So Much Stuff I Can't Recall

This week, the
Christian Fiction Blog Alliance
is introducing
Winter Haven
(Bethany House April 1, 2008)
by
Athol Dickson

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Athol Dickson's university-level training in painting, sculpture, and architecture was followed by a long career as an architect then his decision several years ago to devote full time to writing.

Athol Dickson’s writing has been favorably compared to the work of Octavia Butler
(Publisher’s Weekly), Daphne du Maurier (Cindy Crosby, FaithfulReader.com) and Flannery O’Connor (The New York Times).

His They Shall See God was a Christy Award finalist and his River Rising was a Christy Award winner, selected as one of the Booklist Top Ten Christian Novels of 2006 and a finalist for Christianity Today's Best Novel of 2006.

He and his wife, Sue, live in Southern California. Visit AtholDickson.com for more information.


ABOUT THE BOOK

Boys who never age, giants lost in time, mist that never rises, questions never asked...on the most remote of islands off the coast of Maine, history haunts the present and Vera Gamble wrestles with a past that will not yield. Will she find refuge there, or will her ghosts prevail on...Winter Haven

Eleven years ago, Vera Gamble's brother left their house never to be seen again. Until the day Vera gets a phone call that his body has been found...washed ashore in the tiny island town of Winter Haven, Maine. His only surviving kin, Vera travels north to claim the body...and finds herself tumbling into a tangled mystery. Her brother hasn't aged a day since last she saw him.

Determined to uncover what happened in those lost years, Vera soon discovers there are other secrets lurking in this isolated town. But Winter Haven's murky past now seems bound to come to light as one woman seeks the undeniable and flooding light of truth.

Labels: Books, CFBA

This week, the
Christian Fiction Blog Alliance
is introducing

Amber Morn
(Zondervan Publishing Company - April 2008)
by
Brandilyn Collins

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Brandilyn Collins is a best-selling novelist known for her trademark Seatbelt Suspense™. These harrowing crime thrillers have earned her the tagline

“Don’t forget to b r e a t h e …®”

Brandilyn writes for Zondervan, the Christian division of HarperCollins Publishers, and is currently at work on her 19th book. Her first, A Question of Innocence, was a true crime published by Avon in 1995. Its promotion landed her on local and national TV and radio, including the Phil Donahue and Leeza talk shows.

She’s also known for her distinctive book on fiction-writing techniques, Getting Into Character: Seven Secrets a Novelist Can Learn From Actors (John Wiley & Sons), and often teaches at writers conferences.

Brandilyn blogs at Forensics and Faith. Visit her website to read the first chapters of all her books.


ABOUT THE BOOK

The whole thing couldn’t have taken more than sixty seconds.

Bailey hung on to the counter, dazed. If she let go, she’d collapse—and the twitching fingers of the gunman would pull the trigger. The rest of her group huddled in frozen shock.

Dear God, help us! Tell me this is a dream . . .

The shooter’s teeth clenched. “ Anybody who moves is dead.”


On a beautiful Saturday morning the nationally read “Scenes and Beans” bloggers gather at Java Joint for a special celebration. Chaos erupts when three gunmen burst in and take them all hostage. One person is shot and dumped outside.

Police Chief Vince Edwards must negotiate with the desperate trio. The gunmen insist on communicating through the “comments” section of the blog—so all the world can hear their story. What they demand, Vince can’t possibly provide. But if he doesn’t, over a dozen beloved Kanner Lake citizens will die...

Amber Morn is the climactic finale to Collins’ widely read Kanner Lake series. All first three titles in the series, Violet Dawn, Coral Moon, and Crimson Eve, were bestsellers. Library Journal placed Crimson Eve on its Best Books of 2007 list, and hailed it the “Best Christian suspense of 2007.”

