CFBA Review: House of Wolves by Matt Bronleewe

This week, the
Christian Fiction Blog Alliance
is introducing
House Of Wolves
Thomas Nelson (August 12, 2008)
by
Matt Bronleewe
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Matt Bronleewe is a recognized producer, songwriter and author. The former member of the band Jars of Clay, has earned numerous awards producing and co-writing albums that have sold a combined total of over 20 million copies. His songs have recently been recorded by Disney pop sensations Aly & AJ, American Idol finalist Kimberley Locke, and more. Bronleewe has worked with Grammy Award-winning artists such as Michael W. Smith, International pop singer Natalie Imbruglia and Heroes star Hayden Panettiere.

Born in Dallas, Texas, Bronleewe was raised on a farm in Kansas, where he lived until he left for college in 1992. At Greenville College in Illinois, Bronleewe formed the band Jars of Clay with his dorm roommate and two neighbors, and the group soon found success. Though Bronleewe opted to leave Jars of Clay early on to pursue an academic career, he soon found himself in Nashville, co-writing, producing, and playing music professionally.

To add to his list of accomplishments, Bronleewe has expanded his love of story telling beyond music into authorship. He is currently penning a 5 book series for Thomas Nelson Fiction. His first book Illuminated began the adventurous series about rare manuscripts and the mysteries within.

Bronleewe currently resides in Brentwood, Tenn., with his wife and three children. He continues to write and produce music, and he also volunteers through his church to help disadvantaged youth in the community. Bronleewe enjoys reading, taste-testing good food and watching sports, as well as indulging his interests in art, architecture, design and science.

ABOUT THE BOOK


A mysterious book with a dangerous secret.

An evil brotherhood out to conquer the world.

One man stands between them . . . with his family in the balance.

In the twelfth century, Henry the Lion collected the rarest relics in Christendom. And to protect his most precious acquisitions, he encoded the whereabouts in a gorgeous illuminated manuscript called The Gospels of Henry the Lion.

The manuscript has been showing up and disappearing ever since. No one knows where the relic has been hidden . . . or its ultimate power.

Only one man holds the key to the mystery.

He's carrying it in his briefcase at his son's school for show-and-tell, and he thinks it's a fake. But he's about to find out just how real it is.

Because the wolves are rapidly closing in. And if August Adams can't decode the secret in time, the world's balance of power will forever be altered.

If you would like to read anexcerpt of House Of Wolves, it will be HERE

CFBA Review: Merciless by Robin Parish

This week, the
Christian Fiction Blog Alliance
is introducing
Merciless
(Bethany House - July 1, 2008)
by
Robin Parrish

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Robin Parrish had two great ambitions in his life: to have a family, and to be a published novelist. In March of 2005, he proposed to his future wife the same week he signed his first book contract.

More than ten years he spent writing for various websites, including About.com, CMCentral.com, and Infuze Magazine, which is a unique intersection between art and faith which he also conceived of and created.

One of his more "high concept" ideas for Infuze was to return to his love for storytelling and create a serialized tale that would play out every two weeks, telling a complete, compelling story over the course of nine months. That serialized story eventually came to the attention of several publishers, who saw it as a potential debut novel for Robin Parrish.

In 2005, Bethany House Publishers brought Robin full circle by contracting him for the rights to not only that first book, Relentless -- but two sequels including Fearless and Merciless. A trilogy that unfolded in the consecutive summers of 2006, 2007, and this year, 2008. One massive tale -- of which that first, original story would form only the foundational first volume of the three -- spread across three books.

Robin Parrish is a journalist who's written about pop culture for more than a decade. Currently he serves as Senior Editor at XZOOSIA.com, a community portal that fuses social networking with magazine-style features about entertainment and culture. He and his wife, Karen and son live in North Carolina.

ABOUT THE BOOK

The world as we know it has ENDED.
DEATH and CHAOS creep across the globe and only the POWERLESS can RISE UP to stop it.

But can anything stop the onslaught of the DARKWORLD

From the earth's depths crawls a figure with skin like granite, flames for eyes, and the face of Grant Borrows.
Oblivion has arrived.

Every clock around the world has stopped. Time has frozen.

The Secretum have fulfilled the prophecy, unleashing on earth the most powerful being to walk the earth in thousands of years. His name is Oblivion and his touch is death.

He can't be slowed.
He can't be stopped.
And he can't be killed.

But as long as any live who trust in hope and love and freedom, the fight is not over.

They have only one chance before he brings forth the Darkworld.

