Gone To Green by Judy Christie

This novel was a delight to read. It is extremely well balanced, it has the charm of Old South and Small Town. I especially liked the newspaper angle, since my background is in newspaper, too... especially since I was an editor of a weekly paper in Louisiana. There is so much that is true in that story, I thought I might be reading back issues of my old paper.

The characters are well developed and there really isn't too much whining from the protag. I really like that.

On the back cover, the story is compared to the Harmony Series. It is not like it very much because there isn't much Laugh Out Loud in the novel, although there are vast amounts of Grin Out Loud and Chuckle Out Loud.

Judy Christie has truly captured the flavor of a small newspaper, and the impact it has on the small town, including all the politics in a fun and lighthearted way that keeps your interest, keeps you turning pages and even keeps you up at night when you've got to get to work early. You don't mind, though, because you've had a great evening of satisfying reading.

This is well worth the money and is a keeper for the book shelf. I highly recommend it.

This week, the

Christian Fiction Blog Alliance

is introducing

Gone To Green

Abingdon Press (August 2009)

by

Judy Christie


ABOUT THE AUTHOR:




Judy Pace Christie, after working as a journalist for twenty-five years, left the daily news business to open a consulting firm that works with individuals, businesses, and churches on strategies for meaningful life and work, including goal-setting, living fully, and balancing personal and professional lives. She is the author of Hurry Less, Worry Less; Hurry Less, Worry Less at Christmastime; and co-author of Awesome Altars. Judy and her husband live in northwest Louisiana.




ABOUT THE BOOK

Lois goes from being a corporate journalist at a large paper in the Midwest to the owner of The Green News-Item, a small twice-weekly newspaper in rural North Louisiana. The paper was an unexpected inheritance from a close colleague, and Lois must keep it for at least a year, bringing a host of challenges, lessons, and blessings into her life.

When Lois pulls into Green on New Year’s Day, she expects a charming little town full of smiling people. She quickly realizes her mistake. After settling into a loaned house out on Route 2, she finds herself battling town prejudices and inner doubts and making friends with the most surprising people: troubled teenager Katy, good-looking catfish farmer Chris, wise and feisty Aunt Helen, and a female African-American physician named Kevin.

Whether fighting a greedy, deceitful politician or rescuing a dog she fears, Lois notices the headlines in her life have definitely improved. She learns how to provide small-town news in a big-hearted way and realizes that life is full of newsworthy moments. When she encounters racial prejudice and financial corruption, Lois also discovers more about the goodness of real people and the importance of being part of a community.

While secretly preparing the paper for a sale, Lois begins to realize that God might indeed have a plan for her life and that perhaps the allure of city life and career ambition are not what she wants after all.

If you would like to read the first chapter of Gone To Green, go HERE

Offworld by Robin Parrish

I have a tremendous respect for Robin Parrish. He's given so much to the Christian Fiction world through his INFUZE internet magazine and through his books. He really is a good writer.

Offworld has a great science fiction premise and is executed quite well with none of that "deflating reality" when the reader realizes that what's on the cover isn't what's inside. (All too often I've had that feeling.)

Robin actually produces a little more than what is expected in this offering. It kept me reading well past midnight, which is saying a LOT for these old bones and eyes. It's a worthy read and worth the money.

But... to be very fair to those of us readers who actually live in Mississippi and Louisiana...

Hurricane season is June through November (even though it's been more than 80 years since a hurricane came into the Gulf region after October.

In no way by any wild stretch of the imagination could the Mighty Mississippi River flood Biloxi much less Gulfport by 12 inches much, much less 12 feet, no matter what time of year. The river gets really high in March, April and May. But around June it starts falling. Because of the terrain and the elevation between these two cities and the Mississippi it is impossible. Even in the Great Flood of 1929, when the levees broke just north of Vicksburg, the land was flooded with 4 feet of water, but it did not flood Vicksburg or Natchez (50 miles south of Vicksburg). It took a superhuman effort on the part of the Corps of Engineers in 1929 to keep the river from shifting courses to the Achafalaya Basin (close to Lafayette). If the river was as high as suggested, then New Orleans would have been underwater. The levees are not that high, and if the population was gone, then the pumps would not have started to keep the city dry unless there are MAJOR renovations and MAJOR changes to the pumps and levee systems.

I attribute this problem to lack of research on the author's part. In a SyFy novel, anything goes just about, but simple research of terrain and feasibility probabilities of what ever event that you are writing about is critical. If something is impossible, then a reasonable explanation should be offered and it doesn't have to be more than a sentence or two. Something like: "Chris, all this water is coming from the Mississippi River. Before the earthquake of 2021, it would have been impossible. With no one to monitor the locks systems, the river has over run the locks and the spillways from St. Louis to here."

I couldn't concentrate on the story for 2-3 chapters because I knew what I was reading was not only implausible, but impossible.

Just keep reminding yourself, "This is science fiction, anything is possible," and you'll enjoy the story.

