A Preview of a Preview of Things to Come

This is, I assure you, extremely relevant.

Hello all!

If you’re visiting from Mary and Michael Findley’s Elk Jerky for the Soul blog, then I greet you warmly. Willkommen, bienvenue, welcome! So glad you’re here. Please, try the fish.

If you’re a regular visitor, then hi. I appreciate you, too. No, really.

So, Mary and I are both participating in this little thematic blog swap thing wherein we both (and many more author/bloggers, I’m sure) share information about our new story or book that we’re currently working on. I’ve actually been pretty tight-lipped about my current project but I can see the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel on this first draft, so maybe it’s about time to start talking about it.

But not quite yet.

See, if I have the rules of this blog thing down correctly (and I clearly don’t because today caught me unprepared!), even though I am being linked to today by the Elk Jerky blog, I’m not supposed to do my post for a full week, at which time I direct you to five other participating bloggers who will be sharing about their current projects yet another week later.

So, you come and visit today and hi!

But I’ve got nothing to show you until next week.

Thanks so much for coming, but, um, nothing to see here.

I do hope you’ll come back, however. I’m just over 150,000 words into my current project and it is without doubt the most ambitious and risky novel I’ve ever worked on. It’s extremely different than my currently published works, although it’s still a very Christian book, written to glorify God. But it’s worlds away from Emaline’s Gift (although I intend to work on book two in The Magi Chronicles after this so that’s still coming!). I’m very excited about it, and I’m excited for the opportunity to talk about it. Next week. (I think.)

But permit me to allow a little nibble. The title of my next book is The Savvy Demon’s Guide to Godly Living. You’ve got to admit that’s a pretty interesting title, yeah? Well, I think so, anyway. And I hope you’ll come back on December 19 to hear all about it.

And do help you out with that, here’s a link to Google Calendar so you can get a little reminder! See you next week!

Deals to Warm Your Aching Bones

Okay, so I'm going full-on advertiser at the moment, but I'm trying to get the word out. I belong to a group of Christian indie authors on Facebook and one of our members, Dave King, the author of The Land of Betrovia series, had the brilliant idea that many of us might get together and discount our books for a promo period of a few days. Eleven authors responded and the result is December Treats: Twenty whoppin' books available for free or darn close to it ONLY Dec. 4-8, 2012! Emaline's Gift and The Book of the Harvest are both included! (Edit: I just realized that not all 20 books are available at their discounted price for the entire 5 days of the promotion. 18 out of 20 ARE, however, so make sure you look at all the info available on the page.)

One of the books included on the
promo, randomly selected because
I feel bad that the author joined
after I made that nifty graphic up
top and she wasn't included in it.

According to my precise calculations (and we all know how good us creative author types are at math!), you can scoop up ALL 20 titles for only $13.86! Wow! For less than the cost of a very large meal at a McDonald's in New York City that includes multiple Big Macs and a chicken sandwich and a twenty piece of Chicken McNuggets as well as America's favorite fries (based on sales), you can have reading material at your digital fingertips to last you all winter long!* Oh, and yes, I said digital. This AMAZING deal is for e-books, most of them available on Kindle, but some on Nook and other places. So, if you don't have an e-book reader, just go ahead and assume you're getting one for Christmas and scoop these babies up now! Anyway, there are Kindle apps available to read these books on your computer, tablet or smartphone sooo you pretty much have no excuse to not lap these up. Unless you're Amish, in which case, welcome to the Internet! This can be a scary place, but I think you've made a wise decision in hitting up my blog first. I recommend not surfing over to YouTube next because I don't think you're ready for that yet.

Another book in the promo. This one
was randomly selected since this
was all Dave's idea and I thought
I owed it to him.

Now, I know what you're thinking. You're thinking, Gee! This Dave King seems like a smart fellow! You should interview him on your blog! Good idea. We'll have to see if he's amenable to the idea.

I know what you're also thinking. You're thinking, This all sounds great, but this list has fantasy, children's books, romance, nonfiction and more! I don't read ALL those genres! Well, why not? Come on. Broaden your horizons. Expand your mind. Philistines.

Another randomly selected book from the
promo to spotlight. It's very random. 

Oh, and I also know what you are also, also thinking in your thinking brains. Hey! Isn't The Book of the Harvest regularly $.99?! How is THAT a deal?! Shhhh! Just because it's ALWAYS a good deal doesn't mean it should be excluded from the list here, does it? I would have made it free, but you can only make Kindle books free by being enrolled in a special program, and then there are only limited days to make it free, and I unenrolled The Book of the Harvest so I could also publish it for Nook and other avenues. So, I would have made it free, but couldn't. So, sorry about that. Everything else on the list is a genuine sale, though!

Is that all you're thinking, then? Good. I thought your brain would never stop. I was about to mention one of the Kardashians, which usually does the trick. Anyway, here's the link again: December Treats. Because you deserve it—and it's still a good deal even if you're a wretched individual and really don't.

*This is not meant to be an exact, or "true," claim. I've got no idea how quickly you read. How would I know that? I'm not a wizard.

Goodbye, Status Quo

When Shawn Ryan looks in the mirror,
he sees Vic Mackey

The way I see it, Last Resort is easily the best new show of the current TV season. It’s certainly not surprising, given that the man at the helm is Shawn Ryan, the man responsible for The Shield and a key creative force behind Terriers, both of which are absolutely incredible shows. This is certainly not television that you can multitask while watching: it demands your attention and your intelligence. There are complex themes at the heart of this show, and the writers and producers don’t shy away from exploring issues and ideas that don’t have easy answers and aren’t resolved in 43 minutes. I realize that some people like to sit down and watch TV with their brains checked at the couch, and I understand if that’s your philosophy, but Last Resort has a lot of action and suspense as well. In my opinion, giving a show depth and intelligence does nothing to reduce the fun or the entertainment of it all. I guess that’s because I’m more entertained and engaged when something is compelling than when it is simply big, loud and dumb.

