There is a picture of the double suns-set from the cover of the first book as my avatar. Right under my pen name (CF Vici), click "SUBSCRIBE". FictionPress will send you an email every time I post a new chapter. Make sure your inbox can accept email from bot@fictionpress.com. The mails will always say [FP Author Alert] in the subject line.

If the site gives you problems, please comment here or email me (my addy is provided on the profile at FictionPress or my Blogger profile here) and I'll help with the site or work something else out with you. Oh, and don't expect the first chapter immediately. I have to wrap up some loose ends on my fanfiction thread and get psyched up to write Latoph 3. I'm thinking somewhere about June 15-25 is a good time to expect a first chapter.

Milestones

2011-05-24T15:35:00.000-07:00

I haven’t been paying my stats a lot of attention and I missed it when my fanfiction hit counter went over 50,000. It now stands at 54,204.

Realize all these stats are cumulative since 9-13-09. Less than two years. I’m astonished at the word count too. That’s over HALF A MILLION words! I am happy with this. No complaining at all. I keep dreaming that I could get permission for an authorized self-publication, but I’ve looked for addresses to write the proper people to ask to no avail. I assume these big-name celebrity folks guard their privacy. I know it’s just a dream. Silly for me to even think like that.

But...
I am running out of ideas in this setting and I am missing a certain writing partner (we worked on separate stories, but we ran things by each other and just talked about writing and our shared writing universe a lot). That’s giving me this “it's just not the same anymore” kinda feeling.

I have a feeling my muse might be up to something. Either planning a sabbatical (bad) or maybe a change of gears (scary, but tolerable). Or maybe he’s just lazy and not going to share ideas until I write out what little I have in my head right now. I don’t know. Trying not to panic.

Murder in the Vatican by Ann Margaret Lewis

2011-04-20T09:55:00.000-07:00

I loved this book for several reasons. First and foremost, because I am a complete sucker for Sherlock Holmes. And this wasn’t just some mystery solved in a deductive manner like Sherlock Holmes, nor does it merely borrow Sherlock Holmes as a character. No. Two of the three sections were written from the point of view of Dr. Watson, and with language and style so carefully imitative that I had to keep reminding myself that Ann Margaret Lewis wrote this and not Arthur Conan Doyle himself. This reads exactly like any Sherlock Holmes mystery.

Secondly, and I hope you’ll forgive me for using this somewhat uncomplimentary term, but this book is fanfiction! Ann Lewis did not invent Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson, or Father Brown and Flambeau, but she uses ALL of them, giving credit to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and G.K. Chesterton. That is so personally encouraging to me because I write fanfiction too. Like Ann, I am using characters and settings invented by someone else, but which the inventor is no longer using. I am not competing with the creator. I am doing him tribute. While I do not know Ann personally, from reading this book, I am forced to conclude that she writes from the same kind of devotion.

Now, while I loved Murder in the Vatican: The Church Mysteries of Sherlock Holmes, I would be remiss if I did not mention my one disappointment. This is partially my fault for not seeing "mysteries" in the subtitle. My disappointment was that this book is really three short stories rather than one novel. While they do tie into each other and make sense as a group, I was disappointed it wasn’t a single, deeper mystery rather than three shorter ones.

That said, I still found each story enjoyable and it did make it somewhat easier to divvy up my reading. I should also mention that being Protestant in no way detracted from my enjoyment of the work. Because Holmes is written true to his character, and he is not a man of faith himself, all the Catholic peculiarities are explained with a patient and non-demeaning way that I truly appreciated.

Holmes was shown to be intelligent but respectful of the Pope and Pope Leo XIII was shown to be concerned for Holmes’ soul as well as respectful of his loyalties to his queen and genuinely admiring of his talent as a detective. I had to remind myself several times that Sherlock Holmes was a fictional character and didn’t really meet Leo XIII, because the dialog and mannerisms and historical detail were so well done that I kept forgetting it was fiction.

If you like Sherlock Holmes, you simply MUST read Murder in the Vatican: The Church Mysteries of Sherlock Holmes. If you simply like good mysteries set in Victorian England or Rome of the same period, this is well worth your time too. Bravo, Ann. Thank you for writing this.

Order direct from publisher

Visit the Holmes Church Mysteries website.

Crunching Numbers

2011-04-03T14:20:00.000-07:00

I’m doing a little experiment here. I first posted this as a “note” on Facebook. If you actually read it there first and choose to comment, would you mention that, please? I’m trying to figure out how people find stuff I post.

This is yet another comparison in the vein of why I’m writing fanfiction instead of original. Sick of this topic from me? Don’t read this post. (Somehow missed the deeper, more philosophical “Why I write fanfiction” and actually care? Click here.)

First, let us catalog what I have done in original. I wrote two full novels, self-published them first and later polished and had them re-published by an independent publisher. I spent a HUGE amount of time and money collecting rejections, attending writer’s conferences to try to “network”, and paying for false promises like “custom” covers and bookstore distribution (Xulon, not Splashdown). I also spent a HUGE amount of time and money on advertising. Take my website, for example.

I spent money to subscribe to the flash tools to make the fancy flash introduction. I’m sorry it still has the old TDH cover still in it, but I don’t feel the need to pay more money, plus a lot of time to fix it, as I will explain.

I spend money annually on the custom domain and the hosting. I have advertised my website on Google adWords. I have put the web address on business cards, online signatures, social media, blog interviews, author bios, and every other conceivable place I could find. This is what I have to show for OVER TEN YEARS of paying (money, time, sweat, tears):

So let’s look at fanfiction. I use a free website for distribution. Yes, I mirror my stories on a separate domain, but I don’t pay for the hosting on that; I accept the GoDaddy ad instead. And the stats I am about to show have nothing to do with my domain, in fact, my efforts there probably detract from these numbers, since it is just a duplication. I have not spent a dime on advertising this. I have mentioned the fact that I post fanfiction on my social media, but I honestly have seen almost zero evidence of anyone finding me that way. So what do I have to show for my foray into fanfiction?

For those who are math challenged, I have tallied the “hits” and I get a total of 49,342. These are not 11-12 years worth of hits, like the first example. This is LESS THAN TWO YEARS worth of hits. So taking time into factor, this is GREATER THAN 5000% more hits per year.

True, I’m not making any money this way, but since I’m also not spending any, I’m coming out pretty far ahead. Suddenly, I don’t feel so black sheep anymore.

Dreaming of a Writing Partner?

2011-03-25T11:13:00.000-07:00

I recently got an email with the subject: Dreaming of a Writing Partner to Guide You from Idea to Treatment? But the whole subject was too long to see and all I caught before opening the mail was: Dreaming of a Writing Partner. Well, heck yes, as a matter of fact, I am! Hoping someone out there had cloned Tom Clancy and was offering either him or his clones for lease, I eagerly opened the mail. Then I saw the whole subject and sighed. Heavily. Okay, I could probably use a little help with "idea to treatment" but I doubt the $29 software they are offering could ever accomplish what I wanted from Tom Clancy's clone.

You see, I just want to borrow his name. Or JK Rowling's, or Rockne S. O'Bannon's, or Steven Spielberg's. Anybody's name that will sell books. My name doesn't cut it, nor does any other nomme de plume that I could legally use. I don't really want a writing partner to help me write. I need a writing partner to help me SELL. Heck, I am talking science fiction here. I could even SAY it was a clone and still sell books. I bet scads of people would buy a book by Tom Clancy's clone with C.F. Vici or Caprice Hokstad in little itty bitty letters right under that. In fact, forget me altogether. I'll ghostwrite it for Tom Clancy's clone. The real Tom Clancy wouldn't stoop to that, would he? I bet I could get more readers ghostwriting for an admitted clone than I could with my own unknown and un-enticing name. Come on, Writer's Store, where are the products I really NEED?

Help me understand. Please.

2011-03-13T21:24:00.000-07:00

Can someone educate me, please? I don’t understand something and I desperately want to. I am sick and tired of being obscure. I want to be popular but I don’t understand public taste. I can understand why some folks like horror even though I don’t. I can understand why some women like romance novels even though I generally don’t find them to my liking. This is not what I’m talking about. I want to understand some popular trends. Someone please explain the following “hot” subjects that sell books:

1) Vampire horror

2) Bonnet romance (Amish, Puritan, prairie, whatever)

3) Dragon fantasy

Let’s start with the last category, because this illustrates my dilemma the best. I read fantasy. I write fantasy. I like some of the other fantasy offered for sale. I love the Harry Potter series, for example. I even like some of the books that include dragons, my favorites being Melanie Rawn’s Dragon Prince series. But I don’t understand why dragons by themselves are so hot (pun intended). I mean, why will people seek out dragon fantasy above all others? What is so darned attractive about dragons? I just don’t get it. For me, I can pretty much take or leave a dragon being in a story. I care no more than whether the detective in a mystery has a cat or not. But there is no denying that dragons are hot and dragons sell books, so someone please explain WHY. Is it about flying? Could I duplicate dragon success with a large avian species? Bats and pterodactyls have similar wings to what I see depicted on dragons. Could that be the secret: leathery wings? Big teeth? The ability to swallow a human whole? WHAT?

Same for vampires. Now I don’t particularly like the horror genre, but I have read at least one vampire story I liked (would I have let my daughter pose for the cover if I didn't like the book?) but it was in spite of it having a vampire main character, and not because of it. I’m not asking to be converted to horror, because I “get”, in general, why horror is attractive. I’m asking what it is about vampires in particular that make folks go gaga. It doesn’t seem to matter if the vampires are truly frightening beasts or sparkly high school students. Write a vampire book and you have an automatic leg up that you didn’t have if you just wrote some other monster story.

Bonnet romances: once again, I plead ignorance. I can understand why women read romance. (Do any men read straight romance, or do they just tolerate a romantic sideline in an action adventure story?) Some have told me that they feel my first novel has strong romantic overtones, and while they are not accidental, I hesitate to label it romance because as a genre, Romance is very rigid in its expectations and my stories do not fit the mold.

But even though straight romance is not my cup of tea, I “get” it. I understand the attraction (am I on a roll with these wordplays?). I understand why it sells UNTIL we narrow the genre to those books whose covers have the heroine wearing a bonnet. If it were only one or two of these out there, I’d say it was just an anomoly. When you’re looking to be different/fresh/unique, you look outside the box and Amish women are foreign enough that they give an exotic taste I would expect to be used once or twice the same as I would expect someone else has probably already written a Romance novel set in Spain. But it’s not just one or two. They’re EVERYWHERE. Dozens and dozens of them. What the heck is up with that? Why are bonnet romances (as a distinct subset of the whole genre) so darned popular? I mean, can I just change the hat on the heroine and still be trendy? Is a hijab just as alluring? How about a lace mantilla? I know it sounds like I’m poking fun, but I’m trying to illustrate just how little sense this makes to me. I. Don’t. Get. It.

If you do understand even one of these popular literary trends, please do enlighten me. PLEASE.

Why? Part 3

2011-02-25T12:00:00.000-08:00

Did you miss part 1? You can scroll down or click here.
Did you miss part 2? Click here.

So I started Redemption with several goals in mind: 1) Clarify that the single zap of energy wasn’t just a plain electrical discharge. I named the zap-ray Genome Wave Energy and gave it some potent properties so that one zap was a lot more lethal than it looked, and therefore Tim wasn’t as big of a wimp as he appeared. 2) Show Tim feeling remorse and guilt over the event. Even if he couldn’t help breaking under torture, he would have felt badly after the fact. 3) Have some counseling (psychological and spiritual) so that getting over it wasn’t so far-fetched. And as I was working on these goals, I came up with another: 4) Tim needed to redeem himself, both with Bridger for quitting on him like that, and for himself. About 7 chapters in, I knew I had to write a story that Tim could be the hero of.

Once I realized this wasn’t going to be short, and I also realized that even though I was doing this “just for fun” that it was shaping up to be an excellent little story, I started wondering if there was anyone out there who remembered the old show and might be interested in reading it. I had purchased the UnderseaAdventure.net domain when I started “Neptune’s Gambit” just so that nobody else could get it. So I put the story up on that domain and I added some webrings that seemed pertinent. If I have gotten a single hit that way, I never heard about it.

Then I found FanFiction.net. This was like hitting pay dirt. Here is a huge forum of shared stories from all kinds of movies, plays, and TV shows, both new and old. And even though SeaQuest has been off the air for over a decade, there are writers there, just like me, who are actively writing AND READING stories in the seaQuest universe, RIGHT NOW!!

So I posted the first seven chapters all at once, just to see if anyone was going to read them. By golly, people did! And they said they wanted to see more. Well, since I was having so much fun and the words were once again FLOWING like I hadn’t felt in several YEARS, of course, I obliged them. And the story just got better and better. And the readers got more and more appreciative. I’m telling you, it’s like a drug. And I admit to being addicted.

In case you care to read Redemption, I won’t put any spoilers here, but Tim does get to be a hero.

As I neared the end of the story, I noticed something about the readers. While I had a lot more readers than I ever expected when I started the story, I noticed that there were a good number of seaQuest readers that were not interested in MY story, but they were reading stories by other authors posting at the same time. To this day I am pretty sure it has nothing to do with the quality of the writing. It was subject matter. You see, while Tim is my personal favorite, he’s not everyone’s. In fact, the Tim fans are in the decided minority. If I wanted to get more attention, I needed to write a story about Lucas Wolenczak, the teenage heart-throb. He is more widely beloved.

I found this very difficult. While I like Lucas well enough, he’s not even second after Tim, he’s more like third after Bridger, and beyond that, he was written as a child prodigy genius of the future which means he is, by definition, much smarter than I am. Okay, so Tim is much smarter than me too, but I could fake it with languages by just saying he said such-and-such in Cantonese. No point in trying to translate it when no one would be able to read it anyway, right? And with Tim I could always fall back on his awkwardness and insecurity, where I did feel very confident. I relate to that.

Still, I really WANTED those Lucas fans to give me a chance, so I started thinking hard about my next story before I was even done with Redemption. I finished Redemption on Christmas night, 2009.

