THE GOD HATER by Bill Myers: Christian SF & F Blog Tour Featured Novel

Bill Myers was one of the first Christian SF novelists from among "CBA" publishers whose story made me go, "Wow, that was cool!"  That first book, which I read 15 years ago, had a mildly disappointing ending (but what led up to the ending rivetted me).  Well, now it's cool the CSFF blog tour is hosting his THE GOD HATER.

I'm still in the midst of reading it, and so a review will not make it for the tour--will come later. But I notice what is the same from that first experience with BLOOD OF HEAVEN--yes, the initial reason I enjoyed his writing is the fast pace. THE GOD HATER has a nice clip.

I can get easily bored these days with films and books and tv shows. Maybe middle-age onset ADD. Who knows? So,  the writing has to be gorgeous, or the characters fascinating, or the pace nifty, or the plot twisty and wild to hold me . I don't have the patience for meandering "seen that before" stuff anymore.  I need something to keep me from drifting off or roving over to another tome.

Here, it starts with a cable news talk show skewering of a Christian author by a philosophy professor and avowed "God Hater"--which will give you flashbacks to any number of similar real life events. The "God Hater" main character will remind some of Richard Dawkins on a cranky day, I suppose, or Chris Hitchens (who, Lord love him, is always entertaining and sometimes quite impatient and skewery). Profoundly anti-Christian/anti-religion. The character doesn't make us wanna root for him, until we get more of a glimpse into his life (lonely, reclusive) and issues. His snappy-comeback interaction with Annie, possibly his only friend (a colleague at a university). I like how they go back and forth and the affection that binds them all the same. The professor's computer whiz/hacker/rascal of a brother definitely gets the conflict ball rolling--with the FBI and Homeland Security in for the fun. There is a virtual reality world that is brutal and is the "fantasy" feeling portion of the story, and this is as far as I go.

I think for ADD readers who want to get on with things, the pace works. I don't think it's giving anything away that we expect our "God Hater" to soften in his stance if not altogether flip his position.

Myer's prose is not lyrical or particularly deep, but it keeps things moving along unobtrusively, and in a thriller/SF book, that works fine for me if the story interests me. Keeping it lean and clean is fine.

Some of the quips/comebacks will feel very much like what you've read in apologetical mass market books/brochures. (Well, so far. Granted, I'm not even halfway through.) The author does advise us in a prefacing note to look into the science and theology ourselves, not to depend on him for full depths and total accuracy. :) Shoot, I'd do the same for any work of CSF fiction.

But I can tell you that it's hard to put down. I WANT to know what comes next, so after this post, I'm going back to my reading. That's saying something...

OH...and Bill is serializing my fave of his novels (THE FACE OF GOD) and you can read it here.

Visit the author site, or like the Facebook page, or buy the book. Note that the author site does have excerpts. Yay.

Or, if you're like me and love your e-readers--latest gen Kindle and NookColor (OMG, so great, and I read most in this format)-- find it in these formats:

NOOKBOOK
KINDLE

And you can read some of the novel on Google Books.

Do kindly drop by the blogs of my tourmates:

Noah Arsenault
Red Bissell
Thomas Clayton Booher
Keanan Brand
Rachel Briard
Beckie Burnham
Morgan L. Busse
Carol Bruce Collett
Valerie Comer
Karri Compton
CSFF Blog Tour
April Erwin
Amber French
Andrea Graham
Tori Greene
Katie Hart
Ryan Heart
Joleen Howell
Bruce Hennigan
Becky Jesse
Cris Jesse
Becca Johnson
Jason Joyner
Carol Keen
Emily LaVigne
Shannon McDermott
Matt Mikalatos
Rebecca LuElla Miller
Mirtika
MollyBuuklvr81
John W. Otte
Sarah Sawyer
Chawna Schroeder
Andrea Schultz
Tammy Shelnut
Kathleen Smith
James Somers
Donna Swanson
Jessica Thomas
Steve Trower
Fred Warren
Dona Watson
Nicole White
Dave Wilson

NOTE:
I bought the book with my own moolah from B&N for my NookColor. I am not paid to do this promo, and I received no free book. Just saying... :)

Read Tosca Lee's DEMON : A MEMOIR....for FREE! (PDF and ebook formats)

I bought this back when it first came out. Good read. Toscan writes well and engagingly. If you haven't read it, go here:

DEMON: A Memoir

Thanks, LIFEWAY!

