The Chistian Hero—Part 5

Mike Duran always makes me think. Today in his post about hypocrisy Mike included a quote I thought intriguing in light of the discussion about heroes:

Nietzsche, ever hostile to Christianity, said “If they want me to believe in their Savior. . . His followers will have to look more like men who have been saved!”

Mike questions the point, saying our actions do not validate or negate the truth. I agree with that. However Nietzsche isn’t questioning the truth, at least not in that snippet. It’s really a point of pragmatism. Does Christianity “work”? What he couldn’t see, of course, was the change in hearts, the eternal forgiveness, the eternal futures. Because Christianity isn’t about being good enough, it is about being forgiven completely.

Still, when we are talking about giving evidence of the actuality of our forgiveness, it seems to me there does need to be something tangible, observable. If nothing else, we should be people who readily forgive others. Our lives should be marked by how merciful we are, not how judgmental we are. I believe that’s a Scriptural position. In one Gospel parable, for example, a man forgiven his insurmountable debt was later punished because he didn’t extend forgiveness to another.

How does that translate into the heroes of Christian fiction? Maybe the true mark of the hero should be forgiveness. Closely followed by a lack of hypocrisy.

The Chistian Hero—Part 4

Where are the heroes now? This is a line from an old song by Steve Camp.

For reasons too mundane for me to mention here, I pulled out my old cassette of Fire and Ice, and there, as the closing song on side two, was “Where Are the Heroes.” I’d forgotten about that song, but before it was over, it had me in tears again, just as it did those years ago.

Why? Because the song is a plea for mature Christians to step up and be those who inspire the people coming after us, to be Moses and Abraham to the next generation.

Flash back to another point of my past—my years in the classroom. As part of beginning a school year, I would have my students fill out a questionnaire so I could get to know them better. At one point I included the question, “Who is your hero?” I was stunned when the bulk of my 120 students included characters like Spiderman. In later years, I tried to clarify the question to illicit the names of actual people, living or dead. Subsequently, I drew lots of blanks, and a handful of Michael Jordan’s.

In this day and age of “authenticity,” when a twelve year old knows all too well the foibles of his dad or youth pastor or homeroom teacher, it’s hard for a kid to look up to a real person. Better to look up to the image of a real person, and even better still to look up to a Superhero. No pressure to actually be like that person, since, after all, the people in real life have made it abundantly clear that nobility isn’t attainable, that nice guys finish last (and I don’t want to be last!), and that image is everything.

Enter the Christian hero in fiction.

It seems to me, we fiction writers have an awesome opportunity to influence our culture. For ill or for good, we are in a period of history that is story-driven. The way to the mind AND heart of the people in our culture is through story.

In addition, our culture is experiencing a vacuum of true heroes. This is why the brave citizens who died aboard flight 93 on September 11 were immediately elevated to the role of heroes. Without knowing anything else about them, their sacrificial act catapulted them into the spotlight as heroes.

The problem with a hero who has died is that there are no fresh reminders of him, no new acts to emulate.

Which brings us back to the Christian hero in fiction.

We have a chance to create characters that can serve as inspirations to our readers. Not because they are perfect, but because they overcome, or endure, or persist, or sacrifice. We can create them to show what it looks like to be a Christ-follower. Which is why it’s important that we understand what it is we want our heroes to look like.

A couple things I have as goals for my heroes.

I want them to be winsome, people that draw readers and make them cheer, but also make them feel like they’d expect to meet these characters on the street some day.

I want my heroes to be different from the heroes on TV. Sure then can be funny or brave or clever, but they ought not be proud of their sin and selfishness.

I want my heroes to point to Christ, not to themselves.

I want my heroes to be compassionate, not vengeful.

I want my heroes to stand against evil—not politically, but in their own lives.

Again, there are probably other qualities that are important which I’ve left out. Which ones?

The Chistian Hero—Part 3

If not meekness, what then does make a character look weak, and therefore less heroic?

