The Christian Fantasy Review

I found out that Bryan Davis is a former computer guy turned writer, and his favorite literary character is Atticus Finch. Now, I’m pretty fond of Atticus too.

I joined ACFW last October and bought the conference audios from last year. I’ve listened to them many times over now. What a wealth of information for a beginner like me! I also have gotten a lot out of the email groups that ACFW offers for free. It’s a great organization for aspiring Christian writers, no matter what your genre.

The 2010 Christy Awards were announced over the weekend. I’m proud to say that three of the recipients were reviewed here at the Christian Fantasy Review, all of them part of the Christian Science Fiction/Fantasy Blog Tour. I gave them all my maximum of two thumbs up, naturally!

The CSFF blog tour on By Darkness Hid by Jill Williamson ends tomorrow. I checked out what is posted so far and am really impressed. There were many reviews and some criticisms, but everyone recommends this book.

In particular I liked KM Wilsher’s interview with the author, discussing how she got the ideas to write the book, and even including her sketches of the characters.

Last night I checked the blogs of others on the CSFF blog tour and found a number of posts. This tour is unusual: everyone who posted loved the book. Last time that happened, it was Lawhead who was the author. Does this mean Jill Williamson is the next Lawhead???

All you Christian fantasy and sci fi lovers out there, it’s time to nominate a book for the annual Clive Staples award. Clive Staples being, of course, what C.S. stands for in C.S. Lewis. The award, administered by several major players in Christian fantasy-sci fi, is nearly new–the first award went last year to Dragonlight by Donita K. Paul.

The Christian Science Fiction/Fantasy Blog Tour bloggers had enormously varied reactions to Athol Dickson’s 2009 book Lost Mission. Many, like me, loved it. Others couldn’t get into it. Others disapproved of it. What a wild tour!

Q. Did you intend parallels involving the duo of the warring friars and the duo of the rich man and the pastor? A. Oh, absolutely. Everything that happens in LOST MISSION is connected across both space and time, just as it is in life.

Nearly all of those who blogged on the book so far (see below) liked it. Only one had some trouble getting into the book (but then, it is the second book in a series and he skipped the first book…)

The Tribe contest is limited in duration, lasting between the end of October and January 1. At that time, the authors will evaluate contestants and select winners. The top winners will get a book-signing visit from one of the authors, complete with sword fighting and freebies. There are other prizes too, like swords and Amazon gift certificates.

This system is obviously working; the “Underground” bulletin board on the book’s website is full of references to it.

My hat’s off to some marketing geniuses!