CSFF Blog Tour vs Tuesday Tunes

So, it's like this. The CSFF Blog Tour is featuring The Orphan King and Fortress of Mist by Sigmund Brouwer this week. There are no good 'orphan' songs, and I've already done a Top Ten King Songs; there aren't ten decent 'fortress' songs, and I've done a Vaguely Mist-y Top Ten.

Which means there is only one logical course of action: retell the story of The Orphan King through a list of ten songs. Without actually reading the book or anything (a feat which puts me in mind of an English assignment on To Kill A Mockingbird way back when).

Peter and the Wolf – Tommy
In which we meet our misfit hero drawing comics in his physics book.

Salem – Monastery
Where our hero seems to have been taken in by some reclusive psychadelic rock playing monks.

James – Destiny Calling
Covered in chocolate and sold to the neighbours... isn't that how all these fantasy novels start out?

Dinosaur Jr. – Quest
Tommy's destiny, it seems, involves going on tour with some indie rockers from 1980s Massachusetts.

Borderline Disaster – Thief & The Knight
With his supporting acts, of course. There's probably a borderline disaster at this point in the story too, coincidentally.

Franz Ferdinand – Katherine Kiss Me
And the obligatory groupies romantic interest.

Toyah – The Druids
Then in walk the druids and that punk popstrel that went to the dark side and started narrating Teletubbies.

The Lovely Eggs – The Castle
Having battled the Immortal Teletubbies, our intrepid heroes reach their goal: an isolated castle somewhere in the vicinity of Lancaster, guarded by an indie rock band with a girl vocal.

New York Dolls – (There's Gonna Be A) Showdown
Because that's the way these things work.

Madness – The Prince
Admittedly, the title suggests that upon defeating the New York Dolls and taking the castle he becomes king, but Madness didn't write a song for that.

Do you know, if that's the way the Merlin's Immortals really goes down, I might even take a look myself...

Enjoy the tunes, then take a look at yesterday's post for the list of tour participants whose homework I copied in order to put them together.

CSFF Blog Tour - Merlin's Immortals by Sigmund Brouwer

This month the CSFF Blog Tour features not one, but two (count' em) books, The Orphan King and Fortress of Mist by Sigmund Brouwer.

These are books 1 and 2 respectively of the young adult fantasy series Merlin's Immortals. Here's some blurb from The Orphan King:

The future of the Immortals is in the hands of an orphan

My greatest fear was that they would find us and make of us a sacrifice beneath a full moon. Now you, Thomas, must help us destroy the circle of evil.

The last words of a dying woman would change the life of young Thomas. Raised behind monastery walls, he knows nothing of his mysterious past or imminent destiny. But now, in the heart of medieval England, a darkness threatens to strangle truth. An ancient order tightens their ghostly grip on power, creating fear and exiling those who would oppose them. Thomas is determined fulfill his calling and bring light into the mysterious world of the Druids and leaves the monastery on an important quest.

Thomas quickly finds himself in unfamiliar territory, as he must put his faith in unusual companions—a cryptic knight, a child thief, and the beautiful, silent woman whom may not be all she seems.  From the solitary life of an orphan, Thomas now finds himself tangled in the roots of both comradery and suspicion.

Can he trust those who would join his battle…or will his fears force him to go on alone?

A mysterious secret castle, Stonehengian druids trying to take over with their weird evil powers, and an orphan escaping a sinister monastery to save the world.... seriously, I live in England, and parts of it are still like that.

Epic medieval sword and sorcery type fantasy, though, are not my thing, so my purpose here is to highlight the existence of the series for anyone who's thing it is, and direct you to some reviews and informed discussion, which will be happening at some of these blogs over the next few days:

Gillian Adams Julie Bihn Thomas Fletcher Booher Beckie Burnham Janey DeMeo Theresa Dunlap Victor Gentile Nikole Hahn Jeremy Harder Ryan Heart Janeen Ippolito Becky Jesse Jason Joyner Carol Keen Emileigh Latham Rebekah Loper Shannon McDermott Meagan @ Blooming with Books Megan @ Hardcover Feedback Rebecca LuElla Miller Anna Mittower Eve Nielsen Nathan Reimer James Somers Steve Trower Phyllis Wheeler

CSFF Blog Tour - Angel Eyes by Shannon Dittemore

I guess angels must be popular these days. There's certainly some Disney-esque kids show with angels playing when we leave for the school run most mornings, if that's any measure. Nice that they've made a revival since the good old days when This Present Darkness was the sum total of the fiction shelves in the local Christian bookshop.

