Up Close and Personal with Karina Fabian

(Apologies to Karina and any readers who were looking for this post last week. I was unable to get to my computer for several days, so I'm behind schedule. Good thing no one reads my blog!)


One of my very favorite authors these days is Karina Fabian, whose latest book Magic, Mensa, and Mayhem is a must-read for everyone. And I do mean everyone! Well, not babies, but everyone old enough to understand it.

A few days ago I was blessed enough to have an interview with the fabulous Mrs. Fabian. Here's what she shared with me:

ME: I know this is on your website, but just for any readers who haven't visited yet, could you just tell a little about yourself. What kind of background do you have a far as home life, education, jobs...?

KARINA: My motto is Fiction, Faith and Fun! Because that's the kind of stuff I write about. I'm mother of four kids, and when they were young, I wrote about parenting and homeschooling and childbirth as well, but we've moved past that. Now, I write to entertain them as well as myself.

My husband, Rob Fabian, is a Lt. Col in the Air Force, which makes for a fun life--we've lived in three countries and states five states so far and are moving to California soon. We met while I was in the Air Force, and he's my best friend, my idea man and my co-editor. I hit the jackpot with him and will never know why God blessed me so--but I'm eternally grateful!

I majored in Math, minored in History, seldom use either. I was an intelligence officer in the Air Force, so I can't tell you much about that or I'd have to kill you. My desk is a mess; my to-do list is 121 things long (and those are just the ones I marked with deadlines), and my cat's favorite spot in on the back of my chair. I am a horrendous typist despite lessons.

ME: You have a lot of stuff going on besides writing best-sellers. I know you have several children and you have home-schooled at times. What are some of the other projects, hobbies that keep you running around (the word mayhem comes to mind)?

KARINA: Best sellers--oh, don't I wish! Frankly, I tend to be a pretty mono-focused person. My life is family and writing. I've never been into hobbies, which usually has implications of collecting things. I hate clutter. Yes, even book clutter. Since we move every couple of years, I don't have time or space or patience for stuff. I have played the harp, but haven't done much with it the past 2 years. I'm just not good at spreading my attention.

ME: Magic, Mensa and Mayhem isn't your first endeavor in writing. What other projects have you been involved in as an author/ editor/compiler?

KARINA: Infinite Space, Infinite God: Thought-provoking sci-fi with a Catholic Twist! (Anthology form Twilight Times, www.isigsf.com)

Leaps of Faith: Christian sci-fi because God and Man do co-exist (Anthology from The Writers Café Press, www.leapsoffaithsf.com)

I've also written for several anthologies--especially DragonEye, PI stories. Their cases just seem to lend themselves to anthologies.

--"DragonEye, PI" in Firestorm of Dragons (www.firestormofdragons.com) Vern's first case, where he saves the princess, prevents the closing of the Gap and resists temptation to steal an artifact for himself

--"Mishmash" coming in Tentacles from SamsDot Press. How Vern and Grace meet and team up to stop an ancient demon summoned through a nonsense song.

--"The Faerie Truth Behind the Fairy Tales" coming in Mother Goose is Dead from DragonMoon Press. Vern's article on the many scams based on well-known fairy tales.

Finally, these stories are available on the website, www.dragoneyepi.net:

--"Amateurs" Take an Egyptian goddess, add a pixie turf war and you get one of the Blblical Ten Plagues! How? Join the website at www.dragoneyepi.net and get the free story to find out.

--"Christmas Spirits" When the Ghosts of Christmas haunt a developer bent on destroying Vern and Grace's home, they must put aside their feelings and uncover the cause. (For sale on the website)

--"Fern Gullible" You'll never think of Rumplestiltskin the same way after this locked-room mystery! (For sale on the website.)

I try to put up a new story for sale each quarter.

ME: There are some marvelous characters in this tale with great details about their personalities and actions. I wonder if you have drawn from real life people, even family, to flesh things out?

KARINA: Sometimes, but more often, I draw on The legends themselves. I look at who they were then decide if it's funnier to stretch the cliché, twist it or shatter it altogether. I also think about how exposure to the modern world would affect them. For example, Brunhilde the Valkyrie. Millennia of dealing with violent sweaty men whose idea of heaven is to fight, drink, fornicate and fight again. I can't imagine the finer things like romance or bathing come to mind very often. Now, she hears about our world, where women aren't confined to roles, body sculpting is in, and toothpaste is abundant! So, while she loves her sweaty men, she's exploring herself, staring a line of lingerie for large women, working out on her Bowflex and meeting guys who are sweet and minty. So, not based on anyone I know personally.

