DEFINITELY Enchanting!

Hope Westcott was ready for her fairy-tale life as the wife of Lord Falkland as she slipped aboard his ship to surprise him. She was ready to enjoy the prestige, but even more, the love that she had longed for all her life. Instead, he turned against her and let her be taken to the slave auction in this squalid port of St. Kitts. Being sold as a slave! How could she have ever sunk this low?!

Happily someone comes to Hope's rescue. otherwise this would have been a short or extremely dismal story. Her knight in shining armor is someone she often snubbed back in Charles Towne because he is just a common merchant, a hard-working man who was beneath her. Yet his Christian "duty" leads him to sacrificially pay for her redemption. So Nathaniel Mason undertakes a most exasperating adventure to return Hope to her home. Of course, along the way, he and Hope both are changed forever.

In her second novel about the Belles of Charles Towne, the lovely daughters of Admiral Westcott, MaryLu Tyndall scores big once again. Her historical fiction is spot on, as far as I can tell, anyway, in its authenticity and historic details. Set in the early 1700's she plunges herself and her readers deep into the culture of the day. You can feel the dust, the wind, the darkness; you can smell the sea, the rain, and the putrid garbage in the ugly sections of St. Kitts. You can also feel the emotions of the characters, from rage to deep love and compassion, from icy coldness to strong passion. Mrs. Tyndall is the whole package as a writer: her characters are well-developed, complex, and believable; the action is superb and often breath-taking; while we expect certain developments to take place (she is, after all, writing romance!), there are quite a few surprising events and changes throughout the story. And as is always true in her novels, the details, the descriptions, are the best I've ever read. I've already alluded to some examples, but this author appeals to all the senses in her stories. We as readers experience it all, good and bad; we are utterly immersed in this world.

She also succeeds in making us, or at least me, care about some characters that really didn't seem that lovable at first. Like Hope, who was a snobbish rich girl always throwing herself at men, embarrassing her family, and not seeming to care about anyone but herself. Then there's a woman on the ship with her, a very pregnant lady, who seems so cold and snooty at first. This is just one of the lessons of the book to make us look at things from God's perspective. The God factor is evident everywhere in the novel, another great point in my opinion. God and Jesus aren't introduced in a forced or preachy way, though; the spiritual is integral to the characters, their growth, and the plot itself. Lessons have to do with the true gospel, our need for God's love above all else, learning to love as God does, trust, prejudice, prayer, faith, and so much more. So many parts of the book struck me with the beauty of the truth that MaryLu Tyndall imparts through her characters.

In case you can't tell, I highly recommend The Blue Enchantress. It's an adult novel, but I know teenage girls will love it, too. Anyone who loves historical fiction or romantic novels will enjoy it for sure.



For more information on this book and much more, check out MaryLy Tyndall's website, and her blog, The Cross and the Cutlass . She has a lot of really great resources about ships, pirates, and all the other things she has researched for her books.

To buy The Blue Enchantress, you can try nearly any Christian bookstore or major bookstore like Borders. To order online, try Christianbook.com, Amazon.com, or Barnes and Noble.

Soon to be a Movie! The Ark, The Reed, and The Firecloud

There's a bit of excitement buzzing around CFRB right now about the book we are touring. After all, it isn't every month we are honored to host a novel that has a move deal! Yes, we are very happy to announce that The Ark, the Reed, and the Firecloud by Jenny L. Cote is scheduled to become a movie!

When I learned that this was a children's book, I was curious to see what was in store, but I was definitely not prepared for 450 pages! The age level for this is definitely lower than the average Harry Potter fan, so I was pretty skeptical at first. Within a short time, though, Ms. Cote and Max won me over.

The tale begins with Max, a Scottish terrier with a heart as big as all outdoors. Max saw himself as more or less master of all he surveyed, but he was really a homebody with little desire to travel. One day, however, as he was roaming through his beloved glen, he spotted some reeds moving and humming when there was no wind. Shades of Moses and the Burning Bush; when he came closer to the reeds, he could hear them saying, "Come to me." And then, "Follow the Firecloud." Huh? Well, Max had the presence of mind to ask an older and wiser creature for advice. Gillamon the goat, his dear friend and spiritual advisor, helped him to understand that it was indeed a call from the Maker. Max had been called to follow Him by following the Firecloud. This mysterious cloud soon showed itself, and moving out in a new step a faith, the little dog became part of a special move of Chosen Ones that were part of God's special plan. A plan to save His creation from the ravages of sin.

