Demon: A Memoir

So what would you do if someone sat down across from you at dinner and introduced themselves as a demon? What's more, what would you do if he told you he wanted to tell you his story and you were going to write it down?

That's the central premise of Demon: A Memoir by Tosca Lee. Clay, an editor for a major publishing house, is confronted by Lucian, a demon who wants to tell his side of the story. Over a number of harrowing months, Lucian spins his tale, explaining why he and his brethren were expelled from paradise. Clay becomes more and more obsessed with the beguiling tale and he has to know, how does it end? And why does Lucian keep insisting that it's also Clay's story as well?

In some ways, Lee's story is nothing new. While she spun some interesting speculation over what happened before Genesis 1:1 kicks off the human story, once we got into Adam and Eve's story, it was all very familiar. That isn't a bad thing. Lee tells the story with passion and a great deal of voice. It carries through the familiar and makes it incredible, a thing of beauty. I had a very difficult time putting it down and this book kept me up late last night so I could see how the story ended for both Lucian and Clay.

What really made this story sing for me was the fact that it left me asking a lot of tough questions. It made me see salvation in a whole new light and that's a great, great thing.

Needless to say, I can't wait to get my hands on Havah. I'll just have to wait since my book budget is spoken for until sometime around November.

CSFF Blog Tour: Marcher Lord Press Day 3

So now we're less than a week away from the launch of Marcher Lord Press. If you haven't been able to tell, I'm pretty excited about its launch. I can't wait to read the first three books to come out. I can't wait to find out what the next three will be. I can't wait to see the back list that Jeff Gerke will assemble. It's my dearest hope that Marcher Lord will become an industry success story.

But it's not there yet. There's still a big question mark hovering over all of it. It'll need our help to turn into an exclamation point. There are a few things we can do to make sure this is a roaring success:

1) Pray. As Psalm 127:1 says, "Unless the LORD builds the house, its builders labor in vain." I have no doubt that Jeff Gerke has sought the Lord's counsel in this venture. But he'll need us to help hold up his hands, so to speak, by praying that Marcher Lord will be a roaring success.

At the ACFW Conference, Jeff specifically asked us to pray for his shopping cart. The way he explained it was that right now, you can go shopping, put books in your virtual cart, but you can't pay for anything. Apparently the software is having difficulty working with PayPal. Hopefully things will work out in time.

Even if it does, we can continue to support Marcher Lord via prayers. We can pray that many people will find and enjoy the books. We can pray that Jeff Gerke will continue to find excellent authors with wonderfully bizarre stories. I'd say we can even pray that the success of Marcher Lord will show the rest of the CBA that speculative fiction can work and work well.

2) Buy stuff. This may seem obvious, but it needs to be stated: Marcher Lord will only work if people actually purchase the products. We can't just pray, we need to pony up the money and help support this venture financially. I'm personally planning on buying all three books the day Marcher Lord goes live. It'll take pretty much my whole entertainment budget for October, but it will be worth it, especially since you can get cool bonus books. I've been really interested in the virtual coffee table book, especially after seeing the samples on Hanna Sandvig's blog.

3) Spread the word. This blog tour is a good start, but we need to reach out beyond the blogosphere to those we know who would like these books. The more people who learn about Marcher Lord, the bigger and better it'll be. Word of mouth can be incredibly powerful.

If you need to give them incentive, remind them of the cool giveaways, the greatest and coolest of which is a trip for two to the 2009 ComicCon. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for that.

4) Write. For those of us who are speculative authors, Marcher Lord Press represents a phenomenal opportunity. But we can't squander it. While we are encouraged to submit our wild stories to Marcher Lord, we should do our best to make them the best we can. That means studying our craft, perfecting our stories, making them shine. That way, when people speak of Marcher Lord Press, it won't be, "Oh, that's that small press that publishes weird stories." It'll be "That's the house that publishes fantastically weird stories that you have just got to read!"

It'll be a wild ride. But it's one I'm looking forward to.

