Grace Bridges made this book trailer with the help of her friend and roommate, Ruth Wierer, a classical pianist who wrote the song (Day's Breaking) that she is playing on the grand piano
Then there is a funny video to entice you to buy the book:
Showing posts with label Faith Awakened. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Faith Awakened. Show all posts
Tuesday, November 6, 2007
Hot Topics and Buzz Words
Faith Awakened includes several topics that are hot these days, especially in science and science fiction. In the true spirit of Christian Speculative Fiction, Grace Bridges uses her novel to address several “what if’s” that many others flirt with as well. What if stasis was a real possibility? How long could life be sustained until the person wakes up again? What, if anything, would be happening to that person while in stasis? What about cryogenics? Is that a feasible method of inducing stasis? Then there’s the whole virtual reality realm. Just how far can we go with virtual reality? Can we create something like the holodeck programs that they had on Star Trek? What if we could make an alternate life in virtual reality? In scientific experiment with DNA, what if they discovered some way to grow vegetables and fruit that were super sized and faster growing, that could grow even in less-than-ideal conditions? What kind of effect could that have on the world population and commerce? What if that discovery came at a price that didn’t show up right away? How about a virus so lethal and contagious that it causes a severe worldwide pandemic?
Suppose there was a one world government some day. There are many, many takes on this idea. Suppose it was a takeover by a few big business concerns, and once they controlled the markets, they forced people to serve them if they were to survive? How would people react to this slavery? What if this government forbade any religious activities? (We know this has already happened in certain societies) Would Christians find a way to still meet and practice their faith?
These are a few of the ideas found within the pages of Faith Awakened. There are quite a few more: revolution, energy crisis, computer technological advances, dystopian society where people have lost technology and ability to use it. There are a lot of questions raised as well as some interesting reading.
Suppose there was a one world government some day. There are many, many takes on this idea. Suppose it was a takeover by a few big business concerns, and once they controlled the markets, they forced people to serve them if they were to survive? How would people react to this slavery? What if this government forbade any religious activities? (We know this has already happened in certain societies) Would Christians find a way to still meet and practice their faith?
These are a few of the ideas found within the pages of Faith Awakened. There are quite a few more: revolution, energy crisis, computer technological advances, dystopian society where people have lost technology and ability to use it. There are a lot of questions raised as well as some interesting reading.
Faith Awakened by Grace Bridges http://www.gracebridges.com/ and http://www.faithawakened.com/
180 pages
ISBN: 978-1-4303-1111-9
Publisher: Lulu.com
Copyright: © 2007
Country: New Zealand
Available Nov. 5, 2007 through http://www.amazon.com/ as well as http://www.lulu.com/
Faith Awakened is featured this week at Christian Diction Review Blog, http://www.cfrb.com/
Some participating sites are:
Sunday, November 4, 2007
Grace Bridges and Faith Awakened Summarized
From www.faithawakened.com, I took the following synopsis of Faith Awakened and a short biography of Grace Bridges, the featured author of the CFRB Blog Tour this week.
Synopsis
In virtual stasis to escape a deadly virus, an ex-slave finds far more than just survival...
Ireland as it has never been seen before – in a future where hope is hard to come by. Mariah, living in the dark time after the advent of a one world government, seeks the light in the underground Fellowship of the Awakened. Shortly afterwards, nearly the whole earth is silenced, and she struggles through the shock with a handful of survivors. Yet the danger has not passed away entirely, and they are forced to fight for their lives using an untested technology.
Faith, too, grows up in Ireland, but it has little in common with the homeland Mariah knew. Sometimes she thinks her life is perfect, asking herself, “If this is a dream, when am I going to wake up?” Other times it seems repetitive and monotonous. She experiences much to delight her, but also suffers from inexplicable bouts of amnesia that rob her of the past again and again. Seeking answers, she travels much in the free world, where disappointments and successes vie for the upper hand until she finally finds fulfillment in spite of all her disasters.
Ireland as it has never been seen before – in a future where hope is hard to come by. Mariah, living in the dark time after the advent of a one world government, seeks the light in the underground Fellowship of the Awakened. Shortly afterwards, nearly the whole earth is silenced, and she struggles through the shock with a handful of survivors. Yet the danger has not passed away entirely, and they are forced to fight for their lives using an untested technology.
Faith, too, grows up in Ireland, but it has little in common with the homeland Mariah knew. Sometimes she thinks her life is perfect, asking herself, “If this is a dream, when am I going to wake up?” Other times it seems repetitive and monotonous. She experiences much to delight her, but also suffers from inexplicable bouts of amnesia that rob her of the past again and again. Seeking answers, she travels much in the free world, where disappointments and successes vie for the upper hand until she finally finds fulfillment in spite of all her disasters.
About Grace Bridges
Grace Bridges is a New Zealander with partly Irish roots, and has spent many years in Germany. She was homeschooled and spent most of her early learning years reading novels – in the end it made her a writer. Faith Awakened is her first novel, which needed eight years of incubation followed by six years of writing. She also enjoys reading (of course!), culinary improvisation, living with cats, inventing things, web design and graphics, and meeting people both real and virtual. The story is set in Bangor, near Belfast in Northern Ireland, although many familiar aspects of life in New Zealand can also be found in these pages. Bridges is a pen name - Grace is for real!
