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Saturday, June 30, 2007

Meet the Authors of the Fantasy 4 Fiction Tour, Part 5

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!

Tonight I've posted the FIFTH 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 my rendition of Rivendell, the House of Elrond from LOTR. Feel free to save the file and use it as your computer's background. Share with friends or post wherever else you blog!




Q: Tell me about a current project.

WB: I have a high adventure on the high seas planned for release in August of 2007. This pirate’s tale is called Isle of Swords, and begins with a lad awakening on an island. He is bruised, scarred, beaten within an inch of his life, and yet he has no memory of what happened to him…how he came to this island, or even of his own identity. All he has to go on is a leather pouch containing: a priceless green jewel, a lock of red hair, and a rusty iron cross. The journey of discovering who he is will bring the lad between two of the Caribbean’s most notorious pirates: Declan Ross and Bartholomew Thorne.

BD:I just finished the second book in the Oracles of Fire series, Enoch’s Ghost, and I will soon be working on book number three, Last of the Nephilim. These stories continue the Dragons in our Midst saga. Thigocia is the only dragon left in the world, and she is searching for her long lost human son, born to her while she was in human form. Three human characters help her in a search that literally takes one of them to the gates of Hell, to the very edge of the lake of fire. What they learn will mean life for some and death for others.

SH: Right now I’m working on my revisions for the third book in the Sword of Lyric series. Like the Old Testament Judges, God raises up a new “Restorer” in times of great need, so each book focuses on a different Restorer – but Susan continues to be an integral part of each story.

CH: I’m working on book III in The White Lion Chronicles. Honestly, I think it’s been the most fun of the three to write simply because it’s so fast paced. I’ve wanted to do an action thriller for some time, and this is as close as I’ll get to one in this series. Everything is culminating at break neck speed. I think people are really going to like it, and have to stop just to catch their breath; I have to when writing it!


Wednesday, June 27, 2007

New Article on Speculative Faith--Sharp, Pointy Things and more...



Hello to all! Just an FYI, I have a new article up at Speculative Faith. Check it out if you have a moment! I blog their every 2nd and 4th Thursday. This week's topic is about sharp, pointy things.

Monday, June 25, 2007

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

Hey, all! Two weeks and counting. The Fantasy 4 Fiction Tour will kick off July 9th 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!

Tonight I've posted the fourth 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 pic is from my own Door Within Trilogy--Alleble at Dawn. If you've read the books, you know the dawn of which I speak, eh? Wink, wink. Feel free to save the file and use it as your computer's background. Share with friends or post wherever else you blog!




Q: Tell me about a character or theme from one of your books that is at least loosely autobiographical.

WB: Aidan, the main character of The Door Within, is a lot like I was when I was in my tweens. Creative, hopeful, and thoughtful—but not very outgoing…not very confident. I always longed for adventure, but most of mine were in my imagination. Aidan’s fear of Robby’s basement came straight out of my own childhood fear. My parents have a split basement. The unfinished side, the workside as we called it, was the creepiest place on the planet. I was always afraid that some creature lurked in its shadowy confines—that it waited for someone to venture too close to the open door. I used to leap over the side of the stairs onto a couch to avoid going by that basement door.

And like Aidan, I made a life-changing discovery that people tried to dismiss as make-believe. I became a Christian at age 22 in 1991. My parents thought I was cute, my coworkers thought I was crazy, and my friends thought I’d been abducted by aliens and brainwashed! But faith in God isn’t cute, it isn’t irrational, and it’s not trickery. God is real, and He’s waiting to change lives.

BD: I pass on this question.

SH: Susan, the heroine of The Restorer, chooses to obey and follow God in spite of sacrifice and confusion. Because of that, she expects that He will smooth the path for her. When she endures torture and betrayal, she confronts her disillusionment. A key step in her spiritual growth comes as she surrenders her need to have God explain Himself to her – but love and trust Him anyway. That theme is drawn from my walk with Christ. From childhood, I’ve sought to serve Him with a deep passion. Yet He has allowed hurtful things into my life that have caused me to wrestle with Him... Like Susan, I swing between asking Him if I’ve failed Him somehow, or if He has failed me, and finally realizing it is part of the mystery of faith. In The Restorer a key theme is “the cost of discipleship.”

CH: Spoiler Alert: The following pertains to The Lion Vrie: If I were to pick a specific instance that was very autobiographical, I would have to point to a very powerful scene in The Lion Vrie (Book II) where the main character, Luik, is confronted with the death of someone very near to him. (No, I am not Luik; Luik is my son’s name. But yes, Luik has many pieces of me, as do all my characters). Luik desperately wants to pray for his fallen friend and see him brought back to life. But he can’t bring himself to do it, whether it be for fear of failure, intimidation, lack of faith, or simply lack of self-confidence. In real life, I had lost a very close friend who died suddenly during a routine hospital check-up at age 41. As I sat in the funeral home helping his wife pick out the tombstone (a horrible job), I wanted to walk into the back room and lay hands on his dead body, to pull a “Lazarus, get up!” But I didn’t. It was a deeply personal thing for me, and is to this day, but writing about it really helped. You could say it’s my own form of cathartic therapy.

