The CSFF Blog Tour of The Return

And we now reach the point in the tour where I completely break with tradition, by actually talking about the book in question, during the tour, rather than six months later.

Some reviewers have commented that The Return works as a stand-alone novel, but I'm a bit obsessive-compulsive about trilogies and can't cope with starting anywhere but the beginning, so this might turn into more a mini-review of the Mars Hill series.

When I first started reading the series, there seemed to be a lot of words - a lot of technical jargon and explanation. Once the story got running, the techno-babble mostly just blended into the background, secondary to the story. And what a story: Action, suspense, the colonization of Mars, wierd fertility cults, cloning... there's a lot going on in the last part of the series, with John Wells back on Mars, and Raines and his growing cult forming the backbone of the Earth-bound story.

The faith of the Christian characters is tested here by the possible existence of not only aliens, but also clones. I think, incidentally, I've worked out what's wrong with Christian characters in CBA novels. If they have cause to speak about their faith, they can come across as either preachy or just plain forced. I don't know about you, but I always find it awkward trying to talk about it with colleagues, and often wish for the benefit of countless revisions and a sympathetic editor before committing to a final version of whatever I might want to say. I think it is fair to say that John and Amy Wells suffer a little less from this than many Christian characters, and in fact the whole Christian element seems surprisingly natural for a techno-thriller/sf hybrid story.

The main characters develop quite nicely over the series; even Malcolm Raines improves with age. In The Evidence I thought he was a bit of a Carpathia clone - generic CBA villain A - but by the final part of the series he has turned into Hugh Hefner's evil twin.

There is at least one fairly significant plot thread left untied at the end, but hey, that shouldn't be enough to spoil the book, much less the trilogy. If you like realistically imagined sf, Clancy-esque techno-thrillers, or a good story with a spiritual dimension, you should read some Austin Boyd.

Other highlights of the tour:

Jim Black asks what stories about Mars we like, and nobody answers.
Valerie is reading the trilogy backwards. Let us know how that works out, won't you.
Deena has an interview with the author.

And there are various other reviews scattered among these blogs:
Trish Anderson - Brandon Barr - Jim Black - Justin Boyer - Grace Bridges - Amy Browning - Jackie Castle - Valerie Comer - Karri Compton - Lisa Cromwell - CSFF Blog Tour - Gene Curtis - D. G. D. Davidson - Janey DeMeo - Merrie Destefano or Alien Dream - Jeff Draper - April Erwin - Beth Goddard - Marcus Goodyear - Jill Hart - Katie Hart - Sherrie Hibbs - Christopher Hopper - Becca Johnson - Jason Joyner - Kait - Karen - Dawn King - Tina Kulesa - Rachel Marks - Karen McSpadden - Rebecca LuElla Miller - Eve Nielsen - John W. Otte - Lyn Perry - Deena Peterson - Rachelle - Cheryl Russel - Chawna Schroeder - Mirtika Schultz - James Somers - Speculative Faith - Laura Williams - Timothy Wise

CSFF Blog Tour vs Tuesday Tunes

In honour of the CSFF Blog Tour, this week's Tuesday Tunes will present... the Top Ten Mars Tunes!

10. Bon Jovi - Captain Crash and the Beauty Queen from Mars
Horrible Bon Jovi naffness. Cool title.

9. Mylo - Mars Needs Women
He doesn't specify what they're needed for, so apply with caution.

8. The Undertones - Mars Bars

Purveyors of Teenage Kicks raid the Spar.

7. T. Rex - Ballrooms of Mars
Look, it's that guy Bolan again, not satisfied with having the inaugural Tuesday Tunes all to himself...

6. Red Hot Chilli Peppers - Death of a Martian
There are better Chilli Peppers songs, but not about Martians.

5. Hawkwind - Uncle Sam's on Mars
I suspect these psychadelic space rock pioneers may show up here again in the future...

4. Alice Cooper - Might as well be on Mars

Seven whole minutes of gloriously moody rock greatness! And apparently he's a Christian too.

3. MARRS - Pump up the Volume
What? You want to make up the rules, do it on your own blog!

2. The Misfits - Teenagers from Mars

Horror punk lunacy, not for the faint-hearted (and some sweary lyrics). Less good is I Turned into a Martian.

1. Ash - Girl from Mars

The absolute all-time best ever song ever with Mars in the title. And the B-side was a fantastically jangly indie-guitar instrumental number by the name of Cantina Band. Credited to someone called John Williams. I'm not sure where I've heard it before, but it rocks! :)

Honorable mention for Blondie's Rapture, for the mental rap about the man from Mars who 'stopped eatin' cars and eatin' bars / And now he only eats guitars'.

Yes, alright, I know I missed one. But it was the first song you all thought of, so I hardly needed to bring it to your attention did I?

Oh yes, and don't forget to buy The Return, or another book by Austin Boyd.

The Return of the CSFF Blog Tour

When I started this blog, some 18 months ago, it was partly intended to record my hunt for good Christian science fiction. Along the way I discovered - among others - the blogger now known as 'the Claw Man', and his expanding list of mainstream sf with religious characters or themes. Those books I have read from his list are undoubtedly good sf, but not quite what I was after. I wanted proper, in-yer-face Biblical themes or in-yer-face Christianity. What they refer to in the USA (where there's an association for everything) as CBA fiction. With spaceships.

And thanks in no small part to this very blog tour, I've found out that there is actually quite a lot of it around. You just can't buy it in the UK. (Which is, of course, why God created amazon.)

All of which pre-amble is to say that this month's featured author, Austin Boyd, has created just what I've been looking for: The Mars Hill Classified trilogy, the final instalment of which, The Return, was released earlier this year and is the focus of the tour.

Before we get to that though, let's have a little recap of the story so far - skip to the list of participants if you don't want to find out too much...

In book 1, The Evidence, we meet our hero, Navy pilot turned astronaut John Wells, who finds himself embroiled in two seemingly unrelated plots - a series of terrorist attacks across the USA, and the discovery of mysterious images being transmitted from the surface of Mars. The Martians, apparently, decide to communicate via wacko televangelist Malcolm Raines, who does all he can to prevent anyone who may threaten his World Inclusive Faith, such as Christian John Wells, going to Mars. But fails.