Be sure to check out what the rest of the tourists are saying:

Brandon Barr
Justin Boyer
Keanan Brand
Kathy Brasby
Jackie Castle
Valerie Comer
Karri Compton
Courtney
CSFF Blog Tour
Stacey Dale
D. G. D. Davidson
Janey DeMeo
Jeff Draper
April Erwin
Karina Fabian
Kameron M. Franklin
Beth Goddard
Andrea Graham
Todd Michael Greene
Katie Hart
Timothy Hicks
Joleen Howell
Jason Joyner
Kait
Mike Lynch
Terri Main
Margaret
Shannon McNear
Rebecca LuElla Miller
Nissa
Steve Rice
Ashley Rutherford
Hanna Sandvig
Mirtika or Mir's Here
Greg Slade
James Somers
Steve Trower
Speculative Faith
Laura Williams
Timothy Wise

CSFF Blog Tour: Marcher Lord Press Day 2

Let me tell you a fun story. This past Thursday, the ACFW Conference held its annual editor panel. Most of the editors at the conference were put in front of the firing squad and were asked submitted questions from the slathering horde of writers, both published and unpublished.

Okay, perhaps I'm being a bit melodramatic. But we ran through the usual questions: what's good, what's not, what are you looking for, that sort of thing.

And then the question the editors dreaded popped up: what about speculative fiction? What is that, exactly?

The editors looked a bit stumped. They hemmed, they hawed. One took a long, exagerrated look at her watch and declared, "Oh, look at the time!" They offered a few pat answers, one of them raising the question of whether or not to include the Left Behind series.

And then Jeff Gerke of Marcher Lord Press leapt to the rescue. He strode up, politely took the mic from the moderator, introduced himself, and then explained to everyone present that speculative fiction could be summed up in one word: "Weird."

How true it is. And how wonderful it is as well! That's part of the reason why I'm looking forward to October 1st. On that day, just one week away, three books will hit the market which are, to put it bluntly, weird. Gloriously, superbly, creatively weird!

The first is The Personifid Invasion by R. E. Bartlett. This is a sequel to the previously published The Personifid Project. In this sci-fi story, people can cheat death by having their souls transferred into artificial beings called "personifids."

Admittedly, this is the book that I'm least enthusiastic about. I haven't read the first one, and while I know that Invasion can stand alone, I wasn't too thrilled about dipping my toe into a story that's a continuation of a previous one.

But after nosing around the blog tour yesterday, I saw that several of my fellow tourists (for lack of a better term) are impressed and excited to get their hands on this. Perhaps now's the time to say that I held a copy of this book in my hands already. Jeff Gerke had a copy with him at ACFW and he showed it off a lot. Very well done.

Anyway, seeing the enthusiasm of others has piqued my interest, so much so that I placed an order on Amazon to get a used copy of Project. That way, I can read the original before I delve into the sequel.

Moving right along, we have a book with a mouthful for a title: Summa Elvetica: A Casuistry of the Elvish Controversy by Theodore Beale.

This one has intrigued me ever since I heard its premise. Most fantasy novels are set in an alternate version of medieval Europe, but they leave something pretty big out of it. That's the Roman Catholic Church. So what if the Catholic Church existed in a fantasy world? How would they relate to the fantastical creatures such as elves? To put it bluntly, would they believe elves have souls?

That's what a young priest has been sent out to determine, only he gets caught up in a great adventure as he wrestles with that issue. What a crazy premise, right? But I can't wait to see this and read it for myself because it sounds like a great speculative story and should prove to be a wild ride.

That brings us to the last book being released, namely Hero, Second Class by Mitchell Bonds.

Jeff Gerke raved about this book the whole time he was at ACFW. Bonds was 19 when Jeff acquired the book. Jeff says Bonds's writing is phenomenal. Reading the description on the website has me salivating already. I have a bizarre sense of humor to go with my weird taste in stories. This is going to be a wild ride and one I'm sure I'll remember for a long time.

You may have noticed that in all these cases, I have not taken advantage of the sample chapters that have been posted on Marcher Lord's website. That's a personal choice; I wanted to wait to read the books for the first time after I have them here. So I have to go on the little bits and pieces I've picked up here and there.

Now here's the fun: Jeff Gerke is already hard at work getting the next books that Marcher Lord will put out. He told me a little bit about one of them at ACFW. It's a sci fi book that includes a mystical talking wooden puzzle box. Seriously. I can't wait.

He also said that he's hoping that Marcher Lord will be able to acquire out of print books so readers can continue to enjoy them.

Whatever the case, here's hoping that Marcher Lord will soon have a massive list to keep those of us who love "weird" fiction in wonderfully bizarre stories for years to come.