ME: How did the original concepts for Dragon Eye, P. I. come about?

KARINA: Vern started out as an idea for the Firestorm of Dragons anthology. I wanted a unique angle on dragons, and came up with a cynical snarky PI after watching a film noir parody on the comedy improv show, "Whose Line Is It, Anyway?"

ME: Vern and Grace, as well as many other characters in the book, crossed over The Gap from Faerie to our world, which they call Mundane. What's the story behind that Gap? Could you compare/contrast Faerie with our world?

KARINA: The Interdimensional Gap was created by a combination nuclear accident in the Mundane and a magical mishap in Faerie. Like Vern says, "sounds like a comic book, I know, but you don't have the knowledge in quantum mechanics or thaumaturgy to understand. For that matter, I barely do." Nowadays, it's just another border crossing. It doesn't look like much actually--kind of a big silvery burlap circle in the middle of a field. On our side, of course, there's a whole infrastructure around it--fences, security, customs, etc.--to keep people from just wandering in and out. On the other side, there are also guards and mages to keep the bad from crossing as well, and both sides have their share of vendors lining the area. Our side looks like an airport; theirs, a fair.

The Mundane world is pretty much like you see here--technological, bureaucratic, wildly diverse in opinions and faith. There, it's the stuff of legend, but never as you'd expect. It's more diverse as far as sentient species, but the humans are almost exclusively Catholic (or agnostic, which is rare). The Church has had to be a strong, organized power because thanks to magic, Satan and his demons are not only more powerful but more visible. Their Church is close enough to ours that you can attend Mass in either world, but there are political and theological differences, as well as cultural ones. The Church is also politically strong. As a result, a lot of their history is different. The New World is very different--no United States, but an Mayan Empire, an Iroquoi Federation... I'm still exploring.

ME: Let's cut to the chase, now. Briefly, just what is Magic, Mensa and Mayhem about?

KARINA: It should have been a cushy job: Vern, the dragon detective, and his partner, the mage Sister Grace, are given an all-expense paid trip to Florida to chaperone a group of Magicals at a Mensa convention. Then the pixies start pranking, the Valkyrie starts vamping and a dwarf goes to Billy Beaver's Fantasyland hoping to be "discovered." Environmentalists protest Vern's "disrupting the ecosystem," while clueless tourists think he's animatronic. When the elves get high on artificial flavorings and declare war on Florida, it turns into the toughest case they aren’t getting paid for.

ME: Was there anything that served as an impetus to this story?

KARINA: My friend, Shirley Starke, edits the North Dakota Mensa newsletter, The Prairie Dawg. She asked me if I had a story, and since World Gathering was taking place that year in Florida, we decided it'd be funny if the Faerie attended.

ME: While reading through Vern's viewpoint, I often wondered how other characters might have presented the same story. In particular Grace. She is an amazing person, in my opinion, and one I'd like to know more about. Do you think her point of view would have been much different than Vern's?

KARINA: Oh, definitely! But, like the Virgin Mary, she's very good at keeping things in the silence of her heart, so I don't know the story from her POV.

ME: Besides Vern, which character was the most enjoyable for you?

KARINA: I loved them all, but the finicky ones were the most fun to write. That's be Jean Pierre the French chef, and Melchior Rawlings, the artist. There's nothing like being able to go overboard with a personality!

ME: What would you hope for people to come away with when they read Magic, Mensa and Mayhem?

KARINA: Sore rib muscles from laughing so hard.

ME: Thanks so much for your time, Karina, and for writing this wonderful story for us to enjoy!

KARINA: Thanks for the interview, Cathi!

Abracadabra for Wise Guys: Magic, Mensa and Mayhem

There's nothing like blowing a hole in space-time to change your perspective on the universe....