After I posted the last chapter, I went through full-blown post-partum depression. I did do some light edits before I formatted it for paperback and printed up copies for myself and a few others who asked for them. This didn’t take more than a week. Honestly, even if I was going to try to sell it as authorized, I don’t think I’d change very much from what I gave away for free. I’m really proud of this novel and the way it turned out in the end, even if it’s just fanfiction, and even if I didn’t do massive rewrites.

Anyway, I had shadows of ideas for the new story with Lucas more at center stage, but I wasn’t really feeling very good about it. However, I really missed the reviews and I missed writing. How in the world had I gone years without the rush? I was addicted to the creating and the rewards I got from posting. I had to have another fix!

I had even less of an idea where I was going when I started Hard Time, but I jumped in anyway, with the idea that even if the story wasn’t as great as the last one, maybe I’d pick up a few of the Lucas fans. Because my new plot involved kidnapping a huge portion of the crew, I had to have some idea how I was going to eventually resolve it, so I think I had five or six chapters written before I just couldn’t wait any more and started posting. That was Feb. 6th, 2010. (Note: my dry period only lasted from Dec 25-Feb 6 and I was writing then, just not posting)

After I got through those first chapters, I have been writing and posting immediately, no longer holding back. Hard Time achieved my goal of attracting new fans and it took twists and turns I never conceived when I started. By the end of this story, I was posting a chapter every 2-5 days. And the reviews. Oh. My. Gosh. People were so wonderful. They gushed. They swooned. They constantly said marvelous things that just made my day. I would get so stoked. I shared snippets on Twitter and Facebook, they were so great.

For a very long time, I was miffed that people liked Hard Time (which I didn’t like that much) so much more than Redemption. I’m still not sure whether I finally made Hard Time good enough in my own eyes that I liked it better too, or whether the intoxicating adoration of the fans sucked me in, but eventually I started to see it as my best work. It sure did bring me a lot of hits and reviews as that screeenshot of my stats attests (12/31/10). And the thing is, no matter what stats I post today, tomorrow they’d be better. New people keep finding my stories and reading and reviewing. Two months later, with absolutely nothing else added or changed and Hard Time got another 1728 more hits and four new reviews. I should also mention, this isn't even counting hits on my own domain, just the hits and readers on Fanfiction.net.

I also formatted Hard Time for paperback. I think six or seven people outside of me bought a copy, just to have on the shelf. That sales status alone would be another dismal failure if that was all I had. I didn’t make a penny on the sales either. Just offered them at the cost of binding and shipping for those who took the time to email me and ask for them. I do NOT advertise paperbacks in any way, since I don’t own the copyrights to the characters.

I started the sequel much sooner afterwards this time. I had tons of ideas for where I wanted to go, because the way I wrote Hard Time had opened up all kinds of avenues. I am now in the camp of AU, which, in fan fiction jargon, is “Alternate Universe”, not within the canon structure of the original show. I had been afraid to tread here because I thought it turned off the fans. Boy was I wrong, at least in this particular fandom. You see, the orignal show changed too much over its very short lifespan and alienated its own fans to the point that it lost them and then was cancelled. The die-hards who are out there reading fanfiction are the ones who miss how it was in the beginning and who are very happy to shove aside the canon that killed them in order to accept an Alternate--as long as it is well done.

I don’t think I am bragging to say I am one of the ones who has pulled this off. The stats speak for themselves. No, Steven Spielberg is not calling me up and looking to do a TV movie (although maybe he should. LOL) to revive his show. I have mixed feelings about it. On the one hand, I think the show could have done so much better if certain things had been done differently, but some of those things have nothing to do with writing. I don’t really want to deal with production costs, special effects budgets, actor contracts, etc. It’s a lot more fun to write without those practical constraints. On the other hand, there’s a (very) small part of me that doesn’t mind the fact that the show was considered a “flop”. It means that big-name people out there who DO own this concept have discarded it like so much garbage and they don’t really mind that I’ve gone dumpster diving, pulled out a wadded-up reject, smoothed it out and breathed a little life in it. If anything, I might help them sell a few more DVDs.

I will say right now though, that if they ever felt I was a threat, I’d be more than happy to become their employee and let them make all the money. Like I said from the beginning, it is NOT about money for me. Steven, Rockne, I will work for nothing. That’s right. You let me play with your characters in your setting and you can HAVE anything I produce. Give me a byline in tiny letters or roll my name by quickly on the credits. I don’t care. I’d JUMP at the chance.

So now I’m writing the sequel, Not on My Watch. It’s more episodic now, like a soap opera instead of a TV movie. But my fans still love it and it won’t stay that way forever. I’ve got a lot more character depth this way, depth we couldn’t have when the cast kept changing and someone thought every episode had to have a large percentage of time devoted to chases or sea monsters or girls in bikinis.

I am consistently writing, editing, and posting 8000 words a week (average). Writing is fun again. I’d lost that fun in the drudgery of all the self-promotion stuff deemed essential these days when you try to sell books. I guess maybe I’d be less negative about all that marketing junk if I could just see some fruit come of it. But it’s like the black hole that sucks out energy and creativity and gives nothing back. It isn’t that I’m unwilling to work for success, it’s that I’m unwilling to work for no rewards at all. Fan fiction doesn’t give me monetary rewards or fame, but it gives me great satisfaction and it gives me readers who lavish praise on me and make me feel like it’s appreciated and worth it.

Links to all my fan fiction stories (free to read):

[UnderseaAdventure.net]

Why? Part 2

2011-02-21T12:26:00.000-08:00

Did you miss part 1? You can scroll down or click here.

At first, I just started writing seaQuest fanfiction as a way to keep in practice with my writing. These were characters and a setting I absolutely adored and I got a bee in my bonnet about a certain episode I wanted to “fix”. You see, the writers did something with my favorite character that really chuffed me off. It was out-of-character and it was (in my opinion) a cheap shot that they pulled for the sake of time or drama. I understand that a TV show has certain limitations, but I don’t have to operate under those stupid limitations.

My favorite character is the communications officer, Lt.JG Tim O’Neill. He’s brilliant. Fluent in half a dozen languages and pretty good in another dozen. That’s EIGHTEEN languages, folks! And not only that, but he’s always fixing the hardware. He’s under the counter with a zillion wires everywhere and he can figure it out. And while the boy genius Lucas gets most of the info-dump lines and the gee-whiz solutions, Tim gets them out of scrapes with his vast store of knowledge more than once. He is very valuable and he’s respected, on the submarine anyway.

But even though Tim is brilliant, he’s a big-time nerd. The actor who plays him is cute, but not handsome (Ted Raimi). He wears very thick glasses in the geekiest possible frames and he’s socially awkward. His dates are disasters. While all the other guys are shown in tank tops or bare-chested at the beach (their volleyball game is a total hunkfest), Tim is wearing a BLACK shirt and has zinc oxide on his nose. He slurps on straws when he drinks. Cringe-worthy stuff.

So in this one episode (Dagger Redux), they have poor Tim try to resign his commission because he feels like he’s “going nowhere”. Okay, he’s way overdue for a promotion, but that isn’t even addressed. Seems he wants to throw all 18 languages and the electronics expertise out the window and be a painter (but he can’t paint worth beans). Puhleeeze! Couldn’t the screenwriters come up with something better than this? Captain Bridger refuses to accept his resignation (duh) and sends him on a 30-day leave to come to his senses. Tim simultaneously alienates female models and invites public ridicule because he paints so badly.

Meanwhile, the baddie of the episode, a handsome guy in a wheelchair who thinks aquatic bug fossils are the key to cold fusion, breaks a hot guest-star babe out of prison so she will help him get seaQuest (that’s the fancy submarine they named the show after). They need seaQuest out of the way to take over the world, I think. It’s really kind of nebulous why Mr. Wheelchair attacks the big submarine. But does it matter? He’s the Baddie so he’s not going to succeed anyway.

Handsome Baddie and Very Hot Chick need an insider who can give them the secret bridge control override codes to seaQuest and of course Handsome Baddie somehow happens to know that they just dropped off their communication officer in a convenient beach town all alone. Very Hot Chick finds him effortlessly and distracts him by offering to pose for painting, dropping her clothes before he even agrees. Of course, his bug-eyed, drop-the-paintbrush reaction to her casual stripping is great TV. Ted pulls it off like a pro. But this is just before Very Hot Chick zaps clueless Tim with some kind of badass tazer so she can kidnap him.

Next time we see them, she’s got him restrained in a force-field on an advanced submarine headed toward seaQuest. Hot Chick asks Tim for the codes and he refuses. She hits him with a single jolt of energy and he spills the codes. Just like that. No struggle. She gets the upper hand in the underwater battle for a while and in the midst of her attack, Captain Bridger hits his head and is out cold. But Hot Chick has no experience and wastes all her torpedoes and even her giant squid that’s supposed to be genetically engineered to eat seaQuest’s bio-skin.

Hot Chick is about to lose, but wait, she has a hostage. She puts Tim on the vid-link but he tells Commander Ford (who’s in charge now with Bridger unconscious), “It’s my fault. Do what you have to.” He’d rather die than be used as a pawn.

Commander Ford does the unthinkable and negotiates with the Hot Chick terrorist, trading Tim for letting her get away. Tim comes back home and all those supposed doubts about his career are gone, he doesn’t feel badly, and in the next episode he’s right back to the same guy.

GRRRR!
My biggest beef is that they would NEVER have let one of the handsome characters spill the codes, especially under so little apparent duress. It didn’t even look that painful. When Ford gets beat up in another episode, he not only doesn’t crack, but he manages to bark out orders that ensure everyone else’s safety. Not even the middle aged Bridger would have cracked. If it’s not because he’s the least good-looking, then why did they write him wimping out? If it’s because he’s the professed and practicing Christian, then I’m even more miffed.

Even if you accept the cracking under pressure as a fluke, they still showed Tim getting over this too easily. Hello? He’d feel terrible if he gave up codes that put all his friends at risk, especially if he did it with so little struggle.

So, for fun and practice, with no expectation that I would share it, but just to set things square for dear sweet Tim in my own mind, I started writing what I assumed would be a short story or possibly a novela, but of course ended up a full-blown novel (because I just can’t ever keep anything short).

There's more to this explanation if anyone cares. Click here to read more nonfiction rambling.

Want to read the GOOD STUFF? Check out the fiction result of all this rambling instead:

Redemption, Chapter One on FanFiction.net
(black text on white background, ability to leave reviews, ads all over)

Redemption, Chapter One on UnderseaAdventure.net
(white text on navy background, hosting ad at top, some pictures)

Why? Part 1

2011-02-20T17:17:00.000-08:00

I have had a blog since 2007 and up to now, have written very little about myself. First of all, I didn’t think anyone would really be interested in anything nonfiction that I had to say. That may still be the case. I don’t purport to be an expert on any subject, including my own thoughts and motivations. And second of all, I only started the blog as a place to dump book reviews which I mostly don’t like to do, but for which I felt obligated to do. I mean, how dare I ask others to review my book(s) on their blog if I wasn’t willing to reciprocate?

But I am no longer feeling that obligation. I will, on occasion, review a book, if it’s totally of my choosing and not something pressured on me by a tour group. Next on my list is “Murder in the Vatican” by Ann Margaret Lewis, slated for a review here on April 20th. It’s supposed to be a Holmesian novel and I am a complete sucker for Sherlock Holmes in all its incarnations (Did anyone else see the BBC production of “Sherlock” that aired on PBS? Wow, I bought those three episodes right up on DVD. You simply MUST watch them 3-4 times just to catch everything. Absolutely and utterly brilliant!)

But enough about why I started this blog and have done with it in the past. I am now going to do something a little different, and that is attempt to answer the question “Why?”, more specifically, “Why do you write fanfiction?” Granted, not very many people have asked me this. Just a few. And I’m not sure my answer has all that much value. I am well aware that writing fanfiction puts me in the “black sheep” category of writers and most people would rather just shake their heads and/or ignore me. That’s fine. Not going to try to persuade anyone otherwise. I don’t claim to be sane, so no sense starting that flamewar either. Call me crazy and I’ll agree and that’s the end of that.

Perhaps I should start with a little history. Two years ago, I was trying to write original fiction, but I was stuck. I had written two fantasy novels already--big, epic novels. But they didn’t sell very well when they were self-published and I did not yet have the offer from Splashdown. The jury is still out on the Splashdown editions as to whether they are doing well or not. But since all this happened BEFORE I had the new contract, it’s a bit irrelevant. Just know that when I talk about my fantasy books not doing well, I’m talking about the self-published versions.

Anyway, the first two books did so poorly that I completely lost motivation to finish the trilogy. And before anyone jumps to conclusions, it’s not about money. If you knew how much money I have thrown away on this hobby, you’d know it couldn’t be about money. We refinanced our home so I could go to a CBA convention (talk about monumental WASTE) and a writing conference to meet an agent for ten whole minutes. I homeschooled during the day while working nights at Blockbuster (30 hours a week) just to scrape up the money to pay an artist for a book cover. I have sunk way more money into this than I will probably ever make, short of becoming the next JK Rowling.

It has never been about money. But it is about readers. I believe one of the main purposes of fiction is to entertain. You can’t entertain anyone who isn’t actually reading, no matter how brilliant the writing is.

Unlike some others, I don’t feel like I have been “called” to write as some sort of mandate from God. If God tells you to write, of course you should obey, but God hasn’t really told me I have to write. Does a Christian have to be “called” to knit? Or can it just be a hobby? If you are one of those people who thinks crosses or fish symbols must be woven deep into every design of every scarf in order for knitting to be a legitimate use of a Christian’s time, feel free to read no further. You and I must agree to disagree on this point. Nothing else I say is going to make any sense, so don’t waste your time.

If, for the joy of knitting, I take the time to create 100 beautiful scarves, is it wrong or vain or egotistical of me to wish that my lovingly knit creations were hanging around 100 cold necks rather than just one around my neck and the other 99 gathering dust in my drawer? At this point, someone is sure to pipe in with how stupid I was not to just knit one scarf and not waste all that yarn and time if I didn’t have anyone who would want the finished product.

