Eragon: The Movie

Jill and I went out to see Eragon this afternoon and, I hate to admit it, I was disappointed in it. About a month ago, I sat down and read the book and really, really enjoyed it. There were a few times where I got a little stressed over Christopher Paolini's choices, but it was an entertaining book. The movie, sadly, does not live up to the book's potential.

For starters, we have the amount of compression that simply devastated large chunks of the plot. I realize that the book is pretty long, so some condensing had to occur. But some of the choices they made were simply mind-boggling. For example, having Saphira grow to a full fledged dragon in a big flash of light was nonsensical. I liked it better when she grew up gradually. Saphira picking her own name was just plain silly.

The compression also really killed Murtagh and Arya's characterization. I particularly liked the way that Murtagh developed in the book. In the movie, he's nothing more than a generic sidekick with an interesting tidbit of no real consequence in his past.

The same holds true for Arya. Did not like the way her character was portrayed at all.

Like I said, I understand that some compression is needed. But consider this: the running time for the movie was only an hour and forty minutes! They could have easily tacked another twenty onto the movie and drawn some of that stuff out. Given the fact that crowds have sat through lengthy films of great (Lord of the Rings) or dubious (King Kong) quality, this shows sheer laziness on the parts of the directors.

Although I suspect that in a few months, we'll all be encouraged to purchase the "longer cut" DVD with extra footage. I'd like to think that won't be a crass marketing ploy to bilk us out of more money, but I can be cynical like that at times.

The second thing that really, really, really bugged me, however, were a few continuity problems in the movie. For example, in one scene, Eragon goes riding on Saphira and Brom rides along on the ground below. In the opening shots of this sequence, Brom is riding on his horse with no other horses around. At the end of the sequence, though, he's holding the reigns of Eragon's horse. Did he have that horse in his pocket when the scene started?

And then there's this conundrum:


This is a scene right before the climactic final battle. Arya reveals the armor that the Varden have made for Saphira. Take a good look at that faceplate. Looks really cool, right?

Well, apparently some of the extended scenes that will be miraculously restored on the DVD will include one where Saphira refuses to wear the faceplate because it makes her butt look big or something, because in the next scene, when she comes out in her armor, she isn't wearing it. No explanation as to why. Personally, if I was a Varden blacksmith, I'd be more than offended if I had busted my hump to make dragon armor and then it wasn't used.

And as long as we have that picture, let me ask you this: where are Arya's points? The woman's supposed to be an elf, for crying out loud! The book says that her ears are pointy, the movie says she's an elf, so why are the tips of her ears round? I mean, how expensive are pointy ear prosthetics? They could have just gone down to a Star Trek convention and bought a case of Spock ears if they were in a pinch.

And don't get me started on the dwarfs. I realize that Peter Jackson may have spoiled me in the Lord of the Rings trilogy with his digital wizardry, but barring that, couldn't they have just hired really short actors? After Eragon made it to the Varden, I leaned over to Jill and whispered, "Those are dwarfs, by the way." She looked at me like I was crazy.

Needless to say, this whole experience has soured me a little on this movie franchise. I plan on reading Eldest sometime in the near future; but if I'm going to watch it, I'm going to wait to rent it.

The Godfather

No, not the movie (althought it's a great movie). No, not the book (I haven't read it). Instead, I'm speaking of Godfather: The Game. My brother loaned me it at Thanksgiving and I just recently finished it through as far as I'm going to go. More on that in a bit.

All in all, it was a fun game. It was kind of cool to create a mob persona and go on a rampage through the streets of 1940s New York in an attempt to gain control of the city for the Corleone family. Granted, there was violence and language issues, but really, what else would you expect from a game based on The Godfather?

Another fun detail was the fact that your story was interwoven with the story of the movie itself. It's not just witnessing certain events (although there's plenty of that, such as Don Corleone getting shot in the streets or Sonny meeting his untimely demise at the toll booth). You also get to participate in some of the scenes from the movie, such as planting the gun that Michael uses in the restaurant and the baptism massacre from the end of the movie.

It was a little obvious that the game was attempting to be a mid-century version of Grand Theft Auto 3, but it worked pretty well. Games seem to be heading in a very non-linear direction lately, allowing the player to do pretty much whatever he or she wants in the order they want. It was nice to get a mission and know that I didn't have to do it right then, that I could go extort a few businesses or rob a bank if I was pressed for time.

But I do have a few gripes about the game. Two, specifically.

You'll notice that I said I finished it as far as I wanted to. Here's the reason why: the ridiculous requirements to truly finish the game. As near as I can tell, the requirements are as follows:

1. Extort all businesses
2. Seize control of the warehouses and hubs of your competitors
3. Wipe out your rivals among the Five Families
4. Finish all missions
5. Complete all hit contracts
6. Buy all the safe houses in the game
7. Achieve every execution style in the game

Of those seven, I've done the first five. I could probably finish #6 as well. But it's #7 that annoys me. See, there are about two dozen "special" ways to kill a person. The game keeps a list of them all and lets you know when you achieve one (such as shooting a person in the head, killing them by punching them only, that sort of thing. Yes, the game is violent. I said that already). I figured this list was just window dressing; you know, interesting information for bragging rights.

Why did I think this? Because nowhere in the game or the manual does it say that you have to get every execution style to win! It doesn't even explain how to achieve every execution style.

So here I am, thinking that I've almost finished the game. I've extorted all the businesses, I've stolen all of my rival's warehouses and blown up their compounds, finishing their families. I've finished all the missions and made all the hits. And then the game told me about the execution styles.

With all my enemies dead and no more hits to make, what am I supposed to do? Go out and kill random civilians in random ways, hoping that I'll hit upon one of the needed execution styles? No thank you.

And here's my second gripe: this game was obviously developed for consoles like the XBox and Playstation before it became a computer game.

There are telltale signs. For example, the only way to save your game is to go to a safehouse. Some of the moves you're required to perform seem very clunky with a mouse and a keyboard and I suspect were designed to be done with a gamepad (throwing people comes to mind).

But the most annoying give-away is the aiming function. In the game, if you hit the right mouse button, your aiming reticle will lock on to the nearest target. Or at least, what the game thinks is the nearest target. There were several times when I would die in a shoot out because the game kept snapping my targeting reticle to an opponent who wasn't a threat, even though the reticle was closer to my threat. There were even a few times when it would lock onto a civilian and refuse to go anywhere else.

It's no secret that bad console-ports are a PC gamers' bane. And I think I know the reason why this annoys me so much: it reveals how lazy game developers can be.

Think about it this way: if you're taking a game that was originally and only made for a PC to a console, you have to severely rework the controls. The reason why is obvious: a game designed to work with a keyboard and a mouse won't work well with just a gamepad anymore. You have redesign the way it works or else it won't work.

Sadly, the same isn't true when it comes to the reverse situation. Instead of the half-dozen or so buttons, analog stick, and directional controls of a gamepad, you suddenly have close to a hundred keys and a mouse to work with. I think developers just get lazy, do very little PC fine-tuning, and call it good enough.

Unfortunately, I don't see how things will change. I doubt that any game developers will be dropping into my blog anytime soon. If they do, take note, guys, and please do something to change this.

But otherwise, I'm moving on from the Godfather to The Battle For Middle-Earth II. At least this one is for PC only. For now.

CSFF Blog Tour: "Trackers" - Day Three

It's our final day on Trackers, a truly excellent book. If you haven't gone out and obtained a copy of it, what are you waiting for? Heck, just click on the link back there and order one from Amazon. I won't be offended. Just make sure you hit the "back" button when you're done and come visit me again.