Welcome to the multi-verse of Faerie/Mundane, where the Faerie are fae, the Mundanes are...not, and the clichés get twisted until they shatter!
The Mundane world is very much like ours: technological, commercial, and diverse in governments and cultures. The Faerie is the world of magic and legend--but not quite how we think of it. Brownies are transdimensional beings who will clean your room--and finish your Sudoku puzzles (in a different numbering system.) Elves are long-lived and long-winded to a fault (takes half an hour in Elvish to ask where the bathroom is). Just as our world obeys the laws of physics, theirs obeys the laws of magic, which means some clichés can't be avoided.
The two "meet" when a combination nuclear accident at Los Lagos Nuclear Power Station, Colorado, on the Mundane side and a magical mishap near Peebles-on-Tweed, England, on the Faerie side, create a wormhole (dubbed by one of the scientists as "The Gap," and wasn't the clothing chain pleased!). Both worlds discovered that magic and technology do not mix well, and an enchanted artifact can be as dangerous to our world as an iron griddle is to the Faerie--and equally innocuous.
Also not always mixing well, are the cultures and governments of these universes. From economic espionage to Satan's Faerie forces trying to get a toehold in the Mundane, there's plenty of side issues to keep a dragon detective busy. Then, there are the minor irritations of American citizenship for non-humans; censorship across the Gap; and the simple misunderstandings that can sometimes erupt into Interdimensional Incidents.
Into this enters Vern: a Faerie dragon living out a geas to serve God and His creatures. He emigrated to the Mundane and circumstances caused him to remain and become a professional problem solver for the particularly desperate. Over the years, he has gained respect among the Mundanes--even does some consulting for the local police--but still doesn't have that Green Card. He's a little miffed about it still.
Sister Grace, a nun and mage of the Faerie Catholic Church, is his partner. A heavyweight among mages, she channels magic mostly through the power of her voice and has gotten them out of more than one tough scrape.
Together, they solve mysteries, fight crime--Mundane, magical, neutral or evil--and save the universes on an much-too-frequent basis.
All in all, it keeps Vern and Grace on their toes. But Vern does enjoy living in interesting times....


For laughs and more information on Karina Fabian, Vern and Dragon Eye, P. I., and Magic Mensa and Mayhem, check out these websites:
www.dragoneyepi.net
www.fabianspace.com

Dragonwriters from Firestorm of Dragons

So you want to know about dragon writers?

Editors:

Michele Acker: Michele writes articles and short stories for various online 'zines and newsletters. Her stories have appeared in the anthologies A Time To..., the Stygian Soul, Chimeraworld #2, and F/SF. She's a contributing author for The Complete Guild to Writing Fantasy.

Kirk Dougal: Kirk owns and operates his own business consulting firm by day and struggles mightily to help raise his twin two-year-old daughters by night. During the scant few minutes of free time he can grab each day, he is an avid reader and writer of science fiction and fantasy.

Contributors:

(Not a Complete List)

Richard Bray: Richard is a 26-year-old editor at a newspaper just outside Houston, Texas. He has been published alongside Hugo Award-winning author Neil Gaiman in the anthology “Fantasy Readers Wanted – Apply Within,” and fantasy legend Piers Anthony praised his short story “Five Minutes Longer” as one of his favorites in the fantasy anthology “Enchanted Realms.” Bray’s short story “Tell Me, Lover, Are You Lonely?” will appear later this year in “Strange Stories of Sand and Sea,” published by Fine Tooth Press. He runs a 2,100-member online fantasy writing forum at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Fantasy_Writing.

Eric Diehl: Eric likes to make stuff. Tangible things—those that you might hold in your hand, and ephemeral things—those that elude form. He’s built furniture and guitars, he’s screen-printed t-shirts, and he’s written software and designed websites. He harbors a life-long passion for motorcycling—occasionally teaching a safety class to newbies both young and old—and he persists in being confounded by the acoustic guitar. But it remains that most powerful and elusive of creations that he stands most in awe of—the story. Ink on paper, black on white, a collection of simple syllables woven into an infinitely complex journey. He's written travel articles and reviews in Rider, RV Companion (since demised), and Adventure Motorcycle magazines. Also a short in the Florida Horror anthology by Carnifex Press. A SFF novel is in final editing stages, and several other shorts are making the rounds. Learn more at www.ericdiehl.com.

