by Jason Joyner | May 23, 2008 | Blog, CFBA, fiction, reading, reviews, speculative fiction
This was a busy week for me with blog tours. Two Christian Fiction Blog Alliance reviews and the Christian Sci/Fi Fantasy tour highlighting Mindflights webzine. Phew.
Today the CFBA tour features Broken Angel, the latest book from author Sigmund Brouwer. He is the author of eighteen best-selling novels for children and adults. His last book was Fuse of Armageddon and his novel The Last Disciple was featured in Time magazine and on ABC’s Good Morning America. A champion of literacy, he teaches writing workshops for students in schools from the Arctic Circle to inner city Los Angeles. Sigmund is married to Christian recording artist Cindy Morgan, and they and their two daughters divide their time between homes in Red Deer, Alberta, Canada and Nashville, Tennessee.
Broken Angel has a very intriguing premise. In the near future there are two nations carved from the United States: Appalachia, where religious people resettled en masse to live in a “godly” land, led by the enigmatic Bar Elohim, and the “Outside”, a land that the Appalachians fled to live according to their beliefs. Appalachia is strictly controlled. Even though most people appear happy and satisfied, the occasional but inevitable malcontents pay their debt to society by working in the factories. The truly wicked are stoned to death. Some try to escape to the Outside, but they have to face the mysterious Clan, rumored to kill any who enter their territory and the enemy of Bar Elohim.
Caitlyn is a 15 year old girl carrying a terrible burden in her disfigured body. Hiding in the cover of Appalachia, she lives with her father quietly until the day that they are forced to run for their lives. When her father is taken from her before he can fully reveal painful secrets, she must use all she’s been taught to survive bounty hunters, the wilderness, and the Clan.
Broken Angel is a book of strengths and weaknesses. The various characters are memorable and stand out from each other. Brouwer creates an insanely fast paced thriller. It is not a long book, and there is hardly a moment to relax, as each character faces trials and trouble in trying to accomplish their goals – from the expert bounty hunter tracking Caitlyn, to the Sheriff and the agent from Outside trailing both of them.
Unfortunately, the book suffers at times from the fast pace. Characters are introduced fast and furious initially, making it hard to keep them straight. The futuristic scenario is interesting but thinly developed. The premise has a lot of potential, but it is skimmed with the pace and shortness of the book.
Overall, it is an easy, entertaining read. I haven’t read any of Brouwer’s books before, and he is definitely talented. I wonder if the scope of the story was hampered due to size restraints. I liked the book, but I’m left wanting more. However, if you are looking for a fast-paced escapist summer read, this book would fit the bill.
If you would like to read the first chapter, go HERE.
by Jason Joyner | May 20, 2008 | Blog, CFBA, fiction, reviews
The CFBA Tour today features award-winning author Lisa Samson and her latest book, Embrace Me.
The back cover copy reads, “When a ‘lizard woman’, a self-mutilating preacher, a tattooed monk, and a sleazy lobbyist find themselves in the same North Carolina town one winter, their lives are edging precariously close to disaster…and improbably close to grace.”
That sums up the book very succinctly. Embrace Me is a character-driven novel, a story designed to explore the depths that forgiveness and redemption can reach. The plot revolves around mega-church pastor Drew Parrish confessing his sin to a Catholic priest in 2003, while freak show attraction Valentine winters in between carnival seasons in the quiet town of Mount Oak in 2008. The story bounces back between their timelines, as they battle their internal demons. Val may hide her burned face under a scarf, but both wounded souls have a true face they are hiding.
The plotline is a little convoluted and incredible at times, but the characterization and themes of Embrace Me keep this book an engaging read. The darkness that both Drew and Valentine struggle with are all too real and the interesting supporting cast draw the two wounded people toward grace. It is hard not to enjoy Lella the armless-legless woman, Augustine the tattooed and dreadlocked monk, and Rick the contortionist.
The book isn’t afraid to ask hard questions about true faith, and the glossy side of Christianity is strongly challenged. The Way is not easy, and it is hard to love the unlovable. Even when their cry is to “embrace me,” just the way they are.
If you would like to read the first chapter, go HERE
by Jason Joyner | May 20, 2008 | Blog, CFBA, fiction, reviews
The CFBA Tour today features award-winning author Lisa Samson and her latest book, Embrace Me.
The back cover copy reads, “When a ‘lizard woman’, a self-mutilating preacher, a tattooed monk, and a sleazy lobbyist find themselves in the same North Carolina town one winter, their lives are edging precariously close to disaster…and improbably close to grace.”