Anyway, enough silliness. What I thought I would mention today was the excellent website that Kathryn Mackel has put together for The Birthright Project. It's pretty simple, but it has enough bells and whistles on it to really be fun.

What I found interested was the "What Kind of Hero Are You?" quiz. This on-line test asks you a number of questions about your personality and then tells you how you would fit into the Birthright Project. Yesterday it told me that I would be a good Tracker. I'm not exactly sure why it thought so; truth be told, I'd probably make a better Builder.

I also found it interesting that Mackel is offering a "Create a Mog" contest. So much of her books deal with genetically altered animals (or "mogs") that are used as weapons and fortifications (the Wall of Traxx still fascinates me), so she's offering readers a chance to design a mog for the third book in the series. I have an idea for one that I may just submit. Whether I win or not, I'll be looking forward to Scouts, but I'm a little worried given what Shannon McNear wrote today. I hope the rumors aren't true and/or that WestBow changes their mind.

Anyway, go poke around in other people's blogs for a while and see what else they have to say:

Jim Black
Jackie Castle
Valerie Comer
Frank Creed
Gene Curtis
Chris Deanne
Janey DeMeo
April Erwin
Beth Goddard
Todd Michael Greene
Karen Hancock
Elliot Hanowski
Katie Hart
Sherrie Hibbs
Sharon Hinck
Joleen Howell
Jason Joyner
Karen and at Karen¹s myspace
Oliver King
Tina Kulesa
Lost Genre Guild
Kevin Lucia and The Bookshelf Reviews 2.0 - The Compendium
Terri Main
Rachel Marks
Shannon McNear
Rebecca LuElla Miller
Caleb Newell
Eve Nielsen
John Otte
Cheryl Russel
Hannah Sandvig
Mirtika Schultz
James Somers
Stuart Stockton
Steve Trower
Speculative Faith
Chris Walley
Daniel I. Weaver
Mark Goodyear

And one last personal note: according to Blogger, this is my 100th post on this blog. Wow. I thought I had only written half that. But then, I can be a wordy little bugger when I don't intend to be.... Oh well.

CSFF Blog Tour: "Trackers" Day Two

So today is the second day of the blog tour for Trackers.

I had originally thought that I would post a review for Outriders, the first book of the Birthright Project series. I nixed that idea because it's been a while since I read it and as quick as I can read books, there's no way I could read it in one evening (and besides, I was almost done with Ender's Game and I didn't want to stop reading that).

Instead, I thought I would touch on something I wrote about the series yesterday. I mentioned that I had a hard time getting into Outriders because of how different the plot was. The more I thought about it, the more I realized that that really is the strength of the Birthright Project series. It's great because it's different!

Let's face it, if you go to a Christian bookstore (or to the Christian section of your local Barnes & Noble, which is what I usually do), the vast majority of the fiction books you'll see can fall into one of four categories: cleaned up romance, mystery/thrillers (including the political thrillers), the historical novels, and the apocalyptic visions of the future. I think this has been discussed before and elsewhere, but the reason there are so many of those four categories is because they're safe. They're predictable.

But to me, they're boring! I'm not big on romances (see my previous posts about the free romance novels I got from the ACFW conference if you doubt me). Mystery/thrillers are okay but not exactly my cup of tea. Historical novels can be fun if the person writing them knows their stuff (ala Paul Maier). And apocalyptic books just annoy me because the vast majority of them are written from a dispensational premillennial slant and I'm a pretty staunch amillennialist.

Anyway, back to my point. Mackel's genius is that her story is so different. It's unlike anything I've read before, which makes it exciting. It's truly speculative, because it's not a "what if a prairie school marm fell in love with a rough-and-tumble ranch hand with a gruff exterior but a secret heart of gold", but a "what if this incredible event happened in the future? What would it look like?"

Actually, as I had these thoughts, I was put in mind of something that E. Stephen Burnett wrote over at Speculative Faith. He's been doing a great series called "The Nine Marks of Widescreen Stories." His fifth installment touches on this subject and he does a far better job of exploring it than I've done here.

So my hope and prayer is that more stories like this come out where we are able to explore fantastic worlds that have never been seen before.

Go check out what other participants are saying. And if you haven't read these books yet, head over to Mirtika or Shannon McNear's blogs. They're giving away free copies of the books.

Here's the list of the other participants:

Jim Black
Jackie Castle
Valerie Comer
Frank Creed
Gene Curtis
Chris Deanne
Janey DeMeo
April Erwin
Beth Goddard
Todd Michael Greene
Karen Hancock
Elliot Hanowski
Katie Hart
Sherrie Hibbs
Sharon Hinck
Joleen Howell
Jason Joyner
Karen and at Karen¹s myspace
Oliver King
Tina Kulesa
Lost Genre Guild
Kevin Lucia and The Bookshelf Reviews 2.0 - The Compendium
Terri Main
Rachel Marks
Shannon McNear
Rebecca LuElla Miller
Caleb Newell
Eve Nielsen
John Otte
Cheryl Russel
Hannah Sandvig
Mirtika Schultz
James Somers
Stuart Stockton
Steve Trower
Speculative Faith
Chris Walley
Daniel I. Weaver
Mark Goodyear

Some Good News For Me

I didn't want to post about this here just yet, but now it would appear to be official, so I'll go ahead...

I have sold my first short story!

It's a fantasy tale called "The Jewel of Creation". I was able to sell it to Leading Edge and it will appear in the April 2007 issue. I'm currently awaiting galleys for the story and I even had to answer some questions for an artist that will be drawing some sort of picture to go with the story.

It's a good first step for me, I think. And, as my friend Mir pointed out, any magazine that publishes Orson Scott Card is all right by me.

CSFF Blog Tour: "Trackers" - Day One

So here we are again! It's another month, time for an all new blog tour! This month's tour revolves around the latest book by Kathryn Mackel, Trackers. This is part of The Birthright Project, a really interesting sci-fi series that has thankfully seen print!

Trackers is actually the second book of the series. The first, Outriders, came out a little while ago. I read it before I started reviewing books on my blog, so don't bother going to look for my review (maybe I'll do that tomorrow).

At any rate, I loved reading Trackers. I think I actually enjoyed it more than the first book. The reason for that, simply put, is because Mackel is working with a pretty interesting concept. Her books are basically set in a distant future where humankind has basically really screwed things up badly. The Endless Wars have basically decimated human culture and, as a result, humans have reverted to a more medieval lifestyle. Genetic engineering has become magic as warlords view for control of territory.

But there's a small, intrepid band of young Christians known as the Birthrighters who are struggling to preserve as much of God's creation as possible. It seems that before the Endless Wars spun too far out of control, God instructed His followers to build a second Ark, a high-tech hide-away that's hidden deep under the arctic ice. There the last remnant of Christianity hid for generations before God commanded them to send people up to the surface to gather as much unaltered life as possible and spread the Gospel once again.

It's a unique concept and, I'll admit, I had trouble wrapping my brain around some of it at first (for some reason, my disbelief was refusing to be suspended when Mackel explained in the first book that the Birthrighters could communicate with animals). This time around, though, my disbelief was willingly suspended and I really enjoyed the ride that Mackel took me on.

This is a great, innovative series. I was able to polish off Trackers in a day or two (but then, I'm a voracious reader). If you're looking for a good read, especially a great blend of sci-fi and fantasy, you can't go wrong with the books of The Birthright Project.