A few early reviews of Amber Morn:

“… essential reading … a harrowing hostage drama.” – Library Journal

“… heart-pounding … breakneck pace … satisfying and meaningful ending.” – RT Bookreviews

“This cataclysmic ending left me breathless … Kanner Lake is the Best Suspense Series of 2007/2008.” – deenasbooks.blogspot.com

“Collins has saved the best for a last .. a powerful ensemble performance.” -- BookshelfReview.com

“… a staccato tempo … Sometimes you just have to close the book in order to come up for air.” – Dale Lewis

“…a masterpiece of page-turning suspense with a cast of dozens.” – Peg Phifer

* * * * *

What do I say? Great book. As one of the original Wilburs, it's sad to see the series come to an end. (Great Wilbur moments, though!) I take credit for half the bad guys' last name. OK, no I don't. (Really, though, I do...)

Congrats on another faboo novel, Brandilyn.

The rest of youse, go get a copy.

Labels: Books, Brandilyn Collins, CFBA

This week, the Christian Fiction Blog Alliance is featuring the Christian Writers' Market Guide 2008 (WaterBrook Press) by Sally Stuart



ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Sally Stuart has been writing for the last 40+ years, and has been putting out the annual "Christian Writers' Market Guide" for the last 23 years. Her other writing includes several Christian education resources books, a children's picture book, a basic writing text, writing resources, and a western novel--plus hundreds of articles and marketing columns. She writes marketing columns for the "Christian Communicator," "Advanced Christian Writer," and the Oregon Christian Writers' Newsletter. She speaks and teaches at Christian Writers' Conferences nationwide. Sally is the mother of three and grandmother of eight. She and her husband, Norm, spend their free time vacationing on the Oregon coast.

Check out her blog!


ABOUT THE BOOK:

The essential reference tool for the Christian writer, Sally Stuart’s Christian Writers’ Market Guide is now in its 23rd annual edition!

Check out the section on Blogging on page 69 ... the CFBA is listed!

Writers’ Conference listings, Book Publishers, Magazine Publishers, and a Bookstore filled with the resources you need to be successful in this business. Get a Book Contract or Manuscript Evaluation, and check out the Writer’s Resource links. This book has all you need to connect to all these valuable helps for the beginning, intermediate, or professional writer.


To keep you up to date with the latest marketing news, visit Sally Stuart’s new marketing blog, Christian Writers’ Marketplace, at http://www.stuartmarket.blogspot.com/.


A new, updated version of the Christian Writers’ Market Guide is available about January 15 each year.

Labels: Books, CFBA

I missed out on the CFBA tour for Tribulation House two weeks ago. So let me make up for lost time by mentioning the book now.

This is the third in Chris Well's Kansas City Blues cops-vs-disorganized crime series. This time around a local church has predicted the Return of Christ(TM), set up an alternative Halloween spookhouse (the titular Tribulation House -- not to be confused with the rival church-sponsored Armageddon House), almost puts paying off the mob to a church board vote (several times) ... and then one of the deacons takes a mob "loan" to buy a $22,000 boat, figuring Christ's return will spare him from having to pay it back (or the consequences of not paying it back).

And that's just in the first half of the book.

Cops Pasch and Griggs are back, as is G-Man O'Malley, and plenty of comic book goodness. There are couple bargain-basement extortionists wandering around the story, a would-be city hall reformer, and the new Mr. Big on the block -- Ted Massey -- who's working a real estate angle that's got everybody wondering.

If you've read Forgiving Solomon Long and Deliver Us from Evelyn you're probably already reading TH. If not, you've got a nice little trilogy (so far) to work through this summer.

Hey, look -- here's the first chapter!

Enjoy.

Labels: Books, CFBA

I've been out of the Christian Fiction Bloggers Alliance loop for a while. With the move and Flannery O'Connor's short stories (I finished!) and Stephen King's Lisey's Story (another book with a whole lotta pages), I haven't had time for much else. Fortunately, I made time for Brandilyn Collins' Coral Moon, the second book in her Kanner Lake series.

Coral Moon picks up just about where Violet Dawn left off. The heroines of the first book are rooming together when they find another body. Bummer, ladies. The majority of the book is devoted to finding the killer before he (or she) strikes again ... or again. Interspersed with the main story are some chapters told from the killer's perspective, as well as some flashbacks detailing why the killer is so messed up.