So, that being the case, it's good to see from a quick scoot around the tour that Angel Eyes takes a scripturally based view of angels - there's a pretty comprehensive look at angels in art and the Bible on Shannon McDermott's blog.

Elsewhere, Julie Bihn wonders if angels could be among us performing apparently random acts of kindness, perhaps even endangering themselves... I was once saved from being mugged at knifepoint for a handful of 12 inch singles by an unnecessarily burly black fella in Birmingham. I'm not saying that was my guardian angel... but I'm not saying it wasn't.

Other stops to make:
Meagan on being broken;
Becky and Jason review Twilight;
a nice review by Beckie Burnham;
and of course the rest of the participants (list on Monday's post)

CSFF Blog Tour - Starflower by Anne Elisabeth Stengl

As I mentioned yesterday, I'm easing myself back into the internet by way of the CSFFBT, just in time for a Christmas break. Yes, there is a madness in my method, honest.

Anyway, Starflower. It's a fairy tale, which, if I'm not mistaken, is not a genre well known for its use of aliens and time travel. I'm not averse to an occasional episode of Grimm, but otherwise this is not something that would ordinarily show up on my reading list. Which begs the obvious question: why am I here?

Well, basically, to give yesterday's music post a context. But while I'm here, lets point you to some of the highlights of the tour, for any passing visitors with a little more interest in the featured book:

The chance to win a copy courtesy of Gillian Adams
Shannon McSomething looks at the importance of names
There's an interview with the author at Blooming with Books
A mixture of reviews, good and not quite so good, including one by a younger reader (interesting as Starflower is a young adult book)

And don't forget you can visit the author's own blog, or facebook her.

CSFF Blog Tour vs Tuesday Tunes

After all the frantic novelling of November, and the returning to real life (interrupted by all the Christmas stuff), internetting has sort of tailed off a little this month. But do not fear, for the Christian Science Fiction and Fantasy Blog Tour is back this week, featuring Starflower by Anne Elisabeth Stengl. Starflower is the fourth in the young adult fairytale series, The Tales of Goldstone Wood, which seems like a good excuse to send the Spotify elves off to choose this weeks soundtrack: The Top Ten Fairytale Songs.

10. Wob – Rapunzel
Look, I just wanted an excuse to say 'Wob'. Try it, it's oddly saisfying. Wob.

9. John Otway – Rumplestiltskin
Angry Cockney-punk version of the Grimm tale... Give us the baby!

8. Outlandish - The Emperor's New Beat
Today's obscure foreign entry: Danish hip-hop. Slightly sweary.

7. Rush – Cinderella Man
Because we love a bit of prog rock around these parts.

6. Green Jelly – Three Little Pigs
Is this so bad it's good, or is it just bad? I'm honestly not sure...

5. A-ha – Cry Wolf
There's something about listening to a-ha that takes me back to my youth, growing up in the little country town of Morten Harket...

4. Grass Widow – Goldilocks Zone
This is one of those tracks that is just better listened to than described.

3. David Bowie – Beauty and the Beast
I don't even know why I do this bit since you can just listen if you're interested...

2. Spin Doctors – Two Princes
I have no idea if there's actually a fairy tale called Two Princes, but there must at least be one about two princes.

1. Evanescence – Snow White Queen
Wob.

And you can listen to all this with the gadget below, and while you enjoy that, pay a visit to some of these bloggers, also discussing Starflower: Gillian Adams Beckie Burnham Nikole Hahn Bruce Hennigan Janeen Ippolito Carol Keen Emileigh Latham Shannon McDermott Meagan @ Blooming with Books Rebecca LuElla Miller Anna Mittower Rachel Starr Thomson Robert Treskillard Steve Trower Dona Watson Shane Werlinger Phyllis Wheeler

Monday Review: The Realms Thereunder by Ross Lawhead

In conjunction with the CSFF Blog Tour, I received a free copy of this book from the publishers for review. Admittedly, that was about eight months ago, and the tour has moved on to The Telling by Mike Duran now, but despite having a good excuse for delaying, I should really meet my end of the deal and provide a proper review.

