Trailer Park Tuesday: Deadly Charm

It's TRailer Park Tuesday. Today we are featuring my buddy and write or die chick, Claudia Mair Burney's Deadly Charm(Simon & Schuster.)

Mair and Martin Speak Horror

Tonight Claudia Mair Burney talks Spec-Fic and Horror on Blog Talk Radio
9pm EST
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/urbanliteraryreview
Call in Number: (347) 215-8932

Library Journal's Wounded Best 2008

Don't want to toot my horn about my ride-or-die-chick, Claudia Mair Burney, but...Toot Toot!

'Library Journal's' named her last novel, Wounded as one of the best Christian books published in 2008. (Source)

Book Summary:

African American single mother Gina Merritt, who suffers great physical pain, prays for a cure in church and receives a vision of Jesus, who kisses her hands and leaves a stigmata of roses. This gritty, unusual, and thought-provoking novel presents some very colorful characters of a type not usually found in this genre. (LJ 9/1/08)

Related Posts:

• Weekend Chatterbox: What's your Reading Lifestyle?

• Christian Fiction News: Earphone Giveaway & Zora & Nicky Wins ECPA Best Cover Award

• write-or-Die Chicks Unite: Claudia Burney & Rhonda McKnight

Christian Fiction News: Earphone Giveaway & Zora & Nicky Wins ECPA Best Cover Award

Christian Fiction News

for week of November 1, 2008

Kim Brooks is featured in this month's Gospel Today Magazine.

ChicBuds Giveaway

chicBuds ($49) earphones are the girly girl's must have techie accessory. The close to 100 Swarovski crystals bring bling and added style, but chicBuds are far more than just a fashion statement. Visit Skimbaco to enter in this giveaway. You must have a blog.

ECPA Book Cover AWARD WINNER: Zora and Nicky

Category 1 Best Cover from a Small Publisher (1-100 titles annually) Zora and Nicky David C. Cook Author: Claudia Mair Burney Designer: Jason Gabbert, The DesignWorks Group ISBN: 9780781445504

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Celebrate My First Blog Talk Radio Show

NY Times bestselling author Eric Wilson & Claudia Mair Burney share movies, faith, books & Vampires

on DeeGospel's Blog Talk Radio Show
October 28, 2008
12:30 -1:00 PM EST

Call in Number:

(646) 649-1066

Chartroom Login:Click Here

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/deegospel

Hi, yall.

I am inviting you to participate in my first Blog Talk Radio show. It will last only 30 minutes and will not be your typical author interview type show. Eric Wilson, New York Times Bestselling author of Fireproof and Facing the Giants the novelized Versions is a huge big fan of Claudia Mair Burney, who has five books out this years. On this show they will talk to each other about their faith, their friendship, their new books, the road to writing no holds barred.(Eric has written a Christian vampire novel and Claudia has a book about a teen exorcist and a black women with stigmata, so the show should be edgy. I will take questions from the chat and the call in line. I hope you can stop and say hi on your lunchbreak. And if you miss it, you can listen to it later. I would also like to know if you like that kind of programming, so please leave a feedback comment.

Thanks so much,
Dee

Related Article:

• 7 Tips to Help You Have an Effective Blog Tak Radio Interview

• DeeGospel Radio Show Launches with NY Times Bestseller Eric Wilson & our Fave Author Claudia Mair Burney

Write-or-Die Chicks Unite: Claudia Burney & Rhonda McKnight

This month my Write-or-Die Chick, Author Rhonda McKnight is spotlighting my other Write-or-Die Chick, Claudia Mair Burney. So on Write-or-Die Chick Wednesday. I would like to repost a book review of Claudia's new young adult thriller, The Exorsistah via Rhonda's blog. You go, girls!!

Rhonda McKnight and Claudia Mair Burney

Onto the Review....

Welcome Janice, glad to be partnering with you.

This is what "Janice Said" about Exorsistah by Claudia Mair Burney:

Ms. Burney has introduced us to Emme, a young sister who has survived the perils of the foster care system only to step straight into the ominous world of demon possession and at the same time is ambushed by the precariousness of young loves first bite. Now Emme is used to seeing demons and knows that by using the Word of the Lord she can keep them off of her. But on her first day of freedom she meets a young, fine Blacktino brother who is not only kind but can also feel the demons she can see!