LIGHT OF EIDON...free for Kindle

I preordered a Kindle 3 with wifi and 3g, and I was browsing the Kindle store and saw that Karen Hancock's LIGHT OF EIDON (which I have in paperback, and prolly you do, too) is free for Kindle. And the rest of the novels in the series are quite reasonably priced. So, if you have not read this fantasy series yet, here's a chance to read the first novel without paying a penny.

If you have a Kindle, well, there ya go.

If you don't, simply download Kindle For PC (easy to do from Amazon, even a techdweebo like me did it).

Here's the link for the novel: LIGHT OF EIDON

Sympathy for Walter and Marie...and all the Depressed

Man, I get so bummed when I read about suicides. I know that just holding on really does make a huge difference. I've been on that brink severeal times. I spent good chunks of my life considering suicide, starting at the age of 9. I didn't know when I was 9 that I was a depressive. I know now at age 50--turned the big Five Oh a week ago--that yes, I had serious depressive issues since around age 7, which is really weird to consider. One doesn't think of young kids as depressed, right? Being sickly didn't help, and I wonder if the medications I took (including steroids) didn't just make it all blossom into a black, black flowering tree that will not be uprooted no matter how much I pray.

I was a kid when I first saw Walter Koenig as Chekhov. Because to this day I have a huge love and soft spot for the original STAR TREK and its cast, I felt a particular pang contemplating the horrible, horrible grief Mr. K and his family is dealing with. I am so sorry for them. I had to switch off the news video of his address to the press, cause his face was too painful for me to watch for more than a minute.

I wish his son had felt like I did at every moment when I was on the brink and I could NOT do it, could NOT ultimately complete the task, only because the image of my parents (later my parents and my husband) having to deal with the aftermath. My mother's devastated cries. My father's silent sorrow. I could see it, and it stopped me. That images kept me from slitting my wrists or overdosing on multiple prescription medications or walking suddenly in front of the multiple buses and trucks that went past the busy streets of our neighborhood. I once was at the top of the Empire State and though, ah, this might be good, I could fly for a bit before dying. So much for a cheerful tourist stop. But those images of mom and dad and later my Toots stopped me. More than once. I wish Walter's son had his father's grieving face so clearly in his mind that he would have stopped and checked himself into a clinic. So sad.

And jhow sad about Marie Osmand's son, also a suicide. I like Marie. I like her big toothy smile and perkiness. I remember the dorkily endearing quality of her show with her brother, both very likable human beings. You never want nice folks to have to suffer, but there she must be, her heart a shredded thing today.

I am in the "whew, missed that bullet" stage, cause my body almost took me down into the pit again late last year. I've had a negatively affected mood and motivation, but I have not suffered a full-fledged dip into the darkness. Thank God for this mercy.

If I had a prayer today for depressed folks it's this: that they would just hang on until something joyful slits the darkness; that they would see the faces of their beloveds in their minds so distinctly and intensely that the step out a window or the noose around the neck would be unthinkable just one more day, and then one more day, and one more...

Apple's Upcoming Tablet: Hope for my Reading Life!

I'm really excited about the possibilities of the Apple tablet that's supposed to be unveiled later this month. I haven't been able to read much of anything other than quick-read graphic novels or online stuff I can pump up to 20+ font. My severe allergy/sensitivities to anything ON MY FACE means I've had to give up (mostly) using reading glasses and wearing earrings. I turn into an oozing alligator.

The LASIK helped a lot, as I didn't have to wear glasses every waking moment to sese. I only need them to read, basically, or do close work (threading needles, filing nails, pedicure, etc). My face has healed a lot, therefore, from the mess it was from my glasses. I still have hyperpigmented and scaly-prone, redness-prone areas, but they aren't in critical condition like they used to be. If I read the paper for a few minutes in the AM, I'll have red and itchy bits on the bridge of my nose and upper cheeks, but I moisturize and use redness relief stuff till it calms.

