by Jason Joyner | Oct 22, 2012 | Blog, Bright Empires, CSFF, speculative fiction, Stephen Lawhead, The Spirit Well
In Which We Jump Back To Move Ahead.
Welcome to the October 2012 CSFF Tour, featuring the best Christian Sci-fi and Fantasy reads available.
This month is a treat because we get to feature one of the greatest speculative fiction writers out there:
Stephen Lawhead. His prolific work has been published and re-released and he keeps on stretching his boundaries and using new concepts to
fuel his latest work, the Bright Empires series and the third in the five volume tale,
The Spirit Well.
The enjoyable part of following a series on the tour is getting to read each one and not losing track of them. The difficulty becomes remembering all that happens and writing about it coherently, but I shall persevere and attept to set the record straight.
In the first book, The Skin Map, a rather ordinary Brit named Kit Livingstone got an unexpected visit from an older chap – who happened to be his great-grandfather. The man was quite spry for someone who should be dead.
It turns out that Kit’s family has the ability to travel via ley lines, special energy forces that were marked by primitive populations through mounds, lines, and other features that have long baffled modern research. These portals open to alternate dimensions, into the very Omniverse. Pretty handy overall.
The Skin Map introduces the quest for, you guessed it, the skin map, a series of tattoos on the skin of the most prolific ley traveler that could show the way to the fabled Spirit Well. Kit chases it and his girlfriend Mina (whom he accidentally lost while ley leaping, but ended up landing on her feet anyway). As any good quest should, he has a villian after him in the form of the evil Lord Burleigh, who has a group of thugs called Burley men trailing the hapless Kit.
In the second book The Bone House the adventure continues as Kit escapes death thanks to his resourceful Mina, the man behind the Skin Map (literally) plots the rescue of his beloved wife, and more is revealed about the origin of Lord Burleigh. Through twists and turns in time and space, we end up with Kit at the very edge of the mysterious Spirit Well.
Thus begins book three, which continues the tale. And this blog will continue to discuss tomorrow. If you’re waiting for more, please check out my fellow travelers below as we explore the labyrinthine Skin Map and see if we can do better than Kit. Or you can check out my prior posts on The Skin Map and The Bone House to get more in-depth on the previous books.
Jim Armstrong
Julie Bihn
Red Bissell
Jennifer Bogart
Thomas Clayton Booher
Thomas Fletcher Booher
Beckie Burnham
Brenda Castro
Jeff Chapman
Christine
Karri Compton
Theresa Dunlap
Emmalyn Edwards
April Erwin
Victor Gentile
Jeremy Harder
by Jason Joyner | Sep 27, 2012 | Biblical worldview, big ideas, Blog, CSFF, Mike Duran, speculative fiction, The Telling
I left off last time on our CSFF tour feature of The Telling by Mike Duran with a teaser. I reviewed the book, but didn’t address the main idea of the book.
That requires a post of its own.
Mike’s main character has a gift he calls “the Telling.” It is basically prophecy – he gets words for people or others. It often comes with a physical sensation that makes him sick.
Prophecy isn’t controversial, is it?
The problem in the book is the ninth gate of hell that happens to be nearby and is threatening to take over the small California town of Endurance.
A gate of hell isn’t controversial, is it?
The demons that infiltrate Endurance make copies of people’s bodies, creepy doppelgangers that know the person’s every thought and desire.
That isn’t controversial, is it?
None of this would be controversial if it weren’t in the Christian fiction arena. The thing that could make it very risky is that there is a clear representation of faith and needing God’s touch in the midst of more unorthodox aspects of the story.
I don’t want to spoil the story, but needless to say Zeph Walker has some issues since he has a huge scar marring his mouth inflicted by a psychotic stepmother. After being hurt, he stopped using the Telling – or it left him. Either way, there’s a theme of finding your way back to faith. The tagline for the book is awesome: A prophet never loses his calling, only his way.