Even though I’m a big fan of quality television, we don’t have cable or anything like that. We actually use Netflix and Hulu Plus for all of the entertainment needs in our house. The combined cost is less than $20 and we have Netflix for movies and non-current shows, and Hulu Plus for current shows that we’d like to keep up with. CBS doesn’t play ball with Hulu for whatever reason so that means no Amazing Race or Big Bang Theory. Oh well. But I watch everything, usually in HD, on my nice big TV through my PS3. I started looking eagerly for Last Resort to premiere because there was no way I was going to miss it, but, for some reason, Last Resort was only licensed to be watched on a computer and not on a TV. I have no idea why. ABC must just want to make it more difficult for people to watch this show. So I’ve been hooking up my laptop via HDMI to get around that and still watch it in the living room. Why am I telling you this? Because I wouldn’t go to the hassle of hooking up my computer to the TV for just any show. In fact, I don’t go to the hassle for any other show. But Last Resort is just that good.

"Nobody forget where we parked."

Since ratings indicate that not nearly as many are watching as should be, I’ll recap the basic premise. A nuclear sub, the USS Colorado, in the waters near Pakistan receives a suspicious order through non-standard channels to attack Pakistan with nuclear missiles. When the captain and the XO seek confirmation of the orders from someone they know—this is, after all, a pretty big deal and the lives of millions of Pakistanis depend on whether they are nuked or not—the Colorado is subsequently attacked by United States forces, Pakistan is blamed and then gets attacked. Captain Marcus Chaplin (played by Andre Braugher) sets up shop with his crew on the island of Sainte Marina, threatening to use his sub’s nuclear launch capabilities if anyone gets too close. His goal is to expose those in the government who set up the Colorado and to arrange for his crew to come home to their families.

Like I said, it’s exciting stuff. And the show deals with issues and concepts of loyalty and morality, which of course makes it perfect for our study of theofictionology, expounding on spiritual themes found in fiction. The most obvious place to go here may be Peter’s famous statement when he was commanded to stop preaching in the name of Jesus Christ: “We must obey God rather than men” (Acts 5:29). The officers of the Colorado believe that they have found themselves in a situation where their commitment to obey orders has been overridden by a higher loyalty to the ideals of the United States and the value of human life. That’s an interesting place to go, I think, and we could have a nice little chat along those lines, but I’ve decided to go in another (albeit related) direction.

This man does not consider nuking Pakistani civilians a fun pastime.

The title of the show—Last Resort—indicates another theme that the series explores. I’ve heard people say that this is unrealistic or even audacious (not fans of 24 or Lost I suppose), but that’s actually kind of the point. Captain Chaplin has reached his breaking point and his actions are extreme, they are audacious, they are absolutely radical. What brought him to this point? There may have been a variety of factors contributing to this (and, in fact, there is reason to wonder whether Chaplin is still playing with the whole fleet, as it were), but the shady order to nuke Pakistan was the last straw. The man has been pushed to a place where he was no longer willing or able to maintain the status quo. His actions have made him unable to continue on as before, and frankly, things will never go back to normal no matter what the outcome. And that’s where I want to go.

Those of us who have made the decision to follow Christ and get plugged in to a local church, we might think that we’ve already reached our breaking point, and in some ways we have. It takes a lot for us proud creatures to admit that we’re sinful, that we’re enemies of God (Rom. 5:10), that we need help—and for us to cry out to a Savior. But oftentimes we go from maintaining one status quo (that of our secular lives and community) for another, which looks very similar in many ways, but with church on Sunday morning. It is easy for the natural enthusiasm and momentum that consumes us at the point of conversion to soon be lost in the status quo of mainstream Christianity. What is the result of mainstream Christianity? Take a look around at the United States and bear witness.

You may have heard the statistics before. The Barna Group is a good source for such things, if you are so inclined, and a lot of very useful numbers and suggestions can be found in George Barna’s book, Growing True Disciples, which I very much recommend. The short version is that Christians, statistically speaking, do not live any differently from the world. “Well,” we might say, “even if we’re still living like we’re slaves to sin, at least we’re effectively communicating Christian belief, right?” (Note: I don’t know why we’d say that. I wouldn’t say that. I don’t think James [the half-brother of Christ/epistle author] would either. If you want to say it, however, go ahead.) But, no, it’s not true. Barna reports a massive gap between what the Bible teaches and what believers who attend evangelical churches believe (e.g. 40% of believers say that Jesus committed sins and over 25% deny a physical, bodily resurrection). Add to these numbers the fact that some estimates say that as many of 88% of children raised in evangelical churches will abandon their faith by the age of 18, and I think it’s fair to say that mainstream American Christianity has a crisis on its hands.

"Eenie, meenie, minie, moe..."

But have we reached the breaking point yet? Do these numbers do it? Have we reached the point—and frankly I don’t know if we ever will as a unified church whole in this country—where we come to the conclusion that the attitudes and behaviors that have gotten us to this point are not going to fulfill the task we’ve been given? If we reach the breaking point, our goal will not be to merely maintain the status quo and look like all the other smiling faces in church but to pick up our cross daily and follow Christ (Luke 9:23), to be the servant of all (1 Cor. 9:19) and to make disciples of all nations (Matt. 28:19-20). Yes, I said make disciples, not get them to attend church. Jesus made disciples. Paul made disciples. The world was turned upside down as Christianity spread like wildfire. We live in a place where everyone (well most, anyway) believe in God but very few live like it.