So Max sets out his long journey from Scotland to the Middle Eastern lands where Noah and his family were building the ark. Along the way he meets other creatures who were also called, in particular Al (E. Cat?), a very cowardly and plump orange cat from Ireland, and the most clever and curious Liz, a beautiful French feline that knocks Al for a loop. Occasionally, chapters will change focus from Max and company to other animals in other parts of the world or to Noah and company. There are a lot of cute and funny incidents along the way, but there are also some signs of the evil that would wish to destroy God's plan. God's provision comes through, though, time after time, and as he travels Max learns more about trusting God and listening for His voice. Other creatures have their own lessons to learn, lessons which are hopefully passed on to readers.

I see this as a good book for reading out loud to younger children. The chapters are short enough to easily handle one a night at bedtime or whenever story time might be. And so many of the episodes lead easily into some discussions. While I choked a little on the inaccuracies in time and culture (I have a problem with teaching kids factual error), I must admit that those could easily be overcome by a parent discussing things along the way. On the other hand, there are quite a few good lessons about geography, animals, and cultures to go with the fun and the spiritual lessons. Even adult readers should find themselves wondering about just how God pulled it all off. Ms. Cote has some creative ideas about how the animals all got to the ark and how they managed to pass all that time aboard once they were there. I'd love to comment on the episodes aboard the ark and once they were on dry land again, but I don't want to leave any spoilers here.

Kids who can read at at least a third grade level should be able to handle the book on their own. Again, the episodes are short enough that they can read one per sitting without much trouble. And, while it isn't a picture book, there are a few scattered around to help out a bit. Hey, even I like to have some pictures!

Adventure, laughs, reflection, romance, suspense, spiritual lessons, imagination: it's all here and more. I can honestly recommend the book, mostly for young ages, but any who enjoy animal stories should enjoy it.

Oh, and by the way, not only is a movie coming, but Jenny L. Cote is already working on sequels in the adventures of Max and Liz, planning to use these two as a fun way to gain new perspective on other Bible tales as well as post-Biblical history.

For more, see Jenny's website, http://jennycote.com. You can buy the book directly from the author and get it signed by the author, Max and Liz as well! You can also purchase the book from Barnes and Noble, Christianbook.com, and Amazon.com. I imagine you can also find it at many Christian and regular book stores.

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

When Answers Aren't Enough: a non -FIRST book

It's the 15th, time for the Non~FIRST blog tour!(Join our alliance! Click the button!) Every 15th, we will featuring an author and his/her latest non~fiction book's FIRST chapter!

The feature author is:

Matt Rogers

and his/her book:

When Answers Aren't Enough Experiencing God as Good When Life Isn't

Zondervan (April 1, 2008)

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Matt Rogers is copastor of New Life Christian Fellowship at Virginia Tech. Eight hundred students call it home.

FROM THE BACK COVER:

On April 16, 2007, the campus of Virginia Tech experienced a collective nightmare when thirty-three students were killed in the worst massacre in modern U.S. history. Following that horrendous event, Virginia Tech campus pastor Matt Rogers found himself asking and being asked, “Where is God in all of this?” The cliché-ridden, pat answers rang hollow.
In this book, Matt approaches the pain of the world with personal perspective—dealing with his hurting community as well as standing over the hospital bed of his own father—and goes beyond answers, beyond theodicy, beyond the mere intellectual. When Answers Aren’t Enough drives deeper, to the heart of our longing, in search of a God we can experience as good when life isn’t.


Product Details

List Price: $14.99
Paperback: 224 pages
Publisher: Zondervan (April 1, 2008)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0310286816
ISBN-13: 978-0310286813

My thoughts: These are the hard times, when we need to remember that God is still all-powrful and in control, even though circumstances don't make sense and our hearts are broken. The title immediately reminded me of a song written by Scott Wesley Brown and Greg Nelson and recorded by Scott back in 1985:

You have faced the mountains of desperation
You have climbed, you have fought, you have won
But this valley that lies coldly before you
Casts a shadow you cannot overcome

And just when you thought you had it all together
You knew every verse to get you through
But this time all the sorrow broke more than just your heart
And reciting all those verses just won't do

When answers aren't enough, there is Jesus
He is more than just an answer to your prayer
And your heart will find a safe and peaceful refuge
When answers aren't enough, He is there.

No, this book doesn't really give you the answers, at least not in the way that we want them, all tidy and neatly packaged. But it is a journey into trusting God and holding on in the midst of all the pain. A very thoughtful and though-provoking book that I hope will serve to bring some confort to other readers.

AND NOW...THE FIRST CHAPTER:

A Heavy,
Sinking Sadness

Embracing the World That Is

One

Lately I’ve been walking in the evenings. I tend to do that when stuck on a question. Maybe I’m trying to walk it off. On days when I have time, I drive out to Pandapas Pond in Jefferson National Forest to be in nature. Once there, I set off through the woods or slowly stroll along the water’s edge, deep in thought or prayer.