Oblivion is: Merciless

"Robin Parrish is the kind of writer who understands how to entertain from the word go. His stories are sure to shape fiction for years to come."
~TED DEKKER, author of ADAM

If you would like to read the first chapter of Merciless, go HERE

CFBA Review: Try Darkness by James Scott Bell

About The Book:

Ty Buchanan is living on the peaceful grounds of St. Monica’s, far away from the glamorous life he led as a rising trial lawyer for a big L.A. firm. Recovering from the death of his fiancée and a false accusation of murder, Buchanan has found his previous ambitions unrewarding. Now he prefers offering legal services to the poor and the underrepresented from his “office” at local coffee bar The Freudian Sip. With his new friends, the philosophizing Father Bob and basketball-playing Sister Mary Veritas, Buchanan has found a new family of sorts.

One of his first clients is a mysterious woman who arrives with her six-year-old daughter. They are being illegally evicted from a downtown transient hotel, an interest that Ty soon discovers is represented by his old law firm and his former best friend, Al Bradshaw. Buchanan won’t back down. He’s going to fight for the woman’s rights.
But then she ends up dead, and the case moves from the courtroom to the streets. Determined to find the killer and protect the little girl, who has no last name and no other family, Buchanan finds he must depend on skills he never needed in the employ of a civil law firm.

The trail leads Buchanan through the sordid underbelly of the city and to the mansions and yachts of the rich and famous. No one is anxious to talk.

But somebody wants Buchanan to shut up. For good.

Now he must use every legal and physical edge he knows to keep himself and the girl alive.

Once again evoking the neo-noir setting of contemporary Los Angeles, Bell delivers another thriller where darkness falls and the suspense never rests.

If you would like to read chapters 1 & 2, go HERE





About The Author:

JAMES SCOTT BELL is a former trial lawyer who now writes full time. He has also been the fiction columnist for Writers Digest magazine and adjunct professor of writing at Pepperdine University.

The national bestselling author of several novels of suspense, he grew up and still lives in Los Angeles. His first Buchanan thriller, TRY DYING, was released to high critical praise, while his book on writing, Plot and Structure, is one of the most popular writing books available today.



Buy The Book:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1599956853


To learn more about James Scott Bell, visit his Website: http://www.jamesscottbell.com/

CFBA Review: The Hunted by Mike Dellosso

About The Book:

A town's deadly secret will drive one man to the edge of his faith...

After learning of the disappearance of his nephew, Joe Saunders returns to his childhood home of Dark Hills to aid in the search effort. When Caleb is found, badly mauled and clinging to life, Joe embarks on a mission to find the beast responsible. But the more Joe delves into the fabric of his old hometown, the more he realizes Dark Hills has a dark secret, shrouded for three generations in a deadly code of silence.

As Joe unravels the truth behind a series of unexplained animal attacks, murder, and corruption at the highest level of law enforcement, he is led to a final showdown where he must entrust his very life into God's hands. Will his young faith be strong ehough to battle the demonic forces of The Hunted.

If you would like to read the first chapter, go HERE.

About The Author:

Born in Baltimore, Maryland, Mike now lives in Hanover, Pennsylvania, with his wife, Jen, and their three daughters. He writes a monthly column for Writer . . . Interrupted. He was a newspaper correspondent/columnist for over three years and has published several articles for The Candle of Prayer inspirational booklets. Mike also has edited and contributed to numerous Christian-themed Web sites and e-newsletters.

Mike is a member of the American Christian Fiction Writers, the Christian Fiction Blog Alliance, the Relief Writer's Network, and International Thriller Writers. He received his BA degree in sports exercise and medicine from Messiah College and his MBS degree in theology from Master's Graduate School of Divinity.

You can read a great interview with Mike, over here on TitleTrakk

Buy The Book:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1599792966

CFBA Review: House Of Dark Shadows & Watcher In The Woods by Robert Liparulo

(Dreamhouse Kings Book 1)

About The Book:

Dream house . . . or bad dream?

When the Kings move from L.A. to a secluded small town, fifteen-year-old Xander is beyond disappointed. He and his friends loved to create amateur films . . . but the tiny town of Pinedale is the last place a movie buff and future filmmaker wants to land.

But he, David, and Toria are captivated by the many rooms in the old Victorian fixer-upper they moved into—as well as the heavy woods surrounding the house.

They soon discover there's something odd about the house. Sounds come from the wrong directions. Prints of giant, bare feet appear in the dust. And when David tries to hide in the linen closet, he winds up in locker 119 at his new school.

Then the really weird stuff kicks in: they find a hidden hallway with portals leading off to far-off places—in long-ago times. Xander is starting to wonder if this kind of travel is a teen's dream come true . . . or his worst nightmare.

(Dreamhouse Kings Book 2)

About The Book:

It's not just the house that's keeping secrets.

Pretending everything's all right is harder than it sounds. But the Kings know that even if they told the truth about the bizarre things happening in their house, no one would believe them. They're hyper-focused on rescuing their lost family member before anyone finds out what's going on.

But when a stranger shows up to take their house, their options start dwindling fast. Why would he be so interested in a run-down old place? And what secret is he hiding—just as he hides the scars that crisscross his body?

The mystery gets stranger with each passing day. Will the Kings be able to find a way to harness the house's secrets and discover who is watching their every move before another gets snatched into an unknown world?

Extras:

The Dreamhouse Kings Series has two contests that you will not want to miss . . . Dream the Scene, a weekly "Thanks For Reading” trivia contest, and the Dreamhouse Kings Street Team contest. There are also free bookplates that you can request, and a chapter of each book that you can download!

About The Author:

Robert is an award-winning author of over a thousand published articles and short stories. He is currently a contributing editor for New Man magazine. His work has appeared in Reader's Digest, Travel & Leisure, Modern Bride, Consumers Digest, Chief Executive, and The Arizona Daily Star, among other publications. In addition, he previously worked as a celebrity journalist, interviewing Stephen King, Tom Clancy, Charlton Heston, and others for magazines such as Rocky Road, Preview, and L.A. Weekly.

Robert is an avid scuba diver, swimmer, reader, traveler, and a law enforcement and military enthusiast. He lives in Colorado with his wife and four children.

Robert's first novel painted a scenario so frighteningly real that six Hollywood producers were bidding on movie rights before the novel was completed. His acclaimed debut novel, Comes A Horseman, is being made into a major motion picture by producer Mace Neufeld and his short story, Kill Zone, was featured in the anthology Thriller, edited by James Patterson.

Bob has also sold the film rights to his second book, GERM, and he is writing the screenplay for a yet-to-be-written political thriller, which sold to Phoenix Pictures, for Andrew Davis (The Fugitive, The Guardian) to direct!

His third book Deadfall debuted to rave reviews!

Buy These Books:

House Of Dark Shadows
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1595544941

Watcher In The Woods
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1595544968

Christian Fiction Blog Alliance Review: Winter Haven by Athol Dickson

About The Book:

Boys who never age, giants lost in time, mist that never rises, questions never asked...on the most remote of islands off the coast of Maine, history haunts the present and Vera Gamble wrestles with a past that will not yield. Will she find refuge there, or will her ghosts prevail on . . . Winter Haven

Eleven years ago, Vera Gamble's brother left their house never to be seen again. Until the day Vera gets a phone call that his body has been found . . . washed ashore in the tiny island town of Winter Haven, Maine. His only surviving kin, Vera travels north to claim the body . . . and finds herself tumbling into a tangled mystery. Her brother hasn't aged a day since last she saw him.

Determined to uncover what happened in those lost years, Vera soon discovers there are other secrets lurking in this isolated town. But Winter Haven's murky past now seems bound to come to light as one woman seeks the undeniable and flooding light of truth.

About The Author:

Athol Dickson's university-level training in painting, sculpture, and architecture was followed by a long career as an architect then his decision several years ago to devote full time to writing.

Athol Dickson’s writing has been favorably compared to the work of Octavia Butler
(Publisher’s Weekly), Daphne du Maurier (Cindy Crosby, FaithfulReader.com) and FlanneryO’Connor (The New York Times).

His They Shall See God was a Christy Award finalist and his River Rising was a Christy Award winner, selected as one of the Booklist Top Ten Christian Novels of 2006 and a finalist for Christianity Today's Best Novel of 2006.

He and his wife, Sue, live in Southern California.

For more information about Athol and his books, visit www.AtholDickson.com

Buy The Book:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0764201646

Christian Fiction Blog Alliance Review: My Soul To Keep by Melanie Wells

About The Book:

As nasty as I knew Peter Terry to be, I never expected him to start kidnapping kids. Much less a sweet, funny little boy with nothing to protect him but a few knock-kneed women, two rabbits, and a staple gun . . .

It’s psychology professor Dylan Foster’s favorite day of the academic year . . . graduation day. And her little friend Christine Zocci’s sixth birthday. But the joyful summer afternoon goes south when a little boy is snatched from a neighborhood park, setting off a chain of events that seen to lead nowhere.