Karina Fabian: After being a straight-A student, Karina now cultivates Fs: Family, Faith, Fiction and Fun. From Nuns in Space to a down-and out Faerie dragon working off a geas by St. George, her work takes quirky twists that keep her amused--and others, too. Winner of the EPPIE award for best sci-fi and the Mensa Owl for best fiction, she writes stories and novels about Vern, the dragon detective. (learn more at www.dragoneyepi.net.) In addition to juggling the stories from at least three different universes, Karina is President of the Catholic Writers' Guild, owner of Catholic Writers Online, and teaches writing seminars on-line. She and her husband Rob are also the skillful editors of Infinite God Infinite Space and Leaps of Faith (also being toured in November, just released). For more about Karina and her worlds, go to www.fabianspace.com.

Tina Morgan: At the age of four, Tina's mother recorded her telling a story of an unfortunate princess. Her love of storytelling has not diminished with time and Tina takes great pleasure in creating fantasy worlds and life-like characters. The managing editor for Fiction Factor (http://www.fictionfactor.com) and editor-in-chief of The Fractured Publisher (http://www.fracturedpublisher.com), Tina Morgan enjoys researching and learning more about the art and business of writing. She's a contributing author to The Complete Guide to Writing Fantasy, and The Companion Guilde to Writing Fantasy currently available with Dragon Moon Press. She's also contributed to The Complete Guide to Writing Science Fitction which features chapters from Piers Anthony and Orson Scott Card.

Bob Nailor: Bob is a retired government worker who was on the cutting edge of technology as a Systems Manager but now enjoys being an end user. Having raised four sons he enjoys spoiling his six grandchildren and weaving a tale by the campfire to excite, thrill, scare or fascinate them while on travel enjoying the sights of our great country. He still remembers his first critique, 3rd grade, of his poem, Angels and Volcanoes. His first rejection was from Children's Highlights while a sophomore in high school. Today he is published at many websites and is a contributing author to Companion Guide to Writing Fantasy and The Complete Guide to Writing Science Fiction.

He was a columnist for a small, local newspaper when he lived outside of Washington, DC and was the poetry editor and production manager for The Emporium Gazette (www.emporiumgazette.com), an online writer's ezine. He currently is the coordinator for the Northwest Ohio Writers' Conference (www.nwowc.com) which keeps him quite busy.

Kim Richards: Born and raised in the infamous Roswell, New Mexico, Kim now resides in Northern California where she writes full time. Her preferred genres are horror, science fiction, fantasy and erotica, though she has had a children's book published and non-fiction articles as well. When her fingers aren't busy tapping on the computer keyboard, she enjoys reading and movies in her preferred genres. She is a costumer and regularly participates in a Live Action Role Play group called Amtgard (for over 18 years). Her sons are grown men now, of whom she is extremely proud.

Besides editing for Eternal Press, she also edits reviews for MyShelf book reviews and produces the monthly newsletter for the women's online horror community, Pretty-Scary, along with a quarterly newsletter for her local neighborhood association (circulation approx: 3000 members). She also moderates chats for The Writer's Chatroom online. All this is supervised by a Tonkinese cat named Shemay. http://www.kim-richards.com

Sarah R. Suleski: Sarah is a 23-year-old library assistant, which she views as very fitting work for an aspiring author, if not entirely practical for those who enjoy having money. She has lived all her life in Wisconsin, USA, yet exactly 86% of that life has been spent entirely inside her own head. If you would like to know more about this exciting person, you may read more about her personal life than you are ever sure to care for at her blog, http://sarahlitarose.livejournal.com. Also, she is currently the proud owner of two websites where you can read many of her stories: the aptly named http://srsuleski.com and the more curiously named Iridescent Rhinoceri (http://irhinoceri.livejournal.com), for she believes in saturating the internet with her undeniably brilliant storytelling and fair to middling prose. Firestorm of Dragons marks her first time in print, not counting childhood endeavors with friends and their word processors. She is very excited about this, and plans to quite possibly buy more copies of the anthology than anyone, once she discovers the gold that is sure to be hidden somewhere in the basement.

John Teehan: John is a writer, artist, and musician living in Providence Rhode Island. His short fiction appears in a variety of anthologies including Men Writing Science Fiction As Women (DAW) and Low Ports (Meisha Merlin). He was a contributing author for The Complete Guide To Writing Fantasy (Dragonmoon Press), and has published poetry and non-fiction in several SpecFic markets.

