Daphne du Maurier Contest

RWA(r) Mystery/Suspense Chapter's Daphne du Maurier Contest UnpublishedDivision 2006 is low on Inspirational entries.

Contest Rules

-The contest is open to any writer who has never been contracted in book-length fiction (40,000 words or more) from any publisher.
-Any manuscript that has previously finaled in the Daphne including honorable mentions is not eligible for entry again.
-There is no limit to the number of entries per author, but each entry may be entered in ONLY ONE category.
-Membership in Romance Writers of America® and/or MRSRWA is not a requirement for entry.

Click on Contest Rules to learn more about the contest. Deadline for entries March 15, 2006.

Where's Dee?

Y'all I have a trainer now, so my schedule is off with posting the latest christian fiction news to you. Always check in over at Gospelfiction.com. Sign up for my email subscription or get the newsfeed. You can see it on the right sidebar at the top here at Christian Fiction.

Right now I'm reading The Plague Maker and I want to discuss it with some of you cats. Let me know if you're down. And we will do this.

Today's Christian Fiction News:

Blessed by faith, authors feel moved to share it
By KATIE HAHN for The State
Staff Writer

Authors Lynne Hinton[The Arms of God] and Michelle Buckman[A Piece of the Sky]discuss how they use perseverance and faith to become published authors.

Sounds like something I've heard many times before from other authors, including secular authors. But what surprised me was that both authors were using pen names to write mystery novels for secular publishers.

Madea's BuzzSwell

Tyler Perry's Madea's Family Reunion Movie has enormous groundswell and buzz. I've termed this blessing, BuzzSwell. When a good movie that celebrates Christ, infuzes a little gospel truth about God and the Black Family it deserves all the talk that it is getting. If you haven't been a part of the BuzzSwell here's your chance to see more cast members talk about the movie before it's release this Friday. Also check out my buddy, Wilson Morales exclusive clip of the movie by clicking on the movie poster. And I want to know from you? Are you going to see Madea this Friday night?

 

To get the media calendar click  and hear about these two covers for Essence Magazine on GospelFiction.

Related articles:
Madea, Universality & The Marketable Christian

 

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Natural Disaster or BioTerrorism

Avian bird flu is back at the forefront of most evening news shows this week. One conspiracy theory making the weekly rounds is that this flu is a form of bio terrorism or a backdoor push for a new drug :

 

 “And suddenly more than 30,000 poultry birds die of bird flu in a remote place,” says Banerjee, former director of the National Institute of Virology (NIV) in Pune who is also a member of the government committee advising about bio terrorism.. Banerjee says he is mystified by the fact that the virus showed up in a remote place that is not an international border or on the path of migratory birds that could possibly bring the virus. “This needs detailed investigations,” he said. Asked if the virus could have been introduced deliberately he said “all aspects” must be investigated."

-New Wind Press

 

FBI Special Agent Nathan Donovan of New York City's Joint Terrorism Task Force agrees. And if America isn't careful, we could be next.

 

In Tim Downs, new novel, The Plague Maker Donovan has to stop a bioterrorist before he reintroduces the Black Plague to the country.

 

From Publishers Weekly, October 24, 2005 review...

Downs evenhandedly dispenses humor, interesting technical details and the trademark "ick" factor that characterizes his previous books. He throws in enough surprises and unusual events to keep the story fresh, and he's learned how to hold a novel together through the closing pages. The real plagues, Downs suggests, are fear, hatred and a thirst for revenge, and he manages to convey the importance of forgiveness and reconciliation without too much sermonizing. This is Downs's best book to date.

 

I'm reading this novel now and  it is indeed a page-turner.

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Gospel Fiction Summer Reading Program

 

I'm adding this novel to my buying wishlist, because I could only get through chapter one when I received a stack of books to judge for an award contest. Now, this book wasn't published by a Christian publisher, but there are some elements in there very illuminating.

 

So...you have until May to pick up this book, because I'm nominating it for our first Gospel Fiction Summer Reading Project.

 

For full details go to Gospelfiction  to learn more.

 

Dee

 

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Storyteller's Workshop

Story Tellers a course in writing a story celebrating Christ

February 27 thru April 3

When a book leaves your hands, it belongs to God.
He may use it to save a few souls or to try a few others,
but I think that for the writer to worry is to take over
God's business. - Flannery O'Connor

Parables and stories have been hallmarks to Christian culture, since before Christ’s ministry, and it continues today. Whether you've been dreaming of becoming a published writer since childhood, stomped on your own novel writing process or just want to learn a new hobby, this six-week tutorial will give you the basic building blocks to create a compelling story. Assignments include a story idea, scene building primer, a character sketch, an outline, a story and a revision. Instructor: Dee Stewart. Spaces are limited. Register today!

INSTRUCTOR Dee Stewart is editor of Christian Fiction News and hosts Atlanta’s Third Thursdays: Altartainment Event Series. She's written for Spirit Led Woman, Gospel Today, Spirit Led Writer and Precious Times Magazines. Her short story, "Straddling the Fence," is featured in Infuze Magazine's Best of 2005 Christian Shorts Anthology. She can be contacted at vidae@writing.com.

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Christian Manga

Today I'm taking things light: reading two novels, revising a short story and travelling the christian Manga blogosphere. Christian Fiction Blog talked about Christian Manga last year and this year, it turns out, that someone has begun a Christian Mangasite.

 

 

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Christian Manga

Today I'm taking things light: reading two novels, revising a short story and travelling the christian Manga blogosphere. Christian Fiction Blog talked about Christian Manga last year and this year, it turns out, that someone has begun a Christian Mangasite.

 

 

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Alaska Twilight

WestBow Press

Women in Faith Selection

 ALASKA TWILIGHT

by Colleen Coble

Release date 3/7/06

Publishers Weekly Review  of Alaska Twilight...

 

Veteran Christian romance novelist Coble sets her latest story in Alaska, where protagonist Haley Walsh goes to take still photographs for a celebrity nature documentarian's foray into bear country. There Haley faces painful childhood memories of her sister's death and her parents' rejection. As bear biologist Tank Lassiter leads photographer Nowak's team through the wild, he and Haley quickly forge a strong connection that each tries to fight for fear of getting hurt. Before the main characters know it, secrets about the deaths of Tank's wife and Haley's parents emerge. The novel's romantic and suspense plots are strictly by the numbers. The two romantic leads dutifully go through all the motions of denying, then fearing, then finally embracing their attraction, and while the identity of the primary villain is not telegraphed, many other plot points are. Several Christian fiction clich s are in full bloom as well: a city-dwelling protagonist learns important lessons in a small town, a non-Christian converts just in time to make an appropriate romantic partner for a mature Christian, and unsavory female characters are marked as such either by their unattractiveness or sexually provocative behavior. But Coble's prose is competent, and readers who crave a light, though formulaic, Christian novel will not be disappointed. (Mar. 7) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

If anyone has read this novel, please comment on how you felt about it?

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Ask Dee: Let the Lion Eat Straw

Over at Christian Fiction Blog I started a segment called "Ask Dee." You can email me and ask me anything related to christian literature and publishing and I would try to answer your question on the blog. I am transporting Ask Dee over here, since Christian Fiction will eventually become this sites book reviewing blog.

 

Today I received a question from Samara Joseph.

 

Hi Dee: 

 

I ran across your blog researching our bookclub's February selection,
Let the Lion Eat Straw.  Perhaps you can help me understand some of the
symbolism used in this novel. In particular, what is the signifance of Abeba's stepfather?  And the numbers?

Read here to get my answers to Samara's questions.

 

Related articles on this topic:

 Faith & Feeling: Creating Conflict

A Literary Paradise: Let the Lion Eat Straw

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Touched By Love Contest

Submission deadline: April 1, 2006

The purpose of the TOUCHED BY LOVE Contest is to inspire, motivate, and reward unpublished authors of inspirational romance. TOUCHED BY LOVE is the premier inspirational contest for the unpublished.

Eligibility: Participation is open to all unpublished authors and to any author not published in the past three years. All work must be the author's original work. Entrant must retain all rights to the entry and not have granted any of them to a publisher or other party by the contest entry deadline. The official entry form and fee must accompany each submission.

Inspirational Romance Categories: Contemporary (under 75, 000 words), Contemporary (over 75,000 words) and Historical

Click the icon to learn more about the contest.

 

 

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Dee's St. Valentine's Day Kit

For fun, today I thought I would list some of the top love stories on the web for your enjoyment, as well as my the contents of my very own Valentine's Kit, which includes movies, chocolate, poems and more fun.  

 

3 great love stories online:

1. Thomas Hardy's Tess of the d'Ubbervilles

 

An excerpt from Chapter 24(one of my favs)...

 

How very lovable her face was to him. yet there was nothing ethereal about it; all was real vitality, real warmth, real incarnation. And it was in her mouth that this culminated. Eyes almost as deep and speaking he had seen before, and cheeks perhaps as fair; brows as arched, a chin and throat almost as shapely; her mouth he had seen nothing to equal on the face of the earth. To a young man with the least fire in him that little upward lift in the middle of her red top lip was distracting, infatuating, maddening. He had never before seen a woman's lips and teeth which forced upon his mind with such persistent iteration the old Elizabethan simile of roses filled with snow. Perfect, he, as a lover, might have called them off-hand. But no--they were not perfect. And it was the touch of the imperfect upon the would-be perfect that gave the sweetness, because it was that which gave the humanity.

