Changes in the CSFF On-line Community

My apologies for the week of blog-lite. I’ve been under the weather, but expect to return to the regular schedule and “normal” content next week.

One of the major sources for on-line Christian science fiction and fantasy over the past half-dozen years has been The Sword Review which morphed into Mindflights when it merged with Dragons, Knights, and Angels (commonly referred to as DKA) in 2008. The virtual magazine was backed by a small press, Double-Edged Publishing (DEP), as was Haruah, Fear and Trembling, TeenAge, and Ray Gun Revival.

A recent report indicates that DEP administration will be changing hands as founders Cameron Walker and Bill Snodgrass step aside to pursue other interests. The new administrators reportedly plan to focus on the book side of the small press while cutting ties with the on-line magazines.

Fear and Trembling has announced that the May issue will be their last. Ray Gun Revival will produce two more issues under the DEP umbrella, then reconstitute itself (rising like the Phoenix from ashes) and continue in the fall as a non-paying on-line publication. No word yet about the future of Mindflights, TeenAge, or Haruah, but one thing seems certain—they will not continue as they have been.

I have to admit, with the anticipated increase in readers obtaining fiction digitally rather than through hard copies, I’m surprised at this change. Maybe the change is no different than breaking up Ma Bell—all these satellite entities will continue on in a smaller form with the better and more popular ones rising to full strength in the future. At any rate, you may wish to take a farewell look at the magazines in these closing months of operation under DEP. Because one thing appears certain—change is afoot.

Catching Up

I’ve been away on sick leave these past two days, but I hope to make up ground the rest of this week.

First, for those of you who are science fiction fans more than fantasy (or other genres, which I’m told actually do exist 😉 ), the Web-zine RayGun Revival has a new issue out.

For the fantasy fans out there and for those interested in Web design, Wayne Thomas Batson (The Door Within series and The Isle of Swords/Isle of Fire books) announced the pre-sale of the first book of his next series, Curse of the Spider King, Book One of the Berinfell Prophecies Series co-authored with Christopher Hopper.

As for the Web design, our same Mr. Batson is holding a contest for the design of a new blog header at Enter the Door Within. Details available in the blog post.

While we’re on fantasy, I just discovered that MindFlights has been listed by Writers’ Digest as one of the top 100 best markets for writers. You can read details here. Huge congratulations to the people at Double-Edged Publishing.

For those of you who are Tolkien fans, and especially those of you who love art, I just discovered an artist, Justin Gerard, who is working on Hobbit illustrations as a way of preserving his own way of imagining the scenes (as opposed to the way the movie creators will portray them). Interestingly, I have an illustrated copy of The Hobbit, so my imagination has already been “tainted” by someone else’s. Otherwise, I would be in great sympathy for what he’s doing, though I lack the talent to pull such a thing off.

If you love children’s books and if you blog, I highly recommend you check out Sally Apokedak‘s Children’s Book Blog Tour. She’s an award-winning member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI), a Christian, a writer currently working on a young adult fantasy, with a story published this past year in Highlights for Children. I’ve been a participant in four of the five CBBT tours so far, and I’ve been so happy with each one. And by the way, if you stop by the site, the winner of their Top Blogger Award was another Becky, not me, so I’m not trying to send you over to Kidz Book Buzz as a way to toot my own horn. 🙂

Well, undoubtedly there’s more in the “catching up” pile, but this will have to do for today.

CSFF Tour-Mindflights, 3

Banners, banners, and more banners, not to mention buttons. In case members or friends of CSFF have missed it, we have banners and buttons available. In fact, one of our members, Robert Treskillard created a number of additional ones of various sizes and looks. Quite sharp. These are free for the taking, and we welcome you displaying buttons or banners on your own site.

As I’m sure regular readers have notice, I’ve moved beyond simply listing the blog tour participants and have given a method for visitors to know which other sites they may wish to tour. I’ve also decided to give a Top Tour Participant Award to the blogger who has written the best content over the three days of the tour. This is significant to me because the CSFF tours are as much about my visitors learning about other CSFF’ers as it is about promoting our genre and our feature.

