Foundations of Hope

Vacation

2007-09-02T21:44:00.001-04:00

For once I have been on vacation so haven't got much business work done. It was nice to get out. Did zoo's, waterparks, and museum's with the kids. The drive was long. Thank goodness for DVD players in cars now!

Now I am busily trying to catch up though to finish the playable models so that Milestone 1 of the game will be complete. It will be a huge achievement. I will then start Milestone 2 which is the buildings and such. So a new learning adventure.

Dragon videos

2007-08-22T23:25:00.000-04:00

I spent a little time playing with capturing video of the game. Here are a couple to see the hatchling and adult dragon in flight.

Dragon Adult:

Dragon Hatchling:

Dragons are here!

2007-08-19T23:04:00.000-04:00

Very productive week. Got the dragons completed and figured out how to get them added and flying in game.

Adult Dragon:

Dragon Hatchling:

Nothing new

2007-08-11T20:45:00.000-04:00

Well you would think that after a week of vacation I would have something new done. Well I do not. Not sure if I will finish my goal of having the dragons completed by the end of August. I still have another vacation at the end of the month and will be out. So only two weeks really to finish 5 models. I will probably only get 3 done.

Dragons in the works

2007-08-05T21:37:00.000-04:00

This week has been very busy. Work has been busy, book has been busy, game has been busy, and life has been busy.

Game Update:
The new adult dragon model is modelled and almost done animated. Just have to texture and it will be done. I was able to partially use the dragon model from the previous engine, so it saved a few days time. Playing as a dragon will look like this:

Level 0-5: Hatchling
Level 6-10: Dragonling
Level 11-15: Larger Dragonling
Level 16-20: Teenager Dragon
Level 21+: Adult Dragon

Saurian Troll

2007-07-29T23:23:00.000-04:00

Game Update:
Finally. The Saurian Troll is finished.

Working on dragons now.

Personal Update:
4 children and the wife wants more? 3 bedroom house? Hmmm... time to add on or look for new house. It has been interesting the last few weeks as my wife ponder what is the best option. The main problem is I need high speed internet and any vacant land is away from DSL and cable in my area. Everything points to adding onto our existing house and that has been fun to design and imagine for the future. It shall be an interesting adventure.

No Updates

2007-07-22T21:08:00.000-04:00

For once, I have no updates. The Saurian Troll is still not finished and nothing new on the series. I do have some updates on job information, but I cannot release that yet. So next week I should have the Saurian Troll model completed with images. Check back next Sunday.

The Referral System

2007-07-15T21:37:00.001-04:00

Game and Book Update:

No new models. For the last two weeks I have decided to work on the website referral system. It is something I have really been wanting to do and it ended up to be a pretty in depth chore to achieve. But it is done. The Foundations of Hope website now has an option to enter who referred you to the website. The website also has an e-mail system for registered users to use to e-mail friends. The referrer will receive credits of cash value for the store and they will also receive forum cash which will be used later on.

Fantasy Fiction Tour-continued

2007-07-03T17:10:00.001-04:00

CSSF Blog Tour:Well doing my part to help continue promoting the Fantasy Fiction Tour. Below is a cool video Christopher Hopper(Author on the tour) created. Very nice job.

You can also find material at the authors’ blogs and web sites:

Wayne Thomas Batson – http://enterthedoorwithin.blogspot.com/ and http://www.thedoorwithin.com/
Sharon Hinck – http://sharonswriting.blogspot.com/ and http://www.sharonhinck.com/
Bryan Davis – http://dragonsinourmidst.blogspot.com/ and http://www.dragonsinourmidst.com/
Christopher Hopper – http://christopherhopper.wordpress.com/ and http://christopherhopper.org/

Personal Update:

Life has been sooo busy the last couple years, that I am usually on my laptop a considerable amount of time. I work during the day(not on the New York Times Besteller list yet so have to still work) then after the kids go to bed I am usually working on writing my books, game, websites, etc... I go to bed at midnight or 1am then start again the next day. Even watching TV I feel guilty to not be working on something at night. It is probably less than ten times in the last couple years that I actually just sat down and watched TV without working on another project. There is just not enough time in the day for such luxury for me. So this leads me to where am I going to come up with more time?

Here is a picture of my daughter and myself at a karate tournament a couple years ago. For one reason or another this was about the last time I had worn my uniform. I tested(and passed) for my blue belt after the tournament and that is about it. The teacher ended that class and never started it back up. But now, it is time to start getting back in shape and getting back into Tae Kwon Do. So now I have to figure out how to work more time to start running, lifting, and Tae Kwon Do. Should be interesting. Oh, by the way, I took 1st in sparring ;)

I was going to tie this into how can fighting, as in fighting in Fantasy stories, be allowed since we are writing Christian books, but I will save that debate for another time.

Game Update:

As I said, the Saurian Troll looks like it is going to be one of my favorites. Here is a teaser as I work on him. This will be a playable character. What a blast it is going to be. 8ft and 35o lbs of muscle.

The Fantasy Fiction Tour

2007-07-01T20:57:00.000-04:00

CSSF Blog Tour:

Lots to update so might be a long blog. First off I will be posting this week on the CSFF Special Blog Tour focusing on The Fantasy Fiction Tour. The booksigning tour is made up the four Christian Fantasy authors that will be touring twelve cities. The authors are Bryan Davis, Wayne Thomas Batson, Christopher Hopper, and Sharon Hinck.

I haven't yet communicated with Christopher Hopper and Sharon Hinck, but as always, I am up to help promoting Wayne and Bryan anyday where I can. That has got to be fun adventure for the authors.

Check out the tour website for more details: http://www.fantasyfictiontour.com/

Personal Update:

Just a quick pick of the new little one and family. The newest member, Mark, my 3 1/2 old Ethan, my 2 year old Brent, and my wife. My 11 year old daughter Jade is away for the summer but she is excited to get back and see her new brother.

Game Update:

Here is a screenshot of the playable character the Saurian Soldier. Now I am working on the playable character the Saurian Troll and it is going to look pretty awesome. I thought the Saurian soldier was my favorite, but the troll will probably be my new favorite once it is complete. Stop by later this week to check it out.

Book Update:

Not much new on the book front except that they are selling rather well. Not sure what is going on, but Amazon rankings have been staying in the 100,000's. Now if I can only get them in the 25,000 like Bryan's and Wayne's :-)

It's a Boy!

2007-06-23T14:56:00.001-04:00

Personal Update:
Well we knew before hand, but yes, the newest of the Grody clan is a boy. Mark Edward Grody. 3 weeks earlier, but still 8lbs and 20 inches. Mom and baby are doing great. Will post pictures next week.

Game Update:
Not too much to update on the game. Been heavily working on the Saurian Soldier model and all I can say is it is turning out to be one of my favorites. Cannot wait to complete and get some pics out.

Other than that, I really have been trying to figure out my goals for the game. So far I have been just doing a week to week goal. Trying to crank out a model or two a week. So now I have been thinking of looking at the bigger picture and what I want/need to do. Here is what I have come up with so far.

Contest Start Date: 4/1/2007
Length of contest: 12 months
Contest End Date: Midnight EST on April 31st, 2008.