But don't just take my word for it. Check out what other people are saying about this book:

Jim Black
Jackie Castle
Valerie Comer
Frank Creed
Gene Curtis
Chris Deanne
Janey DeMeo
April Erwin
Beth Goddard
Todd Michael Greene
Karen Hancock
Elliot Hanowski
Katie Hart
Sherrie Hibbs
Sharon Hinck
Joleen Howell
Jason Joyner
Karen and at Karen¹s myspace
Oliver King
Tina Kulesa
Lost Genre Guild
Kevin Lucia and The Bookshelf Reviews 2.0 - The Compendium
Terri Main
Rachel Marks
Shannon McNear
Rebecca LuElla Miller
Caleb Newell
Eve Nielsen
John Otte
Cheryl Russel
Hannah Sandvig
Mirtika Schultz
James Somers
Stuart Stockton
Steve Trower
Speculative Faith
Chris Walley
Daniel I. Weaver
Mark Goodyear

Casino Royale

As part of my family's Thanksgiving celebration, we went out to see Casino Royale.

I'll admit, I wasn't sure what to expect. I know that the casting of Daniel Craig caused quite a hullaballoo (a blond-haired, blue-eyed Bond? Sacrilege, apparently) and I had heard some good buzz about it before we went.

I have to say, this may be my favorite Bond movie. Now granted, I've only seen the Pierce Brosnan movies, so my experience with Bond is a bit limited, but even still, I found this movie superior to any of the recent ones.

Why? I thought that Craig's portrayal of Bond was a bit more realistic. He was merciless when he had to be and completely shut down emotionally, yet was still able to act human and display a sharp wit when the situation demanded it. This James Bond is more human than the last versions.

Not only that, but I appreciated the retooling of the Bond genre. By "retooling", I mean blasting down to bedrock and starting from the ground up. Gone are the over-the-top gadgets. Gone (thankfully) are the stupid, punny names for the Bond girls (that convention outlasted its welcome with Dr. Christmas Jones and the awful way Bond used her name in a pun. I can't remember how it went exactly, and I'm thankful for that little bit of amnesia). Gone are the insane supervillains trying to take over, if not the whole world, then a significant chunk of it.

Instead, we have a Bond grounded in reality. Like I said, the plot didn't involve stopping some convoluted plan to seize control of the world (which would then be evicerated in certain parodies). Instead, it seemed like a perfectly reasonable problem and, while playing Texas Hold 'Em seems like an odd way to solve it, it made sense.

I suppose when you come right down to it, there are times when franchises need to be restarted, so to speak. They need to be stripped of their out-dated conventions and revamped for the modern age. I know that Marvel and DC comics do that all the time with their heroes; it makes sense to do so with other cultural icons as well.

The trick, I think, is to make sure people understand it's a break from the old and an establishment of the new. If this had been a new entry into the existing Bond canon, it wouldn't have made sense. But if this is a complete rebooting of Bond, then it worked perfectly well. You just have to make sure you're doing a rebooting and not a prequel, or else any changes you make to the canon will be very, very bad.

Case in point.

Fragile Things

Early, early this morning I finished reading Fragile Things by Neil Gaiman. It's another collection of Gaiman's short stories and poetry and, as always, it left me feeling a little jealous. This man has undeniable talent when it comes to writing. It's little wonder that he continues to hop onto the bestseller lists; if anyone deserves to be there, it's Gaiman.

That isn't to say that everything Gaiman did was perfect. His take on the Chronicles of Narnia, The Problem of Susan, ticked me off to no end. I saw the ending coming in How to Talk to Girls at Parties. There were a few stories and poems that left me scratching my head.

But by and large, Gaiman is a mster of his craft. I loved A Study in Emerald. Forbidden Brides of the Faceless Slaves in the Secret House of the Night of Dread Desire, while a finger-twisting title, really made me laugh out loud. Seeing as I majored in theatre in college and for a senior year project directed a play based in commedia dell'arte, I felt right at home reading Harlequin Valentine. And The Monarch of the Glen was a worth addition to the American Gods canon.

But the biggest surprise was, by far, Goliath.

If you've read Gaiman's collections of short stories, you know that he always has notes about the stories in his introduction. He explains his inspiration, that sort of thing. After reading Smoke and Mirrors, I decided that in the future, I would avoid reading those notes until after I've read the story. There were a few cases where the notes ruined the ending for me and I wanted to avoid that this time around.

Anyway, I read Goliath with a certain amount of frustration. It was clear that Gaiman was ripping off a very popular movie (or so I thought) and I wondered how he could have done such a thing. Then I went back and read the notes and realized that he didn't actually rip off said movie; instead, he was asked to write a short story for said movie's website.

That's all I'm going to say. Read the short story yourself to see which one it is. You'll figure it out within the first page or so.

Anyway, good read, as always when it comes to Gaiman. I may not always appreciate his philosophy (and definitely not his theology), but he always gives me something to think about and shows me how woefully inadequate my own writing is.

Musings on NaNoWriMo

So earlier this morning, I crossed the 40,000 word mark on my NaNoWriMo novel. That felt pretty good, so I thought I'd stop and share some thoughts about this whole experience.

I'm not sure if I'll ever be able to sell this book or not. It's a convoluted mess right now. I've already mentally highlighted half a dozen places I'll need to go back and shore up. Or I may just have to put the perfect finishing touch to this story when I'm done. Namely a match.

At the same time, though, I've learned some things about myself and my writing:

1) I needed the structure and the deadline. I've been very lacksadaisical about my writing for the past year. I'd type in a few words every now and then if I felt like it and usually, I found myself playing World of Warcraft or some other computer game rather than writing. But now, thanks to NaNoWriMo, I've been forcing myself to get up earlier and start the day by writing at least 1,500 words. It's a good discipline that I'm hoping to carry past just this one month.

2) I really, really, really need help on crafting good characters. One of the critiques that I got regarding The Leader's Song was that I needed stronger characters. Writing this novel has made me realize how true that is. I bought a book recently that hopefully will help, but if anyone has any ideas on how a plot-oriented writer like me can learn how to make fresh and vivid characters, please let me know!

You know, I know I learned more than that. Huh. Oh well. At any rate, even with taking two (maybe three) days off for Thanksgiving, I should be able to hit the finish line by the end of the month. I don't think the book will be done yet, but at least I've benefited from this experience.

Happy Feet

Last night Jill and I went to see the CGI movie "Happy Feet" and, I have to say, I was impressed ... sort of.

To be honest, the only reason I wanted to go was to see the rapping baby penguin from the commercials. I knew that bit would take all of half a second (and I was right), but I was pleasantly surprised.

For starters, we have the music. I can't imagine how much the producers must have spent to get the various licenses for all of that music. It was woven through the plot pretty well and often had Jill and I doubled over with laughter, simply because we couldn't believe what they came up with next. Just to give you an idea: in the first minute or so of the film, you'll hear a penguin imitating Marilyn Monroe singing Prince's "Kiss". Not what I expected in a kid's movie at all, but it made me sit up and take notice.

The vocal talent was top notch. Very well done. If I didn't know that it was Hugh Jackman playing Memphis, I would have never guessed. And Robin Williams did a pretty good job as Ramon (although I question the intelligence of the writers making the shorter penguins all Latino stereotypes).

The only problem I had with the movie was the rather bizarre plot. If you've read anything about the movie, you know that the plot basically boils down to this: most penguins sing to find their mates, but one penguin named Mumbles is unable to sing. Instead, Mumbles can dance, but that's discouraged as being "unpenguin". So on the surface, the plot is typical children's movie: be yourself in spite of what others say, yada yada yada.

But then there's a rather odd subplot (or main plot, I really couldn't tell) tacked on about aliens. Yes, you read that right. Aliens. It was pretty funny when it was introduced but as this plot becomes more and more important, things just become stranger and stranger. The last twenty minutes of the movie just didn't feel right to me. It had a deus ex machina feel to it.

