CSFF June Tour presents: The Restorer, by Sharon Hinck

I'm so glad we're featuring Sharon's new fantasy novel. It's great and I think everyone will enjoy it. I've already read the second book in the series, The Restorer's Son. Woohoo! I loved it as well.

Sadly, I will be out of town during this tour and will only be able to post once and a few days early at that. I had hoped to list this month's participants at the bottom of this post, but I had to leave town before I got the correct list. I've listed participants from past blog tours--hopefully most of them will be correct. Please go visit some of their sites and forgive me if some are incorrect. Thanks heaps. :)

MY REVIEW:
Susan doesn’t think she can cope anymore. Playing wife and mother to four children has sapped her energy level to zero and sky-rocketed her stress to the moon. Where is the meaning in sorting laundry, cleaning the kitchen and providing incessant transportation? So much for joy.

But hubby Mark comes to save the day. He creates an attic retreat/no kids zone for Susan’s refreshment. During her first visit she sees a shadow, hears voices, and is suddenly sucked up into a swirling vortex of energy. What she finds when she regains consciousness will changer her forever.

No longer just a soccer mom, Susan is thrust into the role of a lifetime—in another world. Tristan and the People of the Verses are looking for a Restorer, one who can help them battle the evil that has pervaded their land. But how can a woman unfamiliar with the ways of a strange world help at all?

From murder to treason to poison to sword-fighting to war strategy—this plot will have you cheering for the good guys and snarling at the bad ones. You will make friends along the way, some of them unlikely ones. And though the ending is satisfying, the story is far from over.

It’s hard to compare this novel to any others out on the market, although several fiction titles dealing with parallel universes or time travel may coincide in some manner. The only book series I can think of that even remotely parallels this one concerning modern life vs. a medieval-type alternate world is Ted Dekker’s Circle Trilogy. But that’s a very sketchy comparison. The Restorer starts out with a “mom-lit” feeling, but quickly changes into pure fantasy. As such, it proved to be one of the best novels I’ve read all year.

Like me, readers will relate to Susan’s lethargy and depression in regards to real life. If only we could learn lessons and overcome obstacles as she did without adventuring into a new world to do it. I think the author begs us to realize that we can find meaning and purpose in our lives, no matter what our station in life or how ill-prepared we think we are. God is for us and with us, no matter what the circumstance.

I highly recommend this book for its extraordinary writing style, lovable characters, thematic content and elements of suspense. It’s like fantasy for people who don’t read fantasy. And for those of us who do.

The book link
Sharon's website
Sharon's blog

Participant list:
Dawn King
Rebecca Grabill
Jill Hart
Nissa Annakindt
Wayne Thomas Batson
Jim Black
Jackie Castle
Valerie Comer
Karri Compton
Frank Creed
CSFF Blog Tour
Gene Curtis
D. G. D. Davidson
Chris Deanne
Janey DeMeo
April Erwin
Kameron M. Franklin
Linda Gilmore
Beth Goddard
Marcus Goodyear
Andrea Graham
Katie Hart
Sherrie Hibbs
Sharon Hinck
Christopher Hopper
Heather R. Hunt
Becca Johnson
Jason Joyner
Karen
Tina Kulesa
Lost Genre Guild
Kevin Lucia and The Bookshelf Reviews 2.0 - The Compendium
Rachel Marks
Rebecca LuElla Miller
Shannon McNear
Caleb Newell
Nicole
Eve Nielsen
John W. Otte
Robin Parrish
Rachelle
Cheryl Russel
Hanna Sandvig
Chawna Schroeder
Mirtika Schultz
James Somers
Tsaba House Authors
Steve Trower
Speculative Faith
Daniel I. Weaver

CFBA novel of the week: Snitch, by Rene Gutteridge

ABOUT THE BOOK:
Old School meets New School meets Homeschool

Just shy of retirement and a well-earned pension, Las Vegas Police Department Sergeant Ron Yeager's definition of "active duty" involves shifting his bad leg into a more comfortable position. But when he's requested from his mind-numbing desk job to head an undercover auto theft task force, the former narcotics officer determines to prove he's still got the right stuff.

That is...until he meets his unlikely team of officers.

As Yeager soon finds out, not all the crazies are on the street. An undercover rookie, the audaciously honest Mackenzie "Mack" Hazard sends Yeager's blood pressure skyrocketing by wearing her faith like an ever-present badge. Then there's Jesse Lunden, a maverick undercover officer who refuses to learn anything from an old guy with a cane. Can this tangle of egos and eccentrics be trained into a lean, mean, crime-fighting machine...even while they are being drawn into something much bigger and more dangerous than anyone imagined?

In her trademark style, Rene Gutteridge blends zany, original characters, sincere faith, and surprising plot twists into one hilariously addictive read.





ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Rene Gutteridge is the author of several novels, including Ghost Writer (Bethany House Publishers) The Boo Series (WaterBrook Press) and the Storm Series, (Tyndale House Publishers. She will release three novels in 2006: Storm Surge (Tyndale) My Life as a Doormat (WestBow Press, Women of Faith)Occupational Hazards Book #1: Scoop (WaterBrook Press).

She has also been published over thirty times as a playwright, best known for her Christian comedy sketches. She studied screenwriting under a Mass Communications degree, graduating Magna Cum Laude from Oklahoma City University, and earned the "Excellence in Mass Communication" award. She served as the full-time Director of Drama for First United Methodist Church for five years before leaving to stay home and write. She enjoys instructing at writer's conferences and in college classrooms. She lives with her husband, Sean, a musician, and their children in Oklahoma City.


MY REVIEW:

Normally in a “Christian” novel, the protagonist is the character who undergoes a change over the course of the book, who grows in some way or overcomes an enormous obstacle. Not so here. Mack Hazard, cop and would-be undercover agent, stays pretty much the same—solid in her Christian beliefs. It’s her co-workers who are confronted with God and the emptiness in their own lives, one in particular.

I didn’t like this story as much as Scoop, partially because the focus remained on the cops’ operation, not Mack. Ron, Jesse and numerous other characters got lots of POV time. I’m sure the author intended just that, though it didn’t work for me. Also, there were some moments I disbelieved some of the character’s dialogue or reactions.

All in all though, Snitch is a good read. Gutteridge has a unique sense of humor that anyone should find endearing, and the plot moved along at just the right pace. Fans of suspense, humor and crime novels will no doubt enjoy this lighthearted story.

The Book Link

Review of Flashpoint, by Frank Creed

Frank Creed, founder of The Lost Genre Guild--home of biblical speculative fiction, releases his debut novel in September. This story is cyber-punk, for those of you who know what that is. To me it's kind of like sci-fi with a comic book flair. If you want original, this is for you.



MY REVIEW:

Jen and Dave live in an America where the government is their bitter enemy. In a nation where Christian Fundamentalists are labeled “terrorists”, they must go underground to survive. Their sympathizer parents, on the verge of being captured and thrown into a Rehab, stash Jen and Dave under an overpass, hoping they can evade Peacekeepers long enough to be rescued.

Every believer has a place in the Body of Christ and Dave and Jen find theirs as “Calamity Kid” and “e-girl.” They find an underground group of “fundies” who use the latest technology available to penetrate the enemy and regain contact with their families, while also reaching lost souls with seemingly no hope.

Told from Calamity Kid’s POV, the story chronicles his move from obscurity to valuable member of the fundie team. He must learn to use his new abilities within the BOC to help accomplish its goals, one being to save he and his sister’s parents from the Rehab Ward.

I admit I was a bit lost in this novel, primarily because I’ve never read “cyberpunk” before. The fight scenes proved sufficiently confusing to me because of the use of future weaponry However, that doesn’t mean Creed doesn’t write well. On the contrary, he gives us likeable characters, a believable futuristic plot and a plethora of his patented witty one-liners. The ending was predictable, but hey, I like happy endings.

