The time has come for another CSFF Blog Tour. Before I begin, I beg your leave to make an observation: It is HOT. This is BEASTLY. Thank you.
August’s book-o-the-month is Offworld by Robin Parrish. In this sci-fi novel set in 2033, a team of astronauts returns from the first successful trip to Mars to find that the world as they know it is gone: every animal, man, woman, and child has disappeared — or so it seems at first. No, this is not Left Behind. Or Vanish. Or even The Enclave‘s enclave. It is perhaps a tired plot element in Christian fiction (I note that September’s book is entitled The Vanishing Sculptor). But Parrish does a highly enjoyable job with it, building up the mysteries and the suspense and especially the action page-by-page until Offworld gets pretty hard to put down.
Tomorrow I’ll feature an actual review of the book; Wednesday I’ll cover — another aspect of it. Still thinking on that. For now, another observation: Robin Parrish writes comic books. THAT is exceedingly cool. It also makes a ton of sense when reading his work, and actually, I enjoyed Offworld more when I found out that its author was a comic book writer and I started reading Offworld like it was itself a comic.
Parrish excels at action. He’s great at dialogue, too — every character has a distinguishable voice, and lots is revealed through talk. He can handle detail like a pro. I have a feeling I could drive the (treacherous, in the book; not usually, in real life) route through Florida and Lousiana and Mississippi and Texas that his characters take. The book is not literary in a “read it for the love of beauty and words” sense, nor does Parrish spend much time in interior monologue or description. But it tells an engaging story with comic book-like momentum.
I’m actually reading one of Parrish’s comic books, Guardian, right now. It’s available for free read on his Web site, which is one of the better author sites I’ve seen. (It also includes one of the better book trailers I’ve seen; have a look.) I encourage you to explore his site today, come back for a review tomorrow, and gear up for another contest — I have a giveaway copy of Offworld that might have your name on it :).
You can also check out the posts from these other intrepid CSFF Bloggers, blogging though the world may fry up and disappear all around us:
Brandon Barr
Jim Black
Justin Boyer
Keanan Brand
Gina Burgess
Canadianladybug
Melissa Carswell
Valerie Comer
Karri Compton
Amy Cruson
CSFF Blog Tour
Stacey Dale
D. G. D. Davidson
Jeff Draper
April Erwin
Karina Fabian
Linda Gilmore
Beth Goddard
Todd Michael Greene
Katie Hart
Ryan Heart
Becky Jesse
Cris Jesse
Jason Joyner
Julie
Carol Keen
Krystine Kercher
Dawn King
Melissa Meeks
Rebecca LuElla Miller
Mirtika
Eve Nielsen
Nissa
John W. Otte
Lyn Perry
Steve Rice
Chawna Schroeder
James Somers
Speculative Faith
Stephanie
Rachel Starr Thomson
Steve Trower
Fred Warren
Dona Watson
Elizabeth Williams
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