So the theme of coming back is a decidedly Christian one. However, since The Telling mixes God with mythical gates of hell, demons that don’t possess but make really good paper mache copies of people, strange demon fighters, and a blend of science and the occult – is it truly Christian fiction?
I say yes.
I don’t believe a novel has to be orthodox to be Christian fiction. Maybe it comes from too much familiarity with Mike Duran – I know that he loves Jesus and loves the Church and the Word. But we have a huge precedent with C.S. Lewis and the Chronicles of Narnia. Witches and talking horses and all sorts of magic run through the story, yet all but the most conservative of Christians accept it as one of the prime examples of exemplary Christian fiction. Even though J.R.R. Tolkien didn’t claim to be writing Christian fiction with The Lord Of The Rings, it is still considered a more veiled version of Narnia.
I know others will disagree. We had a fine gentleman with good thoughts leave the CSFF because too many stories we featured weren’t orthodox enough for him. So whose orthodoxy will we use? In mine, prophecy is good to go, but other Christians won’t agree to that at all. This will continue to be an issue no matter what we do.
I wish I had been able to visit the other blogs on the tour and see the chatter. Unfortunately between computer glitches and backed-up sewer lines in basements (honey, let’s do a spontaneous renovation of the downstairs) I haven’t seen much of anything. I aim to fix that and check out the opinions, because I’m sure this is going to be an interesting conversation. As always, our stalwart leader Becky Miller keeps up with the latest and greatest posts of the tour.
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by Jason Joyner | Sep 27, 2012 | Blog, CSFF, Mike Duran, reviews, speculative fiction, The Telling
The CSFF is featuring Mike Duran and his latest book The Telling.
Like I mentioned yesterday, I met Mike at the ACFW Conference this last weekend and we talked a few times. When I mentioned the tour for his book, he told me to be honest with my opinion. Mike has posted about the lack of real critique in Christian fiction circles before, so it didn’t surprise me that he said to go for it.
But first, what is The Telling?
Zeph Walker is a disfigured loner in the town of Endurance, on the edge of Death Valley. Hiding out on his property, his only real contact with people is in his dilapidated Book Swap store. His hideous scar, stretching from his nose across his mouth to his chin, has earned him the name Zipperface.
But Zeph has not always been like this. He used to have The Telling. He would know things about people, situations, events. He turned his back on this gift long ago.
When two law enforcement agents show him a body in the morgue that is a carbon copy of himself, he begins to be drawn in to a mystery that has been brewing underground for years. For Endurance is known for being the location of one of the nine mythical gates of hell.
As Zeph meets new friends that are also finding suspicious things going on in their little town, a choice is presented. Face the threat and face the past, or succumb to the evil lurking in the abandoned mine nearby.
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As you can see, Mike Duran does not lack for imagination. When he announced his tagline on his blog: “A disfigured prophet must rise up to close one of the nine mythical gates of hell,” I knew we were in for a ride.
Mike has a distinct style. He writes supernatural fiction, dealing with the elements of angels, demons, spirits, and the ragged edge of faith. However, he does so with a lyrical style. Mike cares about the language used, and he takes great care to paint the picture of what is going on with metaphor and simile. His words don’t just move the plot along, but they weave a picture. This is one of Mike’s strengths, but it does make his writing a little more dense. The book is not an easy pick-up and read. There’s effort expended in working through the passages.
Like his first book, The Resurrection, he deals with flawed characters with significant weakness. Zeph was horribly scarred by his stepmother. Spunky senior citizen Annie Lane has fought isolation and feeling like she may have been passed by in her destiny. There’s even a lot of empathy for one of the antagonists, Fergus Coyne, who battles in his own decision on how to confront his past. The bottom line is that you care about these characters because they have significant doubts and challenges – things we can relate to as readers.
Now to the plot and the big idea of the book. I’m going to rate the writing to finish today, and tomorrow will tackle the implications of the themes.