Milestone 1: Create all playable characters and have atleast three texture outfits each.
July is my Saurian month, and August will be my dragon modeling month. In between modelling I also want to:
#1) Learn how to script new playable races and classes.
#2) Learn to script new critters.
#3) Start modifying the client GUI to look more "Foundations of Hope-ish".

So hopefully at the end of August I will hit Milestone 1.

Milestone 2: Learn and start creating zones and dif formats for Torque and the Torque MMO Kit. The goal will to model enough buildings, furniture, etc... for 10+ zones in 4 months. That should put me around the end ofNovember for Milestone 2. The Torque MMO Kit needs to be updated to support Torque 1.5.2 for new Torque Constructor dif options, so hopefully by then, it will be updated.

Other goals:
#1) Continue to modify the client gui
#2) Start modifying the spell system and special effects.

Milestone 3: Start creating NPCs, quests, items, and learn more of the python scripting which MoM uses for its backend. I am allotting 3 months so that will be the end of February.

Other goals:
#1) Finish any incomplete side goals from previous milestones.

Milestone 4: Only March and April left to finalize everything. Hopefully the Pro version will be out for the Torque MMO kit. I will need to encrypt my models and not yet sure if I will need to C++ source yet or not. The final months will pretty much be to edit/test and finish any loose ends that I might have missed in the previous milestones. I am sure I will be off on dates for my goals so extra time will definitely be needed.

So these are the goals for the MyDream Contest game. The final Foundations of Hope Online game will be much larger. Even with these goals for the contest, the content and amount of player selection will be larger than a considerable amount of games on the market. The contest will only have 3 class selections between human and Saurian, but the final will have 5. But there is still male and female so that is 12 character choices to choose from for the MyDream contest game version. The goal will to make the first contest zones the same as the final game. For the final game, I will just need to create more zones, quests, etc.. in order to have enough content for those fast levellers.

Book Update:
Getting all the editing fixes that were missed in the initial release of Book Two: Into the Darkness finished and getting a new batch of books printed. I only have 14 books left on hand from the first printing. The distributor will also sell out there limited surplus soon as well.

FoHO Spiritual Warfare Critters2

2007-06-17T21:26:00.000-04:00

Here is to wrap up my June modelling for the some of the Spiritual Warfare critters that the Paladins will have to face in the game. For July I will be modelling a bunch of the Saurian characters people will be able to play.

FoHO - Spiritual Warfare Critters1

2007-06-10T22:22:00.000-04:00

Game Update:
Well I have been busily working on the critters the Paladins will be facing. As you can see, only the strong of faith should play as a Paladin.

Book Update:
Well the first printing of Into the Darkness is almost gone. A short printing allows us to catch any editing mistakes and go back for another printing for a final cleaner version.

FoHO - Paladins

2007-06-03T23:13:00.000-04:00

Game Update:
Here are some screenshots of the male and female Paladin characters. Currently working on the critters they will be fighting in the Spiritual Warfare realm of the game.

Book Updates:

It took an extra month for the books to get released to Amazon.com and other locations, so the paperbacks are now on their way. It will be very interesting to see how Book Two is reviewed by others.

FoHO Week #? Update

2007-05-27T22:47:00.000-04:00

I have to get the number of weeks left of the MyDream Contest. It will make updating easier.

Last week was spent getting the first draft of the required design document done for the Foundations of Hope Online game. It is very rough draft. I am still learning what all I can do with the MoM technology so hard to design what I do not yet know.

Now I am 3/4 the way done with the male Paladin. That is the only update for this week.

Christianbook.com

2007-05-21T10:08:00.000-04:00

Series Updates:

So I was sitting in church this Sunday and during announcements the pastor starts talking about an upcoming author in our midst. During the week his wife had been scanning through the Summer 2007 catalog from Christianbook.com and to their surprise there was somebody they recognized. Me. This was news to me. He had me stand which is always awkward. Attention is good for the books, but I am never one to have the attention on me specifically. So after service, I had to see the ad and sure enough the Foundations of Hope was listed.

Game Updates:

Not much to update on the game this week. Mainly been working on the design document needed for the MyDream contest.

Special Forces

2007-05-13T21:10:00.000-04:00

Well the first human class is finished(finally). Life/Work is finally settling down and all my free time is finally able to get some modelling done. The nice part is a few of the other human classes will be able to use most of the body parts, so I should be able to crank out some other classes pretty quickly. I also have to finish the design for the game for the contest in the next couple weeks.

Wayne Thomas Batson dropped by(see comment in last post). He got tagged in an interesting blog activity, but unfortunately I don't know eight other bloggers to participate. Make sure to visit his blogs.

The Special Forces:

Another week and nothing to show

2007-05-06T21:26:00.000-04:00

Game:
It seems that as soon as I entered the 1 year Dream Games contest, the oddest things happen preventing me from working on the game. I have been spending my nights working on work stuff and not getting any game work done. With what little time I have been working on the female Special Forces character.

Hopefully work will slow down and have more to update next week.

Books:
Well the few reviews I am getting back on last weeks book launch was that they like Book Two better than Book One. Usually book twos are filler but to have accomplished a better book than book one is great. Hopefully more readers will have the same reviews.

When things go bad

2007-04-29T09:07:00.000-04:00

Ha. I have to say, my booksigning turned out totally different than I envisioned. Pretty funny actually. So I imagined great publicity to let all those that have been waiting for Book Two, beautiful weather, and a generator to run my laptop so I can model during slow periods.

So what I got was, no article in either of the local papers announcing the book signing(even did an interview with one), it was rainy and chilly almost all weekend, and the first pull of my newly bought generator shattered the pull cord mechanism on the generator. As I said, pretty much totally opposite of my grand booksigning vision. Sometimes you have to look at life and what you want and just laugh. That in a way is the basis of The Foundations of Hope Trilogy. Sometimes things in our lives look bad, but possibly, without our knowledge, there is something greater going on.

This morning a spider was crawled across the floor and I had to stop my 1 1/2 year old from stepping on it. In his mind, I was stopping him and he had a fit, but in truth I was trying to protect him. I must inject, my 1 1/2 year old is a red-head and a temper to match. Sometimes, I have to wonder how many times we kick and scream yelling at God, but in truth, there was something very harmful to us that we were actually being protected from.

I am glad this week is over though. I had truck load of books to ship out by the May 1st launch, the booksigning to setup, I was on-call for work, I had a major project to implement for work, I was laying down hardwood floors, and trying to model for the game. Needless to say, I did not get much modelling done.

So a new week. I am working very hard on the new male Special Forces. I am pretty excited. It is one of the best models I have yet created. I love the whole design and look to the future process of the game. Trying to work out all the ideas of using the MoM material system and incorporating them in the best ways. It is not about just splitting a model into head, body, legs, arms, feet, and hands, it is about designing to use those elements in the best possible way so that I can implement a variety of cool textures into the game.

Well time to go. Hopefully next week I will have some models done. Only about 48 weeks to design on my models, so doing one model a week will not work.

Models, models, models

2007-04-22T11:35:00.000-04:00

I must say I have learned a lot the last few weeks about the new game engine being used for FoHO. I have to redo all my previous models to fit the new animation system as well as the material system that the MoM Kit uses. I am almost done with the Special Forces model. Hopefully next post I will have some screenshots. I am usually modelling until 1am then getting up to do the regular days work at 7am. Coffee is good :-)

I am doing the Book Two debut book signing at the 2007 Kalkaska Trout Festival. Should be an interesting book signing. Many people have been waiting for Into the Darkness for two years and everybody is excited it is finally out. So I will probably be book signing Thursday, Friday, and Saturday(April 26-28). I convinced my wife to let me get a small generator, so if it is slow I hopefully will be able to do some modelling at the fair :-) Have 1 year to get this game done, have to use every minute I can.