White afro or not, Keith Green saw with clarity.

Thirty-four years ago, in 1978, Keith Green asked of a lukewarm church, “Do you see, do you see all the people sinking down? Don’t you care, don’t you care? Are you gonna let them drown? How can you be so numb, not to care if they come? You close your eyes and pretend the job’s done. . .How can you be so dead when you’ve been so well-fed” (Asleep in the Light)? Do we stand here in 2012 and believe anything’s different? And even if our church culture remains the same (or just as lukewarm and just as ineffectual), must you and I remain the same, too?

On Last Resort, Captain Chaplin reached his breaking point. At that moment, everything changed. Only a fool would think that he would ever be able to return to the status quo after the actions he’s taken. And you know what? He just might make a difference?

Now, what about us? What about believers in 2012? If you have not yet reached your breaking point, then I pray that God brings you to that point. If you have, then I’m going to give you some very clear directives from Scripture regarding what to do next. First, begin investing spiritually in lives. Invest in the lives of those who don’t know Christ, show them His love, pray that the Holy Spirit will give you an opportunity to share the gospel with them and be ready when that opportunity comes. This is why you’re here. Second, continue to invest spiritually in people by making disciples. If you’re unsure how to make disciples, there are four Gospels that share Jesus’ methods. Find a believer who needs guidance and guide them. Live life together. Show them how to follow Christ. Based on the statistics above, corralling people like cattle into large group meetings and preaching at them isn’t quite so effective as we would like to think. So go back to the methods of the Master. He made disciples. He commanded you to do so. Now do it.

Once you start 1) investing in unbelievers and 2) investing in believers, I encourage you to take a look at your life and learn to slow down to really see others. There are needs everywhere. Meet them in the name of Jesus Christ. What if you made a commitment to stop the car every time you see someone pulled over by the side of the road? Maybe they need some gas, maybe they need a jump. When they thank you for your help, make sure they know that you’re doing this to show them the love of Jesus. If that opens a door to share more, take it. If not, know that the Holy Spirit will use your obedience and your servant’s heart regardless. Do you think such a commitment would be in line with Scripture’s commands to love our neighbors as ourselves (Luke 10:27)? Do you think Jesus might make that commitment? Do you think Paul would turn a blind eye, or stop and help? If so, then shouldn’t you?

We need to live the lives we were saved to live. We need to use our time on this earth to make an impact for the life to come, the only life that actually matters. We will regret it if we don’t. I certainly don’t want to go to heaven empty-handed. And I hope that thought brings you to the breaking point.

Unfortunately, ABC pretty much hates you.
And ice cream.
And puppies.

And. . .oh. So, I just saw the news that ABC had canceled Last Resort. Well, that’s very disappointing.

But, alas, television is a business and quality counts for very little if not enough eyeballs (ahem, according to antiquated Nielsen voodoo) are watching. I suppose it’s not the worst news in the world. After all, you and I generally have more important work to do than watching TV, don’t we?

Hey! That Cloud Looks Like a Vague and Obvious Hidden Meaning!

Tom Hanks-san

Please note: This post is about the film Cloud Atlas which is currently in cinemas. Based on weekend box office reports, I know you haven’t seen it. Don’t even try to tell me otherwise. If you do intend to see the film, don’t worry. I don’t know that this particular movie is capable of being spoiled. If it can be, it won’t be here. If you would like to explain the movie to me, then I will gladly spoil it for you if that is what you’re looking for. I am assuming that you are a Wachowski if you are making that offer. Or maybe an Asian Tom Hanks.

I didn’t hate the movie nearly as much as some do. In fact, I would agree with Roger Ebert who said he was never bored during the three hours of the movie, and I felt that each of the six storylines were (to greater or lesser effect) entertaining and engaging on their own. As far as what the film was trying to say as a whole—what with all the cast sextupling and a recurring birthmark and a lack of strict continuity—I found it all pretty darn vague. It’s as if the filmmakers know that there are big and important things to say about faith and unity and the afterlife and the interconnectedness of the universe, but they’re not quite sure what those things are. Still, they are standing up and screaming these vague nothings as loud as possible, or at least having Tom Hanks and Halle Berry scream them, and sometimes in a half-Ebonics gibberish sort of language. I haven’t read the book that the film is based on so I don’t know whether this concept comes from that or not, but I was reminded of the Shakespeare quote, “It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.” I was also reminded of Mickey Rooney in Breakfast at Tiffany’s.

It's Okay 'Cause It's a Classic

That actually makes it sound like I despised the film much more than I did. I’m glad I saw it. It’s terribly ambitious. I might see it again, but probably won’t go out of my way to do so. Let’s hope it shows up on Netflix with subtitles so I can try to follow the, um, distinct dialect of English that tattooed Tom Hanks is so fond of in one-sixth of the film.

And what about those vague nothings that the characters seem to speak of so earnestly? It seems to me that the very fact that simply bringing up these questions can make a film seem deep and spark so much discussion is because God put eternity into man’s heart (Ecc. 3:11). There is a longing deep inside, an inherent knowledge that we were made for more than this life, that there are questions and issues at play bigger than our own lives. The idea of humanity as a cosmic mistake precludes the possibility of greater  meaning or an afterlife, although only a fraction of the people who adhere to evolutionary theory seem to admit that. They would no doubt shake their heads and cluck their tongues, talking about how self-deluded we all are. And yet we get works like Cloud Atlas which very clearly want to say something about all of this, even if it’s not quite sure what to say.

