2011 INSPY Award Winners

The INSPY Advisory is pleased to announce the 2011 INSPY Award Winners:

Creative Nonfiction: Passport Through Darknessby Kimberly L. Smith

In Passport Through Darkness, Mrs. Smith portrays sacrificial Christian living as the absolutely normal and healthy choice for all Christians. She and her husband are willingly transparent with their weaknesses and present a realistic picture of what a Christian living looks like: hard, messy, and painful, but right and worthwhile. Passport Through Darkness is a powerful story that can change who you are at a fundamental level.

General Fiction:City of Tranquil Light by Bo Caldwell(Henry Holt & Co, September 2010)
We chose City of Tranquil Light because it tells a compelling story with complex characters that feel true to life, characters we care about. Bo Caldwell’s prose is lyrical.

The characters live a very real faith. Everything they do has Kingdom service in mind, yet they never come across as preachy. Their faith is organic. Serving Christ is what they do, it’s who they are. Because of that, this book’s appeal goes beyond that of the Christian community.

Literature for Young People: Saint Training by Elizabeth Fixmer (Zondervan, 2010)

Saint Training is realistic in its examination of religion without stereotype or fundamentalist views. An inspiring read, relevant to young readers and a stand out in its genre. Mary Clare is very down to earth and anyone will be able to relate to her struggles.

Mystery/Thriller: The Bishopby Steven James

Steven James did not shy away from the “tough” questions about God and we appreciate that an author – a Christian author at that, would be up-front and center with the real tough spiritual questions. The Bishop treats the reader as intelligent and with a mind of her own. The plot was engaging and the characters felt real.

Romance:Yesterday’s Tomorrow by Cathy West (Oak Tara, March 2011)

Catherine West gives us a gritty and moving account of the Vietnam War as experienced by an intrepid journalist providing innovation of the setting, time period and subject matter. The edgy realism and poignant honesty that flow from West’s pen in Yesterday’s Tomorrow place it head-and-shoulders above some of biggest bestsellers on bookstore shelves today, and it easily fulfills all the requirements set forth to make it the INSPY Award Winner for Romance.

 
Speculative Fiction: The Falling Away by T.L. Hines (Thomas Nelson, September 2010)

Non-linear plot lines that all converge without being predictable, responsible treatment of mental disorders without cliche; self sacrifice, demonic encounters and the power of Grace; all these reasons and more make The Falling Away by T.L. Hines the speculative INSPY winner. In his own distinctive “noir bizarre” style, Hines explores powerful truths about life, death and redemption. The author managed to tackle a familiar subject (spirituals warfare) in a most unconventional way. Full characterization meshed with a tight plot that is engaging even for newcomers to the supernatural thriller. Ultimately, more than one character learns important truths about the fallen world we live in and the spiritual dangers one may face from without and within. This novel is an embodiment of the concept that God’s power is made perfect in human weakness.

INSPY Awards Short List Announced

The INSPY Advisory Board is pleased to announce the shortlists for the 2010 INSPY Awards.  We thank you for your enthusiastic nominations of books and acknowledge the difficulties in narrowing the field with so many quality nominations.

General & Literary Fiction

The Christmas Glass by Marci Alborghetti, Guideposts, 1st October, 2009

Life in Defiance by Mary DeMuth, Zondervan, 1st May, 2010

Lost Mission by Athol Dickson, Howard Books, 1st September, 2009

Lucky Baby by Meredith Efken, Howard Books, 13^th April, 2010

Crossing Oceans by Gina Holmes, Tyndale House, 1^st May, 2010

Creative Non-Fiction

Evolving in Monkey Town by Rachel Held Evans, Zondervan, 15th June, 2010

A Million Miles in a Thousand Years by Donald Miller, Thomas Nelson, 29^th September, 2009