I don’t know how to answer this except in subjective terms. What makes ME think a character looks weak?

In part, I’ve come upon some traits from a series I grew to love. Yes, grew to love, because initially I hated the character. Well, hated may be too strong. I was sympathetic to a point but also repulsed.

The character I’m referring to is Thomas Covenant, introduced in Lord Foul’s Bane, the first book in The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever by Stephen R. Donaldson. For those of you who haven’t read the books, Covenant is a leper. Yep, though he is a Modern Man, he has contracted leprosy, and no, this is not what made him repulsive. In fact, in the opening pages, there’s the makings for him to be highly sympathetic. After he was diagnosed with leprosy, people who knew him avoided him. His wife divorced him and took their son. Neighbors complain about his presence and one even leaves the county.

This ill treatment, along with the regiment he must maintain to insure he doesn’t suffer further damage because of the disease ought to make me care for him. I don’t particularly because his response to all this is a seething anger just below the surface, an anger that erupts when he translates into a fantasy world where he can again feel. His first act is to commit rape.

No, he was not a character I liked, though he became a character I could cheer for. His experience in the Land changed him.

But to the point, the number one thing that makes a character unlikable, in my view, is mistreatment of others.

In another book I read recently—a Christian novel—I found characters who were not honest. I realized that’s another thing that keeps me from caring for a character: dishonesty. A character who knows the truth but does not tell it, then ends up in a mire of his own making does not have my sympathy. Whatever the reason the character might offer for holding back the truth, it comes across to me as cowardly.

A third trait that makes a character come across to me as weak is wishy-washiness. I don’t like a character who is so clueless as to his own desires that he vacillates throughout the story, trying to decide what he should do, or second-guesses his decisions at every turn.

Often this character is depicted as one enduring an internal struggle, so I think this might be a pitfall some Christian writers succumb to. I know I’ve been guilty of creating such a character. It was in reading other novels and finding a character who fell into this category and recognizing my reaction to him that helped me understand what my critique group had been trying to tell me.

I think a fourth trait might be selfishness. When a character looks only after himself—another problem Thomas Covenant had at the beginning of his stay in the Land—he ends up looking … ignoble.

There are undoubtedly others. What do you think makes a character look weak?

The Chistian Hero—Part 2

Last October I ran a couple series here at A Christian Worldview of Fiction about creating good characters, including creating Christian characters. You can see the beginning of the first series here. I mention this because in discussing heroes, I don’t want to simply regurgitate information we’ve already discussed.

I think Bryan Polivka’s book The Legend of the Firefish raised the question about Christian heroes because his protagonist, clearly the person (or one of them) the reader is meant to root for, acts in a way that is different from what is common for a hero in today’s American society.

Call it the John Wayne-ing of our culture or perhaps the Rambo-ing of it. Writing books even mention the revenge story as a plot option. Even in stories based on other plot concepts, having the bad guys “get theirs” seems to get laughs and cheers. (Think of the Home Alone movies for instance).

And of course this take-the-law-into-my-own-hands-and-mete-out-justice attitude is contrary to what the Bible teaches. We are NOT to seek vengeance but to let God be the judge. Pay-back is His, not mine.

The question then is, can an author make such a character work in fiction? I certainly believe so. The primary reason I hold to this view is because such a character would be Christ-like. Christ was Himself winsome. People flocked to Him and followed Him. Who wouldn’t? Free food, healing, stories, and in-your-face confrontation with the Pharisees. Not to mention that He welcomed children, talked to women in public, treated crooked tax collectors the same way He treated the important scribes.

In other words, Christ won people to Himself because He loved them and served them and told them the truth, no matter who they were.

At the same time, of course, the core group of religious leaders hated Him. Hated Him because of the very same things that drew the people to Him. Hated Him because the people loved Him. Hated Him because they feared for their own power and position.

My point is this. I think a character who is Christ-like should be winsome in the eyes of readers. The qualities of service and love and generosity and kindness should not make a character look weak but winsome. Except, perhaps, in the eyes of readers who might relate best to the characters of power and influence who have the most to lose.