I’m not saying that the desire to believe that our lives are part of some universal tapestry is hard evidence for a Creator. But I will make the case that, if the universal tapestry is real, it only makes sense that there is a Master Artist working it all together. Force the creative forces behind Cloud Atlas to try to define whatever force is at work in the fiction of their film, and I don’t know what you’d get. Perhaps something vague like the Force? Perhaps some sort of ill-defined intelligence or vibe or karma or something like that? Or does it leave open the possibility of a personal God who guides and works in ways that we cannot begin to see or understand (Isa. 55:8-9)?

If you want to look for threads running through all of human history, look no further than the Creator of history itself. To say that history is His story might be a wretched and clichéd little turn of phrase that I would never suffer to see in print, but consider the beautiful tale of redemption that the Bible paints. The very first seedlings of messianic prophecy show up as early as Genesis 3 and is the underlying theme running through the whole of Scripture until Revelation comes to a close with the beginning of eternity. Even this earth is yearning for the days when all will be put right and when this story comes to a close (Rom. 8:22).

Also Not a Cliché

It has been said that truth is stranger than fiction. I believe that the amazing truth about this world, about a rebellious people and a loving God who goes to great lengths to redeem them, is more incredible and fantastic than anything Cloud Atlas. The incredible cost that the Lord has paid to restore relationship with sinful people is more inspiring than any sacrifice you might see on the big screen. And it’s all true. Not true in a “based on a true story even though everyone involved died so no one can possibly know what actually happened during almost the whole movie” sort of true (anyone else remember The Perfect Storm?), but more true than anything else we believe and experience.

If nothing else, an eternity in paradise—that tremendous rest that was bought with the precious blood of the Son of God—seems like the perfect place to figure out the plot of Cloud Atlas. We should have enough time, anyway.

The Subtle Art of Judging a Book by its Cover

Samantha Scott's Emaline's Gift Cover

A fellow Christian indie author mentioned that she was putting together information about the different options available for authors when it comes time for the cover design. I offered to write a blog post about the Freelancer contest that I set up that ended up resulting in the cover for Emaline’s Gift—and, hopefully, a longterm relationship with illustrator Samantha Scott, who I hope to commission for all subsequent artwork related to The Magi Chronicles in the future. I was very pleased with the contest and with its results and am very happy with my final cover art and with my new friendship and business relationship with Samantha.

One of the questions that one hears a lot from indie authors is how they can create a professional-looking cover. The short answer, in my opinion, for the vast majority of askers is: You can’t. Yes, I realize that there are indeed authors out there with the skills and software necessary to design professional covers. I think. I mean, I’m sure they are. But nobody’s great at everything and the skills that it takes to write a great book do not overlap with the skills that it takes to make a great cover. And there are a lot of bad covers out there on a lot of indie books. I’ve seen them, you’ve seen them, and let’s just be honest and admit that we all judge books by their covers. If we see an amateurish cover, we assume that what’s inside will most likely be amateurish writing and we avoid it.

My Original Design

CreateSpace's Cover
Creator Version

I’m not trying to speak from any sort of arrogant position, mind you. I’m not remotely pleased with the cover for my short story, The Book of the Harvest. I did it myself. You can tell that I did it myself. People have raved in the reviews that the book is a wake-up call and how the Holy Spirit is using the story in their lives—but I realize that potential buyers may well have a difficult time getting past the cover. It’s something I should address. The paperback cover looks nominally better (although the basic design is awfully generic) because I needed to use CreateSpace’s cover design templates and I should probably, at the least, replace the Kindle version with that one. But, in my opinion, both covers look just hopeless alongside the one Samantha designed for Emaline’s Gift. One of the main reasons that I commissioned the artwork for the latter is that The Book of the Harvest is a $.99 short story on Kindle. I get about a third of that price per sale. Emaline’s Gift is a novel and so the price is appropriately higher and it seems more likely that I will recoup the expenses I spent on the cover than if I were to spend the same amount on the short story. Indeed, Emaline’s Gift has already brought in more revenue than The Book of the Harvest despite the fact that the former has a more narrow demographic (fans of Christian fantasy) than the latter (Christian readers) and despite the price difference. I think having a great cover matters.

The Freelancer contest was not my first attempt at hiring someone to make the cover. I found an artist who had done other quality work in the field—his cover had caught my eye—and contacted them initially. It didn’t work out. I had a pretty clear vision of what I was looking for in my cover and described it to the artist. As soon as I made the payment, he stopped communicating. It wasn’t until I contacted him again after two weeks had passed (he had told me that it should take a couple of days) that he sent me something. It wasn’t remotely what I had asked for (for example, the red flames on the official cover are important to the story, but this designer had ignored that and drawn standard yellow flames) and—worse—the design was completely inappropriate for my Christian audience. I realize that some of my potential audience will never pick up the book because of the “magical” elements, despite the fact that I think the story deals with it in a very biblical manner, but this artist’s cover had Emaline looking evil/possessed and that, in addition to not fitting the story at all, would have repelled my target audience! The artist did not respond or ever send me anything else, and I finally was able to get a refund since I had paid through Paypal. When it comes to dealing with people or businesses you have no experience with, Paypal is your friend.

Going with the established artist whose work I admired didn’t work, so I decided to  look into a Freelancer contest. Actually, the minimum amount to create a contest was, in the end, less than the previous artist would have charged for full rights to the design: he individually licensed the work for print and electronic uses, but the final design from the Freelancer contest would be mine entirely and I could use it however and wherever I wanted. There are different options that can drive the price up: you can make the contest worth more and try to attract a higher-caliber talent and there are options to feature your contest which might get more entries. But the contest carried a money-back guarantee if I didn’t find a design that would work, and I know that would appeal to a lot of cash-strapped indie authors, especially if this was their first time trying the contest.

There were some options that I should mention. The first was the option to “seal” the contest. In a sealed contest, only I would be able to see the entries. In a normal contest, the designers could also see the other designs. Most of the designers who entered—you have the opportunity to talk to them privately and publicly through the contest—encouraged me not to seal it. They said it was for my protection to keep it open because they could call foul if there was a designer who was plagiarizing work from elsewhere. Only one of the designers wanted me to seal the contest because he was afraid of his ideas being stolen; well, when he finally submitted his entry, it wasn’t very good anyway, so it didn’t matter. The other option was to guarantee the contest. The big issue with the guarantee is that you are saying that you absolutely will assign a winner and award the prize money. This means that more artists (in theory) will submit to the contest because they know the contest-maker won’t back out, but it also means that you lose your money back guarantee from Freelancer. A number of the artists encouraged me to guarantee the contest, but I didn’t feel comfortable doing so. I honestly wanted to find a winner—otherwise, why would I do the contest?—but I had no idea what the overall quality of the entries would be.

But I understand why the designers would push for the guarantee. And I appreciate those who disapprove of these contests because the artists who enter are often so desperate for work that they spend a great deal of time on their designs when only one person is actually going to get paid (as the one who initiates the contest, you do have the option of purchasing more than one design—but most of us just don’t have the money to burn and we really only need one, don’t we?). I tried to give feedback quickly and make it very clear when a design was way off base because I didn’t want to inadvertently encourage someone who just wasn’t at the same level of talent as some of the artists. I thought it was best to be completely honest so artists could decide whether it made sense for them to continue putting work into the contest or not.

A Late Entry That Caught My Eye

Overall, I was thrilled with many of the submissions and could have picked several (perhaps with a bit of tweaking) for my cover and been very happy. I wish I could show them off here, but of course the images belonged to the artists who created them. There is one I can throw up here because I noticed that the artist made the picture available online, so I can link to it here. I actually really liked this one as well, but it came very late in the contest so it was too late for me to give feedback and get them to make some little changes (in particular, the perspective on the arm and wrist in the foreground looked wrong to me. Samantha’s drawing had actually been uploaded very early in the contest and she remained a frontrunner throughout. Freelancer lets you put together a little poll, which I did and made available to my Facebook friends. I took my favorite images and let my friends vote on it and, once again, Samantha’s drawing was a favorite.

Would I do the Freelancer contest again? Well, for The Magi Chronicles, as far as I’m concerned, I won’t ever need to. Retaining Samantha as my official series illustrator will bring consistency to the series. She’s been great to work with, and we’ve struck up a bit of a friendship as well and I look forward to continue to working with her in the future. But for other projects that Samantha’s style might not be right for? Sure. I don’t know for sure whether I would be confident enough to guarantee the contest just yet (and thus forsake my money-back guarantee  if the entries don’t work out), but I definitely saw enough creativity, talent and professionalism to go back to the Freelancer well again.

One caveat is that I had a pretty clear vision of what I was looking for with Emaline’s Gift. I wanted Emaline on the cover (and I passed along to the designers the description of her from the book) and I wanted her to be staring in wonder at red flames that she had inadvertently conjured. It’s an important part of the book and I think that it speaks to both the fantasy genre and the primary protagonist. Now, my readers will know that the scene on the cover doesn’t match up exactly to the one in the book; I simplified it for the cover and think that was the right decision. Now, if I was going in to the Freelancer contest without a clear vision for what I was looking for, would I have been as happy with the results? I don’t know. Even with the parameters I gave, there was a wide and satisfying range of interpretations that I loved seeing—but there was also a consistency that might have made it easier to judge.

Anyway, that’s pretty much my experience. I hope it helps make some decisions. With Freelancer’s guarantee, I figure you’ve got no reason not to give it a shot if you’ve got the money to do it. And, for what it’s worth, all this chattering about how unhappy I am with the cover for The Book of the Harvest has inspired me to give it a facelift, which I’ll go ahead and post. If you do go ahead and do it yourself, the good news is that there are always chances to tweak and improve. If you think your cover might be holding you back, spend some time on it. Experiment. And then hire a professional! That’s still my best advice if there’s any way you can afford it. If not? Well, keep at it. You’ve got nothing to lose.

Interview with Steve Biddison, Author of The Center Circle

I believe I first discovered Steve Biddison and The Center Circle Chronicles through Twitter. I was curious whether anyone was using the #ChristianFantasy hashtag and there were precious few who were—but Steve was. I checked out the link he posted and, always willing to check out other Christian fantasy works, I tweeted about my desire to sit down and read it one day. Steve followed me back and we tweeted a bit back and forth and ultimately decided to do this interview.

I got my hands on the first book in the series, The Center Circle, and started reading about a college freshman named Landon who discovers that he is actually the prince of a faraway kingdom. I was reminded of Stephen Lawhead’s Song of Albion series (which is one of my favorites) and—and this might sound a little more bizarre—the Australian TV series The Elephant Princess, some of which I’ve watched with my daughters through Netflix.

This isn’t a review site, but I’ll just make a few brief comments. The book really should be edited much more carefully than it was. That’s something that usually drives me crazy and has led me to give up on more than one book in the past, but I was eventually drawn into the story regardless. The characters and story and a neat twist in the climactic battle scene drew me out past the editing and writing problems, and I was gladly eating it all up by the time this book ended. I absolutely intend to get the sequel, which is out now, and I recommend The Center Circle to other fantasy fans, bearing in mind the caveats I just mentioned.

I’m very grateful that Steve took the time out of his schedule to do our interview. You can find his website here—which has links to all of his books in a handful of formats—and you can pick up the Kindle version of The Center Circle here and the paperback version here.

Without further ado, let’s get on to the interview:

Brad: Thanks for joining us, Steve. How long have you been writing?

Steve: My love for writing started when I was about twelve years old.  My first “novel” was a hand-written Star Trek novel that never made it past the spiral notebooks I wrote it in.  My senior year in high school, I began my next novel.  It was a fantasy novel about ten young people from another world who battled together against the forces of evil.  Back then, no one owned personal computers so I again hand wrote it on notebook paper.  I called that book The Center Circle.

Steve Biddison

Throughout the next couple of decades, I put my fiction writing aside as I chased after my career of coaching basketball.  During that time, I channeled my writing interests into writing coaching manuals and other books related to coaching basketball.  But those books were more for my own staff and team and never made it out of my immediate sphere of influence.

In addition, I served for four years as a youth pastor and, during that time, I continued writing devotionals and sermon series for my youth group.

A year and a half ago, I discovered Amazon Kindle and realized that I now had a venue in which to share my writing with the world.  The first book I published was a basketball coaching book that has been a best seller in its genre.

Ever since I finished The Center Circle while in college, I always knew that one day I would revisit that novel and rewrite it.  About a year ago, that time finally came.  Now to be honest, there is not much that remains from the original storyline in today’s version of the story.  The title remains the same and the name of the evil person is the same.  But that is about it.

Brad: Tell me about Landon, your protagonist.

Steve: At the beginning of the saga, you see Landon as a college freshman on Earth.  He had been orphaned at an early age with his earliest true memories being in an orphanage.  However, not long into his freshman year, he discovers that he is not originally from earth.  His real name is Landru, the heir to the throne of Orion, and he is being summoned back to his home world to unite with the rest of The Center Circle to defeat the rising evil power.

Since the bulk of the story takes place after he leaves earth, we don’t really see a lot of what he was like before, but we see enough glimpses into his early life to know that he was competitive and loyal.  However, growing up on earth, he usually was a bit of a loner.  We even see in the opening scene of the story that he is alone in his dorm on a Friday night.  However, his sense of competitiveness and leadership comes to the surface when he is thrust into the role of uniting the Center Circle to basically save the kingdoms of his home world.

Brad: I thought it was a neat detail that Landon’s life growing up had been, unbeknownst to him, guided to make sure that he would develop the skills he would need later. Still, I have to admit that I was surprised by how quickly Landon adapted to the circumstances he suddenly finds himself in. What is it about him that makes him so readily accept that which many of us would seriously struggle with?

Steve: In a way it is surprising how quickly he adapted to the fact that he was not Landon, the college freshman on Earth, but was instead Landru, the crown prince of Orion.  In normal circumstances, it would have probably taken him much longer to adapt to the new realization, but, being that almost from the minute he transported to his home world of Orion he was battling for his life, he didn’t really have time to fret over the loss of his former life.  Had there been a lot of down time where he either wasn’t fighting for his own life or trying to rescue a friend, then I am sure he would have taken the time to process all the changes going on his life. 

Brad: There are a lot of pop culture references in your book. In the first couple of chapters, you allude to Star Trek, Stargate, Indiana Jones and Angry Birds. Are you concerned at all about the book aging poorly, that readers in future generations wouldn’t get all the references and that this might detract from the story?

Steve: I guess theoretically it is possible that the future generations would not get the pop culture references.  But let’s face it, Star Trek has been around for 46 years and is still going strong with another movie being released next spring.  Besides, at least for the next half century, I have heard from a few readers of the series that they found the allusions to classic sci-fi material a real drawing point. 

Brad: Midway through the book, we start seeing the beginnings of a romance. Was this something you had intended from the beginning, or did the romance develop naturally as you wrote?

Steve: It’s really interesting that you ask about the romance.  I personally feel that every story has to have at least a little bit of a romance in it.  So, yes, I intended to have a romance in this one.  However, I had planned on the romance being between Landru and Brenlee.  And I am sure some of that romance, or at least the potential for that romance, is a little evident in the story.  However, in a very strange way, another character danced into the story and things started to change.

The scene where we meet Theophania was originally supposed to be a scene written for the sole purpose of getting Landru out of the way for a period of time while things happened in another world.  She was only going to be in that one chapter, then maybe down the line somewhere in the series, she would reappear.  But you know sometimes as an author, you find your characters talking to you?  That’s what happened to me.  In no uncertain terms, Theophania told me she had to have a much bigger role in the series than what I was planning.  And as I wrote that one chapter, I could sense the chemistry building between the two of them and, even though I had no intention originally of them falling in love, they both told me that it was happening and I might as well accept that fact.

Brad: I know precisely what you’re talking about as an author, and I actually sort of like that it happened that way instead of planning it out at the beginning or before the book was started. I feel that letting the characters dictate the story always makes for stronger fiction.

Do you know at this point how many books we should expect in The Center Circle Chronicles?

Steve: At this point in time, the second book of The Center Circle Chronicles is available .  This book, The Weapons of Warfare, has a few interesting plot twists with many allusions to Arthurian Literature and travels to Stonehenge and the Egyptian pyramids.  I started this series with the idea that it would be a trilogy.  And that is still my plan.  I guess it’s possible that that I could decide to write a second trilogy, but right now I plan on making it simply one trilogy.  However, Theophania or one of the other characters might tell me I have to write more.  But so far, they haven’t done that.

Brad: What were your influences in writing this story?

Steve: When I was in 8th grade, a friend of mine lent me a book series, The Chronicles of Amber by Roger Zelazny.  The story centered around one man and all of his half -brothers and sisters who were all out to gain the throne of Amber – the one true world.  I loved the series, but hated the idea that the family hated each other so much that they killed each other in order to gain the throne.