Book 2, The Proof, sees John Wells reach the pinnacle of his career, as he forms part of the first manned mission to Mars, looking for proof of alien intelligent. Of course, Murphy's Law states that as soon as such a mission launches, alien intelligence will be discovered right here on Earth, which is indeed what happens. While Wells is off meeting Martians, his wife Amy takes a stand against Raines and his alien prophecies (despite the fact that they keep coming true). And, this being part two of a trilogy, some loose ends are tied up, while more important ones are loosened in preparation for the big finish.

Also dropping by the Mars Bar this week:

Trish Anderson - Brandon Barr - Jim Black - Justin Boyer - Grace Bridges - Amy Browning - Jackie Castle - Valerie Comer - Karri Compton - Lisa Cromwell - CSFF Blog Tour - Gene Curtis - D. G. D. Davidson - Janey DeMeo - Merrie Destefano or Alien Dream - Jeff Draper - April Erwin - Beth Goddard - Marcus Goodyear - Jill Hart - Katie Hart - Sherrie Hibbs - Christopher Hopper - Becca Johnson - Jason Joyner - Kait - Karen - Dawn King - Tina Kulesa - Rachel Marks - Karen McSpadden - Rebecca LuElla Miller - Eve Nielsen - John W. Otte - Lyn Perry - Deena Peterson - Rachelle - Cheryl Russel - Chawna Schroeder - Mirtika Schultz - James Somers - Speculative Faith - Laura Williams - Timothy Wise

Phursday Photos: Yoda

Don't worry, it's just September, and the car show season going out with a flourish - next week's photos will be altogether different. In the meantime, here's Yoda at the National Mini Day last weekend.

I'm a proper writer, me.

Well, sort of. For amid the blog posts of varying quality, miscellaneous unfinished works of fiction, and a novel that nobody wants to read, there are occasional moments of quite-good-ness.

One of these, I thought anyway, I wrote about seven years ago, an interesting (if you're interested in that sort of thing) piece on how some of the characters in the ancient Ladybird book Tootles the Taxi and other rhymes were based on Dinky Toys. This article, some admittedly average accompanying photos, and a spare copy of the book in question were bundled up and sent off to Model Collector magazine, never to be seen again.

Until today, when part of my original work, spliced together with another piece submitted coincidentally on the same subject, appeared in the November 2007 issue (IPC Media still use the Roman calendar, apparently). It goes without saying that I thought it was far better before all this dicing and splicing went on, but one or two (yes, I think it's two) of my sentences are still recognisable, and hey, I'm not proud, so I'll take a credit where I can get one.

Maybe someday I'll post the original version up here. Or possibly somewhere else where it won't be quite so off-topic.

Introducing... Tuesday Tunes

What's this, I hear you say, another new semi-regular feature?

Well, possibly. If you would like to occasionally hear what I think about the last CD I bought, and perhaps be introduced to some of the more obscure acts in my music collection.

I'm going to start off gently though, by banging a gong for T.Rex.
T.Rex never really made it across the Atlantic (probably too sophisticated) so, for the uninitiated, they were part of the vanguard of the glam rock movement in the early 70s, which later gave us the likes of Slade and, um, The Wombles. T.Rex were around before it all got too silly, and the early hits - songs like Get It On, Telegram Sam, Metal Guru and Children of the Revolution, were actually good, if rather similar. And 20th Century Boy, like many other classic tunes, had something of a revival in the early 90s thanks to a certain purveyor of denimwear.

The reason for starting the feature and this somewhat random point in musical history is that it is 30 years this week since T.Rex frontman Marc Bolan died. In a Mini 1275GT, which is the main reason I know that fact. Apparently his girlfriend got the heel of her platform shoe stuck under the pedals - an unfortunate but very glam rock way to go.

Friday Review - Dark Benediction by Walter M Miller Jr

Readers of Christian-themed sf will no doubt know Walter M. Miller Jr as the author of A Canticle for Leibowitz, but since it has been short story week here, I'll take a quick look at this collection of his shorter works.

This collection includes a dozen or so stories, including the novellas Blood Bank, The Darfstellar, and Dark Benediction (wasn't he in The A-Team?). Many of the stories reflect Miller's interest in religion, and particularly the Catholic faith he followed, with priests, prayer and religious imagery appearing in several stories.

Many of the stories have little in the way of characterisation or plot, but do what short sf does best - present an idea, then leave the reader to worry about its possible implications. Miller's ideas often deal with moral or ethical problems - which has the advantage of not dating the work as tends to happen with technocentric sf (is that a word?).

Interestingly, some of Miller's technology has - sort of - come about. The idea of actors being replaced by robots as in The Darfstellar seemed, at first, a bit outdated in these days of movies on demand and reality TV. But the men in white coats have recently reanimated Bob Monkhouse, and before that there was Gene Kelly's VW ad.

Among the other ideas presented for your consideration are a distant future world regressed to a pre-industrial state, and then presented with a supercomputer and its robot gurdian (Big Joe and the Nth Generation); the social implications of alien abduction (You Triflin' Skunk) and telepathy (Anybody Else Like Me?); and various treaments of what it means to be human in Dark Benediction, the eerily current Conditionally Human, and the more technocentric, but quite disturbing, I, Dreamer.

I could go on - I've barely scratched the surface. Not all the stories hit the spot for me, but there is plenty of variety, plenty of good, intelligent stories and thought-provoking ideas, and a Christian worldview underlying most of it. If I had to pick a favourite story, today it would probably be Blood Bank, a somewhat dark vision of mankinds evolutionary future, but there's probably a story to suit every mood...

Dark Benediction is published in the UK as part of the SF Masterworks series. In the US you'll have to settle for The Best of Walter M Miller Jr, which was published around 1980 but seems to include the same stories.