This week, the
Christian Fiction Blog Alliance
is introducing
Offworld
Bethany House (July 1, 2009)
by
Robin Parrish

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:


Robin Parrish had two great ambitions in his life: to have a family, and to be a published novelist. In March of 2005, he proposed to his future wife the same week he signed his first book contract with Bethany House Publishers. They contracted him for the rights to not only that first book, Relentless -- but two sequels including Fearless and Merciless. A trilogy that unfolded in the consecutive summers of 2006, 2007, and 2008.

Robin Parrish is a journalist who's written about pop culture for more than a decade. Currently he serves as Senior Editor at XZOOSIA.com, a community portal that fuses social networking with magazine-style features about entertainment and culture. He and his wife, Karen and son live in North Carolina.



ABOUT THE BOOK

"Every Person on This Planet Has Disappeared."

Commander Christopher Burke and his crew are humanity's greatest explorers. They've finished their mission on the red dirt of Mars and now they just want to get back to Earth. To see friends, family, and loved ones. To be home. But even with communication to ground control cut and a perilous landing, nothing could prepare the crew for what they discover when they step foot back on planet Earth.

Everyone...everywhere...is gone.

It's not a dream. It's not a trick. Now Burke and his team have one mission:find out who or what is behind the disappearance of all mankind.

If you would like to read the first chapter of Offworld, go HERE

Watch the book trailer:

Sacred Cipher by Terry Brennan

I knew before I looked at the bio that this book was written by a fellow journalist... newspaper, that is. Somehow we know each other just by sentence structure and the way we call people by their last names all the time.

This is a fairly well crafted story. I could tell before the end of the first chapter that I'd like this book, then that fatal error happened. The author switched channels almost mid-sentence and we're off somewhere plotting the demise of someone we had just gotten acquainted with. Ooops, I ended that sentence with a preposition. Ah, well.

While the kind of theatrics works well in movies because the viewer can see faces and tell characters apart quickly by gender, hair color, voice, color of skin, and so forth, the book reader needs a bit more lead in than it takes for the beginning credits to really care about what happens to the protagonist. Especially, when we already have the tension built in the prologue a century before all the "action" actually starts. Why do novelists and editors continue to believe that novel stories can be treated just like movies? They cannot.

Movies grab emotion simply because the actors are projecting emotions. Readers must read and then feel the emotion. We can certainly be led down any emotional path and have a huge buy it simply because we are emotionally into the story. Contriving tension is immediately recognized and the experienced reader will back away from it because it is a contrivance rather than real... it is recognized as a theatrical trick, rather than a clever twist in the storyline.

Once a novelist loses the reader because of a contrivence, it is almost impossible to regain that trust and there goes another lost sale.

The second thing is, a movie goer will buy into the most absurd things just because it's a movie... who could possibly believe there was a map on the back of the Declaration of Independence and that it would lead to a "National Treasure"? Completely absurd. But, somehow the theatrics and the actors make it believable.

Readers, on the other hand, must have something to hold on to that makes the premise believable, especially a book that touts itself as Christian Fiction, and most especially a book that has a section "Fulfilled Prophecy". An underground Temple is not believable.

Anyone who has studied prohecy, both old testament and new testament, recognizes this as an unbelievable tale of wishful thinking. It is most assuredly out of context as well as excruciatingly improbable. The Third Temple underground would be obscene to Jews today because it is so far from what God has said would happen, and it would be unthinkable to Hebrews of centuries past because it is not what God said would happen. It was improbable, impossible to believe, and I simply lost patience with it.

The pros of the story, though, is that the characters were very well developed and quite charming. I found myself loving the greatest and the least equally. The crafting of the story is superb (except for the side jaunts which are unnecessary to build tension). The storyline flow is very good, and I have no doubt that it would also make a great script. Any other premise, and I would have ingested this book with the reverence given a Christmas Dinner... but, the end could not justify the means for me.

This week, the
Christian Fiction Blog Alliance
is introducing
The Sacred Cipher
Kregel Publications (July 31, 2009)
by
Terry Brennan


ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Over the past 35 years, Terry Brennan has accumulated a broad range of experience in both the profit and non-profit business sectors.

His 22-year, award winning journalism career included:
• Seven years as a sportswriter and editor with The Philadelphia Bulletin, at the time the largest-circulation afternoon newspaper in the nation;
• Leading The Mercury of Pottstown (PA), as its editor, to a Pulitzer Prize in Editorial Writing;
• Serving as Executive Editor of a multi-national newspaper firm – Ingersoll Publications – with papers in the USA, England and Ireland.

In 1996 Brennan transferred his successful management career to the non-profit sector and served for 12 years as Vice President of Operations for the Christian Herald Association, Inc., the parent organization of four New York City ministries, including The Bowery Mission.

Now Chief Operating Officer of the National Organization on Disability, Brennan also won the Valley Forge Award for editorial writing from the Freedoms Foundation. His two adult sons and their families live in Pennsylvania. Terry, his wife Andrea and their two adult children live in New York City. The Sacred Cipher is his first novel.



