by Jason Joyner | Feb 21, 2012 | Blog, CSFF, Ross Lawhead, speculative fiction, The Realms Thereunder
I introduced the book yesterday, and mentioned the author may have a familiar name to speculative fiction fans. Ross Lawhead is the son of Stephen Lawhead.
I wondered in approaching this tour whether having a famous name and a legacy would be a help or a hinderance to an author. I suspect it is a little of both. I came to Ross’s book expecting some mythical elements (this is the first in the Ancient Earths trilogy, so I was justified), but I tried to come to the book without expectations of it being a Mini-Me experience.
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| I tried to resist… |
Ross has his own body of work already. He has collaborated with his dad on another book as well as
Hero, a comic book adaptation of a modern day retelling of the gospel. As you can tell by his attire in the above picture, he enjoys his comics.
Nothing wrong with that on this blog!So what does this speak for The Realms Thereunder? Well, I’m not sure. Still working on finishing the book!
I know, that’s so rare for me to be racing to finish in time for the tour…
In the meantime, Becky Miller always keeps tabs on all the other posts for the tour, so
check her link out here. I will endeavor to bring you a review tomorrow.
I’d better get moving. Pages, I mean.
Ahem.
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by Jason Joyner | Feb 20, 2012 | Blog, CSFF, Ross Lawhead, speculative fiction, The Realms Thereunder
Welcome back to the CSFF Blog Tour, the premiere blog resource for Christian science fiction and fantasy. I’ve missed delving into the mysterious and speculative side of faith-based fiction, so I am excited to have the Tour back.
We’re featuring a new book with a name that may seem familiar…
In the isles of Britain there are connections to an underground, unseen world, protected by knights who slumber. No one knows about this long-forgotten realm.
Except for Freya Reynolds and Daniel Tully.
As youth they stumbled into an adventure that shaped and scarred them. As adults they have gone their separate ways, with Freya studying at Oxford and battling OCD, while Daniel is homeless and waging a war against a foe that he hoped never to see again.
They had hoped the forces from their first journey were behind them. Now they are awakening and finding strength enough to cross into our world. Now Freya and Daniel will have to find a way to re-engage and confront worlds they left behind. Places that are The Realms Thereunder.
This is the first in the Ancient Earth Trilogy by Ross Lawhead. I’ll talk more about the author tomorrow.
But don’t go anywhere! Well, if you’re going to go, check out one of my tourmates below. They’ll tell you more, I’m sure.
Note: In conjunction with the CSFF Blog Tour, I received a free copy of this book from the publisher.
Gillian Adams
Red Bissell
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
Carol Keen
Krystine Kercher
Rebekah Loper
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
Steve Trower
Fred Warren
Dona Watson
Shane Werlinger
Nicole White
Rachel Wyant
—
by Jason Joyner | Feb 20, 2012 | CSFF, Ross Lawhead, speculative fiction, The Realms Thereunder
Welcome back to the CSFF Blog Tour, the premiere blog resource for Christian science fiction and fantasy. I’ve missed delving into the mysterious and speculative side of faith-based fiction, so I am excited to have the Tour back.
We’re featuring a new book with a name that may seem familiar…
In the isles of Britain there are connections to an underground, unseen world, protected by knights who slumber. No one knows about this long-forgotten realm.
Except for Freya Reynolds and Daniel Tully.
As youth they stumbled into an adventure that shaped and scarred them. As adults they have gone their separate ways, with Freya studying at Oxford and battling OCD, while Daniel is homeless and waging a war against a foe that he hoped never to see again.
They had hoped the forces from their first journey were behind them. Now they are awakening and finding strength enough to cross into our world. Now Freya and Daniel will have to find a way to re-engage and confront worlds they left behind. Places that are The Realms Thereunder.
This is the first in the Ancient Earth Trilogy by Ross Lawhead. I’ll talk more about the author tomorrow.
But don’t go anywhere! Well, if you’re going to go, check out one of my tourmates below. They’ll tell you more, I’m sure.
Note: In conjunction with the CSFF Blog Tour, I received a free copy of this book from the publisher.
Gillian Adams
Red Bissell
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
Carol Keen
Krystine Kercher
Rebekah Loper
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
Steve Trower
Fred Warren
Dona Watson
Shane Werlinger
Nicole White
Rachel Wyant
—
by Jason Joyner | Feb 15, 2012 | Blog, fiction, losing the mojo, writing craft, Writing Wednesday
I put a novel down the other day.