Most days, because of time, I have to settle for the streets around my home. I can quickly climb to the top of Lee Street, turn around, and look out over Blacksburg, the Blue Ridge backlit by the setting sun. From there, I can see much of Virginia Tech. The stately bell tower of Burruss Hall rises proudly above the rest.

On nights like tonight, when I get a late start and the sun is already down, I head for campus. At its center, separating the academic and residential sides of the school, sits the Drill Field, a wide-open grassy space named for the exercises that the Corps of Cadets practices to perfection there. After dark, old iron lampposts, painted black, blanket the ground in overlapping circles of light.

It was here on the Drill Field, the day after the shootings, that students placed thirty-two slabs of gray limestone rock — Hokie stones, as they’re called — in a semicircle in front of Burruss Hall, to commemorate the lives of loved ones lost. Thousands of mourners descended on the place, bearing with them a flood of condolences, a mix of bouquets, balloons, and poster-board sympathies. They came sniffling, clinging to tissues and to one another, and lifting their sunglasses to wipe tears from their tired, red eyes. The world came as well, vicariously through television, watching us, kneeling with us in grief.

I also came, revisiting the stones day after day, and sometimes at night, drawn to them by a need to connect with the dead whom I never knew. Always there was something new here, some trinket that had been added. At times the items seemed odd: a baseball for every victim, an American flag by every stone, though some of the dead were international students.

People took their time passing by this spot. There was no need to rush; there were no classes to attend. It would be days, dark and long, before there would be any distractions from the pain. For a time, there was no world beyond this place.

By day, soft chatter could be heard around the memorial. After sunset, no one spoke a word. During daylight, masses huddled near the stones, peering over shoulders to read the notes left there. At night, however, mourners passed by in a single-file line, waiting their turn, patient with the people in front who wished to pause at every name.

The masses have since receded. The Drill Field now is vacant (except for these stones) and silent. The semester has ended, most of the students are gone, and only the sounds of insects disturb the stillness of the summer evening air. If I close my eyes and take in the quiet, I can almost imagine nothing happened here.

Almost. Except for the stone reminders that lie at my feet. On one is written a simple, anguished note.

Jeremy,

We love you.

Mom and Dad

These stones are more than rocks. Each is all that remains of a son, a daughter, a husband who will never come home again. I picture my mom and dad, heartbroken, kneeling by a stone for me, had I been among the dead. Moreover, I imagine myself by a stone for my dad, had he not survived his fall.

This is a summer of mourning. I am grieving the world as it is. And I am asking, “If I embrace the world as it is, in all its sadness — if I refuse to bury my head in the sand, pretending all is well, but rather think and speak of the world as it actually is — can I, then, still know God as good? Can my experience of him be more consistent than my circumstances, which alternate between good and bad?”

Is this too much to expect?

Before I can know, I must face the world at its worst.

DON'T TOUCH THAT SNOW!!!

Chion by Darryl Sloan

Everyone ran to the window when they heard the screams. The students looked down to the ground outside the school and saw people standing and laying down in the snow, screaming as if their life depended on it. What was going on? Why did they just stay in the strange positions? And why was everyone else standing back, huddling at the door?

Turns out this was no ordinary snow. It was a weird adhesive that immediately stuck everything that touched it, like a super super glue. And worse yet, it didn’t melt even when hot water was poured on it. Even worse yet, all 650 students plus staff had to stay in Clounagh Junior High overnight, then...for how long?

This little novel raises some interesting and disturbing questions. How would a person react in a life and death situation, trapped in one place with hundreds of other people and no foreseeable way out? What about food? How long will the supplies in store last?

Jamie Metcalfe had more on his mind than just the weird snow. He carried a terrible secret that changed his outlook on everything. And he discovered that he was particularly concerned that one other person survive, no matter what else happened to him or anyone else. Tara had to survive somehow, and as he lay in the dark, Jamie came up with a desperate plan. But what would it cost? He decided to act on his plan in faith.

Chion (a Greek work for snow, or “like snow”) is a book that has already proven itself as a hit with junior high students in Northern Ireland (where author Darryl Sloan lives and works). It isn’t your average Christian thriller, and Jamie acts much like a boy of his age might if he were intelligent enough. While Tara is constantly wondering about Jamie’s faith, it is never overtly preaching anything. But the elements are there. While it is aimed at middle grades, the questions raised make it a book that adults will also enjoy.


Oh, and by the way, I'll be posting an interview with this very interesting Irish author on Tuesday.