It’s basically a story of persecution, survival and learning to use one’s Spirit-given gifts to encourage and assist Christ’s body of believers in the world. That theme with a post-Christian era as a backdrop made for a very original book. I applaud Creed for his originality, doing his part to again bring the lost genre of speculative fiction to light.

Frank's website
The Lost Genre Guild

CFBA presents: Tribulation House, by Chris Well

ABOUT THE BOOK:

IT’S NOT THE END OF THE WORLD—WHICH COULD BE A PROBLEM...

Mark Hogan has it all. The job. The family. A position on the board at church. All he’s missing is a boat. Not just any boat—a 2008 Bayliner 192.

When Reverend Daniel Glory announces that the Rapture is taking place on October 17 at 5:51am, Hogan realizes his boat–buying days are numbered. So he does what any man in his situation would do—he borrows a load of money from the mob.

Not that there’s any risk involved: After all, when the Rapture comes, Hogan will be long gone. The mob will never find him.

But when Jesus fails to come back on schedule, Mark Hogan finds the mob is in no mood to discuss the finer points of end–times theology...

Chris Well’s laugh–out–loud Christian thrillers appeal to the millions of readers who gobble up the rollicking crime fiction of Janet Evanovich and Elmore Leonard. TRIBULATION HOUSE does not disappoint!



ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Chris Well is a fellow member of the CFBA and founder of its sister organization, FIRST. He is an acclaimed novelist and award–winning magazine editor and has previously written the “laugh–out–loud Christian thrillers” Deliver Us from Evelyn and Forgiving Solomon Long(one of Booklist’s Top 10 Christian Novels of 2005). He has also contributed to 7ball, Infuze, and Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine. Chris and his wife live in Tennessee, where he is hard at work on his next novel.

The book link

MY REVIEW:

The title of this novel is a bit deceiving--it sounds like some sort of weird horror tale. How far from the truth! This screams comedy from page one. Tribulation House is just a name for the interactive end-times multimedia presentation/witnessing tool the main character's church is putting on. The show is secondary. Mark Hogan's problems (presented in tongue-in-cheek fashion) resulting from the lack of a timely rapture dominate the book.

It's risky taking such serious spiritual matter and turning it into almost a farce. But Well came out the victor after walking such a fine line. The humor makes his points easier to swallow.

I also like how Well uses first person POV for the main character but switches to third for the other POV characters. It was very effective. I've not read a lot of crime fiction (or however one would classify TH), but I love Well's borderline irreverent style and engaging storytelling. A good read.

CFBA Tour this week: The Heir, by Paul Robertson

ABOUT THE BOOK:

Jason Boyer Just Got an Inheritance to Die For
The fortune wasn't supposed to befall him. Jason Boyer had known all along his father's business empire would pass to different hands. Which suited him just fine. The money was crooked and the power corrupt. But when an accident claims the old man's life, everyone is stunned by the unveiling of the will. With the passing of the Boyer crown, power-hungry politicians and shady business partners all try to force Boyer's hand. Fighting the temptation of influence and riches, he simply wants to be a better man than his father--but attempting to stand for what’s right soon brings murderous consequences. As those closest to him are endangered--and news emerges that his father's accident may be something more sinister--Boyer finds himself fighting for his soul…and his life!

Is There Any Escape for The Heir?
All the money he could ever crave. In the splintering crash of a car plunging through a railing, Jason Boyer's life is changed. All the fame he could ever desire. But the last thing he wanted was the throne of his father's corrupt business empire. All the power he could ever wield.
The estate should have gone elsewhere, but the will was changed. And now everything is Jason's. But gaining the whole world just might cost him his life.




ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Paul Robertson is a computer programming consultant, part-time high-school math and science teacher, and former independent bookstore owner in Blacksburg, Virginia. This is his first novel.


MY THOUGHTS: (Warning: some spoilers possible)

The idea behind the heir is a really good one. It's noble that an heir would deny a hefty inheritance because he didn't want to be corrupted by wealth and power. But it's also dangerous if loved ones want a piece of the pie, so to speak, and that desire is threatened. So I like the premise. However, I don't know that the author did enough with this premise.

I like a non-Christian protagonist looking for meaning. I don't expect a pat conversion experience at the end, but I do expect him to find answers of some sort on a spiritual level. This "hero" kept asking what his purpose was, and in the end found that it was to break the hold of corruption in his family. While that's good, it's not spiritually significant enough for me.

On another note, I felt the beginning was way too slow. I committed to read the whole book from the outset, but I didn't become totally engaged until about 75 pages from the end. That's where things got hectic and exciting. The first 2/3 seemed like background leading up to the good part at the end.

On a more positive note, the mystery of who killed Jason's father (and other subsequent victims) brought sufficient drama to the story and was written well enough so the reader remained in the dark (at least I was most of the time).

Perhaps the book will appeal to other readers, but it didn't strike my fancy.


Amazon book link

CSFF Tour Day 2: Review of Return of the Guardian-King, by Karen Hancock

I hate to admit that until finding that the CSFF was touring this book, I had not read any of the titles in this series. (Shock, I know.) I’ve been told that this is some of the best fantasy out there, so last month I decided to find out for myself. Problem was, I didn’t have major bucks for the first three books, and my library only had the second one. So I went so far as to procure an ILL (inter-library loan) for the other two books. This only cost me $2 each (well worth it, I assure you). I gobbled up the first three books in the series in about two weeks.

Not since Tolkein have I come across such a well-devised world. Kiriath is no Middle Earth, nor is it Narnia, but it made me think of Camelot or some such landscape. Knights, coups for the kingship, religious fanatics, sea battles, slavery, dragons, disguises, sword fights and rescues rule the day. And let me tell you, the plot is thicker than a twelve-layer cake.

To summarize the series a bit, Abramm Kalladorne is in line to be King of Kiriath after his older brother dies. The only problem is: he doesn’t want to be king. In fact, he has joined a religious sect called the Mataians and devoted his life in service to Eidon, the one true God. Only after he realizes the religious order is a farce does he decide to return to Eidon’s will for him—the kingship.

However, circumstances turn against him in waves. He is sold into slavery, made to fight in the Eshuran games and encounters numerous other obstacles before he can make his way back to Kiriath. Even after he takes his rightful throne, the Mataians and the Army of the Black Moon prove formidable foes for Kiriath and its soon-to-be ally Chesedh.

Abramm fights many battles, marries the 2nd daughter of Chesedh and by the beginning of Return of the Guardian-King, is thought to be dead. His evil brother Gillard has usurped the throne and has plunged the country into more peril than ever before.

Abramm again assumes a false identity, trying to make it back to Chesedh, where he hopes his wife will be waiting for him, despite the thin hope that he will return. A mysterious easterner, indeed, has been courting Maddie in Abramm’s absence. Will she give in to the temptation to ease her loneliness, or will she hold out for the true love she knows in her heart still lives? And will Abramm give in to his sinful soul or continue to give everything over to Eidon, choosing His will over Abramm’s own?

No lover of fantasy will be disappointed with this series. Once the reader has opened the first page of any of these four books, she won’t be able to stop reading until the last page has been turned. The Kiriathan epic is one unequaled in Christian fiction. Hopefully Hancock will continue to turn out novels of this high caliber for years to come.

Again, here are the links:
Return of the Guardian-King
Karen's web site
Karen's blog

SKIN, by Ted Dekker

I’m ashamed to say that I’ve let the release of one of the best books EVER almost sneak up on me without writing a review. What am I thinking? I don’t know. I read the book a couple of months ago, loved it, and waited to review it until closer to the release date.

Well, here we are. SKIN is now at a bookseller near you. Hopefully, you’ve already heard all about it. Here’s a little about the book:

A freak storm has spawned three tornadoes that are bearing down on the town of Summerville.

Yet under the cover of the storm looms a much more ominous threat: A vindictive killer known as Red who's left a string of victims in his wake and is now bent on exacting his final revenge on the unsuspecting town.

But there is an enigma surrounding Red that the FBI is unwilling to admit--closely guarded secrets of something gone terribly wrong beneath the skin of Summerville. Secrets that will destroy far more than one small town.

Wendy Davidson is caught in the middle. A recovering cult survivor who takes refuge in Summerville on her way to visit her estranged mother. And with her, four strangers, any one of whom could be the next victim...

...or the killer.

Ted has really done it this time. I said in my SAINT review that I thought it was Ted's best book ever. I think I’m going to have to revise that opinion, though it’s a close call. SKIN speaks of what real beauty is and isn't. It's also a gruesome cat-and-mouse story that will thrill you until the very last page.

Interested? Of course you are. Now go out and buy it!

CSFF Tour presents: Karen Hancock's Return of the Guardian-King

Buy the book: Return of the Guardian-King
Karen's web site
Karen's blog

Woohoo! I can't tell you how excited I am about this whole series. But you'll have to wait until tomorrow for the review. Today, take a look at some other bloggers' stuff.

Here's my participant list:
Dawn King
Rebecca Grabill
Jill Hart
Nissa Annakindt
Wayne Thomas Batson
Jim Black
Jackie Castle
Valerie Comer
Karri Compton
Frank Creed
CSFF Blog Tour
Gene Curtis
D. G. D. Davidson
Chris Deanne
Janey DeMeo
April Erwin
Kameron M. Franklin
Linda Gilmore
Beth Goddard
Marcus Goodyear
Andrea Graham
Katie Hart
Sherrie Hibbs
Sharon Hinck
Christopher Hopper
Heather R. Hunt
Becca Johnson
Jason Joyner
Karen
Tina Kulesa
Lost Genre Guild
Kevin Lucia and The Bookshelf Reviews 2.0 - The Compendium
Rachel Marks
Rebecca LuElla Miller
Shannon McNear
Caleb Newell
Nicole
Eve Nielsen
John W. Otte
Robin Parrish
Rachelle
Cheryl Russel
Hanna Sandvig
Chawna Schroeder
Mirtika Schultz
James Somers
Tsaba House Authors
Steve Trower
Speculative Faith
Daniel I. Weaver

CFBA proudly features: Coral Moon, by Brandilyn Collins

My review will be in the May issue of ACFW's e-zine, Afictionado. Since I can't duplicate that review here, I won't say a whole lot about the book now. Instead, suffice it to say that it was a great story of suspense. I thought it was better than Violet Dawn and I highly recommend reading it even if you haven't read the first book in the series.



ABOUT THE BOOK:

The figure remained still as stone. Leslie couldn't even detect a breath.

Spider fingers teased the back of her neck.

Leslie's feet rooted to the pavement. She dropped her gaze to the driveway, seeking...what? Spatters of blood? Footprints? She saw nothing. Honed through her recent coverage of crime scene evidence, the testimony as last month's trial, the reporter in Leslie spewed warnings: Notice everything, touch nothing...

Leslie Brymes hurries out to her car on a typical workday morning...and discovers a dead body inside.

Why was the corpse left for her to find? And what is the meaning of the message pinned to its chest?

In Coral Moon, the senseless murder of a beloved Kanner Lake citizen spirals the small Idaho town into a terrifying glimpse of spiritual forces beyond our world. What appears true seems impossible.

OR IS IT?



ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Brandilyn Collins is the bestselling author of Violet Dawn, Web Of Lies, Dead of Night, Stain of Guilt, Brink of Death, and Eyes of Elisha just to name a few.

Brandilyn and her family divide their time between the California Bay Area and Coeur d'Alene, Idaho.

She also maintains an informative blog called Forensics and Faith where she daily dispenses wisdom on writing, life, and the Christian book industry.

Buy Coral Moon here.

A day late, no foolin'...April FIRST presents...

It is April 1st, time for the FIRST Day Blog Tour! (Join our alliance! Click the button!) The FIRST day of every month we will feature an author and his/her latest book's FIRST chapter!

This month's feature is:

Mary E. DeMuth

and her book:

Wishing on Dandelions

(NavPress Publishing, 2006)

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

This month's feature is very special. The author is one of the FIRST Day Blog Alliance Members!!! Click here for her Blogspot! MARY E. DeMUTH has spent the last fifteen years as a writer. Winner of the 2003 Mount Herman Christian Writers Conference's Pacesetter's Award, she now splits her time between writing and planting a new church with her husband, Patrick, and two other families. Wishing on Dandelions is the second book in the Maranatha Series. The first was the critically praised book, Watching the Tree Limbs. She has also written two parenting books. Building the Christian Family You Never Had and a new one called Authentic Parenting in a Postmodern Culture which will release this summer with Harvest House. Mary, Patrick, and their three children make their home in Texas.

AND NOW...THE FIRST CHAPTER:

I n t r o d u c t i o n

I still can’t tell my story up close, like it was me in it,breathing the tangled wisteria on the fence posts of Burl, Texas. There are times I still can’t bear to say it was me. The book of mylife continues to open, painful word by painful word, page after page. I get real close to typing the whole story with the word I in it, but I hit delete every time, replacing me with she.

Zady tells me I’m ready to write my story honest, but I’m not so sure. She says she’s there to help me remember my healing,even as she puts an arm around my shoulder when a tear slips through. “It hurts,” she says. “Real bad. Lord, I wish it didn’t rip at you so.”

She tells me I survived that story — that I should be proud — yet her presence brings back its horrid validity written on the backdrop of her tender love. Reminds me in a kind, wild way that this is my story even if I can’t seem to admit it on the page.

***

Summer 1983
Burl, Texas

Uncle Zane appeared disheveled when Maranatha pestered
him. His silvery hair, normally combed and parted in the exact
same place, was instead bunched and unkempt, his part like a
winding Burl road.

“Camilla and me, well, we want to go to the fair. Can you drive us? Please?” Maranatha practically danced, shifting her weight from one foot to the other.

“No,” he shouted, an odd outburst for such a quiet man.

Gangly and with a sinewy will of her own, she pled, “C’mon,Uncle Zane. Everyone will be there. Besides, Camilla promised we’d shoot the fair — ride every single ride from the merry-goround to the Zipper. This year I promised her I’d do it without getting sick.”

“I said no.”

Three plain words. Maranatha almost turned away in a thirteen-year-old huff, but she lingered long enough to see him sit down in a parlor chair, then bend forward, pressing palms to temple.

“We’ll ride our bikes,” she told him. The room echoed her words. “I’ll be back later.” Her words stung even as she said
them, particularly because Uncle Zane, usually a man without
reaction, looked up at her with a strange sort of look in his blue
eyes. A look that pleaded, Please stay.

She left him there. And didn’t look back.

***

Camilla and Maranatha raced down the road toward the embrace of the fair, miles away. “You’re going to barf on me, I know it,” Camilla teased.

“I will not. My stomach’s better.”

“Oh, right. Now that you’re a teenager, you’re not nauseous? If I were you, I’d be cautious. I don’t trust your stomach. Neither should you.”

They raced, tire to tire, until Camilla saw a wrought-iron gate and, behind it, a burnt skeleton of a house. “I smell mystery,” she said. She stopped her bike. Maranatha nearly crashed into her.

In lieu of a ride on the Tilt-a-Whirl, and despite Uncle Zane’s pained blue eyes, Maranatha and Camilla climbed over the gate. They searched the scorched scene, pretending to be arson investigators.

They concluded a cat had set fire to the house, taking feline revenge on an evil master. “All scary houses have names. This one’s Black, sure as night,” Camilla said.

As the day’s shadows lengthened, after they’d explored the woods behind the house whose once-grand pillars stood charred against the Texas sky, Camilla said, “I want to come back here another day.” She put her hands on her hips and tilted her head back. “Let’s go back to Black.” She wailed and screamed the words like AC/DC. Maranatha laughed so hard, she nearly wet her pants.

***

Maranatha and Camilla never made it to the fair.

Tired from their investigating, they pedaled lazily back to town. “I’ll see you soon, baboon.” Camilla waved a good-bye to
Maranatha.

Something niggled at Maranatha as she walked the stairs of the big white house. Everything looked the same, but nothing felt that way.

“I’m home, Uncle Zane.” Her voice echoed, bouncing off tall ceilings. She called Zady’s name, though she knew it was unlikely the housekeeper would be there on a weekend. She shivered. Loneliness pierced her.

She walked past the parlor to look out the kitchen window at Uncle Zane’s parking spot, figuring he’d probably left to look for her — again. He had swung on a wild pendulum from disinterest to overprotection the day her name changed from Mara to Maranatha three years ago, but his protection kicked into high gear when she turned thirteen. On her birthday, he gave her a bike that sported a crudely shaped bow. He handed her a hockey helmet. “Be careful,” he said. And he meant it.

She stopped in front of the window. Uncle Zane’s white Cadillac sat silent in the driveway, the same place it’d been when she’d ridden away earlier.

Panic ripped through her.

Maranatha ran to the parlor. On the floor, Uncle Zane lay prostrate, face kissing the oriental rug, arms and legs outstretched like he was making a prone snow angel.

“Wake up,” she wailed.

But he didn’t. An ambulance came and whisked him away, while the word stroke hung in the hot Burl evening.

***

Zady’d tried to soothe Maranatha during his long rehabilitation. “It’s not your fault, Natha,” she said. “I should’ve checked on him. He seemed altered, and I should’ve known.”

Though Zady wore guilt in the lengthening lines around her eyes, she pestered Maranatha with all sorts of don’t-blameyourself words, meaningless blather that never made it past Maranatha’s terrible heart. The best way Maranatha could explain it to Camilla was that she and Zady stood before a giant chalkboard, with the words should have and could have scrawled over and over again like naughty kids’ sentences. While Zady tried to erase Maranatha’s coulds and shoulds, Maranatha rewrote them line by line.

O n e

Summer 1987
Burl, Texas

Every year on the anniversary of his stroke, and many times in between, Maranatha retraced the route she and Camilla had ridden that day. In front of her bike tire beckoned a serpentine of gray pavement radiating heat. The more her shirt clung to her body in a sticky embrace, the better she liked it.

Penance.

She’d learned the word from Bishop Renny. He said something about trying to make things right by abusing yourself. Said Jesus took the need for all that away. But she knew Jesus would say something different to her, considering how she’d nearly killed Uncle Zane because of her selfishness.

The hot Burl breeze tangled Maranatha’s hair so that it whipped and wrangled about her face. She didn’t mind, didn’t even brush a casual hand to her face to clear the hair from her eyes. At seventeen, she welcomed the wildness, wearing her tangles like a needed mask. A gust of sideways wind whipped the mask from her face.

Maranatha passed the costume shop where, behind a cracked front window, one headless mannequin sported a faded Santa suit and another, a sequined Twenties dress. She pedaled past the farm implement shop whose yard was dotted with ancient rusty plows. This strip of road held most of Burl’s broken dreams — a turn-of-the-century white farmhouse, now converted into a bed and breakfast that no one visited, a handpainted For Sale sign declaring the dream dead. A mobile home stood way back on a fine piece of property, the structure tilted oddly to the left where the cement blocks had deteriorated. A goat preened on its roof, claiming it for himself. Four years ago, children had played out front. She and Camilla had even waved to them. So carefree for such a day.

Wiping the sweat off her forehead with the back of her hand, she glanced down at the too-small bike, despising it, as if it had once held her hostage, carrying her away from Uncle Zane’s need four years ago when she and Camilla had been drawn toward the lure of cotton candy and caramel apples.

Maranatha veered onto the familiar gravel driveway flanked by crepe myrtles. She stopped, straddling her bike, catching her breath. She listened for cars but heard only the labored noise of a tractor, far away, until the engine sputtered and died.

The silence roared at her.

It should have blessed her with peace; instead, she remembered Uncle Zane’s hair askew and wondered why God let a selfish girl like her take up space in this world.

She looked behind her. Her thoughts shifted as a deeper worry played at her, taunting her. Though she never voiced it, she lived with a constant fear that someone would burst from the silence and grab her. She hated that she always looked behind, like she was expecting some crouching phantom to nab her. She’d been running from monsters bent on destroying her ever since General first drawled, “Hey, Beautiful” in her ear. Even though she was sheltered in Uncle Zane’s white house and safety was no longer elusive, she always felt the presence of evil five steps behind her. Ready to suffocate her.

She glanced at her wrist to soothe her fears. Circling it was her name, maranatha, each sterling letter separated by a bead. Zady’d given it to her a year after she found out that her real name wasn’t Mara but Maranatha. Part of her quest in discovering her identity was a need for a name that meant more than “bitter.” When she learned that her real name meant “Come, Lord Jesus,” a part of her heart enlivened, as if it knew she was named that all along. She touched each letter, thanking God that He added Natha to the end of her name, that He changed her from bitter to a heart where Jesus could live. If He wanted to, that is.

She got off her bike. The same wrought-iron gate stood erect before her, chalkboard black and foreboding, with an out-of-place silhouette of a squirrel at its arched top. It always reminded her of Willy Wonka’s gate, the gate that prohibited children from seeing the mysteries within the glorious Chocolate Factory. She laid her bike in its familiar dusty place behind the crepe myrtles
and approached the gate. Locked.

As usual.

Heart thumping, she tried the handle, a ritual she performed every time she ventured to this place, the scene of her selfishness. Why she thought it would magically open today, she didn’t know. When she tugged at it, the gate creaked a warning, but it didn’t budge. Looking back toward the road, she listened again. Nothing. Only the sound of a dove calling to its lover and the crackle of too-dry grass rubbing against itself like a fiddle against its bow. She breathed in the hot air and touched the angry wrought iron. She returned to the bike, unzipped the pouch behind her seat, and stretched on her bike gloves. Attacking the gate again, she pulled herself up, up, up until she could swing her leg over the gate’s pointed top. She scampered down, preferring to jump the last three feet.

Maranatha smiled. Before her was an open field whose hair was littered with dandelions past their prime. Bits of dandelion white floated in front of her like an idle snowfall, only these flurries drifted toward the sun, away from the ground, in lazy worship. Beyond the field stood the remains of the charred mansion.

Now shaded by the house’s pillars, she remembered Uncle Zane’s eyes the day of his stroke. The smile left her face.

She ran to the middle of the field, trying to shake the memory — her laughing, laughing, laughing while Uncle Zane pled for her. She stopped. Maranatha picked one dandelion, held it to her mouth, and blew a warm breeze over its head, scattering wishes toward the has-been mansion. Jesus, You know my name. I want to live up to it. I want my heart to be a place where You want to come. But I’m afraid it’s too dark there. What I’ve done. What’s been done to me. . . . I’m sorry I’m so needy, but I have to know, have to know it in my gut. Please show me You love me anyway. Whatever it takes.

It had been her wish since she met Jesus under the pecan tree at her home, back in the days when Uncle Zane had a quiet will and Zady, his housekeeper and her friend, kept house without the intrusions of Georgeanne, who had invaded their peaceful home with her schemes. Zady dished out helpings and helpings of His love every day at Uncle Zane’s table, but Maranatha never seemed to be able to digest even a scrap. She experienced Jesus at church, surrounded by Mama Frankie and faces darker than her own. When dark-skinned Denim spoke or his pale-faced stepdaughter Camilla rhymed truth, Maranatha thanked God for making unique folks, for giving her friends. Still, Jesus’ love seemed far away, and she, undeserving.

