Welcome to Day 2 of the
CSFF Blog Tour focusing on
Sharon Hinck's The Restorer. Before we get to business, I've been feeling restless in spirit about something, and I want to address it here, if briefly.
The purpose of the blog tour, as I've understood it, is to make folks on the Internet and elsewhere more aware of Christian Fantasy and Science Fiction. We do this by concentrating on an author, book, website for a specific period of time--which gets blog-tracking sites like
Technorati to notice, and so...hopefully will the public. Those of us who are involved are avid readers of
SciFi and Fantasy, and we'd all like to see more Christian-friendly fiction available. We'd also like to see the secular world drawn closer to the King of Kings through the fiction we write and promote.
When we do a Tour, we introduce the author(s) and the book(s), we do interviews, we do behind-the-scenes-features, we post art and photos, and yes, we review the books. The last couple of book blog tours, however, have troubled me a little bit. I think some of the Blog Tour participants have forgotten the purpose of the tour. I've read some absolutely scathing reviews of some of the books we've featured. Use of sarcasm, condescension, and belittling is common--without apology, I might add--in such reviews. And in a Christian community, that bothers me. I think reviews like these promote division in the body of Christ, not academic honesty as is the purported excuse for such reviews.
I think there's a problem with most extremes, and book reviews on the Blog Tour can fall into one of two extremes, both problematic, but not equally so.
1.
The Blind Praise Review: This is when the reviewer gushes on and on about how spectacular a book is--even when it's not. The book might be good, but not great, and yet the reviewer sings a hallelujah chorus of spectacular joy over the story, the character, the settings, everything is perfect. The author of a blind praise review comes off as a flatterer, and in so doing, loses the reader's respect.
2.
The Flame: This type of review basically hammers a book from top to bottom, never considering the merits that are there. Often, harsh criticisms are rendered with little or no rationale. Even when ample rationale is present, the review still has the tone of a hatchet job. It feels like a personal attack. The author of a "Flame" review comes off as spiteful or perhaps as an intellectual snob, and in so doing, loses the reader's respect.
In my humble opinion, I don't think either kind of review is appropriate for the Blog Tour. Most people don't like either one. Most people will give more credence to a balanced review--one that seeks the positives without ignoring the negatives. I think that is what we should strive for. Be honest, be fair, be critical--but all in love.
Remember, the authors of the books reviewed here are people--nice people--who have feelings. And most of the authors like to visit these blogs and contribute a lot of insight from which we all benefit.
I'd like to end my rant with this advice for some of the folks on the tour who have published recent "flames"---like my mother used to say: "If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all."
And now, back to our regularly scheduled broadcast!I said yesterday that
Sharon Hinck's The Restorer could change the Fantasy Genre forever. Big claim, that. But seriously, let's consider the Fantasy Genre. Prior to the last 15 years, who read fantasy? Mostly guys, right? When I went to the Trilogy Tuesday Showing of all three Lord of the Rings Movies, who else did I see camping out for tickets? Mostly guys. But things are changing. Lots and lots of men and women of all ages are discovering or rediscovering fantasy. And this is a good thing. The more people who discover fantasy, the more titles we fans get to read. The more hopeful writers become authors. The more great communities like the
CSFF Blog Tour spring up. It's all good.
Sharon
Hinck has just thrown wide the doors to this great genre for a population that typically doesn't read
SpecFic. Soccer moms, homemakers, stay-at-home-moms--whatever the title, now have an invitation to come and read. And once in the door, we all know what happens. Someone handed me a copy of The Hobbit in 6
th grade. I read it, and it was all over. A fan for life I became. The Hobbit was my "gateway" read into the Fantasy Genre.
The Restorer will be a gateway for thousands more. Great work, Sharon. Keep writing for the King!
In conclusion, I thought it might be fun for those who come by here to post about your own "Gateway" book. What fantasy/
sciFi book made you a fan of the genre? What hooked you?
-
WtB
I opened up my front door and found this cool, little white tube from my publisher on the porch. Inside was a shiny new dustcover for the soon to be released Isle of Swords. My scanner is pretty small, so I couldn't get all of it in, but please take a look at the front and back cover. I just have to hit my knees and say THANK YOU, GOD. I'm still in awe that Tommy Nelson Publishing saw something in my stories worthy of this kind of production. Gold foil titling, sweet multicolor images on dustcover and hardcover, colored inks inside--I don't get it, but I am grateful.
The wall was fairly unremarkable. It was stone; simple, gray stone. But there was something that the old man was interested in, for he ran his finger down the crack in front of him with a perusing gaze, trying to find something. There was not much to be heard; A mouse here and there, but whoever this man was, he was alone in a rather unsettling, dusty, narrow hallway.
He breathed in through his nose and tilted his back a little, causing his tweed cap to fall over his eyebrows. The man reached into a pocket inside his jacket and pulled out a small blue crystal, and then fitted it into a crack where four stone blocks met.
The crystal started to shine, reacting to the miasma in the air in the hallway, and then burst, breaking down the wall. The man brushed some dust out of his white mustache, and proceeded through.
Beyond the opening was not much, only some old copper pipes in a space the size of a small room. The man wasn’t too happy that he used one of his crystals to only make it to a maintenance room.
“Where are you…” he mumbled to himself, putting his hand to the stubble on his chin. He stood there, contemplating his situation, and then turned his back to explore further down the hall. Once his back was parallel with the wall he had just broken, a rush of air flew past him, with a sound like a giant breathing in. Light, too, drifted past him, and a shadow drifted forth from the room he had just left.
This man knew what was happening, and quickly turned around to see a figure of shadow.
“Johannes Wächter, not this time,” exhaled the figure of shadow, growing ever more solid, but it was still translucent, it was still the thing that Johannes had come here to find: a ghost.