He is the current Production Manager and Art Director for The SFWA Bulletin and has also provided layout and cover art for over fifty books including Forgotten Gems From The Twilight Zone Vols 1 and 2, Welcome, Foolish Mortals...The Life and Voices of Paul Frees, The Twilight Zone Scripts of Jerry Sohl, and William Nolan's Have You Seen the Wind?.

John plays the Irish tenor banjo, bodhran, 5-string banjo, mandolin, and guitar.
He's a huge movie buff, goes fishing before dawn, and dabbles in watercolor and cartooning on warm summer evenings. He was recently married to a wonderful woman who puts up with all of this.

Now Available at Amazon.com!

Firestorm of Dragons

So you want to know about dragons?

Start with "Dragonscaling!," a tongue-in-cheek look at a future where the world's most extreme sport involves the use of genetically engineered creatures. Continue on to read how dragons are kept out of sight in modern Hong Kong in "Dragonkeeper," before turning the page for a humorous look at the importance of listening to one's mother in "Lessons."

"The Druid's Dragon" reveals a possible connection between the ancient people and an enslaved dragon, before "Dragon Eye, P.I." twists all conventions and makes a dragon the lead in a 1940s-style detective story. "Poison Bird" brings the reader back to modern day for a coming-of-age story told through the eyes of the protagonist's boyfriend.

"A Reptile at the Reunion" pulls together two things that most people fear: dragons and high school reunions. A hunter learns compassion for his prey in "Dragon Blood" while "No Time for Dragons" takes a humorous tone when an example is made of dragon who is a pesky door-to-door salesman.

"For Your Eyes Only" reveals the power of devotion when lovers encounter a dragon. Both sides of a human and dragon interaction, with wildly different conclusions, are examined in "Shattered Dreams" before the influence of hatred and the cost of sacrifice battle each other in "A Darkness of Spirit."

A Firestorm of Dragons finishes with a trilogy of stories depicting some possible ends of dragonkind. "Dragon Fruit" reveals the happiest of conclusions when a symbiotic relationship between humans and dragons leaves both to lead their own lives. Dragons continue to live on throughout time in "A Dragon's Dawn," though they are relegated to lonely and unfulfilled lives. "Inside the Cavern" is the ending no one wishes for the majestic beings, their race dying in obscurity under man's unyielding pressure.

These a brief summaries of the tales that await you in A Firestorm of Dragons, an anthology edited by Michele Acker and Kirk Dougal and published by Dragon Moon Press. Although the stories are not necessarily all Christian world view, they are suitable for young adults as well as adults, and could even be read to some children.

LEAPS OF FAITH, edited by Karina and Rob Fabian

Once upon a time short stories were quite popular, making Edgar Allen Poe, Chekov and O. Henry names that everyone recognizes. Unfortunately, anthologies of short stories no longer enjoy that popularity. This saddens me when there is a wealth of good short stories available, such as the fourteen pieces in Leaps of Faith.

Why do I like short stories? First of all, I can read a complete story in one sitting and still get some sleep in the evening. When I am in the middle of a good novel I have a very difficult time putting it down, therefore often going without sleep for a day or two. Not good. I was able to get through two or three of the stories, even four sometimes, at a sitting as I read Leaps of Faith. I had the urge to go further, but I was able to still go about sleeping and do some of my chores. I find it easier to absorb the theme and ideas in these tales than I do the longer tomes, often spending a little time at the end of each just thinking it over. True, the characters and plot aren't as developed or detailed as they are in novels, but a good short story wordsmith crafts his sentences carefully so as to give more bang for the buck. In my favorite kind of short stories, there is a plot twist that I don't expect at the end, a surprise that makes it worth reading.

In Leaps of Faith, I find several satisfying stories with that extra bang. These are exclusively science fiction, sometimes rather heavy on the science, but even so this very unscientific mind of mine was able to get into the meat of the tales and enjoy them. The real joy is in that leap of faith included in each entry, leaps that often mean the reader needs to stretch his or her own box a bit. God does not fit in a box, of course, and I love stories that make me ponder who God really is and all the "what ifs" that are posed in speculative fiction. What if there were aliens who came to accept Jesus as Savior? What if we really could travel through time? If we had certain technology, should we use it just because we can, even if it would mean playing God or going contrary to God's natural laws?