A portion of her little girl’s heart had been abducted by General, the boy-turned-man who violated her so many years ago. His pocked face visited her in nightmares where she had no voice, no safety, no escape. He seemed to lurk behind every stray noise. He didn’t haunt Burl anymore, but he lived firmly in her mind, igniting dread. She feared he’d stolen the only part of her that could have understood God’s love. She feared he held the middle piece to the puzzle of her life.

Am I wishing for something I’ll never have?

Maranatha shielded her eyes from the pursuing sun and walked toward the burnt house. Four once-white pillars stood tall, blackened by angry flames. She remembered when she’d first seen Uncle Zane’s home nearly a decade ago, how it loomed large on its street, how she’d longed to be the owner there someday. But reality was more complicated than that. Sure, she lived there now. Little by little, she was renovating it to splendor, but lately the joy of transforming it had waned thin, like a pilled swimsuit at summer’s end. Fixing things was hard. She’d painted and painted until her fingernails were permanently speckled. Then the pier and beam foundation settled further, cracking her handiwork.

As she gazed upward at the four pillars that reached for the sky, where the abandoned house’s roof once lived, she wondered if she’d ever have a home of her own, children about her legs, a husband to love her. The thought of marriage both repulsed her and pulsed through her. Hatred and longing — all in one girl.

She walked through the rubbish, darkening her red-dirted shoes, looking for a sign from heaven. She played this game sometimes, asking God for signs, for sacred objects that showed her that He saw her, that He knew she existed. That He cared.

Something glinted off and on as the sun played hide-and-seek through the trees. She bent low to the ashes, her body blocking the sun. The glinting stopped, so she stood and let the sun have its way again. There, spotlighted beneath the gaze of the pillars, was a simple, thick-banded gold ring. She retrieved it, dusted the ashes from the gold, and examined it, turning it over and over in her hand.

Inside the ring was a faint engraving. Forever my love.

“Thank You,” she whispered, but her words melted in a hot wind. Dark clouds obscured the sun. The sky purpled. She’d seen a sky like that before. She slipped the ring into her shirt pocket and ran toward her bike, climbed the hot gate like a criminal pursued, and dropped on the other side.

She mounted her bike. From behind she heard a bustled scurrying, like the furious bending of too-dry alfalfa.

Then darkness.

Someone’s hands suffocated her eyes, obscuring the day, stealing her screaming breath. She kicked her leg over the tenspeed, struggling to free herself from the firm grip, and tried to holler. Like in her nightmares, she was mute from terror. Though she knew General’s presence was illogical — he’d been shipped off to some sort of juvenile-offender boot camp — she could almost smell his breath as she gasped for her own. She heard a laugh but couldn’t place it. It sounded familiar, like family.

She kicked and elbowed like a kindergarten boy proving his manhood against a playground bully, but the hands stayed enlaced around her eyes.

More laughter. Even more familiar.

She took a deep breath and screamed. Real loud.

Thunder answered back.

**************************************

Sample from Wishing on Dandelions / ISBN 1576839532 Copyright © 2006 NavPress Publishing. All rights reserved. To order copies of this resource, come back to http://www.navpress.com/.

Mary E. DeMuth's website: http://www.relevantprose.com/
Mary E. DeMuth's Blogs: http://www.relevantblog.blogspot.com/ and http://www.pioneerparenting.blogspot.com/

CFBA novel of the week: Reclaiming Nick

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:


Award winning author SUSAN MAY WARREN recently returned home to her native Minnesota after serving for eight years with her husband and four children as missionaries with SEND International in Far East Russia. She now writes full time from Minnesota's north woods. Visit her Web site at www.susanmaywarren.com.


ABOUT THE BOOK:




RECLAIMING NICK is the first of The Noble Legacy series. Book Two, TAMING RAFE, will be available January 2008.

A Modern Day Prodigal Comes Home...

Nick Noble hadn't planned on being the prodigal son.

But when his father dies and leaves half of Silver Buckle--the Noble family ranch--to Nick’s former best friend, he must return home to face his mistakes, and guarantee that the Silver Buckle stays in the Noble family.

Award-winning journalist Piper Sullivan believes Nick framed her brother for murder, and she’s determined to find justice. But following Nick to the Silver Buckle and posing as a ranch cook proves more challenging than she thinks. So does resisting his charming smile.

As Nick seeks to overturn his father’s will--and Piper digs for answers--family secrets surface that send Nick’s life into a tailspin. But there’s someone who’s out to take the Silver Buckle from the Noble family, and he’ll stop at nothing--even murder--to make it happen.

MY THOUGHTS:

Considering the fact that this concerned cowboys and romance (two of my not-so-favorite things), I enjoyed this book--at least the suspense parts. I'm sure romance/cowboy lovers will relish every word. It's well-written, and I liked the plot surprises along the way.

It's hard to pick a favorite character, but I think it would be Maggie. She is Nick's former best friend Cole's wife. A part of her is still in love with Nick, though she was wronged by him (you'll have to read to find out how). However, she is dedicated to her husband through good and bad.

I have to say that I enjoyed Susan's Everything's Coming Up Josey much more, perhaps because it was funnier and wasn't about cowboys. :) But that's just my opinion. I'm sure if you check out some other CFBA'ers blogs, you'll see some great reviews.

Buy the book here.

CFBA title of the week: It Happens Every Spring

About the authors:

GARY CHAPMAN is the author of the New York Times best seller The Five Love Languages and numerous othe rbooks. He's the director of Marriage & Family Life Consultants, Inc., and host of A Growing Marriage, a syndicated radio program heard on over 100 stations across North America. He and his wife, Karolyn, live in North Carolina.

CATHERINE PALMER is the Christy Award-winning, CBA best-selling author of more than forty novels--including The Bachelor's Bargain--which have more than 2 million copies in print. She lives in Missouri with her husband, Tim, and two sons.





About the book:

IT HAPPENS EVERY SPRING is the first of The Four Seasons fiction series, based on the ever-changing cycles of relationships detailed in Gary Chapman's nonfiction book The Four Seasons of Marriage. The novels will focus on four couples, each moving in and out of a different season.

Word travels fast at the Just As I Am beauty shop.

So when a simple homeless man appears on Steve and Brenda Hansen's doorstep, the entire shop is set abuzz, especially when Brenda lets him sleep on their porch.

That's not all the neighbors are talking about. Spring may be blooming outdoors, but an icy chill has settled over the Hansens' marriage. Steve is keeping late hours with clients, and the usually upbeat Brenda is feeling the absence of her husband and her college-age kids.

Add to that the unsavory business moving in next to the beauty shop and the entire community gets turned upside down. Now Brenda's friends must unite to pull her out of her rut and keep the unwanted sotre out of town. But can Steve and Brenda learn to thaw their chilly marriage and enjoy the hope spring offers?

MY REVIEW:

Is Deepwater Cove, Missouri just another lazy small town in mid-America? Not on your life.

A homeless man has taken up sleeping on Brenda Hansen’s porch, but that’s not her worst problem. Depression has set in since her kids went away to college and her husband Steve started working 24/7 at his real estate job. And when a handyman renovates her basement, will she get more than she bargained for? How will she save her icy cold marriage from freezing altogether? Can her friends band together and help pull her out of her misery in time?

This emotional story is great on at least two levels. Firstly, it has a cast of wonderful and varied characters, some of which are: Patsy, the prayerful owner of the “Just as I Am” beauty shop; Esther, the elderly town busybody; Ashley, the newly married girl; the divorced and remarried Kim and Patsy’s secret admirer and owner of “Rods ‘n’ Ends,” Pete.

Secondly, it presents the problem of a rocky marriage realistically, not sugar coating its tragedy. In the end, everything isn’t tied up in a neat little package, but hope is renewed in people’s lives, which is the necessary precursor for change.