The police are baffled, but Christine’s eerie connection with the kidnapped child sends Dylan on a chilling investigation of her own. Is the pasty, elusive stranger Peter Terry to blame? Exploding light bulbs, the deadly buzz of a Texas rattlesnake, and the vivid, disturbing dreams of a little girl are just pieces of a long trail of tantalizing clues leading Dylan in her dogged search for the truth.

About The Author:

A native of the Texas panhandle and the child of musicians, Melanie Wells attended Southern Methodist University on a music scholarship (she's a fiddle player), and later completed graduate degrees in counseling psychology and Biblical studies at Our Lady of the Lake University and Dallas Theological Seminary.

She has taught at the graduate level at both OLLU and DTS, and has been in private practice as a counselor since 1992. She is the founder and director of LifeWorks counseling associates in Dallas, Texas, a collaborative community of creative therapists.

When the Day of Evil Comes is her first published work of fiction, and the first of a three-book series. The second work, The Soul Hunter was released in May, 2006. Melanie lives and writes in Dallas.

Visit Melanie’s Web site: http://www.melaniewells.com/

Buy The Book:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1590524284

Christian Fiction Blog Alliance Review: Amber Morn by Brandilyn Collins

About The Book:

The whole thing couldn’t have taken more than sixty seconds.

Bailey hung on to the counter, dazed. If she let go, she’d collapse—and the twitching fingers of the gunman would pull the trigger. The rest of her group huddled in frozen shock.

Dear God, help us! Tell me this is a dream . . .

The shooter’s teeth clenched. “ Anybody who moves is dead.”

On a beautiful Saturday morning the nationally read “Scenes and Beans” bloggers gather at Java Joint for a special celebration. Chaos erupts when three gunmen burst in and take them all hostage. One person is shot and dumped outside.

Police Chief Vince Edwards must negotiate with the desperate trio. The gunmen insist on communicating through the “comments” section of the blog—so all the world can hear their story. What they demand, Vince can’t possibly provide. But if he doesn’t, over a dozen beloved Kanner Lake citizens will die...

About The Author:

Brandilyn Collins is a best-selling novelist known for her trademark Seatbelt Suspense™. These harrowing crime thrillers have earned her the tagline

“Don’t forget to b r e a t h e …®”

Brandilyn writes for Zondervan, the Christian division of HarperCollins Publishers, and is currently at work on her 19th book. Her first, A Question of Innocence, was a true crime published by Avon in 1995. Its promotion landed her on local and national TV and radio, including the Phil Donahue and Leeza talk shows.

She’s also known for her distinctive book on fiction-writing techniques, Getting Into Character: Seven Secrets a Novelist Can Learn From Actors (John Wiley & Sons), and often teaches at writers conferences.

Brandilyn blogs at Forensics and Faith. Visit her Website to read the first chapters of all her books.

Buy The Book:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0310276411

Christian Fiction Blog Alliance Review: Betrayed by J.M. Windle

About The Book:

Fires smolder endlessly below the dangerous surface of Guatemala City’s municipal dump.

Deadlier fires seethe beneath the tenuous calm of a nation recovering from brutal civil war. Anthropologist Vicki Andrews is researching Guatemala’s “garbage people” when she stumbles across a human body. Curiosity turns to horror as she uncovers no stranger, but an American environmentalist—Vicki’s only sister, Holly.

With authorities dismissing the death as another street crime, Vicki begins tracing Holly’s last steps, a pilgrimage leading from slum squalor to the breathtaking and endangered cloud forests of the Sierra de las Minas Biosphere. But every unraveled thread raises more questions. What betrayal connects Holly’s murder, the recent massacre of a Mayan village, and the long-ago deaths of Vicki’s own parents?

Nor is Vicki the only one demanding answers. Before her search reaches its startling end, the conflagration has spilled across international borders to threaten an American administration and the current war on terror. With no one turning out to be who they’d seemed, who can Vicki trust and who should she fear?

A politically relevant tale of international intrigue and God’s redemptive beauty and hope.

Illuminating Fiction's Comments:

With rich characterizations and vivid imagery, J. M. Windle transported me to the mountains of Guatemala and kept me enthralled right up to the last page of Betrayed. Journey with Vicki into a world of discovery, breathing in a mix of beauty and squalor, as she uncovers her past amidst an international conspiracy. Revealing the truth could cost Vicky her life.

