FIRST Tour: Prints Charming

This month's feature is:

Rebeca Seitz

and her book:

PRINTS CHARMING

(Thomas Nelson Publishers, March 15, 2007)

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Rebeca Seitz is Founder and President of Glass Road Public Relations. An author for several years, Rebeca cut her publicity teeth as the first dedicated publicist for the fiction division of Thomas Nelson Publishers. In 2005, Rebeca resigned from WestBow and opened the doors of GRPR, the only publicity firm of its kind in the country dedicated solely to representing novelists writing from a Christian worldview. Rebeca has worked with such esteemed authors as Robin Jones Gunn, Ted Dekker, Frank Peretti, Walter Wangerin, Jr., DiAnn Mills, Brandilyn Collins, Colleen Coble, Melody Carlson, and numerous others. She has secured coverage for novelists in a variety of media outlets, including The Today Show, USA Today, Chicago Sun-Times, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Publishers Weekly, Christian Retailing, Aspiring Retail, Southern Living, Daystar Television, HarvestTV, WAY-FM, K-LOVE, and others. Rebeca makes her home in Kentucky with her husband, Charles, and their son, Anderson.

AND NOW...THE FIRST CHAPTER:

Chapter One

"Girl, where are you?" Lydia tightened her grip on the cell phone as she wondered anew how any woman could be late to every single thing in her life. She had thought Jane might’ve changed in the two years they’d been apart, but Jane was evidently still living up to her old high school nickname of Late Jane. The woman would get to her own funeral about an hour after they started the music.

"I’m coming, I’m coming." Jane kept one hand on the steering wheel while frantically sifting through the things in the passenger seat of her Blazer. There was a brush somewhere, she just knew it, but finding anything at seven in the morning was difficult at best. Why in the world she’d allowed herself to be talked into attending a sale that started at seven a.m. was beyond her ability to fathom. Finding her shoes had been a reason for cheering. A brush might just be asking too much.

"Do I need to grab anything for you? This stuff is going fast." Lydia watched a woman stretch for the last package of Times-style foam alphabet letters and readjusted her own heavy shopping basket. In the five minutes she’d been in the store, it had already begun biting into the skin on her arm.

"Nope, I don’t think so. I’ll be there in about two minutes," Jane said, still searching for the brush while trying not to drop the cell phone from her shoulder.

"Okay, but hurry. I’ll be over in the baby girl section. I need to find something for Olivia’s first bath pages and get ribbon for Mac."

"Got it. Baby girl. Be there in a flash."

***

Jane snapped the phone together and slammed to a stop at the red light. Turning her attention to her still searching hand, she finally grasped the elusive hairbrush and quickly raked it through her long black hair. She had been looking forward to this sale all week but, of course, Mr. Wonderful had chosen to make his appearance a mere thirty minutes before she walked out the door. They had fought over Wilson. Again. When would the man get it through his head that Wilson was in her life forever?

She pushed thoughts of her soon-to-be ex-husband out of her mind as the green arrow finally appeared. Squealing her tires, she tore into the parking lot of The Savvy Scrapper. Tossing the hairbrush back into the passenger seat, she threw the car into Park, grabbed her purse, and flung open the door.

"Ouch!"

Jane looked up just as her door collided with the midsection of one very tall man.

"Ohmigosh. I am so, so sorry. I’m just in a rush. The sale is happening and I’m late and—"

"It’s okay."
Mr. Tall held his hands up as if to ward off any other car doors she might be hiding somewhere and she noticed the coffee cup in one hand and bagel bag in the other. Bagels would be so heavenly right now.

"I’m fine, really." He set the bag down on the ground and brushed the dust off of his olive-green sweater, then looked at her. "I know how women can be when there’s a sale involved." He grinned as he knelt to pick the bag back up.

She tried hard to ignore his sexist statement and not remind him of how many guys camp out at golf stores before a sale or sleep in the parking lot to get tickets to a concert.

"Are you sure you’re okay? I mean, I have insurance and we can call somebody." Jane forcefully tucked her hair behind her ears, willing herself to focus on the problem at hand rather than the sale happening about ten yards away or the way her stomach was now grumbling for coffee and a bagel.

"Really, go ahead. I’m fine."

"Okay, thanks." She turned and made her way around the back of the car. "Really, I appreciate this. It’s just that this only happens once a year and my friend is waiting . . ." She stopped on the far side of the car and looked at him. He could sue if he was really hurt and her luck with men right now meant he would definitely sue and she would surely lose. "You’re absolutely fine?"

"Go." He made a shooing motion with the bag. "Happy shopping."

Her mother always said to never look a gift horse in the mouth and this was one time Jane would be obeying Elizabeth rather than giving in to her own desire to argue. She practically sprinted to the front door of The Savvy Scrapper, yanked it open, and burst inside.

***

"Jane!" Lydia was in the front corner of the store, surrounded by pink, yellow, blue, lilac, and pale green. She waved a die-cut of a bathtub and bubbles above her head. "I found the perfect stuff for Olivia and Oliver’s First Bath page."

"Great." Jane joined her, looking a bit frazzled but otherwise okay.

"Okay, here’s the deal." Lydia turned toward the back of the store and pointed. "All the Times letters are gone, the vellum is quickly going, and the dog section is getting riffled through as we speak. Where do you want to start?"

"Dog section, definitely." Jane stuffed her keys into her purse. "I took great pictures of the ex this morning picking up Wilson’s poop while stepping in another pile."

"You are so gross. What was he doing there?"

"Trying to get me to give him Wilson again." Jane scanned the rest of the store, making a quick plan to get the most stuff. "He’ll get the picture one day, just not today. He’s insane if he thinks I’m letting my puppy come live with him while he’s spending all hours online with his e-mistress."

"Okay, that still sounds so weird." Lydia’s eyebrows rose as she gave Jane a disbelieving look. "E-mistress? Really? That’s what we’re calling her?"

"E-mistress is the only thing I could think of that’s fit for public consumption." Jane grimaced. "Anyway, forget her and him. I’m here to shop, honey."

"Right. Go on over to the dog section. I’ll come over there when I’m finished here. Can you grab me that new paper with the red stripes and dark-brown bones? I’ve got some pictures of Otis with Olivia and Oliver from last week."

"Dale let that pug get near his precious twins? I thought you said the only thing he cared more about than SportsCenter was those babies."

"Dale hasn’t seen the pictures yet. He never comes in my scrapbook studio. Says it’s my workspace and that I spend too much money on all this junk as it is." Lydia waved her hand to encompass the store. "He’s probably right."

"Oh, please. Men are never right," Jane said and turned toward the dog section. "Dogs, on the other hand, are absolutely wonderful companions who never cheat and can’t even turn a computer on."

Lydia laughed and turned back to the wall of baby-themed paper in front of her, leaving Jane to take care of the dog paper. Stripes or flowers? She didn’t want to make the scrapbook too babyish, but she also didn’t want it to look too grownup. The papers were all on sale, so maybe she would just get both. Dale would never know since he didn’t come into her studio anyway, and she could give some of it to Mac for Kesa’s baby book. She took two sheets of the pink-and-lime-green-striped paper, then two of the blue rosebud ones.

"Men are never right," she muttered under her breath. Maybe Jane had a good point.