I think this is a super way to introduce marriage principles into fiction. There will be three other novels for the three other seasons which I’m sure will prove to be just as delightful.

The Book Link

CSFF Blog Tour is proud to feature: Randall Ingermanson's Double Vision

Those of us who write speculative fiction have a lot to thank Randy Ingermanson for. He has helped our cause in the CBA, letting publishers know that sci-fi, fantasy, and other speculative genres can do well in the Christian market. This blog tour is living proof!

So without further ado, I will heap copious adulation towards a man who not only writes great novels, but who has created "The Snowflake Method" for writing novels, "Fiction 101" for newbie writers, and my favorite, "The Advanced Fiction Writing E-zine." See what I'm raving about here.



My review:

For those of us who are acquainted with Randall Ingermanson, it will come as no surprise that this novel is not only intelligent and engrossing, but darn funny. During the course of my reading, l learned, laughed, cried, stressed out, pondered, and in the end, said to myself: “How in the world does he think this stuff up?”

Dillon Richard, the brilliant darling of CypherQuanta, suffers from a type of autism called Asperger’s syndrome. So when he experiences conflicting emotions in regards to two very different ladies, he becomes confused. Keryn Wills, budding novelist and part-time CFO for CypherQuanta, is concerned not only about her manuscript’s deadline, but also about the new young Caltech Ph.D. her boss has brought in for a special project. Enter flirty Rachel Myers, who has the beauty to go with her brains. Rachel turns heads with as much success as she talks quantum mechanics.

Rachel’s potentially lucrative quantum computer brainchild spawns a life-threatening race as she, Dillon, and Keryn speed against time and seek refuge from those who wish to pilfer their technology. But who can they trust? The government? Their own boss?

Even a normal brain can wrap itself around this subject matter, which is a positive for the average reader. Humorous quirks and clever dialogue bring a unique reality to the characters. Harrowing dilemmas propel the reader forward on a ride as wild as any roller coaster. However, unlike a roller coaster ride, there is no down side to this book.

As far as genre, although technically contemporary suspense adding in romance, it still jives with sci-fi because of the scientific what-ifs in the plot. In my opinion, the perfect blend. I highly recommend it--it's one of my favorite novels ever.

The book link: Double Vision

By the way, Randy, if you don't put out another novel soon, I'm going to wring the necks of those lovely publishers! I've been waiting forever! :)

Here are the member links--go visit and see what tasty morsels they have available this week:
Nissa Annakindt
Jim Black
Grace Bridges
Jackie Castle
Valerie Comer
Karri Compton
Frank Creed
CSFF Blog Tour
D. G. D. Davidson
Janey DeMeo
Tessa Edwards
April Erwin
Linda Gilmore
Beth Goddard
Marcus Goodyear
Andrea Graham
Leathel Grody
Katie Hart
Sherrie Hibbs
Sharon Hinck
Christopher Hopper
Jason Joyner
Karen
Tina Kulesa
Lost Genre Guild
Kevin Lucia and The Bookshelf Reviews 2.0 - The Compendium
Rachel Marks
Shannon McNear
Rebecca LuElla Miller
Caleb Newell
Nicole
Eve Nielsen
John W. Otte
Robin Parrish
Rachelle
Cheryl Russel
Hanna Sandvig
Mirtika Schultz
James Somers
Tsaba House Authors
Steve Trower
Speculative Faith
Daniel I. Weaver

My Writing Journey

Beware those who don't want to read a long post or see me lay bare the wounds of my all-but-shattered not-yet-existent writing career. What follows is my saga.

Enjoy.

Some people are born knowing they will be writers. I am not one of those people. However, I’m definitely a born reader—been perusing newspapers since I was four, or so I’m told. Soon after, I graduated to Nancy Drew and Narnia.

Fast-forward to 2002. Engrossed as I had been in fiction, I discovered my all-time hero, Ted Dekker. My emergence into writing can’t be told without mentioning him. His stories made me realize my love for suspense, biblical allegory and the supernatural.

Two years later, I put away the childlike poetry I’d been creating and started on devotionals and short stories. I found the Faithwriters.com website, the first writing site I had ever been involved in. It helped me get my start in the Christian writing world. Fellow writers there were very helpful and encouraging to me, and I even placed in the Weekly Writing Challenge’s Editor’s Choice twice.

Meanwhile, the urge inside me to write a novel (to be like Ted!) grew like an insatiable puppy. I wrote some very short stories and articles, joined another writing group, started reviewing fiction, and eventually got some ideas together for a novel.

Last year, my idea well went dry. I never got past character sketches and a skeleton outline for my first novel-in-progress. Reading books on writing helped me gain invaluable knowledge as did reading posts from other authors on writing loops. There was so much information in my head, but I couldn’t get it out on paper or computer screen. I kept reviewing, enjoying that aspect of writing immensely. But I wasn’t progressing toward my elusive goal of finishing a novel.

As an aside, I don’t even care if the novel gets published. Truly, I just want to be able to say I did it. To be able to create exciting plots, eternal themes and memorable characters as so many others do. To be a part of something good, something I believe God gave me a natural bent toward.

Yes, I’ve been published with reviews, a few devotionals and poetry—but not for pay, nothing to say I’m a professional, save one book review. So I’ve had some successes, especially with the resources I’ve found and friends I’ve made in the writing world.

But for me, writer’s block may not be something I can just get over. People talk about their “call” to writing like pastors talk about their “call” to ministry. I can’t say I have that call. I have other talents I use for God. Very recently, I decided it was time I figure out if writing (specifically, working on a novel) is something God really wants me to pour my life into. Because, as you writers know, it takes hours and hours of hard work. It’s not something you can just pick up and put down on a whim. It is life-absorbing.

In my quest for the meaning of my writing life, I seek answers in prayer. I compare this period of my life and the seeking of my dream to the stages Ordinary experiences in Bruce Wilkinson’s haunting and inspiring allegory The Dream Giver. My husband made a huge, life-changing decision last year partially based on this book. He hasn’t regretted it for a minute. I have already read the book, but I’m now going back through it, using its applications for my own life.

Wilkinson tells the story of a Nobody named Ordinary who leaves the Land of Familiar to pursue his Big Dream, given by the Dream Giver. Once Ordinary leaves his Comfort Zone, he must overcome Border Bullies who threaten him not to leave, who are overly concerned for his safety and return to normalness. Then he navigates the Wasteland, a dry place where he is starving and lost, certain that the Dream Giver has forgotten him. But he perseveres and reaches Sanctuary, a time of refreshment and rest where Ordinary can actually see the Land of Promise. It’s close at hand. Yet, the Dream Giver asks Ordinary to give back his dream—to lay it down, proving that he wants the Dream Giver more than the dream. When Ordinary finally succumbed, he received peace and got his dream back as well. But that’s not the end. Ordinary must win victory over the Giants in the Land and only the Dream Giver’s power can help him. Eventually he beats the giants of Moneyless, Corruption, Rejection and Darkness, finally able to enter the Land of Promise and find his dream.

That’s not the whole story, but it’s enough. I am Ordinary. I have a dream, one I can’t accomplish on my own. God gave it to me and He can take it away. But I know that if God has truly given me writing as my dream, I will encounter obstacles and tests of faith. I will have to lay down my dream and trust that He will either give it back or give me something bigger and better.

See, I’ve laid it down. For all intents and purposes, I’ve quit writing, given up the struggle of wordsmithing. But I know that God has a purpose for me, and whether or not it be writing, I trust Him to tell me what it is and lead me into the land of plenty where I can joyfully serve Him doing my dream.

So that’s where I am. But that’s not all.

For months I’ve been asking God to rearrange my priorities, to help me figure out the writing dilemma. I’ve heard nothing. I’m still confused. However, it has been less than a week since I gave up my dream. And what did I get in my Inbox yesterday? A publication that had previously rejected a devotional I submitted reconsidered and accepted it. (Whoa!) I teared up and nearly fell out of my swivel chair.

