That's right folks. It's Wednesday and that means things are hopping over at the Christian Fiction Blog Alliance (CFBA) So why not take a gander at what's going on over there. Just follow this little link:
http://christianfictionblogalliance.blogspot.com
And don't forget to tell them I sent you. *S*
David
Day 7 Satuday
Ah, at last, a story in my own genre, well sort of. “Understanding” by J. Sherer actually begins with 2 grave misunderstandings. There is the serial killer who feels justified because he thinks he's cleansing the Catholic Church, and there's Detective Tack, who has lost his faith in the Church. How the story goes down and particularly how it ends you're going to have to read to find out for yourself. Suffice it to say that both men finally come to a true understanding, but the road that leads them there is well worth reading. This is one of my very favorite stories in this book.
Obviously I couldn't do a review on every story and keep it to a 7 day tour. I've chosen what I personally found the top 6 stories. For some it was difficult to leave out, such as The Hosts of Envoy among others. Others, well, truth be told, I found too religious , yet I understand the nature of this book in its uniqueness. Every story was told well, with a few minor beefs on my part. I'll not get into that. It just seems that when the focus would or should have been on Christ in a few the focus was on the church. To me that just defused an otherwise powerful story. But in the words of Dennis Miller, That's just my opinion, I may be wrong.
Rob and Karina Fabian have put together a wonderful booktrailer which you will find our the CFRB Booktrailer page to this site. There are other booktrailers there as well. We invite you to visit this page and check out these booktrailers, even if you've missed a blogtour for any of the books. You can also see the booktrailer for INFINITE SPACE, INFINITE GOD at that website listed below. I invite you to visit their site, not just to view their trailer, but to contact them and let them know how much the tour has meant to you. We ask that you'd do the same for all authors or compilers of the books we tour here. Letting them know how CFRB has made you aware of some really great fiction is going to help encourage them to continue to put together even more great Christian fiction. And if you want to know about Jesus you can ask any of us and we'll be happy to share with you what He means to us and can mean to you.
This has been a fun tour for me to do. Much like LIGHT AT THE EDGE OF DARKNESS I found myself able to tune in to different stories each day instead of trying to find something different to say about the same story for 7 consecutive days without giving away too much. So it will be a real challenge for me to do next month's tour of PETTICOAT RANCH. I hope you'll stop by and check it out. If you have friends who haven't heard about us or are just enthused about what you've been seeing at CFRB we'd love to hear from you. I suggest the best way to do that is to visit the author, or in the case of INFINITE SPACE, INFINITE GOD (as well as LIGHT AT THE EDGE OF DARKNESS) the compiler's websites and email them. Leave comments on their blogs and if you want post comments on ours. Writing is fun, but there are times when we need you, the reader, to tell us we've made your day, that somehow these stories have touched you, encouraged you, challenged you or whatever. A lot of times I know I feel like I'm writing things that are powerful and no one cares. I'm sure these other great writers feel the same from time to time. Now's your chance to let us know our writing hasn't been in vain. We're not looking for fame, just a pat on the back telling us we've done what Jesus has asked us to do. David Brollier
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Don't miss out on checking this site at Fabian Space
And don't forget to visit Infinite Space, Infinite God
Day 6 Friday
Little Madeline, by Simon Morden, is a story, except for a few references of a more modern technology and that she was some kind of mutant life form, could be about any city in the world, small or large. As Jesus told His disciples, “The poor you have with you always.” LES MISERABLES, by Victor Hugo talks about beating the odds of both poverty and injustice. Many other works by famous writers deal with this as well. “Little Madeline” is a story about the inner battle a person must fight to break loose of these chains. It does not mean they can shake loose poverty, but it means they can shake loose the bondage that poverty threatens us with.
I enjoyed the story, especially since accepting the truth was in itself another battle that she needed to fight. I only have one criticism and it's that when she goes home after attending the Catholic church she finds her apartment vandalized and the vandal still in the apartment. I would have had her get home to the same dismal place, the same disappointing mother, the same circumstances. Then mention that a few days or weeks later she came home and found her home ransacked. It makes for a more believable story. Other than that, however, I thought it was excellent.