Introducing.... Phursday Photos

Which could be a new, semi-regular feature, or it could just be an excuse for me to post some of the more arty pics I took at last weekend's British Mini day. This collection would be called something like 'Reflections of an Icon', but I'm not feeling cheesy enough.

More short stuff

For those who may be wondering, I do intend to give writing short fiction a bit more of an effort. There are, after all, markets, especially for short genre fiction. (Interestingly, I hear that Fantasy & Science Fiction is short of science fiction and humour...) And there are always plenty of short story competitions to enter. Most are not spec-fic related, but I've been playing with some of the themes, and twisting them into a speculative story seems like it could be fun. I suspect it will frighten or at least bemuse the judges, but when that happens, there's always this blog to post it on.

Now, the reason for my sudden interest in the short story is partly that, while plundering the extensive back-catalogue of Escape Pod, my current source of short sf, I have come across a number of stories with some kind of religious content or theme. And I'm getting a taste for how some of these things might be dealth with in a more overtly Christian story.

I've said this before, but for those of a podcasty nature, I recommend Escape Pod. I like the amusing way the stories are all rated: 'Contains profanity, sexual situations, and the undead, in various combinations' or 'Contains battle scenes, Imperial propaganda, overenthusastic chemistry, and bad poetry.'

And I like some of the readers: host Steve Eley's female character voices always make me smile, and Mur Lafferty - well, she hasn't read one for a while, but something about her voice would make me hang on every word of the phone book. Actually, perhaps that's not the best thing to listen to while driving...

Short stuff

I think we're probably overdue a post about science fiction. This post, or something like it, has been in a holding pattern for almost a month waiting for me to finish it off and post it. It's probably not as polished as it should be for all that revision time, but you get what you pay for at this blog.

Way back in the mists of time, a blogger with the unlikey moniker of 'slushmaster' made this post. Which, in turn, solicited replies like this one, and this. And, eventually, this one.

I haven't made a subscription yet, but the whole discussion has made me take another glance in the direction of short sf. As a rule I don't read short stories. I have a collection of Stephen King's shorter works, and I've read a number of sf anthologies over the years, but generally I'm a novel reader.

And, because I like the whole world-building exercise, and find bringing characters to life and telling a story in about 1600 words waaaaay too challenging, so far I have remained a novel writer too.

But sf and short fiction are old pals. A short story can be just enough to bring an idea to life, without flogging it to death the way an over-long novel sometimes can. Science fiction is the fiction of ideas, and the more I think about it, the more I am persuaded that short stories are often the best way of conveying a single idea.

And ideas are one thing I have in plentiful supply. So maybe I should get a bit more practice in. And maybe, just maybe, when I find myself with a few quid spare in my current account, I will get that subscription too.

Big Kid post of the week.

So, I'm not going to ask why a grown man was going through a box of Lego the other day. Mainly because there's a box of my own been knocking around waiting to be put in the loft, and my building fingers have been getting itchy...

I was (am) a big Space Lego fan. The classic stuff - early-mid 80s was my period - although I have some of the original trilogy Star Wars stuff tucked away too. I have to agree with Elliot though, I suspect all these big money tie-ins have removed some of the play value, partly with the number of highly specialized bricks that can only serve a limited purpose, and partly because you don't need to invent your own characters and stories.

And just to prove you don't need all those special bricks, this was done long before Star Wars Lego was invented.

Anyway, I'm quite excited about Her Babyship turning 2 in a couple of weeks - that's officially old enough to play with Duplo! With appropriate adult supervision (ie me) of course. :)

In other news, the inexorable pull of facebook has started in this direction. Granted, it has already allowed me to catch up with an old friend before he got married and left the country, but from here it will probably either be abandoned (like the MySpace account I have lying dormant somewhere, having decided it wasn't going to sell any books) or sap every last spare second (and some that aren't spare) from my life.

Next week: something about science fiction and Christianity. Or possibly a Lego enactment of Countless as the Stars.

Yoda on Mars: Reunion

So this weekend a bunch of people whose classic cars appeared, at some point, on Life on Mars, got together at the Cheshire Classic Car Show at Capesthorne Hall. And yes, this is the actual Cortina.

Elsewhere at the show there were some other nice '70s cars, including this Mini which came 2nd in the 70s concours class (Yoda was joint 3rd with the other 16 entrants).
Although I think this is what a Mini should look like when souped-up 70s-style.
If we can ever afford to take a long vacation in the States, we're doing a road trip in one of these.
Failing that, I'd settle for a picnic in one of these.

The Life on Mars group, incidentally, won first prize for the Club stands. So we got a little plaque to share between about 20 of us from throughout the Midlands and North West. I think it's my turn in about 2013.

Actually, all I did was turn up, the prize really belongs to those who organised the gathering, and especially put together the backdrop and the 70s memorabilia collection that lurked behind it. Rumour has it we put some noses out of joint among the more established clubs too... see, a sense of fun (and letting kids crawl in and out of your Cortina) goes a long way.

Torn

Now this is funny.

Who you calling funny?

There have been some rather disturbing commments this week suggesting that I may, in fact, be 'funny', or at least humourous.

I would like to use this post to utterly refute these allegations.

It may appear, at a glance (especially at my blog tour posts) that I can blog humourously. However, in my defence, I would draw your attention to the fact that none of these allegedly humourous posts actually say anything. I can't write about stuff in a funny way.

Actually, I did once write a good X-Files skit, which would completely fail to work out of context, and a sequel to An Inspector Calls, which I seem to recall was quite funny in a completely surreal way, and had Doctor Who and the entire cast of Bod in supporting roles.

Are you convinced yet? Or do I have to post the whole of 101 Things to do with a Kettle first? I'll do it you know.

I'm not a funny guy, and if I need to prove it I will post some of my 'humour' writings.

CSFF Blog tour - The Legend of the Firefish

I suppose I owe it to those less accustomed to my off-the-wall Brit humour blogging style (known colloquially as 'wibble', or, more often, 'rubbish') to explain where these pirates came from.

Well, as luck would have it, it turns out they evolved from aliens, so it's ok that they're here.