Did Bryan Polivka paint such a character? For the most part, yes, he did. Who hated Packer? Those whom he threatened, not physically, but by his life and his faith. He was brave in the face of death. This certainly did not make him look weak.

If not meekness, what then does make a character look weak, and therefore less heroic? That’s one we’ll need to look at next time.

The Chistian Hero—Part 1

First things first! On Saturday, Sharon Hinck nominated me for a blogging award:

Quite an honor! And of course I want to pass it on to others worthy of notice, but I feel bad that it’s such a limiting award, clearly denying any of the rockin’ guy bloggers a chance to win. Not to mention that there are many, many bloggers who deserve attention. It’s just not possible to mention everyone. So I’ll pass the mantle of Rockin’ Girl Blogger on to these three:

• Merrie Destefano of Alien Dream
• Brandilyn Collins of Forensics and Faith (this kind of award is right up Brandilyn’s alley! )
• Karen Hancock of Writing from the Edge (who could undoubtedly care less that she’s nominated and may not even learn of the honor unless I email her. )

Now on to the serious – and in my opinion, excellent – discussion started by Bryan Polivka about heroes in Christian fiction. If you haven’t taken time to read the comments to Friday’s post, I suggest you do. I’ll try to keep my own thoughts brief to allow you time to read what other visitors had to say.

The discussion seems to center on whether or not Jesus was weak. I appreciated Nicole’s differentiation between weak and meek. Jesus is not weak. He did not cease being God, and God is omnipotent. Consequently, any appearance of weakness is not the true picture. That he refrained from using His omnipotence, that He donned the skin of mortal man does not change the fact that He is still eternal God, there from the foundation of the world.

In fact, for Him to clothe Himself in the form of a bondservant when He is Lord of all is an indication of His strength. To have power and then to refrain from using it that others might benefit is the ultimate indicator of genuine strength.

So here’s how I see the choices before Christian authors who wish to accurately reflect spiritual reality.

• Show the “hero” protagonist who does the nobel, powerful, winning act but clearly is depending on God’s power, not his own. I suggest this is the kind of approach Sharon Hinck took in The Restorer. Perhaps this was Donita Paul’s approach as well.
• Create a “hero” protagonist who is a type of Christ. I think Bryan Davis used this approach in Circles of Seven.
• Show the “hero” protagonist who comes through the struggle to relinquish his power and let God win the victory. This is what I believe Karen Hancock and Bryan Polivka worked toward in their novels.
• Show the protagonist as not the hero, but another character, a type or symbol of Christ, becomes the story hero. This is the approach I used in Lore of Efrathah.

It seems to me each of these has some risk. Will readers think God’s intervention is the dreaded deus ex machina? Will the readers think the protagonist is wimpy or whiny or weak? Will readers find the protagonist unengaging? Will readers feel cheated that the protagonist isn’t the hero?

I suppose we each have to choose the approach that allows us to write the truth to the best of our ability … and then we live with the consequences.

I will add, I applaud writers who do not settle for the pay-back mentality of today’s secular heroes. Protagonists in Christian novels, in my opinion, should be different from those in secular novels. By different, however, I don’t think they have to be unlikeable. Clearly there’s more to explore with this subject.

Polivka Blog Tour—Recap

Something’s changed at Technorati, and I’m not sure what. One way to measure the impact of a blog tour is to see the book we feature climb into the top rankings of Technorati’s most popular books list. According to their own search, 122 blog posts about The Legend of the Firefish, yet the book never cracked the top 20. Even though number 20 recorded an abysmal 12 new links.

But what are statistics? Certainly they can be manipulated and do not always tell the true picture in any field. Why should books be any different?

One way I judge the success of a tour—and of course this is completely subjective—is in the quality of the posts. I figure, whoever visits those blogs, reading that great content, is far more likely to respond favorably than when the posts are a repeat of the back cover copy available on the author’s web site. Sometimes the comments generated by the post are indications of its quality and impact. Not always.