I think the problem is that the writers wanted the audiences to think about a serious issue at a children's movie and so they tacked on the serious message at the end of the plot and then bludgeoned us over the head with it repeatedly. It kind of detracted a little.

But overall, not a bad movie and if you're planning on going, I wouldn't stop. Just be ready to stare disbelieving at the screen because of the music.

CSFF Blog Tour: R. K. Mortenson's Landon Snow and the Island of Arcanum - Day Three

Okay, so today I'm going to need to offer a cop-out. As much as I wanted to do this up right, sadly, this month's tour is something of a flop for me. I suggest that instead of hanging out here, go check out what the others have written about Landon Snow and the Island of Arcanum. Perhaps next month, I can do a better job.

Jim Black
Jackie Castle
Valerie Comer
Frank Creed
Gene Curtis
Chris Deanne
April Erwin
Kameron M. Franklin
Beth Goddard
Todd Michael Greene
Leathel Grody
Karen Hancock
Katie Hart
Sherrie Hibbs
Sharon Hinck
Joleen Howell
Jason Joyner
Karen and at Karen¹s myspace
Oliver King
Tina Kulesa
Lost Genre Guild
Kevin Lucia
Rachel Marks
Shannon McNear
Rebecca LuElla Miller
Caleb Newell
John Otte
Cheryl Russel
Hannah Sandvig
Mirtika Schultz
Stuart Stockton
Steve Trower
Speculative Faith
Chris Walley
Daniel I. Weaver

CSFF Blog Tour: R. K. Mortenson's Landon Snow and the Island of Arcanum

Good grief, is it blog tour time again already? The days just sneak past you, y'know?

This month's tour is centered around R. K. Mortenson's Landon Snow and the Island of Arcanum. Sadly, I have not read this book and I doubt I could locate a copy of it before the end of the tour on Wednesday. So I'll offer this as a cop-out. Ain't this a nice cover?

Okay, so that's a lousy cop-out. Be sure to visit the other participants. I'm sure they'll have done their homework.

Jim Black
Jackie Castle
Valerie Comer
Frank Creed
Gene Curtis
Chris Deanne
April Erwin
Kameron M. Franklin
Beth Goddard
Todd Michael Greene
Leathel Grody
Karen Hancock
Katie Hart
Sherrie Hibbs
Sharon Hinck
Joleen Howell
Jason Joyner
Karen and at Karen¹s myspace
Oliver King
Tina Kulesa
Lost Genre Guild
Kevin Lucia
Rachel Marks
Shannon McNear
Rebecca LuElla Miller
Caleb Newell
John Otte
Cheryl Russel
Hannah Sandvig
Mirtika Schultz
Stuart Stockton
Steve Trower
Speculative Faith
Chris Walley
Daniel I. Weaver

Fallen from Babel

This is sort of momentous for me. This review marks the last book that I brought back from Dallas and the ACFW Conference. 'Course, that doesn't mean that I won't be reviewing books anymore. I have since spent a bit of money to create a whole new stack of books to read. And my lovely wife brought home Neil Gaiman's latest collection of short stories because she heard me mention once that I like his writing. I have a good wife.

Anyway, all that aside, earlier this afternoon I finished reading T. L. Higley's Fallen from Babel. In this gripping story of time travel, Professor Peter Thornton finds himself transported from 21st Century Boston to ancient Babylon during the time of the Jewish exile. He finds himself inhabiting the body of a priest named Rim-Sin and finds himself interacting with Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.

Higley does a marvelous job bringing ancient Babylon to life. There were many times where I was tempted to stop reading and do some digging into Babylonian culture myself, not because I wanted to check facts, but because it piqued my interest.

Higley also constructed her story that it kept me reading and kept me surprised. I was never sure exactly what was going to happen and there was one point where I definitely did not see a twist coming. It felt really, really good to be utterly surprised.

My one minor complaint is something that sometimes pops up in Christian fiction, and that's what I would call the "leap of spiritual maturity" problem. To put it as vaguely as I can without giving anything away, sometimes in Christian fiction, new converts are somehow given an extraordinary amount of spiritual maturity right out of the box, which often strikes me as a little untrue. This happens at the end of this book; I'll let you see if you can figure out what I'm talking about.

But this is still a fantastic book and I'm looking forward to reading more.

CSFF October Blog Tour -- Day Three of DKA

And so we come the end of the October Blog tour.

Once again, I went to Dragons, Knights, and Angels Magazine and read one of their current short stories. This time I chose Dragon...Knight...Angel by Genevieve Cunningham. It's listed as a student entry, which is something that I think is fantasitc. I've noticed when heading over to DKA in the past that they have student entries. It's wonderful that younger writers are being given the chance to shine.

On to the story itself. It was a great concept of a broken down knight going out to battle a dragon. But why is the dragon even there? I think Genevieve put together a great story and should be proud of herself.

Two bits of criticism, though. In some cases, I thought things got a little wordy. Those of you who have seen my unpolished writing will know that this is a case of the pot calling the kettle black. If it can be said in five words, I tend to say it in twenty (or more). Maybe that's why I noticed it.

The other critique I have is that the story wrapped up a little too quickly. There was a bit of a deus ex machina at the end where everything was explained to a bewildered Reycott. If Reycott had made part of the cognitive journey himself (specifically, if he had tried to fight the dragon but found that he couldn't beat it), the sewing up of loose ends would have sat better with me.

But hey, it's easy to arm-chair quarterback, and I know that. Again, Genevieve Cunningham is another name I'm going to be watching out for.

Make sure you visit the rest of the blog tour participants:

Jim Black
Jackie Castle
Valerie Comer
Frank Creed
Christina Deanne
Beth Goddard
Rebecca Grabill
Todd Michael Greene
Leathel Grody
Karen Hancock
Elliot Hanowski
Katie Hart
Sherrie Hibbs
Sharon Hinck
Joleen Howell
John Otte
Jason Joyner
Oliver King
Tina Kulesa
Kevin Lucia
Rachel Marks
Shannon McNear
Rebecca LuElla Miller
Cheryl Russell
Mirtika Schultz
James Somers
Stuart Stockton
Steve Trower
Chris Walley
Lost Genre Guild
Speculative Faith

CSFF October Blog Tour -- Day Two of DKA

Once again, I went to Dragons, Knights, and Angels and read one of the short stories in their current issue. This time, I chose Plaque by ct matthews.

The reason I chose this one stems back to the ACFW conference. At the conference, John Olson told us the story of how one of his first manuscripts he tried to sell was a Christian vampire story. Needless to say, I was a bit curious as to how to even produce a Christian vampire story.

Well, that's exactly what CT Matthews has written and, for the most part, does a pretty good job. There's not a lot of action to the story, but at five pages long, that's to be expected. He also came up with an interesitng twist to how Christians and vampires would interact. I especially appreciated the communion hymn at the end of the story. Very nice touch.

That being said, there were three things that bothered me about this story.

The first is the title. I think Mr. Matthews intended to title his story "Plague", not "Plaque". It's a minor thing but still...

The second two things had more to do with history and theology. The first is the statement that Cain was Jewish.

That may seem like an odd thing to quibble about, but it's actually one of my pet peeves. It's historically inaccurate to refer to someone as Jewish if they died before approximately 587 BC. That's because, historically, nobody was called a Jew until after the people of Judah returned from the Babylonian Exile. Then they're called Jews. Before that point, they were called Israelites, children of Israel, or Hebrews.