Mike said he threw the kitchen sink at this book. Government conspiracy theories, prophecy, demons, body-snatching, and cactus jelly all in one swirl of suspense. This makes it very interesting. To me, it also made it tricky to follow everything that went on. I will admit that I read it in fits and starts due to my schedule, but the back and forth of the varied plot points got confusing – enough that it dampened some of the enjoyment. Between the twists and four different point of view characters, I had to step out of his world to figure out who was doing what and where it fit.
It is a good book. I didn’t feel it was a great read. Fellow writers are notorious to please, because we read books with different eyes than a standard fiction fan. If I had to rate it on a scale, I’d give it 3.5 stars out of 5. There’s a lot to think about in this book, there are interesting characters, and a skillful use of language, tempered by a mildly confusing plot.
I didn’t talk about the themes and big ideas. Check back tomorrow for that – I promise it is the most interesting part.
Also, check out the other posts on The Telling. Becky Miller lists all the posts so far.
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by Jason Joyner | Sep 24, 2012 | Biblical worldview, Blog, books, critical thinking, CSFF, Mike Duran, speculative fiction, The Telling
It’s time to “Tell” you about the September Christian Sci-fi and Fantasy Tour.
This one is a pleasure for me because the CSFF is featuring Mike Duran and his latest novel, The Telling.
Mike Duran is an author and prolific blogger. His blog Decompose is a fertile ground of ideas that make you think. Not only does Mike post provocative thoughts on faith, fiction, and culture, but the community of commenters he has following him often expand the posts into very interesting realms.
Mike is not afraid to ask the hard questions or probe issues regarding Christian fiction and speculative ideas. However, he has a deep love for the Church and regularly pokes at the foibles of atheist and relativistic thinking.
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| Mike and I chatting it up |
The best part about Mike is that he is real and he is interested in people and exploring these issues. I know this because I had the great pleasure of meeting him this last weekend at the ACFW Conference in Dallas.
If this post sounds gushing because I just met the guy and I’m talking him up, you can forget that idea. The web does not allow for really knowing people, no matter how much you think it does. The face-to-face with Mike and bouncing ideas off him and other like thinkers (here’s a shout to fellow CSFF tour member Morgan Busse) over meals was a highlight of the conference to me.
Over the next few days we’ll be talking about Mike and The Telling. I’m sure it will be a tour with a lot of discussion. I invite you to check out my fellow tourmates below for more information.
Jim Armstrong
Noah Arsenault
Keanan Brand
Beckie Burnham
Brenda Castro
Jeff Chapman
Christine
Theresa Dunlap
Victor Gentile
Nikole Hahn
Bruce Hennigan
Julie
Carol Keen
Emileigh Latham
Meagan @ Blooming with Books
Rebecca LuElla Miller
Anna Mittower
Kathleen Smith
Donna Swanson
Jessica Thomas
Steve Trower
Dona Watson
Shane Werlinger
Phyllis Wheeler
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by Jason Joyner | Aug 21, 2012 | Blog, CSFF, fantasy, speculative fiction
Guess what’s back?
After a summer hiatus, the Christian Sci-fi/Fantasy Tour (CSFF as it is affectionately known) is back. This month the focus book is
Eye of the Sword by Karyn Henley. Unfortunately I didn’t read this book, as I’m preparing for a special event that I’ll talk more about tomorrow. I hate to miss out on books, because the CSFF Tour usually features the best in Christian fantasy or science fiction. Here’s what Amazon has to say about it:
Where angels walk the ground and the future is told in song, does a man of low rank have a chance at love with a princess?
In Camrithia, a land of shadows and mystical secrets, Trevin lives to serve King Laetham. But his heart belongs to the princess, Melaia. When the King sends Trevin on on a dangerous quest to find the missing comains—captains in the king’s army—he must leave Melaia to the advances of a swaggering Dregmoorian prince.