Visit www.rhondamcknight.net to see the rest of the review

Let me just say. I read the Exorsistah Claudia's earlier drafts of the novel and this book is such good fun. Check out the conclusion of the review and come back here because Claudia will be visiting CFB very soon to chat about this book.

If you want to be a part of Write-or-Die Chick Wednesday, hit me up and yes, you need a blog.

Christian Fiction News: BET, The Shack, Exorsistah & the List

Christian Fiction News for the Week of June 7, 2008

BET Lift Every Voice's Gerard Henry Gone

Mona Austin of Eurweb reports. "After nine years, Gerard Henry, the face of BET's "Lift Every Voice" has left the network. "He has just launched a one-hour inspirational talk show entitled, "G-Talk! Religion, Sex, and Politics" which airs Sundays 12:00-:00 p.m. in Washington D.C. on WPGC Heaven 1580 AM. Question: What's going on at BET?

The Shack on Audio

On June 20 Oasis Audio will release surprise best-selling novel, The Shack(at Amazon for 21.17 instead of the $27.99 retail price.) Source Christian Retailing

The Young Adult Christian Edge

Last week Publisher's Weekly spotlighted Zondervan, FaithWords, Multnomah, NavPress, Thomas Nelson and my Write-or-die-chick, Claudia Mair Burney's The Exorsistah in an article about the rise in edgy contemporary young adult Christian novels.

Clearly, it's tough to balance depicting the rough stuff of adolescence in a realistic way without offending conservative sensibilities. Novelist Claudia Mair Burney understands this tension well. “Christian fiction seems to play it safe so often, but adolescence is inherently unsafe,” she explains. “If we can't show Christ as redeemer in the midst of people cutting themselves, starving themselves or having sex before they're ready, why would we write at all?” Burney's latest YA novel, The Exorsistah, comes out from Pocket on July 22 and will push some buttons: it's about a homeless teenage girl with a spiritual gift for discerning demons. “Exorcism is not child's play,” warns Burney.

Way to go, Claudia!

FoxFaith's The List on DVD Shelves Today

The List based on Robert Whitlow's novel hits DVD shelves today, coinciding with the release of his latest novel, Deeper Water (the first book in Whitlow's Tides of Truth series from Thomas Nelson Publishers).

Zora & Nicky: A Review Inspired

I love to read, but lately all I've been doing is reviewing and editing books. These tasks somehow drain my love for reading until this month. My friend, Claudia Mair Burney, who write the hot pants off me sent me three of her latest novels, all divine, but this one--Zora and Nicky: A Novel in Black and White--it did something I rarely get, something that justifies my reasoning for writing inspired fiction...illumination.

Zora & Nicky in short is an interracial/interdenominational love story. How do people of different races build a world together? How do people of different ideas of sound doctrine live a life together? How do people love through Christ? A not so simple love story written with simple, elegant, honest, passionate prose. Best book of the year so far.

My favorite passage:

Because I have broken into a million pieces. Because I have scattered all over the sidewalk. Because I am not flesh and blood, only glass and dangerous dust that can burrow in your eyes and cause you to bleed, I try to remember that my broken soul is embodied and no one can see that only some shell of a soul is nearly all that is left.

Embodied, this shell I am makes a move toward the cab. The body of Zora has hands, and one of those brown and barely responsive hands takes hold of the handle of the back passenger side door, and somehow I enter the cab. I sit down inside. I watch Nicky give the driver what looks like more money than he should. I see them shake hands.

It is this Zora that still feels Nicky's hands at my waist while the pieces inside of me slide downward. I still feel the sensation of my stomach dropping to my knees. Oh Lord, oh Lord, oh Lord. Could he hear those pieces of me shifting to my toes, sounding like falling water? Like a rain stick turned upside down again and again?

I put my hand to my mouth and press my lips to my open palm. I can still feel the pressure of his lips, in turn fierce, firm, gentle. I can still taste him on my tongue, and I savor him.

"Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth:for thy love is better than wine."

No wonder that mysterious book of songs starts that way. I understand this now.

Ragamuffin Diva Rocks

From Publisher's Weekly's Review of Zora and Nicky: A Novel in Black and White...

At this novel's heart are love and race-what happens when a self-described BAP (black American princess), the daughter of a famous megachurch leader, falls in love with a young white man. Zora & Nicky's dialogue about race is unflinching, with attitude, honesty and occasional humor. Burney pushes her prose to the edge of the edgiest in the "Christian fiction" genre, and then barrels right over. She doesn't sugar-coat, especially when it comes to sex, yet she manages to create a love story that's both erotic and chaste. Faith in Jesus comes to life on the page through Zora and Nicky's intense, if imperfect, soul searching.

I'm excited for you, Claudia.

Taking Your Novel Short

Collin kicked too hard. The force of his leg’s strong thrust pushed his head right into a very large rock. Stars bounced in front of his eyes for about two seconds until he saw his blood slither through the water like a red ribbon. A heavy pain crashed into his skull’s base. If he didn't move soon, he would drown down here.

Before he could pray for himself he saw a woman coming toward him. She wasn’t swimming, more like floating. A wide round light moved behind her. And her hair was the color of the water and the stars over Bria. But her face…he had seen before. It was the woman of his dreams. She reached out her arms and caught him. If his mother weren’t dead, he would have sworn she smelled and held him just like her. He looked up into her eyes. They glowed. He couldn’t speak, but he could feel his mind asking her.

“Are you the woman in my dreams?”

She smiled. “No. I’m your angel and I have a word for you.”

Then he fell asleep or surrendered his soul. He was in too much bliss to know whether he was living or dead. But he heard her message loud and clear.

- an excerpt from The Garden of Leah

My novel rewrites itself. We're in the third draft and I'm feeling a greater flow with this version. However, I plan to enter a few short story contests and submit a short story to a Christian magazine between now and the end of March. How can I do that without killing Collin's flow?

Use your novel to build short stories.

Chuck Palahniuk and Claudia Burney have hipped me to this new thing. Instead of frying my writer's brain. Why don't I maximize this story? Hmm...after a little thought I find this to be a great idea. Let me tell you a few reasons why?

1. You can build buzz for the novel.

Introducing your main characters in short stories for magazines, can build more buzz for your upcoming book.

2. You can test your characters against your demographics.

Want to know if your character resonates with your core audience? Put them in a short story and get the story published in a magazine your audience reads. Readers will give you feedback. They will follow you to your site. You could use them to form a special focus group.

3. Use a short story to build a local focus group.

I do this all the time with my local reading events. Write a macro fiction piece or do a dramatization with your character at an open mic or one of my great reader series events. Wait for feedback from fellow authors and people, who usually aren't readers, but love a good story.

4. Make a slideshow short of your story and put it on CCM or Myspace.

I haven't did this yet. But I can't wait to set this up. Take your story and make it a graphic novel and upload it to MySpace or YouTube or CCM or whatever. See what happens.

5. Turn your short story into a blog.

Make your character real and see how many people flock to see what happens next to her.

6. Earn some money to hire a publicist for your novel.

The Daily Sacrament contest has a $250.00 kitty attached to it. Instead of blowing that money on new shoes, more books, or going to the Women in Faith Conference, use it to hire a publicist or throw a swanky book release/Mother's Day Brunch.

7. Get into your character's world better.

By the time you write a short story about Collin, you should be able to talk him up to any person, editor, agent, newscaster, librarian in town. Use this as an opportunity to understand your novel better.

8. Submit your story to your church newsletter in installments.

Serialize this short story for your church congregation. It's a great way to let your church family know about your gift.

9. Make it a book signing gift or teaser.

You're sitting in a bookstore hoping to sell your novel? Build buzz for your booksigning by leaving bound copies of your short story on the counter two weeks before your book signing for customers to pick up. Also leave them at libraries, consignment shops, your local Kinkos(where you should get this done) and grocery stores.

10. Submit to Online Magazines.

You build readers, who love short fiction. They may come over to the darkside and read your novel. You could become nominated for best short fiction of the year and gain a wider audience.

Another Bonus Why.

Use the short story to buikd a focus group.

While I am completing this novel, I have about twenty hungry teenageers awaiting my next installment of a Christian teen scream that I have been writing. Claudia really encouraged me to take this story further. I plan to put my teen scream online this summer just in time for the girls' vacation.

Do you have any other reasons why taking your novel short is a good idea? Anyone entering a short story contest this year? Anyone would like to share one? Trackback it here.

Dee