There's some really tense stuff here. Tense to the point that I'd recommend changing all the lightbulbs in your house before tucking in. One bulb across the room popped while I was reading -- had to be a chapter about "the ghost," of course -- and that gave me the willies for a good while afterward.

About the only nit that I'd pick has to do with the police investigation. Once the story establishes that the cops find the "ghost theory" preposterous (don't dismiss it too early, though, OK?), there never really is a point where they approach the investigation from the line of "who would/could pull such a con and/or why?" It seems to me to be a reasonable line of thinking; I'm not a cop, though, so maybe not. (Fred, Daphne and Velma never ask those questions either and they do just fine in their ghost-busting endeavors; 'course they're just meddling kids with a dog...)

It was great catching up with the Java Joint gang again. Wilbur keeps his shirt on the whole time, so don't let his first-book exhibitionism keep you from grabbing a biggie mocha from Bailey's. Some good action goes down there too, so it's more integrated into the book than it was at times in Violet Dawn.

Can't wait 'til Crimson Eve comes out this Fall.

(Keep up-to-date with Brandilyn at her Forensics & Faith blog; or the Java Joint gang at Scenes & Beans.)

Labels: Book Reviews, Brandilyn Collins, CFBA, Wilbur Hucks

Yesterday I mentioned that I had yet to receive my review copy of Sally Stuart's Christian Writers' Market Guide. It came in today's mail.

This is a honkin big tome. Not as big as the full-blown Writer's Digest Writers' Market, but easily on par with WD's Novel/Short Story edition. I thumbed through quickly to see if the magazines I was published in last year were listed. Most were (Ray Gun Revival, a late starter last year isn't), though some of the payment info is out of date -- again it's possible it was changed or arrived too late (if at all) to make the 2007 edition. Still, compared to WD, it has many Christian-targeted publications the big guys miss. As a place to begin your market research, it's an excellent resource.

The accompanying CD was a bit of a disappointment, though. While it contains all the information in the hard copy, it doesn't take advantage of its new-media presentation (these appear to be production documents, Word and PDF -- the PDF has the printer's trim marks on the pages). Entries aren't hyperlinked from the table of contents or index. Websites and email addresses aren't linked, either. You can fix the latter by turning on the Autoformat "hyperlinks" option in Word, then running the Autoformat (get yourself a cup of coffee while it runs), and then Save As'ing to your hard drive, but that's a lot of work for something that would've been a not-too-hard fix for the publisher to make. The CD adds some value to the book, but I can't help thinking it could have added a lot more.

Bottom line, this is a great resource for a writer targeting Christian audiences. If you're thinking and hoping and praying that this is the year you'll make it into print (or make it into print more), get yourself a copy now. (The year's almost 1/6th over, for crying out loud.)

Labels: Book Reviews, Books, CFBA

I had hoped to have been able to review a copy of Sally Stuart's Christian Writer's Market Guide for this week's blog tour. I had wanted to compare it to the Writer's Digest Writer's Market, maybe work up a grid of pros/cons, haves/have nots. Definitely a critique that was lucid, intelligent, and well thought-out.

To (further) paraphrase Judge Chamberlain Haller, "Denied."

My copy didn't arrive this week. Probably in the cargo hold of a Jet Blue or Delta flight out on the tarmac somewhere. <sigh>

Linda Gilmore's got the specs on the book over at Musings from the Windowsill. Dee Stewart highlights one of the ways the book can be put to quick use at her Christian Fiction blog. Check the CFBA blogroll to see who's got what-else going on.

And be sure to stop by Sally Stuart's website, too; lots of good stuff there.

Labels: Books, CFBA, Writing

I mentioned yesterday that one of the books I finished last month was Germ by Robert Liparulo. Today, more on the book and Five Questions with Robert.

I admit I had a hard time getting into the story. Might be my fault, I'm more of a mystery guy, not so much a thriller junkie. Despite the fact that the opening chapters were a high-speed freeway chase with guns blazing and tech gear glitching and blood and mayhem and intrigue, it took me three concerted attempts to get through the first forty or so pages. A lot was happening, but it didn't feel like a lot was happening.

That's probably a rotten thing to say, but I know there are readers who will put a book down and never pick it up again (or buy it in the first place) if they're not immediately grabbed. To those people I'd say, give it time. (It took me about six tries to get into The Lord of the Rings, so Germ's in good company. And I was reading an advance review copy, so it's possible changes for the better came before the first edition went to press.)

Things take a turn around Chapter 20 -- when the adrenaline-pumped opening is done, the stakes have been established (Liparulo's not foolin' around, folks), and most of the important backstory has been divulged -- and I found myself more immersed in the story. Cliffhangers began to appear at the breaks and, suddenly, the next three- to five-page chapters became must-reads.

I finished the book in a couple late night sittings. Up past 1am the final night to find how it all turned out. I'm happy to say I liked the result. Worth the initial effort, definitely.

If you're looking for a story with action, suspense, and more gooshy moments than a CSI marathon, give Germ a read.

And now, Five Questions...

1. Common writing advice is to "kill your darlings," those characters, scenes, moments, sentences in a book that are brilliant but just don't work with everything else. Anything in Germ that wowie-wow-wowed you when you wrote it, but had to take one for the team and ended up being cut?
   
   With most of my writing, I’d say no. I tend to write slowly, methodically, editing as I go. I also have a very clear picture of the story in my head before I start writing. Germ, however, was a bit different. I really enjoyed the characters and the story. As a result, I over-wrote. Originally, I had more backstory of Julia and Donnelley's, more about her mother, more of Kendrick Reynolds's role in the creation of biological warfare and Karl Litt, and his search for Litt of the years. My original word count was about 200,000. By the time I killed my darlings -- tightening the writing and picking up the pace -- I had about 135,000. I killed off a whole bunch of children.


2. If the director or casting agent for "Germ: The Movie" asked you to appear in a cameo, what character would you most want to play (and why)?
   
   Even though I’m not of South American decent (but rather Italian), I’d like to play Jorge Prieto, the escapee from Litt’s camp who faces Gregor’s wrath and the Deadeyes. He’s a tragic figure, who just wants to get home to his family, or at least let his family know that he had been kidnapped and did not simply abandon them. He’s a man of principle.


3. Among my favorite scenes in the book was the one that took place in Sweaty Dave's comic book store. Were/Are you an avid collector? What titles? What impact, if any, did they have on your creativity?
   
   Larry Hama is a friend of mine. He wrote many of the Wolverine, X-Men and G.I. Joe comics. I do collect Wolverine and X-Men, plus anything Frank Miller does. Larry inspires me to be a concise writer. He’s a master of word economics. Frank’s work inspires me to do my best. He really is a genius, so visually minded, and he knows how to share what’s in his head -- the most difficult part of the writing (or any artistic) process.
   
   When I was a kid, I collected Tales From the Crypt and a weird comic that didn’t last long called Plop. It featured stories of people who always got their comeuppance in the end. Real black humor.
   
   Sweaty Dave is based on a person who once stalked Larry all around New York and through several conventions. James Byron Huggins and I laughed until we were sick when we heard Larry’s Sweaty Dave stories.


4. Who'd win in a biowar fight, Karl Litt or Sato Matsushita, the plague-maker of Tim Downs fame?
   
   Oh, I’d have to say Karl would. As nasty as Sato is, Karl’s got this German (in fact, Nazi) blood flowing through him that makes him tough as nails. Couple that with the insanity that losing his family triggered -- he’s a man with nothing to lose and those are the worst to face. I have to say, though, Plague Maker is a great book and Tim is a terrific writer.


5. Any further adventures for Julia Matheson? And if you're not working on that, what are you working on?
   
   I would like to revisit Julia’s world—eventually. The producers who bought the rights asked about a sequel, which got me thinking. So, my answer is a resounding... maybe.
   
   I just finished Deadfall. It’s the story of a group of guys who go up into the Canadian wilderness to get away from it all. They’ve all had a really rough year. They encounter some rich gamer punks who are terrorizing a small town with a new weapon one of their father’s companies developed. Very high-tech. So now these guys, armed with only a bow and arrow, face off with these young people with very little moral values -- and a big, nasty, seemingly unstoppable weapon. Oh, and the good guys are also trying to save the townsfolk.
   
   It’s full of the same sort of action/adventure/suspense I put in [first novel Comes a Horseman] and Germ, but it’s very different from those books, as well, in that it all takes place in a small area of Northern Saskatchewan, there are no cops, and no big conspiracy. My intension was to write a very entertaining, fast-paced story that is also intimate and character-driven. I just finished it this week, and I think I hit the mark. We’ll see.


Thanks for playing along, Robert.

Be sure to check out robertliparulo.com for more on the thrillers, "Germ: The Video Game," a chance to win an iPod Nano, and more!

And visit other CFBA sites (see sidebar) for other blog tour stops.

Labels: Book Chat, Book Reviews, Books, CFBA

This week's Christian Fiction Bloggers' Assn. pick is Tangerine by Marilynn Griffith. Dina read one of her previous books, Pink, last month and really enjoyed it. Makes me wish I had mooched a copy of Tangerine for her.

Let me direct you to a few CFBA members who are running special posts this week:

• Kelly Klepfer has a review and interview (two separate posts) at her blog, Scrambled Dregs.


• Val Comer has a two-parter (1, 2) at In My Little World.


• Just the basics can be found at plenty of CFBA sites, like Mich Pendergrass' Just a Minute and David Meigs's Curmudgeon's Rant (warning: it's not ranty at all).

Be sure to peruse the other CFBA blogs -- Kelly's and Val's posts I found clicking randomly at the list -- and stop by Marilynn's blog, too: Rhythms of Grace.

Look for a couple more of these summaries over the next weeks. I'll have an interview (fingers crossed) and review for Robert Liparulo and his latest, Germ, at the end of the month.

Labels: Books, CFBA

1: Phil's new shoe size. Went out to get him a new pair of shoes and he's out of the kid sizes already.

2: The Second Season of Babylon 5 is now available at the iTunes store.

3: This week's CFBA pick is the third book in the Landon Snow series: L.S. and the Island of Arcanum. I haven't managed to finish it yet, but what I've read so far is very good. Check out other CFBA members Kevin Lucia and Val Comer, as well as author R.K. Mortenson's website -- landonsnow.com -- for more info. (Val's giving away a copy of the book, and also has a link to a free Landon Snow -- move over, Grinch! -- Christmas short story.) I hope to have a Book Chat with Randy up in the next few days.

11: At 11 o'clock this morning we went to a parent-teacher conference to find out how the boy's doing. In Spinal Tap terms, he's gone all the way to 11 with reading. Math's not far behind. Great job, Phil!

6: Phil has the attention span of a six year old. That and his penmanship were the only things his teacher said he needed to work on.

24: Days left until Christmas. Phil -- have I mentioned he's doing well in school? -- figured this out in his head (what's twenty-five minus one?).

Labels: CFBA, first grade, iTunes, Television

As promised on Friday, here are the answers to the five questions I posed to Rene Gutteridge, author of Scoop.

To recap the novel: Scoop tells the tale of Hayden Hazard, former clown (who's also clownaphobic -- that disease has a real name; read the book to find out what it's actually called), who winds up as an intern at a low-rated nightly news show only to find herself thrust into the spotlight and behind the anchor desk when her boss, executive producer Hugo Talley, has the Worst Week Ever.

Written with wit and charm, Rene keeps the pace brisk and the ending happy. The cynical and jaded might call it Fairy Tale Happy^TM, but if you remain cynical and jaded after reading Scoop then something's wrong with you, maybe two things (cynicism and jadedness, perhaps, hmmmm). It's a fun book and might just soften up your hardened heart.

But let's throw to the questions. Quizmaster, take it away.

1. Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch gave the writing advice: Murder your darlings. Which darling was the most difficult for you to kill?
   
   Clyde from Ghost Writer.


2. At one point in the novel, a typographical error causes Hayden Hazard to suddenly become the Austrian composer [Franz Joseph/Papa] Haydn (1732-1809). What did he think of our modern world and what did he have on his iPod?
   