It's not even right, really, to refer to Cain as a member of the Chosen People either, since the whole "Chosen People" business didn't get started until Abraham, who lived many centuries (maybe even millennia) after Cain died.

To put it in modern terms, you wouldn't refer to the ancient Maya in Mel Gibson's upcoming movie as "Mexicans", even though they lived and died before Mexico was even formed as a country. It's just sloppy, historically speaking.

The second thing that threw me off was the statement that Jewish people couldn't be turned into vampires yet converts to Judaism could. That just doesn't seem right to me.

Anyway, perhaps the reason why I'm being so picky is because, ultimately, I enjoyed this story and I hope to see more from Mr. Matthews. This guy's got potential.

Once again, don't forget to visit the other members of the Blog Tour:


Jim Black
Jackie Castle
Valerie Comer
Frank Creed
Christina Deanne
Beth Goddard
Rebecca Grabill
Todd Michael Greene
Leathel Grody
Karen Hancock
Elliot Hanowski
Katie Hart
Sherrie Hibbs
Sharon Hinck
Joleen Howell
John Otte
Jason Joyner
Oliver King
Tina Kulesa
Kevin Lucia
Rachel Marks
Shannon McNear
Rebecca LuElla Miller
Cheryl Russell
Mirtika Schultz
James Somers
Stuart Stockton
Steve Trower
Chris Walley
Lost Genre Guild
Speculative Faith

See you tomorrow for the last day of the tour!

Double Vision

I just now got done reading Double Vision by Randall Ingermanson. For those of you unfamiliar with Mr. Ingermanson, he's written a few novels in the past. He also puts out a monthly e-zine and has a ton of info on the craft of writing. I took his intermediate writing course at the ACFW conference (and missed most of it due to editor and agent appointments).

After reading Double Vision, I've come to the conclusion that every aspiring writer should spend a little time at the feet of Randall Ingermanson.

This is an extremely well written book. It's the story of a man named Dillon Richards, a brilliant computer programmer with Asperger's syndrome. Dillon has been put to work with a young woman named Rachel Meyers, a genius biophysicist who has invented a quantum computer, a device that, once it's working, would be able to either break every conventional encryption program or create an unbreakable code. The problem is, someone wants the quantum computer and are willing to do just about anything to get it.

As if that wasn't bad enough, Dillon finds himself torn between Rachel and another woman, named Keryn Wills. Keryn and Rachel couldn't be more different from one another and both have designs on Dillon's heart.

I don't want to say much more than that for fear that I'll start dropping spoilers.

But like I said, this was an extremely well written novel. I especially appreciated the different voices that came out with each character. Especially Dillon. Mr. Ingermanson did a marvelous job of creating a unique voice for Dillon, one that gave me a peek into his world.

Go get this book! Now! Follow the link above and you won't regret it.

CSFF October Blog Tour -- Dragons, Knights, and Angels

I got in on this a little late last month, but I'm ready and rarin' to go this month. Sort of. Be gentle, I've never done a full tour before.

This month's victim ... er, target is Dragons, Knights, and Angels Magazine. This is an on-line magazine dedicated to Christian Science Fiction and Fantasy. Truth be told, I have a short story brewing that will likely wind up in their submission box sooner or later (that is, if I ever get my posterier in gear and finish it).

One of the stories that caught my attention in this month's issue was An Epitaph for Shangri La. It was an interesting read about a group of space explorers who find a seemingly idyllic paradise only with no inhabitants. The mystery of what happened to the people of Shangri La is slowly revealed through the story as the people from Earth try to piece it all together.

I'll be honest, I'm not sure if I liked this entirely. It was a thinly veiled critique of modern society. It raised valid points, but a little more subtlety could have made it a truly excellent, kick-you-in-the-gut story.

Anyway, I'll be posting links and thoughts about other stories in the current issue over the next couple of days. Be sure to check out the other sites in the tour:

Jim Black
John J. Boyer
Jackie Castle
Valerie Comer
Frank Creed
Bryan Davis
Christina Deanne
April Erwin
Beth Goddard
Rebecca Grabill
Todd Michael Greene
Leathel Grody
Karen Hancock
Elliot Hanowski
Katie Hart
Sherrie Hibbs
Sharon Hinck
Joleen Howell
John Otte
Jason Joyner
Oliver King
Tina Kulesa
Kevin Lucia
Rachel Marks
Shannon McNear
Rebecca LuElla Miller
Cheryl Russell
Mirtika Schultz
Stuart Stockton
Steve Trower
Chris Walley
Lost Genre Guild
Speculative Faith

Adrenaline

Earlier today, I finished reading Adrenaline by John Olson. This is one of the books I picked up at the ACFW conference, so you know it's a Christian book.

It's the story of a biochemistry student named James Parker. Parker is researching possible cures for muscular dystrophy, a disease that has him confined to a wheelchair and is threatening to kill his sister. He believes he's found a cure in an adrenaline-based drug, but his life becomes complicated when he rescues a young woman named Darcy from a group of drug addicts.

Parker and Darcy are soon plunged into a life-threatening adventure as they try to learn if the drug really works. The problem is, mysteries keep cropping up, more than I can really explain here.

I'll be honest, I'm not exactly sure what I think of this book. It was exciting and well written, but I think the plots were so densely layered that I got a little lost every now and then. Olson piles on the mysteries and conundrums, almost to the point where the plot gets bogged down in places.

It was a good read that got my attention for two reasons:

1) It wasn't what you would call an explicitly Christian book. While Parker and his family are Christians, there isn't a lot preaching in this book. They were quietly Christian. Moreover, Olson never beats anyone over the head with the faith stick. That's not a bad thing; it was a pleasant change after reading a few books where the faith stick was overused. There's really nothing wrong with writing a story where Christianity is more of an underlying, subtle factor, not an overt, end-all and be-all of the story.

2) It was definitely a sci-fi book. You can label it "mystery/suspense", but it's still sci-fi. Adrenaline 355 (or "Mighty Mouse", as it comes to be called) is something straight out of sci-fi. Read the book and you'll see what I mean.

The Wedding Caper

The Wedding Caper by Janice A. Thompson is the last complimentary copy book I received at the ACFW conference and I just finished reading it this morning.

The title lists it as a cozy mystery, and it certainly is that. But I also get the feeling it could be classified as some sort of "chick-lit". Granted, I'm not entirely familiar with the chick-lit genre, so I could be waaaay off, but there you go.

Annie Peterson finds herself thrust into a mystery: where did her husband get $25,000 to pay for her twin daughters' weddings? Is it possible that he's responsible for the burglary at the Clark County Savings and Loan? Annie, using insight she gains from an on-line sleuthing course, tries to unravel the mystery while at the same time dealing with two weddings, a hyperactive dachsund, and a husband who she's not sure she can trust anymore.

Thompson is a talented writer. The characters were fresh and memorable and she displays a great deal of wit throughout the story. That being said, I didn't enjoy it that much. That's not a knock on Thompson; it's just a genre-related thing. I'm a fantasy and sci-fi type of guy; a cozy mystery with strong chick-lit overtones just doesn't do anything for me.

The only other thing that bothered me is that Thompson loads up the story with Christian themes and elements. It was almost too much for me. This especially was the case with the numerous deus ex machina moments throughout the story. Things came together a little too easily at times and it didn't really ring true for me.

But hey, that's just my opinion. For someone who loves cozies, this book would probably be wonderful. It's just not my cup of tea.

I NaNoWriMo. Do You?

I've heard about it, but I never thought I'd do it myself. But hey, I've been sort of in a slump for writing new material, so I figured a high-velocity motivation and a good firm deadline might be a good thing for me.

So I signed up to do NaNoWriMo, or National Novel Writing Month. For the month of November, my goal will be to bang out a first draft of a new 50,000 word novel before midnight of November 30th.

Will I make it? I have no earthly idea. But it should be a fine try.

But the question I have for all of you .... do you have the guts to join me?

The Shoes Have Dropped

I have heard back from both Andy Meisenheimer and Steve Laube and, as I kind of expected, I have been turned down by each.

On the up side, they weren't mean or nasty (not that I expected them to be). They also had some helpful comments. Mr. Laube suggested that I work on characterization. This has always been weakness for me. I'm more of a plot-oriented writer.

Mr. Meisenheimer commented on the structure of the story, so I'm thinking that some kind of rewrite is definitely in the cards. Now I just have to decide how to do that. The way I see it, I have two options:

Option #1 - Divide the two stories (modern and ancient) into their own separate books - We've talked about this before, so I won't go over it again.

Option #2 - Intertwine the two plots in a sort of every-other chapter format. If I were to go with this option, after a chapter of the modern story, we would shift into the ancient story, and then back to the modern, and then back to the ancient. This would blend the two together. I would have to craft things in such a way that there were parallels between what's happening in the present and what's happening in the past and I kind of have an idea of how I can pull it off. I've even seen it done well in Spock's World where Diane Duane intersperses a story of Captain Kirk trying to prevent Vulcan from seceding from the Federation with tales of Vulcan's history.

While this could be an intriguing way to do things, I can already see two problems brewing:

For starters, this would require an even more massive rewrite of the modern storyline, more so than if I just divided the ancient and modern stories into their own separate books. We're talking a complete revamp of the characters, the backstories, everything. I'm not saying that it can't be done. I'm not saying I wouldn't do it. I'm just saying that I'm not sure how it would turn out.

Second, and more importantly, maintaining the momentum of the ancient and modern storylines would be even more difficult (as Mir pointed out in her comments). Right now, the modern storyline comes to a screeching halt when the ancient storyline takes over. That's not good. At the same time, though, if I were to interweave the two together, the modern storyline and the ancient storyline would both come to "rolling stops" at the end of each chapter. Instead of one massive "slam on the brakes" moment, we'd have lots of little stops.

As Mir also pointed out, the temptation then would be for the reader to just stick with one storyline and skip the chapters from the other. For example, in Spock's World, when I re-read it, I tend to skip over the chapters about Vulcan's history and just read the story with Kirk and McCoy and Spock and so on. I may go back and read my favorite parts of the history, but by and large I just ignore it.

To craft a story like this would take incredible skill, something I'm pretty sure I don't have. I suppose I could try it and see how it goes, but I'm thinking it'll just wind up an even bigger mess than when I started.

At any rate, I'm thinking the best thing to do right now with The Leader's Song is to follow the advice of my wonderful wife and one of my crit partners. It'll go on the back burner for a few months so I can let it cool and then approach it from a more objective standpoint.

Of course, then the question is, what do I work on in the interim? Do I continue to brand myself as a sci-fi/fantasy writer or do I branch out into other domains? Huh.

Sands of Time

Another free book from the ACFW conference down, one to go.

While the book cover describes this as a "thriller", I would say what the spine says is slightly more accurate: "a romantic suspense". Don't get me wrong, the plot, involving smuggling enriched uranium from a former Soviet republic is definitely thrilling, but that plot is secondary to the love story at the heart of this book between FSB agent Roman Novik and missionary Sarai Curtiss.

Sands of Time would appear to be an installment in a series of books with these characters. There were many references to action that took place in the past, so much so that I had the feeling I should be more familiar with them. Don't get me wrong, Susan May Warren does an exemplary job getting the reader up to speed; I really didn't need to read the former books. She brings in the backstory in ways that don't overwhelm the current plot.

It turns out that Roman and Sarai have a history together. She left him thirteen years prior due to Roman's choice of career. Now a coup in Irkutia brings them back together. What information does Sarai have that makes Governor Bedlov want her dead? And can Roman protect her when she is convinced she doesn't need a hero?

Take what I'm about to say with a grain of salt. After all, I'm a guy who just read what is essentially a romance novel, even if it is one with some pretty decent action. The book was enjoyable. I really appreciated what Warren had to say about the Christian vocation (the tension between Sarai and Roman over his career as a soldier highlighted the issue nicely), but Sarai bugged me. A lot. She struck me as very unreasonable at times. Not only that, but the ending felt a little too pat for my tastes. Things got wrapped up a little too quickly. Again, this might be because of that's the way romantic suspense is written; I just wanted a little more action.

If you're into romantic suspense, you probably can't do better than Sands of Time.

The Leader's Song's structure - Three or Two?

As if the strange fork-in-the-road I'm facing regarding genres isn't enough, I also have been debating the structure of my sci-fi trilogy, The Leader's Song. In some ways, it might need a massive overhaul to its structure. In other ways, it might be fine the way it is.

Here's the deal. I mentioned my one-sentence summary in a previous post: "A pastor unearths an alien who is searching for grace." That both describes the first book and the overall plot of the trilogy very well. My problem is this: there's both a modern part of the story and a part that spans centuries of ancient history.

Currently, the trilogy is structured like this:

• The Leader's Song: The Rune Enigma -- The modern story starts. About half-way through the book, everything shifts. The modern story is put on hold so the ancient story can unfold.
• The Leader's Song: Exile -- The ancient story resumes where it left off. There is a break to hop back into the modern story about halfway through before going back to the ancient story. When the ancient story winds down, the modern story takes over again.
• The Leader's Song: Return to the Fold -- The last book follows the modern story to its end, but major pieces of what happened in the ancient story color what happens from here on out.

I know those descriptions are kind of generic, but hey, I don't want to give away the entire plot for free, do I?

So you probably see my dilemma. I start the modern story, I put it on pause so the ancient story can play out, then resume the modern story again.

Why did I structure it like this? Well, a couple of reasons. First of all, when I first wrote this story, I wrote it as one long book. After I finished, I realized that it was simply too long and had to be divided up into three parts.

Second, I thought this structure might be a good way to "ease" the reader into the world I created. Rather than just dump them into a world with aliens, I thought I would slowly reveal what's going on ... and then dump them into a world with aliens.

Third, this is the way the idea kind of unfolded for me when I was brainstorming and I never really questioned the way it was.

So why am I questioning it now? Well, as I was getting ready for the ACFW Conference, one of the things I did was get a paid critique from Jeff Gerke of my novel proposal. Mr. Gerke has served as an editor at various Christian publishing houses and is known as an advocate and champion for sci-fi and fantasy. He was very helpful but one of the things he commented on was the structure of my trilogy. He thought it was a bit convoluted. Instead, he suggested dividing the two stories into separate books: the ancient story and the modern story.

A few other people have commented that it might be better to do that as well. A few have said that it's silly to try to ease the reader into the story since it's almost like I'm trying to hide the fact that aliens are involved, something that will be boldly proclaimed either in the cover art or on the back cover copy. I can see where these people are coming from and I've even put some thought into what I would have to do to restructure everything. It could be done.

So why am I so hesitant to do it? A couple of reasons:

First of all, while people have said I should restructure, just as many people have said to leave it the way it is. That's part of my confusion right there.

Second, if I were to restructure, it would wreck big chunks of the modern story. Part of the modern story includes a mystery that could shake Christianity to its very core. A sthe ancient story plays out, it kind of tweaks the mystery a little before a big shocking reveal at the end of the second book (which sets up a nice cliffhanger that I hope is very "Luke, I am your father"-ish). If I restructure the book, the mystery loses its oomph because the reader will know what's going on, thereby taking the teeth out of part of the plot. To be honest, it's what the restructuring would do to the modern story that makes me hesitate the most. I'm not sure how it would play out or even if it could as well as it has.

Third, I'm a little lazy and am scared by the amount of work that would go into the rewrite. There, I said it. This doesn't mean that I wouldn't do the work if I think it'll help; I will. I'm just hesitant to expend all that effort if it isn't really necessary.

I suppose I'll just have to wait and see what Steve Laube and Andy Meisenheimer have to say about it. I'm still waiting to hear from them and probably will be waiting for a while. That's okay. It'll give me more time to mull it all over.

More ACFW Ruminations

Turns out it wasn't that I hit the word limit for the blog. I ran into some HTML problems that I don't fully understand. Oh well.

Anyway, on with my ACFW ruminations.

Third, I was amazed at how God was ready to give me little boosts throughout the conference. For example, after finding out that Bethany House is closed to sci-fi, I was feeling pretty glum. Part of it was a death of a dream -- for six years now, one of my daydreams has been to add to Bethany's impressive sci fi resume with my own trilogy. It was kind of hard to see that dream die. Part of it was also frustration with myself for not doing my homework and wasting one appointment. So as I'm feeling blue and rather down on myself and my story, I walked into my Early Bird appointment.

The Early Bird session at ACFW was a definite plus. Colleen Coble and Deborah Raney led this session. Basically the idea was that authors could send them their works-in-progress and have them critique what they were doing. Then in the actual session, we would discuss each others stories and brainstorm about how to pump up the conflict, where to take the stories, that sort of thing. Some of us signed up for small group brainstorming sessions and mine was on Friday afternoon.

So there I am, trudging into hospitality suite 1239, feeling pretty down on myself and my writing. I sit down and the first words out of Deborah and Colleen's mouths were, "We loved this story!" It perked me right up and kept me going.

The same sort of thing happened on Saturday. I had a paid critique with Bryan Davis. He basically "bled all over" the first twelve pages of my book and pointed out some problematic areas. But he too liked the concept of the story and our chat was a great boost for me.

Fourth, I now find myself at a sort of crossroads. Sort of. The one thing I took away from the conference about the current Christian market is the fact that it's pretty much closed to sci-fi. That's not to say that it'll be closed forever but it certainly is right now. That seems to be the bad news. The good news is that while very few Christian publishing houses are looking for fantasy, they won't automatically slam their doors to it either.

So what do I do? I have a Christian sci-fi trilogy, The Leader's Song, that is pretty much complete (the second and third books need some hammering; the first, just some polishing). I've been mulling over another sci-fi book that I'm tentatively calling The Dragon's Heart. While at the conference, I had another sci-fi idea that needs quite a bit of work but could be fun. So I guess on the one hand, I can continue to write books that may never sell.

On the other hand, I do have one or two fantasy ideas that aren't Christian. I've been mulling over one of them for two or three years now and I think I may be ready to start writing it soon. I wish there was some way to inject some Christianity into it, but honestly, I'm not sure how I could. I do have an idea for a fantasy trilogy but that still needs quite a bit of brainstorming to get ready and I'm a bit hesitant to do that.

On the third hand, part of me thinks the way to go is to ditch sci-fi and fantasy for a while. I started a speculative biography about Joesph Caiaphas about a year ago that kind of petered out. I also recently had an idea for a murder mystery set in Slovakia that could be kind of fun (but may not work; it depends upon what conditions in Slovakia were like during the Communist regime). I figured maybe I could make a shift into some different genres, try to get published there, and then go back to sci-fi if/when I become a more established writer. The problem with this is simple: I only have these two non-sci-fi/fantasy ideas. What do I do after these?

I'm really not sure what to do. Do I continue to stumble down the sci-fi path? Do I hop over to the fantasy path? Do I do a complete 180 and go down a path I've never really traveled before? Hmmmm. Well, if you're a reader of my blog or just stumbled on it on your way to something more interesting, please feel free to leave a comment or a suggestion.

Tomorrow I may post another dilemma I've been dealing with lately, namely the structure of The Leader's Song trilogy.

More ACFW Thoughts

I've been keeping track of what others have written about the ACFW conference, especially reading the day-by-day (almost blow-by-blow account) of my conference mentor Shannon McNear (I'm even mentioned twice in her accounts). Now that it's been almost a week and a half since I've gotten home and I've caught up on my sleep, I figured maybe I would share some more thoughts about it all.

I'm not sure why I haven't been giving it more thought. I think part of it is that the minute I got back to Blue Earth, there was a ton of things to deal with (a parishioner about to cross the Jordan, Jill's best friend's wedding to attend, the usual rigamarol of being a pastor, plus that big "other issue" in my life that I'm still not prepared to discuss at length). I had to dive back into my somewhat regular routine with both feet and haven't had a lot of down time to really process through what I went through. Now, though, let's see here.

For starters, I'm definitely not sorry that I went. It was a very good, very uplifting experience. Like I said before, it was heartening to see that there were a lot of fantasy and sci-fi writers out there trying to crack open the Christian market. Maybe not as many as the romance or mystery writers, but it seemed like every day, more and more of us came out of the woodwork. I even stumbled over a few. Or, rather, they sought me out. Perhaps it's because, as Shannon said, I'm TALL and I was wearing this around my neck:


Second, in some ways, the conference was a bit discouraging. But I guess that goes hand-in-hand with writing sci-fi and fantasy. The good news that I kept hearing is that some publishing houses are beginning to open ever-so-slightly to fantasy. The bad news is the same isn't happening with sci-fi.

Why is that a big deal? Well, let me share the pitch line I had printed on the back of my snazzy business cards:

"A pastor unearths an alien who is searching for grace."

See the problem? Yeah, me too. My encounters with editors and agents was not always encouraging. Dave Long from Bethany House informed me that Bethany was pretty much closed to sci-fi. Steve Laube said that the market was pretty much closed to it as well, although I enjoyed our chat as he shared some stories about the Firebird trilogy.

Now, all is not lost. I was able to send a proposal for said book (actually, for said sci-fi trilogy) to Steve Laube and Andy Meisenheimer of Zondervan and I'm waiting for their replies. I have a feeling it'll be "Thanks, but no thanks", but that's okay. At least I'm in crash position for it.

I seem to have hit my blog's outer limits for length. Tomorrow, more thoughts and maybe I'll even post about the writing dilemma I seem to be facing post-Conference.

Embrace Grace

Another free book from the ACFW Conference down, two more to go (plus the three that I actually bought). Yes, I have a stack of books in my den that are calling me to read them. Heck of it is, I even bought two more this past weekend. I know, I know, it's a sickness!

But on to the book, Embrace Grace. It was good. How's that for a review? Ha!

In all seriousness, I looked forward to reading this book after hearing Liz Curtis Higgs speak at the ACFW conference. She was phenomenal. Lots of humor, lots of insight, plus a few details that I'm going to steal for sermons in the future. Yes, every pastor does it. It's just that not all of us admit to it.

Grace is essentially a book written about the conversion experience. It encourages the reader to embrace doubt, faith, truth, sin, forgiveness, repentance, and grace as they move from a state of unbelief and "lost in sinness" into a forgiven lifestyle.

I really enjoyed what I read. The chapter that surprised me the most was "Embrace Sin". Just the title alone caught me off guard, but as I read it, I remembered the old Martin Luther quote that we snotty Lutheran pastors like to throw around ... "Sin boldly!" Liz basically repeats what Martin said so many years ago. Hey, truth is truth.

What made me chuckle was when I was in line to get my copy signed by Liz. She asked who the book was for and I said it was me. She smiled at me and told me to ignore the fact that when she addresses the readers, she refers to them as women. And, as a rule, she does. I told her I didn't mind, especially since the New Testament basically contains nothing but references to "brothers". I figured turn-about is fair play!

So there you have it. It was a good book and a quick read. Always two good qualities.

Violet Dawn

Normally I wouldn't read a mystery. It's just not my style. But there were several reasons why I read this one. For starters, I got it for free. Yes, I know, that's a lousy reason to read a book, but it was a definite factor. I got it when I registered at the ACFW conference along with a few other books in genres I normally don't venture into. As odd as it sounds, once I get a book, I tend to make sure to read it, even if I normally wouldn't, even if the experience isn't that good.

Not to worry, though, Violet Dawn by Brandilyn Collins was a joy to read. It had me hooked from the beginning, when poor Paige Williams finds a dead body in her hot tub, to the last page where ... well, you really don't expect me to give it all away, do you? I mean, if finding a dead body in your hot tub isn't enough to get you reading, then I don't know what will.

Honest to goodness, this book was in my hand just about every chance I had. When I was playing yet another game on Civilization IV, I had only one eye on the screen. As I was watching TV, I wasn't really paying attention, I was hip deep in Kanner Lake, trying to figure out what was going to happen to poor Paige. It really helped that Brandilyn kept the chapters short. Short chapters always sucker me into reading a book; I always wind up muttering, "Just one more, just one more."

What really got my attention, though, is that this book is a little different from other Christian fiction I've read. Most Christian fiction includes, for lack of a better term, a "come to Jesus" moment, where one of the non-Christian characters ... well, comes to Jesus. You know what I mean. Or, if that doesn't happen, the spiritual aspects of the story are basically right there in the foreground. I'm not saying that either of these things are bad. Given the way I write Christian fiction, I'd be a hypocrite to say that it was.

That's why Brandilyn's subtlety with Christianity was kind of a refreshing change. A few of the characters in the book are Christians. There is an over-all Christian theme to the book. But we're not beaten over the head with it. It made for a fun, breezy read.

So will I venture back to Kanner Lake? More than likely, I will. I mean, it was a great town to visit. I think it'd be fun to go back again.

Oh, and of course, I can't forget one of the main reasons why I read this book first (since I came back from ACFW with seven books). The reason is S-Man. A minor character in the book, but a really cool and awesome guy in real life. Stuart, thanks for letting a newbie tag along with you for so much of ACFW.

Plague of Terror

I really wanted to like this book. I really, really did.

I mean, this book was written by an LCMS pastor. I thought that was really cool because it's my dream to become a published LCMS pastor as well. But the more I read Plague of Terror, the more disappointed I became.

The premise of the story was interesting: terrorists release a fast-acting virus upon an unsuspecting world, pitching everyone and everything into chaos. The book itself follows three siblings, a doctor, a radio DJ, and a pastor, as they try to deal with this horrific plague and manage falling in love. There's the added mystery of a strange man that pops in and out of their lives.

In many ways, this book reminds me of Ted Dekker's Circle Trilogy and Frank Peretti's two angel books. To put it bluntly, Dekker and Peretti do it better. This was not an enjoyable read. If nothing else, Anderson's book taught me a few things about writing Christian fiction:

1) Show, don't tell. You hear this a lot in writing books. At least, I have. Now I understand why it's so important. In many cases, Anderson tells us about things. He doesn't show us through what his characters do or say. It made it boring to read.

2) Watch your Point-Of-View. Anderson had us jumping inside one person's head and then into another person's head and then into a sort of omniscient narrarator P.O.V. It made the book less enjoyable. Rather than see the world through the eyes of one character at a time, you never knew whose eyes we'd be looking through.

What really got frustrating was the times that Anderson "pulled back the curtain", so to speak, to allow us to see what was happening on the spiritual plane between angels and demons. He could have learned a lesson from Frank Peretti on this. Peretti did it right: when he shifted into the spiritual realm, he broke from the scene he had been writing. This allowed the readers to make the shift with him and it wasn't jarring when angels or demons popped into the story.

Anderson doesn't do that. We'll be going along, following people in the moral plane, when suddenly BAM! There's a paragraph out of nowhere about what the angels are up to. But then we're back with the humans again immediately afterward.

Another thing that Anderson could have learned from Peretti would have been to give the angels and demons names and personalities. As it was, I didn't really care. As a matter of fact, I think he could have just as easily cut all the scenes from the supernatural P.O.V. and the story would have been better.

Which brings us to the next point...

3) If it doesn't move the plot forward, cut it. I mentioned that there were three siblings in this book, right? Only two of them related to the main plot of the story, namely the doctor and the pastor. Both had major parts to play. The radio DJ and her love interest contributed very little the main storyline about the virus. Once I finished reading the book, I seriously questioned why she was even included in the story at all.

Actually, there seemed to be a lot of unnecessary padding in this book. There were scenes that were tossed in there for seemingly no reason. In one case, I thought that something truly horrible had happened to one of the heroes, only to have him pop up a couple chapters later and be just fine. In another case, there were some scenes set in Iran that didn't really seem necessary.

I could go on, but you get the idea. It wasn't a bad concept; it was just executed poorly. Hopefully Anderson's future efforts will be better.

There's more of us than I realized!

One of the nice things about going to the ACFW Conference is that I realized there were a lot more of us sci-fi/fantasy writers than I realized. Here's a picture we took at our Thursday night get-together:

The really cool thing is that sci-fi and fantasy writers kept popping out of the woodwork as the conference progressed. It's good to know there's more of us out there!

The ACFW Conference

So late last night, I got back to Blue Earth from the American Christian Fiction Writers' annual conference in Dallas. All in all, it was a good experience. I went to several classes that were very helpful, but there were some things I learned about writing and about myself:

1) Make sure your information is up-to-date. One of the things you can do at the ACFW conference is go to appointments with editors from various Christian publishing houses. I signed up for one, hoping to pitch my Christian sci-fi trilogy. I figured it would be a good fit with the house in question because they had a track record of publishing Christian sci-fi and fantasy.

Boy-howdy, was I wrong.

Turns out my information was several years out of date. The editor who championed the sci-fi books I enjoyed reading had left long ago to become an agent. Therefore the house wasn't looking for sci-fi and was closed to it. So I basically wasted that appointment. Thankfully the editor was very polite about it and offered a few suggestions about what to do, but it still kind of stung, especially since it was my own fault. Oh well. Live and learn.

2) Don't burn your bridges. I actually learned this from observing someone else.

I made another mistake at the conference. I approached the wrong guy with my pitch (not the editor I mentioned in number one) and he politely told me he wasn't interested. A few nights later, a bunch of us were sitting around chatting in the hotel lobby and this individual joined our group. He then mentioned that several people had approached him with their pitches and then made fun of us for doing so. Needless to say, I was a little torked that he did that.

So I learned a lesson: you never know who is going to overhear the negative things you say or who might stumble into a blog. That's why I'm not saying who this individual is. Let's just say that even if he eventually wanted to work with me, I would not want to work with him.

3) I'm definitely a traditionalist when it comes to worship. Meaning that I have to have a liturgy and traditional hymns if I'm going to consider it worship. Enough said about that.

4) I hope I can go back to ACFW again next year. I had a blast at the conference. I made some new friends, got to connect with people I only knew from their blogs or the ACFW forums, and even garnered a few compliments for my writing (which really helped buoy me up, especially after learning lessons #1 and #2).

In short, while it's good to be home, I'm really glad that I went.