Sunday, June 24, 2007

The Fantasy 4 Fiction Tour Schedule!



Beginning July 9th in Atlanta, I'll be touring the East Coast of the US with Bryan Davis, Sharon Hinck, and Christopher Hopper! That's right, four Spectacular Fantasy Authors will be coming to bookstores near you to meet, greet, speak, read, and sign books! If you are a fan of Fantasy Fiction, esp. Fantasy that has depth, this is an event you don't want to miss. I've read all three of these other authors, and I can personally vouch for their work. It's great reading.

Bryan Davis has written The Dragons in Our Midst Books and the new Oracles of Fire books--contemporary fantasy that will leave you breathless! To find out more, click HERE.

Sharon Hinck has written a brand new fantasy series called The Sword of Lyric. The Restorer and its sequels may well revolutionize the fantasy genre. To find out more, click HERE.

Christopher Hopper has written the incredible White Lion Chronicles--one of the coolest story concepts I've read in a long time! To find out more, click HERE.

Wayne Thomas Batson has written The Door Within Trilogy, but what you may not know is that all THREE books have been REreleased in Special Lost Chapter Paperback Editions. These collector's copies include deleted chapters and new side adventures only found in the paperback. There will be author and editor commentaries as well. Think of The Lost Chapter Editions as Director's Cuts of DVDs. For more info, click HERE:

Please check out the schedule of events below and see if we're going to be near you. We'd love to meet wonderful fantasy readers like you in person!



Monday, July 9th
ICRS Convention
Tsaba House Booth #1904 (One of the 16 STL booths)
11:00am - noon
Meet & Greet with appetizers

Tuesday, July 10th
ICRS Convention
STL Booth #1904 (STL main booth)
1:30pm - 2:30pm
Fantasy Author Photo-Op

Wednesday, July 11th 1:00pm � 3:00pm Heart & Hearth Home Education Support Group
Manchester, TN.
Contact: Linda Reed tnhomeschooler@yahoo.com
931-596-3171

Thursday, July 12th 12:00 - 2:00pm
Cedar Springs Christian Store
504 North Peter�s Rd.
Knoxville, TN.
865-690-5253

Thursday, July 12th 6:00pm
Barnes & Noble
Dreamland Shopping Center
83 South Tunnel Rd.
Asheville, NC 28805

828-296-9330

Friday, July 13th 12:00 - 2:00pm
Barnes & Noble
Sharon Corners Shopping Center
4720 Sharon Rd.
Charlotte, NC. 28210

704-554-7906

Friday, July 13th 6pm
Borders
404 101 East Six Forks Rd.
Raleigh, NC. 27609

919-755-9424

Saturday, July 14th 12:00 - 2:00pm
Barnes & Noble
5501 West Broad St.
Richmond, VA. 23230

804-282-0781

Saturday, July 14th 6:00 - 8:00pm
His Way Christian Bookstore
Normandy Shopping Center
8450 Baltimore National Pike
Ellicott City, Maryland 21043

410-465-7546

Sunday, July 15th (9:30am)
National Presbyterian Church
4104 Nebraska Avenue N.W.
Washington D.C. 20016

202-537-0800

Sunday, July 15th 3:00 - 5:00pm
Barnes & Noble
Potomac Yard Store
3651 Jefferson Davis Highway
Alexandria, VA. 22305

703-299-9124

Sunday, July 15th 6:30 - 8:30pm
Barnes & Noble
Long Gate Shopping Center
4300 Montgomery Road
Ellicott City, Maryland 21043

410-203-9001

Monday, July 16th 1:00pm
(PENDING)

Monday, July 16th 6pm - 8pm
The Days Of Knights Store
173 East Main Street
Newark, DE. 19711

302-366-0963

Tuesday, July 17th 5pm
Timeless Treasures Christian Gift & Bookstore
163 Livingston St.
Brooklyn, NY
. 11201
718-852-2667

Wednesday, July 18th Noon
Timeless Treasures Christian Gift & Bookstore
673 8th Ave.
Manhattan, NY
10036
212-582-4311


The Fantasy 4 Fiction Tour Trailer

The Fantasy 4 Fiction Tour
Trailer is Here!






The Tour is just 2 Weeks away now.
Will you be meeting us somewhere on the East Coast?
Post in and let us know!



Tour Trailer created by Christopher Hopper and Grandath Films.