The thing I noticed in this last tour that made me so excited was the inclusion of the theme of the book in the discussion. It seems that too many novels say something that requires little or no thought, either because the theme is so transparent it can be agreed to or dismissed out of hand, or because it is, quite frankly, missing. As I’ve noted before, time and again writers are warned against being “preachy,” which then becomes translated “Don’t write to communicate what you believe.” I say again, these are not the same thing.

George Bryan Polivka proved that in The Legend of the Firefish. That he wrote “the most Christian Christian novel” one reviewer has read, yet wrote so that the “religion is palatable” according to Publishers Weekly, shows that he communicated the Christian message without preaching, without making the reader feel as if the story had fallen away so that the author could foist his views upon the unsuspecting.

So here’s the thing I want to explore in the next series of posts: do the struggles of Christians make for good stories? Here’s what Polivka said, in part, in his summary of the tour:

Packer is weak. He can’t beat Talon. He can’t overcome Firefish. And though he’s good with a sword, he doesn’t have confidence in himself. Nor should he. He knows how to do the most important thing a believer can do… because God steps in with His power when we lay down our own.

Why is this hard to accept? I didn’t get the impression that people disliked Packer, they just disliked his weakness. Not a good hero. And yet, “God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty,” and ”The meek shall inherit the earth.”

This idea that Christian heroes should look like and act like what the world calls heroism, that their strength is going to look like the world’s strength is just… flat… wrong. So what should our heroes look like? If not Packer, whom? I wish this had been discussed.

My thinking is that we mistakenly make the Christian the “hero,” when, in fact, he is not—we are not. God is. We can only appear to be heroic when we act like Christ.

Even the secular book doctor, Donald Maass, says that the most appealing characteristics of a protagonist include self-sacrifice.

This, in my view, is because it is only when we act like Christ we are in any way appealing. What makes a character nobel? Is it greed, selfishness, lasciviousness, deception, self-aggrandizement, gossip, pride … ? No. What is truly and nearly universally appealing is the underdog, headed into the teeth of the battle so that others might live or thrive or win. It is Christ-like love, that which we cannot achieve in and of ourselves.

So how do we depict this in fiction and not make the protagonist come out like he is the hero because of his own strength? Can we?

A Christian Worldview of Religion

I’m seeing a trend. Yesterday, Mike Duran over at Decompose discussed a program airing on CNN:

This week CNN will air God’s Warriors, an exposé on religious extremism among Jews, Muslims and Christians.

Then this from an AP article about the event:

This particular event, I think, is a great opportunity to really refocus and energize the Christian organizations and Christian movement and people who hold Christian faith and values says [Liberty Counsel founder Mat] Staver.

While some people look at this air time as a positive, others aren’t so sure, simply because the culture is painting Christians with the same brush as Jews and Muslims.

At the same time, Karen Hancock in Writing from the Edge blogged about the changes our culture is making in recording time:

BC and AD are no longer the terms of choice for historical reckoning. Instead we have… CE. That stands for Common Era or Current Era or (if you really must) Christian Era. Years previous to that time are said to be BCE — Before Common Era.

This is something I learned about just last week on my visit to the San Diego Natural History Museum to view the Dead Sea Scrolls Exhibit, where there was care to tie in the writing with Judaism, Christianity, and … yep, Islam.

Add to this, a news item I gleaned from Jeffrey Overstreet’s (Auralia’s Colors, Water Brook, September 2007) Looking Closer blog about The Glen, a writing workshop.

We are delighted to inform you that Image [a Journal of the Arts and Religion] and the Glen Workshop will be featured this weekend on a broadcast of Religion and Ethics Newsweekly, a national public television program produced by WNET Television in New York. The segment was recorded at our recent Glen Workshop, which was centered on the theme—“God of the Desert: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam through the Prism of Art.