Foundations of Hope update

2007-04-14T22:00:00.000-04:00

Well, it is official, I will be using the Torque MoM MMO Kit for Foundations of Hope Online. In the end, its server scalability won me over. It also offers a single player option and the code to allow free or premium servers. This product is based on the Torque made Minions of Mirth MMORPG. It already has been proven in a production environment. Unfortunately too busy with writing to do much with it yet. Can't wait though.

Book Two almost done!

$10,000 MyDreamRPG Contest

2007-04-04T15:54:00.000-04:00

Well I have been pondering a considerable amount whether to switch the game to using a Torque-based product. Two products are available. The MyDreamRPG MMO Kit and the Torque MoM kit. Both have great features and both have what I most importantly need, server scalabality.

With this move to the new game engine, I will enter The Foundations of Hope Online in the MyDreamRPG contest.

http://www.mydreamrpg.com/

For now I must go back and finish writing book two!

CSFF Blog Tour - Randy Ingermanson

2007-03-20T19:59:00.000-04:00

Well I hate to say it, but this blog tour totally snuck up on me. I usually start preparing a week ahead of time, but Into the Darkness goes to the printers this week and that is all I have been working and concentrating on.

This blog tour is on Randy Ingermanson so go check out his website and the others that are participating this month in the tour.

Kevin Lucia and The Bookshelf Reviews 2.0 - The Compendium

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Here are the first release of some illustrations that will be in Into the Darkness

CSSF Blog Tour-WhereTheMapEnds.com Day 3

2007-02-21T07:38:00.000-05:00

Jeff Gerke: The Man, The Myth, The Legend. Okay, I can't comment on any of them, but it sure has a nice ring to it :-)

As we continue the Blog Tour focused on Jeff Gerke's WhereTheMapeEnds.com I wanted to take a different route. Although I can't say I know Jeff personally, it would be very interesting to sit down and have a chat with him. Throughout his Jefferson Scott and WhereTheMapEnds.com websites, I have found multiple times of being caught off guard and amazed that somebody actually thinks like me. Which I might say, I don't know if that is good or bad. I know I don't think like most people and especially like most Christians, so if Jeff has similar thoughts as I do, then yikes! But I could very well be wrong and he is more down to earth than I would expect. I refer to down to earth as in having a strong focus on reality(or what we perceive as reality. Sorry, there I go again). I can see other's view on reality and I have many "what if" realities(interdimensional, etc...) And that does not even start to explain the many worlds I visit and the ideas I have that I could write as books. I unfortunately cannot explain my thought patterns more clearly. The Foundations of Hope Trilogy has dragons, walking lizard creatures, and more... My wife's comment once to somebody was, "Yeah, it is kind of scary to think all that is in his head." :-)

When I first came across similar ideas/views was in Jeff's article on UFO's.

http://www.jeffersonscott.com/nonfiction/ufos.htm

To even take a look at such a topic in a Christian Community is pretty brave. UFOs probably rate even higher than the word "Fantasy" of topics to not mention in a Christian grouping. But all through the article it was like looking at myself in a mirror. So many questions I have brought up in the past and there they were in the article. I had missed his point about The End Times until this morning. The funny thing is I just mentioned to my wife a couple days ago is that "what if Christians have The Ends Times wrong". They had it wrong when Jesus came the first time, why couldn't Christians have it wrong when he comes again? Jeff puts down an idea(which I have thought of as well, yikes!) of something different.

Jeff has agreed to also be a beta tester for The Foundations of Hope Online game. I look forward to receiving his comments on the game.

As Becky mentioned in the comments area, Jeff has given the game and books some great exposure. Look for me on the list.

http://www.wherethemapends.com/Booklist/booklist_pages/booklist_graphics.htm

Well I have many chapters to finish. Until the next CSFF Blog Tour...

CSFF Blog Tour - WhereTheMapEnds.com

2007-02-20T21:45:00.000-05:00

I am running late on joining the blog tour, but could not miss out on posting on Jeff Gerke's new Christian Speculative Fiction website: WhereTheMapEnds.com

Althought I wanted to make a post everyday, life has been crazy. One of my son's was sick for the weekend(all better now), and I plotted another fifteen chapters to Into the Darkness which have to be written in the next two weeks.

WhereTheMapEnds.com is rather informative not only to the Christian readers but is extremely educational to the new Christian writers out there. And how could I not support a site that is hosting my first interview :-) Make sure to check it out in March or April.

List of other bloggers on the tour.

Nissa Annakindt
Wayne Thomas Batson
Jim Black
Grace Bridges
Jackie Castle
Valerie Comer
Karri Compton
CSFF Blog Tour
Gene Curtis
D. G. D. Davidson
Chris Deanne
Janey DeMeo
Tessa Edwards
April Erwin
Kameron M. Franklin
Linda Gilmore
Beth Goddard
Marcus Goodyear
Andrea Graham
Todd Michael Greene
Leathel Grody
Katie Hart
Sherrie Hibbs
Sharon Hinck
Christopher Hopper
Jason Joyner
Kait
Karen
K. D. Kragen
Tina Kulesa
Kevin Lucia and The Bookshelf Reviews 2.0 - The Compendium
Rachel Marks
Shannon McNear
Nicole
Eve Nielsen
John W. Otte
John Ottinger
Robin Parrish
Rachelle
Cheryl Russel
Hanna Sandvig
Mirtika Schultz
James Somers
Steve Trower
Speculative Faith
Daniel I. Weaver
Timothy Wise

Wayne Thomas Batson Blog Tour - Day 3

2007-01-24T07:54:00.000-05:00

The Final Storm Review:
Aidan's quest to help Robby reunites him with his best friend, but things are not as they once were. Robby must make a choice to grip the power that has been promised to him or leave it all behind to follow King Eliam. In The Realm, Antoinette has been captured by Robby's glimpse and she watches helplessly as Paragor's army masses a force to a size never seen before. With Paragor's army strengthened, the Seven Sleepers and Wyrm Lord released, the survival of the Kingdom of Alleble looks to be lost. Alleble's hopes lie with the ancient legend of The Three Witnesses foretold to have the power to bring victory over Paragor.

Wayne Thomas Batson's The Final Storm brings a solid conclusion to The Door Within Trilogy. The first in the series was my favorite, but The Final Storm holds a close second. I was truly caught off guard by the ending. It definitely did not end as I had expected. The conviction of Aidan, Antoinette, and Robby to carry out there tasks to the end was pretty powerful. A superb trilogy for all ages and highly recommended.

Once again, I commend the publisher, Tommy Nelson, for the quality of workmanship in these beautifully designed books.

Teen Friendly: A (Written for children/teen readers)
Christian Message: A (Although allegorical, it is strong and wonderfully done)
Crude or Profane Language: A (none)
Drug or Alcohol: A (none)
Sexual Content: A (none)
Writing: A
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Okay, a couple more character screenshots from the Foundations of Hope Online game.