Prints CharmingRebeca SeitzCopyright © 2006 by Rebeca Seitz.

Restless

(Warning: Long Post Ahead)
I was listening to This American Life's podcast for this week -- about road trips -- and in one of the stories this couple talked about a feeling of malaise they experienced at one time in their relationship. That's a good word, malaise. I think it describes something I've been feeling lately. Here's how the dictionary defines malaise: a general feeling of discomfort, illness, or uneasiness whose exact cause is difficult to identify.

Now before you suggest I consider medication, let me say that there's nothing majorly wrong with me. I'm generally happy, functional and no weirder than usual. But I've felt somewhat unsettled and restless lately and I'm not sure why. Because, as I just said, I'm fine. Life is no more stressful than usual and I even have had several kinds of good things happen: John graduated from college, I have a story coming in Coach's Midnight Diner, I finished another story and submitted it to another magazine, and there's been another bit of good news that is not writing related that I might blog about in a few weeks.

I also happen to think that these unsettled times can be worthwhile -- most of the time I'm not motivated to make changes when everything is going smoothly and I feel that all is right and settled in the world. Sometimes the unsettled feeling is God nudging me, sometimes not. I'm not sure which this is right now. I am inclined to think that this feeling is related to a need for more creativity in my life -- specifically writing. Yes, I just said I finished a story and submitted it somewhere this week, but it's a story I've been working on since before Christmas and I had it mostly finished several weeks ago.

Then there's the whole what-genre-do-I-write issue. I've written mysteries and fantasy and science-fiction -- whatever genre, though, they're all character-driven. But I wonder if I need to focus my efforts in one direction. I think I have a dread of being pigeonholed into one type of story. Or, maybe I just over-analyze everything.

I'm not comfortable talking about having a "calling" to write. I believe God gave me a talent and I should use it for him. I'm happy when I write, I have stories I want to tell -- maybe they're even stories other people might want to read. But if I'm going to do this, I need to develop some discipline and that's always a hard thing for me. Coach Culbertson (of Coach's Midnight Diner and the Relief Writer's Network) is doing something called NaNo Spring Training in a couple of weeks -- 10,000 words in 7 days. This seems like a good way to kick off a summer of writing. And maybe a summer of writing will be a good start to more disciplined writing in the future.

In time for the first weekend of summer ...

Here's my Notes from the Windowsill Column for June: What I Learned from Summer Vacations

Happy Birthday, Jim!

Today is my youngest brother's birthday. (Jim is the one on the left. My other brother, Tim is on the right and I'm in the middle, though I am actually the oldest.) He's a worship pastor and dad and fellow Tolkien nut. He's also been a bit of a surrogate dad (or at least a really cool uncle) for my daughter Megan, who has lived within an hour of him for the last six years.

I could probably tell some embarrassing stories about now, but he has three sons, so I will just point out that what goes around comes around.

So, happy birthday Jim! Have a great day.

CSFF Blog Tour: The Sword Review

The May feature for the CSFF tour is The Sword Review, one of the most popular Christian Science Fiction and Fantasy sites. Not only do they publish fiction and poetry, they also include essays, art and reviews. Be sure to visit and see for yourself.

And by visiting the fine blogs listed below, you can find out even more.

Brandon Barr
Jim Black
Amy Browning
Jackie Castle
Valerie Comer
Karri Compton
Frank Creed
CSFF Blog Tour
Gene Curtis
D. G. D. Davidson
Chris Deanne
April Erwin
Kameron M. Franklin
Linda Gilmore
Beth Goddard
Marcus Goodyear
Andrea Graham
Russell Griffith
Jill Hart
Katie Hart
Sherrie Hibbs
Holly
Heather R. Hunt
Becca Johnson
Jason Joyner
Kait
Karen
Dawn King
Tina Kulesa
Lost Genre Guild
Kevin Lucia and The Bookshelf Reviews 2.0 - The Compendium
Terri Main
Rachel Marks
Rebecca LuElla Miller
Eve Nielsen
John W. Otte
John Ottinger
Robin Parrish
Cheryl Russel
Hanna Sandvig
Chawna Schroeder
Mirtika Schultz
James Somers
Steve Trower
Speculative Faith
Jason Waguespac
Daniel I. Weaver

Commendable linkage

Absent thoughts of my own, let me share some of the excellent thoughts of others:

Blogger extraordinaire Scot McKnight has some good advice for would-be (and current) bloggers. What's even better, he practices what he preaches.

Folks at Faith in Fiction are still discussing the Daily Sacrament contest. I didn't enter because I just couldn't seem to come up with a story that didn't feel forced. But some excellent writers did enter. The winner and runner-up stories (by Don Hoesel and Angie Poole) will be published in Relief, Issue 3. But as a taste of what was submitted, Dave Long published (April 27) a few "stories of merit" at Faith in Fiction and now at least one person has also posted the story she submitted: Jeanne Damoff posted her beautiful story "What's Left of Destiny" at The Master's Artist today. If this is representative of the quality of stories that didn't win, I wouldn't have stood a chance, anyway.

I've been playing around with the blog again. On the right you'll see a set of links to my most recent bookmarks in del.icio.us. I don't know if I'll leave it that way or not, but it's one way of seeing what I'm currently impressed by. (Be sure and check out the Internet Monk post, Grace is as Dangerous as Ever. Awesome.) What I really need is 3 columns, but I haven't figured out how to get that, yet. I have no CSS skills whatsoever.

A special FIRST post: Tribulation House

Chris Well is founder of 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.

AND NOW...THE FIRST CHAPTER:

~1~

I might as well just tell you right now, I killed Reverend Daniel Glory. Back there at the church, in his study.

But this is my story. Don't let anyone tell you different. My dad always said we all write our own story. Of course, I guess that's why it worked out so well for him.

Why did I kill Reverend Daniel Glory? Sure, it was an accident. More or less. At least, I think it was.

I don't know, we were arguing about the Rapture and it kind of got out of hand and then I just --

Wait. Wait. I'm getting ahead of myself. Let me back up.

This all started about three months ago, when Reverend Daniel Glory told us we needed to do our Tribulation House earlier than --

Oh. Wait.

Okay, I guess this actually started last year when Marvin Dobbs left the church. Our church. The Last Church of God's Imminent Will.

A year ago last summer, Marvin left with some of the other families to start a new church, and he took his Armageddon House" multimedia show with him.

You do know about Armageddon House, right? Every Halloween for the past three or four years, Marvin and our team put together a special multimedia presentation explaining the Great Tribulation, which ends with the Battle of Armageddon.

Wait -- you don't know about the Great Tribulation? It's that seven-year period between the Rapture and the Triumphant Return of Jesus Christ, as described in the prophecies of Daniel and Ezekiel and the Apostles Paul and John. After the Lord Jesus takes His Bride home, there are going to be seven years of horrible judgment inflicted on those who are left b --

What? The murder of Reverend Glory? I'm getting to that.

Well, anyway, when Marvin left to form his little offshoot splinter group, we discovered he had actually trademarked the name "Armageddon House." Imagine that.

When the board at church met to discuss the matter, we considered doing Armageddon House anyway without him. Just reconstruct it from memory and copy or use materials from previous years. Use the same name, business as usual. Just ignore the cease-and-desist letter, let God and His angels work that out.

