Rachel Starr Thomson

This month’s review is a little different because Angel Eyes was originally scheduled for the CSFF tour two months ago. By some incredible fluke, I, the sole Canadian member of the CSFF force, was also the only member to receive my review copy on time. Thus I read the book some time ago and am fuzzy on the plot details. (This never happens. I am way more likely to be the person who never gets a copy at all.) Yes, I should have written the review then. No, I didn’t.

But that’s okay; I have plenty to say anyway :).

Here’s the official plot description from Shannon’s website so you don’t have to rely on my fuzzy memory:

Once you’ve seen, you can’t unsee. Everything changes when you’ve looked at the world through . . .

ANGEL EYES

Brielle went to the city to chase her dreams and found tragedy instead. She’s come home to shabby little Stratus, Oregon, to live with her grief and her guilt . . . and the incredible, numbing cold she can’t seem to shake.

Jake’s the new guy at school. The boy next door with burning hands and an unbelievable gift that targets him for corruption.

Something more than fate has brought them together. An evil bigger than both of them lurks in the shadows nearby, hiding in plain sight. Two angels stand guard, unsure what’s going to happen. And a beauty brighter than Jake or Brielle has ever seen is calling them to join the battle in a realm where all human choices start.

A realm that only angels and demons—and Brielle—can perceive.

Perhaps it’s fitting that the Christian speculative fiction genre which gained so much traction with Frank Peretti’s This Present Darkness in 1986 has come back around to spiritual warfare, angels and demons, in Shannon Dittemore’s trilogy. But comparison won’t take us far: Dittemore’s version of the intersection between realms is quite different from Peretti’s–in some ways more speculative, with more freedom just to imagine. Her angels wear halos, adopt human beings, and receive assignments from heaven in unusual ways. Her demons are in some ways more terrifying: the imagery of charred, wounded creatures constantly burned by the glory of God is frightening and powerful.

The earthly milieu is updated as well. Where Peretti’s novels found their villains in the New Age movement, Dittemore’s are embroiled in human trafficking and pornography. Brielle, the heroine, is haunted by the spectre of murder and relationships gone horribly wrong. Jake, the hero, knows the reality of child abuse and neglect. Both are tremendously sympathetic: teenage but aged beyond their years, trying simultaneously to take hold of real life again and to make a difference in their world. The romance between them is truly sweet, with the feel of something that truly could last forever.

Shannon handles her gritty and often dark subject matter with grace and balances it out with hope and light, too real to be saccharine. Angel Eyes is a great read and a promising start to the trilogy (the next two books are both coming this year).

The CSFF (Christian Science Fiction and Fantasy) Blog Tour is back! This month we’re featuringAngel Eyesby Shannon Dittemore, YA supernatural realism. Or young adult spiritual warfare fantasy. Or something like that :). Think Frank Peretti’s original “Darkness” novels reimagined, updated for today’s culture, and written for teens.

Review coming tomorrow. For now, here are the links for this month’s tour:

Book link: Angel Eyes at Amazon
Author Website: Shannon Dittemore
And on Facebook: Shannon Dittemore

Finally, you can find the tour participants for this month here:

Gillian Adams
Julie Bihn
Beckie Burnham
Theresa Dunlap
Nikole Hahn
Jeremy Harder
Jason Joyner
Carol Keen
Emileigh Latham
Shannon McDermott
Meagan @ Blooming with Books
Rebecca LuElla Miller
Anna Mittower
Faye Oygard
Nathan Reimer
Chawna Schroeder
Jessica Thomas
Rachel Starr Thomson
Steve Trower
Dona Watson
Shane Werlinger
Phyllis Wheeler

Fairy tale is a hard genre to explain, perhaps because we know fairy tales when we see them, but it’s difficult to pin down exactly what differentiates them from other works we just call “fantasy.” Those who claim to write them have to hit just the right chord, made up of notes beautiful, strange, and yet totally fitted for this sort of story and no other.

Anne Elisabeth Stengl’s are perhaps the best of the fairy tale genre: new and tantalizingly original, yet somehow as familiar as hot chocolate and The Blue Fairy Book.

In Starflower, the story begins amid a flutter of faerie folk, tucked safely away behind their magical waterfall gates, most silly and vain though ancient. Eanrin, Chief Bard of Rudiobus, lover of no one so much as himself, unwittingly introduces a terrible evil into his world — an evil which promptly carries off the woman Eanrin supposes he loves. Vowing to find and rescue her, and in the process entangling himself in a wager with a rival, Eanrin leaves the safety of Rudiobus in search of the cursed city of Etalpalli and its even more cursed queen. Along the way he stumbles across a young mortal woman enchanted to sleep by a mischievous river, and against his better judgment he rescues her.

It is a decision that will change his life, for Starflower, the mortal girl, possesses powers no one dreams of — and she alone can unearth the secrets at the heart of Etalpalli.