It happens all the time to each of us. We start reading a novel, excited for the promise of a good read. Then we get into it and the book doesn’t grab us. We give it a little while to see if it improves. At a certain point, we realize there are too many stories out there to waste time with one that we don’t enjoy. So the book gets laid by the wayside.
My disappointment was that I had really enjoyed the three previous books in the series. The first one had been one of my favorite books I read that year.
The author released three books in the series, but then was dropped by the publisher. There were plans for up to seven books, I believe. The author had a long layoff before a home for book four was found, with a smaller press.
I finally got book four, and I enjoyed the author’s descriptions and certain aspects of the writing from before. Unfortunately there were a lot of problems with the writing. It wasn’t tight. It hopped all around regarding perspective. There was no struggle for the protagonist. He was becoming an alcoholic, but it was muted, and life just went on. There was an overarching conflict through the first three books that was alluded to once in the first 150 pages, but it was never introduced to grab continuing readers.
Overall I was very disappointed to give up on the book. I wanted to see the author succeed, but I couldn’t keep on. I was lost.
I’ve been pondering this since I put it down. What caused the author to lose me as a reader when I had been hooked before?
Here’s a few thoughts in random order (meaning as they pop into my brain):
- The author was with a smaller publisher that didn’t give him good editorial support.
- The author lost track of the story flow with the time layoff.
- I’ve changed as a reader and just don’t jive with this author anymore.
- The story wasn’t that good originally.
I’m leaning toward #1 being the major cause, with #3 being secondary. I know some of the stuff that is bothering me are things only a writer would probably notice. The author loves to use a lot of similie and metaphor to bring points across. Used sparingly it works, but when he does it all the time it makes it hard to read. I thnk the book loses track of some of the central conflict as well.
It is too bad. I might try to finish it, but I have an ever growing to-be-read pile. I wish I loved this latest book, but I am trying to take lessons from it all the same.
—
What about you? Are there any series you stopped reading because the author lost track of whatever made the books good? How can authors avoid this trap?
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by Jason Joyner | Feb 15, 2012 | Blog, fiction, losing the mojo, writing craft, Writing Wednesday
I put a novel down the other day.
It happens all the time to each of us. We start reading a novel, excited for the promise of a good read. Then we get into it and the book doesn’t grab us. We give it a little while to see if it improves. At a certain point, we realize there are too many stories out there to waste time with one that we don’t enjoy. So the book gets laid by the wayside.
My disappointment was that I had really enjoyed the three previous books in the series. The first one had been one of my favorite books I read that year.
The author released three books in the series, but then was dropped by the publisher. There were plans for up to seven books, I believe. The author had a long layoff before a home for book four was found, with a smaller press.
I finally got book four, and I enjoyed the author’s descriptions and certain aspects of the writing from before. Unfortunately there were a lot of problems with the writing. It wasn’t tight. It hopped all around regarding perspective. There was no struggle for the protagonist. He was becoming an alcoholic, but it was muted, and life just went on. There was an overarching conflict through the first three books that was alluded to once in the first 150 pages, but it was never introduced to grab continuing readers.
Overall I was very disappointed to give up on the book. I wanted to see the author succeed, but I couldn’t keep on. I was lost.
I’ve been pondering this since I put it down. What caused the author to lose me as a reader when I had been hooked before?
Here’s a few thoughts in random order (meaning as they pop into my brain):
- The author was with a smaller publisher that didn’t give him good editorial support.
- The author lost track of the story flow with the time layoff.
- I’ve changed as a reader and just don’t jive with this author anymore.
- The story wasn’t that good originally.
I’m leaning toward #1 being the major cause, with #3 being secondary. I know some of the stuff that is bothering me are things only a writer would probably notice. The author loves to use a lot of similie and metaphor to bring points across. Used sparingly it works, but when he does it all the time it makes it hard to read. I thnk the book loses track of some of the central conflict as well.
It is too bad. I might try to finish it, but I have an ever growing to-be-read pile. I wish I loved this latest book, but I am trying to take lessons from it all the same.
—
What about you? Are there any series you stopped reading because the author lost track of whatever made the books good? How can authors avoid this trap?
—