Darryl Sloan's website: http://darrylsloan.wordpress.com/


Book Details:

Chion by Darryl Sloan
fantasy (2006) Midnight Pictures
$7.99
ISBN 0-9543116-1-2

To purchase a copy: go here.





Other blogs involved in the August blog tour of this little gem include:






And members who will be posting basic information about the novel:
People who will post synopsis, cover, purchase info only:

Rebecca Wire (Welcome to RebeccaWire.com) http://rebeccawire.com/cfrb-book-tour
Karina Fabian (Virtual Book Tour de 'Net) http://virtualbooktourdenet.blogspot.com/
Geralyn Beauchamp (The Time Mistress) http://thetimemistress.blogspot.com/
Rae Byuel (our newest member at CFRB) http://c-romance.blogspot.com/

Beyond the Reflection's Edge

Readers beware: there are NO dragons in this book! Bryan Davis proves to be an author with more than one angle and many more stories inside his head. Beyond the Reflection’s Edge, the first book in the new series Echoes from the Edge, is an intense tale of mystery and murder set (for the most part) in modern times in the Heartland of America.

The novel begins with a concert in Chicago. Sixteen year old Nathan Shepherd joins his mother, a world famous violinist, on the stage for their special duet. While Nathan is playing his solo section, his mother steps back and leaves the stage. As soon as he finishes the piece, Nathan searches for his mother and has the great shock of finding both of his parents dead in a back room of the concert hall. Then before his very eyes, the mysterious Dr. Simon is also murdered when a strange little man named Mictar uses his burns the eyes right out of his head and eats them. Mictar likes to eat eyeballs from fresh victims. Nathan and his long-time tutor, Clara, have to run for their own lives, a flight that will continue throughout the book. Their escape takes them to the home of an old college friend of Nathan’s father, Tony, who lives out in the country in Iowa with his teenaged daughter Kelly. A dazed and grieving Nathan tries to understand what happened to his parents and why. Oh, and by the way, his father was a secret agent of some kind who had been involved in a lot of heavy cases over the years. Just before that fateful concert, he had given Nathan a mirror that he called Quatro, stressing its importance to Nathan. Nathan and his new ‘sister’ Kelly soon discover that this mirror has very odd properties, somehow able to show people and images that weren’t there, sometimes that come true a few minutes later, but phenomena even stranger than that. The bad guys also want this mirror, and Nathan is convinced it may help them find out what happened with his parents.

As a result, Nathan and Kelly go on a voyage that includes parallel worlds, uber-evil foes, unexpected deliverance, and a lot of confusion. The reader is swept along with the mystery and adventure, compelled to decide whether the clues are red herrings or important pieces of this puzzle of many dimensions. Nathan is never sure who to trust or not, yet he and Kelly, with the help of some friends, eventually are able to unravel the incredible story.

While Bryan Davis is known for fantasy, this book is more like science fiction. It most certainly will appeal to young adults, both male and female. The constant action is most appealing, but it is full of spiritual content as well. Faith and love are two important elements that drive the action. There is a satisfactory conclusion to this portion of the story although it leads directly into a continuation. As further enticement (as if it were needed), the first chapter of the second book, Eternity’s Edge, is included at the end.

I couldn’t hardly put the book down. I admit to being thoroughly confused at times, so I had to do a bit of retracing and going back a page or two, but I think that’s because I start reading too fast and then miss some important points. It may be a book for and about teenagers, but many other adults will enjoy it as much as I did.

You can find out more about Bryan Davis and all his books at http://www.dragonsinourmidst.com/index.html . Bryan also has a page at http://www.shoutlife.com/echoes.

Beyond the Reflection's Edge can be ordered directly from the author's website and should be available at many Christian bookstores and other stores such as Barnes and Noble and Borders. It is also available online at christianbook.com (http://www.christianbook.com/Christian/Books/product?item_no=715542&netp_id=511096&event=ESRCN&item_code=WW&view=details)

A Dim Glass Darkly

Below is a music video by up-and-coming Christian songwriter/musician Gabriel Peter (no connection to Peter Gabriel) that is NOT the average video. It was a deeply personal remake of his first video for the song "A Dim Glass Darkly." It touched me so profoundly, and I felt like I needed to share it with someone.

The video was originally shot in Gabriel's parents' living room. Two months later, the house burned down in a fire. This is the re-edit of Dim Glass Darkly, incorporating shots of the burned home with the original music video. Commentary by Gabriel Peter

1 Corinthians 13:12 "Now we see as though through a dim glass darkly, but soon we shall see face to face."



http://www.gabrielpeter.com
http://www.shoutlife.com/gabrielpeter