Voilà! My problem in a nutshell. I felt like it was stupid to waste time, emotions, and brain cells on writing yet another book in my fantasy trilogy if there were no cold necks out there wanting to be warmed by my artistry. I enjoy writing and I personally love to read what I produce, but I really want to write something that other people would enjoy too. So I shelved book 3 of the Ascendancy Trilogy (for the four of you out there who actually read and liked the first two books, you should know that I want to write book 3 someday; this isn’t abandonment, it’s postponement).

I had this idea for an undersea sci-fi novel, tentatively named “Neptune’s Gambit”. I mulled on it quite a while. I even tried to write it during NaNo of 2008. I have an awesome setting all worked out. I have a fairly fresh idea (how many sci-fi novels are NOT set on a spaceship or some other planet/space station?). My problem was, I didn’t like the characters I created to live in my glorious setting and carry out my awesome plot. They were “well rounded” with enough flaws to be real, but I just didn’t care whether they attained their goals, learned their lessons, lived, or died. And if I didn’t care, I couldn’t make readers care either.

So “Neptune’s Gambit” is dead in the water (pun intended). Unlike Book 3 of Ascendancy that just needs my keyboard time, I don’t have what this book needs and if the right characters don’t come to me, then this book will never be written. But I was really “into” the setting. With an eye to studying what makes characters work for others as well as to survey what else was already written in this narrow sub-genre of sci-fi, I started devouring any undersea fiction I could find--everything from Jules Verne’s “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea” to Orson Scott Card’s novelization of “The Abyss” (even better than the movie, btw) to Tom Clancy’s “Hunt for Red October”.

I didn’t limit myself to books because frankly, there really are NOT a lot out there. That’s a good thing though. At least the market isn’t saturated. I have watched nearly every underwater movie Netflix has in stock either as DVD or on Instant.

Then I found out that the 1990’s TV series “SeaQuest DSV” was on DVD. Oh. My. Gosh. Jackpot! The way the oceans were colonized in that series was the closest to what I had in mind for “Neptune”. I don’t have the SyFy channel, so I hadn’t seen it in YEARS. I saved my Amazon gift certificates from doing online surveys (Heinz pays me $10 a month to tell them why I don’t buy Ore-Ida French Fries or which new ketchup bottle looks coolest) and bought the first and second season sets.

I loved that show back when it aired and I still love it just as much today. Maybe even more now because Jonathan Brandis and Roy Scheider are gone from this world. I watched the DVDs over and over. I found the authorized novels in a used bookstore and I read those. One of them is pretty good. But the others I couldn’t help but think, “I could have done a better job than this.” Well, once that thought settled in my brain, I was a goner.

Now I am to the point where I can’t really discuss this without going into particulars. If you’re not familiar with SeaQuest DSV or don’t care to become so, then this is going to be boring. Consider yourself excused from reading any further.

Still interested in my journey? Okay Go to Part 2.

Rather just skip the process and get to the GOOD STUFF? Check out the fiction links instead:

Redemption, Chapter One on FanFiction.net
(black text on white background, ability to leave reviews, ads all over)

Redemption, Chapter One on UnderseaAdventure.net
(white text on navy background, hosting ad at top, some pictures)

Tales of the Dim Knight

2011-01-02T14:07:00.000-08:00

Tales of the Dim Knight
by Adam and Andrea Graham

About the Book:
Mild-mannered janitor and superhero fanboy Dave Johnson gets all his wishes at once when a symbiotic alien gives him supernatural powers. But what's he to do with them? Follow his laugh-a-minute progress as he fights crime and corruption while trying to keep his family together and avoid being sued for copyright infringement.

My Review
If you are a fan of the superhero genre and comic books, Tales of the Dim Knight is for you. Having never read comic books, I am certain there are in-jokes that flew right over my head, but most everyone knows what Superman, Batman, and Spider-Man are all about. You don't have to know as much about classic superheroes as Dave Johnson (the book's main character) does, but if you do, I'm sure it only enhances your enjoyment of this tale. It's part tongue-in-cheek, part tribute, and all-original story with a Christian message to boot.

While not written specifically for the YA market, Adam and Andrea have an excellent article which can help you decide if Tales of the Dim Knight is a good choice for your younger reader. Personally, I wouldn't hesitate to let my 16-year-old read it.

Watch the Book Trailer.
Visit DimKnight.com.

Purchase Tales of the Dim Knight from Amazon,
Barnes and Noble, and Splashdown Books.

Neeta Lyffe, Zombie Exterminator by Karina Fabian

2010-12-15T08:41:00.000-08:00

Neeta Lyffe, Zombie Exterminator
by Karina Fabian

About the Book:
By the 2040s, the shambling dead have become an international problem. While governments and special interest groups vie for the most environmentally-friendly way to rid the world of zombies, a new breed of exterminator has risen: The Zombie Exterminator. When zombie exterminator Neeta Lyffe gets sued because a zombie she set afire stumbles onto a lawyer's back porch, she needs money, fast. So she agrees to train apprentice exterminators in a reality TV show that makes Survivor look like a game of tag. But that's nothing compared to having to deal with crazy directors, bickering contestants and paparazzi. Can she keep her ratings up, her bills paid and her apprentices alive and still keep her sanity?

My Review
This book is so full of comedy, it’s hard to believe there’s room for anything else. No, really. Karina pokes fun at everything from the spy genre (zombie exterminators need a license to re-kill) to car manufacturers (government owned General Motors turns out cars like the Entitlement and the Deficit) and everything in between. Karina obviously relished using humor even in naming items and characters (the presidential candidate who mucks up the reality TV show ratings with his announcements is named Woody Forrest).

With all the hilarity and pure fun, you’d think there wouldn’t be much else, but you’d be wrong. Karina put enough thought into zombie extermination (what zombies actually are, what kills them permanently, what repels them) that you really can suspend disbelief and accept this world where the “shambling undead” have become a frightening menace. Beyond that, the plot really works. There’s lots of action (a huge zombie emergency call comes in just as Neeta and her team are about to film the season finale), plenty of drama, and even some romance. Even with the over-the-top director, Dave (“Are you getting chills? I’ve got chills.”) bypassing safety and decency for ratings, I was sucked into the show enough to keep turning pages just to find out who wins the million dollars on Zombie Death Extreme. But I won’t spoil the ending.

This is humor at its best. Yes, some of it is corny, but how could it not be? Some of the most scathing satire is so well done that it’s almost invisible. I wouldn’t even be surprised to learn I missed some of the jokes entirely because they were subtle. This is the brilliance. Karina doesn’t feel the need to knock you over the head with every little joke. She’s put out such a sumptuous buffet that she can afford for you to miss a delectable item or two.

If you’re ready to laugh, read Neeta Lyffe, Zombie Exterminator. If you’re not, perhaps you should check to see if you might BE a zombie in need of extermination.

Visit Karina's website, Fabianspace.

Purchase Neeta Lyffe, Zombie Exterminator
from Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

War of Attrition by Frank Creed

2010-12-04T13:49:00.000-08:00

War of Attrition
by Frank Creed
This month, CFRB presents War of Attrition: Book Two of the Underground, by Frank Creed.

About the Book:
Set in 2037, Calamity Kid and his muscle cell are targeted by the One State's Federal Bureau of Terrorism and must survive alone in Chicago's Underground. At one-half its usual might, the cell encounters traps and snares set by a faceless opponent-and question the suspicious arrival of a bio-engineered One State traitor. Blamed by the media for the very violence they're trying to contain, CK and his fellow saints race for their lives to avoid the high-tech crosshairs aimed into the underground. War of Attrition, Book Two of the Underground, is the sequel to Frank Creed's award-winning Christian sci-fi/ cyberpunk novel, Flashpoint.

About the Author:
Frank is published in Tales for the Thrifty Barbarian: An Anthology of High Fantasy and has three short stories in Light at the Edge of Darkness. His Christian cyberpunk novel, Flashpoint, was released in September 2007. An avid fan of sci-fi and fantasy, Speculative Fiction is the vehicle that Frank uses to deliver his beliefs and spiritual philosophy to readers. Frank has created the "Lost Genre Guild" as an organization to help promote Biblical speculative fiction and assist fans in locating the best in the genre.

My Review
When you have written a masterpiece like Flashpoint, what do you do for an encore? Answer: top yourself and blow away all expectations with War of Attrition. Having read and extolled Flashpoint (missed it? CLICK HERE), it's hard for me to imagine anyone trying to skip the first book and read War of Attrition first. I wouldn't recommend it. I don't think you'd be "lost" or confused, really, but I do think you'd miss not only a great book, but a lot of the emotional backdrop that makes War of Attrition so much deeper and more complex.

It is very hard to review this book without giving spoilers. Flashpoint left one big question (what happened to Legacy, the main character's uncle?) and War of Attrition doesn't ignore this. It isn't answered in the way one might expect and it isn't answered in one sentence at the beginning and then thrown out. Even if I was trying not to spoil here, I couldn't do it justice. You really just have to read War of Attrition if you want to know what happened to Legacy. And if you read Flashpoint three years ago like I did, I bet you don't even need me to tell you this.

If you're looking for action, fret not, dear reader. Frank Creed delivers. And if that wasn't enough, there are major plot twists and MORE enemies to worry about for our hero, Calamity Kid. There's even something of an ambiguous, maybe-love-interest, but please do NOT go looking for a romance. This book is so far from typical Christian romance that it is sad to even have to use any of the same labels.

While anyone who loves a fast-paced adventure will love War of Attrition, I think it is especially recommended for male readers who dig on weapons and martial arts and beating the bad guys. My sixteen-year-old son was clamoring for this one, and the minute he finished it, asked me to ask Mr. Creed, "When is the next one?" Well, Frank?

Visit Frank's website at FrankCreed.com.

Purchase War of Attrition from
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Alpha Redemption by P.A. Baines

2010-11-06T10:43:00.001-07:00

Alpha Redemption
by P.A. Baines

Alpha Redemption was deeper and much more profound than I was prepared for. Brett, the lone astronaut on the first trip to Alpha Centauri, makes friends with the ship's computer, Jay. We know Brett has some kind of tragedy in his past, but it takes almost the whole story to see just how tragic his situation really is. When he travels at lightspeed, he must go into stasis and during that time, he dreams or relives the past. His past memories seem to get better and better, the further back he goes.

But Brett's present situation and some of the oddities of this new technology are increasingly dangerous. And then there's Jay, whom Brett initially finds annoying, but without whom he would be extremely lonely. On the other hand, I didn't find Jay annoying at all. In many chapters, Jay was more interesting than Brett! Jay hadn't given up on everything and everyone. Jay wanted to learn and grow. Brett took the job because he knew it was a suicide mission. I liked the character of Jay quite a bit and was really happy with where the author went with the idea of approaching sentience. The line where Jay asks God, "Are you real?" and gets an answer just gave me chills.

While this wasn't the light-hearted, humorous book I thought it would be, it was very compelling and emotionally engaging. I cried. A lot. (This may or may not be significant: I also cried extensively through the movie A.I.) When I finished, I just sat, staring into space for the longest time. The ending was unexpected and I'm still not sure how I feel about it. Not in a bad way, just in that, "Wow, that was really profound" way.

If you're looking for a profound science fiction, look no further than Alpha Redemption by Paul (P.A.) Baines.

Visit the author's website at pabaines.com.

Purchase Alpha Redemption from
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Legendary Space Pilgrims by Grace Bridges

2010-10-04T09:15:00.000-07:00

Legendary Space Pilgrims
by Grace Bridges

I really enjoyed Legendary Space Pilgrims by Grace Bridges. The story is fresh and the main characters, Cait and Mario, are likable and interesting. But what Grace really excels at is describing her settings, and Legendary Space Pilgrims is just chockful of exotic settings. Six glorious planets, each with its own distinct appeal. Even the all-water planet Aqua is better than the dreary Planet Monday, where Cait and Mario escape from slavery. And just when you think a home couldn't be any more ideal, the Voice (of the Creator) that guides the two escapees tells Cait and Mario to move on. And every new planet is indeed better than the last.

The sixth planet is inhabited by the descendants of colonists from "Old Earth" and their various settlements are yet another opportunity for indulgent basking in Grace's lush descriptions. The plot is well-integrated into all the travel and never seems to be description for its own sake. While I consider most any fiction story to be a vacation for the mind, Legendary Space Pilgrims is one of those dream vacations full of travel and sightseeing and experimentation with food and learning new customs. Grace's real-life experience with world travel is abundantly evident in these pages.

I am looking forward to reading the sequel, Independence Monday, with a trip to the seventh planet, Sancta, and then the prophesied return to Planet Monday to free all the slaves. I have no doubt that Cait and Mario will rival Moses when they say to the Baxters, "The Voice commands, 'Let my people go!'".

Purchase Legendary Space Pilgrims from
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Legendary Space Pilgrims

2010-10-02T09:17:00.000-07:00

Legendary Space Pilgrims
by Grace Bridges
This month, CFRB presents Legendary Space Pilgrims by Grace Bridges.

About the Book:
If Pilgrim's Progress happened in space, this is what it might look like.

On a planet that has never seen the sun, a harvester hears a Voice from beyond. It's time to leave the oatfield. Mario and Caitlin escape the mind control of Planet Monday, following the Voice to unknown worlds where wonders and challenges await. Have you got what it takes...to be a legend?

About the Author:
Grace Bridges began to pen her first science fiction tale at the age of eight, during a homeschooling exercise in which her father asked her to write a story based on a prompt. It was an epic space opera called "Zebra in the Future". Writing prompts are still known to have such effects today. At fourteen she wrote a novella based on a local urban legend surrounding secret tunnels in a hill called North Head in Auckland, New Zealand. Around that same time ideas formed for a virtual reality story which eventually became Faith Awakened.

That tale took the next fourteen years to form completely and be published. She was going to write the sequel immediately, but was interrupted by a vivid dream which became Legendary Space Pilgrims. After that, since she was in Ireland at the time, she proceeded to write her third novel about Dublin's future. Now at long last she has returned with a sigh of relief to Godspeed, the sequel to Faith Awakened, while working on multiple short stories in between.