Before we begin, for those who don't know, I don't do fantasy. It just doesn't work for me. However, most of the books we see on the Tour are written and/or set in the USA, so when I got the chance to read something set this side of the pond I decided to put that aside and give it a go. Besides, Lawhead told us this wasn't about a fantasy world, it was the world which exists beneath the one we see (hence the title). So, great, a fantasy England, with English folklore woven into it. Could be good.

But, I have to say, although the underground world our young heroes Daniel and Freya explore with a couple of Saxon knights could be considered 'not a fantasy world' in the traditional sense, older Daniel's adventures in the book primarily took place in, and trying to return from, Elfland (the faerie realms, to be precise). Riiiight. Given that I was hoping for the story world to be a little more Rowlingesque, I did feel I'd been somewhat mis-sold as I waded through the faerie realms.

The book is made up of two sets of stories - young Daniel and Freya's experiences in Nidergeard (the underground world) as teenagers, and their individual exploits some years later, Daniel in Elfland, and Freya... well, therein hangs the wossname.

Back in February, I wanted to share my unique British perspective on this with the tour as a whole, but having not finished the book, didn't know whether it would later become apparent - or indeed serve a purpose to the plot - that Freya was kidnapped by an Atlas of Britain.

It didn't take me a second thought to realise that Professor Felix Stowe was named after the largest freight port in the UK, and when he introduced us to First Lieutenant Gerrards Cross, Brent Wood et al, I was wondering whether this was deliberate, or whether the author was just rubbish at making up names and hoped his American publisher wouldn't notice. But when Freya started quoting from books by Cookham Dean and Dudley Port, I'd about had enough and wanted to throw the book off the cliffs at Rosslaw Head.

Never fear though, for Freya - being an educated woman who can probably even spell Abbingdon correctly - did eventually work out that all was not as it seemed and that she was being held captive by an A to Z. But we never found out what their agenda was, or why they had such outrageously silly names. Which was a shame, because although many of Freya's actual pages were largely pointless, save for hypnotising both Freya and the reader, hers was the only part of the story I actually wanted to follow.

So, in summary, maybe my expectations of the story and setting were off, and it says something that despite being set in Fairyland and not England after all, I still finished the book. But ultimately, as much as I wanted to like this book, I just didn't. And those bits that I did like were treated as so insignificant in the overall story that they are not enough to sell me on the rest of the series.

Linky Goodness:
My initial thoughts on The Realms Thereunder
 

But that's enough about that, I think I would much rather have read The Telling by Mike Duran, like these bloggers have:
Jim Armstrong Noah Arsenault Keanan Brand Beckie Burnham Brenda Castro Jeff Chapman Christine Theresa Dunlap Victor Gentile Nikole Hahn Bruce Hennigan Jason Joyner Julie Carol Keen Emileigh Latham Meagan @ Blooming with Books Rebecca LuElla Miller Anna Mittower Kathleen Smith Donna Swanson Jessica Thomas Steve Trower Dona Watson Shane Werlinger Phyllis Wheeler

Monday Review: The Last Dragonslayer by Jasper Fforde

I know what you're all thinking, and yes, it is true - I am about to review a *ahem* fantasy novel. A fantasy novel for the young adult market, no less.

But fear not, I have not yet taken leave of my senses, for it is a fantasy novel for the young adult market by Jasper Fforde, and as eagle-eyed readers may have spotted, that qualifier was enough to sell me on the YA fantasy novel bit.

Being for the younger market, it's shorter than your average Thursday Next novel, and a much fluffier affair than Shades of Grey, but definitely retains the flavour of a Ffordian world.