This is a Lava Troll that only the Paladins(Warriors of God) will have to face. All other classes in the game will deal with the war between humans and Saurians(lizard creatures).

Wayne Thomas Batson Blog Tour - Day 2

2007-01-22T16:24:00.000-05:00

A funny story comes from The Door Within Trilogy in my family. My daughter needed to do more reading and so I gave her a choice between my book and The Door Within. Well, The Door Within was my daughter's first novel size book she has read :-) She now is currently reading Rise of the Wyrm Lord.

Rise of the Wyrm Lord Review:
Back from The Realm, the vision of his best friend, Robby, following the enemy continues to trouble Aidan greatly. In the mysterious way that life works, Aidan meets a new girl, Antoinette, at his new high school who also believes in the Realm. In the days to come, it becomes clear that Antoinette will be called to the Realm as Aidan once was. Aidan requests Antoinette if she was to come across Robby's glimpse to try and help him see the wrong path he beginning to take.

Entering The Realm, Antoinette finds The Realm in the greatest danger it has ever faced. Paragor has unleashed the oldest and most dangerous enemies of the past and Antoinette is forced to choose to follow her duties as a Twelth Knight or follow Aidain's request to help Robby's glimpse, Kearn.

In Book Two of The Door Within Trilogy, The Rise of the Wyrm Lord, Wayne Thomas Batson does a wonderful job once again of bringing his world to life. I continue to enjoy the magical world that Mr. Batson weaves. Although I missed Aidan's presence in book two, Antoinette makes a strong and needed debut for book three, The Final Storm.

Teen Friendly: A (Written for children/teen readers)
Christian Message: A (Although allegorical, it is strong and wonderfully done)
Crude or Profane Language: A (none)
Drug or Alcohol: A (none)
Sexual Content: A (none)
Writing: A

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Here is what Faith of the Unforgotten and Into the Darkness look like in the FaithWorks Spring 2007 Catalog.

CSFF Blog Tour - Wayne Thomas Batson

2007-01-21T20:28:00.000-05:00

Life is busy, but I wouldn't miss this blog tour for the world. I will make a post everyday of my reviews of the three books of The Door Within Trilogy. I will also post personal blog updates since the blog tours are the only time I really get time to get out here.

Quick Important Personal Updates(Others after blog tour post)
Faith of the Unforgotten(Paperback) and Into the Darkness(Paperback) are now available for pre-order at Amazon.com. A Faith of the Unforgotten review will be in February 2007 issue of VOYA. Also the Christian MMORPG based on the series, Foundations of Hope Online, is still coming along very well. Screenshots and information will be below the Blog Tour notes. I will also be doing an inteview for Jeff Gerke's new Christian Speculative Fiction website, Where The Map Ends. Make sure to check out his website for that in the next couple months.

Wayne Thomas Batson Blog Tour
Since reading book one of The Door Within Trilogy I have been a fan of Wayne Thomas Batson. It has also been a pleasure to get to know Wayne through e-mails. He was also willing to give a personal endorsement which will be used on the backcover of the paperback of Faith of the Unforgotten.

My Review of Book One: The Door Within
Aidan Thomas had the pressures of high school beat. Aidan knew he would never be that popular kid, but somehow he had managed to become the best friend of that perfect, all-american boy, and Aidan was happy to live in the shadow of his friend in order to be accepted by the popular kids. But all that changes, when his Grampin gets ill and he must move away from his best friend, and worse yet, he could no longer live in the popular shadow of his friend. Living at his Grampin's during the summer without friends was terribly boring, that is, until the scrolls appear. The scrolls lead Aidan to have faith in the truth and reality of the realm that lies beyond The Door Within. With the scrolls help, Aidan enters into another world of knights and kings, where he is forced to find that he is more capable than he would have ever expected.

The Door Within is one of those books you just do not want to end. Although the reader forms a bond with a few of the characters, the real bond for the reader is to the realm beyond The Door Within. Wayne Thomas Batson does a wonderful job of transporting the reader into the realm's land and cultures, enticing the reader to want to stay in the lands longer. The Door Within will be added to the top of my list for teen readers. It can be enjoyed by any teen, but Christian teens will see more into the King than others will.

One extra addition beyond a normal review is that this is one of the best manufactured hardcovers I have seen. Hats off to the publisher, Tommy Nelson, for doing a superb job in the production of this book. Everything from the dustjacket to the papers used for binding the hardcover and within the book are excellent.

Teen Friendly: A (Written for children/teen readers)
Christian Message: A (Although allegorical, it is strong and wonderfully done)
Crude or Profane Language: A (none)
Drug or Alcohol: A (none)
Sexual Content: A (none)
Writing: A
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Make sure to check out Mr. Batson's interview with Kevin Lucia:
http://kevinlucia.net/bookreviews/2007/01/post_2.html

Also go check out these other CSFF Blog Tour participants:

Jim Black
Jackie Castle
Valerie Comer
Karri Compton
Frank Creed
CSFF Blog Tour
Gene Curtis
Chris Deanne
Janey DeMeo
April Erwin
Beth Goddard
Marcus Goodyear
Todd Michael Greene
Leathel Grody
Karen Hancock
Katie Hart
Sherrie Hibbs
Sharon Hinck
Joleen Howell
Kait
Karen
K. D. Kragen
Tina Kulesa
Lost Genre Guild
Kevin Lucia and The Bookshelf Reviews 2.0 - The Compendium
Rachel Marks
Shannon McNear
Rebecca LuElla Miller
Caleb Newell
Eve Nielsen
John Otte
Robin Parrish
Cheryl Russel
Hannah Sandvig
Mirtika Schultz
James Somers
Stuart Stockton
Steve Trower
Speculative Faith
Daniel I. Weaver
Tessa Edwards
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A few teaser Game Screenshots of one of the rideable dragons. Mounted combat is being implemented so players will be able to fight while riding the dragons from the ground or the sky. Not many MMORPGs have this feature yet. Foundations of Hope Online will be the first Christian Fantasy MMORPG, so it will be very interesting how it is taken by the gamer communities. More game information can always be found at the series/game website: Foundations of Hope

CSFF Blog Tour

2006-11-14T22:39:00.000-05:00

This month we are focusing our attention on R. K. Mortenson's Landon Snow and the Island of Arcanum. Amazon rating is at 50,000 and only 5 books left!

I wished I had more to say but I ran out of time to read the book. I am down to having to do 2 chapters a day for the rest of November to make my deadline. So with that I must run, it is going to be a long night...

Here is the list of participants this month.
Jim Black
Jackie Castle
Valerie Comer
Frank Creed
Gene Curtis
Chris Deanne
April Erwin
Kameron M. Franklin
Beth Goddard
Todd Michael Greene
Leathel Grody
Karen Hancock
Katie Hart
Sherrie Hibbs
Sharon Hinck
Joleen Howell
Jason Joyner
Karen and at Karen¹s myspace
Oliver King
Tina Kulesa
Lost Genre Guild
Kevin Lucia
Rachel Marks
Shannon McNear
Rebecca LuElla Miller
Caleb Newell
John Otte
Cheryl Russel
Hannah Sandvig
Mirtika Schultz
Stuart Stockton
Steve Trower
Speculative Faith
Chris Walley
Daniel I. Weaver

CSFF Blog Tour

2006-10-30T18:37:00.000-05:00

The newest blog tour continues and the list grows longer. This month for the blog tour we are focusing on the e-magazine Dragons, Knights, and Angels, otherwise known as DKA. I cannot say I am a short-story person but in creating The Christian Science Fiction & Fantasy Central and in participation with the Christian Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers Association (CSFWA) I have gotten to know a few of them. You will always hear that stories at DKA Magazine are great, but I would like to add that the people behind the scenes are why I personally like DKA.