 

2. Edith Warton's The Fulness Of Life at EastoftheWeb

 

3. My short story, Mocha Lee.(still troubleshooting the pic)

 

My Valentine Kit must haves:

 

Click here to read my must haves!

 

 

 

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When Fiction Matters:Boycott the Movie

 

AFP/File Photo: ATF (Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms) Agents sift throught what remains of the Galilee Baptist Church...

Mon Feb 13, 1:20 AM ET

BIRMINGHAM, United States (AFP) - A 10th Baptist church has been set ablaze in Alabama in less than two weeks, and authorities are searching for two men they believe are setting the fires and terrorizing the people of the southern US state.

Yesterday, I watched HBO films, Boycott. It was a memoir like account of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. leading the Montgomery Bus Boycotts in 1955. Most of the movie is historical non-fiction, but for the sake of television drama and to create empathy for King and his relationship with Coretta Scott King some accounts our fictionalized (.i.e, the time it takes for the boycott to end has sped up, Martin's red pajama's, hanging out in a jook joint to remind citizens of the boycotts.) These little touches give the story more appeal and fiber. And our therefore, necessary.

As the mystery to the church bombings in Alabama begin to unfold, I wonder what type of story would come of this, since the churches are an equal mix of predominately black and white churches. Perhaps this is a time to extend the King's dream and united churches regardless of race.

If you have HBO, you can check out Boycott this week.  

 

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Swanson, Samson & Major Manuscript Surgery

 

Cindy Swanson has a great interview of Lisa Samson at Infuze. I pose a question related to this article at Gospel Fiction. Read Cindy's article, then come back and chime in.

Technorati Tags : lisa, samson, infuze, magazine, club, sandwhich, apples, of, God

Dee

 

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The Davinci Challenge

New website, The Davinci Challenge hosted by Sony pictures will "post essays by 45 Christian writers, scholars and leaders of evangelical organizations who will pick apart the book's theological and historical claims about Christianity.

 

Richard Mouw, the president of Fuller Theological Seminary, a leading evangelical school in Pasadena, California, who also "contributed an essay, "Why Christians Ought to See the Movie," said: "It's going to be water-cooler conversation, so Christians need to take a deep breath, buy the book and shell out the money for the movie. Then we need to educate Christians about what all this means. We need to help them answer someone who says, 'So how do you know Jesus didn't get married?"

-Studio gives platform to 'Da Vinci' naysayers By Laurie Goodstein.

of The New York Times

 

Some of the writers include: Hugh Hewitt, conservative radio talk show host, Darrell Bock, a professor of New Testament studies and the author of Breaking the Da Vinci Code, George Barna, of Barna Research,Gordon Robertson, the son of Pat Robertson, Richard Mouw,  Charles Colson.

 

I don't know if the site is more of a propaganda piece with words like Let's Hear what the Experts Say column on the right sidebar. I understand why they chose them as experts, but I would like a more diverse group. Who? People that I respect more I guess. I'm not a big Robertson fan, so if his crew is talking I tend to not want to listen.  And Charles Colson offends me for some odd reason. But I'm glad that Christians are recognizing that this movie is worthy of a watch, since many more questions will be raised about our faith. I hope this site can give us some sort of guidance on how to butress such arguments about Christ's relationship with Mary M. I'm very knowledgeable in christian history, but there does need to be more information for the average jane out there who doesn't have an undergraduate concentration in religious iconography and art criticism.

 

Who do you think should be added to the expert list?

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A Wayward Woman Contest

 

Name three to five prostitutes or wayward women out of the bible that received grace and mercy from God. E-mail your answers to Vanessa Miller  and get entered into a drawing to win a Rain Series tote bag (so you’ll have something to carry all my books around in). And don’t forget to tell me a little bit about these women in the bible.

 

-Vanessa Miller

Rain Storm: Beautiful and lethal. Cynda Stephens expects nothing from life but the same kick in the head she’s always been given. Her hatred for life and men grows as her addictions force her into prostitution.

Keith Hosea Williams obeys God’s call to marry Cynda. But as his love begins to open Cynda’s heart in ways she never expected, her thoughts of unworthiness cause her to run away from a love she desperately wants to call her own.

Then she discovers a love even greater than the love Keith gave her. A love that has been with her all the days of her life, a love that refuses to let her go. Only then, can she receive all that God has to offer.

    Vanessa, we need to talk about this Keith Hosea Williams. Is he anything like the late, great Reverend Hosea Williams?  

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Dee's on Streaming Faith Tonight

Marina Woods, Marilynn Griffith and moi, Dee will be talking on the radio at streamingfaith.com tonight at 7:55 pm EST. Click over to GospelFiction.com to learn how to tune in.