Halfway to Each Other by Susan Pohlman, Guideposts, 1^st September, 2009

God Hides in Plain Sight by Dean Nelson, Brazos Press, 1st October, 2009

Hear No Evil by Matthew Paul Turner, Waterbrook Press, 16^th February, 2010

Historical Fiction

The Frontiersman’s Daughter by Laura Frantz, Revell Books, 1^st August, 2009

The Silent Governess by Julie Klassen, Bethany House, 1^st January, 2010

The Fiddler’s Gun by AS Peterson, Rabbit Room Press, 1^st December, 2009

She Walks in Beauty by Siri Mitchell, Bethany House, 1^st April, 2010

Her Mother’s Hope by Francine Rivers, Tyndale House, 1^st March, 2010

Thriller/Suspense/Crime (the category I will be judging)

Priceless by Tom Davis, David C Cook, 1^st June, 2010

The Bride Collector by Ted Dekker, Center Street, 27th May, 2010

The Clouds Roll Away by Sibella Giorello, Thomas Nelson, 16^th March, 2010

The Knight by Steven James, Revell Books, 1^st August, 2009

Dead Reckoning by Ronie Kendig, Abingdon Press, 1st March, 2010

Speculative Fiction

Green by Ted Dekker, Thomas Nelson, 1^st September, 2009

The Last Christian by David Gregory, Waterbrook Press, 4th May, 2010

A Star Curiously Singing by Kerry Nietz, Marcher Lord Press, 1^st October, 2009

Eternity Falls by Kirk Outerbridge, Marcher Lord Press, 1^st October, 2009

Rooms by James L. Rubart, B&H Publishing, 1^st April, 2010

Amish Fiction

Love Finds You in Charm, Ohio by Annalisa Daughety, Summerside Press, 1^st September, 2009

An Honest Love by Kathleen Fuller, Thomas Nelson, 16^th March, 2010

Winter’s Awakening by Shelley Shepard Gray, Avon Inspire, 1^st February, 2010

Anna’s Return by Marta Perry, Berkley, 1^st June, 2010

Plain Paradise by Beth Wiseman, Thomas Nelson, 30^th March, 2010

Romance/Romantic Suspense

A Lady Like Sarah by Margaret Brownley, Thomas Nelson, 29th December, 2009

Blood Ransom by Lisa Harris, Zondervan, 1^st April, 2010

Seaside Letters by Denise Hunter, Thomas Nelson, 6th October, 2009

Mr. Darcy Broke My Heart by Beth Patillo, Guideposts, 1st February, 2010

Sons of Thunder by Susan May Warren, Summerside Press, 1st February, 2010

Young Adult Fiction

A Little Help From My Friends by Anne Dayton & May Vanderbilt, FaithWords, 15^thOctober, 2009

This Gorgeous Game by Donna Freitas, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 25^th May, 2010

So Over My Head by Jenny B Jones, Thomas Nelson, 4^th May, 2010

Beautiful by Cindy Martinusen Coloma, Thomas Nelson, 3^rd November, 2009

Once Was Lost by Sara Zarr, Little Brown, 1st October, 2009

Note: Dates from the publishers’ sites were used to determine eligibility

Related articles by Zemanta

• The INSPY Awards (bookingmama.blogspot.com)
• Fall Hard for Amish Lit (deegospelpr.com)
• Readers Favorite 2010 Award Winning Authors (prweb.com)

Christian Fiction| 2010 Man Booker Prize Long List Announced

The judges for the 2010 Man Booker Prize for Fiction today, Tuesday 27 July, announce the longlist for the prize, the leading literary award in the English speaking world. A total of 138 books, 14 of which were called in by the judges, were considered for the ‘Man Booker Prize.

The longlist includes:

• Peter Carey Parrot and Olivier in America (Faber and Faber)
• Emma Donoghue Room (Pan MacMillan - Picador)
• Helen Dunmore The Betrayal (Penguin - Fig Tree)
• Damon Galgut In a Strange Room (Grove Atlantic - Atlantic Books)
• Howard Jacobson The Finkler Question (Bloomsbury)
• Andrea Levy The Long Song: A Novel (Headline Publishing Group - Headline Review) 
• Tom McCarthy C (Random House - Jonathan Cape)
• David Mitchell The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet  (Hodder & Stoughton - Sceptre)
• Lisa Moore February (Random House - Chatto & Windus)
• Paul Murray Skippy Dies (Penguin - Hamish Hamilton)
• Rose Tremain Trespass (Random House - Chatto & Windus)
• Christos Tsiolkas The Slap (Grove Atlantic - Tuskar Rock)
• Alan Warner The Stars in the Bright Sky (Random House - Jonathan Cape)

The 2010 shortlist will be announced on Tuesday 7 September at a press conference at Man Group's London headquarters. The winner of the Man Booker Prize for Fiction 2010 will be revealed on Tuesday 12 October at a dinner at London's Guildhall and will be broadcast on the BBC Ten O'Clock News.

The winner of the Man Booker Prize for Fiction will receive £50,000(about $77, 000.)
To learn more visit http://www.themanbookerprize.com/

My pick: Andrea Levy's the Long Song
Why: It's a tribute to Jamaica, a slice of history of the last days of slavery in Jamaica, more than another story about violence and the horror of one of our world's shame. It's a story that swells you up with faith and the triumph and majesty of the human spirit.

First lines:

THE BOOK YOU ARE now holding within your hand was born of a craving. My mama had a story—a story that lay so fat within her breast that she felt impelled, by some force which was mightier than her own will, to relay this tale to me, her son. Her intention was that, once knowing the tale, I would then, at some other date, convey its narrative to my own daughters. And so it would go on. The fable would never be lost and, in its several recitals, might gain a majesty to rival the legends told whilst pointing at the portraits or busts in any fancy great house upon this island of Jamaica.

It was a fine ambition from a noble old woman for whom many of her years were lived in harsh circumstance. This wish demanded respect. Read more here. 

NAACP Image Award Literary Work Winners Announced

 

-- Literary work, fiction: ''The Long Fall,'' Walter Mosley

-- Literary work, non-fiction: ''In Search of Our Roots: How 19 Extraordinary African Americans Reclaimed Their Past,'' Henry Louis Gates, Jr.

-- Literary work, debut author: ''A Question of Freedom,'' R. Dwayne Betts

-- Literary work, biography/autobiography: ''Michelle Obama,'' Deborah Willis

-- Literary work, instructional: ''Act Like A Lady, Think Like A Man,'' Steve Harvey

-- Literary work, poetry: ''Bicycles,'' Nikki Giovanni

-- Literary work, children: ''Our Children Can Soar: A Celebration of Rosa, Barack, and the Pioneers of Change,'' Michelle Cook

-- Literary work, youth/teens: ''Michelle Obama: Meet the First Lady,'' David Bergen Brophy

Booker Prize Finalists Announced

Tonight at 10 Pm the Man Booker Prize announcement will take place at London's Guildhall and will be broadcast by the BBC just after 10pm across television, radio and online.

The Six Finalists are below. J.M. Coetzee may win for the third time, but the favorite for this year's prize is Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall. Wolf Hall is Thomas Cromwell's fictional account of the mess that went down when King Henry VIII had to have Anne Boleyn as his wife. A hot mess. IF you're a fan of the Tudors, the Showtime series or The Other Boleyn Girl the movie or a British History buff then you will like it. Thomas Cromwell, the first Earl of Essex was an interesting political figure. I am always amazed at how these people continue to shape society.

An excerpt...

Summer arrives with no intermission for spring, promptly on a Monday morning, like a new servant with a shining face: 13th April. He, Cromwell, is at Lambeth, with Audley and Archbishop Cranmer; as the sun shines strongly through the windows, he stands looking down at the palace gardens. This is how the book Utopia begins: friends, talking in a garden. On the paths below, Hugh Latimer and some of the King's chaplains are play-fighting, pulling each other around like schoolboys, Hugh hanging around the necks of two of his clerical fellows so his feet swing off the ground. All they need is a football to make a proper holiday of it. "Master More," Cromwell says, "why don't you go out and enjoy the sunshine? And we'll call for you again in half an hour, and put the oath to you again: and you'll give us a different answer, yes?"