So not only were a bunch of writers discussing “the God of the Desert,” but now a nation-wide television show will do so as well.

Of course I could be jumping the gun to suppose this discussion led toward more tolerance and acceptance of those practicing a false religion. The Image announcement continued:

Featuring speakers from all three traditions, this year’s Glen evoked intense discussion and, for many, new horizons. Its purpose was to challenge Christian artists to discover how beauty and art might enable us to better understand the other religious traditions that trace their lineage back to Abraham.

“Understanding” doesn’t technically mean “tolerate,” but unfortunately it has come to imply as much.

I think I understand people practicing Judaism perfectly fine, without the need for a great deal of discussion. Someone worshipping God in accordance to the Law rejects Jesus as Messiah, the Christ, the Son of God.

I, on the other hand believe Jesus when He said He is the way, truth, life and that no one comes to the Father except through Him.

Consequently, I understand that practicing Jews and I have a major, unbridgeable difference. And this unbridgeable difference certainly applies to practicing Muslims as well.

Jesus is a difference maker. He is the cornerstone or the stumbling block. Where is there middle ground?

I reject the idea, however, that being extreme in my faith in Jesus means I am or should be extreme in my support of my Christian lifestyle.

Jesus made it very clear He did not intend to establish an earthly kingdom. He was not about the overthrow of Rome, though He could have done a lot of picketing and petitions and recall campaigns because surely the morality of the governing class was about as debase as it comes.

In the same vein, Paul didn’t rail against persecution of Christians or demand the same treatment as the pagan worshippers in Ephesus.

In other words, Jesus, and the leaders of the early church after Him, were not concerned that their lives would not be “normal” or even comfortable.

Interestingly, a band of Jews did everything they could to get Rome out of Jerusalem. As a result, the city was destroyed and the nation of Israel ceased to be for nearly 2000 years.

As I recall, there were, what, four failed attempts much later in history to make “the Holy Lands” Christian.

Have we learned nothing?

As I see it, two issues confront us in this movement toward tolerance: on one side the temptation to lose our distinctives, and on the other the temptation to fight for the periphery.

CSFF Blog Tour – The Legend of the Firefish, Day 3

If you haven’t had a chance yet to drop by other blogs participating in this month’s tour, I suggest you carve out some time this week to leisurely explore the online discussion of The Legend of the Firefish by George Bryan Polivka (Harvest House).

We even had a new member who just joined CSFF this week post about our featured book. Why not add a visit to Lisa Cromwell’s site, just to say hi.

Here are more of the tour high points. We have another excellent interview posted by Chawna Schroeder. You might also want to read the “official” interview at Harvest House.

Of course we have more reviews, too, which gives you a range of opinions about the book. Here are some I suggest you won’t want to miss:

• Eve Nielsen
• Kait
• Beth Goddard
• Trish Anderson

Yesterday Beth Goddard posted a special feature—her favorite scene from The Legend of the Firefish. If you’ve read the book already, it’s fun to see if the one that grabbed you most is also the one that caught Beth. For those of you who are still reading, or who have just ordered the book, you might want to wait.

Speaking of ordering, I understand Amazon only has 3 copies left, though more are coming. I suggest you get your copy ASAP. Of course it is also available at the bookstore nearest you.

As is the sequel, The Hand That Bears the Sword which released July 1..

REVIEW

The Story. The Hand That Bears the Sword takes up where The Legend of the Firefish left off. Some time has passed, however, so there are some significant changes, first in Panna and Packer’s personal lives, and also in the circumstances of their nation. Suffice it to say, there is war on the horizon, because, after all, a foreign agent had assassinated the sword master of Nearing Vast.

That’s about all I can tell you without spoiling the story. Of course, you can suppose that the ship, Trophy Chase plays a significant role. And the firefish is not absent.

There are some startling surprises however, so I don’t want to give anything out that would ruin the impact for you.

Strengths. More of the same. Meaning, what George Bryan Polivka accomplished in the first book, he continued to do here.