Grace is the owner and editor of Splashdown Books. She's a Kiwi of Irish descent living in beautiful New Zealand, and a chocaholic cat-lovin' Trekkie, Jesus freak, web designer, and all-round DIY gal who also takes care of the Lost Genre Guild Blog. Visit Grace's Blog for links to all her interests.

Purchase Legendary Space Pilgrims from
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Flashpoint by Frank Creed

2010-08-06T01:03:00.000-07:00

Flashpoint by Frank Creed
(This is a repost of the review I did in October 2007)

This book ought to come with a warning like the one on amusement park rides. People with hypertension or heart problems should exercise extreme caution when reading Frank Creed's Flashpoint because it's an edge-of-your-seat, thrill-seeking, action-packed ride. Strap in, keep your limbs inside the vehicle, and hold on with white knuckles. Frank absolutely excels at action and he's chocked his under-200-page volume to the very brim with it. Excitement is an understatement. In fact, my old-fashioned, middle-aged brain could have used a little more contemplation to give me a chance to catch my figurative breath here and there.

Confession time. I was quite reluctant to read this book at all because of the name of the genre. "Cyberpunk" sounds like something that would glorify cop-killing and gang-rape. Sorry, that's the image conjured by the word "punk". Adding "cyber" to it doesn't help because I know too many people who use "cyber" as a verb. To "cyber" means "to engage in cybersex". Probably not what everyone thinks when they hear it, and surely not a desired meaning in this case. I know it's not Frank's fault for either root in the compound. He didn't name the genre. I almost let those negative connotations in that word stop me from even trying this book. I'm glad I took the chance. Ignore the word, no matter what it makes you think, and just try the book anyhow.

While it appeals to all ages, Flashpoint will be highly appealing to anyone under thirty, and especially to those of the male persuasion. The Matrix has nothing on Flashpoint which Keanu Reeves couldn't easily surpass were he to play Frank's hero, Calamity Kid. In all fairness, and just so you don't think I'm gushing through rose-colored glasses, I did feel that Flashpoint was slightly obsessed with descriptions of weapons, and being female, and not hip to weapons even in the present day, that wasn't my favorite aspect. I admit my eyes glazed over every now and then when extensive descriptions of the various high-tech, futuristic arsenals came up, which was kind of often. I suspect most guys would find this an asset rather than a drawback.

Others have covered the plot quite well, so I won't duplicate that. Frank even offers a free excerpt on his website, www.frankcreed.com. I do want to mention how impressed I was with the theology and the depth of characters and situations. Even with so many weapons flying it makes your head spin, the battle was STILL in God's hands and Calamity Kid, the uber-hero, knows it. Like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, he knows God is powerful enough to preserve him but sovereign enough that He doesn't have to do the bidding of His creation. Calamity is confident, but not in a stuck-up or superior way. This is not some canned Sunday School lesson with a Deus Ex Machina saving the day either. And furthermore, the good guys kick-butt throughout the entire volume, and yet they still manage to LOVE and even PRAY FOR some really nasty enemies. And speaking of enemies, yes, a good number of them are cooky-cutter bad guys (as is often the case with the average pawns of any dictator's army), but regardless of what it seems on the surface, the REAL battle is not against flesh and blood, and the REAL enemy is no comic-book caricature one can just swat with the newest weapon so everyone lives happpily ever after.

Now we get to the part where we discuss my opinion, no matter how utterly inconsequential it may be. Don't care, you say? Click a link or hit the back button! This is the best book I have read in years. And that is really saying something considering it's a dystopia. As a rule, I'm not fond of dystopian plotlines. I find them depressing and they usually run counter to my main motivation for reading, which is mental escape to a better world. You could not pay me any amount of money to visit Mr. Creed's version of the world in 2036. And yet, there was one very cool plot device which took the edge off all those horrors: Reformation.

I'm sure it's no coincidence that the church has used this term in the past, most notably pertaining to the movement precipitated by Martin Luther nailing his 95 theses to the door in Wittenberg. But when members of the Body of Christ in 2036 use the term, they are talking about something else entirely. It's a process by which the brain is enhanced in some very cool ways:

1. Infodump. You get a top-notch university education in seconds! Plus, while they're at it, they give you full fluency in several foreign languages and the ENTIRE Bible. That alone would be worth the price of admission, but wait! there's more...

2. Better, stronger, faster. Reformed saints can do lots of things out of the range of normal human beings. It's not quite Superman, but in many cases, pretty darn close. No one leaped over an entire building, but four stories is nothing to sneeze at. And if a reformed saint sees bullets coming, their mindware hardens the skin's entry point at the molecular level to make it impenetrable. And they CAN see bullets coming because all their senses are ultra-heightened. Their minds can slow down split-second events like a slo-mo camera. They can hear heartbeats down the hall and they can smell the minute changes that signal a change in sweat secretion due to fear or lying. How cool would it be to be able to detect lies by smell?

3. Spiritual enhancement. Having the entire text of the Bible at your instant disposal would be great by itself, but that's only the beginning. Reformed saints can literally see angels and demons and most of them can even sense the presence of the Almighty. Some of them can even see souls of mortals, both Christian and non.

4. Telepathy, i.e. mind-speaking. Talking to other reformed saints without opening your mouth or even looking at them. You don't even have to be in the same room. I think there was a range outside of which the brainwaves couldn't travel, but it's still absolute-zero cool.

Add to all these brainwave goodies a bunch of futuristic gadgets that Bill Gates would give his left hand for (com-vision: computers mounted on the insides of eyeglasses, boots that allow you to climb any surface, electrocuting gloves, etc, etc) and you've got a very compelling world where I didn't seem to mind spending time despite the fact that it was frighteningly realistic in numerous very bad ways.

So do I recommend this book? Absolutely. I got a free review copy, but I also paid to get an autographed copy for my collection, and I bought at least four copies as gifts. Frank's sequel, War of Attrition, is due out later this year. Guess who will be first in line to read it?

The Duke's Handmaid by Caprice Hokstad

2010-07-01T17:04:00.001-07:00

The Duke's Handmaid
by Caprice Hokstad

This month, CFRB presents The Duke's Handmaid by Caprice Hokstad.

About the Book:
Slavery. Loyalty. Torture. Passion. Betrayal.

All the young outcast wanted was security in a world that destroyed her family and left her despised and rejected. Can the simple farmgirl find a new family through voluntary enslavement to the duke's household? Not if the prejudiced and conniving duchess has her way!

Crafted in a highly precise writing style so smooth it slips right from the page into your imagination, the fantastical story world of The Duke's Handmaid examines timeless social issues that inform global justice today.

About the Author:
Caprice was born in San Diego, California. She attended Baylor University in Waco, Texas. She currently lives in Southern California, sharing a mobile home with her husband, three children, varying numbers of pet rats, a leopard gecko, a tankful of guppies, a cat, and a dog. Caprice home-schools one of her children, writes SeaQuest fanfiction, and sews musical theater and Renaissance costumes in her spare time.

Visit Caprice's website.

Purchase The Duke's Handmaid from
Splashdown Books.
(Coming soon to Amazon and Barnes & Noble)

For a limited time, the .pdf eBook is FREE
from Lulu or get the Kindle version
from Amazon for just 99 cents!

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The Muse by Fred Warren

2010-04-03T01:14:00.000-07:00

The Muse by
Fred Warren
I wasn’t expecting to like this book as much as I did. I expected it to be okay (or I wouldn’t have volunteered to read it at all), but I didn’t expect to get sucked in and be sitting up 'til 3:30 AM to finish (not because I didn’t have time the next day, but because I was unwilling to WAIT until then). Surprisingly gripping and very well written. I’m not sure how much of my enjoyment can be attributed to the fact that the main characters are all struggling authors and very easy to relate to. I think anyone who is artistic in other media could easily identify as well. It’s about creativity and sparks of inspiration and what we do with imagination.

I was also suprised that the hero was actually a married man with a day job and a daughter and a dog and a mortgage. This was suprising because the cover image looked to me like a high school or college-age D&D gamer type guy. Stan Marino starts out unpublished. Not only that, but he’s still working on his first novel and he’s written himself into a corner and he’s blocked in a huge way. I can so relate to all of that.

Now, he has a nice little support group which meets at a terrific indie bookstore-slash-coffee house called Pensive Aardvark (is that a cool name, or what?). In Stan’s words: “We all complain about how badly the writing is going, then we read our samples, cry on each others’ shoulders, drink about fifteen cups of coffee, and go home.” So already I am wishing I was part of this group.

Evidently, someone else wants in on the group too. Leila, the mysterious newcomer who makes a few suggestions and gives each of them a push in the right direction, seems to be the muse they need to propel their writing careers forward in a big way. Sound too good to be true? Well, it is and it isn’t.

It’s very hard to discuss The Muse’s plot without giving away little gems that are integral to enjoying the ride. Most of the main characters’ discoveries would be spoiled if you were robbed of discovering these things WITH them. I don’t want to rob anyone of that most enjoyable ride. The Muse is a very quick read, with no words wasted, so why not just treat yourself?

Warning: the ending is bittersweet. You may want a box of tissue handy. I would read the book again, but skip the end since I already know it’s just going to make me cry. There’s no way I could have skipped the end the first time though. Way too much suspense. You HAVE to know how it ends. Just have tissues ready.

Visit the author’s website.
Read the FREE first chapter.
Watch the book trailer.

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The Wordsmith, the Kid, and the Electrolux

2010-01-07T15:09:00.001-08:00

The Wordsmith, the Kid, and the Electrolux
by Clifford Leigh

This month, CFRB presents The Wordsmith, the Kid, and the Electrolux by Clifford Leigh.

About the Book:
"I was not certain if the whole world I had fallen into was upside-down and I was right-side-up, or vice versa."

Young Corey's secret life began the day his father refused him a cup of coffee. It drew him, again and again, to the coiling dragon on his father's green Chinese box and to the Carnival Surprise of the ice-cream man, Mr. Good. But he had no idea his desires would propel him with a whoosh into the strange, dark closet...or a headlong, terrifying fall and the adventure of a lifetime. It was a strange day...but nothing like the night Corian Griffin met the Electrolux.

Fantasy. Adventure. Surprise. A tale of growing up and growing wise.

Review:

This book is very well written and thought provoking. I'm not sure what the intended audience is because it seems too deep for a children's or YA book, which from the title, cover, and blurbs, I assumed it was. I think a lot of adults might even get lost in some of the depth, because this is simply not the lightweight fantasy it appears on the surface.

I made the mistake of reading this book when I had a toothache. NOT recommended. The main character has one too and the excellent descriptions just compounded the real pain.

It's very hard to say a lot about this book without spoiling the story. On the surface, it's about a selfish brat who gets sucked into a parallel world by a vacuum cleaner. In this world, everything is represented in pictures, many of them odd and fantastic (giant baby terrorizes whole household) but by the end it's clear that the pictures are all shadows of things from the real world. Nothing is as it seems. Not even the book title. You don't truly understand it until the last chapter.

I think that younger readers would get frustrated with this book by the middle, so I wouldn't recommend it unless they are very mature (at least 16?) and can follow intellectual apologetics. Definitely not for dummies.

It will be very interesting to see what happens in the sequel, Islandship River.

Visit the author's website and the WKE Blog.
Purchase The Wordsmith, the Kid, and the Electrolux at
Amazon, Amazon Kindle, or Barnes and Noble.

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Angel of Wrath by Bill Myers

2009-06-09T01:22:00.000-07:00

Angel of Wrath
by Bill Myers

This month, CFRB presents Angel of Wrath by Bill Myers.

This book reminds me a lot of Frank Peretti's ground-breaking books, "This Present Darkness" and "Piercing the Darkness". Mr. Peretti must believe that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, as evidenced by the fact that he endorsed Bill Myers' series. I'd been hoping that Peretti would write another book like this for a long time, and since that hasn't happened, this was the next best thing.

This is the second book in Bill's "Voice of God" series (and I HATE coming in on the middle of anything), but I found it stood well on its own. The only thing I felt it lacked was a better explanation/excuse/apology for Jazmin. Not a single one of the young people in this book is a positive role model, but Jazmin is supposed to be one of the protagonists! I gave her a lot of leeway because she's deaf and orphaned, but she's so rebellious and bratty that it was very hard to like her. I assume there is a good reason that I missed in the first book, and Jazmin seemed like she was starting to come around by the end of the book, but it was too little, too late, for me. At least her uncle, Charlie, was a good, likeable guy that I could identify with, and he was a more central character than his niece. His love interest, the ex-FBI agent Lisa Harmon, was more than a bit caustic against Christians, which confused me because Charlie is a pretty overt Christian, but perhaps that was why she rebuffed his marriage proposal. At least Lisa was a good, honest person whom I could count on to do the right thing despite her contempt towards faith.

But the fact that I only fully liked one of the characters didn't stop me from turning pages. I think that says a lot about Bill's plotting skill. You don't have to like all the characters to enjoy this story. It's a well-paced suspense novel. If you like your villians to be "gray" or have some socially redeeming qualities, then this book may not be for you. If, however, you enjoy a classic good-vs-evil tale with high stakes and lots of action, then look no further.

Visit Bill's Website.
Purchase Angel of Wrath at Barnes and Noble and Amazon.

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The Ark, the Reed, and the Firecloud by Jenny Cote

2009-05-06T02:23:00.000-07:00

The Ark, the Reed, and the Firecloud
by Jenny L. Cote

Journey with animals from around the world as they follow a mysterious Fire Cloud to an unknown destination and then join them on the biggest lifeboat ever while they endure the worst storm in history (the flood). This is a fresh approach to one of the oldest and most pervasive stories known to mankind. It is told in an engaging way with a likeable Scottish terrier and a French-accented, gardening black cat as the two main characters. I think children between 8 and 12 would enjoy this story, if they are the patient types. There's quite a lot of detail and the action isn't immediate or constant, which might be a problem for kids with short attention spans. The fact that the book weighs in at a whopping 437 pages (not counting the glossary) means it will be intimidating to many. However, those who tackle it will be richly rewarded. If adults could look past the style and approach (it is obviously written with children in mind) I think even they could enjoy it.