Read full excerpt here

The Six Man Booker Finalists are:

1. A S Byatt The Children's Book Random House, Chatto and Windus
2. J M Coetzee Summertime Random House, Harvill Secker
3. Adam Foulds The Quickening Maze Random House, Jonathan Cape
4. Hilary Mantel Wolf Hall HarperCollins, Fourth Estate
5. Simon Mawer The Glass Room Little, Brown
6. Sarah Waters The Little Stranger Little, Brown, Virago

2009 Essence Magazine Short Fiction Contest

Dream of being the next Terry McMillan or E. Lynn Harris? It just might happen. Start by entering the 2009 Essence Short Fiction contest. The winner will be announced at next year's Essence Literary Awards.

HOW TO ENTER: All stories submitted must be works of original fiction featuring an adult female of African descent as the main character. All contest entries must be typed, double-spaced, with one‹inch margins, on one side of 8 1/2 -by-11 inch paper and not more than ten pages or 2,500 words. The author's name, mail, email address (if available) and daytime telephone number must appear in the top right-hand corner of the first manuscript page. All subsequent pages must be numbered in the top right-hand corner and include the author's last name. Submit your entries via postal mail only in care of 2009 ESSENCE SHORT FICTION CONTEST, Essence Magazine, 135 W. 50th Street, 4th Floor, New York, NY 10020. All entries must be postmarked no later than September 30, 2008 and received no later October 7, 2008.

See full reviews here.

Atlanta Author Shorts Christian Fiction’s Best

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

July 18, 2008
Contact: Dee Stewart
deegospelpr@gmail.com

Atlanta Author Shorts Christian Fiction’s Best
Marital Grace Defeating Homosexual Disgrace Makes Debut Novel a Good Read

My Soul Cries Out made the list. The novel depicts an unsuspecting wife realizing that her husband, a music minister has been struggling with homosexuality since childhood, and that their church has been covering up this secret shame for just as long. The novel has already received acclaim through book clubs, reviews and author endorsements. It is also an Essence Magazine Bestseller.
Winners will be announced on September 20, 2008 at the ACFW Convention in Minneapolis, Minnesota

About Sherri Lewis
Ms. Lewis is a staff physician at a Georgia Department of Corrections’ women’s prison, and the author of two bestselling novels, My Soul Cries Out and Dance into Destiny. Her third novel, The List will be released March 2009. To learn more, visit Sherri Lewis at www.sherrilewis.com.

About ACFW
The American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW) is an association of 1500 authors, editors, agents, publicists and aspiring writers working in the Christian publishing industry.

Could Your Debut Novel be an Orange?

The Orange Prize shortlist:

• The Outcast by Sadie Jones
• Lullabies for Little Criminals by Heather O'Neill
• Lottery by Patricia Wood
• When We Were Bad by Charlotte Mendelson
• The Road Home by Rose Tremain
• Fault Lines by Nancy Huston

The prize celebrates fiction by women and is open to any novel written in English. The winner will receive £30,000 (US$58,893) at a ceremony in London's Royal Festival Hall on June 4.

Three authors: Sadie Jones, Heather O'Neiil and Patricia Wood are debut novelists.

Imagine your debut nominated. How would you feel? I think I better go back and rewrite one more time on mine. :)

CFB News Break: Divine Confidential Nomination

Congrats to Jaquelin Thomas on her NAACP Image Ward nomination for Children's fiction for her YA title, “Divine Confidential” (Pocketbooks/Simon & Schuster.)

Genesis Winners Announced

Congratulations to this year's Genesis Award Winners. I have a few notes for some of my friends. :)

Genesis Award Winners

Contemporary Romance
3rd place: Jennifer Hudson Taylor, By His Plan

2nd place: Jennifer Lynn Cary, On The Court

1st place: Audra Harders, Rough Ride

Historical Romance

3rd place: Audra Harders, Precious Possessions
2nd place: Jennifer Hudson Taylor, Promised Blessings
1st place: Pam Hillman, Stealing Jake's Heart


Romantic Suspense
3rd place: Suzan Robertson, The Circle Game (Way to go, girl!)
2nd place: Dineen Miller, Manna Reign
1st place: Marci J. Burke, Shadow of Doubt


Sci-Fi/Fantasy/Allegory

3rd place: Rebecca Grabill, Out of Darkness

2nd place: Chris Mikesell, Revival (What!!!!!)
1st place: Sally A. Apokedak, The Kisses of an Enemy (good going, Sally)

Historical Fiction

3rd place: Marcia Gruver, Love Never Fails AND Yvonne Anderson, Mom's Mirror
2nd place: Tina Helmuth, Hidden Snares
1st place: Carla Stewart, A Dandelion Day


Young Adult

3rd place: Sally Apokedak, Prisoners of the Throne (again!)

2nd place: Linda Fulkerson, The Rod of Schmazel

1st place: Rachael Phillips, Song of the Orphan Train

Contemporary Fiction
3rd place: Myra Johnson, Pearl of Great Price

2nd place: Angie Poole, Gravehopping With Myrna
1st place: Jennifer Griffith, Gumbo Ya Ya

Women's Fiction

3rd place: Kathleen Sprout, The Choice

2nd place: Ane Mulligan, When the Wind Blows (Ane, stop entering!!! :) so i can go for it next year)

1st place: Kristine Pratt, Identity Theft


Mystery/Suspense/Thriller

3rd place: Janet Rubin, Beneath the Steeple
2nd place: Gina Holmes, Deception Burning (You, too, Gina!!!)
1st place: Jane Robertson, Curst Be the Tie

Chick/Mom/Hen/Lady Lit

3rd place: Jenness Walker and Tracy Bowen, Bliss

2nd place: Georgiana Daniels, Honey Do Inc.
1st place: Carrie Padgett, Oh Shop It

Open Book Awards Open for Voting

Congrats to my buds and business partners, who were nominated for the 2007 AALAS Open Book Awards:

• Sharon Ewell Foster, Abraham's Well (Historical)
• Gil Robertson, Not in My Family: Aids in the African Community (Non-fiction)
  
• Kendra Norman-Bellamy, in Green Pastures (Romance)
• Mosaic Magazine
  
• William Frederick Cooper- There's Always A Reason(debut author)
• Jacquelin Thomas - Redemption (Christian Fiction)
  
• Victoria Christopher Murray - The Ex Files (best female author and Christian Fiction)
• Rawsistaz Literary Group(book club!)
  

Click here to vote.

2007 Quill Awards Nominees

The Quill Awards nominees are now up. This year I decided to list some books that interest me and may interest you:

1. The Collaborator of Bethlehem, Matt Beynon Rees.(Soho Press) Mystery/Suspense Nominee.
   

I'm interested in this novel, because it explores becase of this quote Rees said during an NPR Interview.

Mr. REES: I began the novel here because it seemed to me to be a great way of focusing on the problems of the Christian population here in Bethlehem. And I wanted to have the novel begin in a place where there was real violence - not just the violence of a murder in a murder mystery, but real violence that would give the political context for everything that's to come later in the novel.

First line excerpt...
Omar Yussef, a teacher of history to the unhappy children of Dehaisha refugee camp, shuffled stiffly up the meandering road, past the gray, stone homes built in the time of the Turks on the edge of Beit Jala.

2. Prayer: Does It Make Any Difference?, Phillip Yancey,(Zondervan) Religion Spirituality.

The title alone begs for my attention. I need to increase my prayer life and decrease my writing life. I've been making some careless mistakes lately.

There are other books I want to read. Selah has the first Fancy Nancy book. So I have to get the 2nd. What about you? Which nonimee do you want to win? Are you voting[in September?]