It also has as its protagonist a wise-cracking teenage girl who unexpectedly discovers that she is the last in a long line of slayers, so, you know, comparisons are bound to be come to mind - except, possibly, to the teenage target audience who might only know Buffy as some obscure old skool vampire show that knocks around on the daytime TV schedules.

But I digress. The Last Dragonslayer is set in the unUnited Kingdom, a dystopian land of faded magic, agency Wizards and Fizzy Pop, where the last dragon still lives safely in the no-mans land between the kingdoms of Hereford and Brecon - until, that is, the Last Dragonslayer is summoned...

You get the picture. Essentially this is the origin story of Jennifer Strange, Dragonslayer; but it is also the origin story of a world which, in the rest of the trilogy, will be changed because of her actions. Whether that world turns out just to be Hogwarts with jokes remains to be seen (at least by me). It certainly could go that way, were it not for that qualifier again: 'by Jasper Fforde', which of course means it is far more likely to turn into Buffy meets Monty Python, and what's not to love there?

So, yes, it's a YA novel, so it's not as deep or as dark as Shades of Grey, the characters are not as well formed as Thursday Next (at least not yet), and there is of course a coming of age theme (none of which are bad things, unless you really dislike YA novels or a quick, easy read). Yes, it's a fantasy novel, with magic, dragons, quarkbeasts and so on. But above all, it is a Jasper Fforde novel, with the brilliantly imagined world, surreal Ffordian humour, and those special features tucked away in the dusty corners of the author's website. Definitely one to add to any comic fantasy bookshelf.

 

Linky goodness:

My review of Shades of Grey

Dragonslayer Trilogy website

CSFF Blog Tour: The Realms Thereunder

No of course I haven't finished it. There's no review here. Except to say that I'm getting a whiff of Narnia, mixed with Alfred the Great, and the map in the front is showing just a little hint of Arthurian legend, although I've not seen him mentioned on the tour, so maybe that is for later in the series.

There are plenty of reviews you can read though (although, I haven't in much detail because I'm still reading the book):
Janeen Ippolito's character assassinations summaries;
Rebekah Loper's possibly technical review;
Nissa's Rune Poem review;
Shane Werlinger does it in three parts; and
Jason Joyner doesn't enjoy it.

It seems from the quick look through the reviews and posts on the tour, that opinion is divided by whether the reviewer likes the dual-timeline narrative device. I like it, when done well. I tried to use it during NaNoWriMo a couple of years back, and it's tricky to do well (at least in 30 days!). The chunks in each time period are quite short, especially as compared to something like Stephen King's It, which used the same  childhood/adulthood split but for far bigger chunks of story, and I can see how the frequent changing could be disorienting, although it hasn't bothered me yet.

A few people on the tour have noticed some little editorial mishaps in the book; I noticed a couple of things as soon as the story started that got under my English skin (we don't call them MDs, and there's only one 'b' in Abingdon!). Good job I'm running late, or I'd have ruined the book for the rest of you, who had no idea if Abingdon was even a real place. I've only seen the place mentioned a couple of times, but it irks me that the author can spell Nidergeard properly but not Abingdon...

Anyway, do please venture on into the rest of the tour, or visit the author's website.

Gillian Adams Red Bissell Thomas Clayton Booher Keanan Brand Beckie Burnham Melissa Carswell Jeff Chapman CSFF Blog Tour Theresa Dunlap Emmalyn Edwards April Erwin Victor Gentile Tori Greene Nikole Hahn Ryan Heart Bruce Hennigan Timothy Hicks Christopher Hopper Janeen Ippolito Jason Joyner Carol Keen Krystine Kercher Rebekah Loper Margaret Marzabeth Shannon McDermott Rebecca LuElla Miller Mirriam Neal Eve Nielsen Nissa John W. Otte Donita K. Paul Joan Nienhuis Crista Richey Sarah Sawyer Chawna Schroeder Kathleen Smith Donna Swanson Rachel Starr Thomson Fred Warren Dona Watson Shane Werlinger Nicole White Rachel Wyant

CSFF Blog Tour: An Apology in Advance

In conjunction with the CSFF Blog Tour, I received a free copy of The Realms Thereunder courtesy of the publisher, Thomas Nelson, for review. Unfortunately, the time at which I received it was last Wednesday, just a couple of days before receiving a delivery of a rather different type (Bryony Hope, 5.30am last Friday, 7lb 14 because somebody was bound to ask).

