by Jason Joyner | Apr 21, 2014 | Blog, CSFF, John W. Otte, Numb, speculative fiction, writers are strange
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| “Are you my mummy?” photo by Karen Barnett |
Hello science fiction fans. The Christian Sci-fi and Fantasy Tour for May is featuring a great book by an awesome guy.
But for some reason he chose to wear a mask in this picture.
We are featuring Numb by John W. Otte, an adult science fiction book.
Tomorrow I’ll get into the book, but I’m blessed to count John as a friend. We’ve interacted through the CSFF Tour for years, and then we met at the ACFW Conference in Dallas in 2012.
It was my first contest, and having a familiar face in the crowd kept me hanging with John and the cool speculative fiction crowd, even though my WIP was suspense.
We met up again at the same conference in Indianapolis last September and continued to have a blast. So when I review the book, know that there is some bias, but I’ll try to be objective.
Here’s some fun facts about John Otte to get us started.
He stands out in a crowd. Or should I say, above a crowd.
He might be something of a conspiracy theorist.
John is an ordained Lutheran pastor.
He is the organizer of the infamous game nights at the ACFW Conference. Once Upon A Time, there was a Fiasco…
He’s written a YA superhero series: Failstate, Failstate: Legends, and the third book due later this year.
John knows how to suffer. (He’s a Minnesota Vikings fan.)
He’s an avid gamer. (“Shepard.” “Wrex.”)
John is a great brainstormer to help other novelists. We gathered by the elevators in Indy to talk stories, and if John got an idea, his hands would shoot to his head like he was miming putting on a hat (or doing a moose impression). I’ve got trademark pending for his tagline: Don’t modify your story, Otte-fy your story.
One last link: here’s his tale on how he came up with the idea for Numb.
See all the people below? Those are my fellow tourists on the tour. See what they have to say about Numb and check back tomorrow for my review.
Julie Bihn
Jennifer Bogart
Keanan Brand
Beckie Burnham
Pauline Creeden
Vicky DealSharingAunt
Carol Gehringer
Victor Gentile
Rebekah Gyger
Nikole Hahn
Carol Keen
Emileigh Latham
Rebekah Loper
Jennette Mbewe
Amber McCallister
Shannon McDermott
Shannon McNear
Meagan @ Blooming with Books
Rebecca LuElla Miller
Joan Nienhuis
Nissa
Faye Oygard
Writer Rani
Nathan Reimer
Jojo Sutis
Rachel Starr Thomson
Steve Trower
Shane Werlinger
Phyllis Wheeler
Nicole White
by Jason Joyner | Mar 19, 2014 | Blog, CSFF, speculative fiction
Welcome, those who desire adventure.
The CSFF Tour has that today in the March feature, A Draw Of Kings, the third book in the Staff and the Patrick Carr.
Sword series by
The series comes with a lot of praise. The first book, A Cast Of Stones, was listed as one of the best Christian fiction books of 2013 by Library Journal. I have heard praise about it from many of my Christian fiction writer friends.
Perhaps the best praise is from my 13 year old, who just finished the middle book, The Hero’s Lot, in two days after getting it this weekend. I have a feeling A Draw Of Kings will meet a similar fate.
I didn’t get to read this in time, but check out the folks below for more. As always, our leader Becky Miller has the whole update on the latest posts here.
Gillian Adams
Jennifer Bogart
Keanan Brand
Beckie Burnham
Mike Coville
Pauline Creeden
Vicky DealSharingAunt
Carol Gehringer
Victor Gentile
Rebekah Gyger
Nikole Hahn
Carol Keen
Krystine Kercher
Jennette Mbewe
Amber McCallister
Shannon McDermott
Shannon McNear
Meagan @ Blooming with Books
Rebecca LuElla Miller
Joan Nienhuis
Nissa
Writer Rani
Nathan Reimer
Audrey Sauble
James Somers
Jojo Sutis
Steve Trower
Shane Werlinger
Phyllis Wheeler
Nicole White
Jill Williamson
by Jason Joyner | Feb 27, 2014 | 27 million, Blog, Christianity, freedom, human trafficking, slavery, social justice
Today, February 27th, is being used as a day to highlight the scourge of modern day slavery.