This book is full of imaginative circumstances. Where else could you find flamingo-robics exercise programs or banana-loving cats? Did you ever stop to wonder how polar bears and penguins survived on the same boat as iguanas and giraffes? The Bible doesn't tell us all the details and Jenny Cote's delightful embellishments are sure to surprise and entertain. There's also plenty of life lessons and good solid teaching about living the way God intended. At times, the lessons were so profound that I wondered if Ms. Cote didn't slip in some morals for the adults who might be reading the book aloud to the youngsters.

I don't think there is any way the author could have explained all the places the animals journeyed from without using modern geographical names. While the anachronism bothered me a little, I doubt kids would even catch it. I was gratified that the author DID take the trouble to explain that the humans of Noah's day did NOT have different languages and countries (the flood was before Babel). She gets away with giving the animals foreign phrases and accents because animals, of course, don't have languages as we know them to begin with. All the animals understand each other just fine even though the humans only hear barking, meowing, neighing, and mooing.

For the most part, this book follows the Biblical account of Noah's Ark and only deviates where no details were given. There's a note before the beginning and again in the afterword that clearly state that this is a work of fiction and encourages readers to read the true story from Genesis 6-9. The fiction in no way diminishes the truth and only helps us more appreciate the remarkable story of Noah's Ark.

The Ark, the Reed, and the Firecloud is available at Barnes and Noble and Amazon.

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Magic, Mensa, and Mayhem by Karina Fabian

2009-04-23T15:25:00.000-07:00

Magic, Mensa, and Mayhem
by Karina L. Fabian

Laughing out loud has a bad rep these days. Internet shorthand might have started out meaning what it stated. But LOL now seems to be interchangable with the smilie :) and I've seen it used in places where I might have translated it something like "Hardy-har-har". So when you get a book like Magic, Mensa, and Mayhem, that really DOES make you laugh out loud, how do you express that without it sounding cliché? I DID indeed laugh out loud while reading this book. It's witty, sassy, cynical, and extremely funny.

Knowing Vern, the 8-foot dragon, was a detective, I expected there to be some sort of crime to solve. While there was some mystery in why the powers-that-be from back home in Faerie assigned him and his partner, Sister Grace, to babysit at a mundane Mensa convention in Florida, it wasn't as serious as a murder. Well, so much the better! You don't have to feel guilty about laughing as you might when something heinous has occurred. The "crimes" Vern and Grace come upon are things like invisible brownies who mischieviously tidy things up when no one is looking (are these available for rent?) and nymphs who take over the hotel garden pools and eat the koi.

Don't get me wrong. Throughout the hilarious mayhem that Vern has to handle (while not getting paid enough for a dragon's treasure-loving heart) there is enough of a threat of interdimensional war to keep the plot from descending into Seussian silliness. This keeps it engaging for adults, while still completely appropriate for younger readers. I think this book would do well in the YA market.

If you're looking for a light-hearted read, full of laughs, puns, and fun, then look no further than Magic, Mensa, and Mayhem!

Check out the rest of the stops on Magic, Mensa, and Mayhem's Virtual Book Tour.

Buy Magic, Mensa, and Mayhem at Barnes and Noble, Amazon, or straight from the publisher, Swimming Kangaroo.

Interview with Karina Fabian

2009-04-18T05:24:00.000-07:00

Magic, Mensa, and Mayhem
by Karina L. Fabian

I will be writing a review later for this very entertaining book, but today I am handing over the "mic" to Karina as a guest blogger. Take it away, Karina!

Caprice asked me to talk about writing funny. She told me that Magic, Mensa and Mayhem had her laughing out loud. Thanks, Caprice--there's nothing more satisfying to humor writer than knowing her book brings out a chuckle. (Unless it's drawing the big royalty check--a gal can dream.)

Anyway, she wanted to know how I come up with these crazy ideas, puns and other jokes and silliness.

In part, it's genetics. I grew up with a dad who was not afraid to imitate a cuckoo clock if it would make my friends and me giggle. (Imagine an overweight man with shaving cream slathered over half his face bowing out the bathroom door saying, "Cuckoo! Cuckoo!") he told us jokes, juvenile and intelligent, and let us feed on a wide variety of humorous television--form Oggie Doggie to (I cringe to say) National Lampoon. My mother is from Puerto Rico, so English is her second language. Humor is difficult for her still, but she was always ready to laugh, and I inherited that sense of fun, too.

Puns came from a love of language and an exposure to media that played with it--from Saturday morning cartoons to Piers Anthony's Xanth novels. I was employing puns in my schoolwork even in elementary school--some were truly awful, but you can only do so much with spelling words, and the teachers appreciated the effort. In high school, puns and jokes helped me to break the ice and make friends--especially when I joined Speech and Debate and discovered my "people."

Even so, when I first started writing, I didn't do a lot of crazy, pun-filled stuff. I have a fantasy trilogy and several sci-fi stories that have a few fun moments, but not the hilarity of DragonEye. Thus, I blame DragonEye pretty firmly on Vern.

Vern, the cynical dragon detective living on the wrong side of the Interdimensional Gap, was created after I watched a film noir skit on the comedy improv show, "Whose Line Is It, Anyway?" I adored the combination of wry humor and the noir feel. The first story, "DragonEye, PI" (in Firestorm of Dragons, DragonMoon Press) is amusing with more twisted clichés than puns. Many of the short story mysteries are semi-serious with a lot of familiar myth and legend being told in an unfamiliar way, narrated in Vern's own snarky, sarcastic style.

Magic, Mensa and Mayhem, however, seemed to call for something more silly. In the first place, I started it as an amusing exercise and a favor to a friend, Shirley Starke, who edits the North Dakota Prairie Dawg. She wanted a serial mystery, told in 1000 word increments. Since I wasn’t sure I could or wanted to carry a serious plot that long, I decided to weave the mystery into one ridiculous circumstance after another. It was fun watching Vern having to deal with pranking pixies, star-struck dwarves, and the brownies on a cleaning spree. I studied the Mensa World Gathering program, asked Mensans for in-jokes and thought a lot about how to make Vern's life pretty miserable. Frankly, however, once the characters came onto the stage, they created their own mischief. I just had to keep up!

There are a lot of great humorists out there who can make anything funny. I'm not sure I can or that I want to be that kind of person. However, there's some magic in the DragonEye, PI world that lends itself to the farcical, and as long as it keeps me and my readers laughing, I'll keep letting it pull me into its spell.

Thanks, Karina! I'll be back later this month with my review. (I've been sewing costumes for my daughter's school production of Pirates of Penzance without sleep, so I'm a bit too loopy to be writing a review at the moment.) Please enjoy the rest of the stops on Magic, Mensa, and Mayhem's Virtual Book Tour.

Buy Magic, Mensa, and Mayhem at Barnes and Noble, Amazon, or straight from the publisher, Swimming Kangaroo.

League of Superheroes by Stephen Leon Rice

2008-12-03T01:46:00.000-08:00

League of Superheroes
by Stephen Leon Rice
This month, CFRB presents League of Superheroes by Stephen L. Rice

The League of Superheroes is a group of schoolchildren, four classmate boys and one little sister named Clarice. And before we go any further, I need to take a detour. You see, I never read a book with my own name as a character. However, this came close because I had a math teacher in junior high who called me "Clarice". Don't ask me how he could mispronouce it that way with it printed in his grade book and on top of every piece of homework and test I turned in, but he did. For two whole years. So I probably identified with this character a little more because of that. Back to the story.

Clarice's brother and his three friends are on the geeky side (another reason to identify with them) and they're into superhero comics. When Clarice introduces the guys to Genie, a girl she met in KidChat, none of them is prepared for how much it will change everything. You see, when they introduce Genie to the superhero websites, Genie studies their favorites and then somehow MAKES supersuits which give these young geeks REAL superpowers, just like their idols. Genie doesn't talk like a little girl, and not even an adult should have been able to fulfill such a tall order as to covert kids into real superheroes. And since none of them has ever seen Genie, they are all left wondering who -or what- she really is. When the League tries to uncover Genie's secrets, accidents start to happen and only the power of the supersuits saves their lives.

There's lots of action and a good level of suspense. When we finally get a glimpse of Genie, I couldn't help but think of a certain old Star Trek episode, but to tell you which episode or what character it reminded me of would be spoiling too much. It's a credit to Mr. Rice that he doesn't give away too much until the last possible moment. Another pleasant surprise was the wittiness of the dialog. I can't resist giving an example. This is a conversation between the adult villain and one of the Leaguers in full Supersuit/costume:

“How interminably droll,” my host observed. “Now, why did you come here—really?”

“I thought we might discuss matters like mature, intelligent human beings. Or failing that, we might at least have a standard superhero-to-villain chat, in which you laugh a lot and explain your evil plan to conquer the world, and I provide moral and ethical opposition to your wickedness, tell you that you shall not succeed, and wind up outwitting you and bringing your schemes to naught. Does that work for you?”

I think this book would appeal to YA readers, but it's not as "dumbed-down" as books written for this age often are. Some of the scientific explanations for the supersuit technology went over my head and I'm pretty geeky myself. I had a hard time figuring out where the science left off and the fiction started. But there was never a time when the lack of understanding made the actions hard to follow. This is also a book that doesn't hold any punches when it comes to controvesial issues like abortion. I really loved the scene where the abortionist was overcome by the accusing souls of all the babies he'd murdered, but I can only guess that a NARAL mom would be burning the book in public if she caught one of her kids reading it. Great job!

League of Superheroes Wiki

Read Chapter 1 for FREE
Purchase League of Superheroes at Writer's Cafe Press and get it autographed free! Also available at Barnes and Noble.

Reluctantly, I mention that League of Superheroes is also available at Amazon. However, because of their new BookSurge monopoly policy, I IMPLORE you not to buy books from those greedy weasels unless you have a gift certificate or reward points that you can't use elsewhere.

Check out these other member blogs this week for more info.

Beyond the Fifth Gate by Donna Sundblad

2008-10-25T22:28:00.000-07:00

Beyond the Fifth Gate
by Donna Sundblad
About the Book:
Twelve-year-old Elita is taken captive by an insectoid race and forced into slave labor. For twelve years, she lives in a hive complex where humans are forbidden to speak, write, or read. The promise of freedom swells when the prophetic conjunction of five planets marks the long-awaited Kamali's Cycle. But first, as the Chosen, she must travel through five mystical gates during the planets' conjunction and return to Haldis with items key to that freedom. Elita follows Kamali's light into a cave in the eastern foothills. The portal closes behind her, and the first gate opens to a one way quest into strange worlds and a race to collect what she needs from beyond each gate to free her people before time runs out. How will she know what to take from world to world?

Review:
When Donna told me this was a YA book, I must admit I had a few negative expectations. Now not all authors do this, of course, but some YA fiction is not actually geared to "Young Adults" as the moniker would suggest, but rather to teeny-boppers, or in some cases, seemingly, to morons. Not so with Beyond the Fifth Gate. I was pleasantly surprised to find a well-developed vocabulary and a mature, well-planned plot. The author doesn't "talk down" or oversimplify concepts, something which had to be a great temptation when dealing with complicated issues like slavery and organized rebellion. Make no mistake, Ms. Sundblad fully recognizes the complex nature of her subject matter and she doesn't trivialize it for the sake of her story.

Beyond the Fifth Gate has a strong female main character who reminded me of Xena without the long hair or possibly Seven-of-Nine without the spandex. Elita starts off a little weak in her fighting skills (but realistically, how hard would it be to practice when you live in a hive and are guarded day and night by big bugs?) but her first mystical gate provides two teachers who not only give her a crash course, but join her on her quest to freedom. There are plenty of plot twists along the way and the ending is a real shocker which truly caught me off guard just when I thought I had it all figured out.

The book was a quick read which took me only three sittings over the course of less than 48 hours. The plot was well-paced and didn't have any slow or boring spots that I could identify. I think anyone who can read at the high school level and enjoys quest fantasy with a strong female lead would enjoy this book.

Read Chapter One
Visit Donna's website, The Inkslinger.
Purchase at Lulu and Fictionwise.Reluctantly, I mention that Beyond the Fifth Gate is also available at Amazon. However, because of their new BookSurge monopoly policy, I IMPLORE you not to buy books from those greedy weasels unless you have a gift certificate or reward points that you can't use elsewhere.

Higher Honor by Susan M. Kirkland

2008-10-05T00:41:00.000-07:00

Higher Honor
by Susan M. Kirkland

This month, CFRB presents Higher Honor by Susan M. Kirkland.
Before we start, I should admit that I never really thought of myself as a fan of "military fiction", but probably not for the reason you'd expect. I have nothing but the deepest respect for American military personnel. However, because military stories are often about war, I'm on my guard for dry, impersonal descriptions of battles or endless violence and gore. Too depressing. However, that said, I enjoy tales which emphasize intelligence, strategy, and successful ops perpetrated with minimal force.

However, Higher Honor is not really about military ops at all. It's a romance/rape recovery/college-buddy-story which just happens to be set at a military college. While I guess "military fiction" fits, I think this book would appeal to a much larger audience if we could find a label which applies to fiction the way the word "Drama" applies to television. Can we call a piece of literature "drama" when it's not a stage-play? I don't have a good suggestion for an alternative, but I think lots of people who would enjoy this book might very well miss it because they'd assume military=war.

I should also 'fess up that I know nothing about military colleges. I didn't even know they existed outside of West Point, Annapolis, and the Air Force Academy. The setting is different and almost exotic because it's so unknown to most of us, but it's definitely not a war zone.

It's hard to talk about Higher Honor without spoiling the story, but I'm going to try. This is a story about five college buddies, two female, and three male. One of the males rapes one of the females and she doesn't report it. I must have screamed at the book at least ten times, urging this fictional female character to come clean, rat out the scumbag, and let her friends twist his head off! (They would have, too). But of course, nothing makes for better plot twists than a web of lies, not only the ones that the victim has to tell school officials in order to miss classes while recovering from inflicted injuries, but the lies she keeps telling herself, that she did something to deserve it.

