Category: Fiction
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Interview with Christy Award Winner Jill Williamson
Jill Williamson is the author of the Christy-Award-winning fantasy novel By Darkness Hid, as well as its newly released sequel, To Darkness Fled. The CSFF bloggers toured By Darkness Hid back in May (my review is here), and Jill was kind enough to grant me a late interview. Below, we talk about Jill’s amazing world-building process,…
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Magical Mirrors (Starlighter, Day 4)
“Remember how I followed you and Adrian like a little puppy until I was eight?” Jason grinned. “I remember. We didn’t mind. We needed a fair maiden to rescue whenever we stormed the sand castles.” “Well, I always knew you’d be a warrior. Remember what I used to say when we were getting ready to…
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Interview with Bryan Davis (Starlighter, Day 3)
Today, I interview Bryan Davis, author of Starlighter, on the characters, upcoming titles, the strange and fascinating journeys that lead to publication, and the difference between magical powers in fantasy and magical powers in the real world. Rachel: So let’s start with a really easy question: who’s your favourite character in Starlighter? Why? Bryan: I…
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Review of Starlighter (Day 2)
Jason Masters is trained to be a hero, a peasant whose skill takes him to the top of warrior training. With his brother Adrian, he grows up fighting homemade dragons and “rescuing” his best friend, Elyssa, from all manner of peril. But growing up brings unwelcome realities with it. His oldest brother, Frederick, disappears, and…
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CSFF Tour: Starlighter
This month’s CSFF feature is Bryan Davis’s Starlighter, a book I almost didn’t get to review. You see, Zondervan was only sending review copies out via UPS, and as a Canadian that didn’t work for me. I asked Bryan for an interview anyway, and when he learned about the situation, he sent me a (signed!)…
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Interview with Matt Mikalatos (Imaginary Jesus Tour, Day 3)
Today, an interview with Matt Mikalatos, author of Imaginary Jesus, in which we discuss controversy, the significance of style, the people behind the story, and more. Venture on! Rachel: The info sheet sent with Imaginary Jesus proclaims that your book “has the potential to get a Christian publisher in a whole lot of trouble.” The…
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Review: Imaginary Jesus (CSFF Tour Day 2)
The story begins at the Red and Black, a Communist coffee shop in Portland, Oregon, where Matt (our hero) and someone he thinks is Jesus are just hanging out. Enter the Apostle Peter, a.k.a. “Pete,” who recognizes Matt’s Jesus as an imposter and quickly instigates a fistfight. Imaginary Jesus takes off running, Pete and Matt…
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CSFF Tour: Imaginary Jesus
This month’s book for the Christian Science Fiction and Fantasy Blog Tour is not science fiction or (exactly) fantasy. It is Christian. And it is imaginative. In fact, imagination is a big theme in the book, in one of its less helpful and edifying roles. The book is Imaginary Jesus by Matt Mikalatos, a Campus…
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Mustard and Vinegar
A couple of weeks ago at a writers’ meeting I had the privilege of meeting Rosine Nimeh-Mailloux, a gracious lady who grew up in Bethlehem in a Syrian Orthodox family. She’s written and published two books, one a collection of short stories based on her family’s experiences in Turkey, Lebanon, and Palestine (Mustard and Vinegar,…
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Choosing Ourselves (By Darkness Hid Tour, Day 3)
Fred Warren of Frederation, whose reviews are always insightful and entertaining, brought up an interesting point about By Darkness Hid yesterday: Nature vs. Nurture: Given Achan’s terrible upbringing, it was a bit of a puzzlement how well he turned out. Kept ignorant, hungry, and hopeless, beaten and beaten-down at every turn, he was still kind,…