Here are the participants in this month's blog tour.

Jim Black
John J. Boyer
Jackie Castle
Valerie Comer
Frank Creed
Bryan Davis
Christina Deanne
April Erwin
Beth Goddard
Rebecca Grabill
Todd Michael Greene
Leathel Grody
Karen Hancock
Elliot Hanowski
Katie Hart
Sherrie Hibbs
Sharon Hinck
Joleen Howell
John Otte
Jason Joyner
Oliver King
Tina Kulesa
Kevin Lucia
Rachel Marks
Shannon McNear
Rebecca LuElla Miller
Cheryl Russell
Mirtika Schultz
Stuart Stockton
Steve Trower
Chris Walley
Lost Genre Guild
Speculative Faith

New FOH Online Characters

2006-10-26T18:46:00.000-04:00

As always, things are busy, busy, busy. Working hard now on Into the Darkness and only a month left to finish it and I am still at chapter 6! All work on the game and other stuff has stopped until I finish book two. But before that lockdown I did go through and modify the www.foundationsofhope.com website. I added forums, screenshots, and many other cool stuff for the books and the game.

The Foundations of Hope Online is now being marketed as a Christian MMORPG and the information is being included with the books. There will be a lot of questions concerning what people will want to see in a Christian-based game, so make sure to visit and give your opinion.

Before my lockdown, I also created more characters for the game. More screenshots are at the website, but here is a preview. Note: Characters don't have hair. That is an item that will be interchangeable so not built into the base model. Each human model will have three ethnic groups and each ethnic group will have up to five different face textures(different beards, makeup, etc...). This should give a good variety to the game.
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Female Special Forces(Playable Character)

Male Special Forces(Playable Character)

Female Paladin(Playable Character)

5th Christian SFF Blog Tour

2006-09-18T22:58:00.000-04:00

First for the personal. More stores have sold out of FotU at the $4.99 price. Pretty cool. Amazon.com now has the $4.99 price as its list price as well. I am also splitting time between book two(deadline is in a couole months) and the FOH Online Game. For the game I have been pondering bringing in the Paladins and the spiritual warfare they battle. It is something I really really have to think about. Although the series does not mention what the Paladins do directly, it just hints a little. This would bring a new level to the Paladins, however. I am just not sure if Christians are ready for spiritual warfare in a game yet. It'll depend on how the feedback from the beta testers and such.
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I cannot believe we are at five already. Time goes by so quickly For this blog tour we are focusing and the website Edenstarbooks. The site has a very nice database of Christian Science Fiction and Fantasy books(although missing mine :( I'll have to let them know so their database is complete :-)

Blogs that are part of the tour:
John J. Boyer
Valerie Comer
Bryan Davis
Beth Goddard
Rebecca Grabill
Leathel Grody
Karen Hancock
Elliot Hanowski
Katie Hart
Sherrie Hibbs
Sharon Hinck
Pamela James
Jason Joyner
Tina Kulesa
Rachel Marks
Shannon McNear
Cheryl Russel
Mirtika Schultz
Stuart Stockton
Steve Trower
Speculative Faith
Jim Black
Rachel Marks

FOH Online Screenshots

2006-09-12T21:17:00.000-04:00

Two new screenshots of the FOH Online game.

Paperback covers

2006-09-08T18:22:00.000-04:00

Just a quick post to show the new and probably final covers of the paperback editions of Book One and Book Two.

Book Updates

2006-08-23T06:30:00.000-04:00

There has been a lot going on with The Foundations of Hope series. The Lethal Publishing Corporation has signed up with the Christian book distributor, FaithWorks. Through FaithWorks, Lethal Publishing will be offering the Christian bookstores and chains the hardcover's $4.99 price to continue the 'flood-the-market' campaign. I've listed some books out on Amazon at this price if anybody comes along this post and is interested. Look for lethal-publishing as the seller.

I also have one of the first endorsement quotes that will be listed on the softcover version of FotU.
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"Faith of the Unforgotten is an action-feast set in a realm of Fantasy. Imagine Eragon melding with a Kung-Fu action flick, and you've got it! Leathel Grody's concept of a technology depleted world is marvelous, and his heroine, Rebekah Ann Smith is a terrific vehicle for the story Mr. Grody has to tell. If you love fantasy and a lightning-paced plot, give Faith of the Unforgotten a try!"

Wayne Thomas Batson
Author of The Door Within Trilogy
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4th Christian SFF Blog Tour

2006-08-22T18:00:00.000-04:00

Life can get busy! I missed out on the 3rd SFF Blog Tour and running late on the 4th.

This series the Blogs will be focusing on Kathy Tyers. I unfortunately have not had a chance to read the Firebird Trilogy, but when it comes to Christian Sci-Fi Fantasy, that title is always listed.

Here are the Blogs currently on tour. Make sure the visit them.

John J. Boyer
Valerie Comer
Bryan Davis
Beth Goddard
Rebecca Grabill
Leathel Grody
Karen Hancock
Elliot Hanowski
Katie Hart
Sherrie Hibbs
Sharon Hinck
Pamela James
Jason Joyner
Tina Kulesa
Rachel Marks
Shannon McNear
Cheryl Russel
Mirtika Schultz
Stuart Stockton
Steve Trower
Speculative Faith
Jim Black
Rachel Marks

-----------------------------
Now on personal stuff, I just got back from a book signing out at a Seattle Barnes & Noble. That was definitely a lot of fun and met some cool people out there. The Washington area is a beautiful place. So much evergreens wrapping around the large cities. I can't say traffic was the greatest, but thankfully I lived in the Silicon Valley for a few years so was used to that type of traffic.

I spent a good portion of my free time while out in Seattle finishing plotting out Book Two: Into the Darkness. I thought I had it all worked out in my head, but things change once they get on paper. ItD is going to be a blast.

FoH Online Screen Shots

2006-07-31T23:34:00.000-04:00

Just some quick screenshots from the game and where alot of my time has been the last week.

Male Saurian: Playable Character

Special Forces: Playable Character

Foundations of Hope Online

2006-07-18T21:16:00.000-04:00

Wow, here I thought it had only been a week, but it has been over two. It has been busy, busy, busy!

The flood-the-market campaign has kicked off throughout Michigan and will be expanding to the other states. The strangest is that the Amazon.com sales have been rather good since kicking off the campaign. Not sure what that is about, but won't complain :)

So why has it taken two weeks?

Work, writing book two, working on the Foundations of Hope Online game, building a new church website, building a new company website of ours(Lethal Games Corporation), and working on software for the new company.

I decided to release a couple model screenshots from the FOH Online game. Although the models have not yet been approved, hopefully they will.

Dragon

Saurian(untextured)

New Covers

2006-07-02T00:06:00.000-04:00

I figured I'd post a new look at the covers in progress. I can't say I am totally convinced with the new FotU background yet. I'll have to see what it looks like printed and how clear the title is. I still really enjoy the fire, smoke, and lightning look from the hardcover, so that still may get put into the current red and blue borders of the new cover style. The main improvement was to bring the characters a lot closer. The original design looked nice in hand, but the characters are smaller than those on other books, so they didn't stick out from 10ft+ away. I will say I have always been partial to the oval fire/smoke look so who knows, I might go back to that and use the characters close up as they are in the in progress. This would mean cutting out all characters except Jarod and Rebecca.

The spine will get a new overhaul as well.

Here is FotU's current hardcover print and the original plan for Into the Darkness.

Not too much to add. July 4th I will spend the whole day touring across Michigan getting bookstores setup for the new promotion. I'll be visition Grand Rapids, Lansing, & Flint. A whole lot of driving but a whole lot of stores!

Flood-the-market campaign (Internet)

2006-06-27T20:43:00.000-04:00

Special Sword Review price removed. Past July 4th.

Flood-the-market begins...

2006-06-26T21:42:00.000-04:00

As you can see no weekend posts. It was a very busy weekend. Saturday my wife and I went out house shopping. We are currently look at this one. Ha! I wish!

No, this area has a Parade of Homes in which people go to about 25 different homes and check out the new ones being built just to see what is in the area. Some are actually for sale, others are just for show. This was my first year to check it out and it was pretty neat experience. The homes were absolutely beautiful. This one, was an 8000 sq ft home that had a two story theatre. ::drool:: Another had a built in basketball court. I can dream :-) Each house had exquisite decorations and most had books as decorations. I joked with my wife that I should have slipped in my book into all the houses. She laughed and said, "Ya, it would be kind of easy to track who did that." Doh! Yeah, she is the more logical one :-)
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Besides that, I started the flood-the-market campaign in the local bookstores. Yeah, they think I am pretty much crazy. Especially when they hear what I want the store price to be. Well, I never said I was totally sane :-)

Here is the current 81/2 X 11 end cap display that is going out with the books. If I start getting calls to deliver more books, then I know it is eye catching enough.

In the last year, I have only put books into two Christian bookstores. Not because others wouldn't take it, but because I just didn't get out and pound the doors(I'll talk about this later). It is an interesting journey though to adventure into a Christian bookstore with a fantasy book with a lizard creature and dragon on the cover. Talk about the strange looks :-) But I convinced them to try it out. One of the stores actually had an employee that was reading FotU and was just telling the buyer that they needed to stock it. I don't know where he got the book(probably B&N), but it is always cool to hear of people you do not know who have read the book. I would like to say both stores sold out and got great reviews from the readers. If I do not hear from Barnes & Noble, then hopefully these stores running this campaign will be like a pebble in the pond, that I can use to create more ripples out to other stores.

There are multiple reasons I did not touch the Christian market. First, I originally was marketing to mainstream fantasy adult and YA readers. Second, I am having difficulties convincing a Christian distributor to take on the title and help market. I think the whole fantasy thing, is probably a problem. It is kind of sad. Out of all the chains and bookstores, the Christian market seems to be the hardest to get in. Everything is CBA related. Unless you are CBA they will not even look at you. And then you mention, Christian fantasy, and that is even worse. And lastly, with my last year trying to get a new publisher, I did not want to have too much in their market so they knew that I was still marketable there.

So now I move into the Christian market as aggressive as ever. We'll just have to see what happens.

Well I am in the middle of doing a total redesign of the church's website that I attend, so want to get that finished.

Flood-the-market campaign

2006-06-22T23:20:00.000-04:00

So what is this promotion I have been talking about anyways? It is allowing readers to get the hardcover of FotU for below printing costs in our flood-the-market campaign. The printing costs are already taken care of so now it is time to have fun and get more readers ready for book two. Hopefully Barnes & Noble will get back to me soon. Because I did promise something, what I have did for any blog visitors that visit today, I have posted a few copies on Amazon.com of the Hardcover version of Faith of the Unforgotten for .99 cents. This covers their .99 cent commission and the shipping costs. Everybody would take a free book if I shipped it, but if a couple dollars are spent, then there is more of a chance that the book will actually be read. The books are under Amazon's "Used and New" section.

My Journey:
The first year of publication I pushed rather hard on marketing. Barnes & Noble took a bunch of copies national and did some BN book signing around the Michigan area. The eBook version of FotU one the 2006 EPPIE Award for the Children/Young Adult/Tween division, and we are currently working on a teen-friendly, Christian 3D online game for the series.

I figured with all that under my belt, it was time to approach the other publishers again. Before publication I originally approached the more mainstream publishers since that was who I was used to. The last year though, I have focused on the Christian publishers. Originally fantasy in the Christian publishers was pretty much unheard of, now it is getting better. But unfortunately, it is still going rather slow. Either the publishers are already booked up or I don't even hear back.

The original release of book two was planned for April 2006. I wanted to spend the year to take that chance of getting picked up by a larger publisher. Plus add in life, work, a 1 year old, 2 1/2 year old, and a 10 year old, and well book two isn't totally finished yet. Now I have readers and libraries e-mailing me asking about book two. I finally have decided that it looks like that the larger publisher path is not going to happen, so I need to get my head back in the game and start preparing for the launch of book two.

Originally FotU was marketed to a wide spectrum. Mainstream fantasy readers, young adult readers, and Christian YA readers. We are going to refocus everything on the YA and Christian YA readers now. So if I am to compete against the top names out there on those shelves, I have I am going to have to flood-the-market with a lower priced book one. If this means lowering the price just enough to break even, that is fine. I will go back for as many print runs as it takes. If anybody has read FotU, it is pretty clear why this is such a marketing ploy for book two. You know the ending :-) Every reader that reads FotU says, "Where is book two?"

Next year we will launch the paperback versions of FotU and Into the Darkness. There are also a couple top Christian YA authors that have been willing to checkout FotU and possibly give a personal endorsement for the back covers of the paperbacks. I can't wait to hear what they have to say. I have only known what reviewers and readers have had to say about FotU. It is actually really scary to know the book is in the hands of these authors. Will they think the story and writing is worthy to put their name on the back cover? Man, I can only hope so.

SF/Fantasy Blog Tour Day3 - (Magic in Christian Fantasy?)

2006-06-21T21:22:00.000-04:00

First off, I may have to delay the announcement planned for Friday. I am waiting on Barnes & Noble to get back to me and I do not want to announce too much. Barnes & Noble out of all the rest, has been awesome to me. They pretty much have paid for the printing costs alone to allow me to do this crazy promotion, so I will wait on them. If anything, on Friday I will explain my last year's journey on trying to get a larger Christian publisher and how it looks like I must push forward alone, more aggressive than I have ever been.

But now, back to the original show at hand...

Part one and two: Magic in Christian Fantasy?
I wasn't going to touch on this subject, but I saw Rebecca LuElla Miller's interview question with Ms. Paul about 'wizard backlash' and decided to. I have to say, I like the term as well. I have talked about dragons in Christian fantasy, but I think the M-word is probably an even a hotter subject with Christians. I like Ms. Paul's explanation on how her wizards are only commanding God created elements. To tie in with my previous posts, I would consider those elements as 'neutral', but how they were used would determine whether they were used for good or bad. I however come from reading mainstream fantasy, most Christians do not.

In The Foundations of Hope Trilogy, I personally stuck with 'gifts' given to the followers of God. It is one way the characters know that although it has been awhile, they have not been forgotten, a.k.a Faith of the Unforgotten. I tried to stick with events I could back up from the Bible, 'sword of fire', lightning, and some others are pushing it though. I almost pulled all the events out totally(there are very few so it wouldn't have been too difficult) because the story can stand on its own without them. The strangest thing however, is that the Christians readers are the ones that really like it because only the faithful have been receiving these special abilities. I also have very anti-fantasy editors, so anything I write has to be able to get past them.

Many others are also starting to use the 'gifts' way around using magic. But it can only be used so many times. I have already used it up, so I will have to think of another option. Although my next series will rely on solely prayer fighting I believe.

And I like Donita's comment that it is only fiction. I am a very scientific based person. Until somebody starts floating books around my head by waving a wand, I pretty much will not worry about magic in the real world. I recently went through a Spiritual Warfare class at church. It was rather interesting to see the different views of how Christians perceive the same events from both sides of the scale. I am kind of guessing those same individuals would also perceive magic in the real world differently as well. Ok, no Spiritual Warfare comments, we can get into that at a later date if you want :-)

So magic in Christian fantasy? This is still one subject that Christian writers will have to tread lightly. The Bible does not clearly state what sorcery is, but now a days, most people's views about sorcery pretty much covers anything magical. So for a Christian writer to touch on anything magical will then be perceived as sorcery, which the Bible clearly states to stay away from. Your thoughts?

SF/Fantasy Blog Tour Day2 - (Lions and Dragons)

2006-06-20T22:14:00.000-04:00

Day two of the Christian SF/Fantasy Blog Tour continues. There was some pretty cool posts all around about our focus of the tour, Donita K. Paul's DragonKnight . I really like the interview going on over at A Christian Worldview of Fiction.

Also check out The Dragon Keeper Chronicles website. The webmaster has done a nice job.

Remember to go check out the other blog sites participating in the tour:

Sally Apokedak
Valerie Comer
Johne Cook
Janey DeMeo
Mary E. DeMuth
Beth Goddard
Rebecca Grabill
Leathel Grody
Katie Hart
Sherrie Hibbs
Marcia Laycock
Shannon McNear
Matt Mikalatos
Mirtika Schultz
Stuart Stockton
Rebecca LuElla Miller
Steve Trower

Part one: The Author
Although I do not know Ms. Paul, I have been rather impressed by everything I keep coming across. I have yet to come across another author website that the author chats weekly with their readers. I like the story on Mary E. Demuth's blog that Ms. Paul sent a copy of her book for seeing Mary's daughter's book report on DragonSpell. Also check out June 20th post at Shannon McNear's blog about helping out a fellow writer. Finally, one of my favorite's is Donita's own post over at the 412Live blog. I love the whole Walmart scene.

When an author has a sales ranking of #754 at Amazon.com(Wow, it dropped since I last looked. Go Donita!) and is still personable and willing to take time out for the readers and other writers, that is pretty cool and says a lot to me.

Part two: Lions and Dragons
I had some thoughts today on how to continue the discussion of having good dragons within Christian fantasy.

To get back on the idea that most things have a good and bad and how they are used or behave is what determines what is good or evil. Now there are some things that do not fit and others I probably cannot theoretically justify. For example, probably the one thing that comes to mind is the movie "Hellboy". A demon doing good to help humans. A dragon to me is like another animal. It is pretty much a neutral, not good, not bad. A demon on the other hand is born of evil, I would not be able to back that up.

So back to dragons. If there really were such things as dragons, they would be like any other animal on the planet. They would not be good or evil, they would just be an animal. The same as a lion. Because the Bible potrays Jesus as a lion, should not all lions then be good, the same as the animal of the dragon is always evil? Exactly. No. The lion and dragon are only representations within the Bible. In real life however, they are(or would be) just an animal. Because the Bible potrays the lion as good, children are not out trying to pet one in the wild. In a similar statement from yesterday, whether we run into a lion or dragon in the wild, we would not ponder is it good or bad, no we would be saying "that thing is huge, hungry, and looking at me. I'm out of here!"

Tomorrow: Magic in Christian Fantasy?

SF/Fantasy Blog Tour Day1 - (But Aren't Dragons Evil?)

2006-06-19T20:51:00.000-04:00

The next few days the posts will be in multiple parts. The first part, I will spotlight Donita K. Paul's new book DragonKnight for the Christian SF/Fantasy Blog tour. The second part, I plan to tie in some thoughts about dragons in Christian based Fantasy.

Part one: DragonKnight
Today I would like to focus on the cover. Ok, I hate to admit it, but I am a cover person. The cover that grabs my attention at the bookstore will probably win. A book should be readable and attention grabbing from 10 feet to 20 feet. This cover does a nice job. Exactly in the middle of the cover starts the bright blue wings that spread out and then contrast nicely against the yellow sky. I also like how the grass gradually changes into the white so Donita's name pops out better. The change and reason for the change is actually unnoticeable. These are things that most readers do not notice or pay attention to, but since I due my own cover design, it is something I like to examine from other author's books.

Part two: But aren't dragons evil?

First off, this is not a slam on having good dragons in Christian fantasy. It is actually the opposite. In my own series, book one has dragons show up shortly here and there, but the reader does not know if they are good or bad, or even what part they have to play in the story(a very large one actually). But book two will start to show there are good and bad dragons. If you ask an older conservative Christian to read a book about fantasy, not the easiest to achieve, but not impossible. Ask that same person to read a story about dragons? Well, that might get a tad bit harder. But why? Why do Christians dislike dragons? Although the King James Version refers to more dragons than the NIV version, I will stick with the main versuses in NIV.
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Revelation 12
7And there was war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. 8But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven. 9The great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him.

and

17Then the dragon was enraged at the woman and went off to make war against the rest of her offspring—those who obey God's commandments and hold to the testimony of Jesus.
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Whoosh! From that, it is actually hard to see how there could be a good dragon. Dragons, snakes, and serpants are always potrayed as evil within the Bible. The one thing that a Christian author must not do is lead the readers astray. The way I look at it is that almost all things have a good and bad to them. Nuclear power was created for good, but can also be used to kill. A sword can defend, but it can also attack. There are good angels and bad angels. There are good humans and bad humans. One's actions or how an item is used determines whether they are good or bad. And so it could be that a fictional dragon's actions determine whether it is good or bad? Either way, I can guarantee, no matter how many authors write about good dragons, if a reader ever ran across one in the woods, they would not stick around to have a little chat and ponder whether it was good or bad. No, I am pretty sure I know what their conclusion would be :-)

Tomorrow: Lions and Dragons

Remember, check back in Friday, June 23rd after the tour is completed if you have ever been interested in checking out Faith of the Unforgotten. We have a lot to announce.

Dragons and 1 year olds, oh my!

2006-06-17T23:16:00.000-04:00

I had to step away from the publishing stuff and blog tour, and post a picture of my one year old. The whole "I am so innocent" look is just an act. This little one could make a dragon run in fear at the destruction he can do.

Ok, back to the tour. I've given it some thought on what to discuss starting Tuesday for the blog tour. I plan to post some thoughts on dragons in Christian based fantasy. Shouldn't all dragons be evil? Especially red ones? Hmmm....

I've postponed our new aggressive marketing of FotU until after the blog tour, so check back Friday, June 23rd to see what I have up my sleeve if you have ever been interested in checking out Faith of the Unforgotten.

Christian Science Fiction/Fantasy Blog Tour

2006-06-16T17:51:00.000-04:00

I will be participating in the second round of the Christian Science Fiction and Fantasy Blog Tour that is coming up June 20-22nd. We will be checking out Donita K. Paul's new release, DragonKnight. Check back those days to see comments.

Here is a list of bloggers that are participating in the tour:
Sally Apokedak
Valerie Comer
Johne Cook
Janey DeMeo
Mary E. DeMuth
Beth Goddard
Rebecca Grabill
Leathel Grody
Katie Hart
Sherrie Hibbs
Marcia Laycock
Shannon McNear
Matt Mikalatos
Mirtika Schultz
Stuart Stockton
Rebecca LuElla Miller
Steve Trower

I will have to add Donita K. Paul's series to my list for review after my current work in progress.

My current list of Christian Sci-Fi/Fantasy in progress for CSFFC reviews:
-Iron Dragon by Derek P. Gilbert
-Rise of the Wyrm Lord(Book Two of The Door Within Trilogy) by Wayne Thomas Batson
-Raising Dragons(Book One of Dragons in Our Midst) by Bryan Davis
-The Candlestone(Book Two of Dragons in Our Midst) by Bryan Davis
-Circles of Seven(Book Three of Dragons in Our Midst) by Bryan Davis
-Tears of a Dragon(Book Four of Dragons in Our Midst) by Bryan Davis
-When Worlds Rage(Book Two Orianus Creation Series) by D. Shane Burton
-Dark Tyrant's Ascention(Book Three Orianus Creation Series) by D. Shane Burton

All reviews are posted at Christian Science Fiction and Fantasy Central and Amazon.com

And life continues...

2006-06-16T17:49:00.000-04:00

I cannot believe almost a week has gone by since making a post. Wow! I knew this would be hard to keep up with.

It has been a busy week though. I have finally decided book two will be released in as trade paperback instead of a hardcover. So both book one and book two will be released in April 2007 as paperbacks. That is unless a larger publisher decides to pick up the series. I can still hope! Thankfully the reader base is large enough for the series now, that printing costs are covered. I just would love to spend more time writing instead of 80% marketing/publishing and only 20% on writing.

Back to the paperback discussion... FotU hardcover was originally marketed to a wide range of audience since it crosses over into multiple genres, but we will now be focusing our energy primarily on the children/young adult and Christian children/young adult readers now. Paperback just makes sense price wise. I have created a first draft of the paperback cover of Into the Darkness as you can view from the post here. I am also working on a new paperback design and cover for Faith of the Unforgotten. I will post it later once I find a background for the scene I am happy with. I am a 'cover browser' at bookstores, so the covers are really important to me. I am always interested in responses, so if you like/dislike the new cover design let me know.

Publishing is an interesting business. I must say I have learned alot in the last few years. I am a constant state of research and comparing what the big houses are doing. I have books lined up 20ft from my desk and always comparing my designs compared to others. At a bookstore I do more than look. I can't help to check out what thickness of paper was used, if they embossed, gold foil stamped, etc... I look at books in a total new light these days. I someday hope to find that larger publisher that will take on the series, but until then, I press on... Maybe my next series after The Foundations series. I can't say much about it yet, though. I have some absolute crazy marketing plans for FotU coming up. I would suggest checking back every so often if you ever wanted to read FotU and haven't yet.

On the non-publishing side of things, I have decided to start working on getting my Microsoft Certified System Engineer (MCSE) for work. Yikes! If anybody knows about the MCSE tests, they are down right hard. That should be lovely to fit into my already tight schedule. But computers are what pay the bills and I love the job. I can't complain about getting paid for something I enjoy :-)

Book Signings

2006-06-10T22:52:00.000-04:00

Yesterday I received my confirmation that I will be out in the Seattle region Saturday, August 19th for a Barnes & Noble book signing. I am looking forward to it.

I recently did a book signing at a local fair, and I must say it was probably one of my most enlightening events as an author for me. I will begin by saying, being a new author is HARD. Especially when you do not have the huge marketing campaign and contacts like the larger publishers have. An new author must be very creative and very persistant. It can be a very tiring process though. You start to wonder is it all worth it. You get to a point to question, maybe this wasn't God's choice for me like I thought it was. Shouldn't I be a on the New York Times Bestseller list by now if it was really God's plan? This last year has been exhausting for me. As I said in my a previous post, I go from 7am to usually midnight, maybe 1am.

So back to the local fair... I was lucky enough to meet a with a teenage girl that had already read Faith of the Unforgotten. In talking with her, I found out that she had read Faith of the Unforgotten while she was going through chemotherapy. Wow. Just the fact that I was able to take somebody away to a different time/land for even a short period of time, while they were going through a hard time in their life, was an eye opener for me. All the time and exhausting hours I have spent in marketing an creating the series were worth it in that one person. Granted, I want more to read the series, but for now I have a new energy to continue and move on.

First AmazonConnect post

2006-06-09T22:21:00.000-04:00

Well, I just made my first AmazonConnect post over at Amazon.com. It is pretty much a blog but posts on my book's product page. Pretty cool idea to allow an author to post notes for readers. I first saw it on Wayne Thomas Batson's books.

Which, I will add in here, if you have not read his Door Within Trilogy, please do. Book one was awesome and I hope to get to book two and three later this year.

Well I really need to get back to writing book two. If you are not familiar, Book Two of The Foundations of Hope Trilogy is called Into the Darkness. ItD for short. It was originally to be released April 2006, a year after Faith of the Unforgotten. But a year was a little too aggressive to get a second book out in a brand new series from a new author. From now having a 1 year old, 2 1/2 year old and 9 year old, to the ever constant marketing of Faith of the Unforgotten, to The Foundations of Hope Online game, to coding and creating The Christian Science Fiction and Fantasy Central, and to fit all that all into after an eight hour work day, time gets rather slim.

Anyways, Rebekah is currently in trouble and well, if you know Rebekah, somebody is going to get 'thumped' :-)

First Post

2006-06-07T22:53:00.000-04:00

Well here it goes. My first post in my first blog. I'm not sure why totally yet. Maybe somebody out there is curious of what I am working on. I guess we'll see. Although I know I will not be able to post complete intellectual thoughts and essays like some, I'll be lucky to get a few posts in a week. My day consists of 7am to midnight or 1am, usually non-stop. Too much to do, too many projects, too little time.

I guess I'll start with the name. Granted it is the same name as my The Foundations of Hope Trilogy, but this area will not be focused entirely on that series. I have other series I plan to work on as well. But The Foundations of Hope is more in reference to, what the trilogy is all about. To give a 'foundations of hope' that the troubles we endure in life are part of a grander and master plan. There are things that happen in life that are not wonderful, but they are things we must learn from. I can look back at the trials in my own life and now say 'wow'. Without those struggles I would not be were I am today, and I would not change a thing.

So there you have it. Hopefully through my series, this blog, or another area that I may work on, I will be able to to give somebody a 'foundations of hope'.