His characters are real. He makes these people come alive; gives them adequate motivation; shows their struggles, failures, successes, fears, hopes. In my opinion, Panna is the stronger of the two, and I thought the more engaging. I had no trouble rooting for her.

The plot is full of action and suspense, twists and surprises. Nothing predictable in this story.

The world comes alive, even more than in The Legend of the Firefish, simply because it expands. We are no longer confined to the deck of the Trophy Chase or Packer’s small fishing village. We also spend time in the City of Mann and in far and foreign parts of the world.

In some respects this book reminded me of Karen Hancock’s Legends of the Guardian-King series because of its textured world. There’s diplomacy, legal issues, battle strategy, spies, noblemen, and nobility.

The theme of the book is strong, without being overbearing. It is an integral part of Packer and Panna’s struggles. Because it is advanced through the development of the characters, it does not feel high handed, as if the author is in reality trying to convince the reader.

There is an unending list of what to like in this story. But don’t lose sight of the fact that it is the middle book of a trilogy, meaning that at the end, we are far from THE END. This is good news, in my opinion, because it means I have another great read to look forward to.

Weakness. There’s really only one, but in my opinion it is significant. Not enough to spoil the story, mind you. The problem is Packer. As he struggles with his faith, sometimes I wanted to smack him up side the head and tell him to get on with things. Too often the angst-driven musings came in the middle of an action scene and his fretful contemplation, while representing accurately the struggle a Christian faces to do what God calls, slowed the story down too much, in my opinion. Plus, it made Packer seem weak. What he ends up doing is actually a strong thing, but by appearing to be weak in the deciding, I’m afraid some readers may miss the strength that is behind it.

I realize I’m being circumspect here—of necessity so I don’t give any spoilers. Remember, I do not think this weakness in the story is one that spoils it. I do think, however, it is why I enjoyed the Panna sections more than the Packer ones.

Recommendation. I highly recommend The Hand That Bears the Sword for all Christians who love fantasy, or pirate adventure, or good writing. It’s another winner, one Harvest House is showcasing appropriately.

CSFF Blog Tour – The Legend of the Firefish, Day 2

As you know, if you hang around A Christian Worldview of Fiction on a regular basis, I LOVE CSFF blog tours. There’s a real feeling of community and support and enthusiasm. Plus, for the most part, you’re reading what other book people who enjoy speculative stories think about the book you read. It’s a fun, fun time.

Even when a blogger has not read the book, he might have an interview or a short story or a cool observation to share.

This tour for George Bryan Polivka’s novel The Legend of the Firefish, first in The Trophy Chase Trilogy, is no different. I found excellent reviews posted by
Mike Lynch (who was inadvertently left off the participants’ list—you’ll want to be sure to check this one out)

Tina Kulesa
Karri Compton
Grace Bridges
Valerie Comer

There are also several informative or creative introductions to the book by

Merrie Destefano
Jason Joyner

You’ll want to be sure to read the excellent interview with author George Bryan Polivka by

Brandon Barr
Valerie Comer

The pirate short story I mentioned is posted by D. G. D. Davidson

And these are just the high spots of the blogs I’ve visited so far. Lots of good reading, and of course, all of it starts with The Legend of the Firefish.

I’ll admit, it’s been some time since I read the book, but here are some of the things that have stayed with me.

The book is well written. Nothing made me stumble—not word choices, sentence structure, repetition, none of it.

The characters are believable and interesting, including, or maybe especially, the pirates.

The Christianity is overt without being distracting or obtrusive. It does not feel as if the author is trying to foist his faith onto the reader.

The story has some important unanswered questions—most notably, why did Packer get kicked out of seminary—that give a clue to the fact that there is more story to come.

Polivka doesn’t write using the cookie-cutter rules of writers’ conferences. His use of an omniscient point of view may throw some readers off initially, but once they’re used to it, I think they’ll come to appreciate what it can accomplish, which a limited point of view cannot.

The female lead is perhaps stronger and more interesting than the male protagonist.