Fast forward to my senior year in high school.  My English teacher had us write a short story.  I took the members of my class and wrote them into the fantasy short story with the idea that I would turn it into a novel along the same lines as Roger Zelazny’s work.  Only this time, they would have to work together, not try to kill each other.  Even though the characters in the current Center Circle incarnation are not directly named after those class members, some of them are definitely still based on those people I knew so well almost thirty years ago.

Brad: Given your determination to have the members of the Center Circle working together, were you caught off guard at all by all the squabbling that they do engage in, especially between Landru and Callitha? Did you find that some conflict within the Circle was necessary to build suspense, and did that cause you to reevaluate your feelings about The Chronicles of Amber at all?

Steve: I will have to answer that question in two ways.  1) Hardly ever do you find a group of people who have been tasked to complete a great assignment perfectly working together at all times.  So, yes, from the beginning I did plan to have there be a rift between Landru and Callitha.  And I kind of wanted there to be the squabble over who really had the power in the group and what that power actually meant.  With that said, 2) when the characters actually started taking on a life of their own during my writing of the book, I sensed that there was a greater hostility between them than I had first thought there was.  And then throw in Callitha's animosity towards Brenlee, who was one of Landru's closest friends, and I think it just escalated way beyond what I had planned.  In the second book of the series, The Weapons of Warfare, we start to see more why that animosity exists.  And, Brad, despite my original desire to have the Circle working together (which is still one of the most essential elements that must happen to defeat Rondel), they really do become dysfunctional in the second book.   But even then, unity of spirit proves out to be key.

About The Chronicles of Amber: Believe it or not, I found a copy at a used book store of the original 5 books of Amber and I read them again between the times of writing Book 1 and Book 2.  And I saw again that the brothers and sisters thirst for power, not only caused them to want to kill each other, but it was almost the death of their world.  In The Center Circle Chronicles, the thirst for power might not be as obvious nor are there blatant attempts on each other's lives (save for one scene in The Weapons of Warfare), but deep down I think you see some of the same hidden motivations.

Brad: Talk to me about what it means to be a Christian author. Do you feel a responsibility beyond that of merely writing a great story, in terms of content or spiritual themes?

Steve: Because I make no bones about being a Christian author, having written devotionals and other Christian related writings, I have to make sure that I do not write in such a way that dishonors God.  I do not believe that all my books must be Christian in nature.  However, they should never go against Christianity.  Let me explain.  Although my novels have all had a basis in Christianity, my coaching basketball books are not necessarily Christian books.  However, as a Christian, even when writing books about coaching, I use Christian principles.

The Center Circle Chronicles  is not really designed to be a life lesson-teaching type series, although there are good principles that people can learn.  For instance, the feelings of faith, which is the power behind the great things that the Circle members can do, is analogous to the power we as Christians have in our faith in God.  Landru’s sword has the ability to be used, not just as a weapon, but as a guide.  Many will recognize this right away as a reference to the Sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.  But even beyond those (and many other examples throughout the series), there is a larger arc within the series concerning the power and deceit of evil and how one day the great King will return to free the world of evil.

In some of my future writings that are not set in the fantasy world, but in the real world with real-type people, I feel that those novels need to have a deeper message than just an allegory.  These books are much more real life people facing real life situations.  So on those cases, it is essential that I bring God’s truth into my writing so that readers who relate to the situation can see God’s way of handling the situation.

Brad: It will be interesting to see how faith works in your non-fantasy work in the future, then. Now, if I held a gun to your head (sorry, I didn’t expect this to get violent) and asked you to name your favorite book, what would it be? Why?

Steve: The quick and easy answer to that question is the Bible as it is not only God’s Word with practical applications for our everyday life, but it is full of some very great stories.  I especially love reading the stories and the stories behind the stories of the Old Testament to go along with the deep spiritual truths of the New Testament.

As far as other books, I would say that I don’t usually read fiction books over and over again.  There are occasions where I might read one sometime then several years later decide to read it again.  However, if I would have to choose, my favorite (nonBible) book—based on the fact that I have read it many times—is a book called Leading With the Heart by Mike Krzyzewski, the head men’s basketball coach at Duke Univeristy.  As a basketball coach, I read this book every September as a reminder of how I wanted to lead my team.

Brad: What about your favorite author (quickly—I don’t want anyone to see me holding this gun)?

Steve: That’s a very hard question for me to answer.  I am one of those people who have so many different interests.  As you no doubt have guessed, I like fantasy books.  But I also love reading books on leadership. I enjoy reading lawyer books and political thrillers. 

If I had to narrow it down to some favorite authors, I would say probably Ted Dekker and John Grisham.

Brad: What are you working on right now? Tell us about it.

Steve: Right now I am busy writing what I call a sports romance book.  It takes place in a small town where a new coach, Eric Rightman, gets hired to coach the school’s basketball team that had not had a winning team in over a decade.  Lacey Littleton has reluctantly returned to her home town as a reporter for the town’s newspaper.  Both are running from something in their past, one from a group of people and one from a darker moment in her past. 

I am also in the editing stage of a second volume of a monthly men’s devotional called 31 Days to Becoming a Man of God.  It has 31 devotional entries that center around lessons for men that we learn from the men in the Bible. 

For those wondering about the third book of The Center Circle Chronicles, that one is the next one on my list to write.  My hope is to begin writing that one about Thanksgiving and it will be available sometime in the spring of 2013.

Brad: One last question: I’m sure many of your readers are dying to know why Landon is so enamored with the original Star Trek series when Deep Space Nine is clearly the superior Trek.