So, yeah. Can't really read novels much.

It gets tiresome, too, reading on the computer, since I can't lie down or lie on my tummy or recline comfortably.

I'll definitely keep my eye on that tablet. My Sony Reader is okay, but it has a limited largeness to the font and it's a small screen. Kindle's is bigger, but, eh, I trust Apple to make a better, more flexible product. Mostly, I need bigger. BIGGER.

If that doesn't work out, I'll invest in a 13 inch computer, the lightest and best my budget will allow, in order to be able to read again--though that means rebuying books in e-formats. Which is costly. You'd think they were still consuming ink, paper, fuel, and warehousing space with what they charge for e-books. Dang.

Anyway, please, Apple, rescue my reading life. I miss snuggling up with a novel...

Shatner Sighting

So, hubby is at the LotusSphere 2010 event (and making a presentation for RIM), and the first email I get is: "Shatner is here!"

My reply: "Cool. Take pics."

I gather the original Cap'n was a surprise keynote guest.

Ah, I miss the hubster. Hope he brings some nice freebies. I'm still using the lunchbag he got last year for his "brown bagging".

Haiti Earthquake Relief: Good Charities For Your Donation

I know I haven't been blogging. I started dipping into a depression late last year, and frankly, I've been an emotional slug, avoiding most human contact. Not good, I know.

But even a slug can't help but be moved by the awfulness going on to the south.

If you have wanted to give to the relief effort aiding suffering Haitians, but you've wondered through which organization, be careful. To be sure, there are many, but not all are created equal. Some are scams. Always check out to whom you send your cc info or check.

I've donated to Haiti charity work in the past, and I kept an ear to the grapevine back when Katrina and other hurricanes hit in our nation. As a reasult,  I know some charities respond faster and better than others.

For instance, I read lots of reports of the poor work done post-Katrina by a very famous emergency charity. As such, I stopped giving to them. On the other hand, I heard as many positive remarks from a variety of victims on the work done by Samaritan's Purse and NAMB, so I trust those two for emergency aid locally and internationally.

For Haiti, I wanted to support a charity that already had ties and connections with local communities/churches/folk in Haiti. I chose to donate to the North American Mission Board's disaster relief specifically tagged for Haiti Earthquake aid. Every penny goes to the relief, none to administrative.

But I almost went with World Vision or Samaritan's Purse. Doctors without Borders is a good one, as well. All these are rated 4 stars (top rating) by Charity Navigator.

If you don't have a favorite emergency aid charity you trust, consider one of these:

World Vision (Christian, non-denom)
NAMB (Southern Baptist)
Samaritan's Purse (Christian)
Doctors Without Borders (secular)

Or check out this list at the Charity Navigator site.

Pray for Sally's Healing

Lots of you who are in the ACFW/CSFFBT or just fans of Christian SF who've hung with us others in that subcategory of fandom, y'all probably know Sally Apokedak. She's a lovely lady and loves the Lord and fantasy. :)

Please pray for her healing. She had post-surgical complications and needs your prayers. Thanks...

First HIGASHI NO EDEN film--KING OF THE EAST--Due This Month!

I hope the English subbed version hits the internet pretty soon after the November 28 Japanese release date. Man, that was a cool anime, and ending all cliffhangery as it did with our hero asking Juiz to be set up as King of Japan, well, gotta see where that goes. Wish it had been more than 11 episodes, but if the films rock, I'll forgive em. ;)

The second film releases January 9.

Ah, can't wait.

Trailer (Japanese only) here. Not that great a trailer, but, eh.

Some Spectrum 16 Featured Artists

Ths artist stood out for me in the new SPECTRUM 16, which I just got in the mail today. Andrew Jones.

Another you might want to visit. I'd never heard of him before, but I liked the pieces of his in S16. Jeremy Enecio.

Every year I have artists I look forward to, and this year, Donato Giancola did what he usually does. Wow me. Visit his online gallery and prepare to go "Whoa!" Here's one featured in S16.