Fantasy Friday - I Need Your Help

Fantasy Friday – What Constitutes “Derivative”? Part 1
Before I begin, just a reminder: you have until November 30 to vote in the Clive Staples Award – Readers Choice for the best Christian speculative novel published in 2008 by a royalty paying publisher. Also, you have until December 2 to vote for the November CSFF Top Tour Blogger. Lots of really, really good posts. I’ll be honest. I still have to vote because I’m having a hard time making up my mind.

I’m Thankful I’m a Writer
I love writing. I love the opportunity to say things that are important to me. I love the fact that I can do so in creative ways or clear, concise ways or thought-provoking ways. I love the way words work. I love the way a story comes together, sometimes seemingly in spite of me. I love creating unique character voices and looking for fresh or unique details to describe even the ordinary. I love the adventure of starting a new project. I love thinking and planning or imagining and creating. I love grappling with ideas through writing. I love organizing those ideas so that I understand them better. I love analyzing ideas and measuring them up against Script

Last Week to Vote
The first ever Readers Choice – Clive Staples Award for Christian Speculative Fiction (CSACS) has one week remaining. If you’ve planned on voting but haven’t gotten around to it, now’s the time. If you’ve meant to tell your friends about the award, especially your friends who love and read all things Christian speculative fiction, now’s the time. The survey will close at the last tick (Pacific time) November 30, one week from today. Requirements for voting? You must hav

CSFF November Top Tour Blogger
If you were unable to read all the posts last week for the CSFF Blog Tour for Curse of the Spider King by Wayne Thomas Batson and Christopher Hopper, I understand. After all, there were over sixty articles. I have to tell you though—and this is not some kind of promotional hype—there were some of the best, most thought-provoking, interesting pieces written during this tour, everything from interviews to personal experience encounters with the authors to reviews to literary analysis. I want to encourage you to take a look at what these bloggers said (entire list of participants available at the end of

Evolution’s Narrow View
Last night I watched part of a PBS program hosted by Alan Alda. Yes, the Alan Alda of Mash fame. The program, Scientific American Frontiers, has some really interesting material, but all from an evolutionary point of view. So, too, last night’s show. This one discussed researcher Jane Goodall and her work with chimpanzees, in particular some of her groundbreaking observations. Chimps can and do use tools. They have minimal rational thought, not just imitative behavior. They form “nation” groups with differing traits from one another. They exhibit emotions and even prejudice