But two of her the five friends are a Christian couple (the female is the victim's roomie) who never stop praying for their unsaved friends. Their faithful prayers are rewarded, little by little. Somehow, Ms. Kirkland even pursuades her reader to start pulling for the rapist! That's no small feat because I started on the side of the other two males who, when they didn't know his identity, wanted him beaten to a bloody death, strangled, and then shot for good measure. It's a tribute to the careful weaving of the story that the author slowly brings this angry young man to see what harm he's done and then actually move toward reconciliation.

Read Higher Honor. The author's careful portrayal of a vast array of human emotion will have you weeping, wincing, growling, stomping, and cheering.

Visit Susan Kirkland's Website.

Purchase Higher Honor at Barnes and Noble and Amazon.

Check out these other member blogs this week for more info.

Chion by Darryl Sloan

2008-08-01T19:28:00.000-07:00

Chion
by Darryl Sloan

ciwn

An ancient Greek word (pronounced kai-on)
and spelled “chion” in the English alphabet.
It means “like snow.”

I didn't request a copy of this award winning book because I wasn't sure I would have time to read it. Since Darryl Sloan lives in Ireland, I didn't want him to go to the time and expense of mailing a copy across the Atlantic when I wasn't positive I'd get around to it. But then I learned that he offered an eBook and I decided to check it out. This way, if I didn't finish it, Darryl would not have wasted any money and neither of us would feel badly. So I downloaded the PDF file and started to skim it. Well, lemme tell ya, it SUCKS you in and never lets go. I read it all in one night because I just could not stop! At just over 41,000 words, it's about novella-length and a very fast read.

The premise is simple. What if a highly adhesive substance (think Ultra Super Glue) fell from the sky and looked just like snow? Whatever touches it, sticks. Permanently. It doesn't melt when the sun comes out either. You touch it with bare skin and you do not get away without leaving skin behind. Cars, buses, and trains are stranded everywhere, tires stuck. No one can leave their vehicles or buildings because shoes stick to it too. Worse of all, no airplanes or helicopters can land, so there's no hope of rescue. What happens when the food and water runs out?

The main character from whose point-of-view we see this all unfold is Jamie, a fourteen-year-old student who is at school when chion blankets Ireland and the UK. No one knows if it is a terrorist attack or some sort of apocalyptic plague. News reports seem to favor the former. Since Jamie's school is day-only, there is very little food in the cafeteria to give the hundreds of students who are stranded indefiitely while scientists and the government scramble to figure out what happened and how to deal with the crisis.

The plot is fast-moving and well thought-out, with very realistic reactions from all involved. It also struck me how fresh and original the idea was. This has got to be the first time there has ever been a "doomsday" device that masqueraded as something so simple as snow! I'm thankful Darryl didn't try to spell out what chemicals might work this way, because I would hate to think any real-life terrorists would get any ideas. The whole concept is truly frightening, which of course, made the book very compelling.

I don't want to spoil it by saying anything more, but I highly recommend this fast-reading little book!

Not sure yet?
How about a FREE audio excerpt?... Or read Chion as an eBook for FREE!
.....

Buy an autographed paperback through PayPal.

Visit Darryl's website

Check out these member blogs Aug. 3-9 for more info.

Playing Casting Director

2008-06-19T03:34:00.000-07:00

A while back, someone from one of my writing groups asked how many of us had done mental "casting" of our stories. I had done a little up to that point, but the discussion got me thinking and I was inspired to fill out the major characters. I am fully aware that the chances of a movie ever being made of my books are close to nil. And because this is such an exercise in fantasy, I have cast actors who, in several instances, are no longer fit for the part. But hey, this is just for fun anyway.

DUKE VAHN REBONO
Ioan Gruffudd (Fantastic Four, Amazing Grace)
Ioan Gruffudd is hands down my favorite to play the hero of my books. He'd need a teeny bit of hair dye and some contact lenses (because Vahn's features are jet-black) and they'd have to play some camera tricks on all the Elva (because there really aren't any 8-foot-tall actors) but other than that, Ioan would be absolutely perfect.

KEEDRINA / kee
Drew Barrymore (Ever After)
Drew would also need some hair dye, and they'd need to shorten her height whenever she appeared with Elva (but if camera tricks can make John Rhys-Davies look like a dwarf, anything is possible). I'd be open to other actresses who could play quiet strength the way Drew did in "Ever After".

CAPTAIN SHIL
Arnold Schwarzenegger (True Lies)
This is one that will take some imagination. Arnold is too old now, he's governor of California, and I doubt he'd ever agree to a supporting role. His accent is also totally unsuitable. I think if there were ever to be a real casting, this part would be played by an unknown. However, since this is fantasy, and Arnold's young face from "True Lies" is just what I picture on Najost Shil, I went ahead and put him up. The good Captain has pure white hair (think Steve Martin) but the length shown here is about what I'd want. And as long as we're making Arnold young again, let's do be sure he has those "Conan" muscles. The captain doesn't get to take his shirt off until "Nor Iron Bars a Cage", but Shil is a big, strong dude.

timna / LADY TIMMILINA
Natalie Portman (Star Wars Episode I)
Natalie is another one who is too old now for the part of timna, but back when she did "The Phantom Menace", she was perfect. I'd want "timna" to be played like Portman played "Padme" when she first met Anakin. Incidentally, Natalie grew into the perfect Lady Timmilina Shil when she was playing "Senator Amadala".

PHARN PATKUS
Robert David Hall (CSI)
Robert David Hall is perfect right now, in 2008, to play the part of the healer, Pharn Patkus. I'd originally envisioned something like Marcus Welby or Trapper John (Pernell Roberts) but I like Mr. Hall's kindly face even better. Sure, he's a coroner on C.S.I. but it wouldn't be much of a stretch to make him a country doctor type.

DUCHESS SAERULA
Monica Bellucci (The Brothers Grimm)
This publicity shot for "Brothers Grimm" was taken in 2005, so Monica is perfect for this part right now. She wouldn't need the long wig or the super-plunging neckline, but even her wardrobe is pretty near what I'd pictured for the duchess. Monica has proven her delicious suitability for the villianess.

MARQUIS TERZAK
Edward Woodward (The Equalizer)
Edward is another actor who is probably too old right now to play this part. I'd want someone who looked late-fifties, with all-over gray hair. Edward's face, hair, and build were great when he was the "Equalizer". The only quality I'm not sure Edward could pull off is Terzak's short-sightedness and his one-track mind. Terzak should not look so incredibly confident and smart. I'd be open to a different actor in this part.

Never Ceese by Sue Dent

2008-04-06T21:25:00.000-07:00

Never Ceese
by Sue Dent
All right, get ready for another review in which I have to eat crow. I admit it: I resisted reading Never Ceese. Why, you may ask? Assumptions. First of all, it's a story about a werewolf and a vampire. Sue was invited to the World Horror Convention and short-listed for the Bram Stoker award. From these facts, I inferred that Never Ceese was a horror novel and I abhor the horror genre. But then another reviewer I respect (Cathi Hassan) told me that she didn't consider it horror at all. What? How can a vampire and werewolf story NOT be horror? After reading it, I agree, but let us just say that this got me thinking.

Secondly, I somehow missed the fact that Sue considers her work Young Adult. (Okay, it's pretty obvious from Sue's shoutlife page, but I had "horror" set so firmly in my head that I didn't really pay attention to all the clues she leaves.) So once I got it through my thick skull that Never Ceese was YA, I thought to myself, "Hey, even if it *IS* horror, how bad can it be if it's geared to kids?"

Then there's the fact that Sue's sequel has been contracted by the same publisher that put out Frank Creed's Flashpoint (The Writer's Cafe Press). So that gave Sue a lot of credibility by association. And lastly, it came up for tour here, and I ran out of excuses. So I broke down and read it.

So, is it horror? I guess that depends on your definition. Either I don't dislike horror as much as I thought or Never Ceese is not horror. I lean to the latter, but I'm not in charge of assigning genres to other people's books! No matter what you call it, it's certainly not like any other horror.

How many times have we read vampire/werewolf stories where the changling/beast is just some monster to be hunted and killed, rather than a real human being who might not have chosen that existence? Yet the other extreme doesn't sit right with me either, where the beast and his/her powers become "cool" and the darkness is embraced. Sue Dent has avoided both failings in Never Ceese.

First of all, the vampire and the werewolf are sympathetic characters rather than the typical monsters. Becoming a vampire or werewolf is portrayed as a CURSE rather than something to be sought or embraced...well, almost. The evil stem cell researcher (antagonist) in Never Ceese seeks the curse as a fountain of youth and the ticket to eternal life, not caring about the consequences involved with such a choice. He is clearly deranged and immoral in most of his dealings, even extending to his students.

By contrast, the two protagonists have taken great pains over the centuries not to pass on their curse to others. As the story opens, Richard, the vampire, has stopped pining for a cure, but he still retains enough of his former morality to refrain from dooming anyone else to the fate he suffers. Cecilia (Ceese) is the werewolf who has dealt with her curse by spending majority of her cursed existence in wolf form. She has also worked hard to keep from giving in to the seductive pull of the demons which beset her, urging her to become a killer and to spread her curse to others. Ceese holds out much more hope that a cure can be found and the curse can be overcome.

Ceese and Richard don't get along very well at first, and there is quite a bit of fighting, much of it rather humorous. Now, since I am not in the target audience, it's probably irrelevant that I found the bickering a little tedious after a while. We all know kids can argue ad infinitum so they probably wouldn't even notice. The opposition does eventually end and the two cursed humans form a truce in order to seek out the cure to their conditions.

I don't want to ruin all the plot points, but let me say that the ending was a surprise, and a pleasant one at that. I was impressed with the way faith intersected with mythology to form an enjoyable tale. Look for Sue's sequel, Forever Richard, coming later this year.

The Never Ceese Website
Sue's Blog
Sue's Shoutlife Profile

Where to buy Never Ceese:
You can get an AUTOGRAPHED COPY from Sue herself, PLUS free shipping!

Or buy it at Barnes and Noble. Did you know they offer FREE shipping with a minimal order of just $25?

Other CFRB members who will be posting sometime this week:
A Frank Review
Back to the Mountains
Bibliophile's Retreat
Cathi's Chatter
S.M. Kirkland
Main CFRB site

The Void by Mark Mynheir

2008-03-02T02:20:00.000-08:00

The Void by Mark Mynheir

March 2-8, Christian Fiction Review Blog is touring The Void by Mark Mynheir.

Hiding behind a well-funded children's hospital and the high-tech genetics lab at Lifetex, a team of elite scientists is conducting illegal experiments in human cloning. Test subject after test subject dies when they attempt to move the clones (full grown) from their liquid incubators into the oxygen atmosphere. Yet, they seem perfect physical specimens. Their organs work. Their brainwaves appear normal. But they are comatose; the spark of consciousness is absent. There's a VOID. Finally, "Adam", the first successful clone, draws his first breath. Excitement and pride overflows at Lifetex. Distrustful of the media, the scientists keep their breakthrough a secret while they begin to test and educate Adam. The idea is to present him as such an overwhelming triumph of science that everyone will forget how many laws of ethics and government were broken to attain the achievement.

And this plan would have worked except that an off-duty police officer happens to be found murdered just outside the security fence which surrounds the Lifetex facility. And Adam has a few unexpected "quirks".

Enter Robbie Sanchez, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement agent assigned to the cop-killer case. Of course, all law enforcement officers are especially keen to find the perpetrators of this heinous act, but Robbie's father was a policeman killed in the line of duty during a bank robbery. So Robbie is especially motivated to find the killer and bring him to justice.

I should probably take a moment to explain that Robbie is short for Roberta. This is probably not an issue for most readers, but in my childhood, I knew far more males nicknamed "Robbie" than females. I had to constantly remind myself that Robbie was a she. Robbie is caring for her aging mother, who has Alzheimer's. She does nothing but work, sleep, and take care of her mother. And though her parents were/are both Christians, Robbie lost her faith when her father died.

However, unbeknownst to her, forces are in motion in this case which will rock her to the core and rekindle that faith of her childhood. I don't want to give away too many of the surprises, or it will ruin the story, but there are plenty of mysteries and twists to entertain the reader along the way. Oh, and this is probably the first time I have ever come in on the middle of a book series and not felt like I missed something for not having read the books in proper order. That really says a lot for Mr. Mynheir's skill as a writer. This may be the last time I will ever say this, but I truly do not feel like there is any pressing need to read either of the first two books in order to enjoy this one. It truly stands on its own.

I enjoyed this police drama / suspense novel. It wasn't ground-shaking, in my opinion, but it was at least as good as an episode of CSI Miami. In fact, since it is set in Florida, I had a hard time keeping myself from making comparisons with that show. And the spirtual dimension gave it an extra bonus which TV can't offer. I would have liked the ultimate denouement to have had an even greater supernatural dimension than it did, considering the nature of the antagonists, but God was definitely acknowledged, consulted and clearly directed the cop-protagonists to the final solution. I suspect people who are not into sci-fi and fantasy as much as I am would feel Mynheir's climax was more "realistic", while still well within the realm of giving God the glory.

Visit Mark's website: Cop Writer.

Buy The Void
from:

Amazon
Christianbook
Barnes and Noble
Books-A-Million

Other CFRB members who will be posting sometime this week:
A Frank Review
Back to the Mountains
Bibliophile's Retreat
Cathi's Chatter
S.M. Kirkland
Main CFRB site

Nor Iron Bars a Cage by Caprice Hokstad

2008-02-09T15:17:00.000-08:00

The following posts were part of February's CFRB Blog Tour
in honor of my book, Nor Iron Bars a Cage.
Many thanks to everyone who participated!
S.M. Kirkland
Steve Doyle
Michael A. Heald
Donna Sundblad
Grace Bridges
Cathi Hassan I
Cathi Hassan II
Cathi Hassan III
Geralyn Beauchamp I
Geralyn Beauchamp II
Melissa Meeks
Karen McSpadden
David Brollier #1
David Brollier #2
David Brollier #3
David Brollier #4
David Brollier #5
David Brollier #6
David Brollier #7
Author Interview with Cathi Hassan
Book Interview with Frank Creed
Back Cover Blurbs
Amazon Reviews

Reluctant Smuggler by Jill Elizabeth Nelson

2008-01-16T03:39:00.000-08:00

Reluctant Smuggler by Jill Elizabeth Nelson

Jill Elizabeth Nelson has done it again. I won a copy of her first book in the "To Catch a Thief" series (Reluctant Burglar) and I have been hooked ever since. Restrictions on my time being what they are, and Jill's amazing speed with cranking out books has meant I have not had the chance to read book two (Reluctant Runaway) yet, but I fully intend to. There's no way books one and two could be so wonderful and book two not be great as well.