And speaking of our feature, the spotlight this month is on MindFlights. I suspect most writers who stopped by the web site were quick to check out the submission guidelines. I suppose it’s what we do. 😀 One point caught my attention right away. While the editorial staff (I assume that is the “we” mentioned) believes “ultimate truth resides in the person of Jesus Christ, who as Savior embraces us with eternal life, and as Lord asks that we give ourselves over to service, to love, to purity, and to a greater purpose,” their writers are not required to believe the same.

From the MindFlights guidelines:

We are not isolationists. We don’t bar the door to the skeptic, or the seeker who hasn’t found, or the one who has an allegiance to a different set of doctrines. Our faith says the door should be open for all who want to befriend us. Hospitality is an early and enduring virtue in Christendom. Therefore, we want to offer broader visions of truth. While contributors need not be Christian, familiarity with compatible values will increase the likelihood that your submission will fit.

So here’s kind of the reverse approach from that of the general book publishers—starting out with a Christian worldview and willing to include anyone not opposed to it (in contrast to starting out with a non-Christian worldview and willing to include anyone not too overt in their differing view). I find the idea intriguing. After all, I would characterize most of my writing as aimed at Both, Christian and non-Christian alike.

The realities of marketing in today’s society, however, seem to dictate the need to “target” a particular group. My decision was to earmark Christians and leave it in their hands to pass my writing along to the non-Christians in their world. That strategy may or may not work.

But what about MindFlights? In their decision to be inclusive—hospitable, I believe was their term—are they gaining or losing an audience? And is there any way to know? I mean, unlike Christian bookstores or the shelves of Christian fiction in a general market store, there is no way of knowing who visits MindFlights, barring a poll of some kind.

Of course, there was no Big Announcement of a change of policy, so perhaps there has been no change in readership, other than would be expected from the merge of two established webzines.

Seems to me a webzine, and a book store, for that matter, should be very different from a church. After all, Christians are to be in the world but not of it. So “in” seems to mean non-Christians can hang around with us and enter into discussion with us about our plots, our characters, our themes, our faith, our hope, our Savior.

OK, before posting the list of other May CSFF Blog Tour participants, I want to make the first Top Tour Blogger Award. For his three posts on MindFlights, the award goes to Steve Rice, who, by the way, takes a different view from mine about MindFlights’ change of direction.

And the others:

*Brandon Barr
Justin Boyer
Jackie Castle
CSFF Blog Tour
Gene Curtis
D. G. D. Davidson
Jeff Draper
April Erwin
Karina Fabian
**Kameron M. Franklin
Beth Goddard
Andrea Graham
Todd Michael Greene
Katie Hart
Michael Heald
Christopher Hopper
Joleen Howell
Jason Joyner
Kait
Carol Keen
*Mike Lynch
Terri Main
Margaret
Pamela Morrisson
*John W. Otte
John Ottinger
Rachelle
**Steve Rice
Ashley Rutherford
Mirtika or Mir’s Here
Rachelle Sperling
Stuart Stockton
Steve Trower
*Speculative Faith
Robert Treskillard
Linda Wichman
Laura Williams
Timothy Wise

Bold type indicates a site I know has posted.
An * indicates “must read” content.
** “Must read” content, an intriguing discussion you might want to join

CSFF Blog Tour – MindFlights, Day 2

We’re continuing the CSFF Tour for MindFlights, but I want to make an announcement first. This month we’ve been taking nominations for the Clive Staples Award. Although I’m sure there are other fans of speculative fiction who aren’t yet aware of the award and would like to include a nomination, I think we’ll have to set a deadline so we can get on with the judging. So, last day for nominations will be June 15.

And now, back to MindFlights.

Today I read one of the short stories offered and thought I’d give a review of it. Because I’m a fantasy fan, I chose “The Other’s Mission” by Matthew Wuertz.

Summary. The story mirrors a missionary story, with a person from another place coming to tell a people group the Truth. Even though it is recognizable, I didn’t find it predictable. Wuertz hooked me from the opening by creating a likable point of view character and a likable protagonist.

Strengths. I already mentioned the strong opening that pulled me into the story and the appealing characters that made me care. Wuertz also created a world I could easily imagine. Without stopping the action he provided vivid descriptions. He also created a strong central conflict that drove the story, and he added increasing tension and suspense. So even though I knew the direction the story was going, I wanted to see how it played out.

The theme was clear and strong but Wuertz avoided the dread “preachiness” of authorial instruction or explanation to his readers.

Finally, the writing was strong. Nothing jarred my inner ear or pulled me from the story. His similes were appropriate for the culture and character he created.

Weakness. I liked this story so much, it’s hard for me to think of something to point to here. One way Wuertz could strengthen the story would be to include description appealing to all the senses. Mind you, I felt like I knew this world, these people, but I am a visual person, so it was easy for me to “see” them as Wuertz described them. But looking back, I noticed places where an appeal to other senses would have sharpened the scene. For example, the smell of the ogres or a word about how the POV character felt, especially when he fell.

Recommendation. If “The Other’s Mission” is representative of the stories in MindFlights, then this publication is going for high quality. Highly recommend you take time to read this story and others you’ll find in the genre of your choice.

Don’t forget to stop by other blogs discussing MindFlights:

*Brandon Barr
Justin Boyer
Jackie Castle
CSFF Blog Tour
Gene Curtis
D. G. D. Davidson
Jeff Draper
April Erwin
Karina Fabian
Kameron M. Franklin
Beth Goddard
Andrea Graham
Todd Michael Greene
Katie Hart
Michael Heald
Christopher Hopper
Joleen Howell
Jason Joyner
Kait
Carol Keen
*Mike Lynch
Terri Main
Margaret
Pamela Morrisson
*John W. Otte
John Ottinger
Rachelle
**Steve Rice
Ashley Rutherford
Mirtika or Mir’s Here
Rachelle Sperling
Stuart Stockton
Steve Trower
*Speculative Faith
Robert Treskillard
Linda Wichman
Laura Williams
Timothy Wise

Bold type indicates a site I know has posted.
An * indicates “must read” content.
** “Must read” content, an intriguing discussion you might want to join

CSFF Blog Tour – MindFlights, Day 1

Yea! 😀 Blog Tour time! 😀 We have another good one, too. This month our feature is the online publication, MindFlights.

One of the reasons I’m happy we highlight online sites is because EVERYONE can take a look at what’s offered. It doesn’t cost a dime. Much of what MindFlights publishes is short fiction, so those who have been curious about fantasy or science fiction but haven’t wanted to invest in books they’re unsure about, actually have some examples to read. For free.

But there’s more than short fiction. MindFlights also publishes a serialized novel, poetry, articles, and artwork. In addition, they provide discussion forums. It’s a great concept. Readers can give writers direct feedback. What did you like about a story? What don’t you get? It’s the kind of dialogue a reader rarely gets with a novelist. The thing is, I think it is also helpful and possibly encouraging for a writer, too.

What I want to do, however, at least today, is to introduce you to one of the people behind the scenes, Selena Thomason. For some time, Selena headed up the editorial team at Dragons, Knights, and Angels. When that publication merged with the Sword Review, she became the managing editor of MindFlights.

Selena is also a writer, as I suspect are all the volunteer editors. Although she’s working on several science fiction novels, her publishing credits include quite an array of short shories:

• Mood Meds
  published in The Courier
  (April 2008 )
• The Word
  published in Anathema
  (April 2008 )
• Designed Development
  published in Chaos Theory: Tales Askew
  (November 2007)
• Gifted
  published in Residential Aliens
  (November 2007)
• Anonymous
  published in Every Day Fiction
  (September 2007)
• Robbie’s Repair
  published in 365 tomorrows
  (March 2007)
• Ian Gets Involved
  published in 365 tomorrows
  (March 2007)
• Flowers for My Beloved
  published in The Literary Bone
  (Spring 2007)

This Floridian writer has been involved in the NaNo Writing Month for the past three years. Excerpts of her work are available at her NaNo site. You can read more from Selena about her life and writing on her blog.

Selena has quite an interesting array of recommended books listed on her Web site. Her fiction selections (and her comments about the books) include the following:

The Curse of Chalion
by Lois McMaster Bujold
Wow! Set in the same world as Paladin of Souls it’s got the same fascinating religion. Plus an intricate plot and compelling characters. For a more detailed review see DKA or my blog. This book is highly recommended.

Changing Planes
by Ursula K. LeGuin
A fun book full of imaginative short stories.

The Time Traveler’s Wife
by Audrey Niffenegger
Quite possibly the most unique romance of all time! This book is beyond wonderful. It’s got a truly great concept and the stellar writing to back it up. Highly recommended.

Paladin of Souls
by Lois McMaster Bujold
This fantasy book is one of my favorites. It’s got a rich world and a truly fascinating religion. Highly recommended. See blog entries 10/28/05, 10/22/05, and 10/12/05.

Oryx and Crake
by Margaret Atwood
see related blog posts 5/9/05 and 4/20/05.
A truly great book! Margaret Atwood is brilliant and one of my favorite writers.

The Dress Lodger
by Sheri Holman
I don’t normally like historical novels, but this one got me. (Actually maybe I just don’t think of myself as someone who likes historical novels because I notice a couple on this list. Maybe it’s because I don’t generally like history or books on history. That’s terrible, I know.) Heartbreaking poverty. Cholera before the science of infectious diseases was understood.

Want to learn more about MindFlights, the stories, the people who make it happen? Check out what others on the tour are saying.

Brandon Barr
Justin Boyer
Jackie Castle
CSFF Blog Tour
Gene Curtis
D. G. D. Davidson
Jeff Draper
April Erwin
Karina Fabian
Kameron M. Franklin
Beth Goddard
Andrea Graham
Todd Michael Greene
Katie Hart
Michael Heald
Christopher Hopper
Joleen Howell
Jason Joyner
Kait
Carol Keen
Mike Lynch
Terri Main
Margaret
Pamela Morrisson
John W. Otte
John Ottinger
Rachelle
Steve Rice
Ashley Rutherford
Mirtika or Mir’s Here
Rachelle Sperling
Stuart Stockton
Steve Trower
Speculative Faith
Robert Treskillard
Linda Wichman
Laura Williams
Timothy Wise

Bold type indicates a site I know has posted.

Creating Buzz with Blogs—Book Buzz, Part 3

Kim mentioned blogs in her comment to Tuesday’s “Trusting an Author” post. Without a doubt, blogs have given the average Jarred and Josephine a voice in the public arena, one not previously found except in Letters to the Editor or a possible five-second sound bite in front of the local news crew. (So, what do you think about Katrina? about Kobe Bryant? about Brittany? about the latest American idol?)

But the amazing truth is, finding blog readers is really no different than finding readers for a book: it also requires buzz. The difference is, there are people out there who know what it takes to build up a blog’s profile, if you’re willing to work at it. These things include ways to position your blog on search engines and exchanging links with others.

It also means joining in with others who have similar interests and forming a community or communities of people who might be interested in what you have to say. This can be done in a somewhat informal way through blog rings or in a more defined way through sites like MySpace or ShoutLife or Linkdin.

There are also numerous discussion boards, some started by authors, such as Stephen Lawhead or Ted Dekker; some started by editors such as Faith in Fiction; some connected to membership groups, such as ACFW; and some connected to webzines, such as Mindflights. The point is, there are many, many places on the web to put your name out, and with it, your blog address.

The thing to be aware of, however, is that blogging, and trying to create a buzz for your blog, can serve as turn-offs rather than positive invitations for people to listen to what you have to say. In fact, Nicole just posted on this subject on her blog, Into the Fire, in an article entitled “Saturation Point.”

There is a large range when it comes to the types of blogs. Some can come across like mass-market mailing. These are sites that exist to sell things, and ninety percent of the posts are contest offers designed to introduce the reader to a product. Those can sometimes have a healthy number of visitors—people looking for a bargain.

Other sites, however, are designed for personal use—a real journal of thoughts or events in which others are invited to read along.

Still others are somewhere in between, having professional goals but with a personal spin.

Any of these can work, but the key is, if you’re doing a mass-market mailing, don’t lead your readers to believe they are receiving a personal note. Blogs that promise one thing and deliver another are disappointing and can turn readers off.

We’ll continue buzzing about buzz, and if you have questions or suggestions, I’d love to hear them.