But we decided we didn't want to be associated with Armageddon House anymore. I mean, if Marvin and his new "fellowship" planned to stage their own Armageddon House, the risk of confusion in the marketplace was enough to rebuild ours as a brand-new event.

Which is how we ended up with Tribulation House. It was an opportunity for a new beginning. We went through a whole list of potential names -- I came up with Kingdom Come, but was voted down -- before we settled on Tribulation House.

We sat down and worked through the whole grid. Instead of imagining how to simply explain or show a picture of each bowl of wrath and each trumpet of judgment, we created an entire theatrical event.

Yeah, we could have set up the charts and graphs and the overhead projector. But today's audience, this last generation, they're kind of jaded about flannel graph presentations, know what I mean?

These kids today, with their Spongebob Squarepants and their American Bandstand and their Buffy The Vampire Slayer, they need the bells and whistles and the like.

The kids don't need a lot of explanation. They need a demonstration.

You see, that was the challenge, wasn't it? It's one thing to say "the moon was blackened" or "the waters turned to blood" or "men were stung by enormous flying scorpions" -- but how do you make it happen right here, right before their eyes?

In the end, we created Tribulation House: A full-sensory immersive interactive dramatic theatrical evangelistic event that simulates what it will actually be like to live through the events of the Great Tribulation. An entire full-service prophetic experience.

You'd be surprised how much of it we accomplished with sound and light. We developed the various rooms throughout the church basement. Some college kids created soundscapes for each event. We wrote up a full script for the actors; they played everything from people caught up in the events, to the world armies fighting the Most Holy, to the father of lies himself, bound and thrown into the pit for a millennium.

The murder of Reverend Daniel Glory? I'm getting to that.

So we were working out the blueprints for creating Tribulation House as a major theatrical evangelistic full-sensory ministry outreach. We had debated the merits of various slogans for the event -- the leading contenders were WE'LL SCARE THE HELL OUT OF YOU; GET RIGHT OR GET LEFT; and THE TIME IS CLOSER THAN YOU THINK. While the first slogan was a favorite of several board members, for its bracing, truthful stance, in the end we worried that the neighbors would misunderstand. So we went with the second slogan, for its simple, instructional message.

And I remember that our chief carpenter, Bill Broadstreet, was giving us his estimate for the physical construction to be done on the project. Suddenly, Reverend Daniel Glory burst in with some news.

"Friends!" There was a glow on the Reverend's face unlike we had seen before. The man stood there in the doorway to the church basement, leaning against the doorframe, wheezing to catch his breath. "Jesus is coming back!"

The room was silent. We all stared. At first, we wondered why he was saying this right then. After all, he preached on this topic every week. But then he dropped this bomb: "And I know when!"

Okay, that was a new one. Collectively, everyone in the room gasped. One of us, I don't even remember who it was, asked, "When, Reverend?"

"October 17."

Five months.

"5:51 a.m." Reverend Daniel Glory waved the papers clutched in his hand. Later, I would wonder what he was waving at us. His Bible study? His calculations? All I know is he grinned ear to ear and said, "The Rapture is going to happen at 5:51 a.m. on October 17."

Everyone around the meeting table reacted differently. Some were stunned into silence, others screamed with joy. One noisy woman loudly sobbed and clapped.

Reverend Daniel Glory came into room, face aglow with thrill and exhaustion, and dragged a chair from the wall over to our table. He sat, waiting until everyone was silent again. "I now have incontrovertible proof that the Rapture takes place this coming October."

I'm sure I grinned bigger than anyone in the room. "What reason do you have to say that?"

Reverend Daniel Glory looked at me and winked. "Why stop with one reason, boy? I got one hundred and seven of 'em!"

Of course, you know what this meant. We were going to have to step up the production of Tribulation House.

(I still can't believe it's not Kingdom Come.)

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!

Coach's Midnight Diner announces authors

I've been sitting on this news for a couple of days, waiting for the official announcement, but now I can tell:

I'm in Coach's Midnight Diner! Whoo-hoo!

If I seem excited, it's because I am. The list includes some really good writers and I'm pleased to be part of it. The Diner is coming from the folks who publish Relief and it will be out in July, I think. Yes, this will be an actual printed publication. Very cool.

And big congrats to Chris, who was one of the category winners (Jesus vs. Cthulu).

CFBA Tour: Tribulation House

This week's featured book is one I've been eagerly awaiting: Tribulation House, by Chris Well. I enjoyed his previous books (Forgiving Solomon Long and Deliver Us From Evelyn) and so far I'm not disappointed. (I haven't had a chance to finish it yet, but I'll post more about it then.) But what's it about?

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!

Comic-book loving Detective Charlie Pasch is back, as is Detective Tom Griggs. And the story is once again populated with a bunch of quirky, neurotic crooks who are just trying to do their jobs.

If you like fast-paced, sharp crime fiction, give this a read.

If you love Jesus, leave a comment ... or not

I feel a rant coming on ...

I am often the recipient of e-mails that include some clever (though simplistic) statement of faith or conservative values that then request me to forward this to a select number (or all) of my friends and relatives as proof that I love Jesus or am willing to take a stand for my faith or whatever. Even when these things aren't theologically questionable, they feel like little more than electronic-age chain letters.

I got the following from a friend this morning:

RECIPROCATE PLEASE!

God determines who walks into your life....it's up to you to decide
who you let walk away, who you let stay, and who you refuse to let
go.

I need this back. If you'll do this for me, I'll do it for
you....When there is nothing left but God, that is when you find
out that God is all you need.

Take 60 seconds and give this a shot! All you do is simply say the
following small prayer for the person who sent you this.

Father, God bless all my friends in whatever it is that You know
they may need this day! And may their life be full of your peace
prosperity and power as he/she seeks to have a closer relationship
with you.
Amen.

There's nothing wrong with praying for people and lots of times I do that as God prompts me throughout the day. But besides the health/wealth gospel undertone to this, there's the whole putting-God-in-a-box aspect (do this and God will be sure to respond the way you want him to), and there's a rather disturbing element of "I'll pray for you if you pray for me." Yeah, the more I think about it, the more this one bugs me. But the person who sent it to me is a sweet, Godly lady and sometimes I wonder if I'm just being a spoil sport.

But here's another example: A week or so ago I got an e-mail (from the same person, who apparently forwards everything she receives) about where was God in the midst of school tragedies. I don't want to quote the whole thing, but it asked God where he was when ... and then it listed all the mass school killings in the last 10 years or so. The kicker, of course, is God's supposed reply -- he's not allowed in schools. There was more to it, all about how our liberal, godless society has stopped prayer in schools and our kids are morally bankrupt and so what do we expect. But the part that really jolted me was the part at the beginning, which is just so wrong theologically in so many ways. These kind of simplistic, knee-jerk responses to tragedy sound so trite and self-righteous. I'm sure that lots of people were praying at Virginia Tech on April 16 -- God was there. But we live in a world that still groans from the fall and is waiting for God's justice to be made manifest. There is evil in the world and as Christians we are called to respond in redemptive, grace-filled ways. Somehow, forwarding an e-mail like this doesn't seem like that kind of response.