Why the 27th?
For starters, best estimates of the number of slaves right now is 27 million.
That is 27 million people that don’t have the freedom to come and go as they please. People that live under fear and coercion, who suffer violence or the threat of violence daily.
They may be child sex slaves in southeast Asia or eastern Europe. It might be a family stuck in bonded labor in India, trapped on a brick kiln. It could even be an immigrant held against their will in the United States.
I’ve long advocated for the fight against modern slavery. It breaks my heart to know that their are people caught in such a horrible web. It hides in the dark, so it takes a lot of people shining the light to help expose it.
Please take a moment today to educate yourself a little on this issue. In my sidebar on the right I have listed several organizations that work in the fight against human trafficking and modern slavery.
Twitter is a great place to find organizations that fight this. Some that I know about are:
@IJM – International Justice Mission
@EndItMovement
@NFS – Not For Sale
@SavingInnocents
@AgapeIntMission – Agape International Missions
@TraffickingEnd
@TheSoldProject
@TheA21Campaign
@ECPAT – ECPAT International
@F2W – Free2Work
@SomalyMam
@Polaris_Project
@Love146
@FreeTheSlaves
@GEMSGirls
@CNNFreedom – CNN Freedom Project
There are others out there. It only takes a minute to look one up and find out what you can do in daily life to make a difference. If nothing else, put a red “X” on your hand today. When people ask you what it means, tell them you’re shining a light on modern slavery.
Most of all, pray for the victims. Pray for those on the front lines of the fight. Pray for justice from the God of justice.
We can make a difference!
Let’s do it.
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by Jason Joyner | Feb 25, 2014 | Blog, human trafficking, International Justice Mission, slavery, social justice, The Locust Effect
What are you reading?
My goal for 2014 is to read more non-fiction. I read fiction all the time to study the craft, support friends, and review Christian speculative fiction. I want to balance it out more this year.
My latest book I’m reading is The Locust Effect by Gary Haugen and Victor Boutros.
Imagine living in a world where if something horrible happens to you or a loved one, such as an assault, rape, or other injustice, you have no place to turn for redress. No one to stand up for justice.
That happens too often in the world, and that is the subject of The Locust Effect. Their premise is that without effective justice in the form of appropriate and honest law enforcement and judicial system, the issues of global poverty, human trafficking, and violence will never see resolution.
This Thursday, February 27th, is a day to focus on the scourge of modern slavery. I will be posting in support of his initiative, and if you are interested in the fight against injustice and modern slavery, I believe The Locust Effect will be a key factor in the future battle.
I’ll post more when I’m finished. If you want to know more, go to the Locust Effect website.
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by Jason Joyner | Feb 19, 2014 | Blog, CSFF, Donita K. Paul, speculative fiction
Hey, is it time for the Christian Sci-fi and Fantasy tour again?
Yes, yes it is.
This month the feature is One Realm Beyond by Donita K. Paul. She is a steady and sure hand for speculative fiction. I’m too involved in other projects so I didn’t get to read this new book, but here’s a little magnification of the message.
See all the folks below? Check them out for the latest and greatest on this new series.
Here’s the Amazon blurb:
Cantor D’Ahma waited his whole life for this day. Born with a gift to jump between worlds, the young realm walker is finally ready to leave his elderly mentor and accept his role as protector and defender of the realms. But mere hours after he steps through his first portal, Cantor discovers that his job will be more dangerous and difficult than he ever imagined. The realms are plagued with crime and cruelty, and even members of the once-noble Realm Walkers Guild can no longer be trusted. To make matters worse, his first assignment—finding a dragon to assist him on his quest—has led him to Bridger, who is clearly inept and won’t leave him alone. With the help of his new friends Bixby and Dukmee, Cantor must uncover the secrets of the corrupt guild before they become too powerful to be stopped. But his skills aren’t progressing as fast as he would like, and as he finds himself deeper and deeper in the guild’s layers of deceit, Cantor struggles to determine where his true allegiance lies.