All of which somewhat elaborate excuse-making is to say that there may or may not be a full review of the book on this blog this week, but it will appear at some stage.

In the meantime, the blurb tells of an army of knights that will remain sleeping until the last days, a homeless man stalked by a pale, wraithlike creature with a mouthful of needle-sharp teeth, and a Scottish police officer who specializes in hunting mythical creatures.

It also tells of a mythical world bleeding into our reality, a dark spiritual evil manifesting itself in forgotten corners of the British Isles, and the ultimate threat to humanity.

It doesn't tell of spaceships, aliens or time travel, so might not be quite my usual genre, but I felt I should make the effort to give a view from the right side of the Atlantic.

However, should I fail epically in this mission, you can find more comment and reviews of the book in question at these blogs:

Gillian Adams Red Bissell Thomas Clayton Booher Keanan Brand Beckie Burnham Melissa Carswell Jeff Chapman CSFF Blog Tour Theresa Dunlap Emmalyn Edwards April Erwin Victor Gentile Tori Greene Nikole Hahn Ryan Heart Bruce Hennigan Timothy Hicks Christopher Hopper Janeen Ippolito Jason Joyner Carol Keen Krystine Kercher Rebekah Loper Margaret Marzabeth Shannon McDermott Rebecca LuElla Miller Mirriam Neal Eve Nielsen Nissa John W. Otte Donita K. Paul Joan Nienhuis Crista Richey Sarah Sawyer Chawna Schroeder Kathleen Smith Donna Swanson Rachel Starr Thomson Fred Warren Dona Watson Shane Werlinger Nicole White Rachel Wyant

CSFF Blog Tour: Corus the Champion

So today concludes the blog tour for Corus the Champion by D Barkley Briggs, a book I haven't read, but don't take that as a bad thing as my opinion of fantasy novels is rarely a good indication of how good they are.

I have, however, read some of the blogs on the tour, and there's a lot of people saying a lot of nice things about it. Here are just a few posts that may be of interest:
Shannon McDermott digs into the religion in the story;
Bruce Hennigan compares it to Tolkien, no less;
John Otte gives us a writing prompt (sorry, I don't think I'll be taking that one up); and
Mharvi points us in the direction of a rather large blooper.

You should also check out the author's website, and his blog, and then all the rest of the tour participants listed at the foot of yesterday's post.

CSFF Blog Tour: Corus the Champion by D Barkley Briggs

As a way of easing myself back into the world of blogging after an intense month of novelling, and prior to easing myself backout of it again for Christmas, there is a conveniently timed CSFF Blog Tour, for, as the more astute reader will have realised, Corus the Champion, by D Barkley Briggs.

Corus the Champion is the second title in the Legends of Karac Tor series, which Briggs wrote as a tale his four sons could relate to as they dealt with the loss of their mother. The Legends of Karac Tor tells the tale of four brothers who, 'while struggling to adjust to life without mom, become enmeshed in the crisis of another world. Along the way they must find their courage, face their pain, and never quit searching for home.'

I've made this point before, when the tour happened upon the first book in the series, but I'll make it again because it's a good point (and also I haven't done the homework). The point that strikes me about that is how the author used his talent to help his kids, and by extension, others in the same situation - thus bringing something good out of a bad situation.

We writerly types are always encouraged to write about what we know, and as I've taken a look back over the editorial notes I've been carefully excising from my NaNo script, I'm seeing ways I can use my own bad situations to add depth to that story (as I tried to last year, with the first draft of Project Seven, which will likely never be revived). Writing for me is sometimes a therapeutic attempt to work through my own dark side, and if at the same time I can help someone else out of the same situation - or stop someone getting into it - then it helps me make sense of it.

And, just maybe, it will show that even writers of fantasy novels can make a difference.