And, just so you'll know, the worst mass school killing in the U.S. actually happened in an era when prayer was a regular part of the school day: In 1927 a disgruntled school board member blew up the school in Bath, Michigan.

So, I almost never forward anything -- I've broken so many chains I should probably be suffering all kinds of catastrophes. ;) But, I love Jesus, even if I don't forward your e-mail.

Cool stuff

If you hop on over to the Wittenburg Door, and peruse the table of contents for the May/June issue, will see a piece called "Preacher's Kids Anonymous" by yours truly. Alas, it is not available online. I got my copies (and payment) last week and it was very exciting to see my name in the Table of Contents, as well as the actual article itself.

For anyone who reads the Faith in Fiction blog, and maybe even those of you who don't, Dave Long spoke recently at a Christian writer's conference in California. Someone has posted a bit of his talk about "the lonely writer" on YouTube and it's pretty good (but its not the whole talk). Check it out.

Visual DNA

If you want to get me to post something, tag me. Chris did, so here's something fun:

Read my VisualDNA™ Get your own VisualDNA™

If anyone else wants to play, have it. But I do think I'll tag Megan.

Where am I?

It's possible the five people who read this blog are wondering where I am -- this week I'm in Colorado at the Midwest Conference Annual Meeting (of the Evangelical Covenant Church). It's at Crossroads Covenant Church in Loveland, Colorado. I'll be back to regular (or semi-regular) blogging next week.

April CSFF blog tour: Return of the Guardian King

Karen Hancock's Return of the Guardian King is on this month's CSFF blog tour. I'm afraid I can't say a lot but Rebecca Miller has a lot of info over at the CSFF blog. Karen is a Christy Award-winning author of Christian fantasy and blogs here.

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
Rebecca Grabill
Andrea Graham
Jill Hart
Katie Hart
Sherrie Hibbs
Sharon Hinck
Christopher Hopper
Heather R. Hunt
Becca Johnson
Jason Joyner
Karen
Dawn King
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 Tour: Coral Moon

If you're a fan of mysteries and grip-the-edge-of-your-seat suspense, then you will want to check out this week's featured book: Coral Moon by Brandilyn Collins. This is the second in her newest series of books, all set in the fictional town of Kanner Lake, Idaho. And if you want to get to know the characters and town better, visit the Scenes and Beans blog. (Coral Moon is on my bedside stack of books, but I haven't gotten to it yet.)

This is April?

Ah, spring in Kansas: rain, thunderstorms and a winter storm watch.

Rainy Tuesday

Yes, it's raining and it's about 46 degrees here, on this 10th day of April. We had a hard freeze over the weekend, but my little hyacinths seem to have survived. Welcome to Kansas, where it doesn't really get warm and stay warm until about June, when it becomes hot and stays that way until about October or so (or at least it seems that way).

I haven't done much updating of the exercise and dieting thing, but that doesn't mean I've given up. I'm on a Walk Kansas team and I'm making progress. My cholesterol has dropped back to within the normal range and the proportion of bad to good cholesterol is where it should be, too. And I've lost about 8 pounds. I know, that's not a huge amount, but it's progress and I'm glad.

I saw all my children over Easter weekend -- Megan came home, Julia and Mike came for Easter dinner and then after they left, Bob and I went to see John in Emporia. It was good, though exhausting, day.

I've been rereading Lloyd Alexander's Prydain stories: I finished The Book of Three and now I'm on The Black Cauldron. One thing struck me -- while many people draw comparisons between the Harry Potter books and The Lord of the Rings, they really have more in common with the Prydain Chronicles. With each book, both series go a little deeper and become more serious in tone, which is fitting as both tell the story of a boy becoming a man. As Taran (Alexander's protagonist) gets older, he encounters more challenging situations and must make more difficult choices. He also learns more about himself and learns about his origins (like Harry Potter, he's an orphan). Taran starts out impetuous and impatient, but he does grow up. But it doesn't happen overnight.

This is how J.K. Rowling has handled Harry Potter's coming of age, too. Harry starts out as a child, but by the end, he's almost a grown man. (It will be interesting to see what happens and how Harry handles it in the last book.) He, too, has to forge an identity without having grown up with his parents. One of the complaints I've read about Harry Potter is that he often acts irresponsibly and breaks the rules. But it seems to me that he's acting like a teenager, which is to be expected since that's what he is! But he is growing up and learning from his mistakes, and learning to deal with the consequences of his actions. I, for one, appreciate that Harry is allowed to act like a kid, not a miniature adult.

I'm living on the air in Cincinnati ...

Children, if you want to make your mother very happy for Mother's Day, give her this:
The first season of WKRP in Cincinnati is coming, at last, to DVD.

Good stuff Wednesday

I seem to be managing about one blog post per week these days. 'Fraid it won't get much better for a while. But here's a few good things for today.

April 1 was the day for the FIRST tour and I missed it, but the book is a really good one so I'm going to give you the links a few days late. The book this month is Mary E. Demuth's Wishing on Dandelions. I haven't read it yet, but I did start it and realized it was a book I didn't want to race through. Mary's prose is worth savoring. You can read the first chapter here. You can find out more about Mary's writing -- both fiction and nonfiction -- at her Web site.

My friend Chris has the coolest writing gig in the world (or at least in the religious-satire-loving world) -- he's getting stuff published in the Wittenburg Door Insider (The Door's e-newsletter). Check out his latest contribution.

While I haven't been the submission machine that Chris is, I did get a story submitted for Coach's Midnight Diner, which will be published by the folks at Relief. I wrote a little story about a diner that could be more than it seems. Keep your fingers crossed -- CMD comes out in July, so maybe I'll know something in a month or so.

I've posted my April Notes from the Windowsill Column: Easter People. I hope it will be a reminder of the hope we have, even when all around us seems pretty dark.

Have a blessed Easter.

It's Thursday and I'm not a Guitar Hero

It's Thursday and it's raining. This is good. There's even been a little thunder -- nothing severe, just enough to feel like spring. I've just got some random thoughts today.

I've got a new favorite game. My son Tim got this game for PS2 called Guitar Heroes 2. It has a cool controller shaped like a guitar, with buttons on the fret bar and a strum bar on the body. The idea is to play the notes (color coded to match the buttons) as they scroll along the screen. And what you're playing are rock songs. This is harder than it looks. Even on Easy. So far, I can blunder my way through Girlfriend, Carry on My Wayward Son, Message in a Bottle, You Really Got Me and Sweet Child 'o' Mine. And blunder is the operative word. I think the best I've done is get about 89 percent of the notes right. Of course, there are various bells and whistles to go along with the music -- flashing lights and something called star power that makes the notes glow and gives you more points. It's a very fun game and could be seriously addictive.

It's also humbling. I have some musical talent and I have a fairly deep familiarity with rock 'n roll. But this game is hard. You have to hit the buttons at just the right time and the notes scroll along pretty fast. And some of the timing is funkier than you think it is. You can't play this game without practice. A lot of it. I'll never be very good at Guitar Heroes 2 because I'm not going to dedicate significant chunks of time to a video game.

But I do want to be a good writer, a better writer than I am now. That's going to take practice. I'm going to have to dedicate a significant amount of time to sitting my butt in the chair in front of the computer and tapping away at my stories. I wrote a story this week and need to revise it fast if I want to make the April 1 deadline for Coach's Midnight Diner (brought to you by the folks at Relief). So it's butt in chair time. (With occasional short breaks to play Sweet Child 'o' Mine.)

Good stuff for a Tuesday

Here are some good things:

Gregory Paul Smith: This singer and songwriter is a Kansas native and his album I Can Live Again has been released through Creative Soul Records. He led worship for us Sunday, which is how I became aware of him. I appreciated the honesty of his testimony -- both spoken and in his lyrics. The album is a nice blend of musical styles -- some rock, some mellow, some gospel. Besides his Web site, he has a ShoutLife page. (ShoutLife is a Christian social networking site, similar to MySpace. I was looking at it a bit today -- looks interesting. Like I need another blog.)

Double Vision: I blogged about this last week, but I hadn't read it yet, so I didn't get specific. But Saturday night I started reading it and I couldn't put it down until I finished it, at about 3 a.m.! Randy Ingermanson has done a fine job with this "humorous romantic suspense." His characters are distinct and memorable and the plot twists keep the reader guessing. Randy is a physicist and I got lost a bit among the science -- the story's plot revolves around a computer that uses the principles of quantum physics -- but not so much that I couldn't follow the story. One of the things I appreciated about the story was how the Christian characters interacted with nonbelievers -- it was genuine and believable. One of the things I want to do as a writer is show Christians as real people, not freaky stereotypes. Randy has done this very well. Faith is an important element of the story, but it is integral to the characters, and so is a seamless part of the plot. This is an entertaining book, but it also gets you to think a bit about faith and forgiveness, love and ethics.

Journler 2.5: (Note the spelling -- it's not Journaler.) I upgraded to Journler 2.5 today and it's got some cool new features, like a drop box that sits on my Mac's desktop. It allows me to drop a document or other item into it and it makes a new entry in the category and folder I specify. It also has a Lexicon, which is essentially a list of all the words you've used in your journal entries. It allows you to see new connections between what you've written, or see all the entries where you've used a certain word. And of course, Journler is searchable, lets you add tags and search that way, and is fully integrated with iLife applications. By the way, Journler is only for the Mac. I use Journler a lot to keep notes related to my work, such as InDesign tips, or procedures such as how to set up color separations for printing. It's also a depository of nifty quotes, blog entries, song lyrics, and random thoughts.

Rebecca reminded me of one of our adventures in music.

CSFF Tour: Double Vision

This month's Christian Science Fiction and Fantasy blog tour features Randy Ingermanson's new novel Double Vision. Not only is Randy well-known for his novels, he's a cottage industry of writing help, with his Web site, Fiction 101 sessions at writer's conferences and on CD, and his Advanced Fiction Writing e-zine (I'm a subscriber). Randy is known for blending science and story in a way that holds readers to the last page. (After all, he is a physicist.) And, he won a Christy award for his novel Oxygen, in 2001. This new novel looks intriguing (and it's on my pile to read, but I haven't gotten to it yet). It's described as humorous romantic suspense. Here's the premise:

Dillon Richard is a brilliant and meticulous engineer, respected by his co-workers at CypherQuanta, but he has never had a woman interested in him before. Now he's got two, and they're giving him double vision . . .

Rachel Meyers is a quirky, erratic biophysicist who has just developed a quantum computer that will change the world. If Rachel and Dillon can bring it to market, CypherQuanta will be worth billions. But someone is determined to steal the secret . . . and create a rift between Rachel and Dillon.

Keryn Wills is a mystery novelist and part-time chief financial officer at CypherQuanta. She desperately needs to keep Rachel and Dillon working together to finish the project, but she desperately doesn't want them to be friends. Now Keryn finds herself on the run, like a character in one of her own novels, as somebody begins tightening a noose around her and Rachel and Dillon. Somehow, she needs to unravel this mystery -- before it unravels her.

Three secrets. Two women. One man. No time.

As always, you can follow the tour by visiting the fine blogs listed below.

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

Friday news and views

I guess this is a week for publication news, though I knew this one was coming. If you attend an Evangelical Covenant Church you most likely have seen a little publication called the Covenant Home Altar. It's a quarterly devotional and each week's set of devotions is written by a member of a Covenant church. I have a week of devotions in this issue -- the week of June 10 -- so if you see a copy, pick it up. Or you can order copies or a subscription through the Web site.

Basketball Tournament notes:
K-State won it's NIT game against Vermont on Wednesday evening. Next up is DePaul on Monday. Go 'Cats!

My NCAA bracket isn't in too bad shape yet. I was wrong about Old Dominion, Duke, Gonzaga and Marquette, but of those, I had only picked Gonzaga to advance to the Sweet 16. And I wasn't terribly disappointed that Duke lost to VCU. It was a good game and I was impressed with how VCU played. This seems like a program that could be a factor in years to come.

Texas Tech is out. Yes! Stanford is out. Yes! Further proof that Drexel and K-State should have received bids instead, at least to me.

Tonight KU plays its first game. I guess Niagara is a good team, but I think KU has shown this year that they can play well in tough games. (For ex., coming from behind to beat Texas in the Big 12 tournament championship game.) So they should advance.

In the this-is-just-so-cool category:
Scientists at Purdue have developed a working tricorder. It doesn't look much like the Star Trek models, but it sounds really cool, and useful.

And the winners are ...

Me, among others.
Yes, Robin Parrish has at last announced the top 10 finishers in both poetry and fiction for the 2006 edition of Best of Infuze. My story Confessions of a Christian Mom made the cut! I'm in very good company -- there are some excellent stories and poems included. The anthology will be available in a few weeks, so make your plans to get your very own copy.

Four things

I think I've done this before, but Jim tagged me, so here goes:

Four jobs I have had:
The salad girl at the Red Geranium Restaurant in New Harmony, Ind.
A nurse's aide in a nursing home.
Composition editor at the Clifton News-Tribune in Clifton, Kan.
Publications editor for K-State Research and Extension

Four movies I could watch over and over:
While You Were Sleeping
The Goodbye Girl
About a Boy
Safe Passage
(Can you tell I'm a sucker for sappy movies?)

Four places I have lived:
Bowen, Ill.
Griffin, Ind.
Lincoln, Ill.
Jamestown, Kan.

Four of my favorite foods:
Pizza
Mexican food
Lasagna
Mashed potatoes and gravy

Four places I would rather be right now:
London
Fort Wayne, Ind. (where my friend Rebecca lives)
Chicago (where Megan is and where KU plays it's opening round in the NCAA tournament)
At home with my husband

I can't think of anyone to tag, but if you read this and want to play along, leave a comment.

Madness

Yes, it has come again -- time to give myself over to the annual orgy of college basketball that is the NCAA Men's Tournament. I was very disappointed (and I mean VERY) that K-State was not one of the 65, but Texas Tech got in, even after K-State wolloped them in the Big 12 Tournament. Shouldn't winning 22 games and winning 10 games on the road in the Big 12 and finishing 4th in the Big 12 for the regular season count for something? Apparently not. I could whine some more, but it makes no difference now. K-State plays it's first NIT game tomorrow night right here in Bramlage Colliseum, so at least they get some postseason play. I'm hoping they do well.

As for my other basketball school -- KU is a No. 1 seed! The 'Hawks Rock! I do not think they'll fold in the first round this year, either. They've shown they can play in tough games and I'm picking them for the Final Four -- and to win it all. (I'm probably being optimistic, but my bracket will be shot to pieces by the end of the first weekend, so my picks are just for fun, anyway.)

I'm not planning on taking Thursday and Friday afternoons off, but I'll be watching the scores and then go home and watch a lot of basketball. I love the early rounds, especially, when everybody plays with so much heart.

Friday news and views

I've been a pretty lax blogger, so I've got a bit of catching up to do today.

Today's Christian Fiction Blog Alliance tour is The Watchers, by Mark Andrew Olson, a tale of supernatural suspense.

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....

If that sounds intriguing, check it out.

One of the books I'm looking forward to this year is Tribulation House, by Chris Well. It's getting some good advance notices and it sounds like another hilarious entry in his series of stories set in Kansas City:

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...

The book releases April 1 and I'm hoping to have an author interview in a few weeks. Chris reports that he and his wife Erika are working on other projects, too, with more details to come.

I've been listening to some new music:
Sara Groves -- Add to the Beauty (my favorite track on this is "Just Showed Up for My Own Life," which is a very upbeat, catchy tune, with good lyrics).

Badly Drawn Boy -- About a Boy soundtrack. I've always loved the movie and the music in it, so I finally got the soundtrack. Very cool music.

The Black Keys -- Rubber Factory and thickfreakness. This duo from Akron, Ohio, rocks the blues with mostly just a drum and a guitar. Good stuff.

Oldies but goodies -- some Creedence Clearwater Revival, The Guess Who and Queen.

Spring is almost here!

March column

My March "Notes from the Windowsill" column is up: Cleansing Fire. One of the wonders of the Flint Hills, at least for me, is when farmers and ranchers burn off pastures. It can be a dramatic sight, especially at night. And it reminds me of how God works in our lives, burning away the stuff that gets in the way of living for him. So that's what the column is about. As an online bonus, I included some relevant links.

How to tell spring has almost arrived in Kansas ...

Saturday we were under a tornado watch until 6 p.m. Then we were under a blizzard warning.

(Fortunately, we didn't get the nastiest of the weather -- just lots of rain and lots of wind.)

Blog tour and truth-tellers

Today I'd like to point you to a couple of things.

This week's CFBA blog tour features the second book in John Aubrey Anderson's Black and White Chronicles: Wedgewood Grey. You can find more about it at the CFBA blog.

This week I've been thinking about what freedom in Christ means -- particularly what it means when it comes to writing (but also reading). I don't have my thoughts very organized yet, but it's interesting how when I start thinking about something, I always find others who are thinking related things. Mike Duran posted yesterday about "What is Christian Art?" and it looks like the first in a series. Mike's thoughts are similar, though better expressed, to some of what I've been thinking. And he's not afraid to rattle a few cages, but he always does it with love. And since it's Friday, it's Mark Bertrand's turn to post at the Master's Artist: Tasting the Bitter Scroll is about the unpopularity of prophetic voices. If you wonder about honesty in art, both of these posts are good to read.

Good stuff on the Internet

One of the books I'm looking forward to reading this year is the first novel by Kathleen Popa, a fellow member of the Faith in Fiction community and a regular blogger I read. Her book is called To Dance in the Desert and it's coming out in May. There's a trailer up now and I encourage you to visit -- it's beautiful. Then enter the Web site and find out more about what inspired Katy to write about the desert, and read the first chapter.

I don't listen to a lot of podcasts, but one I listen to regularly is by Michael Spencer, otherwise known as the Internet Monk. He's a Bible teacher and preacher in Kentucky and I have to admit that part of why I like listening to him is I like his accent -- I lived in Southern Indiana long enough for a Kentucky accent to sound like home. But mostly I like what he says -- he's got good insights into Scripture, a heart for his students, a sharp wit and a keen eye for inconsistency and pretense in the American church. And he always plays cool music. (By the way, you do not have to have an iPod to listen to a podcast -- and you can download his podcasts from his blog if you don't want to mess with iTunes.)

OK, I have to add something. Chris posted about this very fun game that is right up a word geek's alley: Word Shoot: Spell Fast or Die. The idea is simple -- spell the word next to the alien ships coming at you. And sometimes you get the word "detonate," which blows up everything. This could be addictive.

CSFF Blog Tour: Where the Map Ends

This month, the Christian Science Fiction and Fantasy blog tour is highlighting a Web site: Where the Map Ends. The owner, Jeff Gerke, is a writer and former editor with several different publishing houses. But most of all, he's a fan of science fiction, fantasy, speculative fiction ... Well, here's how he describes himself on his Web site:

Jeff Gerke is...me: a guy who loves Christian speculative fiction.

Christian fantasy. Christian science fiction. Christian time travel. Christian spiritual warfare. Christian supernatural thrillers. Christian "chillers." Christian alternate history. Christian pure speculative. I even like Christian speculative gaming, manga, comics, animation, machinima, and animation. If it's Christian and it's speculative, I'm there.

Jeff has filled his Web site with the kind of stuff Christian science fiction and fantasy writers and fans will love: interviews, book suggestions, art, writing tips, publishing suggestions and lots of other neat stuff. A new feature he's added is world-building and character-building tools, including alien name-building. How cool is that? (I wish I'd knows about this when I was trying to come up with a name for the alien race in a short story I'm writing.)

Jeff is developing a great Web site that I know I'm going to be visiting again. Check it out.

You can also explore these fine blogs and Web sites to learn more:

Nissa Annakindt
Jim Black
Grace Bridges
Jackie Castle
Valerie Comer
Karri Compton
CSFF Blog Tour
Gene Curtis
D. G. D. Davidson
Chris Deanne
Janey DeMeo
Tessa Edwards
April Erwin
Kameron M. Franklin
Beth Goddard
Marcus Goodyear
Andrea Graham
Todd Michael Greene
Leathel Grody
Katie Hart
Sherrie Hibbs
Sharon Hinck
Christopher Hopper
Jason Joyner
Kait
Karen
K. D. Kragen
Tina Kulesa
Kevin Lucia and The Bookshelf Reviews 2.0 - The Compendium
Rachel Marks
Shannon McNear
Rebecca LuElla Miller
Eve Nielsen
John W. Otte
John Ottinger
Robin Parrish
Rachelle
Cheryl Russel
Hanna Sandvig
Mirtika Schultz
James Somers
Steve Trower
Speculative Faith
Daniel I. Weaver
Timothy Wise

TGIF

I've been busy this week. I have some projects at work that have needed more attention and I haven't taken time to blog.

I think I'm going through a season of thinking. Which may be a good thing. When I have more to say, I'll say it. For right now, I've been thinking and praying. Our church has been doing 24/7 prayer for about a month now, and it's really neat. I've been in the prayer room about once a week since we started. It is very good to have a place to just be quiet and listen to God and see what he's doing in the lives of people in my church. And time in the prayer room does seem to help put the little daily annoyances and cares in perspective. So that's one thing I've been doing.