On further examination, it seems they're here to promote the swashbuckling pirate fantasy stylings of George Bryan Polivka - the Trophy Chase Trilogy, which consists of the aforementioned Legend, The Hand that Bears the Sword, and the impending Battle for Vast Dominion.

On their travels they have roped in the nice people at Harvest House to help, with their 'Reach out to a pirate' contest. And all these people, some of whom have even read the book. Odd concept, that.

Trish Anderson Brandon Barr Wayne Thomas Batson Jim Black Justin Boyer Grace Bridges Amy Browning Jackie Castle Valerie Comer Karri Compton Frank Creed Lisa Cromwell CSFF Blog Tour Gene Curtis D. G. D. Davidson Janey DeMeo Merrie Destefano Jeff Draper April Erwin Beth Goddard Marcus Goodyear Russell Griffith Jill Hart Katie Hart Sherrie Hibbs Christopher Hopper Jason Joyner Kait Karen Dawn King Tina Kulesa Lost Genre Guild Terri Main Rachel Marks Karen McSpadden Rebecca LuElla Miller Eve Nielsen John W. Otte John Ottinger Lyn Perry Deena Peterson Rachelle Cheryl Russel Chawna Schroeder Mirtika Schultz James Somers Speculative Faith Jason Waguespac Daniel I. Weaver

Captain Jack - he's in Torchwood, right?

Look at that, I take a week out, and my blog about Christianity and sci-fi has been hijacked by pirates. Pirates I tell ya! Space Pirates I could deal with - like the combination of Douglas Adams and Tom Baker's loopy Doctor. Or Time Pirates - there's an idea to play with. But no, these are genuine, eye-patch and parrot, salty sea-dog type pirates. What do I know about pirates, beyond Captain Pugwash and his band of Urban Myths?

Oh well, might as well splice the mainbrace, for the good ship CSFF Blog Tour has buckled its swashes and sailed us out into stormy seas, in search of The Legend of the Firefish.

Which was silly, because you can find it on amazon.

Sheesh, those wacky CSFF blog tour guys, eh?

Trish Anderson Brandon Barr Wayne Thomas Batson Jim Black Justin Boyer Grace Bridges Amy Browning Jackie Castle Valerie Comer Karri Compton Frank Creed Lisa Cromwell CSFF Blog Tour Gene Curtis D. G. D. Davidson Janey DeMeo Merrie Destefano Jeff Draper April Erwin Beth Goddard Marcus Goodyear Russell Griffith Jill Hart Katie Hart Sherrie Hibbs Christopher Hopper Jason Joyner Kait Karen Dawn King Tina Kulesa Lost Genre Guild Terri Main Rachel Marks Karen McSpadden Rebecca LuElla Miller Eve Nielsen John W. Otte John Ottinger Lyn Perry Deena Peterson Rachelle Cheryl Russel Chawna Schroeder Mirtika Schultz James Somers Speculative Faith Jason Waguespac Daniel I. Weaver

More family stuff

Her Babyship gets out of plaster tomorrow. What happens then we have yet to find out, so it will be an emotionally tiring day for us, followed by, well, who knows what.

I will, no doubt, be back once she has settled into whatever her new situation is.

Friday Review - The Clone Wars

I'm still not sure I followed the plot of Star Wars Episodes II & III. I'm sure I didn't follow the plot of Star Wars: Clone Wars, the animated series set in the years between the two films.

That, I am sure, is because the original format - 20 short animations - translated onto DVD gives the impression that it should form some kind of consistent whole, which it didn't, at least not on first viewing. (The Volume 2 DVD, being five longer animations, is less disjointed.)

The Volume 1 DVD is essentially 20 individual battles between the Jedi Knights under Chancellor Palpatine, and Count Dooku's Confederacy forces, acted out in glorious anime-style. (There was a story arc too, but I found it more satisfying to enjoy the battles - like Mace Windu single-handedly wiping out a small army of droids, where the anime influence is most obvious.)

There is a little more plot development in Volume 2; with more of Anakin's story, including his becoming a Jedi knight, and the introduction of General Grievous and his asthmatic wheeze. There are also a couple of lines from the original trilogy that sneak into the dialogue ("What an incredible smell you've discovered.") and various other snippets which serve to link the various movies.

So, is it any good? Well, yes it is, actually. The Clone Wars have been part of Star Wars mythology since 1977, when Old Ben is remeniscing to Luke Skywalker, and it's good to finally see them in a bit more detail. The plot is pretty thin to say the least, but the action more than makes up for it. It is less disappointing than the prequel trilogy, overall. The animation style may not be what some Star Wars fans expected (hey, it's no Ewoks!) but that's probably a good thing. Besides, who doesn't love the stylised Yoda?

Oh, and next year we should get more: Star Wars: The Clone Wars, in glorious CGI.

Pop Quiz, Hotshot

OK, so who knows where I went last week?

And what significance it has in the world of sci-fi/fantasy?

I'll even give you a few picture clues...

Have a Cuppa Tea

So a certain blogger, well respected in these parts, has confessed to not really knowing who the Kinks were. Which seems as good an excuse as any to broaden the subject matter of this blog.

The Kinks are the most under-rated band of the 60s. You just have to listen to the debut Kinks to get some idea how far from the norm You Really Got Me was - against some more 'conventional' Ray Davies-penned songs and a couple of Chuck Berry covers, its originality - and Dave Davies' awesome guitar solo - shine like nothing else on the album, and is often credited with creating the guitar driven sound of more recent heavy metal/rock music.

The Kinks are, however, best known for Ray Davies' brilliant lyrics on 60s hits like Sunny Afternoon and Waterloo Sunset. Every home should have at least those two songs somewhere.

The Kinks first came to my notice via The Stranglers' version of All Day and All of the Night, and The Jam's cover of David Watts - both of which sound perfectly at home alongside those bands own compositions. Since then I have been building up a collection of the band's back catalogue, over the last 15 years or so, and although much of the 60s and 70s albums have been released on CD, quite a lot of gaps remain.