ABOUT THE BOOK

History's greatest secret could be tomorrow's greatest threat More historically and biblically accurate than The DaVinci Code and just as adventurous as an Indiana Jones movie, The Sacred Cipher combines action and mystery to draw readers into a world of ancient secrets and international escapades.

When an ancient scroll appears in a secret room of the Bowery Mission in New York City, Tom Bohannon is both stunned and intrigued. The enigma of the scroll's contents will send Bohannon and his team ricocheting around the world, drawing the heat of both Jewish and Muslim militaries, and bringing the Middle East to the brink of nuclear war in this heart-pounding adventure of historical proportions. The Sacred Cipher is a riveting, fact-based tale of mystery and suspense.


If you want to read the Prologue of The Sacred Cipher, go HERE

Dreamhouse Kings: Timescape by Robert Liparulo

I have rarely read such an exciting series as packed into this one. You do have to read all the ones that go before in order to understand what's going on. This series was enthusiastically embraced by youth as well as adults at my church. It isn't just for boys or just for girls either. It has aspects of interest for both genders and you can't beat the suspense!

In Timescape we take up exactly where we left off in Gatekeepers. What is so interesting is that we get a telescopic glimpse of history, as well as some insight into how it must have felt to live "back then". Liparulo takes this to the next step and gives us a glimpse into what it might be like to alter history... or to live in the future.

Some of this is not for the faint hearted, and I don't recommend this for children under 12 or 13. It is graphic in places, and frightening. However, the moral delimmas tackled are quite interesting. Like it or not, willing to admit it or not, we must acknowledge that our young people are being deluged with moral delimmas at earlier and earlier ages. Decisions that I made at sixteen are being considered by twelve year olds today. That is a horror story in itself.

This series is better than Harry Potter and, in my opinion, is far better morally and ethically than the subtle study of the occult. Looking for something a little different for Christmas this year? Get this series. You and your special teen will be so glad you did.

This week, the
Christian Fiction Blog Alliance
is introducing
Timescape
Thomas Nelson (July 14, 2009)
by
Robert Liparulo


ABOUT THE AUTHOR:


Robert Liparulo is a former journalist, with over a thousand articles and multiple writing awards to his name. His first novel, Comes a Horseman, released to critical acclaim. Each of his subsequent thrillers—Germ, Deadfall, and Deadlock—secured his place as one of today’s most popular and daring thriller writers.

He is known for investing deep research and chillingly accurate predictions of near-future scenarios into his stories. In fact, his thorough, journalistic approach to research has resulted in his becoming an expert on the various topics he explores in his fiction, and he has appeared on such media outlets as CNN and ABC Radio.

Liparulo’s visual style of writing has caught the eye of Hollywood producers. Currently, three of his novels for adults are in various stages of development for the big screen: the film rights to Comes A Horseman. were purchased by the producer of Tom Clancy’s movies; and Liparulo is penning the screenplays for GERM and Deadfall
for two top producers. He is also working with the director Andrew Davis (The Fugitive, Holes) on a political thriller. Novelist Michael Palmer calls Deadfall “a brilliantly crafted thriller.” March 31st marked the publication of Deadfall’s follow-up, Deadlock, which novelist Gayle Lynds calls, “best of high-octane suspense.”

Liparulo’s bestselling young adult series, Dreamhouse Kings, debuted last year with House of Dark Shadows and Watcher in the Woods. Book three, Gatekeepers, released in January, and number four, Timescape, in July. The series has garnered praise from readers, both young and old, as well as attracting famous fans who themselves know the genre inside and out. Of the series, Goosebumps creator R.L. Stine says, “I loved wandering around in these books. With a house of so many great, haunting stories, why would you ever want to go outside?”

With the next two Dreamhouse books “in the can,” he is currently working on his next thriller, which for the first time injects supernatural elements into his brand of gun-blazing storytelling. The story is so compelling, two Hollywood studios are already in talks to acquire it—despite its publication date being more than a year away. After that comes a trilogy of novels, based on his acclaimed short story, which appeared in James Patterson’s Thriller anthology. New York Times bestselling author Steve Berry calls Liparulo’s writing “Inventive, suspenseful, and highly entertaining . . . Robert Liparulo is a storyteller, pure and simple.” He lives with his family in Colorado.


ABOUT THE BOOK

David, Xander, Dad, and Keal have discovered a terrible secret. Now, finding Mom is only a small part of their mission. And time is running out. Using the portals to build an empire, Taksidian wants the house for himself, and there's nothing he won't do to get the family out. The consequences of his meddling reach far beyond the family--to the future of the world itself. The Kings know their survival depends on stopping the bloodthirsty assassin. If only they can find his weakness in time.

Most startling of all is their ability to change the path of history. But will their tinkering in time reunite the family and save the future . . . or set mankind on an irreversible course of destruction?




If you would like to read the first chapter of Timescape, go HERE


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