Kirk tries and fails to be more awesome than Sisko

Steve: Well, that answer is an easy one.  And it has nothing to do with which one is superior.  Without giving too much away, Landon is involved in some sort of time travel experience.  So the Original Star Trek series is what he grew up on before the orphanage burned down.  With that said, from a purely literary standpoint, more people recognize the name of Captain James T. Kirk than they do Benjamin Sisko. 

Hi, it’s me, Brad, again. Thanks for joining us and, in case you missed that, Steve Biddison, author of The Center Circle Chronicles, practically just almost implied that Deep Space Nine was better than the original series. I couldn’t agree more. Now, everyone go and pick up a copy of The Center Circle to thank Steve for swinging by!

Relationship Wasteland

“Mojave, mo’ problems—am I right?”

Even though I have other unplayed games that I’m looking forward to, I decided to pick up Fallout: New Vegas for a second run-through, to revisit the Mojave Wasteland and immerse myself in the war between the New California Republic, Caesar’s Legion and the mysterious Mr. House. In games that allow different morality choices, I invariably play as a good guy (well, girl, if it’s an option) on my first play. If the game is good enough, I’ll come back later with malevolence to see how things change by being despicable. Truth is that I never quite immerse  myself in the roles to the point where I’m as consistently cruel as I should be. . .but oh well. My evil characters have a benevolent streak.

The Fallout series is one of the major video game franchises that attempts to make moral choices important (also included in this list, to greater or lesser effect, is Mass Effect and Fable). The games give the player a great deal of freedom to take many different approaches, but these decisions are not made in a vacuum. Your choices have an impact on how different people that you encounter view you and treat you. A Google search suggests that there are well over 100 quests (some short, some long and some hidden) in the game but one cannot possibly complete all in one playthrough, as there are many different factions with different goals and one cannot fully satisfy one without negative consequences in the others. In addition, the fact that the game allows so much freedom makes it very possible to burn bridges outside the actual quests; say the wrong thing or kill the wrong shopkeeper and you can shut down multiple quest opportunities just like that. There were people who trusted me when I played as a good guy who would have nothing to do with me when I played as a villain, and thus didn’t offer me quests that I had completed the last time I played the game.

Like in the Fallout universe, our choices and decisions do not exist in a vacuum. The good and bad decisions we make can have long lasting consequences, some positive, some negative and some endlessly complicated. In fact, no video game can hold a candle to the complexity of real life. What is “fair” rarely comes into play because we are complicated creatures with our own hopes and fears and desires—and it can be difficult to live a life that offends no one or makes no waves (1 Tim. 2:2).

There are some who will look at that last line and say, “Who cares if we offend someone? The message of Jesus Christ offends some people” (Matt. 11:6)! True enough. But there is a difference between offending for the sake of godliness, for the sake of Christ, and offending because we are selfish.

Permit me to use alcohol as an example. From a biblical perspective, it is not a sin to drink but it is a sin to get drunk (Eph. 5:18, as just one example). Now, there are teetotalers among us and I have no problem with any individual choosing to abstain completely—I hate the taste of alcohol and imbibe very rarely—so long as they do not go too far and try to legalistically control others, or to twist the Scriptures to support their extreme opinion (which you can definitely find online; how sad that they must twist Christ’s turning water into wine to the point of flat-out contradiction to fit their weak position). However, these teetotalers can be a vocal bunch to the extent that many in the world are under the impression that drinking at all is against the Bible. As a result, for a Christian to drink or purchase alcohol can, depending on their community and who sees it, seriously hurt their testimony. It can push some farther from Christ.

Not even an appletini is enjoyable enough to risk that outcome, is it?

Many in our culture will not appreciate this reality, but I can back it up biblically. This is precisely what Paul is talking about in 1 Cor. 9: giving up that which is his right for the sake of the message of the gospel. There is nothing wrong with doing that which you have the moral and legal right to do—but if it conflicts with the gospel, then we must look at what is the priority, and I think it would be sinful to prioritize our own selfish desires over the power of the gospel! Even American Christianity tends to be very concerned with preserving our rights, but Paul gave up every one if the cause of the gospel could be furthered by his sacrifice.

It takes a fairly major paradigm shift. Our choices are not made in a vacuum and they affect those around us. We will make a different decision—in some situations—depending on where our focus is and where our heart lies: if our ultimate goal and focus is on pointing to Christ, imagine how much that is perfectly acceptable we would be willing to excise because our goal is that much greater; if our focus is on our own comfort, we will only pursue God’s purposes when it is convenient for us, and we will not sacrifice (or not sacrifice much) for His Kingdom.

The thought of living in a way to please other people can make you just bristle with indignation. But if we do not have a good relationship with those that God has put in our lives, how can we ever hope to be used to bring them to Christ? And if we are living in such a way that makes us—and, by extension, the One we represent—detestable or distasteful to our neighbors, then we cannot kid ourselves that we are worth very much in this life, can we?

In Fallout: New Vegas, even horrendous reputations can be repaired by taking on some important missions for that faction. You could kill a squadron of New California Republic troops but then still work your way back to the good graces of the leadership by performing some random favors. It may be ambitious, but it’s still a video game, after all. When we damage relationships with people in real life, regaining their trust and respect is a much greater challenge and will take a long time. That time could be used by the Holy Spirit to draw a soul to Jesus through a godly life of friendship and servanthood, but now it is wasted.

We need to understand that we love God by loving others. Living a godly life may cause some to despise us regardless of how pleasant we are (Matt. 10:22), but how many others will end up bowing down before Jesus as Lord because of the light they see shining in us? Remember: we are to be salt and light (Matt. 5:13-16)—and salt tastes good!