Check the sidebar, there are a lot of choir rehearsing going over at Gospelfiction.com Kendra talks about her spicy March release, More than Grace and when she thinks sensual scenes are appropriate in Christian Fiction. Of course, I differ. But it's nice to see two sides of a view. And we both have the Body of Christ's interest at heart. So check out the debate.

Also, I have a few books coming through the pipeline, so my book reviewers--you know who you are--I will be getting in touch.

On another note: Who's entering the Genesis contest this month? Leave a comment here and let me know what's up. I am entering and I will share this Genesis writing contest process as it comes.

Also this month I will host a writing workshop sponsored by Good Girl Book Club . It is six-weeks of storytelling techniques I've learned along the way as well as what I, as a book reviewer looks for in a good story, so that you won't make the same mistakes.

And what else, I'm looking forward to having dinner with Michael Snyder, Margaret Moseley, Suzan Robertson , Sally Apokedak , and I think--Creston Mapes tomorrow night. So I'm psyched.

Let me know what you cat's are doing?

Dee

Homegoing & Remembrance

Not blogging today, but would love your comments and condolescences honoring the late, great Mrs. Coretta Scott King.

Mrs. Coretta Scott King

1927-2006

Well wishers have been lining up since 1am to attend the memorial service today. Click her underlined name to learn more about today's services.

 

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Racy Novels in Christ: 3 Reasons Why this may be Problematic

An excerpt from Praise the Lord and turn the page...

Christian fiction — particularly chick lit — is finding a large and faithful audience.

BY MOLLY MILLETT for Pioneer Press

"We don't go past the bedroom door," says Marlow Golan of Harlequin. "We tend not to dwell on passion — even kisses are handled with a light touch. We stress the emotional qualities of relationships."

I'm puzzled... I just reviewed Kendra Bellamy's More than Grace, a novel under Harlequin's Kimani Press/New Spirit imprint and it has at least three sex scenes in it. I don't know if Golan is reviewing every inspirational romance novel before it leaves their facilities or what, but I'm puzzled by her comment and by what I just read.

Why is this important, Dee? 3 important reasons for me.

• Click here to find out what those reasons are.

 

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February Christian Blog Alliance Pink and Popping

Feb 1-3: Marilynn Griffith's "Pink (Shades of Style)"

Blogs participating:

Bonnie Writes
Refreshment in Refuge
Val Writes
Seeking Christ First
Mimi's Pixie Corner
Well Dressed Branch
Deeanne Gist
Christianity 4 Life
In Val's Little World
Writer-lee
Scraps of Me
TL Hines

Disciple Steps

Tina Kulesa's Blog

Chris Well's 4 Part Pinkfest

And of Course, Gospelfiction.com and Christian Fiction Blog.

 

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Happy Birthday to Dee

It's my brother, David and my birthday and I'm wearing a ruby red li  pstick in support of the American Heart Association's Go Red Day. I hope you are wearing red today. This organization has been my saving grace after five years of living with peripartume cardiomyopathy(post partum heart failure.)

 

Join me at my new site Gospelfiction.com to celebrate. I have e-cake!!

 

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Survivor Panama's Exiled Christian Fiction Writer

Tonight begins a new episode of Survivor. Survivor Panama: Exile Island. Creepy...

One of the contestants is a young Christian Fiction Writer. Click here to see who it is.

 

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A Notice to my Email Subscribers & Loyal Readers

To my email subscribers and loyal readers:

Thank you for subscribing to Christian Fiction Blog. We have accumulated a great deal of information in the last year, so much so that Christian Fiction Blog will extend itself into our new site- Gospelfiction.com.

Moreover, this site was funded by our supporters and you. Thank you. With Gospelfiction.com we will house more book reviewers(we are seeking reviewers,) an online lit journal(stay tuned for submission announcements,) more writer's calls, writing workshops, screen writer's forum, author interviews, theatre ticket announcements, movie releases, christian fiction commentary, and much much more. All those services aren't uploaded yet, but will be included by this month's end. Please check out the site(the graphics aren't finalized, but the color is correct) Come back here and comment. Tell us what you would like to see. I have posted the books that I am currently reading on the side. Moreover, I will devote a page to New Orleans and Hurricane Katrina Reconstruction. We are also looking for bloggers to add more content.

What will happen to Christian Fiction Blog?

The content will remain. At the top of the right bar is a marqui highlighting what is being discussed at Gospelfiction.com. This blog will link as a category to Gospelfiction.com and will provide christian publishing news content--what we have been providing in great detail over the last months. You will see the change in the description of this blog.

To subscribe to gospelfiction.com you can go to the site and search for the red and white button or click Here.