Reluctant Smuggler is full of exotic locations which Nelson surely must have visited. She has an eye for detail to pull the reader in and make you see, feel, and experience the setting in a very real way. I am not being trite when I say this book is the next best thing to a honeymoon in Cancún. If you can't afford plane tickets, grab this book and go to a tanning salon to read and you really will feel like you've been to Mexico. But be careful, because Nelson also descibes in chilling detail (pun intended) a Boston blizzard. I would not want to be wearing a bathing suit while reading those parts of her tale or I'd end up with a serious case of gooseflesh!

The settings are fabulous but not in any way distracting to the story. Reluctant Smuggler is a romantic suspense and it delivers on both counts. Our heroes, FBI Special Agent Anthony Lucano and his security expert fiancée Desiree Jacobs are a wonderfully well-matched and adventurous couple whom I would love to talk to at a party. Wait. Scratch that. If I had my druthers, I'd BE Desiree! There's only one short passage in the book where I wouldn't want to be in her shoes, but I won't tell you about it, lest I spoil the surprise. Suffice it to say that Nelson's characters are three-dimensional, virtuous, and exciting folks to spend time with.

Great settings. Great characters. But wait, that's not all. Jill doesn't stop there. She's got a compelling suspense plot, full of twists and surprises. Murder. Theft of historical artifacts. Human trafficking. Drugs. Gangs. Dirty business rivals. And though sometimes the subject matter is grave, Jill also mixes in plenty of humor and compassion. This is a rare and wonderful combination that will keep me wanting to read more of her books. Please tell me there's going to be another adventure in the making for Desiree and Tony and another book in the "To Catch a Thief" series.

Visit Jill's Website.
Visit Jill's Shoutlife Profile.

Time Masters, Book One: The Call by Geralyn Beauchamp

2008-01-01T14:30:00.000-08:00

Time Masters, Book One: The Call by Geralyn Beauchamp

January 6-12, Christian Fiction Review Blog is touring Time Masters, Book One: The Call by Geralyn Beauchamp.

No way to hide this, so let's just dive in and say it: this book is long. Over 500 pages. I found it fast reading and wasn't intimidated by page-count, since fantasy is a genre well-known for length. Besides, if a book is good, then the longer, the better. Yet, with such a large volume of text, I wasn't quite prepared for the story to be so predominantly romance. I have nothing against romance and as romances go, this is one of the better I've come across. If you like romance at all, this book is sure to please you. However, I really, really wanted to have some more information about some of the subplots Beauchamp only hints at and skims over. I understand Time Masters is slated to be a 12-volume series and one would assume the next volume is going to touch on these things in greater detail, but if one is not particularly fond of romance, one might wish to skip book one and wait for the next one.

A brutish Azurti named Kwaku Awahnee yanks Dallan MacDonald out of 1692 Scotland (right in the middle of the Glencoe massacre, no less), takes him ahead in time to 3688, and holds him captive in a small, remote village to train him as a Weapons Master. After enduring ten years of physical and verbal abuse at the hands of Kwaku (whom Dallan calls "the bloody heathen"), Dallan is taken back in time to the 1990s to find his destined mate, Shona, a Muiraran living among humans, and not even aware she is different. I never did quite understand who the Muirarans are. One of the characters says they have always been around, and Beauchamp skillfully taps into legends of Fairie Folk and the like from throughout history to support this, but I also got the feeling the Muirarans are aliens who are only part of humanity's past because of the ability of some of them to open time portals. The Muiraran mystery is one of those things I wanted to know more about. Who are these special beings and where did they come from? Why are they here and what are their plans for Earth and Humanity?

Shona is one of the Muirarans who has the ability to open time doors. She was kidnapped as a baby and taken back in time, where her kidnapper, Phillip Brennan, leaves her with a childless couple who has no idea where she came from and evidently never catch on how different she is, even though she often goes into "flux" while dreaming, losing her human camouflage to expose her Muiraran appearance. When Shona comes of age, she must be joined with a mate or die. It sounds corny when I say it, but Beauchamp makes it all very believable. Shona somehow made contact with Dallan across time when he was a small boy back in ancient Scotland, and at that time, he gave her his heart. So Dallan is the one who will make Shona complete and therefore the best Time Master possible.

Of course, Phillip intends to take Shona for himself, so that he can wield her time powers. He hires a very controlling tutor to watch Shona and keep her drugged, to inhibit her bonding with Dallan. He also hires some thugs to dispose of Dallan and he even kidnaps Shona AGAIN, as an adult, all in his quest for power. I hope it is not giving away too much to say that Phillip eventually fails and Dallan and Shona are successfully joined. Otherwise, I would have to call this tale a tragedy, and in that case, I would have to explain why I disliked it. But since this book is well over 500 pages, it's not really revealing much at all to admit there is a happy ending. The meat of the story is all in HOW the characters accomplish their goals and thwart the villians. At the very end, Beauchamp gives us a brief glimpse of a frustrated "wraith" who apparently ordered Philip to capture Shona for him, and is completely unforgiving of Phillip's failure. But again, we don't really learn much about this mysterious antagonist. The reader is left to speculate who he is and what evil plans he might have. Surely, we've not seen the end of him.

Another point I wondered about: it is mentioned by several characters and further implied in their constant anxiety that Dallan and Shona's coupling is utterly CRUCIAL to the fate of the entire world, both for their own time and all past history. However, we never get any more information concerning WHY this particular couple is so indispensable or what dire consequences the 37th century characters fear might take place if Dallan fails to woo Shona. Yet another question we will have to wait for the sequel for.

Plenty of action. Well-written. Excellent story-telling and pacing. Engaging. Unique and interesting plot, but a bit one-sided towards the romance, leaving some of the subplots under-developed. A great opening to an epic. I have only given Time Masters, Book One: The Call the barest coverage here. I recommend reading the entire book to appreciate it in full.
Visit Geralyn's Website.
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Paperbacks:

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Books-A-Million

Barnes and Noble Hardbacks:

Amazon

Cold Tree Press

Barnes and Noble

Faith Awakened by Grace Bridges

2007-11-03T21:11:00.001-07:00

Faith Awakened by Grace Bridges

November 4-10, Christian Fiction Review Blog is touring Faith Awakened by Grace Bridges.

I can't remember which promotional blurb I read, but something I saw somewhere (or maybe I dreamed it?) led me to infer that "Faith Awakened" would be something like "The Matrix". Caprice, you ditz, you're confusing this with last month's review, you say? Actually, I read "Faith Awakened" (and wrote most of this review) three months BEFORE I heard anything about "Flashpoint". Plotwise, "Faith Awakened" wasn't as much like "The Matrix" as it was "The Stand" by Stephen King. Government-sponsored plague destroys nearly the whole population of the planet. A mere handful of survivors are left behind to start over. If you enjoyed "The Stand", the Mariah plotline of "Faith Awakened" will give you a similar experience, with a much happier ending. I daresay "Faith Awakened" is less depressing than "The Matrix" too, at least in the end.

But I am skipping to the end, and that's not the meat of the story. However, before going any further, I must confess I am woefully inadequate to discuss the meat of this story. "Faith Awakened" went over my head. It left me scratching my temple and wondering what it meant. This is a story for deep thinkers, the kind of people who read literary fiction, the kind of readers who actually understand and appreciate "Great Expectations" by Charles Dickens. Alas, I am not one of those people.

"Faith Awakened" is actually two stories, with two plotlines presented in tandem. One story doesn't start chronologically until after 95% of the other plotline is finished, so it is like a bunch of flashbacks. The narrative goes back and forth in a time warp. I am sure this parallel telling is somehow significant; it surely must be. If only I was the type of person who didn't need Cliff Notes in order to survive high school literature classes, perhaps I would have grasped the significance. But as I said, it went over my decidedly non-literary head.

In the first plot, Mariah is a young Christian woman (which their jargon calls "Awakened") who survives a global plague. When 99% of the population dies, those who survive are left to wonder if their resistance to the disease is permanent. There is a period of shock and mourning, understandable after such a catastrophe. Just as Mariah is beginning to recover from the shock and just as she falls in love and starts to think of marriage and starting life over, the tiny band of survivors discovers that the virus is mutating and they will all die unless they plug into hibernation machines. Mariah is the one who finds the machines and figures out how they work and then convinces everyone else they must utilize these machines or suffer the same fate as the rest of the population.

In the other plotline, we meet a small girl named Faith, who lives a rather uneventful childhood and then travels quite a bit later in life. Even with the continent-hopping (Ireland-Germany-Tonga), the Faith plotline was still somewhat dull, in my admittedly un-literary opinion. Faith and Mariah are connected, but I am getting close to giving away too much here.

The Mariah plotline was much more interesting, in my opinion, especially after the plague hit. Plenty of action and suspense there. And the stakes couldn't have been any higher: Will humanity survive? You'll have to read "Faith Awakened" to find out.

Visit the Faith Awakened website.
Visit the Grace Bridges website.

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Books-A-Million

Flashpoint Blog Tour

2007-10-09T00:04:00.000-07:00

Flashpoint by Frank Creed

Here are some more links:

Daniel I. Weaver Interview
BlogCritics Interview
Novel Journey Interview
Yellow30 Sci-Fi Review
Subscribe to The Underground (Newsletter)
FREE preview of Chapters 1-3

Here's a short list of reviews for Flashpoint:

David Brollier
Grace Bridges
Karina Fabian
Daniel I. Weaver
Karen M.
Cathi Hassan
Caprice Hokstad
Amazon Customers
Various Others

If you have written a review of Flashpoint and I don't have it listed, please leave a comment with your review link and I'll add it.

Flashpoint by Frank Creed

2007-10-01T00:37:00.000-07:00

Flashpoint by Frank Creed
This book ought to come with a warning like the one on amusement park rides. People with hypertension or heart problems should exercise extreme caution when reading Frank Creed's Flashpoint because it's an edge-of-your-seat, thrill-seeking, action-packed ride. Strap in, keep your limbs inside the vehicle, and hold on with white knuckles. Frank absolutely excels at action and he's chocked his under-200-page volume to the very brim with it. Excitement is an understatement. In fact, my old-fashioned, middle-aged brain could have used a little more contemplation to give me a chance to catch my figurative breath here and there.

Confession time. I was quite reluctant to read this book at all because of the name of the genre. "Cyberpunk" sounds like something that would glorify cop-killing and gang-rape. Sorry, that's the image conjured by the word "punk". Adding "cyber" to it doesn't help because I know too many people who use "cyber" as a verb. To "cyber" means "to engage in cybersex". Probably not what everyone thinks when they hear it, and surely not a desired meaning in this case. I know it's not Frank's fault for either root in the compound. He didn't name the genre. I almost let those negative connotations in that word stop me from even trying this book. I'm glad I took the chance. Ignore the word, no matter what it makes you think, and just try the book anyhow.

While it appeals to all ages, Flashpoint will be highly appealing to anyone under thirty, and especially to those of the male persuasion. The Matrix has nothing on Flashpoint which Keanu Reeves couldn't easily surpass were he to play Frank's hero, Calamity Kid. In all fairness, and just so you don't think I'm gushing through rose-colored glasses, I did feel that Flashpoint was slightly obsessed with descriptions of weapons, and being female, and not hip to weapons even in the present day, that wasn't my favorite aspect. I admit my eyes glazed over every now and then when extensive descriptions of the various high-tech, futuristic arsenals came up, which was kind of often. I suspect most guys would find this an asset rather than a drawback.

Others have covered the plot quite well, so I won't duplicate that. Frank even offers a free excerpt on his website, www.frankcreed.com. I do want to mention how impressed I was with the theology and the depth of characters and situations. Even with so many weapons flying it makes your head spin, the battle was STILL in God's hands and Calamity Kid, the uber-hero, knows it. Like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, he knows God is powerful enough to preserve him but sovereign enough that He doesn't have to do the bidding of His creation. Calamity is confident, but not in a stuck-up or superior way. This is not some canned Sunday School lesson with a Deus Ex Machina saving the day either. And furthermore, the good guys kick-butt throughout the entire volume, and yet they still manage to LOVE and even PRAY FOR some really nasty enemies. And speaking of enemies, yes, a good number of them are cooky-cutter bad guys (as is often the case with the average pawns of any dictator's army), but regardless of what it seems on the surface, the REAL battle is not against flesh and blood, and the REAL enemy is no comic-book caricature one can just swat with the newest weapon so everyone lives happpily ever after.

Now we get to the part where we discuss my opinion, no matter how utterly inconsequential it may be. Don't care, you say? Click a link or hit the back button! This is the best book I have read in years. And that is really saying something considering it's a dystopia. As a rule, I'm not fond of dystopian plotlines. I find them depressing and they usually run counter to my main motivation for reading, which is mental escape to a better world. You could not pay me any amount of money to visit Mr. Creed's version of the world in 2036. And yet, there was one very cool plot device which took the edge off all those horrors: Reformation.

I'm sure it's no coincidence that the church has used this term in the past, most notably pertaining to the movement precipitated by Martin Luther nailing his 95 theses to the door in Wittenberg. But when members of the Body of Christ in 2036 use the term, they are talking about something else entirely. It's a process by which the brain is enhanced in some very cool ways:

1. Infodump. You get a top-notch university education in seconds! Plus, while they're at it, they give you full fluency in several foreign languages and the ENTIRE Bible. That alone would be worth the price of admission, but wait! there's more...