About The Author:

As the child of missionary parents, award-winning author and journalist Jeanette Windle grew up in the rural villages, jungles, and mountains of Colombia, now guerrilla hot zones. Her detailed research and writing is so realistic that it has prompted government agencies to question her to determine if she has received classified information. Currently based in Lancaster, PA, Jeanette has lived in six countries and traveled in more than twenty. She has more than a dozen books in print, including political/suspense best-seller CrossFire and the Parker Twins series.

Visit Jeanette’s Web site: http://www.jeanettewindle.com/

Buy The Book:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1414314744/

Christian Fiction Blog Alliance Review: Adam by Ted Dekker

About The Book:

He died once to stop the killer . . . now he's dying again to save his wife.

FBI behavioral psychologist Daniel Clark has become famous for his well-articulated arguments that religion is one of society’s greatest antagonists. What Daniel doesn’t know is that his obsessive pursuit of a serial killer known only as “Eve” is about to end abruptly with an unexpected death-his own.

Twenty minutes later Daniel is resuscitated, only to be haunted by the loss of memory of the events immediately preceding his death.

Daniel becomes convinced that the only way to stop Eve is to recover those missing minutes during which he alone saw the killer’s face. And the only way to access them is to trigger his brain’s memory dump that occurs at the time of death by simulating his death again . . . and again. So begins a carefully researched psychological thriller which delves deep into the haunting realities of near-death experiences, demon possession, and the human psyche.

"As always with a Ted Dekker thriller, the details of ADAM are stunning, pointing to meticulous research in a raft of areas: police and FBI methods, forensic medicine, psychological profiling-in short, all that accompanies a Federal hunt for a serial killer. But Dekker fully reveals his magic in the latter part of the book, when he subtly introduces his darker and more frightening theme. It's all too creepily convincing. We have to keep telling ourselves that this is fiction. At the same time, we can't help thinking that not only could it happen, but that it will happen if we're not careful."

New York Times best-selling author Ted Dekker unleashes his most riveting novel yet . . . an elusive serial killer whose victims die of unknown causes and the psychologist obsessed with catching him.

About The Author

Ted is the son of missionaries John and Helen Dekker, whose incredible story of life among headhunters in Indonesia has been told in several books. Surrounded by the vivid colors of the jungle and a myriad of cultures, each steeped in their own interpretation of life and faith, Dekker received a first-class education on human nature and behavior. This, he believes, is the foundation of his writing.

After graduating from a multi-cultural high school, he took up permanent residence in the United States to study Religion and Philosophy. After earning his Bachelor's Degree, Dekker entered the corporate world in management for a large healthcare company in California. Dekker was quickly recognized as a talent in the field of marketing and was soon promoted to Director of Marketing. This experience gave him a background which enabled him to eventually form his own company and steadily climb the corporate ladder.

Since 1997, Dekker has written full-time. He states that each time he writes, he finds his understanding of life and love just a little clearer and his expression of that understanding a little more vivid. Dekker's body of work encompassing seven mysteries, three thrillers and ten fantasies includes Heaven's Wager, When Heaven Weeps, Thunder of Heaven, Blessed Child, A Man Called Blessed, Blink, Thr3e, The Circle Trilogy (Black, Red, White), and Obsessed, with two more...Renegade, and Chaos to be released later this year.

To learn more about Ted Dekker or join the Circle, visit his Web site: www.teddekker.com

Buy The Book:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1595540075

Christian Fiction Blog Alliance Review: My Name is Russell Fink by Michael Snyder

About The Book:

Russell Fink is twenty-six years old and determined to salvage a job he hates so he can finally move out of his parents house for good. He's convinced he gave his twin sister cancer when they were nine years old. And his crazy fiancée refuses to accept the fact that their engagement really is over.

Then Sonny, his allegedly clairvoyant basset hound, is found murdered.

The ensuing amateur investigation forces Russell to confront several things at once-the enormity of his family's dysfunction, the guy stalking his family, and his long-buried feelings for a most peculiar love interest.

At its heart, My Name is Russell Fink is a comedy, with sharp dialogue, characters steeped in authenticity, romance, suspense, and fresh humor. With a postmodern style similar to Nick Hornby and Douglas Coupland, the author explores reconciliation, forgiveness, and faith in the midst of tragedy. No amount of neurosis or dysfunction can derail God's redemptive purposes.

About The Author:

Michael Snyder has spent the bulk of his professional career in sales, has fallen in love, and continues to struggle with the balance between art and vocation. He's never investigated a murder, much less that of an allegedly clairvoyant dog.

Visit Michael's Web site: http://snyderman.blogspot.com/

Buy The Book:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0310277272

Christian Fiction Blog Alliance Review: Christian Writers' Market Guide 2008 by Sally Stuart

About The Book:

The essential reference tool for the Christian writer, Sally Stuart’s Christian Writers’ Market Guide is now in its 23rd annual edition!