Go out and see what the other tourists have to say:

Brandon Barr
Justin Boyer
Keanan Brand
Kathy Brasby
Jackie Castle
Valerie Comer
Karri Compton
Courtney
CSFF Blog Tour
Stacey Dale
D. G. D. Davidson
Janey DeMeo
Jeff Draper
April Erwin
Karina Fabian
Kameron M. Franklin
Beth Goddard
Andrea Graham
Todd Michael Greene
Katie Hart
Timothy Hicks
Joleen Howell
Jason Joyner
Kait
Mike Lynch
Terri Main
Margaret
Shannon McNear
Rebecca LuElla Miller
Nissa
Steve Rice
Ashley Rutherford
Hanna Sandvig
Mirtika or Mir's Here
Greg Slade
James Somers
Steve Trower
Speculative Faith
Laura Williams
Timothy Wise

CSFF Blog Tour: Marcher Lord Press Day 1

It's been an interesting couple of days. For those not in the know, the annual ACFW Conference took place just a few miles from my house. I've spent the past four days learning more about the craft, meeting with editors and agents, and mingling with fellow authors, including many speculative fiction types.

And the one man I saw quite a bit of was Jeff Gerke. As a matter of fact, I worry that he might have thought I was stalking him on Friday, since I was in both of his classes and I attended the Late Night Chat he led. Jeff is an incredible guy. He's published six novels. He worked in the industry for twelve years at Multnomah Publishers, Strang Communications, and finally at NavPress. He now works as a freelance editor. He also maintains a website dedicated to speculative fiction, namely Where the Map Ends. And if he wasn't busy enough, he's launching a new publishing company, namely Marcher Lord Press.

This past Thursday, I sat down with Jeff and two other speculative fiction authors (hey, Stuart and Steve!) and we had a conversation about this latest venture:

LRB: When did you first think of Marcher Lord Press?

JG: Probably the first inklings of it came in the last couple of years I was at Christian publishing companies. After twelve years in the industry, it finally dawned on me what the real problem was with publishing Christian speculative fiction. I had thought all along that just the good fiction hadn’t come out yet, so the solution was to get good fiction out there. And then I thought, well, we’ve got some good fiction out there but it didn’t sell so now what? Maybe people just didn’t know about it, so the solution is to get good fiction with good marketing. And we would do that at whatever house I was at and it still wouldn’t go. Well, we need good covers, good stories, and good marketing. So we got all of that and they only did okay.

My theory all along had been that if I could get everything together, the books would go. People want this. But I realized, no they don’t. It isn’t that the book isn’t great or doesn’t have a good cover and people don’t know about it, it’s they do know about it and they just don’t want it. It finally occurred to me that the problem isn’t the package, the problem is I’m trying to sell something people don’t want. If you run a golf store and you start selling paint, the people who come in there don’t want that. They came in for something else. So why are you doing this? They don’t want what you’re selling.

So right around in there, I started asking what demographic does CBA publishers, with their fiction, reach? And I started thinking about who that is. It’s white American evangelical women from child rearing to empty nest age. Those are the people it reaches. So the books that are going to do well are the books that will appeal well to that demographic. Those aren’t the people who like speculative, by and large, as a group. They don’t like alien mutants who will eat your brain. They don’t. I do! Well, not in reality, but a story about it. The industry is not reaching the market that would be interested in this kind of book. So what do we do?

So I started thinking, what would you do and how would you reach those people? Where are those people? I wouldn’t go to Christian bookstores because they’re not going in there anymore. And they’re not in the Christian shelves at Barnes and Noble. Where are these people? They’re on-line. They’ve banded together in these blog tours and alliances and forums. They have found each other, but they’re not in family Christian anymore, at least, looking for this kind of fiction. That’s kind of when I started thinking about what I would do, what I would offer, who I’m going for, and where are they, and how I could reach them?

LRB: And that’s why you went with print-on-demand also?

JG: People hear print-on-demand and they think, "Oh, vanity press, subsidy publisher, self-publishing!" I guess that’s because the first companies to embrace print-on-demand were those kind of companies.

Print-on-demand is just technology. I had been in the publishing industry for twelve years and I kind of knew the different parts of publishing. And I knew the headaches. Some of the big ones are the big discounts you have to give to retail chains and distributors to get them to take your book. And then, after they’ve ordered fewer copies than you wish at lower discounts than you want, then they send them all back and demand their money back. And sometimes, they send them back to you in an unusable condition. You’ve got warehousing, you’ve got shipping, you’ve got warehouse staff, you’ve got the whole distribution thing, you’ve got to get sales staff to go out and meet with all the chains to see if they’ll take your book at all, you’ve got returns, you’ve got refunds ... it’s just crazy. Why are we doing this? So I said, if I ever do a company, it won’t play that game at all.

So what about print-on-demand? Then I could print exactly how many copies as I have orders. No warehousing, no sales staff, no returns, no big discounts. The problem is, I don’t have stores all over the country featuring the book, but I saw how that worked and it usually didn’t work. If you’re not Tyndale or if your book isn’t by Jerry Jenkins or whatever, it’s not going to get big coverage, so why would I even go there at all? So that definitely influenced my decision to use print on demand.

LRB: What do you like best about speculative fiction and what do you like least?

JG: Best is easy. It’s cool. It makes my imagination soar. When I read a book that takes me to a place, even just in a moment, that I just thrill at, in that moment, the world is real, the adventure is real, and I’m there. My brain has opened up and I’ve seen a whole new reality. That’s the power that you guys bring as speculative authors.

It’s cool because it helps you look at the normal through a new lens. You can examine any kind of issue you want to, but people are distracted by the weirdness so they don’t realize you’re talking about redemption or forgiveness. Not that you want to write it as an agenda-driven story. It’s this experiment table where you can mess around with things because you’ve taken it out of reality to a certain degree.

I don’t think there’s anything I like least about it. It’s cool, 100%.

LRB: What can speculative fiction do that the rest of Christian fiction can’t?

JG: I addressed some of it already, but I think fantasy especially is the most native platform for examining ultimate issues of true goodness. What is heroism and what does it mean to be a responsible person and a Christian in the midst of danger? It allows you to put it in this special environment and play around with the idea.

LRB: Are there are any subjects that you would consider taboo? Like vampires or aliens or anything like that?

JG: I don’t think so. Sometimes the weirder the better. I’ve received vampire stories, superhero stories, alien stuff, completely bizarre alternate universe things. For me, if I like the story, great.

LRB: Have you received a lot of over-the-transom submissions?

JG: I have. As a matter of fact, almost all of the submissions I have are over-the-transom and I invite those.

There aren’t many publishers that accept unagented, unsolicited manuscripts; I’m one of them and I’m one of the few that accept this genre at all. That’s great. There’s so much excellent unpublished speculative fiction out there and nobody wants it. They all find their way to me. It works to my benefit because I can cherry-pick the best stuff. This is a neglected genre that a lot of creative people are writing excellent stuff in. I’m in the premiere position. It’s delightful.

So I have received a lot but I don’t request all of them. I have a link and form on the web-page that I have people fill out and a lot of people who would like to submit to me can’t because they haven’t finished their manuscript, or it’s way too short, or it’s to the wrong audience or it doesn’t have any Christian content. I probably say "Okay, I’ll look at it," to too many because I like the premise and I’m an encourager at heart.

LRB: What kind of stories are you looking for and what kind of authors are you looking for?

JG: I get two kinds of authors, and I love both kinds. One is the unpublished, frustrated author. "The big houses say they want fantasy but they won’t accept my weird story or my friend’s." They’re frustrated, unpublished, and passionate. One of my opening novels is by one of those guys. Mitchell Bonds with his Hero, Second Class. Unpublished young guy, 19 years old when I acquired him. You would not believe when you read this book that he’s 19. He’s 20 now.

The other kind I get is the sadder but wiser novelist. Usually published several books before in the CBA industry. "Been there, done that, didn’t do what I thought what it was going to do. Burned and disillusioned. I ended up writing things that weren’t my passion. I want to get this story to the people who will love it, even if it’s the 500 you can reach." So then I can get a Theodore Beale, one of my debut novelists (author of Summa Elvetica: A Casuistry of the Elvish Controversy), who’s written for Pocket Books. I’m friends with a lot of these published people and I want to get them to write for me. A lot of them are considering writing for me because they can write the exact kind of novel they wished they could have published before.

As for what kind of stories, anything weird. That’s the kind of stories I want. I want it to be 65,000 words or more, I want it to be written to an adult audience, not a young adult audience. I want it be speculative, I want it to arise from a Christian worldview and have some kind of Christian component in it. But aside from that, anything goes. I just want to be amazed.

LRB: What advice can you give to speculative fiction authors?

JG: I’ve said this in a couple of other venues and I’ll say it here. It is really a great time to be an author of fiction that is not being served by CBA. It doesn’t feel like it yet because we’re just at the beginning of the small press revolution. The move in technology is always toward allowing people to better produce what they want and get it to the people who want it. It bypasses the big power blocs, which serves most people but leaves some on the fringe. But now all these disenfranchised genres in Christian publishing, whether it’s speculative or literary or men’s fiction or military fiction or whatever is a legitimate genre in ABA but isn’t being served by CBA, can now get it to people through the independent presses. I predict more presses like Marcher Lord will rise up. The model I’m using is one anyone can use for relatively low cost.

So be encouraged, because people who have completed speculative manuscripts will be in demand. It may not be the standard "rich and famous" contract you were hoping for, it may be with a publishing company you’ve never heard of, but if you want to get your book produced and get it to the people who want it, your time is now.

Don’t just rest on the fact that your book is different and weird and an outsider and let that be your distinctive. You have to write great fiction. You have to hone your craft. I have my fiction writing tips column on where the map ends. I’m up to 95 tips. That should keep you busy for a while. Apply it to your manuscript. You have to have great content too.

LRB: This one’s just for fun. Who is your favorite speculative fiction character and why?

JG: I’m going to name a few. Bernard Cornwell is a secular novelist who wrote an Arthurian trilogy. His Merlin character is unforgettable. The first name that popped in my head was Shrek. Shrek is a beautiful speculative character. Another bizarre one is Horton from Horton Hears a Who. That’s a science fiction spectacular story. It is weird and fabulous. He believes this thing that no one else can perceive and that is cool. I could say Farimir in Lord of the Rings. I would have to say Luke Skywalker even though he’s something of an Everyman. That’s a good enough list.

The interview with Jeff was great fun. Like I said, he's an incredible guy with a real passion for what he's doing and it's easy to see he has a heart for ministry. Marcher Lord launches in eight days and I couldn't be more excited. It's going to be great.

Be sure to see what else is pinging around the blog tour:

Brandon Barr
Justin Boyer
Keanan Brand
Kathy Brasby
Jackie Castle
Valerie Comer
Karri Compton
Courtney
CSFF Blog Tour
Stacey Dale
D. G. D. Davidson
Janey DeMeo
Jeff Draper
April Erwin
Karina Fabian
Kameron M. Franklin
Andrea Graham
Todd Michael Greene
Katie Hart
Timothy Hicks
Joleen Howell
Jason Joyner
Kait
Mike Lynch
Terri Main
Margaret
Shannon McNear
Rebecca LuElla Miller
Nissa
Steve Rice
Ashley Rutherford
Hanna Sandvig
Mirtika or Mir's Here
Greg Slade
James Somers
Steve Trower
Speculative Faith
Laura Williams
Timothy Wise

ACFW Advance Scout Week 4: The Minnesota Suvival Guide

And so here we are. In a week's time, the ACFW Conference will be over. We'll all be home. The Genesis contest winners will be celebrating. Some will be frantically getting proposals ready for agents and editors. I suspect that more than a few of us will simply go catatonic, overwhelmed from the excitement. I know I'll be incommunicado for a day or two.

That being said, first we have to make it through the Conference. Soon you will all be descending upon Minnesota, my beloved home state, which is quickly approaching California for the number of former entertainers who have entered politics. But I digress.

Let's talk about the weather. In my original scouting report, I said that temperatures would probably be around 70. I based this on the average for this time of year. But then, about a week or so ago, the mercury dipped. Not horribly, but enough to put a little bit of a chill in the air. On top of that, it's been raining on and off. I worried that I may have given out some bad information. My reputation as an advance scout would be in tatters!

But I've been keeping an anxious eye on the forecast and as of now, it appears we'll have great weather throughout the conference. Highs in the mid 70s. Partially cloudy skies. Should be pretty good.

So let's move on. I thought I'd clue all of you into some general information about Minnesota.

Let's begin with nomenclature. Minneapolis and St. Paul form what we Minnesotans call the Twin Cities. I guess they're fraternal twins. We Minnesotans tend to shorten that, though, and we'll often refer to them as "the Cities." That's not arrogance on our parts; we know there are other cities out there, many of them bigger than Minneapolis and St. Paul combined. My personal theory is we call them that because they're really the only true cities in Minnesota (no offense to St. Cloud or Duluth).

A while ago, someone either on the Loop or the forums asked if Minnesotans said "Eh?" I hate to be the bearer of bad news. That's Canada, not Minnesota. But we Minnesotans do have our own way of speaking. But if you're expecting to hear thick accents like in the movie "Fargo," you'll be disappointed. I've lived in Minnesota for most of my life and I've heard someone talk like that only once.