And now it's your turn, make a difference to these lovely people by stopping off at their blogs:
Gillian Adams Noah Arsenault Beckie Burnham CSFF Blog Tour Carol Bruce Collett Theresa Dunlap Emmalyn Edwards April Erwin Victor Gentile Nikole Hahn Ryan Heart Bruce Hennigan Christopher Hopper Jason Joyner Julie Carol Keen Krystine Kercher Marzabeth Shannon McDermott Rebecca LuElla Miller Eve Nielsen Sarah Sawyer Kathleen Smith Donna Swanson Rachel Starr Thomson Fred Warren Phyllis Wheeler Nicole White Rachel Wyant

Bring on November...

So it's almost November... time to think about a plot, right?

The public vote was inconclusive, and left me to ponder four options:

1. An Old Testament Space Opera. Nice to see my very own sub-sub-genre make a last minute surge through the field, but ultimately, although it's the most ready-to-roll of the four outlines, I'm not finished with the last one yet, so I'll hold off for another year before starting another.
2. A Comic Fantasy. A sequel to DragonQuest is very much ready to tumble out of my mind, but I decided to leave this for outside NaNo, when fun writing projects like this can help keep my writing muscles going without the crazed NaNo momentum.
3. A Timey-wimey story with Jesus in it. Another last minute attacker, but unfortunately it needed too much planning, so this is also left on the back-burner.
4. An Urban Fantasy (with shades of Angel). Yep, I'm going to write a fantasy novel! Well, more a supernatural thriller, I suspect. It's going to be almost 100% winging it this time - here's what I have to go on so far:

Dark Empathy

Mordikai Stone is a man with an unusual talent. Able to experience complete empathy with anyone he touches, and more than that, take the pain and suffering of others on himself. Armed only with his constantly shifting perception of the world, he sets about a self-appointed mission to cure anguish and suffering wherever he finds it. But a chance meeting with a woman he once helped brings Mordikai to a shocking realisation: his attempts to help may be causing more harm than good.

Monday Review: Afterlife - The Resurrection Chronicles by Merrie DeStefano

Afterlife is a bit of a schizophrenic book. The cover is all neo-Twilight urban fantasy, but the premise is definitely more psuedo-science than traditional fantasy. To explain: Afterlife is set in New Orleans some time in the future, where science has found a way to instantly transport your dead soul into a cloned body. Up to nine times, which seems somewhat arbitrary, and the whole resurrection process was never really explained to my satisfaction (probably should have left it in the realms of urban fantasy, I think). Cue a philosophical sci-fi thriller dealing with cloning, immortality and religious faith (yes, there are nominally Christian characters in there, puzzling these things over). From the blurb:

Chaz Dominguez is a professional Babysitter in New Orleans, helping to integrate the recently deceased into their new and improved lives. Though Fresh Start has always been the only game in town, resurrection isn't all it's cracked up to be. Nine lives are all a person can get—and a powerful group of desperate, high-level Nine-Timers will stop at nothing to possess the keys to true immortality. Now the only hope for Chaz and his family—and the human race—lies in the secrets locked away in the mind of Angelique, the beautiful, mysterious Newbie he must protect . . .

Afterlife presents (insufficient science notwithstanding) an interesting premise, an undoubtedly interesting world, and what should have been an interesting and action-filled plot, but then, at times I just didn't get it. The multiple POV characters I can cope with, for instance, unless you make one of them a dog. And I'm not sure where the 'Resurrection Chronicles' thing comes from, as it was all wrapped up mighty neatly at the end of this book!

So much for the quibbles though; is it any good? Well, it's actually not bad, unless you were expecting Twilight, in which case you'll likely be baffled by all the science-fictiony stuff that sneaks in. If you ignore the cover and take my word for it that this is actually a dystopian story in which the 'ideal' world, where near immortality is available to all, has gone horribly, terribly wrong, then you might get a kick out of it.

A Christian sci-fi/fantasy reader looking for something thought-provoking but non-threatening to recommend to a friend might find the subjects of immortality, faith and science gone bad as covered in this story will provide good copnversation starters. Afterlife is definitely something different; I'm still not quite sure what it is, but it's different, and that's got to be worth something.