Writers’ Conference listings, Book Publishers, Magazine Publishers, and a Bookstore filled with the resources you need to be successful in this business. Get a Book Contract or Manuscript Evaluation, and check out the Writer’s Resource links. This book has all you need to connect to all these valuable helps for the beginning, intermediate, or professional writer.

To keep you up to date with the latest marketing news, visit Sally Stuart’s new marketing blog, Christian Writers’ Marketplace, at http://www.stuartmarket.blogspot.com/.

About The Author:

Sally Stuart has been writing for the last 40+ years, and has been putting out the annual "Christian Writers' Market Guide" for the last 23 years. Her other writing includes several Christian education resources books, a children's picture book, a basic writing text, writing resources, and a western novel--plus hundreds of articles and marketing columns. She writes marketing columns for the "Christian Communicator," "Advanced Christian Writer," and the Oregon Christian Writers' Newsletter. She speaks and teaches at Christian Writers' Conferences nationwide. Sally is the mother of 3 and grandmother of 8. She and her husband, Norm, spend their free time vacationing on the Oregon coast.

Check out her blog!

A new, updated version of the Christian Writers’ Market Guide is available about January 15 each year.

Buy The Book:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1400074614

Spotlighting: Chosen by Ted Dekker

Illuminating Fiction Review:

Can four teenagers really save humanity if they throw everything to the wind to follow their hearts?

Johnis believes so. And so does Thomas Hunter, supreme commander of the Forest Guard.

It’s been thirteen years since the Colored Forests gave way to desert. Elyon’s followers now live in seven scattered forests, each forest containing a lake of life-giving water which the forest dwellers depend on to fight off the dreaded skin disease of the Horde.

But the skin disease isn’t the only danger Elyon’s chosen people face.

The Horde army is now 400,000 strong. Word has reached Thomas Hunter that the Horde plans to attack from the east in four days time. With only 20,000 eligible Forest Guard fighters left, Thomas is forced to lower the recruiting age from eighteen to sixteen in order to boost the Guard’s ranks.

Of the new recruits, four are hand picked by Thomas to become squad leaders. Before Johnis, Darsal, Billos, and Silvie can receive their commission, they must undertake one final test. Thomas sends them on a mission that takes them to the edge of the desert on the west side of the forest, but it soon becomes clear to Johnis that the west is not as safe from the Horde as Thomas thought.

Johnis must make an agonizing choice when he unexpectedly meets with creatures long deemed as legend. Can he really turn his back on Thomas and the Forest Guard to follow his heart?

Can he convince Silvie, Darsal, and Billos to follow him deeper into the desert in search of the six missing Books of History while keeping their mission a secret from everyone, including Thomas?

The answer to these questions can be found in the pages of Chosen, book #1 of Ted Dekker’s new Circle Series.

Building on his successful Circle Trilogy, Dekker reintroduces readers to the world they came to love in Black, Red, and White. The battle between good and evil continues as Elyon’s chosen are pitted against the Horde and the Shakaiki once again. The lovable Roush, who remain committed to helping and guiding the forest dwellers, also reappear.

Although the Circle Series will be marketed as Young Adult novels, older readers need not worry. Dekker is in his element with this new tale. His talent for creating memorable characters and alternate realities merge to make Chosen a book that will appeal to all ages.

The main characters in this series may be teenagers, but their struggles are timeless and universal. Forest life has forced them to enter adulthood earlier than today’s society. Not only is sixteen marriageable age, but now they are required to protect their villages in combat. Their decisions will shape their future, and that of all humanity. Their story explores themes which include following your heart, the search for truth, and yes, the enduring battle between good and evil.

Already acquainted with Dekker’s alternate reality? Your mission is to journey forward from the Circle Trilogy and embrace the continuing battle unfolding against the Dark One.

Unfamiliar with Roush and Shakaiki? Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to pick up copy of Chosen and enter a reality that, under the skin, is much like ours.

And remember… think with your heart.

Buy This Book:

Spotlighting: Coach's Midnight Diner

Coach’s Midnight Diner: The Jesus Vs. Cthulhu Edition
A Hardboiled Genre Anthology with a Christian Slant

A hardboiled anthology of horror, mystery, and paranormal fiction, Coach's Midnight Diner is the faith-based anthology readers have been waiting for. With full allowance for artistic freedom, Diner authors pull no punches.

Entrees of Jesus Vs. Cthulhu Fiction by Chris Mikesell, Kevin Lucia, Neil A. Riebe, and Jens Rushing highlight the first edition of Coach's Midnight Diner, but there's so much more on the menu.

We'll server up horror fiction by Editor's Choice Award winner Robert N. Jennings, J. Mark Bertrand, Melody Graves, Nathan Knapp, and Caroline Misner.

Side orders of Crime, Mystery, and Detective Fiction by Charles Browning, Suzan Robertson, R.M. Oliver, S.J. Kessel, Michael Medina, and Mike Dellosso will have you trying to guess who the culprit is until the very end. We'll quench your thirst for Paranormal Fiction with stories from Mike Duran, Robert Garbacz, Matt Mikalatos, and Paul Luikart.

And for dessert, Jennifer J. Edwards and Linda Gilmore bring stories from That One That Happens in A Diner.

Coach's Midnight Diner will satisfy your appetite for thrills and quench your thirst for something a little deeper than your average fare.



“Long before the rise of Christian publishing, marketing departments, and book committees domesticating content to appeal to the sensibilities of evangelical audiences, Fyodor Dostoevsky wrote novels filled with profound Christian truths. However, his characters were a dark and colorful bunch including murderers, the mentally challenged, gamblers, seditionists, and prostitutes. Fyodor's painted his characters with such a dark brush that one wonders if "The Possessed", "Crime and Punishment", or "The Brothers Karamazov" would be publishable in today's Christian market.

Coach Culbertson and the creative minds at ccPublishing are hoping to change all that with COACH'S MIDNIGHT DINER, an anthology of "horror, mystery, crime, and paranormal goodness." Like Dostoevsky's universe, the pages of the diner are filled with murders, strippers, demons, debauched pastors, trolls, alcoholics and a host of other unlikely purveyors of divine truth.”
-Larry Shallenberger, Author of Divine Intention

Book Details:

Title: Coach’s Midnight Diner: The Jesus Vs. Cthulhu Edition
Editors: Coach Culbertson, Vennessa Ng
Category: Horror, Mystery,
ISBN: 978-0979228445
Format: Trade paperback
Publication Date: Aug 2007
Pages: 276
Cover Price: $20.00
Trim: 9.4 x 7.4 x 0.7 inches
Available from: Ingram’s, Baker and Taylor

Buy The Book:

Christian Fiction Blog Alliance Review: Try Dying by James Scott Bell

About The Book

On a wet Tuesday morning in December, Ernesto Bonilla, twenty-eight, shot his twenty-three-year-old wife, Alejandra, in the backyard of their West 45th Street home in South Los Angeles. As Alejandra lay bleeding to death, Ernesto drove their Ford Explorer to the westbound Century Freeway connector where it crossed over the Harbor Freeway and pulled to a stop on the shoulder.

Bonilla stepped around the back of the SUV, ignoring the rain and the afternoon drivers on their way to LAX and the west side, placed the barrel of his .38 caliber pistol into his mouth, and fired.

His body fell over the shoulder and plunged one hundred feet, hitting the roof of a Toyota Camry heading northbound on the harbor Freeway. The impact crushed the roof of the Camry. The driver, Jacqueline Dwyer, twenty-seven, an elementary schoolteacher from Reseda, died at the scene.

This would have been simply another dark and strange coincidence, the sort of thing that shows up for a two-minute report on the local news—with live remote from the scene—and maybe gets a follow-up the next day. Eventually the story would go away, fading from the city's collective memory.

But this story did not go away. Not for me. Because Jacqueline Dwyer was the woman I was going to marry.

In the fast-paced thriller Try Dying, lawyer Ty Buchanan must enter a world of evil to uncover the cause of his fiancée’s death—even if he has to kill for the truth.

About The Author

James Scott Bell is a former trial lawyer who now writes full time. He is also the fiction columnist for Writers Digest magazine and adjunct professor of writing at Pepperdine University.

His book on writing, Plot and Structure, is one of the most popular writing books available today. The national bestselling author of several novels of suspense grew up and still lives in Los Angeles, where he is at work on his next Buchanan thriller.

Visit James Scott Bell’s Web site: http://www.jamesscottbell.com

Book Link

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1599956845

Christian Fiction Blog Alliance Review: Deadfall by Robert Liparulo

Illuminating Fiction Review

Walk into a computer store, check out the software department, and what do you find?

Shelf upon shelf of computer games.

And it’s not just computer stores. With PlayStation, Xbox, and a range of other devices, gaming has become a huge part of today’s culture. Browse the shelves long enough and you will find games aimed at pre-school age right through to adults.