My nomination for their best album would come from just after their 60s heyday, when Ray was starting to play with ideas like rock opera and 'concept' albums. The Village Green Preservation Society, with its quintessentially English themes, has long been my favourite, although Muswell Hillbillies is running a close second, largely due to Have a Cuppa Tea, which should be an anthem for English people everywhere.

I also recommend Other People's Lives, the debut solo album by Ray Davies, which does sound a bit Kinksy, but you'd expect that, and probably be a bit disappointed if it didn't. Davies does take the opportunity to swear a bit, and inject a little more humour into some tracks (Stand Up Comic is particularly funny, imho). It does sound a bit wierd to hear the quintessentially English RD singing about Thanksgiving Day (thrown in as a bonus track) though.

Leaving the country...

Yep, I'm running for the border: a week in Wales beckons.

Be seeing you.

Fearless Blog tour highlights

I have to admit that I have been ignoring the many reviews posted over the last couple of days, because, having recently finished Relentless, I know what to expect from Fearless, and don't want to spoil what is yet to come.

So here, instead, are a few of the non-review posts that, if you haven't read so far, you might like to:

Christopher Hopper describes almost meeting Robin;

Gene Curtis discusses book trailers, a promotional device used in the marketing of Fearless;

Hanna Sandvig asks What makes Christian fiction Christian? and promises to critique the cover art today;

Jason Joyner talks superheroes;

Jackie Castle looks at Infuze Magazine;

and Beth Goddard has a big interview with the author.

A full list of participating blogs can be found in yesterdays post.

Finally, don't forget Robin's own blog, website and of course to buy Fearless!

CSFF blog tour - Relentless

You probably know by know that the CSFF Blog tour is supporting the release of Fearless by Robin Parrish. You probably also know that I haven't read it, because not reading the books is my adopted role in the tour :P .

But Fearless, as you also know, is A Sequel, and I have recently finished the first volume of the Dominion Trilogy, Relentless.

The story begins like this:

Collin Boyd stepped off the Metro bus on his way to work, and across the street he saw himself strolling down the sidewalk.

Collin, it seems, has been 'shifted', and in addition to losing his own body, it transpires that he now inhabits the body of a total stranger. All of which seems faintly ridiculous, as does the apparent ease with which Collin Boyd accepts his new identity, even insisting that his sister calls him by his assumed name, Grant Borrows.

Perhaps I'm being a bit unfair. The body-swap thing is a bit comic-book for my taste, and is never adequately explained, but since SFF fans are accustomed to a degree of suspension of disbelief.

As for how easily Collin settles into Grant's identity, well, so much is going on in this guy's life that he probably hasn't got a minute to worry about who's face he is wearing. From the first assassination attempt, the pace is indeed relentless, helped along by the rapid passing of chapters - Parrish packs no fewer than 64 chapters into 442 pages (presumably that stems from its beginnings as a serial?). Which, in theory, I like because that makes it easy to pick up and read in odd minutes here and there. In practice, I could always find time to squeeze in another chapter before going on to whatever else I had to do.

The story follows the new Grant Borrows as he tries to figure out what has happened to him, and why so many people are so intent to destroy his new body. Along the way he discovers that he has the power of telekenesis - the ability to move, and frequently destroy, stuff by the power of his mind. He comes across a group of Shifted individuals - the Loci - who have also inherited various super-human abilities (as well as, presumably, new bodies, which none of them seem to talk about). He even does a spot of amateur genealogy. And then, towards the end of the book, the action steps up a gear as it builds to the climax, which was not exactly where I thought it might be (although I was clipping through the story so quickly I didn't have much chance to worry about what might be coming).

Relentless fills an odd niche in the world of Christian SF & Fantasy, somewhere between superhero sf and Whedon-esque urban fantasy. There was at least one scene straight out of Buffy, some very Star Wars moments, and the superhero premise somewhere between X-Men, The Fantastic Four and Heroes (which admittedly I know by reputation only, as it arrives on the BBC tomorrow). And, oddly, only a single passing mention of God, about 400 pages in, although the characters all seem to swear like Christians, leading to one slightly jarring occurrence of the word 'frightfully'.

I usually like my Christian fiction a bit more obvious than Relentless, but I can honestly say that I found this book to be a page-turner, and I will be reading Fearless soon.

Now why not visit robinparrish.com, Robin's blog at infuze or some of the other bloggers on the tour:

Trish Anderson Brandon Barr Wayne Thomas Batson Jim Black Justin Boyer Grace Bridges Amy Browning Jackie Castle Valerie Comer Karri Compton Frank Creed Lisa Cromwell CSFF Blog Tour Gene Curtis D. G. D. Davidson Merrie Destefano Jeff Draper April Erwin Beth Goddard Marcus Goodyear Andrea Graham Russell Griffith Jill Hart Katie Hart Sherrie Hibbs Christopher Hopper Jason Joyner Karen Dawn King Tina Kulesa Lost Genre Guild Rachel Marks Rebecca LuElla Miller Eve Nielsen John W. Otte John Ottinger Lyn Perry Rachelle Cheryl Russel Hanna Sandvig Chawna Schroeder Mirtika Schultz James Somers Speculative Faith Jason Waguespac Daniel I. Weaver

July CSFF Blog tour: Robin Parrish

This month's CSFF blog tour is to mark the release of Fearless by Robin Parrish, the second book in his Dominion Trilogy.

Robin Parrish is the man responsible for the INFUZE ezine, where the first volume of the trilogy, Relentless, first appeared as a serial, and where you can now find his blog. You can also find him at http://www.robinparrish.com/.

I will post a review of the first book of the trilogy, Relentless, later in the tour. Because I haven't read the latest book.