Like Stengl’s other books, Starflower is skillfully written, with a blend of pure enjoyment and surprising depth. The characters are engaging in their various ways; the villains of this piece are especially well drawn. Starflower herself is a strongly feminine and resilient heroine: though she does need to be rescued via kiss at the start of the story, she is anything but helpless. Instead, her love gives her power others can only dream of — and it as they learn to love that others, too, become strong. Through unexpected twists, the story becomes a telling picture of oppression, especially treating the oppression that often comes against women in our world, and of the sort of truth that can unravel oppression and set the captives free.

Note: I was provided a copy of this book by the publisher in exchange for my review.

(Yes, I know this is one day late … yesterday the Internet broke and refused to let me post.)

I was introduced to the work of Anne Elisabeth Stengl when I read her novel Veiled Rose last year alongside many other recent works of Christian fantasy. Veiled Rose was a standout: beautifully written, with excellent characterization, an intriguing plot, and the kind of atmosphere that makes classics. Stengl is quite a young writer but is already making a name for herself: two of the previous books in the Tales of Goldstone Wood series won Christy Awards, including Veiled Rose.

So it’s with pleasure that I introduce this month’s CSFF tour title: Starflower by Anne Elisabeth Stengl. The latest of the Tales of Goldstone Wood, this one takes place in a much earlier period chronologically and displays the same mix of classic fairy tale and real-world depth that have marked the author’s other work.

The tour links:

The author: http://anneelisabethstengl.blogspot.com/

The book: http://www.amazon.com/Starflower-Tales-Goldstone-Elisabeth-Stengl/dp/0764210262/

And the rest of the CSFF bloggers this month:

Gillian Adams
Beckie Burnham
Nikole Hahn
Bruce Hennigan
Janeen Ippolito
Carol Keen
Emileigh Latham
Shannon McDermott
Meagan @ Blooming with Books
Rebecca LuElla Miller
Anna Mittower
Rachel Starr Thomson
Robert Treskillard
Steve Trower
Dona Watson
Shane Werlinger
Phyllis Wheeler

A little while back I alluded to a project I was keeping under wraps until it was released. Well, as they say, the secret’s out!

Here’s the cover:

And the description:

In 2012 the hottest book of the year (in more ways than one) was an erotic novel called Fifty Shades of Grey.

This book is not about that one.

It is about many things Fifty Shades of Grey has women and girls thinking about. What is love? And who are we, as women, and what sort of love are we worthy of?

The essays, quotes, and poetry in this little book were written by women who share a central vision of who we are, of what it means to be female and what it means to be loved, that is rooted in faith in God. It is rooted in the belief that we were personally fashioned as image bearers of the divine being who is Love itself.

Fifty Shades of Loved includes poetry and essays from Rachel Starr Thomson, Mercy Hope, Shea Wood, Susan Milligan, Kit Tosello, Katie Rees and L’Angelus, and Laura Leigh-Anne Busick.

I had the idea for this book last spring, when the work of E.L. James was rocketing up the charts and I was seeing young women everywhere reading it. Aside from other questions of morality, my biggest concern about James’s books is the depiction of abuse, even voluntarily accepted abuse, as love. My heart bleeds for young women and girls who will read these books at a young age and shape their perception of themselves though their lens.

It occurred to me that I wanted to put an alternate vision out there and make it easy for these same women and girls to find. A vision that says, “This is who you really are, in yourself, to others, to God”; this is the love you are worthy of; this is the Love that has been poured out for you. With the encouragement of friends and mentors, I put out a call for writers I know to contribute to this “vision.” The result is the above little collection, which I edited and contributed several pieces to. The response so far has been enthusiastic, and I hope it will impact many.

As with all my e-books, Fifty Shades of Loved is available for a low price at Amazon, B&N, Kobo, Apple, Smashwords, and more. You can also get it from my A-Bookstore, at the link on the top bar.

Stephen R. Lawhead’s The Spirit Well is Book 3 in the Bright Empires series, and as predicted, it takes the whole series to a new level: it is here that its many storylines begin to come together, that its timelines coalesce, and that its themes truly emerge. Having read this installment, I predict that Bright Empires may become one of those perennial journeys: a long read you can soak into every other winter or so and just enjoy the trip.

The plot is not precisely easy to summarize. Kit Livingstone, having stumbled across the location of the Spirit Well, finds himself accidentally ejected from the prehistoric world where he has become a new man–but there are no accidents in this omniverse, as we are often told, and his stumble reunites him with Wilhelmina, his one-time-girlfriend-turned-ley-traveler, who recently rescued him from certain death in Egypt. Only there is a catch: the Mina he reunites with is still learning ley travel and has not rescued him yet. Meanwhile, at other times and in other places, the Flinders-Petrie line is variously creating and preserving the Skin Map and villainously trying to ferret it out.