If you think gaming is regulated to a form of entertainment, you’d be mistaken. The US Military view life-like games and simulators vital in the training of new recruits and also regard video games as a way to interest teenagers into enlisting.

With some video games also being attributed to the increase in teen violence, it stands to reason a novel would soon surface looking at the reach of today’s gaming.

Deadfall, Robert Liparulo’s latest release, is a fast paced, action thriller which combines gaming and military technology into a storyline that will have readers enthralled from start to finish.

Fiddler Falls, population 242, is about as remote as towns get. Situated in the Canadian far north, the town has no mobile phone service, landlines, cable or satellite television, or Internet. Satellite phones provide the only form of communication to the outside world. During Fall, rain makes roads impassable and isolates the town, making it the ideal spot for those who simply want to get away from it all—and those looking for a place to test a top secret weapon.

Lead by Declan Page, six visitors arrive in Fiddler Falls, bringing with them a terror unlike any the town has seen before. Intent on proving that the future of warfare lies in the technology of video games, Declan brings with him “Slacker” (SLCR), a control unit for a top secret weapon created by his father’s company. Declan and his group, largely made up of teens, use the town and surrounding area to test SLCR’s capabilities, as well as shot real life footage for a new video game set to take gaming to the next level. Declan only has one rule. Leave no witnesses.

When John Hutchison, known as Hutch, and his three closest friends needed a vacation, Hutch planned a hunting trip in the Canadian wilderness. Four men, nature, and ten days of seclusion to decompress. On the first morning, keen to hunt caribou and bring back meat for his friends, Hutch sets out. Soon the hunter becomes the hunted.

A deadly game of cat and mouse begins as Hutch races to save innocent lives and remain out of the sight of an eye in the sky.

An explosive read, Deadfall will blast holes in any action fanatics sleep pattern. Intent on only reading a chapter or two each night, I often found myself struggling to keep my eyes open many hours and many chapters later.

Although more tightly written, Deadfall lacks the storyline complexity Robert’s previous two releases contained. Reader enjoyment is carried throughout the story by hard and fast action and well developed characters. Robert also refrains from using gory descriptions as he did in Comes A Horseman and Germ, thus leaving more to the imagination, which may suit many readers.

As well as pleasing Liparulo’s existing fan base, Deadfall is bound to attract new action thriller seekers to his readership.

About The Author

Robert is an award-winning author of over a thousand published articles and short stories. He is currently a contributing editor for New Man magazine. His work has appeared in Reader's Digest, Travel & Leisure, Modern Bride, Consumers Digest, Chief Executive, and The Arizona Daily Star, among other publications. In addition, he previously worked as a celebrity journalist, interviewing Stephen King, Tom Clancy, Charlton Heston, and others for magazines such as Rocky Road, Preview, and L.A. Weekly.

Robert is an avid scuba diver, swimmer, reader, traveler, and a law enforcement and military enthusiast. He lives in Colorado with his wife and four children.

Robert's first novel painted a scenario so frighteningly real that six Hollywood producers were bidding on movie rights before the novel was completed. His acclaimed debut novel, Comes A Horseman, is being made into a major motion picture by producer Mace Neufeld and his short story "Kill Zone" was featured in the anthology Thriller, edited by James Patterson.

Bob has sold the film rights to his second book, GERM. He is also writing the screenplay for a yet-to-be-written political thriller, which sold to Phoenix Pictures, for Andrew Davis (The Fugitive, The Guardian) to direct!

He is currently working on his fourth novel.

Find out more about Robert by visiting his Web site: www.robertliparulo.com

Competitions!

A NOTE from Bob: I’d like to give away five signed copies of Deadfall to readers of CFBA blogs during my tour. All they have to do is sign up for my e-mailing list (they won’t be inundated!) by going to my website (www.robertliparulo.com) and going to the “Mailing List” page. Or email me with “CFBA giveaway” in the subject line.

And a second NOTE from Bob: I wanted to let you know that I’m holding a contest on my site:

**one winner a week till the end of the year for a signed Deadfall
**one winner a week till the end of the year for an unabridged audio MP3-CD of Deadfall
***and on Dec. 31, I’m giving away an iPod Nano, pre-loaded with an unabridged audio recording of Deadfall

Winners are selected from my e-mailing list—sign up at my site. If a winner has already purchased what he/she wins, I will reimburse them for the purchase price (or give them another—whichever they choose), so they don’t need to wait to see if they win before buying Deadfall.

Buy The Book

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0785261796