But what is the story really about? Is it about poverty? Maybe. About overcoming obstacles? In part. Is it about that churning bitterness towards another that really on hurts yourself? Yes, that too. “Little Madeline” is one of those rare stories that takes you smack dab into the center of life's problems and then shows you the choices you, or rather that of the heroine in this case, have. We come to the realization that we only have two choices, to remain in bondage to poverty and all its many evils, or to fight against what society says we must bear. We have weapons, but only in the hands of God are they effective. We can chose, therefore, to be victims or victors in Him. Either way, the choice is always ours.
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Don't miss out on checking this site at Fabian Space
And don't forget to visit Infinite Space, Infinite God
Day 5 Thursday
This Thursday we journey with an amazing cast of characters on a trip to another planet, one we never seem to reach during the course of the story. But “Mask of the Ferret”, by Ken Pick and Alan Loewen, is more than just a travel diary. We learn a thing or two about prejudice right from the start. It's the complexity and drive of the story that gets to you. Believe me there's a lot more I can say about this great story. Unfortunately I'd probably give away the fun parts so I'm forcing myself to be quiet here. (Envision an excited author who wants to tell the world about some great masterpiece they've written, but has clamped his hands over his mouth to protect the readers from getting all the juicy parts and you'll have a good picture of me trying to exercise self-restraint. It ain't easy folks, especially with some f the stories in here.
Outside the fact that Pick and Loewen use the word stewardess instead of flight attendant (I'm told that they may have done so purposely because there was no need for political correctness in this future society of interplanetary creatures) and the fact that they use the term Thalendri seems to be one letter short of C.S. Lewis' Thalendria is inconsequential. The story is captivating. I only wish I had the print copy to truly enjoy the true energy of the story.
Aboard ship is a courier, a tracker and several innocents among them the crew is counted. When things start to go wrong they really start to go wrong. Using the intellect that God gives us Father Heidler is able to help bring about some order to the chaos that has fallen upon them. Yet where true salvation comes from, ah, yes that is the greater part of the story. Excellent. Truly wonderful.
Featured at Twilight Times Books
Don't miss out on checking this site at Fabian Space
And don't forget to visit Infinite Space, Infinite God
Day 4 Wednesday
The next work I want to talk about is “Interstellar Calling” by our own Karina Fabian. She takes an all too frequent event in the lives of way too many people and builds a story where... Sorry, almost gave the ending away. I truly loved this story, and not because Karina is known to me, but because the story spoke to my heart.
It's way too difficult to be a teenager today, and that's where Interstellar Calling begins. One overheard conversation turns a young girl's life upside down. The parents she adores, she learns, have planned to divorce. How can that possibly happen to her? This is where we meet “Frankie”. Karina does a fabulous job of showing just how hurtful that single word can be, even if the parents do love you. In that pain Frankie begins to doubt what she's learned about God.
Without giving away the story, especially the ending, I just want to say that it's when we start doubting, or challenging what we've been taught that God is finally able to break through and be Someone personal to us. It's okay to yell at God, to ask Him questions you figure He can't answer. It's okay to question His love and the teachings of the Bible. When we start to do this, and allow ourselves to be open to God, we find out that He really does hear. Not only that, but He begins to help us find our way. Our way isn't the way of religion, but the way of relationship. You can't teach that or put it into some kind of mold. From here God can tell you about Himself, what His Word is saying to you personally, suddenly, through all your frustration, what you believe has become real. You no longer believe in what people have said about God, right or wrong, but you now believe in God and what He says. This is something tha every Christian needs to foster in their own life.