But most Minnesotans do have a little bit of an accent. We're infamous for elongating our "Os." As a matter of fact, that might be why children in Minnesota play "Duck, duck, gray duck." If they tried to play "duck, duck, goose," pronouncing "goooooooose" would take too long and the game would be over.

Minnesotans, by and large, are a friendly and helpful bunch. We refer to that as "Minnesota Nice." But that does have a downside, and that's the use of the phrase, "That's different."

See, Minnesotans don't like offending people. To spare people's feelings, we'll often use "different" as a dodge. Someone will ask our opinion on something. We won't like whatever it is but won't want to hurt the asker's feelings. So we'll tell them, "That's different." So while you're here, if you're telling a Minnesotan about your book and they say, "Well, that's different," they're not commenting on the uniqueness of your story.

The population of Minnesota is mostly made up of the descendants of Norweigian, Swedish, and German immigrants. Because of this, we tend to tell Norweigian jokes. If someone starts telling you a story about two guys named "Ole and Sven" or a husband and wife named "Ole and Lena," you can pretty much guarantee that it's going to end with a punchline.

I could keep going, but I don't want this post to drag out for too much longer. I could discuss how casseroles are known as "hotdishes" here (and are a staple of most church dinners). I could make more jokes about Minnesota politics. But instead, I'll leave you with this:

Only one of these is referred to as a Coke in Minnesota. And all three are called "pop," not "soda." Oh, and for our friends from Wisconsin, drinking fountains are called just that, not "bubblers."

Anyway, it's been fun being your advance scout! See you all in three days!

Yet another review two-fer

Okay, so I've been a bit lazy. I've got two books that I finished reading that I need to review. And even though one is a Christian sci-fi book while the other is a secular sci-fi book, I noticed a connection between the two authors that I'll share in a bit.

The first book is Shivering World by Kathy Tyers. From what I understand, there have been two versions of this book. It was originally published as secular sci-fi and then Tyers brought it to Bethany House and they republished it as a Christian book.

A few years ago, I found the original version in the library and read it through. When I learned that a new version was out, I wanted to reread it and see how things had changed. Imagine my delight when I found the Christian version in a local library.

Well, I've since read it and I can honestly say, I can't tell the difference.

Now that might be because it's been a while and I've read dozens of books in the interim. But I don't think it's necessarily all that bad. While the Christian content is there, Tyers doesn't beat us over the head with it and that's never a bad thing.

For those unfamiliar with the book, it's the story of Graysha Brady-Phillips, a high school teacher turned scientist who goes to the planet Goddard to help terraform it. But there's a lot of intrigue in the air. For example, Goddard is cooling and nobody seems willing to either admit it or figure out why. And then there are the Goddard colonists, a mysterious bunch called the Lwuites. Rumor has it they practice illegal genetic engineering. That's part of the reason why Graysha is there. She has a debilitating genetic condition and she's hoping that she can maybe find the healing she needs. But on a planet like Goddard, where intrigue lurks around every corner, there's no guarantee that she'll even live long enough to do so.

I was impressed with the level of science that Tyers loaded into the story. I sometimes got a little lost in the details but not tremendously so. The story also felt a little uneven in places as well, but that might just be me. But still, if you're looking for a good example of what Christian sci-fi can be, you can't go wrong with Tyers.

The other book that I just finished reading last night is Angelmass by Timothy Zahn.

What are the quantum particles known as angels? That's what Pax spy Jereko Kosta is sent to find out. He infiltrates a break-away government called the Empyreal. All his superiors know is that the Empyreal requires their government and military officials to wear angels, believing that these particles make the wearer more ethical and noble. But the Pax disagrees. They fear that these particles, found outside the Angelmass quantum blackhole, are the precursors to an alien invasion.

Kosta has to find a number of unlikely allies to complete his task. But when he learns the truth, he realizes that it might be too late to save himself or the Empyreal.

Zahn created a fascinating universe for his story. Both sides of this conflict have interesting technology and it's all presented in a believable way. And Zahn also kept his plot somewhat unpredictable. I was never quite sure what he was going to pull out next.

My one gripe about this story was the somewhat pat ending. While he resolved most of the issues (or did to a certain degree), it almost felt like he left a few too many loose threads dangling. The story ended perfectly well; it just felt like there could have been a little more put into it. But it was still a fun ride and definitely worth the read.

So what to Tyers and Zahn have in common? If you think it's that they both wrote Star Wars novels, then you're partially right. They both have (and it's the Star Wars novels that introduced me to their writing in the first place). But that's not what I had in mind. No, in both cases, the authors used knowledge from their everyday lives.