For now, here are your further stops on the tour...
Trish Anderson Brandon Barr Wayne Thomas Batson Jim Black Justin Boyer Grace Bridges Amy Browning Jackie Castle Valerie Comer Karri Compton Frank Creed Lisa Cromwell CSFF Blog Tour Gene Curtis D. G. D. Davidson Merrie Destefano Jeff Draper April Erwin Beth Goddard Marcus Goodyear Andrea Graham Russell Griffith Jill Hart Katie Hart Sherrie Hibbs Christopher Hopper Jason Joyner Karen Dawn King Tina Kulesa Lost Genre Guild Rachel Marks Rebecca LuElla Miller Eve Nielsen John W. Otte John Ottinger Lyn Perry Rachelle Cheryl Russel Hanna Sandvig Chawna Schroeder Mirtika Schultz James Somers Steve Trower Speculative Faith Jason Waguespac Daniel I. Weaver

Dangerously off-topic

I have, again, postponed the further posts in the 'Who is this God person anyway' series because, well, I've been doing this.

Which probably interests precisely none of my regular readers. But if I'm wrong, do drop by.

I'm also trying to tidy up a bit here, and add a few more blog buddies, but then I find myself going off topic with links too... Oh well, maybe it doesn't matter. Maybe I'm just filling space.

I'll have a sf-related Friday review. Promise.

Galaxiki

Right, I'm busy today, so just a quick link to be going on with.

Well, I say a quick link, but it looks like you could spend hours at galaxiki.org, playing God with fictional solar systems.

I had a little nose around at the weekend, but I didn't play with any of the planet customising features or anything.

Unfortuantely the rules prohibit the use of 'names, characters or stories from exisiting science fiction stories on Galaxiki solar system pages' otherwise I would have been happily creating the planets from Countless as the Stars. It is quite possible, of course, that that rule applies to naming a planet Vulcan or Viltvodle VI, and that the planets I created myself might be allowable. But I don't suppose they want me imposing my Creed on their nice shiny galaxy.

Anyway, if you've got too much time, and want a new kind of world-building tool, go have a look.

In the words of the good Doctor....

What?
What!?
WHAT??!

We want Sally Sparrow!

CSFF Blog Tour Bonus: Fantastic Four Tour

The Fantastic Four is not a team of comic-book superheroes. They were not created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. They are writers of Christian fantasy fiction, soon to embark upon a mission across 12 cities in the Eastern USA, where they hopefully won't be exposed to any cosmic rays.

They are:

• Mr. Fantastic (Wayne Thomas Batson), the leader of the group by virtue of having been a teacher in a parallel world, and author of the best-selling young adult fantasy series The Door Within.
• The Invisible Woman (Sharon Hinck), probably not Mr Fantastic's wife, and probably not even invisible. I am reliably informed that she is a wife, home school mother of four and writes Women's Fiction Alternate Reality Fantasy. I'm guessing that at least qualifies her as a woman.
• The Human Torch (Bryan Davis), author of the Oracles of Fire and Dragons in our Midst series of young adult fantasy novels.
• And finally, everybody's favourite, ever-lovin' blue-eyed Thing, Christopher Hopper. Known for his great courage, strength and endurance; his skin is monstrous, craggy, orange, and looks as if made of rocks. Despite (or perhaps because of) this, he manages to be an international speaker, recording artist, youth pastor and author of The White Lion Chronicles. And if he ever finds out where I live, it will be clobberin' time.

For slightly more reliable author biogs, and more information about the tour, visit www.fantasyfictiontour.com.

If you surfed in here looking for Rise of the Silver Surfer, you want www.fantasticfourmovie.com.

Doctor Who - Season 29

It hardly seems like 13 weeks since I was saying how slightly disappointing the season opener was, but I was expecting the series to get better. And to say 'it got better' would be a huge understatement.

Since I know there are going to be those visiting who won't have seen the latest Doctor Who yet, I will try to whet your appetite without spoiling it.

But first let's just say it wasn't all good. As I said, the opener, 'Smith and Jones', was a bit silly; the Dalek episodes completely lost the plot, and even the largely excellent finale went a bit wierd at one point.

The second half of the series, however, was as good as Doctor Who has ever been. The episode '42' turned out not to be about the ultimate answer, but rather a play on '24'. An interesting twist on the format, rather than the best Who ever.

Following that the double-header from 1913, considered by many pundits one of the series' all time high points. 'Blink' was, well, blinkin' scary. And after that, the three-part story arc leading to the climax.

Actually, the story arc is woven right through the series, quite subtly to begin with, until the (otherwise fairly unremarkable) episode 'Utopia' brings them all together and kickstarts the finale.

The final episode even brings in big spiritual themes of forgiveness, and the power of prayer, albeit briefly. If you've seen it, and fancy getting a lesson on evangelism from it, check this out. (Unfortunately it will spoil the ending if you haven't seen it.)

Captain Jack comes back too, to share a few unexpected lines with the new Doc and his new companion, and we get to find out how he got the immortal gig before joining Torchwood.

And John 'DI Tyler' Simm (did I ever mention I've met him?) was an inspired piece of casting.

All in all, Season 29 (or series three, if you prefer) contained some of the best individual Who episodes yet, the most coherent (if subtle) story arc so far, some nice nods back to the Baker years (for those that remember), and a brilliant climax with plenty of neat twists and little surprises.

Christmas special should be interesting, too!

Friday Review - The Day After Tomorrow

It seems that the freak weather we've had in these parts (and in Europe) is set to continue, so I'm using that as a gratuitous (and possibly inappropriate) reason to revisit this movie.

The Day After Tomorrow is a fairly typical disaster movie, taking global warming and turning it on its head, to create a sudden super cooling effect on huge swathes of the northern hemisphere. Yes, I know, but there is an explanation given which sounds plausible enough if you try not to think about it. I guess any film that opens by plagiarising a Road Runner cartoon can't really be taken that seriously.

From there on, it really is just a typical disaster movie: the kids (led by Donnie Darko) trapped in New York, while Donnie's father treks through miles of snow to rescue them, accompanied by a couple of hardened adventurers, one of whom sacrifices himself for the sake of the mission. There's a shedload of effects, from hail-boulders to frozen helicopters crashing out of the sky. And, of course, there's all that snow - enough, apparently, to make the Statue of Liberty go all Planet of the Apes. And, of course, an incredibly cheesy finale in which the President of the USA humbly thanks the Third World nations for welcoming (presumably at gunpoint) all the refugees from the frozen Northern hemisphere.