It's hard to write a short review when there are so many stories to consider. Perhaps my favorite is "Leaps of Faith" by Karina and Rob Fabian, the title story as it were. Each story involves some sort of leap of faith, but this one is literal. This is about the rescue nuns in the future, an order that works in space bringing aid to stranded travelers. More importantly, it deals with a young member who has wanted to rescue others ever since she was a child, but she has a great fear to overcome before she is able to help anyone else. The answer is one we can all take to heart, even without space travel.

"The Smile" by Greg Beatty is another one I really like. This one reminds me of some verses in Romans chapter one (v. 19, 20): "since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse."

The tone and mood of each piece varies, from the very serious and somber to the silly. "Moses Disposes" fits the latter description. One of the stories, "The Relics of Venice" by Leslie Brown, is a real romance, but there are other stories with romance as well. Just not your average tale of two earthlings sometimes. Tales to make yoy rethink your viewpoints about "religion" and what God might really think.

Leaps of Faith does not fit into a neat little cubbyhole, but then neither does God. And if you think of God in a box, you really need to expand your horizons a bit. I recommend Leaps of Faith as a handy way to do just that. I hope you will give it a try. You'll be glad you took that little leap yourself.


A 2002 EPPIE finalist for Best Electronic Anthology, Leaps of Faith promises the best in Christian sci-fi.

Purchase Leaps of Faith at The Writer's Cafe Press.

Visit the Leaps of Faith Website.

Check out these other member blogs this week for more info.

Leaps of Faith Video Trailer

LEAPS OF FAITH, CFRB Book Tour of the Month

I'm getting a slow start this week, but I'm quite excited about the book chosen by the CFRB for November. Leaps of Faith, edited by Karina and Rob Fabian and published by The Writers' Cafe Press, is not a run-of-the-mill anthology of short stories. It's an entertaining collection of specifically science fiction tales with a decided Christian worldview.

My actual review will be posted tomorrow, but for today I want to whet your appetites by a slight introduction to the overall contents of the anthology. There are fourteen short stories written by twelve different authors (well, thirteen, but Rob and Karina Fabian work together on one).




The selections in Leaps of Faith
cover the spectrum of the SF genre, showing the positive relationship between science and religion.

Space Exploration: “High Hopes for The Dead,” shows Christian evangelism though faithful example of Luke “High Hopes” Kittery, a member of a band of space explorers for whom every trip is potential suicide. “Quantum Express” examines the soul’s fate when the body is destroyed and reassembled through teleportation. In “God’s Gift,” faith is the key to preventing insanity brought on by a new method of interstellar travel. “Leaps of Faith” highlights the new industry of space search and rescue though the intrepid nuns of Our Lady of the Rescue. In “Confirmation,” harvesters of an exotic space fuel suspect they’re harvesting intelligent life--or perhaps the angels themselves.

Encountering Alien Life: “Lost in the Translation” chronicles a monk’s evangelism to a species for which death results in corporeal rebirth. In “Lost Rythar,” ministers bring the Word of God to long-forgotten human colonies. In “Sometimes We Lie,” a native born being tries to spread an ancient human faith. Fr. Wren wonders if a sentient tree-creature can marry into the Catholic Faith in “The Convert,” while Fr. Travener faces persecution by ministering to sentient androids in “Comprehending It Not.”

Hard SF: An astrophysicist finds the face of God in the stars in “The Smile.” God is a proven fact in “The Faith Equation,” leaving the question of the role of belief. “The Relics of Venice” combines genetic engineering and love to create a miracle.

Time travel: In “Tampering with God’s Time,” time travelers find they cannot change the timeline, but are themselves change as they encounter Christ personally, while in “Moses Disposes,” King Solomon deliberately uses time travelers to bring the Bible to future generations in an idiom they can understand.

Be sure to check out the Leaps of Faith website, as well as Fabianspace, the official site of Karina and Rob Fabian (editors and authors of two of the stories in the anthology).

Book may be purchased through the publisher, The Writers' Cafe Press and Amazon.com.

This tour is a tag team tour with different members blogging throughout the week. Besides daily blogs at the main CFRB site, there will be reviews, interviews, and other posts at the following sites: