It’s official. Donita Paul did, in fact, win the ACFW Book of the Year first place award in the General Fiction category for DragonKnight. As in the Christy Awards, there evidently were not enough books entered in the SFF category to have it stand alone. Interestingly, Susan Page Davis won third place for Feather a juvenile fantasy that would probably have been placed in the YA category if there had been enough of those entrants. Congratulations to both authors.
Speaking of contests, all the Harvest House Talk Like a Pirate winning “essays” have been posted at Cap’s Pub. I can’t help mentioning that the entry posted on the twentieth was written by a former member of my critique group. She is a talented, talented humor writer, and if she can keep writing, I’m confident you’ll hear lots more about her.
Now, to the real subject for today’s post: Fantasy Challenge II.
This is a two-month-long contest designed to encourage you all to talk up Christian fantasy at your local book stores. If Christian fantasy is to succeed, people must buy the books. For people to buy the books, they need to be on book store shelves.
Of course, I do know that many of you buy your books at Amazon or Christianbooks.com or the like. You are the computer savvy folks. But I recently read that something like 30 percent of books are being sold on line. So the bulk of sales still come from book stores. And I can guarantee you, unless a person has a specific title in mind when they go into the store, they will buy what’s before them, often never knowing something else they might enjoy more even exists.
So here’s the challenge.
Go to a local book store, Christian or ABA, chain or independent, and do one of three things:
- 1. Buy a book. This is especially a good thing to do, and since Christmas is just behind this two-month challenge, you might start thinking who you know that would enjoy a Christian fantasy.
2. Talk to a clerk or manager about a specific Christian fantasy title, either asking if they’ve heard of it or why they don’t stock it, or commending them for having it on their shelves. You might even put in a plug, saying you hope they carry many more titles like it.
3. This one has several parts. Click over to Latest In Spec (or when the call for news goes out, email the information to me) and leave information on your Favorite Book Store—name and address. When the issue with your book store releases, print out the entire copy and take it to the book store to give to your store manager. It really does work.
Here’s a list of suggested titles (sorry, sci fi’ers. This really is a fantasy challenge).
By Sharon Hinck
The Restorer
*The Restorer’s SonBy Wayne Thomas Batson
The Door Within
The Rise of the Wyrm Lord
The Final Storm
*Isle of SwordsBy Kathryn Mackel
Outriders
Trackers
*VanishedBy George Bryan Polivka
Legend of the Firefish
The Hand That Bears the Sword
*The Battle for Vast Dominion
By Donita Paul
DragonSpell
DragonQuest
+DragonKnight
*DragonFireBy Karen Handcock
Light of Eidon
Shadow Within
Shadow of Kiriath
*Return of the Guardian-KingBy R. K. Mortenson
Landon Snow and the Auctor’s Riddle
Landon Snow and the Shadows of Malus Quidam
Landon Snow and the Island of Arcanum
Landon Snow and the Volcer Dragon
*Landon Snow and the Auctor’s Kingdom
By Bryan Davis
Dragons in Our Midst
The Candlestone
Circles of Seven
Tears of a DragonBy Jeffrey Overstreet
*Auralia’s Colors
By Gregory Spenser
*Guardian of the Veil
By Christopher Hooper
Rise of the Dibor: The White Lion Chronicles
*The Lion Vrie: Book II of The White Lion ChroniclesBy Stephen Lawhead
The Paradise War: Book One in The Song of Albion
The Silver Hand: Book Two in The Song of Albion Trilogy
Hood (The King Raven Trilogy, Book 1)
*Scarlet (The King Raven Trilogy, Book 2)By Jonathan Rogers
Bark of the Bog Owl
The Secret of the Swamp King
*The Way of the WilderkingBy Robin Parrish
Relentless
*FearlessThis list, of course, is not exhaustive, and you can see I’ve mixed in adult, YA, and juvenile into one list, in no special order.
+ACFW Genesis Award Winner
*Latest release
Here’s how you become eligible for one of the various prizes several of our authors are donating. After you visit your book store, come back here to A Christian Worldview of Fiction and leave a comment with this information.
1. Who you talked to (clerk, manager)
2. When you visited the store.
3. What book you purchased, ordered, discussed. Or which issue of LIS you gave them.
4. What response you got.
That’s it.
You may enter as many times as you wish. The more the merrier, I always say! 😀
Have fun.
![PowerElementsCharacterDevelopment[1000][1]](https://rebeccaluellamiller.files.wordpress.com/2015/05/powerelementscharacterdevelopment10001.jpg?w=205)
A Christian Worldview of Fiction 