For all that though, it's quite an enjoyable waste of a couple of hours, more so if you like effects heavy disaster movies, and despite its best efforts, it probably won't make you think too seriously about climate change (at least, not in the way five feet of river flowing through your house will).

Whether the conditions here at the moment are related to the real, actual effects of climate change, or just plain old freak weather, is not quite clear at the moment. What seems to be clear, though, is that it's not over yet.

Truth, they say, is stranger than fiction. Just, not quite as spectacular.

Writing, Bible study and discussion questions

There's been a bit of discussion over at Becky Miller's place lately about discussion questions for novels (I know, that's two 'discussions' in one sentence - bad writer!). I suspect that if I were to pay them any attention they would make me wonder if I had missed a page (or, perhaps, whether the author had missed a page). But then, I tend to read novels for entertainment above all; any thought I may give to a given 'theme' as a result is pretty much a bonus and won't necessarily have any bearing on the author's intentions.

The reason I mention this is that lately I have noticed that, when reading the Bible, I can sometimes relate aspects of it to the actions of my own characters, either the events recorded in Countless as the Stars, parts of their back story known only to me, or anticipated events for potential sequels. And I find that looking at it through the eyes of these characters, and trying to relate the Bible to my own imagined Creed, sheds some new light on things.

It is of course possible that this only works for me, because I know these characters' past and future lives, I know how the Creed relates to the Bible, and I know my intentions in creating all of this. Also, because I based my story so closely on Biblical events, I put a lot of Bible study in during the writing process, some of which it seems I retained.

I still live in the hope that some of what I have written may help others, casual sci-fi readers maybe, to make some sense of the Bible - specifically, the Old Testament. With that in mind, I may write a few short pieces for the website - why various events have been included, how and why they differ from the Bible accounts, what I learned while writing it... I should probably also explain that all the sex and drugs was included with the intention of exploring the consequences later (that way they don't look quite so gratuitous...)

I hadn't really thought about discussion questions until I read Becky's piece on the subject. I suppose it is possible that some readers might benefit from that approach, but it's not really my style. Besides, I don't want my readers thinking I missed the point.

The CSFF Blog Tour continues...

Well, it seems like there's been a bit of a battle of the sexes going on in CSFF world this week. The girls mostly love The Restorer, while some of the guys are, well, less enthusiastic.

Why should that be? It can't just be the female lead. It certainly hasn't bother me in previous tours (notably Firebird), and hey, who doesn't love Buffy? Second thoughts, don't answer that. Maybe it's that she's a whiny soccer-mom - although, I'd probably relate to that myself, the number of times I feel like the hard done by housewife of the family and want to escape to some fantasy world... but that's another story. I'd probably be really whiny in Susan Mitchell's place: 'No, I can't be your Restorer. I don't even like fantasy novels...'

Hopefully, all this male/female divide means is that Sharon Hinck has gone for mom-lit* market and successfully grabbed it. And, for the sake of CSFF writers of all flavours, I hope she does attract a few readers back to the spec-fic section.

Also trying to lure readers towards the spec-fic shelves:

Trish Anderson Brandon Barr Jim Black Justin Boyer Grace Bridges Amy Browning Jackie Castle Valerie Comer Karri Compton Frank Creed Lisa Cromwell CSFF Blog Tour Gene Curtis D. G. D. Davidson Chris Deanne Jeff Draper April Erwin Beth Goddard Marcus Goodyear Andrea Graham Russell Griffith Jill Hart Katie Hart Sherrie Hibbs Heather R. Hunt Becca Johnson Jason Joyner Kait Karen Dawn King Tina Kulesa Lost Genre Guild Rachel Marks Rebecca LuElla Miller Eve Nielsen John W. Otte John Ottinger Rachelle Cheryl Russel Hanna Sandvig Chawna Schroeder Mirtika Schultz Speculative Faith Jason Waguespac Daniel I. Weaver

*just to annoy Mir! :p

Christian Science Fiction & Fantasy - June Blog Tour

This month's CSFF blog tour extravaganza is all about Sharon Hinck’s The Restorer, first book in the Sword of Lyric sequence, a sort of Christian mom-lit sword and sourcery epic adventure tale. I guess I'm not exactly the target demographic then? Well, in the hope that her publishers will one day realise that what the world wants is a Christian dad-lit space opera and give me a call... (Is dad-lit even a thing? Or am I creating genres again? Or maybe the new blog title I was thinking about?)

Anyway, you know what I like about Sharon Hinck? She's got the CSFF blog tourists listed on a sidebar on her blog in reverse alphabetical order. So I'm about third in the list, instead of waaaaaay down the bottom. I don't know why I didn't think of that, really.

Oh, wait, yes I do. It's because the tour's master list is alphabetical, and it's too much like hard work to fiddle with it myself. So here it is in conventional order (though I suggest you start somewhere in the J's, because they get neglected whichever way up you look at it!)

Trish Anderson Brandon Barr Jim Black Justin Boyer Grace Bridges Amy Browning Jackie Castle Valerie Comer Karri Compton Frank Creed Lisa Cromwell CSFF Blog Tour Gene Curtis D. G. D. Davidson Chris Deanne Jeff Draper April Erwin Beth Goddard Marcus Goodyear Andrea Graham Russell Griffith Jill Hart Katie Hart Sherrie Hibbs Heather R. Hunt Becca Johnson Jason Joyner Kait Karen Dawn King Tina Kulesa Lost Genre Guild Rachel Marks Rebecca LuElla Miller Eve Nielsen John W. Otte John Ottinger Rachelle Cheryl Russel Hanna Sandvig Chawna Schroeder Mirtika Schultz Speculative Faith Jason Waguespac Daniel I. Weaver

Regrouping

Change is afoot behind the scenes of my vast online empire.

Currently the empire consists of this blog, my largely ignored musings blog, the rambling fanficblog of Miner Willy, and of course my website, which has remained in a state of almost-done-ness since all the hip dislocation stuff distracted me from completing the job.

