Meet the Authors of the Fantasy 4 Fiction Tour, Part 6

Hey, all! Just 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:

The Fantasy 4 Fiction Tour Website

Tonight I've posted the SIXTH 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 a simple piece, but I've always liked the mood and suggestive quality. It's not based on any story, but it seems to be begging for one, eh? It's called Castle Cliffs. Feel free to save the file and use it as your computer's background. Share with friends or post wherever else you blog!






Q: How do you think coming together for The Fantasy Fiction Tour demonstrates the gospel message?

WB: When Jesus came to the men who would become apostles and shared the good news of the Gospel with them, they left everything behind: homes, jobs, lifestyles, and also pretense and artificial barriers. You had doctors, fishermen, tax collectors, and tent-makers—and they gave up everything for The Mission. In the four authors on this tour, you have a former engineer, a musician, a soccer mom, and a teacher—all of whom have become authors for different publishers. You also have four different Christian backgrounds spanning several denominations. And yet, we are coming together for the mission of conveying God’s truth through the well-written fantasy tale. Our publishers have put aside competition and are working hard to promote all of our works, which is something I’ve never heard of before.

BD: All four of us have a passion to build God’s kingdom, and we are coming together to share hammers, nails, and encouragement as we build. This kind of cross-publisher support demonstrates that this effort isn’t about money; it’s about communicating something we all believe in. Sure, we hope to sell more books, but that’s so more people will read the stories that we believe will lead them closer to God. The foundation for the gospel is love, and love is selfless. That’s the spirit we hope to illustrate as we work side by side.

SH: The heart of the Gospel is that we can’t save ourselves. We need Christ – and HIS actions on our behalf. I know that as writers, each of us has acknowledged that we can’t succeed in our daily work apart from Christ, either. By uniting for this tour, we are looking to HIM to accomplish His purposes. We’re also enjoying the blessing of fellowship – supporting each other, instead of promoting ourselves.

CH: I love meeting fans of my books, because their lives have been changed by them in some small way, just as mine has been in writing them. And not only that, but meeting the fans of the other authors’ works, seeing the looks on their faces when they shake hands with that author because they both have a mutual connection, all because of a simple story. Isn’t that the point? We’ve all been affected by a simple story told over and over again for 2,000 years. And if we’re honest with that story, it will redefine who and what we are, because there is life in that story.

I also think the tour hammers home the way real Christians should be acting. Think about it, four different authors, each with a different church affiliation and personal background, from four different publishers, each with quite possibly a completely different set of values from how they market to what they edit and why. Unfortunately the secular world has seen enough evidence of why not to be a Christian; it’s a wonderful thing to be a part of a team that shows them what they are missing if they aren’t. Unity is not uniformity. Unity is working together for a common purpose.