Yet to plunge into this mess is Cassandra Clarke, from contemporary Arizona, a young paleontologist who accidentally finds a ley and is transported to Syria in the 1940s. Only there are no accidents–as we’ve said–and Cass promptly finds a group of seekers called the Zetetic Society, who take her under their wing. In their company, Cassandra Clarke comes to understand a great many things about the omniverse–and so, for that matter, do we.

Bright Empires truly is a journey, and once you’ve finishedThe Spirit Well,you may find that you too have stepped into the shoes of a seeker.

As before, Lawhead’s attention to detail–to time and place–is transportive. I have not found the plots fast moving in this series (with time so malleable, suspense is hard to come by), but the journey is pleasant, fascinating, and hair-raising when it needs to be. Best of all, in this book I have finally been gripped by the concept of the omniverse, and I look forward to further exploring it.

Note: I was provided with a review copy of this book by the publisher.

Christanya and Mercy have fled the temple of On, where Christanya served as a priestess and Mercy as her servant, and followed the way of the Wayfarer in search of truth and true life. Accompanied by a nobleman named Valiant and three small boys, they find themselves driven by need for food and shelter to enter a town where Christanya reveals herself as a priestess in order to gain favour.

It is the greatest mistake of her life.

Overnight, Christanya and Mercy find themselves trapped in a nightmare as the servants of an older and more bloodthirsty god choose Mercy as a sacrifice. Christanya will do anything to atone for her mistake and rescue her friend—even if it means dying in her place.

As ancient evil rears its head, faith and love must struggle to overcome it. For in the midst of greatest darkness, the Wayfarer’s Dream may come true . . .

“Wayfarer’s Dream” is a Wayfarer’s Road short story and you can pick it up on Kindle, Smashwords, Kobo, Nook, and Ebookmall.

Young Brown–who was the son of Farmer Brown–looked at a map and said, “The city is closer than it used to be.”

Farmer Brown grunted over his bacon and coffee and said, “You have no idea. When I was your age, the city was miles and miles away.”

Mrs. Brown, the farmer’s wife, said, “There is nothing to worry about.”

And her husband and her son said, “Of course there isn’t. We were just saying.”

Outside, the apple trees danced white boughs in the breeze and sent apple perfume over the dirt roads. A bull belled and a bee buzzed and the raccoons washed their long fingers in the creek.

A month later Young Brown brought home a new map. He frowned and picked at his pancakes.

“The city is getting closer,” he said.

“Impossible,” said Mrs. Brown.

“Hmph,” said Farmer Brown. “That’s progress.”

And the city came creeping

and crawling

over the horizon

and the raccoons barked.

In “The City Came Creeping,” a family takes up arms against urban sprawl, fighting back against the evils of artificiality, noise pollution, and worst of all, television. This latest offering from Rachel Starr Thomson celebrates all things simple and rural with humour and lyrical grace. Now available on Kindle, Smashwords, Kobo, Nook, and eBookmall.

Happy November, friends!

There are two more new releases out this month, both short stories. Well, short and longish. “The City Came Creeping” wrote itself one night when I was enjoying the countryside and lamenting urban sprawl. It’s funny, strange, and vaguely Dr. Seuss-ish.

“Wayfarer’s Dream” is a much longer story, and it will eventually be part of a larger collection of stories about people in a fantasy world who take “The Wayfarer’s Road” in search of meaning and truth–facing the persecution of their society and the darkness of their own souls along the way. It was originally inspired by Pilgrim’s Progress but took on a definite life of its own. This particular installment is sad and dark but also, I hope, full of the kind of light that reveals itself most clearly in darkness.

With Christmas on its way (and Thanksgiving, for my American friends, just around the corner), I wish you a wondrous and holy season, full of light even as it gets darker and colder outside.

Blessings,

Rachel

Some of you will remember Natalie Wickham, the homeschool grad, writer, and piano teacher whose expertly self-published book Pajama School I reviewed here. Natalie is writing and publishing again, this time as a co-author, in a venture she calls the Streams of Mercy Series. The first book, Born to Deliver, is currently touring blogs–including this one :).

Born to Deliver, written by Kathy Brace with Natalie Wickham, is based on Kathy’s true story. More info can be found at www.borntodeliver.com.

I asked Natalie to tell me how she and Kathy came to write together. Her answer was this fascinating story of the genesis, not just of one book, but of an entire series:

The summer of 2009 I began reading the blog of a woman whose husband was suffering from a debilitating disease. It had plagued his body for the last fifteen years, and now his death grew imminent. As I read the overflow of the heart of this devoted wife, I was deeply moved and inspired by the respect and love she expressed for her husband. One morning after reading her latest post I thought, “This is what people need to be reading!” Suddenly, the vision was birthed in my heart to write her story as an inspiration to others. I had no idea if the vision was from God or not, but I began praying about the possibility. As I prayed, the Lord expanded my vision to write not just one, but a series of stories about real people, experiencing real life, and learning what real love is. It would be called the Streams of Mercy series from the lyrics of the well-known hymn by Robert Robertson:

“Come, Thou Fount of every blessing,
Tune my heart to sing Thy grace;
Streams of mercy, never ceasing,
Call for songs of loudest praise.”