So, I will be rationalising, mainly by shutting down the musing department and merging its output with the sci-fi related musings you get here, and possibly Willy's Weblog.

Which means, as a bonus goodie for the regulars here (all three of you), you will get the benefit of my musings on life, the universe and everything, as well as my theological expositions based on the works of Douglas Adams.

Which probably means I need a new blog address, title and/or strapline. Oh dear.

Project Seven musings

So I've been thinking a bit about my current writing project. My protag's life story is starting to come together quite nicely, but I'm still not sure how it will ultimately be presented. Not being a big reader of books without some speculative element, I'm probably not well placed to start writing one. So the question remains: how to include a speculative element so that I can write the story in my preferred genre?

Some vague possibilities have occurred:

The futuristic sci-fi version

In Star Trek: Nemesis, Picard meets a younger, more evil Picard, a clone created some time in the past. Watching this recently made me wonder - what if you found you had been cloned, there was another you wandering around? What if the clone had the same character flaws and weaknesses as you, but instead of choosing to resist whatever temptation this led to, chose the easy route and embraced his dark side? What happens when the two meet?

It doesn't have to be a clone, of course; the evil twin could be from a parallel universe, or the result of a time-travel experiment gone wrong. Or a 'transporter malfunction' as happened to Kirk in Star Trek. Or some mystic force such as might be found in the Buffyverse.

We could also copnsider the possibility that it isn't a physical twin, but some kind of Jekyll & Hyde complex.

The Urban Fantasy version

One potential telling of this tale always had a hint of Angel to it. I may have struck upon an idea that adds a twist to that; although, I suspect it's probably been done before, though possibly less often than the evil twin story.

If you could wish your problems away, would you? Maybe one mistake, one bad decision, that you could have excised from your life, along with all the baggage that followed it. An addiction, or a period of illness, completely removed from your personal timeline. Sounds tempting, on the surface. But in losing the bad stuff, you lose the good that inevitably comes from it: all that you learn, the ways you become a stronger person. The people you could help when they find themselves in the same situation.

That is the central dilemma in this telling of the story. Our protag meets some kind of entity with the ability to remove the darkness of his past. Presumably this entity would, effectively, have lived through the darkest chapters of our hero's life, and be left with the emotional baggage that followed.

In taking on the ills of the world, this entity becomes a sort of Christ-figure, albeit probably a very dark one. I think he has potential for exploration - is he really a Christ-figure, or is he just removing the negative so that the positive results also disappear?

Or have I just stumbled across my next project?

The Last Temptation of Who

There seems to have been rather a lot of internet chatter about the cancellation of Doctor Who over the last few days. Pure speculation of course, and ironically turning up in the middle of probably the best two-parter of the series so far.

Spoilers follow, so if you don't want to know the score, come back on Wednesday.

At the opening of Human Nature, The Doctor is, unusually, on the run. On the run from some petty intergalactic crooks, after the life-force of a Time Lord in order gain eternal life and wreak havoc on a far larger scale. As they are, the Family of Blood have a limited time remaining, so the Doctor hides in England, in 1913, by becoming human.

And therein lies the genius of the piece. We get to see a different side to the Doctor (and David Tennant being more Hugh Grant than Tom Baker), and to Martha, who, as a young woman who is 'not exactly white', is forced to act as a servant, while actually being the one in control.

Oh yes, there are scary monsters (and one very disturbing public schoolboy), ray guns and explosions, but there is also the equally scary fact that 1914 looms just the other side of Christmas.

But against all this, and despite the fact that Martha and everyone around him need the Doctor back, having given up his life as a Time Lord, he likes being plain old John Smith and is unwilling to lay down that life. But if he settles for being an ordinary man, living a normal human lifespan, and living it happily married with a family around him, millions will ultimately die at the hands of his enemies. I imagine that is the sort of dilemma Jesus may have faced, just before stepping out of his ordinary existence and beginning his real work.

Ultimately, John Smith, like Jesus, sees what is right, and becomes more than human. And, in becoming the Doctor, he also takes responsibility for punishing his foes. The Family get the eternal life they craved - to spend alone, and suffering.

Towel Day '07

I pondered a few ways to mark this occasion in my little corner of the blogosphere. I could watch and review the Hitch-hikers movie, but it still won't be that good a review, so I'll try something more positive. I could review the TV series, only I haven't watched that for a while. I could lament the fact that I ditched my old VHS copies of the TV series when I got it on DVD, before I realised that not all the VHS content was on the new version. Ah, little animated Babel Fish, you will be missed. A bit.

I should really review the CDs of the last 3 radio series, because they were actually good, but that would entail sitting through them again. Which would take longer than remains of Towel Day in this time zone.

Instead I'm going to cop out royally and post a slightly edited review I wrote when the Quandary Phase aired a couple of years ago.

Even though I was introduced to Hitchhikers through the TV series, the first time I heard the original radio series (on a mid-90s repeat airing) I knew I was experiencing something special. This was, after all, the medium Hitchhikers was created for, and it shows. The Secondary Phase, with a plot wildly different from any other Hitchhiker variant, remains my favourite part of the canon, perhaps because it remains the least well-known.

There are those who think the current crop of radio shows don't compare to the original late 70s episodes; the Tertiary Phase suffered mainly from poor source material - Life, the Universe and Everything, itself recycled from a rejected Doctor Who story, is the weakest of the five novels for my money. But So Long and Thanks for all the Fish was a love story, a change of pace from the all out action of it's predecessor. Hearing some of the same characters with different voices (Prostetnic Vogon Jeltz, Slartibartfast, and of course the Book) took a bit of getting used to, but the main characters sounded just the way I remembered them.

Overall Dirk Maggs made an excellent job with the new adaptations, modernising the source material much more successfully than the movie (mankind's early 80s fascination with digital watches being replaced with a 2005 fascination with cellphones, for instance), and it still sounds like Douglas could have written it.

The Tertiary, Quandary and Quintesential Phases are a far better reflection of the true genius of Adams' original than the movie, and for my money should be this generation's tribute to him.

Long live Douglas Adams.