What does this mean? Is God giving me back my dream? After all, it’s not like I poured out 5,000 words of a blockbuster novel. Just a very small acceptance. But it’s an acceptance. A paid acceptance. Is this confirmation? Or something to add more confusion to my life?

The jury is still out on this, in my estimation. But I’m open to whatever God wants to do. I’m still not actively writing anything but reviews, but if a great idea for a novel comes to mind or a scene is played out in my head, you better believe I’ll write it down.
~~
The above is cross-posted at The Lost Genre Guild Blog.

CFBA feature: The Reliance, by M. L. Tyndall

I'm Mad Mary Roberts, and I have the great honor of holding the position of Quartermaster on THE RELIANCE (pardon my use of English instead of pirate--I figured none of ye er... you would understand if I used my own dialect).

You can see a picture of me and a list of the other shipmates on THE RELIANCE here:

Or, find out your own pirate name here:





A YOUNG BRIDE separated from her husband just as a child has been conceived...

A GRIEVING HUSBAND tempted to take his anger out through the vices of his past...

A MARRIAGE AND A SHIP threatened to be split apart by villainous Caribbean pirates...

In THE RELIANCE, Edmund Merrick tormented by the apparent demise of his pregnant wife Charlisse, sails away to drown his sorrows. He turns his back on God and reverts to a life of villainy, joining forces with the demented French pirate Collier. When his mind clears from its rum-induced haze, will Edmund find the will to escape?

Seemingly abandoned by her new husband, Charlisse battles her own insecurities as she is thrown into the clutches of the vengeful pirate Kent, who holds her and Lady Isabel captive.

Will she be swept away by the undertow of treachery and despair? Can Edmund and Charlisse battle the tempests that threaten to tear them apart and steer their way to the faith-filled haven they so desperately seek? Or will they ultimately lose their love and lives to the whirlpool of treachery and deceit?



M. L. (MARYLU) TYNDALL grew up on the beaches of South Florida loving the sea and the warm tropics. But despite the beauty around her, she always felt an ache in her soul--a longing for something more.

After college, she married and moved to California where she had two children and settled into a job at a local computer company. Although she had done everything the world expected, she was still miserable. She hated her job and her marriage was falling apart.

Still searching for purpose, adventure and true love, she spent her late twenties and early thirties doing all the things the world told her would make her happy, and after years, her children suffered, her second marriage suffered, and she was still miserable.

One day, she picked up her old Bible, dusted it off, and began to read. Somewhere in the middle, God opened her hardened heart to see that He was real, that He still loved her, and that He had a purpose for her life, if she's only give her heart to Him completely.

MY REVIEW:

Merrick and Charlisse have fallen in love and married. The captain continues sea life commanding his ship, “The Redemption,” and bringing ruthless pirates to justice for the British government.

While visiting San Lorenzo, Spain, Merrick and Charlisse are caught in an onslaught by the dreaded pirate Captain Morgan. During the couple’s hasty escape, they help some orphans by herding them into an abandoned church building. Soon after Merrick leaves to find a wagon, the church blows up with Charlisse inside. He thinks she has been killed, when in fact she has been kidnapped (for the second time—first in the previous book) by scurrilous pirate Captain Kent Carlton.

Through storms, dangerous ports, sea battles, misunderstandings and more, Charlisse learns that the only thing she can count on is God’s love and protection. Though everything about her wavers and crashes, she must learn to rely on God’s unconditional love for those who believe. What a great reminder! God often doesn’t take storms from us, but He is with us in them and grows us into His likeness through them.

And as Merrick learns the hard way, even when our trials come at our own fault, we need to be certain that God is faithful, even when we are not.

Regardless of the fact that I’m not into historicals or romance, I love these pirate stories. Tyndall has done a remarkable job making these books enjoyable to a wide readership.

CFBA Day 2: My review of The Watchers

Today, along with my review, I'd like to refer you to a great suspense website (where I'm on staff), The Suspense Zone, that's featuring not only my review of this novel, but a review by Kevin Lucia. He's on the CFBA tour as well, so you can see the review on his site (The Bookshelf Reviews) or on the Suspense Zone's site. He has a slightly different opinion in his review--perhaps it's because he's a guy (and admits it readily, lol). He connected more with the main male character, and I with the main female character. Go figure.

Enjoy.

The premise of this novel is one of the most interesting I’ve come across in a while. Without giving too much away, it is based on the assumption that there is a group of women who possess keen supernatural sight (including the ability to see the unseen), which is passed on spiritually to their daughters in the faith.

California beach girl Abby Sherman may seem like your typical twenty-year-old. But when Abby begins to see visions, she seeks understanding and empathy via her MyCorner blog. Little does she know that the vision awakened in her is just the beginning of a second sight that binds her with women all over the world. Thousands respond with their own personal experiences. Then Abby is struck with a dangerous malady that threatens her life. As she increases in popularity, evil forces will stop at nothing to shut her up before she does any more damage to their cause.

Ex-military assassin Dylan Hatfield has been paid big bucks to off Abby, but why? Will he have the guts to finish his mission when all hell breaks loose? Who can Abby trust and where will she find the answers to questions about her new God-given gift?

Danger surrounding her on every side, Abby travels the world, slowly unraveling deep mysteries and dark conspiracies that threaten her life and the lives of those she loves.

I think this novel takes the supernatural/spiritual warfare element and raises it to a new level. What makes the idea of a vision-seeing Christian unique is the intricate plot line that carries it. This is the kind of thing I wish I’d written—it resonated with me completely.

I highly recommend this book. It has the same flavor as Frank Peretti’s or John Aubrey Anderson’s books. Olsen did a great job with the female POV, and not just the main character, but other women characters as well. I felt the comradery the women shared and envied it, wishing that I possessed the bond that drew them together.

It took a while for me to get used to the interspersed omniscient point of view short paragraphs—they seemed more like narrator interruptions or sections of telling instead of showing. I don’t know if these areas helped or hindered the advancement of the plot.

Regardless, the action kept me absorbed until the end—I didn’t want to put it down, even after I had finished reading. I enjoyed the portrayal of real heavenly battles and God’s power to work in the world. The book was also a wake up call to the church to unite in our struggle against servants of evil. If we can’t get past our differences and work together, who will?

CFBA proudly presents: The Watchers, by Mark Andrew Olsen

Just below the surface among the family of God lives another family tree--one traced in spirit, invisible and ageless, known as the Watchers. For two thousand years they've seen beyond the veil separating this world from the next, passing on their gift through a lineage mostly overlooked. Throughout history they've scouted the borders of the supernatural frontier, but now their survival hangs by a thread. And their fate lies in the hands of a young woman, her would-be killer, and a mystery they must solve....

"Congratulations. You just reached my own little corner of cyberspace.

Who am I?

Abby Sherman, that's who.

Who are you? And why are you checking me out?

Drop me a few pixels, and let's find out!"


With that innocent invitation, Abby Sherman unwittingly steps in the crosshairs of history, and thus begins her harrowing tale--taking her from ocean-front Malibu to the streets of London, the jungles in West Africa, the Temple Mount, Jerusalem, and to the very gates of heaven itself!

A sneak preview of eternity becomes her one-way ticket to danger--and discovery…

Two lives collide in a globe-circling adventure involving both peril and discovery: Abby, a young woman whose visions of heaven turn her into a Web-celebrity; and Dylan, a troubled young man sent by an ancient foe to silence her. From California beachfronts to Nigerian rain forests to Jerusalem and back again, THE WATCHERS is high-octane blends of action, mystery, and spiritual battle spanning centuries.

A woman's awe-inspiring vision launches her on a quest through distant lands and ancient history, face-to-face with eternity and into the arms of a family line on the brink of annihilation...