I've been walking again this week. One of my co-workers gives me a ride since it's been so bitterly cold. (It's not so cold today, but this afternoon it started snowing. I think it's more than the weather service had expected. It's been very pretty to watch out my window, but in a while I'll have to ride the van in it. Fun.) Anyway, I stood on the scales at the rec center and I've lost a little weight since December. It's encouraging, but I've got a long way to go.

We've been listening to Harry Potter books on audiobook. I get them from the library and Bob and I listen to the cd's together. If you've never listened to the audio versions of these, narrated by Jim Dale, you're missing a real treat. Dale is a wonderful reader, and does different voices for all the characters. It's fun to listen to. And while I listen, I've been trying to crochet again. I learned a long time ago, but I never was very good at it. But it keeps my hands busy and when I'm crocheting, I'm not eating.

So I guess that's the main things. Take care. And here's a thought for the weekend: Don't hate yourself in the morning. Sleep in. :)

CFBA Tour: Christian Writer's Market Guide

I was truly excited to receive my copy of this book in the mail this week. Why? Because it is an important tool in a writer's toolbox. Sally Stuart's Christian Writer's Market Guide is for Christian writers what Writer's Digest's Writer's Market is for general market writers.

Here's a bit about the author:

Sally E. Stuart is the author of 34 books and has sold more than a thousand articles and columns. Her long-term involvement with the Christian Writers' Market Guide as well as her marketing columns for the Christian Communicator, Oregon Christian Writers, and The Advanced Christian Writer, make her a sought-after speaker and a leading authority on Christian markets and the business of writing. Stuart is the mother of three and grandmother of eight.

And about the book:

For more than 20 years, the Christian Writers’ Market Guide has offered indispensable help to Christian writers. This year, for the first time, this valuable resource comes with a CD-ROM of the full text, so you can search with ease for topics, publishers, and other specific names.

The 2007 edition also includes up-to-date listings of more than 1,200 markets for books, articles, stories, poetry, and greeting cards, including information on 40 new book publishers, 83 new periodicals, and 34 new literary agents. Perfect for writers in every phase, this is the resource to get noticed – and get published.

It contains listings for: 695 periodicals, 228 poetry markets, 355 book publishers, 133 online publications, 29 print-on-demand publishers, 1185 markets for the written word, 321 photography markets, 31 e-book publishers, 122 foreign markets, 112 literary agents,and 59 newspapers.

It also gives you comprehensive lists of contests, writers groups and conferences, search engines, pay rates and submission guidelines, editorial services and websites.

I looked through the book last night and was pleased to see how well it is organized. It will be easy to find specific publishers or specific markets I want to submit stories to. I'm going to use this book a lot, I'm sure.

The Door Opens

When I got home last night, my husband said I had a letter from The Wittenburg Door -- a letter with a release I had to sign and return. Whoo-hoo! The Door has accepted a humorous survey I submitted called Preacher's Kids Anonymous. It will either be in the magazine (in one or the other of the next two issues) or in the newsletter or online -- or maybe in all three. Not only does the Door actually pay, it's one of my favorite magazines. I'm very excited about this.

In other news, I think you have a few more days to vote in the Infuze Best of 2006 poll. My story Confessions of a Christian Mom is in the running, so I'd really appreciate your vote (if you haven't voted already). My critique buddy Chris has a poem in the running, too.

Have you noticed the new look here? I used the customize layout option that Blogger offers now and I think it turned out pretty good. It's not real different, but I was able to clean it up a bit and it was very easy to do. And I added a link to my Flickr photos, too, if you're interested.

I am ...

You Are An INFP

The Idealist You are creative with a great imagination, living in your own inner world. Open minded and accepting, you strive for harmony in your important relationships. It takes a long time for people to get to know you. You are hesitant to let people get close. But once you care for someone, you do everything you can to help them grow and develop. You would make an excellent writer, psychologist, or artist.

What's Your Personality Type?

CFBA Tour: Germ

This week's featured book is Germ, by Robert Liparulo (who is becoming one of my son Joel's favorite authors -- I should have had him write this entry!).

Once again Liparulo has come up with a story that is just close enough to reality to be unsettling. What's it about?

The list of 10,000 names was created for maximum devastation. Business leaders, housewives, politicians, celebrities, janitors, children. None of them is aware of what is about to happen--but all will be part of the most frightening brand of warfare the world has ever known.

The germ--an advanced form of the Ebola virus--has been genetically engineered to infect only those people whose DNA matches the codes embedded within it. Those whose DNA is not a match simply catch a cold. But those who are a match experience a far worse fate. Within days, their internal organs liquify.

Death is the only escape.

The release of the virus will usher in a new era of power where countries are left without defense. Where a single person--or millions--could be killed with perfect accuracy and zero collateral damage. Where your own DNA works against you.

The time isn't coming. It is now. Pray the assassins get you first.

In case you're wondering, Joel (age 16 and a voracious reader) says it's pretty good.

FIRST: Abiding Darkness

This month's featured book for the FIRST tour (Fiction in Rather Short Takes) is Abiding Darkness, by John Aubrey Anderson. I'm afraid my heeby-jeeby meter went way high when reading the cover copy for this spiritual warfare thriller, so I haven't read it yet, but it has received some good reviews from other readers. Here's how fellow FIRST reviewer Kevin Lucia describes the book:

Abiding Darkness, by John Aubrey Anderson, is a promising work of literary weight that’s a wonderful period piece steeped in nostalgia and good old fashioned, Southern living. Told in a style reminiscent of Flannery O’Conner and other Southern writers, Abiding Darkness takes the 40’s, 50’s, and 60’s and fleshes them out to real-life proportions, so much so you can smell the catfish roasting on the fire and hear the Temptations playing in the background. The characters are wonderful studies of simple, foundational living, and the narrative drawls in a uniquely Southern fashion, Anderson writing the character’s dialogue as only a Southern writer could.

The story follows the life of Missy Parker, a white girl who’s been deemed “special” by dark and holy powers alike. Through her young life and through adulthood, Missy is unwittingly the center of a demonic and holy tug of war, as unseen, dark forces wage war against her; first in an effort to sway her soul, and forever after in an effort to hurt her and the ones she loves. Twice these forces claim the lives of those close to her, as two people she cares for sacrifice themselves for her.

However, the dark forces that dog her every step are thwarted by the prayers of those close to her and Missy’s own determined spiritual development. Also, beyond her ken and of those around her, an angelic host stands guard, making sure that God’s special ones are not harmed by the Enemy’s hand. The novel ends as a demonic and angelic forces clash once again, and the storyline leaves us expecting continued repercussions of the Cat Lake ‘War of ‘45’.

So, here's the the beginning of Chapter 1 of Abiding Darkness (I'll send you to the FIRST blog for the rest of it):

Summers were mostly reliable.

The always followed spring. They always got hot. And they always promised twelve weeks of pleasure to the three children at Cat Lake.

The summer of ’45 lied.

^ ^ ^

The whole thing started right there by the Cat Lake bridge.

They were playing their own version of three-man baseball when Bobby knocked the ball onto the road near the end of the bridge. Junior was taller and faster, but Missy was ahead in the race to get it. Bobby and Junior were older, but Missy was tough enough to almost keep up, and the boys usually held back some so they didn’t outdo her too much.