Challenged to prove his worth, Trevin throws himself into his quest. Striving to prove his love, Trevin undertakes a second mission—find the harps Melaia seeks in order to restore the stairway to heaven. Through fire caves, rogue winds, and murderous threats, Trevin remains steadfastly dedicated to his quest—even when he is falsely accused of a heinous crime. As Trevin’s time runs out, he realizes he must face the shame and horror of his own past and the nightmare that has come to life. Will he have the courage to finish what he has started?
If this interests you at all, you can get more information at Karyn’s blog or Facebook page. Of course, my other partners on the tour I’m sure have a lot of intriguing feedback, so be sure to check them out as well.
Until next time, when I have more time…
Julie Bihn
Thomas Fletcher Booher
Keanan Brand
Beckie Burnham
Jackie Castle
Brenda Castro
Jeff Chapman
Christine
Theresa Dunlap
Cynthia Dyer
Victor Gentile
Ryan Heart
Janeen Ippolito
Carol Keen
Emileigh Latham
Rebekah Loper
Shannon McDermott
Karen McSpadden
Meagan @ Blooming with Books
Rebecca LuElla Miller
Anna Mittower
Mirriam Neal
Nissa
Faye Oygard
Nathan Reimer
Chawna Schroeder
Kathleen Smith
Donna Swanson
Jessica Thomas
Steve Trower
Shane Werlinger
Phyllis Wheeler
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by Jason Joyner | May 23, 2012 | Beckon, Blog, CSFF, ideas, Tom Pawlik
Yesterday I gave my review of the CSFF Tour May feature – Beckon by Tom Pawlik. Today I wanted to discuss some of the ideas behind the book. This will necessarily feature…
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| SPOILERS! |
You’ve been warned.
The town of Beckon is founded at the entrance to a series of caves, where a pre-Columbian tribe lives underground and undiscovered. The tribe lives extraordinarily long lives because of a special compound called perillium that is produced by a nest of freaky cave spiders. The tribe offers human sacrifice to the queen of the spiders, and in turn they get access to spider gunk that keeps them alive. The villain Vale found these caves in the 1800’s and has a deal with the tribe to keep outsiders away in exchange for a fountain of youth.
The only problem – the people of Beckon will die a horrible death if they go a day without perillium. Vale uses this to control the people he’s lured there, but he is a prisoner of the tribe himself.
This sets up an interesting moral dilemma for the characters. The book is broken into four acts, with the first three acts introducing someone who stumbles upon Beckon, and the final act is the resolution of all of their stories. The third story focused on George, a businessman in his 70’s who would like to retire and enjoy his wealth. However, his barren wife Miriam has contracted Alzheimer’s, and isn’t really there anymore. When George is offered a chance to heal her in Beckon, he jumps at it.
Miriam’s dementia is not only reversed, but she de-ages to her 20’s. Old George can’t keep up with his frisky young-again bride. However, when Miriam learns the cost of her treatment (they can’t leave Beckon, and people are sacrificed), she denies further treatment. Her faith helps her not fear death, but George is pushed to the edge by Vale. A long-time member of Beckon, Amanda, has developed reservations about what they do. Her perillium is withheld by Vale as a warning to George. George can choose to save Amanda’s life or keep Miriam healthy and alive, as there isn’t enough room for both women. George allows Amanda to die for Miriam’s sake.
Even though Beckon wasn’t my favorite book, I enjoyed the crucible he puts George and Miriam in, and the thought of “what would YOU do for health or life” that is presented to the reader. Beckon isn’t mindless entertainment, and I really like that (I think I would’ve liked Beckon a lot if it engaged me sooner). Pawlik sets up an intriguing choice in the town of Beckon, and I like how George isn’t perfect. He is a good guy overall, but he can be pushed to a horrible choice when he lets Amanda die. It is a major test to sacrifice his wife for a stranger. The bold plot point and the implications it leaves for the reader is a major strong point for this book.
What do you think? How far should we go as a society for health and vitality?
There are other opinions of Beckon out in the rest of the CSFF Tour. Becky Miller keeps an updated list of tour posts here. Be sure to check them out as well.
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