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Don't miss out on checking this site at Fabian Space
And don't forget to visit Infinite Space, Infinite God
INFINITE SPACE, INFINITE GOD
Day 3 Tuesday
Today, with the help of Adrienne Ray, we take a short trip to Mars in her story “Hopkin's Well”. There are several things that make for a good sci-fi story. They are, in my opinion, space, time-travel, aliens, spacecrafts and advanced technology. In a sense this includes them all, but that's only if you include the land rover as a spacecraft. The feeling of “being there” in this story is powerful. No writer could ask for a better portrayal.
We are immediately introduced to a couple of characters, Private Oscar Talbot and Sergeant Ellis Bethesda. Understandably Bethesda is Talbot's superior. We learn that Talbot is a “Jumper”, which I'll leave you to discover on your own. The good sergeant and private are on a mission to do away with rebels at a place called Hopkin's Well on the red dusty planet. What actually transpires is quite interesting.
Like other stories in INFINITE SPACE, INFINITE GOD, “Hopkin's Well seeks to expose some truths that would rather remain hidden, reveal others that may not even have been considered, and offer a message of redemption to some interesting people. That's about all I can say without ruining a truly remarkable story. Get it, read it, love it. That's all I can say.
Featured at Twilight Times Books
Don't miss out on checking this site at Fabian Space
And don't forget to visit Infinite Space, Infinite God
INFINITE SPACE, INFINITE GOD
Day 2 Monday
“The Harvest”, by Lori Z. Scott was a most pleasant introduction to Catholic science fiction for this non-Catholic reader. Without straying from the tenets of Catholicism she managed to engage me in a story that asked the question, “How do we define life, that is human life with a soul?” This was one amazing and complex story of the unfolding of truth, the revealing of evil and the emergence of love.
Our readers are going to want me to say more and I hesitantly add some particulars. I'm hesitant, however, because I hate to ruin a good story. Let's just say that the prevailing theory of what it takes to be considered “human” is challenged and answered in two different ways. It is answered by the rationalists who would like to see God crammed back into some corner where they can control Him, and it is answered in tears of realization that God is Author of all life.
Lori, we've never met, but you did an absolutely superb job in answering a universal question about what it means to be human. This carries with it so many other lessons that it could easily have been the only story in the book and I would have loved it none-the-less. Thank you for helping us to see a universe a bit larger than the one we had believed in beforehand.
Featured at Twilight Times Books
Don't miss out on checking this site at Fabian Space
And don't forget to visit Infinite Space, Infinite God
INFINITE SPACE, INFINITE GOD
Day 1 Sunday
I'm not going to lie to you. I was a bit nervous about this one. I mean I grew up with a Pentecostal background, although I didn't see myself as judgmental. I felt that religion itself was wrong, and to a large degree maintain that opinion. So reviewing something that not only says it is a collection of Catholic works, but boasts about the fact put me on edge. Still, because of the contact I've had with Karina Fabian, who compiled this work with her husband Rob, I found myself timidly entering unchartered waters. While I think the “Catholic” bit was a bit overdone in some cases I have to remind myself that this was written BY Catholics and TO Catholics. No one is out to change anyone's denominational ties here. They are simply doing what writers have been told to do for ages, write about what you know, and they know Catholicism. I found out they knew a lot more as well.
In one very real sense this "Catholic" work stands as a "David" against the "Goliaths" of our day, reminding those of us from other denominational backgrounds that God is God and that taking our own personal experiences into the battle isn't always a bad thing. I would like to say this is a Christian work, and while this is true it is also a work by those refusing to be ashamed at being called Catholic. This is something many of us have forgotten.
One of my chief desires for touring INFINITE SPACE, INFINITE GOD, however, has nothing to do with Catholicism. Instead it has to do with the desire for CFRB to branch out to do short stories. This work, as well as LIGHT AT THE EDGE OF DARKNESS have helped in creating a bridge from here to there. Please check out the other sites and come back tomorrow when I'll tune in on one of the great stories in this work. I hope you will find these posts intriguing enough to go out and purchase this one of a kind book.
Featured at Twilight Times Books
Don't miss out on checking this site at Fabian Space
And don't forget to visit Infinite Space, Infinite God