Julie Bihn Keanan Brand Beckie Burnham Mike Coville Pauline Creeden Vicky DealSharingAunt Carol Gehringer Rebekah Gyger Janeen Ippolito Carol Keen Krystine Kercher Emileigh Latham Jennette Mbewe Shannon McDermott Meagan @ Blooming with Books Melanie @ Christian Bookshelf Reviews Rebecca LuElla Miller Joan Nienhuis Nissa Donita K. Paul Audrey Sauble Chawna Schroeder James Somers Jojo Sutis Jessica Thomas Steve Trower Shane Werlinger Jill Williamson Deborah Wilson
by Jason Joyner | Jan 22, 2014 | Blog, CSFF, dystopian, Jill Williamson, Outcasts, speculative fiction, writing craft, young adult
Hey-o boys and femmes.
I’ve talked about Jill Williamson and her cool series The Safe Lands, and our feature book Outcasts, book 2 in the series. My recap of the first book Captives is here, and my review of Outcasts is here.
The series is geared for Young Adult audiences. It also falls under the category of dystopian fiction, which is all the rage right now. Think The Hunger Games, Divergent, and Steelheart as recent stories that fit the genre.
So what is dystopian fiction?
If utopia is the term for a perfect place, then dystopia is the opposite. Dystopian stories take place in a setting where something has gone wrong. Either society has broken down and there is chaos, or there is a controlling factor which rules society in a dysfunctional way.
Even though it has become popular lately, it has been around for a while. Classic books like 1984 or Brave New World are dystopian. It’s the opposite of the idea behind Star Trek, where humanity progresses to higher standards and behavior. Instead, things get worse. It relates to fears that humanity is going to mess things up. Maybe we ruin the planet, or a yet undiscovered virus will wipe out a majority of the population, or we turn to dictatorships for control. Somehow, things are going to go bad.
Some may ask, “Why is this a genre for Christians to write about? Don’t we have a future hope? Aren’t things going to get better?”
Valid questions, but I would argue that it is precisely the Christian who needs to be speaking into this genre. A lot of writers in this have a pessimistic view of the future. Christians can provide the hope and light needed to balance things out. With the caveat that it can’t be preachy.
Consider the Garden of Eden. This could be considered the first dystopian story. Adam and Eve lose fellowship with their Creator over their sin, and now they live in a harsh world. Noah is very much in this vein as well.
How about some of the stories in Judges?
Would the Israelites raised on stories of King David think that exile and being ruled by Persia, Greece, and Rome would qualify as dystopian?
Christians have survived the fall of the Roman Empire. Our faith has survived centuries of conflict in Europe and around the world.
Finally, what about the Apocalypse? No matter your interpretation of the Book of Revelation, it is clear that the story reflects a dystopian time that is overcome by the Prince of Peace at the last.
Christians can truthfully write about a future where things have broken down in some way because we recognize that we live in that now. The world is not as it should be, and a ragamuffin group of rebels against the status quo is running around claiming a man rose from the dead and can bring living water.
A series like the Safe Lands just amplifies it for dramatic effect. The cool thing is that Jill does it without the preachy aspect. It will make teens think, seeing examples of good and bad, without pointing to a character and saying, “See that? That is what is bad for you. So stay away from the bad.”
It’s what I love about speculative fiction. The “what if” questions that you can ask when you suspend reality, whether through fantasy, science fiction, steampunk, cyberpunk, time travel, or plain old dystopian. So for Jill and other writers venturing into such places, go for it. It’s awesome.
If you want to see some more feedback about Outcasts, then Becky Miller has a list of all of the participants and their posts.
What do you think? Is there something about the dystopian genre that we should be wary of as Christians, or are there ways to work redemptively through it? Share below.
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