Monday review - The Potter Movie

I'm not sure I really need to review this, any more than I did Blade Runner last week. So I guess I'll keep it brief, because you already know whether you're going to watch it (and indeed probably have).

Lots of action, tons of magic effects, the plot does a bit of a wriggle, and almost everybody dies (at least, that's the way it seems at times).

I like a dark movie. I liked Part One because it was dark. Part Two, similarly so, in an epic last stand sort of a way - and who doesn't love an epic last stand?

If you've seen the previous couple of Potter movies, this will be a satisfying climax. If you haven't, then you'd be silly to go and watch a film with 'Part 2' in the title, wouldn't you?

From the perspective of a Christian viewer, it's full of witches and wizards, and if you go to see you'll burn in hell. Obviously I'm kidding, just threw that in to confuse the google stats. There is a resurrection motif, some afterlife stuff and the whole sacrificial love thingy that made Harry Harry, which have probably been discussed to better effect elsewhere.

So there you go, a pointless review. Maybe I should make that a feature?

CSFF Blog Tour: Starlighter by Bryan Davis

It is an important and popular fact that I once scored a B in English class for a report on a book I never read. I won't divulge what that book was, in case I am chased down by an angry mob and forcibly removed from the blog tour for my flagrant disrespect for literature, but in order to redress the balance somewhat I am deliberately not reviewing Starlighter by Bryan Davis, which I also haven't read.

What I have read, however, is one or two of the other posts on the tour. See, I'm not a total slacker! And to prove it, here are my personal tour highlights:

Leighton's review in two parts;
Snuffles the Dragon's completely unbiased review;
John W. Otte's geek dad post;
Krystine Kercher enthusing about black dragon's eggs;
an interview by Rachel Starr Thomson;
not to mention the handy list of other links gathered in one place, namely the Galactic Overlord's Blog.
You could also stop by the author's blog, just to see what else is on his mind.

And when you're done, Starlighter will no doubt be available at your favourite purveyor of young adult fantasy fiction.



Those of you still wishing to follow the extended tour, please form an orderly queue and step this way:
Brandon Barr Beckie Burnham Jeff Chapman R. L. Copple CSFF Blog Tour Stacey Dale D. G. D. Davidson Jeff Draper April Erwin Andrea Graham Tori Greene Nikole Hahn Ryan Heart Becky Jesse Cris Jesse Jason Joyner Julie Carol Keen Krystine Kercher Dawn King Leighton Jane Maritz Rebecca LuElla Miller John W. Otte Donita K. Paul Crista Richey SarahFlan Chawna Schroeder Rachel Starr Thomson Fred Warren Dona Watson Phyllis Wheeler Jill Williamson KM Wilsher

CSFF Blog Tour: Starlighter by Bryan Davis

A new car, a restless child on a hot summer night, and an impending road trip into wild boar country...

Don't worry, that's not the intro to the blurb for Starlighter, it's my excuses for having a rubbish post today.

By way of an introduction, this week the Christian Sci-Fi and Fantasy Blog Tour is giving you, the reader, good reasons to part with your hard-earned cash for Starlighter, the first in a four-book Young Adult fantasy series by Bryan Davis.

So, while I carry on dealing with the mundane realities of life (and the wild boar road trip), why not take a look at the author's website, or his blog, and if he seems nice enough, why not even buy Starlighter from a well-known internet bookseller.

What? You want an unbiased opinion of the book? Well, you might try one or more of these links:
Brandon Barr
Beckie Burnham
Jeff Chapman
R. L. Copple
CSFF Blog Tour
Stacey Dale
D. G. D. Davidson
Jeff Draper
April Erwin
Andrea Graham
Tori Greene
Nikole Hahn
Ryan Heart
Becky Jesse
Cris Jesse
Jason Joyner
Julie
Carol Keen
Krystine Kercher
Dawn King
Leighton
Jane Maritz
Rebecca LuElla Miller
John W. Otte
Donita K. Paul
Crista Richey
SarahFlan
Chawna Schroeder
Rachel Starr Thomson
Steve Trower
Fred Warren
Dona Watson
Phyllis Wheeler
Jill Williamson
KM Wilsher