For the next year and a half I continued praying about this dream, wondering if, how, and when the Lord wanted me to pursue it. In January of 2011 I received a Facebook message from Kathy Brace. We knew each other a little bit through many mutual friends and because she was the midwife who delivered my younger brother fourteen years earlier. She had read my book, Pajama School, and was impressed with it, so she was wondering if I could give her some pointers on publishing a book that she was working on. After several messages back and forth we decided that it would be best to meet in person so I could share with her more about the publishing process.

A week later Kathy and her daughter, Brandi, and I met for lunch and began discussing her book. As she shared her vision for telling the story of her past and God’s redemption from many generations of destructive choices, we realized that what she was really looking for was someone to help write her story. And as I told her of the book series idea God had placed on my heart more than a year before, we realized His incredible timing in orchestrating our meeting and preparing us to work together on this project. We committed the following week to prayer and seeking counsel from a few others and were soon convinced that God was leading us forward.

For the next nearly two years, Kathy and I developed a close friendship as we spent many hours thinking, talking, praying, and working together on the book the Lord has now brought to fruition: Born to Deliver. We are still amazed at how He prepared both of us in so many ways to embark on this journey together! And even though there have been numerous challenges along the way, God has faithfully walked with us and taught us so much. We wouldn’t trade the experience for anything, and we are eager to see what He has in store for the future!

As for Kathy, her heart for her readers is clear. I invite you to join the following conversation as we explore Kathy’s story, the messages she hopes to convey, and her future plans as a writer.

What made you decide to write the book?
Kathy: In September, 2010, I was helping a family with a birth. I had helped with several of their previous births as well. They were asking how I became a midwife and why on earth I wanted to continue doing it. I shared part of my story with them, and the mom encouraged me to write it down. She said it was an amazing story that God could use to help others. A few other people had said similar things, so I began seriously pondering it. A year and a half later, the same mom called in need of my midwifery services again. However, she also told me that her unmarried daughter was pregnant. She remembered part of my story and wanted to know the rest. That was the catalyst that broke down my pride and made me realize that as hard as it might be, if I would share my story it could provide hope and help for families going through similar situations.

What do you hope that readers take away from the book?
Kathy:  Several things:
1. No matter what you’ve done in your life, God’s grace is sufficient. He has a purpose for your life and wants to use you. He loves you and wants to help you.
2. I want young girls to see the consequences of wrong choices. Stop and think. The media and the world are giving a very false message to young women.
3. Families are so important! The best thing parents can do is provide a strong, loving family and environment for their children

Is the book about midwifery?
Kathy: No, it’s not. Even though it’s the story of what led me to become a midwife, it doesn’t talk much about midwifery.

Do you have any more books planned for the future?
Kathy: Maybe. I have some ideas, but we’ll see what God has in store!

How can men and/or fathers benefit from reading your story?
Kathy: A young man’s actions can devastate a girl’s life. I hope that young men will understand how important their role is in a girl’s life by choosing to either treat her with respect, or to use her for his own satisfaction. Fathers, in particular, have the incredible opportunity to provide their daughters with a strong, supportive, affirming male relationship. They, above all people, should be the ones showing their daughters what to look for and expect from their relationships with other men.

What general advice would you give to young girls who find themselves in an unplanned pregnancy?
Kathy: The biggest message I want to share is that children are a blessing, not a curse. A baby is never the consequence of sin. You have to dig deeper – find out what led you to believe that premarital sex would meet your needs. Once you’ve identified what drove you to make the decision to have premarital sex, you can start to deal with the real root problems. No matter what needs you feel, premarital sex is not the answer; abortion is not the answer. There is a lot at stake, and girls facing unplanned pregnancies need to be surrounded by people who love her, will talk openly with her, and give her godly counsel to make a wise decision.

Can you help us understand what it’s like for a birth mom to give her baby up for adoption?
Kathy: In my particular case, the hardest part about giving up my baby was that I wasn’t allowed to talk about it. I had to pretend like it never happened. Harboring such a deep, personal secret was so damaging. Proverbs 28:13 says, “Whoever conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy.” Secrecy doesn’t bring healing. Confessing your sin helps you work through the situation, move on with your life, and experience healing. There will always be heartache when you give up your own flesh and blood to someone else, but having supportive, open relationships with others who will help you walk through each step of the decision can make all the difference in the world.