   (Laughing) I have no idea. Don't know Haydn and don't own an iPod. Maybe I should brush up on my Austrian composers?? Or go hunt down my copy editor...


3. Ray Duffey and the Underwear of Decency (great line, by the way): Boxers or Briefs?
   
   Boxers.


4. Hayden, like Mary Poppins, is "practically perfect in every way." But at one point in the story she quips that the audience loves her because "they don't know me yet." So which of these sins is lurking in the cobwebs of her soul: Wears white after Labor Day. Uses the wrong fork during the salad course. As a child, left the toilet seat down, greatly inconveniencing her brothers. Flosses in public.
   
   These are sins??? Yikes. I'm toast. [Chris: Okay, they're not really sins -- wearing white after Labor Day, maybe.] Knowing Hayden, she could pull any of these off without a problem.


5. Which Hazard sibling gets the occupational treatment next book in the series? And anything else you'd like to tell...
   
   Next up is Mack, in Snitch.

Thanks Rene.

Labels: Book Chat, Book Reviews, CFBA

If you're looking for a fun read of the almost chick-lit/somewhat mystery variety -- and who isn't, really? -- get yourself a copy of Rene Gutteridge's new novel, Scoop. The first in a series of ex-clowns finding life after the family circus (not the cartoon with Billy and Jeffy and Barfy, but a real family circus), Scoop tells the story of Hayden Hazard who winds up as a news department intern for a foundering TV station and finds herself in front of the camera when the nightly news anchor goes missing.

The narrative and dialogue are witty and fast-paced, the characters varied, and the plot keeps you guessing. Christian themes abound, the most prevalent: trust God. I found Hayden a bit too good; though I didn't feel the need for her to have a dark side, a character flaw or two would have help her be more believable as well as give her character a chance to grow over the course of the novel. I found Ray Duffey, one of the reporters and the guy you hope Hayden ends up with, a more accessible Christian character. A few plot points didn't quite work, I thought, but the discussion of aliases for the "secret informant" blew me away.

If you're a fan Chris Well's Kansas City Blues series -- and you really should be -- the pacing and attitude of Scoop will be right up your street.

I was hoping to have a full-blown Book Chat today, but Rene hasn't gotten back to me yet. If/when she does, I'll put it up. Meanwhile, find out more about Rene, Scoop, and her other novels at renegutteridge.com. (And don't forget to hit other stops on the Scoop Blog Tour. See the CFBA scrolldown for links.)

Labels: Books, CFBA

This week the Christian Fiction Bloggers' Alliance is featuring Siri L. Mitchell's The Cubicle Next Door. Actually, everybody else blogged on it Wednesday through yesterday. Me, I'm a little slow sometimes.

For a couple good blog posts about Cubicle check out Katy Popa and Michelle Pendergrass's posts: Katy, Michelle.

For more from Siri on this and her other novels, visit her website.

If all goes to plan I'll have a book chat for next week's tour. Stay tuned.

Labels: Books, CFBA

When I joined the Christian Fiction Blog Alliance it was a one-book-a-month deal. That's recently changed to one a week, which is way too much for me to keep up with. (I'm still on the novel I started mid-August.) I'll try and read as many books as I can, and play "A Handful of Questions" whenever possible. But this week? Not possible.

Still, Dark Hour sounds like one I'll make room/time for as soon as possible. It's Book One in the Serpent Moon trilogy. Fantasy series? Nope. Head on over to Dave Meigs' Blog for info, a review, and a chance to win a copy of the book. (He also posted the first chapter earlier this week.)

Sounds interesting, huh? Get thee to a Borders before Oct. 9th.

For more on author Ginger Garrett and the book, check this interview at the CFBA blog (it also appears at the beginning of Dave's first chapter post), as well as the author's website.

Links to more (and likely better-prepared) CFBA members appear in the blog roll at the bottom of the sidebar.

(Looks like it'll be mini-posts like these for the next few weeks, but I should have something at the end of the month to send you into election season.)

Labels: Books, CFBA