2. Better, stronger, faster. Reformed saints can do lots of things out of the range of normal human beings. It's not quite Superman, but in many cases, pretty darn close. No one leaped over an entire building, but four stories is nothing to sneeze at. And if a reformed saint sees bullets coming, their mindware hardens the skin's entry point at the molecular level to make it impenetrable. And they CAN see bullets coming because all their senses are ultra-heightened. Their minds can slow down split-second events like a slo-mo camera. They can hear heartbeats down the hall and they can smell the minute changes that signal a change in sweat secretion due to fear or lying. How cool would it be to be able to detect lies by smell?

3. Spiritual enhancement. Having the entire text of the Bible at your instant disposal would be great by itself, but that's only the beginning. Reformed saints can literally see angels and demons and most of them can even sense the presence of the Almighty. Some of them can even see souls of mortals, both Christian and non.

4. Telepathy, i.e. mind-speaking. Talking to other reformed saints without opening your mouth or even looking at them. You don't even have to be in the same room. I think there was a range outside of which the brainwaves couldn't travel, but it's still absolute-zero cool.

Add to all these brainwave goodies a bunch of futuristic gadgets that Bill Gates would give his left hand for (com-vision: computers mounted on the insides of eyeglasses, boots that allow you to climb any surface, electrocuting gloves, etc, etc) and you've got a very compelling world where I didn't seem to mind spending time despite the fact that it was frighteningly realistic in numerous very bad ways.

So do I recommend this book? Absolutely. I got a free review copy, but I also paid to get an autographed copy for my collection too. Plus, I'll be buying at least two more copies (and probably more) for some of my Books For Soldiers buddies. I have every confidence that guys dodging real bullets in Iraq would cheer Calamity Kid with gusto.

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If you order before Oct. 15, from this link only: The Writer's Cafe Press, then you get a signed copy and free shipping in North America!

Infinite Space, Infinite God edited by Rob & Karina Fabian

2007-08-16T16:34:00.000-07:00

Available at Amazon.com
Infinite Space, Infinite God is a science fiction anthology of decidedly Roman Catholic stories. This was something of a surprise since I knew several of the authors were not themselves Catholic. But a good number of the stories have a general Christian appeal. So as long as a reader has no personal vendetta with the Catholic church, one can still enjoy this award-winning collection edited by Karina and Robert Fabian.

My biggest “problem”, if one could call it that, is my taste for novels, and not just novels, but trilogies and longer series. I always want more, more, more. Just as I was starting to get to like a character or a setting, BAM, the story was over! The upside to this is that you won’t ever be reading Infinite Space, Infinite God at 2AM and NEED to stay awake another hour or two, just to find out what happens. I think I read all but one story in under 30 minutes. So these are nice little short-commitment reads, with the second benefit being if you don’t like a given story, it’ll be over soon. With all the stories being so different, surely the next one will catch your fancy.

There is an extensive excerpt (the introduction plus one full story) and synopses for all the other stories on the Twilight Times website, so I won’t try to duplicate that here. Twilight Times is also where to go to purchase the eBook. Paperbacks are available at Amazon.com.

The Duke's Handmaid by Caprice Hokstad

2007-08-06T18:58:00.000-07:00
I am delighted to announce that the Christian Fiction Review Blog is touring my fantasy novel, The Duke's Handmaid from August 5-11. Please check out the following blogs to see what the various members have to say.

Grace Bridges
Daniel I. Weaver
Frank Creed--book review
Frank Creed--website review
Interview by Karina Fabian
CFRB, Day 1
CFRB, Day 2
CFRB, Day 3
CFRB, Day 4
CFRB, Day 5
CFRB, Day 6
CFRB, Day 7

Buy the paperback at:
Amazon
Lulu
Barnes & Noble
Books-A-Million
Parable
Target
Half.com

Hardback at Lulu.com.
eBook (.pdf file) from author. Visit the Latoph Website.
Visit Caprice's Amazon Blog.
Read FREE CHAPTERS.

True Light by Terri Blackstock

2007-07-01T00:05:00.000-07:00

True Light is a suspense thriller which asks the question: what if nearly every invention we rely on suddenly didn't work? Terri Blackstock has created a nightmare scenario where intermittent "pulses" from a supernova knock out all electricity, all over the planet. No vehicles (all electronic parts are fried and gasoline can't be refined or pumped without electricity). No phones (cell or land-lines). No computers. No running water or sewage (because the water treatment plants run on electricity). No refrigeration. No heat. And worst of all, no end in sight.

Now if this were science fiction, I, being a science geek extraordinaire, might balk at whether so many diversely-powered inventions could be affected by any one hypothetical phenomenon. However, this is not science fiction and therefore the premise must be given greater latitude. If you can suspend disbelief that such a thing could happen and just assume it did, then all the other details are frighteningly believable. In fact, I personally think American society's reaction to such a catastrophe would be much worse than described in this fictional tale (and worse than TV's Jericho, too, by the way). However, in all fairness, I must point out that True Light is the third book of the series and when it opens, this global "pulse" problem is already eight months old. So it is highly possible the picture Ms. Blackstock painted in the first book was indeed worse.

Speaking of the series, I should mention how distressed I was to discover I was reading book three of a series without a chance to read books 1 & 2. I really hate doing that. I don't skip chapters. Why would I skip books or read them out of order? But here I was starting with book three and wondering what I missed and how lost I might be. Yes, there are some references to past events, but they are mentioned the same way characters talk about an unwritten past in brand new stories. I didn't feel completely lost for not having read the first two books. One thing that was a little jarring was the onslaught of so many characters all at once. Someone else must have realized this was a problem, because there is a cast-of-characters list at the front of the book. This was helpful, but I doubt that a few lines of explaining who is who could possibly endear the characters to the reader as much as two full books worth of plot and dialog.

Case in point: It seemed to me that the main purpose of the female protagonist, Deni, was to go around verbally defending the male protagonist, Mark. Now Mark is Mr. Perfect in just about every conceivable way except his father and step-brothers are scum-of-the-earth criminals. This earns Mark undeserved suspicion which Deni tries to dispel. Without the benefit of the other books, I got the distinct feeling Deni wasn't really in Mark's league as far as Christian character and maturity, but she's attracted to him. Well, OF COURSE she is! Why wouldn't she be? He's PERFECT! The questions was, why weren't all the rest of the girls in town attracted to him as well? And for some reason I couldn't fathom, Mark didn't think he was good enough for Deni! Naturally, this only made him all that more attractive.

Perhaps it is my predilection for fairy tales which wants to see Mr. Perfect find a Miss Perfect. An average female reader from the real world can feel comforted for not landing a real-life Mr. Perfect (were such a thing even to exist) when she knows she is not perfect. But if fictional Mr. Perfect is going to settle for fictional Miss Average, then we imperfect readers are going to feel envy for fictional Miss Average. Have I lost you yet? This is my convoluted way to say: It was hard to feel anything towards Deni but envy.

So I've covered the premise and some characterization. Let's get to the plot. With nearly all vehicles crippled by the "pulses", grocery deliveries stop, so hunting and gardening become necessary to survival. On a stormy, freezing morning, young Zach lands a 10-point buck with one shot, but someone else finds this large hunk of meat irresistible and shoots Zach in order to steal his deer.

Mark is also an excellent hunter (and inventor and philanthropist and volunteer deputy sheriff...) and he happens to shoot a deer the very same morning as Zach. He was nowhere near where Zach was shot, but no one saw Mark, so he has no alibi. Mark's family affiliations bring instant suspicion. As if that wasn't enough, someone is actively framing him, paying false witnesses to lie about Mark's whereabouts and trying to stop Zach's ventilator while loudly asserting to the sight-impaired hospital roomie, "Tell Zach that Mark dropped by." The town vigilantes try to lynch poor Mark and these guys aren't even satisfied of Mark's innocence when Zach eventually wakes up and says he saw the shooter and it was NOT Mark. I guess that is rather the point though: to vigilantes, evidence is irrelevant. Act on suspicions and take the law into your own hands.

It's hard to talk about the story without giving away too much. It's a page-turner. And perhaps this is as good a time as any for me to mention this book consists of very short chapters. The story is only 270 pages, but is divided into an astonishing 72 chapters! If I wrote the same number of pages, it would probably be 25 chapters or less. Yet I dare anyone to accuse Terri of giving her readers too many opportunities to set it down. So what? After said reader has had his little potty break, he WILL pick it up again.

Another gem I discovered in this book. Critics, listen up: Terri Blackstock changes POV characters. Often. In fact, she does it even more than I do! I am so glad someone proved it is useful and compelling and doesn't "ruin" a story. Next time I hear one of those POV-snobs whining that we "must" pick just one character who has to be part of every scene, I plan to hit said snob over the head with a hardback copy of True Light.

Visit Terri Blackstock's website.
View the Restoration Series Trailer.

Buy True Light at:
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Books A Million
Christianbook
Parable
Wal-Mart
Others

Read Grace Bridge's Review of True Light.
Read Frank Creed's Review of True Light.
See more reviews on the Christian Fiction Review Blog tour, running July 1-7.

The 3rd Covenant by David Brollier

2007-06-10T18:42:00.000-07:00

Before I get to the book, I must talk about ignorance. Not the author's. Mine. This ignorance has a very important bearing on the story, so perhaps my enlightenment will save you the confusion I suffered.

See the book cover? See how the word "covenant" has a knife forming the letter 't'? If you were to ask me before I read this book what kind of knife it was, I would probably have said, "a hunting knife". You see, I am female and really detest weapons. My dad was a cop and though he kept guns in the house, I always felt it was a necessary evil for his job. I was not the least bit tempted to touch them or to learn how to shoot them. I affirm the constitutional right for citizens to bear arms, but I personally would rather never see any weapons. At all. Ever. Those who live by the sword will die by the sword. No thanks, I pass.

However, I do watch movies on occasion, and I saw a very similar knife in the movie "Crocodile Dundee". You might remember the scene. In the New York subway, some gang-type pulls a switchblade on Dundee and his New Yorker host/girlfriend. The girl is appropriately scared and says, "Give him whatever he wants. He's got a knife." Then Dundee laughs and says, "That's not a knife. This..." and here he displays his massive hunting knife which he has used to slay crocodiles (and which looks exactly like the knife on the book cover), "is a knife." Would-be mugger turns tail and runs. Audience laughs.

Okay, so what's the problem? Well, at the very beginning of this book, we have a murder of a priest and the murder weapon is left in the victim. The weapon? A bayonet. All right. I know what a bayonet is. I have read history books. Bayonets were invented in the French town Bayonne. They were long spikes added to the ends of muskets because early firearms required so much time to load that the enemy could overrun you while you were loading your next shot. Bayonets were weapons of last resort, for use in hand-to-hand combat when you couldn't shoot.

I even knew what bayonets looked like. Illustrations from the American Revolution are positively brimming with these because the point is to show how mismatched the Patriots were to the much-better armed Redcoats. So this is what I picture when I read the word "bayonet":

But fairly early in The 3rd Covenant, they start talking about the handle of the bayonet having fingerprints. Wait a minute. Handle? I'm thinking they must mean a rifle of some type, but that doesn't seem to fit. Furthermore, the blade is stuck and the rib bones won't let go until it is twisted. But aren't bayonets more or less like an ice pick? How could one lodge between two ribs in such a way that twisting would make it release?

Well, to make a long story only slightly shorter, I finally had to look up the word. Evidently, English has expanded bayonet to mean just about every kind of military blade ranging from what I would call a "saber" to what I would call a "hunting knife". No firearm required. Great. Why didn't I get the memo? That t-substitute on the book cover is actually called a bayonet. It isn't the author's nor the cover artist's fault that I didn't know what that knife was called. But you, dear reader, may now be spared the embarrassment of suffering the same ignorance, because I have educated you. Forget history. Forget French towns and American Revolutions. In this book, a bayonet is a honkin' big knife with a wide, thick blade and a handle. Now that I have labelled the cover illustration so you don't have to consult "Knife Names for Dummies", we can get on with the review.

First of all, The 3rd Covenant by David Brollier is not a typical mystery. We know whodunit from the very beginning. The main characters know whodunit very, very early in the story too. And despite there being a CSI character in the book and the setting being New York City and environs, this is not a CSI: New York type of story either. If I had to relate this to something known, I would say this was like Columbo's Memoirs.

Remember the trenchcoat-clad Peter Falk from the old ABC Mystery of the Week series? Lt. Columbo almost always knew who committed the crime right from the start, but knowing and proving are two different things. Unlike Columbo, who spent every episode asking suspects the hard questions, investigating, and then going back to ask more, The 3rd Covenant's CSI and cop team have the disadvantage of not being able to find all the people they would like to question. So it's not a "whodunit" or even a "howdunit", but more of a "where-are-these-dastardly-culprits" and "how-can-we-prove-they-did-it-so-we-can-put-them-away" kind of mystery.

I say it reads like a memoir because The 3rd Covenant is written in first person, told from the point of view of the cop character, Nathan Adams. But the narrator is omniscient and tells us details Det. Adams couldn't possibly know. It is as if Adams asked his buddies over the years, and then guessed the thoughts, motivations, and actions of the criminals to put together this story at some point after the fact. This wouldn't be my choice for point-of-view, but who am I to talk when I myself decline to use commercial fiction's darling, i.e. Deep Limited POV. Non-authors probably wouldn't notice. Deadly Ink sure didn't care. They nominated The 3rd Covenant for the David G. Sasher, Sr. Award for the Best Mystery Novel of 2006.

So what is the story about? A cult leader who calls himself "the bishop" is using his "congregation" of ex-cons and miscreants to commit serial killings with big honkin' knives (aka bayonets). During the investigation, Nathan's wife gets kidnapped and the cop's kung fu buddies volunteer to find and rescue her. Having a member of a cop's family stalked and kidnapped sure pushed all my "worst nightmare" buttons. Being a cop's daughter, I lived a good portion of my life in fear of that very scenario. I don't want to ruin the book's ending, so I won't tell any more of the plot. Suffice it to say, there are plenty of surprises, all the way to the end.

Read a professional review
from the Times Herald-Record.
View the book trailer.

Buy The 3rd Covenant at:
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Books A Million
Direct from the author

See more reviews on the Christian Fiction Review Blog tour, running June 3-9.
Visit David Brollier's ShoutLife profile and his website.