According to the bio blurb on Shivering World, Tyers has a degree in microbiology. So does her main character and it's microbiology that factors into the book's conclusion. Zahn, according to the jacket blurb, has a great deal of knowledge about physics, and he certainly brought that to bear on the story.

So I guess the old adage is true. "Write what you know." It worked for Zahn and Tyers.

Now I just need to figure out how my encyclopedic knowledge of lines from "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" to enhance my fiction...

ACFW Advance Scout Week 3: The Mall of America

Holy cow! Is it really only a week and a half until the ACFW conference? It is? Oh boy. One sheets to prepare, pitches to practice, wardrobes to plan... There's so much to do! But never fear, your scout has been at work already, checking out the location for Saturday's book signing, namely the illustrious Mall of America.

Ah, the Mall. That Mecca of merchandise. For those of you who have never been to this shopping haven, it's quite the sight. My favorite description of it comes from one of my favorite books, A Year at the Movies by Kevin Murphy:

"The Mall is, I believe, seventeen million square miles in total area, and contains, if I got my information right, sixteen thousand retail stores, eleven thousand six hundred restaurants, eighty-five thousand kiosks selling wrestling T-shirts, cellular phones, and ear piercing, one of the five oceans, an indoor airport, the state of North Dakota, George Wendt, and a herd of buffalo. I got this information from my seven-year-old niece, so I can't account for its veracity."

Murphy may be exaggerating a bit. In reality, the Mall consists of four levels, three of which contain the aforementioned stores and restaurants. The fourth floor has a movie theater and two restaurants, Cantina #1 and Hooters.

But back to the book signing. According to the ACFW website, it'll be held in the Best Buy Rotunda, down a hall, and into the smaller rotunda outside Sears. Here's the location in question on the Mall's map:

That doesn't show you much, so here's a shot of the Best Buy Rotunda from floor level. The book signing will go down the hall in the middle of the picture.

To the right of the photo, almost tucked behind the glass elevators, is the Barnes & Noble where you'll be able to pick up your books to be signed. It'll be an interesting event, I think. It's even been listed in the Mall's official calendar.

But enough about that. I mean, if you want more information about the book signing, you can find it at the official website. Many of you will arrive early and may want to scout things out for yourself. If that's the case, let me suggest three things you can do while there.

The first is the obvious: shop. There are many, many stores to choose from. In my wanderings through the corridors, I've spotted at least half a dozen stores that sell Minnesota souveniers. There's a small shop that has full size flight simulators called A.C.E.S. If you need more information, just check out the on-line Mall directory. You can spend a long time walking through the corridors. And remember the little tidbit I dropped two weeks ago: Minnesota has no sales tax on clothes. If you're planning on sending back a lot of books via the mail, why not pad the load with an outfit or two?

The second possibility is Nickelodeon Universe, the Mall's indoor amusment park.

Yes, the Mall has a bunch of rides in its center. And on this, I have to plead a bit of ignorance. I have never been on a single ride there. The food court my family and I frequent when we're at the Mall overlooks the rides. The closest I've ever come was when my wife and I had a caricature drawn for our wedding.

I did notice the discussion on the Forum about going on the log ride. A few people thought it'd be great to get completely drenched at the book signing. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but I scouted the log ride. I found the end and watched as people got off. I only spotted small drops of water on their clothing, which would probably dry within minutes of leaving the ride. Don't let that stop you from taking the plunge, but don't expect to be dripping.

Finally, there's Underwater Adventures.

While a bit pricey, this is a fun experience. It's a massive indoor aquarium, complete with a whole slew of sharks. They've run a glass tunnel through it, allowing you to walk through the different habitats.

We recently took our son Isaiah through for his second birthday. He loved it. So did we.

Again, the tickets are a pit pricey, but if you have the time and are looking for something to do in the Mall, this is a fun time.

So there you go. The Mall of America. Obviously, I didn't go over everything that you can possibly do there. There's a lot more to find and enjoy. And hey, if you're single and you find your soul mate at the Conference, there's always this little gem:

See you in a week and half. Now where did my one sheet go...

ACFW Advance Scout Week 2: The hotel and meals

Greetings from the Land of 10,000 Visiting Republicans ... er, Lakes. It's time for another advance scouting report for those of us going to the National ACFW Conference. This week, we're going to talk about two basic human functions: sleeping and eating. In other words, let's talk about the hotel and the food.