Grace Bridges is a New Zealander with partly Irish roots, and has spent many years in Germany. She was homeschooled and spent most of her early learning years reading novels – in the end it made her a writer. Faith Awakened is her first novel, which needed eight years of incubation followed by six years of writing. She also enjoys reading (of course!), culinary improvisation, living with cats, inventing things, web design and graphics, and meeting people both real and virtual. The story is set in Bangor, near Belfast in Northern Ireland, although many familiar aspects of life in New Zealand can also be found in these pages. Bridges is a pen name - Grace is for real!
Get your free e-book - or the print copy at cost price!
ISBN: 978-1-4303-1111-9 Use this to order from your local bookstore.
Faith Awakened at Amazon.com
ISBN: 978-1-4303-1111-9 Use this to order from your local bookstore.
Faith Awakened at Amazon.com
Faith Awakened
Faith Awakened is the tale of two women, both Irish, living in two very different worlds. Both begin their lives in Belfast or nearby Bangor. They both love the beach and the sea, and they are both Believers. Beyond that, their lives take far different turns, as do the circumstances in which they live. The narrative, all told in first person but from two different perspectives, spends a few chapters with Mariah, and then switches to Faith. Any person who has read a few novels knows that there must be a point where the two them intersect in some way, but the question is how and when. The answer comes as a surprise.
The story seems to start in the middle or near the end, as Mariah is obviously in a frantic race with time in a bleak future world. Hurriedly she is rounding up a group of people, putting them into cubicles and hooking them up to something that is painful for a moment. We know their lives are at stake. But why? Are they going into stasis or committing suicide, planning to meet “in Paradise on the other side?” This is the brief introduction.
In Chapter 1, the reader is introduced to Faith as a child. It appears that her life is idyllic, yet something is constantly nagging at her. The nagging feeling is one of the things that kept me looking for some problem to show up eventually in her life. When the story switches back to Mariah, it goes to a time a while before the introduction, when she is a slave to the One World system that is running everything and every one. Basically, in order to get food, the people of the world had to agree to the terms of the powerful leaders, which virtually meant enslavement. One day, a mysterious stranger invites Mariah to a secret meeting of the followers of the Awakener, and her life changes completely. However, there are many twists and turns in both of their lives, more than I can even hint at in this review. I may be somewhat slow, but it took me a long time to suspect the connection between these two women who had such very different lives.
This was a very different type of novel, more like a romance novel on one hand, but very definitely science fiction with lots of technical/futuristic portions. It would appear that Ms. Bridges has done her homework. I love her descriptions of places, especially along the shore near Bangor and Belfast. Really, she does a masterful job of describing people and ideas as well as scenes. I was saddened when a couple of the characters died in some unexpected turns of events. Once I started reading, I honestly could not stop, reading far into the wee hours of the morning. For the most part, it was an easy read, although I became a little bogged down on the technical elements. This is a fresh narrative full of nuances, twists, and surprises. The projected audience is probably adult, but adolescents would be just as engrossed in it as I was. I believe most proponents of Speculative Christian fiction (romance, too) will enjoy Grace Bridges’ first novel.
Faith Awakened by Grace Bridges
180 pages
ISBN: 978-1-4303-1111-9
Publisher: Lulu.com
Copyright: © 2007
Country: New Zealand
Available Nov. 5, 2007 through Amazon.com as well as Lulu.com
The story seems to start in the middle or near the end, as Mariah is obviously in a frantic race with time in a bleak future world. Hurriedly she is rounding up a group of people, putting them into cubicles and hooking them up to something that is painful for a moment. We know their lives are at stake. But why? Are they going into stasis or committing suicide, planning to meet “in Paradise on the other side?” This is the brief introduction.
In Chapter 1, the reader is introduced to Faith as a child. It appears that her life is idyllic, yet something is constantly nagging at her. The nagging feeling is one of the things that kept me looking for some problem to show up eventually in her life. When the story switches back to Mariah, it goes to a time a while before the introduction, when she is a slave to the One World system that is running everything and every one. Basically, in order to get food, the people of the world had to agree to the terms of the powerful leaders, which virtually meant enslavement. One day, a mysterious stranger invites Mariah to a secret meeting of the followers of the Awakener, and her life changes completely. However, there are many twists and turns in both of their lives, more than I can even hint at in this review. I may be somewhat slow, but it took me a long time to suspect the connection between these two women who had such very different lives.
This was a very different type of novel, more like a romance novel on one hand, but very definitely science fiction with lots of technical/futuristic portions. It would appear that Ms. Bridges has done her homework. I love her descriptions of places, especially along the shore near Bangor and Belfast. Really, she does a masterful job of describing people and ideas as well as scenes. I was saddened when a couple of the characters died in some unexpected turns of events. Once I started reading, I honestly could not stop, reading far into the wee hours of the morning. For the most part, it was an easy read, although I became a little bogged down on the technical elements. This is a fresh narrative full of nuances, twists, and surprises. The projected audience is probably adult, but adolescents would be just as engrossed in it as I was. I believe most proponents of Speculative Christian fiction (romance, too) will enjoy Grace Bridges’ first novel.
Faith Awakened by Grace Bridges
180 pages
ISBN: 978-1-4303-1111-9
Publisher: Lulu.com
Copyright: © 2007
Country: New Zealand
Available Nov. 5, 2007 through Amazon.com as well as Lulu.com
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