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Tuesday, July 03, 2007

Meet the Authors of the Fantasy 4 Fiction Tour, Part 7

Hey, all! Less than a week away from the start of The Fantasy 4 Fiction Tour in Atlanta! Please continue to pray about that event--especially for the Fantasy authors out there. ICRS is where a lot of new authors get their first contracts (or at least have a publisher get interested in them). It was just four years this summer that I went to ICRS (in Atlanta then as well) and pitched The Door Within books. A nice editor from Tommy Nelson took a real interest in the books and God did the rest.

But ICRS is also when Bookstore Chains and Indie Stores put orders in to their distributors for more or different titles. So, if you'd like to see your local Christian Bookstore stock more of what you like to read, please pray that Chains and Locals would buy lots of new fantasy/spec fic titles!

For details about the Fantasy 4 Tour, please check out our website by clicking below:

Tonight I've posted the 7th in a series of Meet the Author threads. The author's words are taken from a Q&A we participated in to promote the Tour. I'll post all four authors responses to one question in each thread. Hope you enjoy getting to know these wonderful fantasy writers.

Wayne Thomas Batson--The Door Within Trilogy and Isle of Swords
Bryan Davis--The Dragons in Our Midst and Oracles of Fire
Sharon Hinck--The Becky Miller Books and The Sword of Lyric Series
Christopher Hopper--The Rise of the Dibor and The White Lion Chronicles

I'll also be including a new piece of desktop art with each new post--Tonight's image is a bonus pic! This is a drawing I did when I was just getting started with Bryce 3D. It's called Haunted Pass. Feel free to save the file and use it as your computer's background. Share with friends or post wherever else you blog!




Q: What do you hope to accomplish during the fantasy tour?

WB: Each one of the authors has a unique fan base. But readers of Bryan Davis’ wonderful Dragons in Our Midst series may have never heard of Christopher Hopper’s compelling White Lion Chronicles. I’m hoping to let readers of The Door Within Trilogy know that there are other fantastic tales out there. I’m hoping that we’ll bring readers of all four authors together, so that all of us can reach more readers.

BD: Over the last few years, I’ve noticed that quite a few Christians are skeptical of fantasy. They have good reason for their skepticism. With all the dark fantasy stories available, they are wise to be careful. I want to calm their fears by showing them how powerful fantasy can be in leading readers to Christ and strengthening their faith. I want to work to make fantasy a mainstream way of communicating spiritual truth.

SH: Meet face to face with many of the people who are hungry for stories to inspire courage and faith, and talk about the power of STORY as an art form in the Christian life.

CH: Like I said above, I hope we’re able to be an example of how authors, publishers, and Christians as a whole can work together to produce amazing fruit. I hope people are encouraged to meet the faces behind the writing and see that we’re just normal, everyday people that got crazy enough to put our thoughts down on paper. Sure, I hope we sell a lot of books and grow the market awareness; that’s just good business. But it has to be more than that in the long run. It has to be because we love the King and want His Message sent out to the ends of the earth. For my part, I get the East Coast with three other amazing writers, at least for this summer.

7 comments:

Unknown said...

I'll be praying for all of you, and all the potential writers and readers! Without this tour I may have never heard of the White Lion Chronicles, which I recently bought and have just started reading today and I am so far throughly enjoying Rise of the Dibor. I hope more publishers take notice of Christian fantasy/scifi novels, and see that they provide a great picture of our spiritual walk with God!

WayneThomasBatson said...

Isn't Rise of the Dibor cool? What an original hook for a Fantasy story. The world-building is top shelf, and the characters just seem so likeable.

Unknown said...

Yeah, without this fantasy tour I wouldn't have heard of Christopher Hopper or Sharon Hinck. I only knew about you, Wayne, after reading DIOM and joining the DIOM message forum.

That Haunted Pass strangely reminds me of the computer game Myst. Ever played it?

Astral Pen said...

I still haven't had a chance to read Rise of the Dibor. They haven't stocked it in my local Christian bookstore yet. I may have to order it.

By the way, take a trip over to Spec Faith, and read my list o' links. Plenty of reviews on The Door Within trilogy and WTB interviews!

- Jason

WayneThomasBatson said...

I know of Myst, but never played it. Funny thing: I drew this pic just before The Return of the King came out, and amazingly, it seems reminiscent of the Path of the Dead.

What say you?

And, Jason

I'll have a look, and thanks!

Unknown said...

Oh my goodness, it sure does! That's so funny...

I am an LOTR fan as well... not quite so much as Roh, but I am. I'm one of those who prefers the books over the movies, and really only likes the first and the third movie.

My fave character is Samwise :D

Roheryn said...

It DOES look like the Paths of the Dead!

I'd only heard mention of The Door Within before hearing 'bout this tour, and I'd seen The Restorer at the book store... but I wouldn't have picked any of them up without the tour *waits for books to get in*