Don’t forget the Talk Like a Pirate essay contest Harvest House is running. Several bloggers are posting in pirate talk which tells me they just might do exceedingly well in the contest. I may try a short piece myself. I think the real fun would be to judge the entries, but we’ll get in on the fun, besides the writing, when the top three winning essays are posted at Polivka’s blog September 19.

Take some time to peruse the other tour participants’ blogs:
Trish Anderson Brandon Barr Wayne Thomas Batson Jim Black Justin Boyer Grace Bridges Amy Browning Jackie Castle Valerie Comer Karri Compton Frank Creed Lisa Cromwell CSFF Blog Tour Gene Curtis D. G. D. Davidson Janey DeMeo Merrie Destefano Jeff Draper April Erwin Linda Gilmore Beth Goddard Marcus Goodyear Russell Griffith Jill Hart Katie Hart Sherrie Hibbs Christopher Hopper Jason Joyner Kait Karen Dawn King Tina Kulesa Lost Genre Guild* Mike Lynch Terri Main Rachel Marks Karen McSpadden Eve Nielsen John W. Otte John Ottinger Lyn Perry Deena Peterson Rachelle Cheryl Russel Chawna Schroeder Mirtika Schultz James Somers Steve Trower Speculative Faith Jason Waguespac Daniel I. Weaver Timothy Wise

*Not on the original list

CSFF Blog Tour – The Legend of the Firefish, Day 1

The CSFF Blog Tour has been highlighting books or websites now for over a year. During that time different bloggers or authors have occasionally given prizes, usually based on readers leaving comments about the post or book.

Harvest House, publisher of this month’s feature The Legend of the Firefish by George Bryan Polivka, has taken the prize-giving up a notch by launching a short writing contest.

And this one is FUN!

You see, Polivka’s book, while a fantasy, is set in a world not unlike our own in the era of tall ships and pirates. Consequently, in conjunction with National Talk Like a Pirate Day on September 19, Harvest House is incorporating this delightful, creative concept into their contest.

Oh, yeah. All the writers out there, or those who enjoy writing and want to play too, this contest is for YOU!

And for those of you who write with a tilt toward humor, this contest is perfect. Here’s a chance to showcase your stuff. The top three winning essays (you only get to enter once) will be posted on Polivka’s blog—creatively named after a place in his books .

If you’d like all the details for the contest, visit by CSFF Blog Tour for a copy of the Harvest House press release giving all the necessary information—contest guidelines, complete explanation of the writing challenge, length of entries, prizes, and so on.

Meanwhile, this tour for one of the best Christian fantasy series to appear in print in recent times is just getting underway. Look here later this week for a review of the second book in the Trophy Chase Trilogy, The Hand That Bears the Sword which released July 1.

Stop by Speculative Faith to read a review of The Legend of the Firefish (one that originally appeared here in February).

And as always, take time to visit the other blogs participating in the tour:

Trish Anderson
Brandon Barr
Wayne Thomas Batson
Jim Black
Justin Boyer
Grace Bridges
Amy Browning
Jackie Castle
Valerie Comer
Karri Compton
Frank Creed
Lisa Cromwell
CSFF Blog Tour
Gene Curtis
D. G. D. Davidson
Janey DeMeo
Merrie Destefano
Jeff Draper
April Erwin
Linda Gilmore
Beth Goddard
Marcus Goodyear
Russell Griffith
Jill Hart
Katie Hart
Sherrie Hibbs
Christopher Hopper
Jason Joyner
Kait
Karen
Dawn King
Tina Kulesa
Lost Genre Guild
Terri Main
Rachel Marks
Karen McSpadden
Eve Nielsen
John W. Otte
John Ottinger
Lyn Perry
Deena Peterson
Rachelle
Cheryl Russel
Chawna Schroeder
Mirtika Schultz
James Somers
Steve Trower
Speculative Faith
Jason Waguespac
Daniel I. Weaver
Timothy Wise