Now I've never stayed in the Sheraton, so I can't tell you much about the amenities. They gave us a lot of information on the ACFW website. And you can always go and get even more information from the hotel's website as well. But I still felt the need to give the location a look-see for myself.

A week ago, I made the drive from my home in South St. Paul to the Sheraton.

I wound up parking in the east parking lot and walked around the building to find the main entrance. On my way, I spotted a little porch area overlooking a Burger King (the view is not the best; the Sheraton is ensconsed in something of an office park):

I made my way into the lobby and was impressed with what I saw:

Almost immediately, a helpful concierge ambushed me. I explained I'm an ACFW member, that I was scouting the area. He was extremely friendly and answered my questions and then allowed me to sneak around and take some pictures.

So allow me to share what I saw in my fifteen minutes of skulking around the Sheraton with my trusty Kodak EasyShare camera. My first stop was the hotel pool, simply because it was the closest to the lobby:

It was in this area that I discovered something really, really cool. Whoever is lucky enough to get a pool-side room will have their own private conversation nooks:

The above picture is one of the nicer ones. Most of the nooks had simply plastic furniture, but I suspect that this will be a boon to those of you who have roommates. It'll be a place that people can go to do a little reading or chat with critique partners or whatever.

After scoping out the pool, I headed to the second floor where the ballroom and various conference rooms are located. I didn't take a picture of the main ballroom, mostly because it was a mess. There were two guys setting up tables and chairs for some sort of function and from the look one of them gave me, I suspect they wouldn't want their pictures taken. It was a good sized ballroom and pretty typical for a hotel.

I did get pictures of the exterior hallway and one of the conference rooms I suspect will be used for the sessions:

Here's a random lobby that I stumbled over:

My overall impression after fifteen minutes of random wanderings is that the Conference couldn't have picked a better hotel. We should be very comfortable in the Sheraton.

That brings us to the next topic: food. While we'll undoubtedly be well-fed while the Conference is running, many ACFW-ers will likely arrive early or leave later, making it necessary for them to fend for themselves. And while I know that many critique groups, agents, and other groups are having meals together Friday night, there might be a few "Friday Night Orphans" such as myself who will be looking for a place to eat.

Never fear, your advance scout has looked into this! For starters, the hotel has three restaurants, namely the Navigator's Lounge, Stevie Ray's Comedy Cabaret, and the Nine Mile Grill. I can't say that I've eaten at any of them, so you'll just have to go by what the hotel's website says.

But perhaps you'll wish to escape the confines of the hotel for your meals. If that's the case, then you have a few options.

I started my research on MapQuest and this is what I found:

In this case, #1 is a Chili's, #2 is the hotel itself, #3 is a TGI Friday's, #4 is an Ember's, #5 & #6 are the same Dairy Queen, #7 is a Burger King, #8 is an "Eddington's" (I don't know what that is), #9 is a Subway, and #10 is "Cheetah Pizza." It looked like any of those options might be a little bit of a walk, or at least, it did to me.

But having been to the Sheraton, I can report that all of those options are within extremely easy walking distance. The TGI Friday's shares a parking lot with the hotel. The fast food joints are across the hotel's parking lot but there's an iron fence between them, so you'll have to do a little walking to get to them. The only one I didn't see was the Chili's. That's on the other side of Highway 100 and, I'd guess, you'd have to walk across the 77th St. bridge to get to it. That's do-able, but there you go.

There doesn't appear to be any other restaurants in the area. The next closes would be a drive down 77th St. to France Avenue. In that case, you'd need a car (or a friend with one).

But there's another option! The hotel does provide a free shuttle to the Mall of America. Remember the helpful concierge I mentioned before? One of the things he gave me was the shuttle schedule!

The Mall has a wide variety of dining options. There are two food courts with the usual fast food fare (McDonald's, Sbarros, A&W, Arby's, and so on). There are also sit down restaurants like Famous Dave's (one of my perosnal favorites), the Bubba Gump Shrimp Company, and Ruby Tuesdays. Here's a list, stolen from the Mall's website:

The trick with eating at the Mall will be timing the shuttles, especially during the week. Unless you want to go to the Mall and stay a few hours, it might be best to stick with the restaurants around the hotel.

So that's it for this week. Once again, thanks for stopping by to read my report. If you have any questions for your advance scout, don't hesitate to leave them with me and I'll do my best to run down the answers. And I'll see you all in about three weeks!