Missy was still a few yards from the ball when it rolled to a stop near the only car in sight. A boy taller than Junior stepped from behind the far end of the car and picked up the ball; he was followed by two more boys—one younger than Missy and another almost as tall as a man.

Missy slid to a stop in the gravel and yelled, “Hurry! Throw it!” Junior jogged up behind the girl and waited.

A heavyset man in a rumpled suit was standing in the road by the driver’s door; he allowed himself a long look at the girl and whispered something to the boy with the ball.

The boy nodded at what the man said and backed toward the car. The tallest boy moved up to stand by the man.

The fat man eyed Junior, then looked up and down the deserted road before beckoning to Missy. “Why don’t you come closer, and he’ll let you have it?”

Missy ignored the man and advanced on the boy with the ball. “Give it.”

When she walked past the taller boy, he fell to his hands and knees behind her and the one with the ball shoved her over his back. When Missy hit the ground, all three boys laughed. The man grinned.


In the near distance, a foursome of well-armed witnesses—tall, bright, and invisible—stood at a portal between time and eternity and watched Bobby Parker leave home plate and sprint for the bridge.

One of the group said, It begins.

Junior Washington’s guardian answered for the remainder of the small assembly, And so it does.

The three guardians conferred quietly about the events taking place before them; the archangel watched the unfolding drama in silence. The quartet—guarded by the wisdom of the ages against restlessness—waited patiently for a precise instant in time that had been ordained before the earth was formed.

(For the rest, follow this link.)

Take the survey

If you'd like to offer feedback on the cover of a new novel from Bethany House, you can take this survey. Dave Long has also posted a link to an interview with author, Ann Tatlock, too.

Fantasy and reality

Here’s a little riddle: What do American Gods, A Prayer for Owen Meany, Lisey’s Story, and Relentless have in common? (Besides the fact that I really liked all of these books.) I might include Peace Like a River in the list, too. Each of these books tells a story in which an ordinary person realizes that the world is not quite what it seems. The people and places and times seem familiar, but the fantastic, the magical, the miraculous, are part of the world, too.
I’ve always liked stories in which an ordinary person is thrust into events larger than himself (think The Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings, or the Chronicles of Narnia). But the books I’ve named above seem to integrate the extraordinary into the fabric of everyday life in some way -- and they do it well.

Some books tell stories that are fairly predictable -- the stories adhere to certain conventions of genre and the reader knows what to expect. I’m not saying this is bad -- I’ve always loved mysteries and science fiction and a lot of novels in these genres are very well written. But when you open the latest Sue Grafton novel, you know what to expect in late 20th Century California. There will be twists and turns to the story, but they’ll be firmly rooted in what we understand as ‘the real world.’ When you read The Hobbit, you know you’re in Middle Earth. There are wizards and dwarves and dragons, and, of course, hobbits -- all of which are firmly rooted in Middle Earth, not 21st Century America.

By contrast, the world of American Gods certainly seems familiar, but it soon becomes clear that Mr. Wednesday is not who he seems to be. And the reader soon begins to suspect there is more to Shadow than meets the eye. In Lisey’s Story, it doesn’t take too long to realize that Scott Landon was not just a typical tortured novelist who died too young. The Los Angeles of Relentless seems to match what we know, but I don’t think any of us knows anyone quite like Grant Borrows. A Prayer for Owen Meany and Peace Like a River are a little different, and yet in both of these, the miraculous is almost an everyday occurrence.

When I wrote The Man Who Kept a Dragon in the Basement, I was toying with a similar approach (not as well as Neil Gaiman or Stephen King, of course): The world we know, with one little difference -- dragons are real and some people can see them. As I was writing it, I realized that the story was becoming about more than just a guy with a dragon in his basement. I probably knew this all along, but I'd never really thought about it in relation to my own writing -- fantasy offers a language for talking about realities that sometimes are hard to express any other way. Ursula LeGuin talks about this in her introduction to The Left Hand of Darkness (which I don't have handy so I can't quote it directly). But she says something to the effect that if what she had to say could be said any other way, she wouldn't have had to write that whole novel to say it.

I've been trying to find ways to write about faith and life that don't sound contrived and false. In a fairly short stretch of time I read American Gods and then finished A Prayer for Owen Meany. They're very different types of books, and yet they both talk about faith and how what we believe motivates our lives and our actions -- and they do it without sounding hokey. Both books use fantastic elements -- exaggeration, outsize characters, surreal situations. But both books completely sucked me in and those two different pictures of America became real to me. And both books gave me a lot to think about.

The novel I started and didn't get very far on in November is a fantasy. Right now it's too much characters in search of a plot, but maybe I'll be able to do something with it. I like the possibilities it presents.

Maybe I've got fiction and reality on the brain too much, but my February column for Notes from the Windowsill is on a similar theme: A Larger Reality.

'I won't back down'

I was walking back to my office from the gym today and bemoaning the miserable state of my physical fitness -- when I take a day off between walking, it's like I'm starting all over again. And that led to thoughts of the miserable state of my writing life. OK, maybe miserable is too strong, but I've been very undisciplined. If I'm ever going to make progress, I need to be writing every day, or at least more days than I am. And then one of my favorite songs came on -- "I Won't Back Down" by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. I tend to think of it as my theme song because it's about standing firm, sticking to what you know is right, no matter what. I'm such a wimp I need the encouragement. (Maybe it's an odd choice for a theme song, but I've always like Tom Petty's songs and they keep me moving.) So, even though my legs hurt and some days I can't get in a good walk, I'm going to keep at it. And somehow I'm going to carve out some writing time for myself.

Well I won't back down
No I won't back down
You can stand me up at the gates of hell
But I won't back down

No I'll stand my ground, won't be turned around
And I'll keep this world from draggin me down
gonna stand my ground
... and I won't back down

Chorus:
(I won't back down...)
Hey baby, there ain't no easy way out
(and I won't back down...)
hey I will stand my ground
and I won't back down
(I Won't Back Down, by Tom Petty)

Friday reads

I'm involved in women's ministry at the conference level (in my role as coordinator for the Kansas area women ministries in our denomination). The role of women in ministry and how it is discussed is interesting to me. So I found this article from Books and Culture to be especially interesting: A review and essay about Finally Feminist: A Pragmatic Christian Understanding of Gender by John G. Stackhouse, Jr. This sounds like a book I might want to read. And Susan Wise Bauer's essay and review is excellent, as well.

Mark Bertrand has penned a thought-provoking tale at the Master's Artist: The More Things Change: A Pernicious Parable, Depending on Whom You Ask.

I'm reading Stephen King's new novel, Lisey's Story -- stayed up way too late last night. The only other book by him that I've read is On Writing, which I recommend to everyone who likes his books or wants to write a book themselves. It's excellent. The thought occurs to me, though, that if a writer writes a book about writing, readers are going to look at that writer's books with a sharper eye, perhaps. Lisey's Story is a good story, and King writes pretty well from a women's viewpoint, but it seems a bit uneven. I'm not far enough along in the book, though, to know for sure if it's a function of the story or not. But I like the book.

It's CFBA blog tour time again and this week's featured book is If the Shoe Fits, by Marilynn Griffith. You can find out more at the CFBA blog or Marilynn's Web site.