That sums up the book very succinctly. Embrace Me is a character-driven novel, a story designed to explore the depths that forgiveness and redemption can reach. The plot revolves around mega-church pastor Drew Parrish confessing his sin to a Catholic priest in 2003, while freak show attraction Valentine winters in between carnival seasons in the quiet town of Mount Oak in 2008. The story bounces back between their timelines, as they battle their internal demons. Val may hide her burned face under a scarf, but both wounded souls have a true face they are hiding.
The plotline is a little convoluted and incredible at times, but the characterization and themes of Embrace Me keep this book an engaging read. The darkness that both Drew and Valentine struggle with are all too real and the interesting supporting cast draw the two wounded people toward grace. It is hard not to enjoy Lella the armless-legless woman, Augustine the tattooed and dreadlocked monk, and Rick the contortionist.
The book isn’t afraid to ask hard questions about true faith, and the glossy side of Christianity is strongly challenged. The Way is not easy, and it is hard to love the unlovable. Even when their cry is to “embrace me,” just the way they are.
If you would like to read the first chapter, go HERE
by Jason Joyner | May 7, 2008 | Blog, Christianity, fiction, music, pop culture
I came across an article on Slate entitled “Pop Goes Christianity” discussing a book from Daniel Radosh entitled Rapture Ready! : Adventures in the Parallel Universe of Christian Pop Culture. It is an interesting indictment on the subject of the sub-culture created by American Evangelicals. I think it raises some interesting issues on one hand, and dismisses or misunderstands other ideas mentioned.
How about an inflammatory quote taken out of context?
For faith, the results can be dangerous. A young Christian can get the idea that her religion is a tinny, desperate thing that can’t compete with the secular culture. A Christian friend who’d grown up totally sheltered once wrote to me that the first time he heard a Top 40 station he was horrified, and not because of the racy lyrics: “Suddenly, my lifelong suspicions became crystal clear,” he wrote. “Christian subculture was nothing but a commercialized rip-off of the mainstream, done with wretched quality and an apocryphal insistence on the sanitization of reality.”
I think this article touches on things that this blog and many other of my friends have addressed. There is a problem in how Christian culture is promoting itself, and if we look like a “parallel universe,” it is not to our credit. However, the article doesn’t understand some of the topics it is talking about either.
Read the article, and I’ll talk about it more this weekend.
by Jason Joyner | May 7, 2008 | Blog, Christianity, fiction, music, pop culture
I came across an article on Slate entitled “Pop Goes Christianity” discussing a book from Daniel Radosh entitled Rapture Ready! : Adventures in the Parallel Universe of Christian Pop Culture. It is an interesting indictment on the subject of the sub-culture created by American Evangelicals. I think it raises some interesting issues on one hand, and dismisses or misunderstands other ideas mentioned.
How about an inflammatory quote taken out of context?
For faith, the results can be dangerous. A young Christian can get the idea that her religion is a tinny, desperate thing that can’t compete with the secular culture. A Christian friend who’d grown up totally sheltered once wrote to me that the first time he heard a Top 40 station he was horrified, and not because of the racy lyrics: “Suddenly, my lifelong suspicions became crystal clear,” he wrote. “Christian subculture was nothing but a commercialized rip-off of the mainstream, done with wretched quality and an apocryphal insistence on the sanitization of reality.”
I think this article touches on things that this blog and many other of my friends have addressed. There is a problem in how Christian culture is promoting itself, and if we look like a “parallel universe,” it is not to our credit. However, the article doesn’t understand some of the topics it is talking about either.
Read the article, and I’ll talk about it more this weekend.
by Jason Joyner | May 1, 2008 | Blog, Christianity, fiction
I had a very interesting comment on my post “The Begotten – Final Questions.” I can’t verify it, because the Blogger profile attached to it is listed as “not shown”, but it is labeled as being from one Anne Rice.
Thanks for your kind mention of my novels on Christ the Lord. —- And I enjoyed your comments on fiction in general. My vocation is to write realistic novels that are about Our Blessed Lord as both Human and Divine, and to keep the probable reality within the truth of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. I believe this is not only valid but imperative for me now as a Christian. In my childhood, we had those big novels, The Robe, Ben Hur, Quo Vadis. We need a new Christian realism I think for this generation, and I’m trying to provide my take on it. Again, Thanks, Anne.
I thought this would be good food for thought over the next few days as I’m away from the computer. If this was really Anne, (and I believe it is), then thank you very much for taking time to stop by and comment!