A man who is hired to exterminate her discovers the folly of blind loyalty, then learns how to wage war in a realm he never believed had existed...

An extraordinary saga of the unseen war against evil, the reality of the supernatural, and the transforming power of forgiveness.


MARK ANDREW OLSEN whose novel The Assignment was a Christy Award finalist, also collaborated on bestsellers Hadassah (now the major motion picture: One Night With the King), The Hadassah Covenant, and Rescued. The son of missionaries to France, Mark is a graduate of Baylor University. He and his wife, Connie, live in Colorado Springs with their three children.

Note from Karri: I'll post my own review tomorrow or Friday. This was a fantastic book, one that everyone should enjoy.

Amazon Book Link

Surrender and the Story

Life is about change. We go through phases, seasons, circumstances that we know will not last, that we know will end. And God is with us through it all. Through the story of our lives.

This January my pastor encouraged our church body as individuals to come up with one word that would encapsulize what we want God to do through us this year. Just one thing, so we wouldn't get overwhelmed.

My word is surrender.

That's definitely a big one. Surrender to God requires a complete trust in God. I cannot surrender to someone I cannot trust. I must believe that He loves me with an everlasting love and that He does only what is best for me. I must let Him order my steps because I cannot do it on my own. I will only mess up. His ways are too high for me to understand, and so I defer to Him.

Right now, I'm in the midst of confusion. I have many desires for my life, some of which I don't know for sure are God's will--the biggest thing being writing. Since I "caught the bug" for writing, I've spent countless hours and dollars pursuing the craft. I support Christian fiction authors, and I work to learn the craft so that one day I will be the one interviewed about her novel. However, I've slammed into a wall. The wall is either from God, to get my attention, or from Satan, to stop me from being effective. I've entered into a time of prayer and seeking God more intensely so I can know for sure which is the case.

I pray that God's perfect love will cast away my fear--the fear that God will take away the writing that is so dear to me, the reviewing that I enjoy so much, the company of other writers. But I can trust Him. If He chooses to turn me towards another path, I am content with that because it will bring Him glory.

So there will not be as many posts here as there have been in the past. I'm slowing way down in order to hear God's voice more clearly. My heart is ready to hear Him clearly saying: "This is the path; walk in it."

I entrust the story of my life to the God who created it. Until next time...

My latest winners!

Forgive my tardiness...

The two winners of Alton Gansky's Crime Scene Jerusalem are:

Remade Gold and CWAHM!!!

Congratulations, you two! I guarantee you will love the book.

March FIRST: Scimitar's Edge

It is March 1st, time for the FIRST Day Blog Tour! (Join our alliance! Click the button!) The FIRST day of every month we will feature an author and his/her latest book's FIRST chapter!

This month's feature author is:

Marvin Olasky

and his book:

Scimitar's Edge

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Dr. Olasky is editor-in-chief of World Magazine, a senior fellow of the Acton Institute, and a professor at the University of Texas at Austin. He and his wife Susan have been married for 30 years and have four sons. He has written 17 non-fiction books and has also started (with several others) a Christian school; he has been a crisis pregnancy center chairman, a foster parent, a Little League assistant coach, a PTA president, and an informal advisor to George W. Bush. He is a graduate of Yale University and the University of Michigan.

Stepping away from his roles as professor, historian, and creator of "compassionate conservatism," Marvin Olasky, editor-in-chief of WORLD Magazine has penned an edge-of-your-seat novel that educates as well as it informs.

SCIMITAR'S EDGE is the story of four unique Americans on a journey that takes them to a world of great beauty and great danger. Olasky uses his vast knowledge of the culture to pen a tale about the War on Terror that is so realistic it might have been taken from today's headlines.

A FEW QUESTIONS WITH THE AUTHOR

1. What's the book about?

At its basic level it's about Americans who go to Turkey for a vacation -- I spent a month there two years ago -- and are kidnapped by Turkish Hezbollah; the question then is how to get away and whether to forget about the whole thing or attempt to fight back. In another sense Scimitar's Edge is about America and the war against terrorism: Now that it's almost five years since 9/11 many of us almost seem to be on vacation again, but the terrorists are not.

2. You're a journalist and professor by trade, with about 18 non-fiction books in your past. What led you to turn to fiction?

Largely fun. In one sense I was playing SIM Turkey: Drop four people into a harsh foreign environment, give them action and adventure, build a romance … I grew to like the characters and wanted to see what they would do. I also enjoyed the challenge: I've written lots of nonfiction books and know how to do that,
but this was all new.

3. Is your research for fiction different from your nonfiction research?

The trunk is common - as I traveled through Turkey I took notes on geography, food, customs, and so forth - but the branches differ. My nonfiction research emphasizes accuracy concerning what has happened; for example, every quotation
has to be exactly what a person said. In fiction, though, I'm
inventing dialogue, yet everything that happens has to be true to the characters and the situation.

4. What's been the feedback from your fans since your switchto fiction? Oh, are there fans?

Actually, I've gotten excellent reactions from many of the folks who like my nonfiction. A few worry about sexual allusions - one of the characters is a serial adulterer and two of the others, as they fall in love, encounter sexual tension. Scimitar's Edge is also an action/adventure novel so there's some shooting, and one of the main characters is a terrorist who relishes lopping off heads. So anyone who wants a sugary book should look elsewhere.

5. You also include some descriptions of what's been called "the forgotten holocaust" a century ago, and explain some Turkish history.

Turkey was the proving ground for the first sustained governmental attempt at genocide, as Turks killed over one million Armenians and sent many to concentration camps; Hitler admired that effort. But Turkey has often been a central player in world affairs, not a backwater. Nearly two millennia ago Turkey became a Christian stronghold: The seven churches John addresses in the book of Revelation, for example, were in what is now Western Turkey. Going back one millennium, what is now Turkey was the front line for a clash of Christian and Muslim cultures.

6. I know you wrote your doctoral dissertation about film and politics from the 1930s through the 1960s, a time when Westerns were one of the dominant genres, and I see certain Western-like elements in this book.

Westerns came in about seven different varieties, and one of them was called the "revenge Western," where a bad man has killed a beloved person and the hero heads out to bring him to justice. In nuanced Westerns the hero at various points asks himself whether his end justifies his means and whether it's worth giving up a lot to carry out what he planned. An internal struggle of that sort occurs in this book as well.

7. Scimitar's Edge is an unusual novel that combines action against terrorists with quotations from Walker Percy. In fact, the book ends with an allusion to one of Percy's most enduring characters, Will Barrett. Were you consciously trying to walk a knife-edge between high-brow and low-brow culture?

Not consciously; that's just where I am myself. Since evangelicals are sometimes disparaged as dumb, some press to show we're not by tossing around Latin phrases or going to opera rather than popular movies -- not that there's anything wrong with opera, as long as there's a car chase within the first five minutes. To me it comes down to enjoying the pleasures God gives us, including those from both popular culture and literary culture.

8. Are you planning a sequel?

When I talk with students about careers we discuss the importance of both internal calling and external calling - do you feel God's pleasure as you do something, and do other people think you're good at it? I feel the internal call to write more novels; I'm trying to discern the external call from readers.

AND NOW...THE FIRST CHAPTER:

Note: All present-day characters are fictional except for the media and political personalities in chapter sixteen and one character in chapter twenty-one: There really is a Metropolitan Ozmen at the Deur-ul Zaferan Monastery near the Turkish- Syrian border.

Descriptions of historical characters are factual. Suleyman Mahmudi did build Castle Hosap in southeastern Turkey in 1643.

The chess game in chapter fourteen derives from one played by Gustav Richard Neumann and Adolf Anderssen in Berlin in 1864, but then it was not a matter of life or death.


Click here for the prologue and first chapter. Enjoy!
Buy the book: Scimitar's Edge